Tahir Anwar – Prayer for Rain Turning to God in Tribulation
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Begin in the name of Allah, most gracious,
most merciful. I bear witness that there's none
worthy of worship except the one Allah and
that his beloved Nabi and prophet Muhammad
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him
as his last and final messenger.
We begin by praising
Allah asking Allah
for his help, his protection, his mercy, his
blessing, his sustenance,
and praying and begging Allah
to make us amongst the most successful individuals
both in this life and the hereafter.
We begin by seeking forgiveness from Allah
and repenting to Allah
for our individual
shortcomings, our communal shortcomings,
the shortcomings of the believers, the shortcomings of
those who don't believe,
and asking Allah
for his immense mercy
as a result
of the young amongst us, as a result
of the elderly amongst us, as a result
of those
amongst us who are close to him and
in proximity
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala reminds us in the Quran and says,
have they not seen that we drive the
water into in in the clouds to barren
land.
And bring forth thereby crops.
That
with which their livestock
and they themselves eat.
Do they not see?
This immense blessings that we have from Allah.
Every blessing
is from
Allah that we have.
Everything that we own, everything that we utilize,
everything that we sometimes tend to forget.
And we boast about
It's all from the almighty Allah
And when Allah gives, it is out of
his wisdom.
And when he withholds, that is also out
of his wisdom.
I had
the water
not been taken away from us. We wouldn't
have had this opportunity to fulfill the sunnah
of the Nabi Muhammad
and this water not been taken away from
us. We might not have had this opportunity
to seek forgiveness from Allah
and repent to Allah
which is why we're reminded of that tradition
of the prophet peace be upon
him that in all of the affairs of
the believer,
right, there is faith.
There is goodness.
Right?
If goodness receives them, if they receive goodness,
they're in gratitude and that's good for them.
And if there's difficulty that comes their way,
they are patient.
And that is also
good for them. And so the wisdom
behind the things that we don't understand or
sometimes become an extremely uneasy about.
Right? Only Allah
knows that wisdom.
But as a community,
right? It behooves every single one of us
to do our part individually and collectively
to seek the mercy from Allah.
Right? Right? Seek forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. In the Surah of no
Allah
says
after the after the water, the promise of
Mafil, immediately Allah
you'll see
this. Right?
Allah subhanahu, the first thing Allah promises after
istihafal
is water, is rain.
And so in this in this blessed moment,
in this blessed day, in this blessed time,
in this blessed gathering, we ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for forgiveness.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for water.
We,
We ask Allah
for helpful rain, wholesome rain, healthy rain, beneficial
rain.
And we ask Allah
divine mercy for this rain. And it's so
good to see the elderly and especially the
young amongst us because the mercy of Allah
is with those individuals, right, with those individuals.
And so we ask ourselves, right, a simple
question
that what can I do in all of
this in addition to simply making istighfar?
Right. In addition to simply making istighfar, very,
very practical brothers and sisters. Now we need
to make
of ourselves, take ourselves into accounting,
and ask ourselves, is there anyone whose rights
I have usurped? Is there anyone that I
have hurt? Is there anyone that I collectively
hurt? What is my behavior like? What is
my attitude like? Am I humble?
Right? There's times when we are arrogant in
front of, you know, of elders, in front
of the young, in front of people around
us, things that we get away with.
And generally, when we get away with this
kind of bad behavior, the response generally is
that's just how they are.
Right? That's just how they are. That's just
their personality. They're always like that. That doesn't
work with Allah
Right? That doesn't work with God almighty. We
need to truly live look into ourselves.
And we can't it's very easy to put
the blame, especially in the land that we
live in or in the type of area
that we happen to live in with the
amount of sins and the types of sins
that are being committed. It's very easy for
us to point our fingers towards those individuals.
But in this moment, I think that as
believers, we need to take some responsibility
as well.
And the responsibility
that we need to take is that Allah
has blessed me with iman and Allah has
blessed me with faith.
And as a result of this, I have
a relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And as a result of that relationship with
God, as a result of that relationship with
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah would open the
doors of his mercy. Allah would answer our
prayers, not just on behalf of myself but
on behalf of the entire community and the
entire.
Right? On behalf of the entire community and
the entire.
The wisdom of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A
week ago, I began a 1700 mile journey
by car.
Right? I began a 1700 mile journey by
car as I was traveling.
Right? California was barren. California was dry. Some
of the reservoirs that we are used to
seeing filled are extremely empty.
Yet you arrived. I arrived in a different
state, but it was pouring so much that
it slowed down my driving.
I had to complete it was in the
middle of nowhere.
Extreme rain in the middle of absolutely
nowhere.
And here I was just, you know,
slightly
struck and dumbfounded.
Right? Again, this is the wisdom of Allah
and I'm thinking, you Allah, this water could
be used where I live.
Now, for me to say that this water
is of no use to the land in
which it's raining, that would be my ignorance
because I'm sure that there are creatures and
animals and land that happen to benefit from
that rain.
But at the same time, in my mind,
I'm thinking this water could be used elsewhere
to y'all life. You just took this cloud
and moved it over just by a little.
Right? Like, we click a mouse and we
move things around. Young people, you know what
I'm talking about? Take a little mouse and
move it around, and all of a sudden,
you're in a different part of the screen.
Allah can easily take that cloud and move
it over.
And this is this is a metaphor especially
for the young. That's essentially what we're asking
for today. That's what we want you to
ask Allah
for today. That you Allah, all your clouds
that are in so many different places. We
just want you to take this divine this
divine mouse of yours and I'm using a
metaphorical term. I don't want people to get
caught up.
Right? Take that metaphorical mouse of yours and
take that cloud and just move it over.
And why? Because a group from amongst the
individuals, the believers,
gathered and asked Allah
for forgiveness.
And in this, I just wanna close, you
know, I just wanna share one hadith and
then I will close.
And this is not just for the situation
that we happen
to be in, but for our individual and
collective situation.
The Nabi alayhi salatu wa salam says if
anyone constantly seeks pardon and forgiveness from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah will appoint
a way out of that a way for
that individual from out out of every distress.
A relief from every anxiety
and provide for them from where they never
imagined.
Right? From where they never imagined. And so
today, with that intention,
we make is the fall. We seek forgiveness
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We do a
little bit of introspection
and look into ourselves
and say, what can I do better with
those around me?
Right? Some of the the cardinal sin is
that of arrogance.
Card amongst the cardinal sins in our tradition
is that of arrogance.
Is that of disobeying parents? I'm not talking
about other things while there are many other
greater sins.
But many of those sins such as adultery
or alcohol and so on and so forth.
For the most part, don't affect the Muslims
as much as certain other things.
But when we look into our own community,
arrogance,
right, treating people with ill behavior,
putting people down,
disobeying the elderly.
These are things that affect our day to
day lives.
So I remind myself, Awadim, first and foremost,
I ask myself and remind myself
of my responsibilities
towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And in reminding
myself,
I I I remind all of you and
everyone else to to be cognizant of certain
things that we can do better in our
lives. Through which we seek the divine mercy
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala for his help. We ask
Allah
for his assistance. We ask Allah
for his for his blessings and we ask
Allah for
blessed reign on this community.
Right? Our community,
year after year year, has witnessed miracles. Some
of you may remember one of the first
that
we held in Pleasant and not too far
from here a few years ago. You know,
soon after we saw a range from Allah
and so we, again,
water will come. Blessings will come in their
due time,
in the divine time that Allah
has promised. But we ask Allah
out of his will and out of his
generosity
to speed it up on our community and
make it easy for all of us, for
the believers and non believers, for the young
and the elderly, the humans and the animals
and for everyone. May Allah
answer our prayers.
We once again seek forgiveness from Allah
and some of the other,
Madahib,
you know, just as in the when
we recite, we continuously recite the in the
beginning and in the middle of the and
towards the end of the there are narrations
in which people would actually make as they
fall a numerous amount of time during,
their. So we once again seek forgiveness from
Allah
ask
Allah for his mercy. We ask Allah
to forgive us if there's any
little or big major or minor sin that
I have committed as an individual. Oh Allah,
I ask for your forgiveness. That if there's
people in our community who have done things
wrong, oh Allah, we ask for your forgiveness.
You Allah, we ask that in this very
moment, you inspire us, guide us, and bless
all of us to mend and and and
fix our ways so that we would become
closer to you, oh Allah, so that we
would receive your mercy, oh Allah. We would
receive your blessings, oh Allah, that the goodness
that you have continued to give to us
is not withheld, you Allah. And in this
very specific moment and with this with this
salah, with the intention that we have today,
oh Allah, we are specifically today seeking rain
from you, you, Allah. We are specifically seeking
water from you, you, Allah. We have seen
the fires last year. We continue to see
them this year, you, Allah. There are so
many people's lives who have been destroyed, you,
Allah. You, Allah, we ask for your mercy
and your blessings, you Allah. We ask for
your mercy and your blessings, you Allah. We
seek your forgiveness, oh Allah. We seek your
forgiveness, oh Allah. We seek your forgiveness, oh
Allah. We seek your forgiveness, oh Allah. We
seek your forgiveness, oh Allah. We seek your
forgiveness, oh Allah.
That if there's anything that I am doing
in my life that happens to be harmful
to those around me, you Allah, that I
would change my ways. I would mend my
ways. I would be kind to my elders.
I would be merciful to those younger than
me. That, you Allah, my my my siblings
and my my spouse and my children and
and all the people that I immediately live
with who can be a result of goodness
or punishment,
you Allah, we ask that those those relationships
become a source of your blessings, you Allah,
and not become a source of punishment, you
Allah. And, oh Allah, in this blessed moment,
we we seek from you, you Allah, helpful,
wholesome, healthy rain, you Allah. That is not
harmful, you Allah. Now and not later, You
Allah. Now and not later, You Allah. Now
and not later, Oh Allah, we ask that
you accept our duas.
May Allah reward all of us, for being
here inshallah today, and we ask Allah
to answer our prayers
and answer our duas.
While we all,
insha'Allah, anticipate
and, you know, seek a miracle from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala to be able to see
the rain come down soon. I also wanna
take a moment to remind myself first and
everyone else that in this moment, let us
take this practice of istighfar at home. Right?
At at for the very least, if if
those that are present, those that are watching
online, wherever you may be, you know, when
we're alone in the car and we're driving
home, driving to the masjid, let's make a
regular regular word of istifa.
Right? Regular and it could be in any
language. It doesn't have to be in Arabic,
you know, in Urdu, Amazee, whatever you want.
Seek forgiveness from Allah with the specific intention
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would bless myself
as an individual, all of us, our community,
and our neighborhoods with his blessings, but most
importantly, in this difficult time, water inshallah.
I also wanna take a moment to seek
forgiveness from my dear teacher and elder.
You know,
our tradition is that we don't speak in
in the presence of our elders, and and
happens to be here. May Allah bless him
and reward him and and sanctify him and
and protect his secret inshallah. But I I
seek your forgiveness.