Suleiman Hani – I Have Your Back Help Others And Allah Helps You
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of support and cooperation among individuals, particularly those who have been fleeing or migrating from different lands. They stress the importance of deeds and the deeds as indicators of happiness and success, and stress the importance of rewarding one's actions in reality. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of providing support to individuals with health or mental health issues, and encourages them to be helpful. They stress the importance of complete tasks and not bringing up the fact that one did it for others, and advise the audience to focus on helping others, even in difficult situations.
AI: Summary ©
One of the most interesting aspects of the
Seed of the Prophet ﷺ is the hijrah,
the migration, and specifically the one moment when
you hone in on the concept of brotherhood,
ukhuwa.
And anytime we say brotherhood or ukhuwa or
he or yaani huwa in the Arabic language,
we're talking about men and women.
The Prophet ﷺ commanded the Ansar, those who
are in Medina, they're established.
When the migrants, the muhajireen, the immigrants who
are fleeing for their lives, when they reach
you in Medina, to support them.
And so he partnered up one family with
one family.
And what would they do?
We have many examples in the seerah, but
amongst them they would support them.
Whatever you need, I'm there for you.
You want half of my wealth, I'll give
it to you.
You want half of my land, I'll give
it to you.
One companion who said, I have two parts
to my home, half of it is yours.
So from the very beginning, the Prophet ﷺ
was emphasizing that Islam is not an individualistic
religion.
Especially in times of fear.
Especially when people become more isolated.
Likewise in our world today.
Many times when there is fear, whether it's
economic or political, local or global, people tend
to hold back.
And holding back is not just financial, in
the economic sense.
Holding back means sometimes people are constantly focused
on, what does my family need?
And they prioritize it, but sometimes they forget
to ask, what about my neighbor?
What about my brothers?
What about my sisters?
Here and around the world.
I remember one of the most, for me,
impactful moments in Jordan was meeting Syrian refugees
who had been refugees for over a decade
now.
May Allah ﷻ make it easy for them
and all of our brothers and sisters in
every land and place.
And one of the the mothers there lost
her entire family except for her grandchildren.
She said, I'm constantly making dua for the
people that Allah ﷻ sends our way through
organizations and relief programs.
She said, I know my trust is in
Allah and these people are vehicles.
But what helps really emotionally and psychologically is
when one of them, one of these organizations
would say, whatever you need, know that we
are here for you.
I have your back, we're supporting you, we're
taking care of you.
Something happens, arises, you're not alone.
She said, although my trust is in Allah
ﷻ fully, having a sense that there's support
amongst our ummah, amongst our community helps.
And of course it helps.
Countless studies have found in psychology and sociology,
the role that people have in supporting others
and how it impacts their emotional well-being
and the emotional well-being of those they
support.
In fact, giving, supporting, I don't mean just
charity, supporting others and alleviating their hardships is
one of the greatest antidotes to sadness and
depression.
One of the greatest antidotes to a life
that seems meaningless.
To have a role where you can alleviate
the affairs of other people and of course
even today those who are migrating from different
lands and fleeing for their lives, Syria and
Palestine, Sudan and many other lands and places.
May Allah ﷻ make it easy for all
of our brothers and sisters and all of
us here who have migrated or our parents
have migrated due to conflict, due to hardship,
due to oppression.
We know the importance of supporting each other.
We know how crucial it is in times
of darkness in the world or in our
personal challenges for there to be the light
of support, for there to be the light
of the alleviation of affairs.
And when we talk about these matters, I
want us to focus on a very quickly
just a recap of things that we have
heard, inshallah ta'ala, we'll touch on these
but we've probably heard thousands of times.
The reminder from the Prophet ﷺ المؤمن للمؤمن,
the believer to the other believer كالبنيان is
like a building meaning they reinforce each other.
The famous حديث لا يؤمن أحدكم meaning none
of you will have complete إيمان حتى يحب
لأخي ما يحب لنفسه until you love for
your brother what you love for yourself.
The famous حديث أنصر أخاك ظالمًا أو مظلومًا
support your brother oppressor or oppressed.
As for the oppressor, you stop them from
oppressing others.
You stop them from hurting others and as
for the oppressed, it is self-evident.
When we think of these narrations, we look
at how in a way you want to
treat people based on your compassion, your sincerity
and your full trust that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ
تَعَالَى will also treat you in a way
as an extension of how you treat His
creation and there are so many examples but
I want to share one lengthy حديث and
break it down inshallah ta'ala as an
example of this.
The Prophet ﷺ says أحب الناس إلى الله
أنفعهم للناس The beginning of the حديث, it's
very straightforward, the most beloved people to Allah
may Allah make us amongst them are those
who are most beneficial to others.
So you're constantly scanning your environment at work,
at school, at home, wherever you are online
and if you see an opportunity or the
ability to create an opportunity to help others
then do so.
وَحَبُّ الْأَعْمَالِ إِلَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَى And the
most beloved of deeds to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى
the majestic سُرُورٌ تُدْخِلُهُ عَلَى مُسْلِمٍ Number one
amongst them is to bring happiness to another
believer.
أَوْ تَكْشِفُ عَنْهُ كُرْبَةً Or to relieve a
burden from them.
أَوْ تَقْضِي عَنْهُ دَيْنًا Or to remove a
debt from them.
أَوْ تَطْرُدُ عَنْهُ جُوعًا Or to alleviate their
hunger.
These are all examples of the most beloved
of deeds to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى Every one
of these in reality requires its own Friday
khutbah.
But this in particular, the central part of
the hadith, is remarkable in enlightening us of
how rewarding it is.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم continued وَلَأَنْ
أَمْشِيَ مَعَ أَخِي فِي حَاجَةٍ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِنْ
أَعْتَكِفَ فِي هَذَا الْمَسْشِدِ يعني مسجد المدينة شهراً
For me to walk alongside my brother, for
me to go with someone, for me to
alleviate the affairs of my brother or sister
is more beloved to me than i'tikaf in
this masjid, the masjid of the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم We know the reward of
i'tikaf, to isolate in the masjid, to worship
and seclude yourself.
So imagine a month, not in a masjid,
but in the masjid of the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم And he is telling us
صلى الله عليه وسلم The one who stood
in qiyam until his ankles would swell, the
one who prayed throughout the nights صلى الله
عليه وسلم for many hours, he is telling
us it is more beloved to him to
alleviate the burden of your brother or your
sister to walk with them and take care
of the matter meaning it's not just like
a quick fix, you had to put in
some effort, it's a sacrifice You may have
even sacrificed i'tikaf, might have sacrificed voluntary acts
of worship But what you did here is
so much greater than that And it's a
powerful reminder of the role of relieving others
of their hardships in Islam And how important
it is, especially in times like this And
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم continued to
give examples about those who restrain their angers
or refrain with regards to their anger And
then finally at the very end of the
narration, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said
وَمَنْ مَشَىٰ مَعْ أَخِيهِ Whoever walks with his
brother في حاجةٍ To take care of his
affairs حَتَّى تَهَيَّأَتْ لَهُ أَثْبَتَ اللَّهُ قَدَمَهُ يَوْمَ
تَزُولُ الْأَقْدَامِ Whoever takes care of the affairs
of his brother You complete the task You
started off helping, it may have taken longer
than you anticipated And you took care of
the task The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
said Especially if you here accomplish it Allah
will make your feet firm on the day
when many feet will not be firm And
the feet that are not firm on that
day are not firm because they have shortcomings
May Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى protect us from
that What's another example that we know of
Where the sense that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى
will treat you in a way Based on
how you treat his creation One of the
famous narrations ends with وَاللَّهُ فِي عَوْنِ الْعَبْدِ
مَا كَانَ الْعَبْدُ فِي عَوْنِ أَخِهِ Allah is
in the aid of his servants So long
as the servant is in the aid of
his brother or his sister In a way
as you exemplify to your brothers and your
sisters around the world locally and globally I
have your back Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى has
your back Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى will give
you a divine support Don't wonder about the
how Don't wonder from what source Allah will
take care of you just as you are
sincerely taking care of his creation اِرْحَمُوا مَن
فِي الْأَرْضِ اِرْحَمْكُم مَن فِي السَّمَاءِ Take care
and have mercy or be merciful to those
who are on the earth And the one
above the heavens will be merciful to you
One of the interesting sayings of the companions
about this Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما
He says indeed Allah has servants amongst his
creation To whom the people will turn to
in fulfilling their needs and bringing them joy
So people when they think who can I
call for help?
Who should I message?
Who should I go to?
Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما He's saying there
are people that Allah has made appealing for
this And then he says about this Such
are the ones that are secure from the
punishment of Allah on the day of judgment
Because of how much they alleviated the burdens
of others in this world And that people
would frequently turn to them It's not always
easy It's a sacrifice in time and effort
and other things you have going on But
that call from your brother from your friend
That the situation that you know took place
where you can serve in some form Some
capacity is a reason for you to be
safe on the most difficult of days This
concept of saying I've got your back In
the English common language I've got your back
It's interesting to think about the Arabic expressions
that are similar to this in the dua
One of them we should be saying every
night before we sleep So the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم One of the narrations where
he taught us a dua to make wudu
and go to your bed And then make
this dua اللهم أسلمت نفسي إليك I submit
myself to you ووجهت وجهي إليك And I
turn to you figuratively وفوطت أمري إليك I
hand over my affairs to you والجأت ظهري
إليك And I lean my back on you
Meaning for support I lean on you for
support O Allah So what's amazing about the
commentary on this particular dua Is the one
who wants more of that support As you
ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى for a greater divine
assistance From above the heavens Allah سبحانه وتعالى
will grant you more of that In proportion
to how much support you offer others How
many people you've said to Or have exemplified
in some form I've got your back And
Allah سبحانه وتعالى will take care of you
In ways you cannot possibly imagine And He
will bless you in ways you cannot imagine
May Allah سبحانه وتعالى make us from amongst
these people اللهم أمين The history of this
term or expression I've got your back In
the English language Most likely we don't know
But most likely it was literal It was
literal in the battlefield It was literal in
wars Where someone would say cover my back
Meaning I can't see behind me So I'm
asking you to take care of me If
somebody's coming to attack me I've got your
back Or I've got your six sometimes What's
interesting about it is that yes Although it
was perhaps used most commonly In the context
of a battle And you're talking here about
the saving of one's life I've got your
back I'm covering you It came to obviously
carry a more extensive meaning A very broad
meaning Now it's also financial, emotional, psychological Most
cases that we use it for are supportive
I've got your back What do you need?
Whatever you need help with I've got your
back Think about the impact of these words
On someone who's going through a lot of
pain Mental anguish A lot of challenges And
the entire day or the entire week Or
the entire month Not a single sense of
support Even from the people that they pray
next to The people that they know to
be their brothers and sisters in Islam When
someone says their Shahada out loud Or they
come to the mosque And they say I
want my Shahada to be public And we
welcome them to Islam And we hug them
and say Now you have two billion brothers
and sisters You have a large family around
the world I hope we walk the walk
Because it's easy to welcome someone into Islam
But when they say I need help Or
they want to integrate into a community Or
they want support in some way Like I
want to be part of the social programming
The functions The life that you guys have
I don't want to feel like I'm a
new person I'm isolated Or I've got your
back I'll teach you how to pray I'll
teach you It's going to take time But
I'll be there for you I'll show up
to the masjid I have a busy job
But I'll be there for you Sometimes that's
the reason people stay within Islam Sometimes the
reason people come back to the masajid And
we all know this in some capacity The
support of your brothers and sisters Cannot be
quantified with anything worldly It's more precious And
that's why the reward is so great You
know Yusuf alayhi salam When he was in
jail Prophet Yusuf alayhi salam When he was
in prison And he had all these prisoners
with him There's a specific part of the
ayah Part of the story Inna naraka minal
muhsineen We know that you are amongst We
see that you are amongst those who do
good One of the tabi'een He commented
on this Addahak rahimahullah He commented on this
And he said that Yusuf alayhi salam His
kindness His ihsan Was referring to that If
someone in that prison cell was sick He
would be supportive If the space was tight
He would make room for them If someone
needed something He would gather it for them
In other words Inna naraka minal muhsineen We
see that you're a good person He proved
it He walked the walk And so when
someone needed something Even behind prison walls Where
you feel like You don't really have much
to offer He was very supportive Alayhi salam
So the believer looks for every opportunity Day
and night Wherever you are Whether you're at
work or school Or anywhere in between Whenever
you see an opportunity to serve others Race
to it You're racing to Allah's mercy You're
racing to the reward of ihsan You're racing
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Supporting of
your situation as well One of the companions
He said I traveled Sorry one of the
tabireen He said I traveled with Abdullah bin
Umar Radhiallahu anhuma The great companion He said
I traveled with him So I can be
in his service Just so I can help
him Anything you need while you're traveling Difficult
journey I want to go with you just
to help you out And he said But
the entire journey He was serving me You
look at the example of the companions Who
are following the footsteps of the Prophet Sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam And you find we have
Or should have a sense of urgency To
always be helpful In these scenarios that we
are in This applies to any one of
us Think of your own situations Whether it's
your family members And you are supporting them
Parents Your spouse Your children One another Siblings
Whatever it may be Your relatives Your neighbors
You think of the students on campuses Who
can support and help each other You think
of students by the way Who've defended other
students They don't know From bullying From harassment
And sometimes they themselves Could not do anything
But they would bring about The support that
was needed Or they would wait So they
could testify To something that had occurred Yes
that those minutes of sacrifice Are huge on
your part But the reward is so much
greater And the reward says more about who
you are Rather than the people That you
think you are helping You're the one who's
in need of Allah's mercy We are the
ones in need of Allah's ihsan towards us
Ultimately When it comes to helping other people
We help because we generally Should feel compassion
and mercy towards others It's not because we
just want selfishly reward But yes with it
There's massive massive massive reward And with it
as well There's the protection of Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala In this life And in
the afterlife as well Especially on the day
of judgment Every hardship you alleviate this In
this world From other people's lives As part
of your habit and practice You don't know
what it means What it translates to Of
the hardships you'll be saved from On the
most difficult of days And this again applies
to every situation In some capacity Whether you're
young or old Men or women working or
not Whether it's local or global Helping your
brothers and your sisters Is one of the
many examples Of what it means to be
Muslim Now if we were to think of
some of the etiquettes Which are oftentimes overlooked
We find that amongst them When you want
to alleviate the affairs of other people Number
one I'll mention four or five inshallah ta
'ala For the sake of time Number one
Remember to be sincere in your action This
is for the sake of Allah And do
not mention your favor upon other people Don't
keep mentioning what you did for others Don't
keep bringing up the fact that Remember when
I did that thing for you Or that
gift that I got you Don't even do
so in a subtle way Oh I really
like that jacket And we know you're talking
about the jacket That you bought this person
who needed it Now I'm not talking about
friends Who are joking with each other But
the one who actually legitimately Is helping someone
in need Should never bring it up again
Don't bring up the fact that you served
Don't bring up the fact that you did
this Why?
You did this for the sake of Allah
You didn't do it so they would thank
you So they would feel indebted to you
You did this sincerely for the sake of
Allah Which is why some of the companions
would say Like Abdullah bin Abbas radiallahu anhuma
He said a deed in helping others is
not considered It's not considered fulfilled until you
complete it And so with this you want
to help others Number one sincerely Without mentioning
it multiple times And number two you want
to complete the task You want to actually
get through And that means that sometimes we
start With helping situations or causes of the
ummah But we don't pull through We don't
show up We don't keep going We burn
out And it could be a campaign that's
global It could be a cause that will
probably not end For the next year, two
years, five years, ten years It's possible But
your resilience is connected to your trust In
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Some of the
scholars would say Starting an act of kindness
to other people It may be seen as
a sunnah in many cases Voluntary If there
are a lot of people who can help
Somebody has to do it But once you
start it Fulfilling it and completing it is
a wajib Don't start helping someone And then
cut off the help along the way May
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us ihsan
Inna allaha yuhibbu idha amila ahadukum amalan an
yutqina Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves when
you take Or undertake a task any one
of you That you do so with excellence
And sometimes we say But I have excuses
I'm too busy Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu When
he became the khalifa There was a young
girl Her and her family were always supportive
About Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu She was worried
that now that he's become the khalifa He's
not going to have time for us And
he overheard this It got to him in
some way And he said I am optimistic
I'm hopeful That what I was doing before
Will not stop just because I've entered into
this responsibility And we see this from a
lot of the great companions Sometimes we say
But I'm too busy Or someone else will
do it May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
grant us sincerity Allahumma ameen The third The
scholars say Don't request help in a time
of urgency From someone who is stingy Don't
go to the stingy people They will make
you feel bad And they will kind of
put the burden on your head For the
rest of your life They will keep bringing
it up And so generally speaking They say
go to the people who are generous Go
to the people who are compassionate Go to
the people who are kind So that you're
in a position Where you're not feeling an
additional sense of a burden That I'm being
burdensome Because the stingy person will probably not
do it Or continue to bring it up
And lastly The scholars say Of course On
the receiving end It is important for us
to be thankful And we are thanking Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala By thanking the creation
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told
us من صنع إليه معروف فقال لفاعله جزاك
الله خير فقد أبلغ في الثناء The Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Whoever has done
a favor And then responds to that person
The one who helped you By saying May
Allah reward you with goodness جزاك الله خير
This person has fulfilled Basically the excellence of
praise This is the best thing you can
do جزاك الله خير May Allah reward you
with good Why?
Because what Allah gives you for helping me
Is greater than what I can possibly do
And I know you're not expecting reciprocation You're
not helping because you want something back Because
that's not what we seek That's why we
go back to the first point Which is
that you do so with sincerity May Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us sincerity Remember
once again The topic of helping others It
is related to our states It's related to
what's happening sociologically Psychologically, mentally, emotionally It's
related to the state of the ummah as
well When things get difficult When there's injustice
When there is hardship When there's fear When
there are a lot of changes Politically as
well or economically That a lot of times
people will isolate And they're just worried about
themselves Make sure you are taking care of
the people around you That you are initiating
good causes That you are continuous in your
Or consistent in your activism Your volunteerism for
all types of causes Local and global May
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala keep our hearts
united As one building Reinforcing one another Supporting
each other والمؤمنون والمؤمنات بعضهم أولياء وبعض Believing
men and women are supporters Allies to one
another May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bring
down His divine justice and relief For our
brothers and sisters In every land and every
place اللهم آمين أقول قولي هذا واستغفروا عني
ولكم فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرحيم