Sarah Sultan – Attaching to Allah #01 How Do You Do The Right Thing Even When It’s Hard

			You know, people always ask you, what's your story? What's your explanation, especially if they're
non Muslim. And I always catch myself saying like, Oh, but I'm still the same person. And as soon as
they say that, like I just feel so like, am i
		

			Hola Hola. In the Ruby chemical factory, we're located Lahti with villa, where our rubrica mean and
of the Lima alum.
		

			So there's this, this notion in Islam of liberation, and the more that you immerse yourself in
servitude to a loss, perhaps in submission to Allah subhanaw taala, the more freedom you actually
experience. And so let's start with two things. You've got freedom from the burden of social
validation, the need to be accepted, right, and then you've got the other side of that coin, which
is the fear of ridicule. And they both stem from the same place, but they have different
manifestations. Now in the case of Ibrahim alayhis salam, right, his torture, his ridicule, the harm
that comes his way, as much later, you have a whole journey of Dawa of calling his people to Allah
		

			subhanaw taala and I want you to think about how frustrating this can be remembered kissing him
Allah to Allah says, he's off Sahil MBR he's the most eloquent of the prophets. He's literally the
example of how to do Dawa, right how to call people to God. You see, the way he calls his father,
the methodology is laid out for us. And now he does that to his father. And he has all the tools,
but at the end of the day, they didn't have the hearts for it. It wasn't a lack of tools on his
part. It was a lack of heart on their part, and their willingness to accept it. But imagine being in
the society and doing everything right. And not having a single person to affirm you. Right? Little
		

			tiny his salaam, his nephew goes on somewhere else. His wife SATA does not come until later on in
his journey. So he's got years upon years, where it's just him, despite being as eloquent as he is,
despite having the power of those tools that Allah gave him with a powerful message. Have you ever
been in a situation where you wanted to do the right thing? But you felt alone? And that you didn't
have anyone to affirm you? And what do you take from the story, this idea of trying to do the right
thing, but not having anyone around you to affirm you. I mean, I was a vastly different person,
before I accepted this law. So it was a like a Whoa, like, you're accepting Islam. Like we'd like?
		

			Who will you become now you have to continue to practice. And that practice comes with some of that
diversity. So let me ask you this. Was there a moment in your journey like you became Muslim? Where
you felt the sweetness of pleasing Allah? When no one else got it?
		

			Yes. I mean, every day I read, I mean, I felt like I was a better person. In my community, I felt
like I had changed my life. Like, I literally felt like, I am a new person, I can do things
differently than the way they were before. And I can be someone else. So yeah, that moment of just
being there. And then, you know, years later going to Hodge and being like, oh, man, I really
arrived, like, I've really reached a pinnacle. In my Deen, where, you know, I made a lot of right
decisions, you know, a lot allow me to make these good decisions. And Islam saved me from, you know,
Celio whatever it is that, you know, was in front of me before Islam.
		

			Anybody else have anything you want to share just sort of about that moment of pleasing Allah's
parents. And I would imagine for sisters in particular, that that's, you know, a daily struggle,
right? You walk into a place and you're the only obviously Muslim person there and you sort of
learned that, you know, what, I'm, I'm doing this for Allah subhanaw taala. No one else. I mean,
going off
		

			his story about conversion, even as a born Muslim, I always think about how we go through our own
conversion in Islam, I would say, just when you move from like, teens to adult and then you know,
the next stage in life, there's that epiphany that you get, and you you can finally taste that
sweetness of pleasing Allah. And for me, you know, I always say college can either make it or break
you. And Hamdulillah you know, I started my whole spiritual growth was, was within those college
years is when I, you know, started wearing hijab and the opposite is that I feel like I felt I fell
to that social validation because as soon
		

			As I started wearing hijab, which was around in the middle of my college years, you know, people
always ask you, what's your story? What's your explanation, especially if they're non Muslim. And I
always catch myself saying, like, oh, but I'm still the same person. And as soon as I say that,
like, I just feel so like, am I write like, I, I wear the hijab for a reason I wore it, you know, to
please the one and only creator. And by saying that, I feel like I just invalidated everything for,
you know, society. And so, it, you know, with hijab, I'm sure we all have our own journeys, it's,
you know, it's just the common reminder of why you're wearing the hijab, you know, it's not just a
		

			piece of cloth, it's how you act and say, and that is what's grown in me, I wasn't the same person
anymore. I was, you know, hopefully someone better in the eyes of Allah, for sure. That's profound.
And I wonder if there's even a moment of that for, again, many of the companions of the Prophet
slice, even like with Abraham, my son, the prophets, like, I'm still the person, you know. And
that's really what you mean, it's not that I have not grown. It's that what made me beloved to you,
my character, our relationship, that that's still there, right. And I think that when you, you know,
take that next step, whether you're converting to Islam, or whether you are, you know, taking the
		

			next step in your journey to Allah subhanaw taala. There could be that, that sort of environment
where like, Oh, now now, she's gotten religious. Now. He's gotten religious, like, oh, like, I
wonder if we can still talk about this. I wonder if we can still talk about that. At some point.
Maybe it's like, you know, what, actually, no, like, you shouldn't be uncomfortable saying and doing
certain things around me at this point, not because I'm condescending and judgmental, but because
I'm principled, and I've got a clear pursuit and purpose. So I'm not trying to make you
uncomfortable. But I am trying to make you more purposeful. And you got to find that fine line,
		

			right. And a lot of times, it's not that, as you're taking that next step, that you're becoming
harsher, right, hopefully, you're not, but that other people are, you know, a little insecure with
your growth, right? Well, wait a minute, you know, how could you take this step without me? How
could you move forward? Let me ask you a question. All right. Have you ever found,
		

			and especially with you and Tony, I think I'll ask you this too, in particular, when you first took
that step?
		

			And maybe someone was uncomfortable, but they actually came to respect it? Yeah. So for me, it was
everyone in the neighborhood.
		

			I grew up in DC, I grew up in a really, you know, tough neighborhood. So quote, unquote, in. And so
you know, accepting Islam and becoming Muslim, it was just one of those things that happens in the
black community where you're like, man, you're, you're growing, you're making a conscious decision
to be different from what the group is in Islam. Your actions are your Dawa, they speak the loudest,
and that's what people will be looking to see. And understand. And you want them you know, that your
family, they're happy for you, they see you progressing. They see you've made an individual decision
to be different from how everyone else was growing up, you decide to do other more positive things.
		

			Because your belief in yourself, you believe a lot as your back and now you feel this, you know,
this energy, this, you know, this courage and this positivity and positive reinforcement to go to
college and do things that you normally probably would not have pursued as you not, you know, hey,
Islam there and reading about Islam, and all the beauty and the love of Islam. And so, in those
situations, yeah, you just really, you know, and people are just happy and they come back and even
years later, like, Man, I'm just so proud of you. I know it's been a long time, but from that time
to now, you know, and you you, I always give credit to Islam, you know, for allowing me to, to have
		

			that opportunity. So I'll shoot Subhanallah one of the things that's very beautiful about this story
of Ibrahim Isilon is that he becomes so revered, so loved, you know, everyone wants to claim him,
right? The three Abrahamic faiths, right, Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Everyone wants to claim
Ibrahim A Salam Ibrahima Islam, even the Meccans had a drawing of Ibrahima Islam in the cabinet. You
know, complete pagans, right. Everyone wants to lay claim to Ibrahima Islam. So he goes on to become
beloved and of course more than anything else. Look how Allah elevates him. Right? Where it really
counts where it's most meaningful. And this is a manifestation of the Hadith of the Prophet slice of
		

			them, where he said that whoever pleases Allah, by displeasing the people. Allah will be pleased
with that person and Allah will cause the people to be pleased with that person as well. And whoever
pleases the people by displeasing Allah subhanaw taala Allah will be displeased with that person and
Allah will cause the people to be displeased with that person as well. And the way the scholars
describe that is you know, when you're
		

			A person of principle, initially, people might feel an aversion to you because they don't like you
calling them on their ways. They don't like feeling challenged by you, even if it's just your
trajectory, just your practice. And maybe they enjoy the messy gossipy person when that person is
talking about someone else, or the person that drags them down, when they're down, but eventually
they want to move away from that person. And they don't want anything to do with that person. So
it's like the opposite of what the prophets lie some said and some that some that Allah will be
whoever just causes, or seeks to cause people to hear if they're good. Allah will cause people to
		

			hear if they're bad. And whoever shows off woman, euro, euro Illa hobby, whoever tries to show off
their good Allah shows off their bat, Allah will make an example out of them in that regard. And
this has implications in the dunya and in the Archaea in this life and in the next. So you look at
Ibrahim Isola, you look at the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, right? They tried to call him
when I'm the one who's humiliated dispraise they did not want his name set in Mecca. Now shadow no
Mohammad Rasool Allah is shouted out throughout the world, at every single moment, sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam is a constant sending our Peace and blessings upon him. Allah says what a fountain a look
		

			at the clock, we have elevated your name to the point that he is the most famous name in the world,
the most influential men in history, and the most revered men sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so
you take this journey, this trajectory, and some of the scholars said the most comprehensive have
your eyes, on Zachary on Instagram was praying for his son. He said, what your childhood Robbie all
the make him Oh my lord, pleasing, pleasing to who? Obviously, first and foremost, pleasing to Allah
subhanaw taala. But if you're pleasing to Allah, then what happens if Allah loves you, then all the
angels love you. And all the inhabitants of the heavens love you. And then the prophets I send them
		

			said, you allow the whole cabal florell that Allah places acceptance in the hearts of people love in
the hearts of people for that person. That's not everybody. That's people whose love is worth
having. Those are hearts that love for the right reasons. And so they become pleased with you, as
well. And that sort of leads into this journey of Ibrahim alayhi salam that he learned from a very
early age to seek no one but Allah, because he had no one around him except ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada,
that was affirming him and praising him as he was taking this journey to. So sister Sada, how do you
navigate people being on a different path than you and the pressure and the loneliness that comes
		

			with that, as a panela, it's the one of the most difficult experiences to feel alone, when you're
trying to do what you know is right. But the people around you are not in support of that. And that
loneliness can be a very, very difficult experience. And we see that in the story of Ibrahim is
that, um, but one of the things that I think is, is incredibly helpful when we think about this is
to number one, realize that the standard of electronic data is that stability that we're looking
for. And if we're basing our standards on the standards of society, on the standards of people, it's
going to be a very fluctuating situation, our identities are always going to be in flux, our
		

			choices, our actions are always going to be changing. And that instability can be very
disconcerting, spiritually, and then also psychologically, right? So how do we combat that
difficulty? You know, little subtle SLM tells us that Islam began as something strange, and it will
return to being something strange, so give glad tidings to the strangers. But it's really important
to acknowledge that, even though we know that there are glad tidings given to strangers to choosing
that path that's pleasing to us, patata, it's still really hard. And it's okay, that it's hard. And
that's part of the reward, that it's really hard. So acknowledging that as being the first thing.
		

			And then the third, the second acknowledgement is to realize that, that our actions are what we're
held accountable for. So the people who are on a separate path, that we are that we are, you know,
wanting to not feel so alone in this path, and we might be tempted toward that path. In the end,
we're not going to be asked about the path that they chose, we're only going to be held accountable
for the path that we choose. And so having that self accountability, that we focus so much on what
other people do, but in the end, that's not what matters, what matters is what we do. And then
finally, the third acknowledgement that I think really helps with that feeling of loneliness, is to
		

			realize that in the end, when we submit in the way that Ibrahim is submitted, and we choose that
difficult path of walking that path of loneliness, that in the end, realizing that that is for us.
That is that Alas, Panthera doesn't benefit or it doesn't take away from all those parts that are
benefit us hands out which path we follow, but Ben
		

			If it's us, and so that path is for us, and when we acknowledge that, that what we're doing this
hardship that we're going through is actually for our own benefit. It tends to make that path of
loneliness a little bit easier. And Shawn
		

			so can you think back to a moment where you were willing to seek Allah's acceptance and risk
people's judgment? And how did you get through that moment? Please share with us in the comments.