Sikander Hashmi – Take a Step Back and Reflect KMA Friday Message

Respected elders, dear brothers and sisters, my young

friends,

We find ourselves

at an incredibly

difficult time.

It's been 2 months

since the onslaught

on Gaza began

and there is no reprieve.

Of course, we have been trying our best

making dua to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

doing advocacy, sending emails, organizing meetings,

attending protests,

boycotting,

trying to do whatever we can.

Yet our political leaders

are not even able to say

the word ceasefire.

Today there is news

about the pulling away of major political donations

because of this as well. Meanwhile,

the humanitarian conditions in Gaza continue to go

from horrible to disastrous.

In fact,

there are no words to describe

the actual situation there.

We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to remove

the pain, hardship and suffering

of our brothers and sisters there.

And we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to

increase them and reward and sabr.

Indeed,

all of the innocent people living through this

will have

a great recompense one day, there is no

doubt about that.

But living through it now

is incredibly difficult.

At this point my brothers and sisters

when nothing seems to be working,

we must of course keep trying

and not give up.

That perhaps is also part of the test,

right? Do we give up

thinking that okay well nothing's

happening so then we'll just

try to forget

and move on? No.

Of course we must continue,

we must continue

doing whatever we can

that is

appropriate, that is permissible

with the belief

that our job

is to try our best

and that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is the

one who delivers result.

But as we do this and as we

say this, there are

2 things to take note of that I

would like to highlight today.

Firstly, this feeling

of

utter helplessness

reminds us

that it is not

the actions,

the means,

the people

that bring us relief or harm

but rather it is ultimately

the decision of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

Allah

tells us in multiple places in the Quran.

For example Suratul An'am a number 17.

If Allah touches you with harm,

none can undo it except Him.

And if He touches you with a blessing,

He is most capable of everything.

Surat Yunus, aye 107.

And if Allah touches you with harm, none

can undo it except him. And if he

intends good for you,

none can withhold

his bounty.

He grants it to whomsoever he wills of

his servants,

and he is the all forgiving

most merciful.

In Surat Al Zumr, ayah number 38,

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala addresses the Prophet salallahu

alaihi wasallam.

That consider them whatever you invoke

besides Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the prophet

was

instructed to ask

them that whenever you invoke besides Allah.

If it was Allah's will to harm me

could they undo that harm? Whatever it

is that people are calling other than Allah

Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Whatever it is that they

are turning to other than Allah Subhanahu wa

Ta'ala.

And if it was Allah's will to harm

me, could they

those things

undo that harm?

Or if He

willed

mercy for me,

could they withhold His mercy?

And then Allah says, Say

Allah is sufficient

for me. In Him alone

the faithful

put their trust.

Surah Fatiha number 2, Number 2.

Whatever mercy Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala opens up

for people,

none can withhold it. And whatever he withholds

none but him can release it for he

is the almighty

all wise. And it appears

in

Sahih in Sahih adeef

from the prophet

that he used to say

in his dua very often.

Oh Allah there is no with holder.

There is no with holder of what you

have bestowed and there is no giver of

what you have withheld

and no status of a person

can be of use to him

against you.

So my brothers and sisters this reminds

us that we must

never take the means

as a source

or as the source

of relief and betterment.

We must never take

the means

as the source

of relief and betterment.

If we do so, we will be sorely

disappointed at one point or another.

Let there be no doubt. If we take

the means

as the source

as opposed to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

then one day we will be sorely disappointed

one day or another.

So let us never take any means for

granted.

No tools,

no tactics,

no skills, no politicians, no political parties.

If we turn to these as the source

then we will be disappointed because Allah subhanahu

wa ta'ala is the ultimate

source.

All of these

means will fail at some point.

So only

place your ultimate trust in Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala.

So our hearts and our minds must be

clear that any action we take

is only a means

and the true source

is Allah alone. So let us focus

on Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala more.

The means are important and they should be

considered. So it's not

a dichotomy,

right? It's not either one or the other.

So yes, the means are important

and they should be considered and indeed this

is the sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi

Wasallam

and his companions.

They did consider the means, they decided according

to the means, according to the situation,

right?

But their trust and their belief was in

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala to grant the results.

So this thought, this first thought

that we take note of

should lead us to the second

which is

why is the relief of Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala not coming?

Question is

why is the relief of Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala

not coming? When we know

that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala exists without doubt.

When we know

that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has sent unseen

help and assistance in the past upon the

believers. So none of these things we have

any doubt about.

The question is

that why are we in the situation

right now and why is that not that

relief not coming at this moment.

There are a number of questions. Is it

because of something that we have done?

Have

we done

or are doing something wrong

specifically with regards

to this issue

or perhaps more generally in our approach?

Is it a consequence

of a wrong that we meaning the Ummah

collectively

have done in the past?

Conspiring with the west against

the Uthmani Khilafa comes to mind

perhaps,

how do we correct that?

Or is it due to the spiritual state

of the Ummah today?

These are all questions I don't have a

definitive answer. But what is critical my brothers

and sisters is that we reflect.

What is critical

is that we have

introspection.

All of these factors

may be a part of Allah's decision.

So therefore,

there must be introspection by each individual, by

each person

at their own level.

And then we try to make things better.

We try to reflect,

we try to think, we ask Allah Subhanahu

Wa Ta'ala for guidance.

And then we try to do our part

to make

the situation better by addressing

these possible root causes.

As I quoted from the tafsir al alif

al Quran a few weeks ago,

if for some reason

a falsely motivated power

succeeds in getting a short lived upper hand,

the group motivated by the truth

should not lose heart

and come to think that from this point

onwards,

they are always doomed to nothing but defeat.

So this should not be

the result

of something like this.

However, instead of taking this negative attitude,

they should rather go about finding

out the causes of

that defeat. And once they have discovered those,

they should take corrective measures

and eliminate all possibilities

of repeating those mistakes.

In the end, the group motivated by the

truth

shall emerge

as the ultimate

victor. Insha'Allah.

We ask Allah to

guide us out of this terrible situation.

May Allah

show us the way

to correct our ways and our mistakes.

May Allah

increase us in all that which pleases Him

and brings His relief. Ameen.

Let us take a quick break InshaAllah and

we will continue.