Suhaib Webb – Whispers Of Faith Sincere Worship
AI: Summary ©
The importance of resilience and learning in life is emphasized, as it is crucial to achieve success. The challenges of living in a non-overlapping environment and finding one's "will" are also highlighted. The importance of acceptance and blessings in one's life is emphasized, as it is crucial to deal with one's pride and arrogance. The need for acceptance and blessings is emphasized, as it is crucial to meet God's command and meet one's behavior and actions.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen,
wa salallahu wasalam ala sayyidina muhammad khatam al
-anbiyai wa al-mursaleen.
We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We send peace and blessings upon our beloved
Prophet Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wasalam, upon his family,
his companions, and those who follow them until
the end of time.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah.
It's great to be here, alhamdulillah al-iknah,
and it's even more invigorating and regenerative to
be around Muslims, alhamdulillah, especially in these challenging
times.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
increase our relationship, our love, our unity, and
our connections, ya rabbil alameen.
So I was asked to talk about resilience
in the light of the story of Sayyidina
Ayub, alayhi salatu wasalam.
But I think before we get into a
part of the story that pertains to his
life, we should define what it is we're
being resilient for, and what is it that
is causing us, or is the sort of
factor which is bringing out from us the
quality of resilience.
We know that resilience is so important that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala recognizes it as
one of the four key ingredients of living
a successful life.
When he says, وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْحِ And
actually there's something remarkable here in this chapter,
Surah Asr, that Imam Shafi'i said, if
it was the only thing sent by Allah,
it would be enough.
And that is that he says, those who
cooperate on the truth, and those who cooperate
on resilience.
Anyone who's reading it should stop and ask
themselves, well isn't resilience part of truth?
Isn't resilience an integral component of the truth?
And the best example I can give is
if you say like, chicken biryani, or aloo
paratha, right?
It's all one, but you mention the chicken,
or the aloo, the potato, to show its
importance to the whole.
And this is called عَطْفُ الْخَاصِ عَلَى الْعَامِ
الْعَرَبِي Meaning that you mention something and then
you mention a part of it.
Usually when people talk about sports teams, they'll
say the Boston Celtics and Jason Tatum.
Jason Tatum is integral to the Boston Celtics.
Why are you mentioning it in isolation?
To highlight its importance.
That's what's happening now in the Qur'an.
وَتَوَاصَوْ بِالْحَقِّ Those who work together to establish
the truth, and then an important particular component
of that truth.
Such that it has to be mentioned in
isolation.
وَتَوَاصَوْ بِالصَّبْرِ Is resilience.
That's why Sayyidina Ali ibn Karam said that
the relationship of resilience to faith is like
the head on a body.
If the head is cut off, is severed,
the body will not be able to function.
But we have to ask ourselves, what does
it mean, resilience?
How do we understand resilience?
Allah says, إِسْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِتُوا Like, be patient
and be super patient.
Our scholars laid out a framework that gives
us an ability to look at the life
that we live in this temporary abode.
And to make sure that we evict anything
from our hearts that is not worthy of
residing in a heart that says, لا إله
إلا الله محمد رسول الله The rent to
live in the heart that says لا إله
إلا الله محمد رسول الله Is more than
fifth avenue.
And that framework looks at life through three
areas.
And you may want to listen to this
very carefully.
The first is the decree of God.
What Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has decreed
or the test of God if you will.
The tests that come our way.
الابتلاء Number two is the command of God.
The challenge that we face living in a
largely non-Muslim society Is that if we're
not careful, If we're not learning and actively
learning Islamic theology, We will learn it from
other sources.
Because if we're not learning from our scholars
and our texts and our ulemas, Something is
going to furnish our thoughts about theology.
Whether it's the games we play, the movies
we watch, the music you may listen to.
I've noticed this a lot of times when
people come into my office And they say
like, I have problems with Islam.
You start to unpack it.
The problem isn't that they know Islam.
The problem is that they're ignorant of Islam.
I'm talking about Muslims.
And what has filled their theological imagination is
Mufti Joel Osteen.
Or Mufti Travis Scott.
Or Mufti Shahrukh Khan.
It's not Mufti Taqeedin Usmani.
And that's a very important concept within Islam.
That something that's empty will be filled.
Either deliberately or inadvertently.
And usually it's our surroundings.
It's usually our surroundings.
So first is we have to learn that
the world is a place of tests.
It's created as a place of tests.
الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتُ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبُلُوكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمْرَةً
Who created death, which is this world, and
life, which is the akhira, as a test.
What is that test?
And here's where I want you to listen,
please.
When the test of Allah contradicts the command
of Allah.
When Allah's test in our life contradict His
commands.
For example, I go to school.
Everyone around me are non-Muslim.
But Allah has commanded me to believe.
That contradiction can leave me confused.
I come to certain cities or towns to
live.
And I find that may Allah protect us
that even the people in the Islamic school
are ratchet.
Even the people in the masjid are shady.
So I say to myself, subhanAllah, I came
to the masjid to be good.
And Allah is testing me with these people.
Even though He's commanded us to be good
to one another.
I go online to start a dawah account
and I get a million haters.
And I'm shocked, like subhanAllah, I'm trying to
do good.
You know, I got like NorTalk on TikTok,
and I got this and that.
I'm being attacked.
And then in society, why is there so
much evil in the world?
Why is Gaza happening?
Why did Kashmir happen?
Why is the Arab Spring happening?
Why is the Muslim world in such a
difficult state?
That's a test from Allah.
And Allah controls His test.
فَعَالُوا لِمَا يُرِيدُ And when that contradicts the
command, I have to find within myself the
resilience to stay on what Allah has commanded.
That is the essence of resilience.
That is the head of sabr.
That is the core of when we talk
about, be patient.
I don't like the word patience.
Be resilient.
Be resilient on the command of Allah when
the test contradicts the command.
That's why you find atheists, they always say,
why is there so much evil in the
world?
Why is there so much injustice in the
world?
And at a micro level we may say,
why is this happening to me?
It's okay to ask that question.
But where does that question lead us to?
And that's why the height of iman is
to worship Allah as though you see Him,
even though you can't see Him.
What does it mean?
That when the world is falling apart in
front of me, I am not deceived by
the delights of this world, as I am
not deceived by the pain and suffering of
this world, because I live for a greater
world.
And that's liqaa Allah.
That's to meet Allah.
And if I want to meet Allah, all
of this is salt on the food.
But what matters is how I'm living.
That's why the Prophet ﷺ said, if the
hour starts and you have a seed in
your hand, plant it.
That takes a lot of resilience.
And that's why the early Muslims, we laud
them with so much praise.
Because in the face of so much existential
contradiction, they found the capacity for resilience.
Resilience for what?
Western society says you should be resilient for
yourself, because the qibla of the West is
the individual.
It is the mihrab of the West is
the individual.
In Islam, we're resilient lillah, for Allah.
And that implies two things when that contradiction
happens.
And that takes me to the third component
of how we look at the world.
Allah's tests, Allah's commands, and our agency, our
utility, the choices I make.
One of my teachers used to say, whoever
knows tawheed well, makes smart choices.
And that's why the Prophet said, المؤمن فاتن
القيّس That the believer is intelligent and smart.
What is it that we believe in?
We believe that there is truth in the
command of Allah.
We believe that there is a promise in
obeying Allah's command.
That what it means to trust in Allah.
Everything I just gave you now was advanced
theology in a very simple way.
That when the world falls apart, I'm not
making ihsan of the world to the point
that I don't see Allah.
I make ihsan of Allah.
So if the world is falling apart, I
see the hukm of Allah in front of
me.
And that's what it means to worship Allah
as though you see Him, even though you
can't see Him.
To make the right choice.
To use my utility for Allah.
The utility He's given me.
وَمَنْ أَرَادَ الْآخِرَةِ Allah says, who wants the
akhirah.
وَسَعَارَهَا سَعْيَهَا And they employ their will to
work for the akhirah.
وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ And they're believers.
فَأُولَئِكَ كَانَ سَعْيُهُم مَّشْكُورًا Then their struggle will
be rewarded.
That takes us to Sayyidina Ayyub.
عليه السلام واذكر Allah says, remember or recall
the story of Ayyub.
إِذْ نَادَى رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَسَنِي الدُّرُ When he
called his Lord and said, I have been
afflicted.
And it's very interesting here we learn adab
with hard times.
We should never say like, why did Allah
do this to me?
Why did Allah make this bad thing happen?
We use the passive tense, it's the etiquette
of the Muslim.
So he says, the sickness afflicted me, not
you afflicted me.
That's why we say, that's why the translation
I have a problem with it.
المَغْضُوبِي are not those who Allah is angry
with explicitly.
It's المَغْضُوبِي those who earned anger.
But when we talk about blessings, we say
what?
أَنَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ Those you favored out of etiquette
with Allah.
We see Khadr in Surah Al-Kahf, even
though Allah controls good and bad, all things
are coming from Allah, out of adab with
Allah.
Khadr, what does he say after he talks
to Musa?
وَمَا فَعَلْتُهُ مِنْ أَمْرِي I didn't have anything
to do with this.
I was commanded to do this.
But when he talks about the boat and
the young boy in the boat, he says,
فَأَرَدَنَا We wanted, we wanted.
When he talks about something bad, he associates
it with himself.
But when he talks about the wall being
built, what does he say?
فَأَرَادَ رَبُّك If something good, he says, your
Lord wants.
Out of adab with Allah, the etiquette with
Allah, in the face of difficult times.
That's what we find, subhanAllah, in Surah A
'riyam Raan.
After Maryam's mother gave birth to a daughter,
she wanted a boy because of the patriarchy
at that time, that a woman couldn't go
into the temple.
When she saw that she had a girl,
إِنِّي وَضَعَتُهَا أُنْتَا وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا وَضَعَتْ One
qira'ah, it says that Allah knows best
what she gave birth to, but the other
qira'ah from Shu'ba and Asim from
the seven, she says, وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا وَضَعْتُهُ
أَبَدًا أَدَى أَدَبًا بِمَا قَدَى اللَّهُ لَهَا The
different qira'ah doesn't say, Allah knows best
what she gave birth to, it says, I
know this is what Allah wanted for me.
So she corrects herself.
I'm happy with whatever Allah gave me, alhamdulillah,
I'm with Allah.
There are a number of ways that our
resilience is challenged in this moment.
And I wanna highlight them very quickly.
There's a great text called Al-Hikm of
Imam Ibn Ata'allah.
The first ten hikm are really about dealing
with resilience, dealing with contradictions.
The first one he mentions is tests.
What I talked about now, he says, مِنْ
عَلَمَاتِ الْإِعْتِمَاتِ عَلَى الْعَمَلِ نُقْسَانُ الرَّجَاءِ عِندَ وَجُودُ
الزَّلَلِ He said, from the sign that you
trusted in your deeds, you didn't trust in
Allah, you trusted in you.
I'm a shaykh, I'm a imam, I'm a
azhari, I'm a convert, I'm from Baltimore, whatever,
drew heel.
I'm from this country, I speak this language,
all this is fitan.
Because none of that matters without Allah.
وَمَا تَوْفِيقِي إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ So he says, from
the signs that you trusted in your deeds,
you didn't trust in the test to have
the resilience for the test, is that you
lose hope when the test comes.
Because the hope wasn't with Allah.
So whether it's good or bad, I'm with
Allah.
If it's bad, I'm resilient, I get rewarded,
the hadith of Sayyidina Suhaib from the Prophet.
If it's good, I'm thankful, والحمد لله and
I'm rewarded.
I don't care about pain and suffering, and
this and that, and this and that.
I care about Allah, being obedient to Allah,
and responsible to the people around me, and
making the people around me happy, bi'idhnillah.
So the first test when they happen, and
that's what we find with Sayyidina Ayub, he's
resilient, he doesn't lose hope, he doesn't worry
about himself, he knows Allah, وَأَنتَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ
You're the most merciful of all those who
give mercy.
The second challenge to our trust in Allah
and our being resilient, is actually religiosity.
How many times has a religious person been
deceived by their religiosity?
How many times have them thinking that they're
the best thing since the, you know, sliced
sheikh in the local halal market.
Deceive them into arrogance and looking down on
the other people.
Ibn Jawzi says, the one whose pants are
above his ankle, but his heart is above
the people, is a person of *.
So Ibn Ta'ala says, اِيَاكَ, Be careful.
التَجْرِيدِ مَعِقَامَةِ اللَّهِ Be careful of trying to
peel things away Allah gave you, means suddenly
you became religious and now you want to
get rid of everything.
People convert, they tell them, you have to
change your entire life.
No you don't, you have to administrate and
negotiate your life.
Because to irresponsibly just get rid of everything
is not a sign of resilience, it's a
sign of what he says, اِيَاكَ مِنَ الشَّهْوَ
الْخَفِيَّةِ Of a hidden desire.
The need to suddenly and cathartically destroy everything
in my life, instead of trying to negotiate
it with the sharia and be responsible, can
actually be the indication of a hidden desire
for destruction.
Then he says, and be careful if you
are someone that Allah has protected from the
dunya, that you want the world.
Because this will impact your resilience and take
you down to a lower station.
The third is passion.
How many times I remember it was the
MSA, people would say, this has to happen,
why?
Because we want it to happen.
But my passion means nothing in front of
the will of Allah, the test of Allah.
I am with Allah.
وَمَا تَوْفِيقِ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ وَإِلَيْهِ أُنِيرٌ
So what does he say in the hikmah?
سَوَابِقُ الْهِمَمِ لَا تُخْرِقُ الْأَسْوَارِ الْأَقْدَارِ Your passion,
what you think is important, can never penetrate
the fortress of what Allah has decreed.
You try, but you leave it to Allah.
That's the fourth that undermines our ability to
be...
Because when these things happen, oh man, I
give up man, Allah hates me.
You ain't that special.
Somebody comes to me like, you know what,
I didn't return salams, so I know like
Allah has cursed my year.
That's narcissism.
It's a narcissistic idea like, all of the
evil in the world is because of me.
It's weird.
You're not Sisi.
You're not Biden.
All of the evil world is not coming
from you.
You're not that important.
Maybe we don't know about you, you're making
us worried.
But the evil that we know ain't that
bad.
So sometimes amplifying your sin as though it
impacts everything in the world, is a form
of riyah and showing off and a lack
of ikhlas.
If I believe my sin is that great,
I'm not gonna turn to creation, I'm gonna
turn secretly to Allah.
Say, ya Allah, please forgive me.
So he says the next, ارح نفسك بطرق
التدبير He says, give yourself a break from
trying to administrate outcomes all the time.
American society believes it can control outcomes.
And it makes the focus on outcomes.
Islamic theology focuses on the means and leaves
the outcomes to Allah.
It's very different.
So he says, stay away from all that,
trying to plan, like leave room for Allah.
You should never say to someone, Allah will
never forgive you, Allah will never guide you,
you're the worst.
You should never say that, it's not your
business.
This is the business of Allah.
The next he says, and I'll stop here
because of time.
And this is perhaps one of the ones
that assails quote-unquote religious people.
He says, do not allow a delayed response.
مع الحائف الدعاة With a lot of dua,
موجب ليأسك Cause you to despair.
Sometimes I've been asking Allah to get married
to this person for two weeks.
I'm done with Islam.
I hate my imam.
I'm jumping on Reddit.
I'm gonna join, you know, ex-Muslims Reddit.
Because two weeks of this trial, as though
you got wet samosas.
It ain't that bad.
But what did he say?
Do not allow the delayed gift coupled with
a lot of dua, موجب ليأسك to cause
you to despair and lose your resilience.
فإنه ضمن لك الإجابة Allah guaranteed you, He
will answer you.
فيما يختار لك What He chose for you,
not what you chose for yourself.
وفي الوقت الذي يريد In a time He
appointed, not a time you appointed.
So these are some of the challenges to
maintaining resilience.
The contradiction of evil and good.
The Muslim sees evil and good as an
opportunity.
Number two is the story of Sayyidina Ayyub
who holds it down in the face of
a very serious test to be resilient on
Allah's command.
And the etiquette with Allah's decree.
And then we said in the hikm, I
didn't go through all of them, because obviously
time.
The very first around eight hikm are all
about challenges to your resiliency.
Tests, religiosity, passion, over planning outcomes, and a
delayed dua.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us
from the people of resilience.
As the Prophet said, nobody was given anything
better than resilience.
بركة الله فيكم و السلام عليكم.