Usama Canon – Understanding Gods Plan For Us
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AI: Transcript ©
When you speak publicly, as often as I
am unfortunately charged with doing, the subject matter
of lectures can become very repetitive.
Topics can become cliche.
And that can result in a very real
challenge of either speaking in a way that
is disinterested, meaning that you're speaking in a
way that you're not interested in the topic,
or can force the speaker to talk, to
make themselves feel enthusiastic about a topic that
might otherwise not be, may not excite them.
This evening's topic is one that I have
spoken about before.
And for a couple of reasons, it captured
me from the moment that I found out
I was going to be speaking about it
first.
The first reason for that is upon arrival,
Mohamed Nasser pulled me aside.
And as soon as the gates opened at
the airport and here in Singapore, he says
to me, we have a crisis.
And in my country, crisis is a very
loaded word.
So I was worried.
I said, Habib's not coming, is he?
And then I saw the golden arches in
front of me, McDonald's.
He said, come sit down.
And so I knew something was really, there
was serious news.
So he wouldn't answer me.
But he said, I said, Habib isn't coming.
Now, like all of you, I was very
excited to see Habib Omar Hafidhullah this evening.
And that's actually why I'm in Singapore.
I'm here because I believe that Habib Omar
was going to be here.
And like all of you, I am both
disappointed in his absence.
But also, I had a moment before talking
about this idea of understanding God's plan, I
had a moment to be able to really
reflect upon this idea.
You travel from California to Singapore.
Let's just say it's not exactly a short
trip.
It's a fairly lengthy trip.
And you come here because you want to
see somebody.
And then you find out that that individual
who you want to see is not going
to be there.
So then you have to ask a question,
who willed this?
Who is the one who decreed that he
would not be here?
And you understand that it's Allah.
And then you remember when he says, perhaps
you hate a thing and it is good
for you.
Perhaps you dislike a thing and it is
good for you.
And then I reflected and I said, subhanAllah,
I planned for several months to be here
and traveled all this way.
And for some reason, I wasn't that bothered.
I wasn't as disturbed as I probably otherwise
would have been.
And I was thankful to Allah for that.
I said, alhamdulillah, mashallah, he's not here, it's
okay.
There are other noble people to benefit from
and there's a beloved community here to see.
But then I reflected at an even deeper
level and said, what is it that we
are even thinking about ourselves?
What is it that we are even thinking
about how I feel about it when my
teacher lost his uncle?
How absurd is it that I'm even thinking
about me at all when somebody who I
claim to love is in a situation where
they have lost their beloved.
Look how selfish we are, may Allah forgive
us.
May Allah forgive us.
And then I thought to myself, subhanAllah, we
expect so much from our teachers, so much
from our leaders, so much from our mashayikh.
And we have gone to the blame with
the extent of almost treating them like they're
entertainers.
Almost treating them like they're there to serve
us.
Almost measuring the value of what they give
us by how it makes us feel and
how excited we may have been when in
reality the question is about how much we
benefit from what they are teaching us.
So I got to think about this, understanding
Allah's plan.
And then I remember the saying of one
of the knowers of Allah who said, ma
'araftu Allaha illa binaqtil aza'im.
I did not come into realized knowledge of
God except through my resolves not being fulfilled.
Meaning what?
Every time I went to do something, it
didn't happen.
I planned and I did everything according to
plan, but then when it went for the
thing to happen, it didn't happen.
And modern people don't like that very much.
They don't like that.
What do you mean?
All the ducks were in a row.
All the T's were crossed.
All the I's were dotted.
All the right relationships were built.
I set 14 different alarms on my iPhone,
told my wife to wake me up, and
I still didn't get there on time, subhanAllah.
Knew all of the right people, was in
the right place at the right time, wearing
the right thing, and it still didn't happen
the way I wanted it to happen.
Why?
Because Allah Azawajal is helping you to get
to know Him through knowing yourself and knowing
that you may plan to do something, but
it's not going to happen the way that
you want it to happen.
And then Nasser began to talk to me
about the event.
You know, Muslims, we have events and we
plan for events and a lot of work
goes into it.
And he said, some people may want a
refund.
I said, well, don't tell them I'm coming
because they're really gonna want a refund if
you tell them I'm coming.
In case you didn't know, I'm not Habib
Omar.
If anyone wasn't, of course they're gonna want
a refund.
But I said, not in Singapore, alhamdulillah.
The Muslims here, alhamdulillah, they have big hearts
and they're generous people.
And not only should we not want a
refund, but I would say we should be
willing to pay double what we may have
paid to get here to support simply Islam
and the great work that they're doing and
the great work that other organizations are doing.
And he did not ask me to say
that.
May Allah Ta'ala reward you abundantly for
that.
The second reason this topic captured me is
because like all of you, I'm on a
journey.
I'm on a journey to try to know
myself, to try to understand the world around
me and through that to try to understand
reality and to know my creator, Subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And everybody's journey is different.
A husband and a wife, they live in
the same home, but the husband and the
wife have a unique journey.
A parent and a child, they live in
the same home, but the parent and the
child, they're still on a unique journey to
their Lord.
Two best friends.
If you take the two best friends in
the world, they may spend all day together,
but they're still on a unique journey toward
eternity and a unique journey to try to
come to know their Lord.
So as we reflect upon this topic this
evening, let us do so within that context.
Let us think about it in terms of
how it relates to ourselves first and foremost,
because that's the most important thing.
Not to think about how it relates to
other people and whether or not they understand
God's plan, but how much we actually understand
it as individuals.
And through that, inshallah, we will derive collective
benefit.
My comments will be divided into two parts.
The parts based off of the topic.
Understanding God's plan will be the first part
and then the second part, half empty or
half full.
This first part, understanding God's plan, it's actually
more of a how question than it is
a what or a why question.
What do I mean by that?
As people who have chosen to orient themselves
in the world as believers, we have chosen
that.
You have a choice.
You get to decide, do I want to
believe that Allah is real?
Do I want to acknowledge that he is
real?
And do I want to orient myself from
that position in everything else that I do
and how I understand the world?
Or does a person want to deny that?
There are some people who've chosen to deny
that.
And for them, there's no need to understand
God's plan.
You know, when I worked in the prison,
there was a colleague of mine who was
a psychologist and he was a admitted atheist.
He said he believed in mullah.
He says, there's no God.
And we used to have very interesting conversations.
And when you're a Muslim chaplain, you don't
have to hide the fact that you're Muslim.
You can't because your job title says Muslim.
So there's no point in trying to hide.
So here's the Muslim chaplain and the catheter
doctor for all intents and purposes.
He's a self-admitted non-believing person.
There's no God at all, he's an atheist.
So we used to have really interesting conversations.
So one day I said to him, doctor
so and so, how do you process gratitude?
How do you, what do you do with
the feeling of gratitude?
And he said to me, I think you
and I are having the same emotive experience.
He begins to psychoanalyze me.
I believe you and I are having the
same emotive experience, but you call it gratitude
and I call it appreciation of my circumstances.
In other words, it's just arbitrary.
It's just random.
There's no divine plan.
There's no providence.
There's no God willing this.
It's just circumstances and I appreciate them.
There are people who've chosen to orient themself
in that way.
But as people who've chosen and have been
blessed by fadl ilahi ta'ala to be
people who believe in Allah and say that
we are people who submit to that, it
is actually more a question of how do
I go along with Allah's plan with good
manners?
How do I go along with his plan
and submit to his plan?
More than it is, how do I understand
it every step along the way?
And I'll give you a simple example.
I have a friend who's come here to
Singapore with me before.
His name is Micah Anderson.
He's a white American convert and one of
the things about him is that he's been
all of these different places in the world.
He's kind of a cultural aficionado.
He knows something about everything.
And when you travel with him, he knows
where he's going.
I am challenged in terms of knowing my
way around the city.
The first time I ever rode the subway
in New York alone was last year and
it felt like graduation.
Because I'm usually with Micah.
You know, tell me take this train, take
that train and so on and so forth.
We were just in Osaka and Kyoto a
couple days ago in Japan and I've never
been to Japan before.
You go to a country you've never been
to, you need to know where you're going
and one of the interesting things about Japan
is that they write English words on the
maps but then when you get close to
the map, there's no more English.
So it says Osaka, then you get up
close and it's all Japanese.
So if I was there alone, I wouldn't
have made it to Singapore.
But Micah has been to Osaka before and
so we would leave the hotel and we
would go to the train station and we'd
take this train and take that train and
get off at this stop.
Do you think I asked him every step
of the way, what train are we getting
on?
Where does it end up?
He knows where he's going.
I don't know where I'm going.
I'm not gonna stop him.
If I stopped him and said, are you
sure you know where you're going?
You know what he'd tell me?
Go take your own train.
You go to the doctor and the doctor
tells you, I'm gonna first use a stethoscope
and examine your lungs and then I'm gonna
check your ears and then I'm gonna take
your temperature and so on and so forth.
You tell the doctor, why didn't you do
this first or do that?
He'll tell you, I'm the doctor.
You're the patient.
You don't ask even your doctor.
Maybe a more culturally appropriate example.
You're watching an auntie make murtabak, the best
murtabak maker in all of Singapore.
Murtabak means layers, right?
Layers.
So when does she put the dough?
When does she put the mutton?
When does she put?
You don't say, well, why did you do
it this way?
Why did you do it that way?
She'd tell you what?
Go to McDonald's.
You're not getting murtabak.
You don't ask questions along the way.
So reflect with me for a moment on
this verse from Surah Al-Qasas.
Warabbuka yakhluquna yashak.
Your Lord creates whatever He wills.
Wayakhtaru.
And He chooses what He wants.
Ma kana lahum alkhiyaratu subhanallahi wa ta'ala
amma yushrikun.
They, it is not for them to choose.
Glory be to Allah above all that they
associate with Him.
One of the reasons we don't read the
Quran like we should read the Quran is
because it bothers us.
One of the reasons we don't read the
Quran like we should read the Quran is
because it agitates us.
It's too honest.
It's too direct.
It's too real.
They don't get to choose.
Again, modern people don't like conversations like that.
You mean I don't have a choice?
You all have heard of Facebook.
Facebook.
Have you heard of Facebook?
I went to their campus in California.
A friend of mine works there.
He says you should come to Facebook campus.
For what?
For Jumu'ah.
We had Jumu'ah on the campus at
Facebook.
I said it's definitely the end of time.
We're doing Jumu'ah on the campus of
Facebook.
It is the most amazing thing I've ever
seen.
It's a combination of a university campus and
Disneyland.
Anything you could possibly want to eat is
there.
Anything you could possibly want to drink is
there.
And it's all free.
You come as, if you're an employee, they're
in laundry, they have laundry services.
You drop your clothes off and you pick
your clothes up a few days later.
Anything you could possibly want.
It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen
in my life.
I said to my friend who's there, I
said, do you have a gym?
He said, yes.
I said, do you all have a steam
room in the gym?
He said, no, but I should ask for
it because they'll give it to us.
I said, subhanallah, as if it was Jannah.
So after that, we went there and then
the brothers and sisters who came with us
were amazed at Facebook.
They just want to go to Facebook for
free food and free drinks.
So I made the mistake of taking my
children with me to Facebook one day, the
campus.
And we walked up inside of the cafeteria
and my friend who's hosting us took us
to the soda machine.
He said, there are 266 some different options
from this one soda fountain.
You want Coke with 7-Up, 7-Up
with Coke, cherry, whatever you want.
Did you know that there are some 32
,000 options of drinks at Starbucks?
Combinations, you could, what do you want?
I want a extra hot, half skim, half
low fat, triple shot, cold macchiato.
How's it going to be hot and cold
at the same time?
I don't know.
Modern people don't like to be told you
don't get to make a choice.
You have no choice, you don't get to
make a choice.
Modern people don't like those kinds of conversations.
You don't get to make a choice.
One of our seller found himself very ill
and his friend came to visit him.
And he said to him, mima tashshaki, what's
wrong?
Mima tashshaki, I mean, what are you complaining
of?
What did he say?
Zunubi, my wrong actions.
And we say, what, is it your stomach?
Is it your head?
Is it, what is it?
What do you complain of?
What is your ailment?
He said, zunubi, my wrong actions.
He said, matha tashshahi, what would you like?
When you're sick, people give you whatever you
want.
You want orange juice?
You want chicken soup?
What do you want?
Matha tashshahi, what do you want?
He said, al-jannah, paradise.
He said, halna'tika bi't-tabeeb, should we bring
you a doctor?
And he said, inna't-tabeeba qad hadhar, the
doctor's already present.
The doctor's already here.
And they said, matha qal, what did the
doctor say?
Qala inni fa'aluni ma ureed.
The doctor said, I do whatever I want.
Who's he referring to when he says the
doctor?
He's referring to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
When Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq fell very
ill, they said, halna'tika bi't-tabeeb, should we
bring you a doctor?
He said, al-tabeebu amradani.
He said, the doctor made me sick.
In other words, who's the doctor?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So these are people who understand faith, that
they understand the nature of being a believer.
So you know an authentic conversation about religion
when you feel agitated.
We have to be very careful that we
do not turn our religion into entertainment, that
we do not turn our religion into what
makes us feel good, what feels like a
massage.
An authentic conversation about religion is one that
should make you feel uneasy, not to the
blame or the extent of being dislocated, but
what you should feel uneasy, you should feel
trepidatious as a believer in the world.
You should feel concerned, and you should be
deeply sober inside.
You should be concerned and you should have
a sense of weight and magnitude about things,
because everything's in Allah's hand.
Now the good news is this, it's found
in a narration that Allah says, oh my
servant, anta turid wa ana urid, you want
and I will.
We both have irada.
You have things that you want and I
have things that I want.
Wa inni fa'alun lima urid.
But I, as God, do whatever I want.
Fa idha tarakta ma turidu lima urid, kuntu
laka kima turid.
So if you leave what you want for
what I want, I will be for you
exactly as you want.
La ilaha illallah.
Now people say, but I thought you said
we don't have a choice.
How is Allah going to be how we
want if we don't even have a choice?
What that means is that Allah will inspire
you to preemptively want what He's going to
decree so that when it happens, you have
no objection to it.
It happens and you say, mashallah, mashallah.
That's what Allah willed.
No matter what happens, you don't object to
it.
You don't feel bothered by it.
You don't feel like, oh, it should be
different than it is.
Let's change it.
But you find it exactly suitable.
Now, I want to reflect with you for
a moment.
I'm going to take a little departure.
Reflect with you for a moment on what's
happening to religion in a modern context.
And we have to be very, very careful.
And I say what I'm about to say
is somebody who loves their country and loves
their people.
I'm an American and I'm proud to be
an American and I love America and I
love the American people.
And I mean that with all sincerity.
This study that was done was done by
an American sociologist named Christian Smith in a
book called Soul Searching.
And you should buy this book.
I think it's available on Kindle as well.
And this book is examining, this study is
examining the spiritual and religious lives of American
teenagers.
Why is that important for people in Singapore?
Because globalization doesn't just bring with it genes.
It doesn't just bring with it Justin Bieber.
It doesn't just bring with it Miley Cyrus.
It brings with it Miley Cyrus religion if
you're not careful.
In other words, exportation of American pop culture
can bring with it an exportation of an
American understanding of religion.
And what I mean by that, I'm not
saying this in some anti-American spirit.
I wanna be really clear about that.
I'm the last person who's gonna come here
and bash America.
That's my beloved homeland.
But we have to be really clear about
the fact that what is underway in influencing
the minds, influencing the souls of Muslim youth
across the world are these very same things.
So I want you to think about this.
Christian Smith argues that the notion that there's
some type of separation between the religious identification
of young people and that of their parents
is actually incorrect.
That there's more continuity between teenagers and their
parents in terms of identifying with whatever religious
tradition their parents identified with, that there's more
continuity than is popularly assumed.
He observes, however, that a minority of teens
naturally absorbed by osmosis the content and character
encouraged by the religious traditions.
In other words, what?
Don't worry, we're Muslim.
Our parents were Muslim, so our kids are
naturally going to be Muslim, and they're naturally
going to absorb everything that we absorb from
our parents.
We're in an age where, guess what?
That doesn't happen as easily as it used
to happen.
People used to grow up with firm faith,
strong religion, just because they watched their parents.
You can see you're now in an age
more than ever before, when young people may
have very religious, very devout parents, and but
for some reason, their children lose their iman.
May Allah save us from that.
He says that these religious traditions are being
colonized.
The religious traditions are being colonized by what
he calls moralistic therapeutic deism.
Moralistic therapeutic deism.
If anybody can remember that before the end
of the night, I'll be very happy.
Moralistic therapeutic deism.
Shifting believers from the orthodoxy of their old
faiths toward its alternative vision of quote, divinely
underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness.
He said divinely underwritten personal happiness.
Understanding God's plan.
So what do we mean by that?
Oh, as long as it has in it
my own personal happiness, I'm fine with God's
plan.
But if it does not a happy story
for me, then maybe sign up for a
different plan.
So listen, in simpler terms, he says that
faith is reduced to the following things.
One, God created and ordered the world and
watches over human life on earth.
This is deism.
He created the world and he watches over
life.
Two, God wants people to be good, to
be nice and to be fair to each
other as taught in scripture.
No problem.
We're okay with that.
We agree with that.
Three, good people go to heaven when they
die.
And one of the most common questions asked
by Muslim youth is, what if a person
was a good person but they didn't believe
in God, do they get to go to
heaven?
Which is not really our business in the
first place.
That's up to Allah, who goes to paradise
and who doesn't.
That's not the topic of tonight's conversation.
Four, listen carefully.
The central goal of life is to be
happy and feel good about oneself.
Sound familiar?
The central goal of life is to be
happy and to feel good about oneself.
And finally, and most problematically, God does not
need to be particularly involved in one's life
except when needed to resolve a problem.
May Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
God does not need to be, you know,
Allah, I'm gonna do me, you do you,
but don't get involved unless what?
It's finals time.
I have exams or I'm going to go
ask for this girl's hand in marriage or
I'm going to apply for the job.
All of a sudden, they need Allah.
You need Allah.
So now I need you to get involved,
Allah.
Can you help me out with this thing?
And then when we're done, you go back
to being God and I'll just do me.
Nassallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
That's very, very different than how the Prophet
alayhi wa sallam understood God's plan.
And I'm gonna look at two examples, brief
examples.
Number one, Sayyiduna Rasulullah Muhammad Sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
What personal happiness underwritten, what was in it
for him, did he get?
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Let's try being born an orphan, losing your
mother, losing your grandfather, losing your uncle, being
belied by your people, losing your beloved wife,
Bibi Khadija radiallahu anha, being exiled from your
homeland, having your companions killed, having lamb innards
thrown on your back because you told people
that there's no God but Allah, people trying
to kill you, people putting spells against you,
people putting assassination attempts on your life, et
cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Okay, at one of the low points, when
the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam no longer
has support in Makkah, he goes to Ta
'if, وكان يعرض نفسه على القبائل Sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
And he used to go to the tribes
and ask for them to help him to
deliver the message, just give me support, why?
They already offered him money, they already offered
him women, they already offered him leadership, so
what are you seeking, what do you want?
I just need support so I can tell
people la ilaha illallah, that's all I need.
So he goes to Ta'if, Sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam, and he asked them to support
him.
Now, if a person goes, and they're a
notable person, and they come to seek your
help, your assistance, if you wanted to reject
them, the least that you would do would
say what?
You'd send out the security, or you would
send out a staff member and say, sorry,
we can't help you.
But what do they do?
They send the imbeciles of the city, they
send the riffraff of the city, they send
children to throw stones at Sayyid al-Wujud,
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, until he's bleeding, left
alone.
For what?
For what?
There's no agenda.
The agenda's to help people.
And at that moment, what does he say?
Laikithi ya rab, why is this happening to
me, Allah?
Like people say, people say, why to Allah?
Why is this happening?
To Allah?
The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam doesn't say
why, what does he say?
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa alayhi wa ala
ali.
La ilaha illallah, il-Azim al-Haleem.
There's no God but God, the Exalted, the
Forbearing.
La ilaha illallah, Rabbul Arsh al-Azim.
There's no God but God, the Lord of
the Mighty Throne.
La ilaha illallah, Rabbul Samawati wa Rabbul Ard,
wa Rabbul Arsh al-Karim.
There's no deity save God, the Lord of
the heavens and the Lord of the earth,
and the Lord of the Noble Throne.
This is really important.
Before he prays for anything, he affirms God's
reality.
When you say to somebody who's generous that
they're generous, you're asking them for something.
Right, if you go to someone who's always
been kind to you, every time you went
to their house, they made you a really
beautiful dinner and gave you a really beautiful
dessert and gave you a gift on your
way out and said, Jazakallah khair, come again.
Next time you come over, you say what?
Uh, dinner was really good last time.
What are you saying to them?
I hope that we have it again.
If there's somebody who gave you a gift
and you say to them, Jazakallah khair, the
gift you gave me was really nice.
You're saying in a way what?
Give me another gift.
When you mention to a generous person their
generosity, it's like asking them for something.
A'adhkuru laka haajati, oyakfini haya'uk.
Should I mention to you my need or
is your modesty enough for me?
Ah, so he says what?
La ilaha illallah.
And then he says, oh God, to you
alone I complain my helplessness, the lack of
my resources.
Wa hawwani ala n-naas.
And my insignificance before mankind.
Kayfa yukuna lahu hawwan.
Sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam.
And my insignificance before mankind.
Sayyidil wujud, sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam.
And my insignificance before mankind.
I'm complaining to you, Allah.
Allah is the only one who loves to
hear your complaint.
Allah is the only one who loves to
hear your complaint.
One of our problems is that we complain
too much.
You know they have this new feeling button
on Facebook?
Feeling annoyed, feeling sad, feeling hungry.
Yeah, I don't care how you're feeling.
You complain, you complain just to complain.
Oh, oh, it's raining.
Oh, it's not raining.
Oh, you just find a reason to complain.
Allah is the only one who loves to
hear your complaint.
You are the most merciful of the merciful.
And you are the Lord of the helpless
and the weak and you're my Lord.
Into whose hands would you abandon me?
Ila man tuquiluni.
Who are you going to leave me to?
Into the hands of an unsympathetic distant one
who would frown upon me?
Or to an enemy who's been given control
over my affairs?
However, if your anger does not fall on
me, there is nothing for me to worry
about.
Iza lim yukun alayya minka ghadabun falaubali.
If you're not mad at me, I don't
care.
That's understanding God's plan.
That's it.
If you want a tweetable version, 140 characters
or less, understanding God's plan.
I don't know, I'm not going to count.
If you are not mad at me, I
don't care.
As long as you're not displeased with me.
Falaubali.
You're sitting there, you've been stoned, you're bleeding,
you've lost your family, you're being belied.
As long as you're not displeased with me,
Allah, laubali.
I don't care.
I do not mind.
And then he goes on with his beautiful
prayer.
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
What happens next?
What happens next?
Gabriel comes.
And this is the beautiful thing about the
prophets, alayhim salam.
I mean, think about it for a minute.
If you met Gabriel, if somebody didn't invite
you to a wedding, or somebody didn't say
salam to you when you came into the
conference, or somebody said that you were a
bad person, or somebody, whatever, they did something
to really upset you, or somebody lied about
you, or somebody stole money from you, or
somebody disrespected your family, or, or, or.
And Gabriel came to you and said, would
you like me to take care of him?
I mean, think about this for a minute.
See, I'm from a place where if you
know the right people, you never have any
problems.
I mean that.
You don't have to do anything.
If you know Big John, Big John is
a hypothetical character.
But if you know Big John, you don't
have to worry about anything.
You know, if someone looks at you wrong,
Big John says, you want me to take
care of him?
You say, no, Big John, don't worry about
it.
Because you know, if Big John takes care
of him, it's gonna be bad.
Gabriel comes, alayhim salam.
And what does he say?
Ya Rasulullah, the angel of the mountains is
seeking your permission to crush the city.
Atbiquha.
I'll crush the city.
Whoever's there, they're gone.
Wipe them off the, why?
Because of how great Sayyidina Muhammad is to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
What does he say?
Nay, I would rather it be that there
come forth the people from their loins who
worship Allah.
I don't want people to be destroyed.
I'd rather there be people who come from
their loins that worship Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa
alayhi wa sallam.
The second example.
Abraham.
Is anybody in the audience around 16?
Raise your hand if you're around 16 years
old.
Please, I wish I could raise my hand.
Anybody, there's no one in the audience 15,
16, 17 years old.
One person, one person back there.
Anybody else?
Two, three, anybody else?
Four, five, six.
Now why am I asking that?
Sayyidina Ibrahim alayhi salam, according to one opinion,
he was for a long time the only
believer in the world.
The only believer in the world.
It's difficult, and I know about this, if
you're the only Muslim in your family.
There's two, three Muslims in my family.
It's hard.
You have family things, you're the only Muslim.
If you're the only Muslim at your company,
it's difficult.
If you're the only Muslim in your neighborhood,
it can be difficult.
Imagine Abraham was the only believer on the
face of the earth for a period of
time.
And what did he do?
They worshiped idols, and what does he do?
He challenges the idols and says they're fake.
He opposes the idolatry that the power structure
was perpetuating.
And what happens?
He was 16, according to one of the
opinions, and Shaytan inspired Nimrod to build a
catapult.
They say that this is where the invention
of the catapult came from, was from Shaytan,
who inspired Nimrod's people to build a catapult.
Then they built a fire, and they lit
a fire.
And this fire was so hot that the
birds couldn't fly above it, and people couldn't
come near it, and it was stoked for
the better part of a month or longer.
All of that was to punish Abraham for
simply challenging their idol worship.
He's in the catapult, sitting waiting to be
cast into the fire.
Now imagine for a moment, I want you
to really imagine this for a moment.
You're sitting in a catapult, looking down at
a fire that's bigger than any fire you've
ever seen.
What would you be thinking?
You know, what did I do to deserve
this?
What do you mean they're not gonna upgrade
me to first class?
What do you mean you ran out of
milk?
What do you mean I didn't get the
job?
What do you mean her father said no?
Good for her that her father said no.
What do you mean?
What did I do to deserve this?
What do you mean somebody spoke ill of
me?
He didn't do anything except propagate la ilaha
illallah, and he's sitting in the catapult.
And they launch him into midair.
Now imagine yourself flying through midair.
Just imagine this.
He's flying through midair, and who comes?
Gabriel.
Imagine for a moment, Gabriel stops you in
midair, and he says to him, alaka haja,
do you need anything?
So the guy's messing with you.
He wants to fight you.
Big John comes out of nowhere.
You need anything?
Big John, can you, it's this guy right
here.
Or you know somebody who is the CEO,
or you know the CEO's son, or you
know so-and-so who's the vice president,
such and such.
Do you need anything?
This is Gabriel, alaka haja.
If Gabriel came to me right now, I
have a long list of things I could
ask him to help me with.
A long list.
Do you have a minute, Gabriel?
Because there's a few different things I need
to talk to you about right now.
Habib Omar didn't come.
Can we go to Tarim?
Can you take me to Tarim?
Huh?
What does he say?
Alaka haja, do you need anything?
Amma ilayka fala.
Not from you.
Now, I wouldn't say that to Gabriel.
I wouldn't say that to Gabriel.
Amma ilayka fala.
I don't need anything from you.
What does Gabriel say to him?
Sarrabbak.
Ask your Lord.
Now imagine you're in mid-air about to
fall into the fire, and he says to
him, not from you.
I don't need anything from you.
He says to him, ask your Lord.
What would you do then if Gabriel told
you to ask your Lord?
You'd say, what, ya Allah?
What does he say?
Hasbi min su'ali, ilmuhu bihali.
It's enough for me to not even ask
that Allah knows what's going on with me.
He didn't even ask Allah.
Wait a second.
You're about to be thrown into a fire
for telling people there's no God but Allah,
and you're 16 years old.
What did you do to deserve anything?
What did you do to deserve to be
thrown into the fire?
And he says, what?
I'm so at peace with Allah.
I am so submitted to the reality of
Allah's divine guidance that I don't even need
to ask him because I'm positive that he
knows what's happening for me.
I know Allah's got my back.
I know Allah's gonna take care of me,
and I know he knows what's happening.
So what happens?
He falls into the fire.
You'd think, what?
Gabriel takes him out of midair, they fly
away.
No, no, he falls into the fire.
Now he's in the middle of the fire.
But what does Allah say?
Oh fire, kuni bardan wasalamah.
Oh fire, be peacefully cool for Abraham, ala
Ibrahim.
Oh fire, be peacefully cool for Abraham.
The Mufasirin says something very interesting.
If Allah had said, ya naru kuni barda,
oh fire, be cool, the fire would have
been so cold that it would have burned
Abraham from the coolness.
But he said, what?
Ya naru kuni bardan wasalamah.
Oh fire, be peacefully cool, ala Ibrahim, for
Abraham.
And had he not specified, ala Ibrahim, fire
would have been eternally cold.
Primordial fire, cosmic fire, would have become cold,
and we wouldn't cook, we wouldn't burn, we
wouldn't do anything with fire, because he would
have made it cold.
But he said specifically, oh fire, be peacefully
cold for Abraham.
So what happens?
Completely unscathed.
Not a burn.
Sits in the fire, according to one opinion,
for seven days.
And comes out completely unscathed.
And what are you gonna do now, Nimrod?
What are you gonna do now?
He comes out of the fire completely unscathed.
And it was narrated that he said later,
the sweetest days of my life were the
days that I sat in the fire.
Because he acquiesced to Allah's promise, alayhi salam.
Which leads us to the second point.
Half empty or half full?
Is it half empty or is it half
full?
This is the second point, as we begin
to wrap it up.
We actually are presented with either one as
an option.
We get to choose.
So is it half empty or half full?
You get to decide.
In a regularly authenticated hadith, the Prophet shallallahu
alaihi wa sallam narrates on his Lord, on
behalf of his Lord, in a hadith Qudsi,
that Allah says, ana anda dhani abdi bihi.
I am as my servant thinks of me.
So let him or her think of me
what they will.
Let them think of me what they will.
If they think good, they will find good.
And if they think bad, they will find
bad.
That's the answer to the half empty, half
full thing.
If you want to be someone who sees
the glass is half empty, you have that
option.
The bad news is that it's going to
be as you see it.
If you see it as half empty, it's
going to be half empty and things are
going to be difficult for you.
If you see it as half full, it's
going to be half full and then things
are going to be good and easy for
you.
But we have to be really, really careful
with this.
Why?
Because we often measure it incorrectly.
When we get an increase in money or
we get a new home or we get
a better job or a better car or
a new pair of shoes or, or, or,
or, or we say what?
Things are going great.
When we lose the job, God forbid, or
you take the shoes to the masjid and
they get stolen, God forbid.
Or you lose some money, God forbid.
Or you get sick, God forbid.
You say what?
Yawaili, yawaili.
Things are horrible.
It shouldn't be going this way.
What did I do to deserve this?
And then we ask questions like, am I
being tried?
Is this a tribulation?
I have some really difficult news for myself
and all of you.
Everything is a tribulation.
Everything is a trial.
And again, modern people don't like to hear
that.
The whole thing is a test.
You guys are mad at me right now.
It's not, I'm not telling you, this is
not my interpretation.
Alladhi khalaq al-mawta wal-hayati liyabluwakum.
The one who created death and created life
to test you.
In other words, life and death are a
test.
Ayyukum ahsanu amala.
To see which of you is better in
action.
And this is why the scholar said, the
foundational reality of the world is tribulation.
It's ibtila, it's difficulty.
And you're gonna be in one of two
situations.
You're either mubtala or you're mu'afa.
You are outwardly afflicted or you're outwardly well.
Which means what?
God forbid you're sick or poor or in
hard times.
Or you're healthy and rich and things are
easy.
So it's one of two situations.
But they're both being tried.
And if you are outwardly well, which the
majority of us are outwardly well, the fact
that we're sitting here right now means we
had health enough to walk here.
We had wealth enough to pay to get
here, et cetera, et cetera.
We're not sitting freezing on the borders of
Turkey like Muslims from our community.
We're not sitting in prison because we're fighting
for our right to assembly like many Muslims
throughout the Muslim majority world.
We're not experiencing a number of difficulties that
people are experiencing throughout the world.
Walilah alhamdulillah.
So we're outwardly well.
And they said if you are outwardly well,
Allah will send you people who are afflicted.
And if you do not help them, you
will become afflicted.
And again, you might be mad at me,
but it's not my idea.
That's the truth.
If we are outwardly well, Allah will send
people to us that need help.
And remember what the prophet said, sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
Allah has certain people that he created, khalaqahum
li hawwaajin naas.
Who he created for other people's need.
Yafza'u naas ilayhim fi hawwaajihim.
People will run to those people when they
have need.
They what?
Something comes up, they run to that person.
And you say, again, really?
You need help again?
Didn't I help you last week?
Didn't I donate before?
Yafza'u naas ilayhim fi hawwaajihim ula'ikal
aminoona min azabillah.
These are the people who will be safe
from Allah's punishment.
May Allah make us from them.
Say, ameen.
ula'ikal aminoona min azabillah.
These people will be safe from the punishment
of God because other people come to them
and they have need and they help them.
May Allah make it easy for us to
help other people.
So, fa amal insanu.
idham abtalahu rabbuhu fa akramuhu wa na'amuhu
fa yukulu rabbih akraman.
As for the human being, when his Lord
tries him and then treats him with honor
and makes him lead an easy life, he
says, my Lord has honored me.
I'm too blessed to be stressed.
I'm too anointed to be disappointed.
It's all good in the hood.
She said, yes.
I got the job.
I got the car.
I got the house, et cetera, et cetera.
Everything's perfect.
yukulu rabbih akraman.
My Lord has honored me.
wa amma idham abtalahu fa qadra alahi risqahu
fa yukulu rabbih ahanan.
But when he tries him differently, then limits
his means of sustenance, he says, my Lord
has disgraced me.
likithi yarab.
Why is this happening to me?
How could I not get the job?
What do you mean I didn't get upgraded
to first class?
What do you mean I didn't get accepted
to the university?
God forbid, God forbid, God forbid.
What do you mean a loved one died?
What do you mean I lost something?
Is Allah disgracing me?
He's the one who gave it to you
in the first place.
People come and say, there's no God.
Why there's no God?
Because I lost a family member.
Who created the family member?
Who you lost in the first place?
And I'm not making light of people losing
loved ones.
I have lost a lot of loved ones.
So you say, is Allah disgracing me?
No, you were fine when things were good.
Everything was fine.
But then when it becomes difficult, you should
say what?
Mashallah.
Give glad tidings to those when they are
afflicted with an affliction, they say, innalilahi wa
inna ilahi raji'un.
Umm Salama, when her husband passed, Abu Salama,
she was told, say this verse and say
the du'a, oh Allah, reward me in
this affliction of mine, wakhlifni khayran minhum, and
give me that which is better in it.
And she said to herself, who could be
better than Abu Salama?
Who could possibly be better than Abu Salama
because he was a good man, radiallahu anhu?
And he passed away.
But she said, I'll say the du'a
anyway.
So she said the du'a.
Who married her?
Sayyidina Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And with all due respect to Sayyidina Abu
Salama, she was married by the best of
creation, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So even in the most difficult situation, to
remember that Allah is in control, innalilahi wa
inna ilahi raji'un.
Remember that you're going to return to him.
May Allah make us realize all of this.
That's what's important.
So we have to maintain a good opinion
of Allah.
We have some people here in the crowd
who were descendants of Imam Al-Haddad.
Allah be all pleased with Imam Al-Haddad.
One of the great Imams of Islam.
And he has a beautiful verse where he
talks about having a good opinion of Allah.
And he says, wa li husni dhan ulazim.
I'm constant in having a good opinion of
Allah.
fahuwa khilli wa halifi.
So husni dhan, this good opinion of Allah,
is my khill, it's my best friend.
Khilli means what?
It's my bosom friend.
It's my very best friend.
The Prophet said, law kuntu mutakhidhan khalilan ghayra
rabbi latakhathru aba bakrin.
If I was going to take a khalil,
a good friend, a bosom friend, other than
my Lord, it would have been Abu Bakr.
And they say, khalil comes from the word
that means emptiness.
Something that is khali is empty.
Which means what?
You can't fit anything else in there.
So Imam Al-Haddad says, good opinion of
Allah is my khill.
Wa khalifi.
And he's also my ally.
Why do you need an ally?
Why do you need an ally?
Because there's a battle going on.
And there is a battle going on.
There's a battle going on between us and
shaitan.
There's a battle going on between us and
our nafs.
There's a battle going on between us and
worldliness.
So we need allies.
And he says, who is my ally?
Husni dhan.
Husni dhan is my ally.
Fa huwa khilli wa khalifi wa anisi.
And the one who brings me a feeling
of intimacy.
The person, the one who sits with me
and makes me feel like it's gonna be
okay.
I just need someone to hang out with
so that I can feel a sense of
comfort.
Fa huwa khilli wa khalifi wa anisi wa
jalisi.
And the one who I sit with.
I sit with Husni dhan.
He personifies Husni dhan.
Meaning what?
I hang out with Husni dhan all the
time.
I'm constantly having a good opinion of Allah.
Fa huwa khilli wa khalifi wa anisi wa
jalisi tuulayli wa nahari.
All night and all day.
What does that mean?
It means that I'm always going to try
to see the glass is half full.
Even in the most difficult situation.
Even when I can't even make any sense
of it, I'm gonna have a good opinion
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
There's a weak hadith narrated by At-Tabarani.
But the meaning is sound.
Where the Prophet is reported to have said
that there is no deed better than having
a good opinion of God and having a
good opinion of his servants.
There's no deed better than having a good
opinion of Allah and having a good opinion
of his servants.
What does that mean?
When you can interpret things through examining a
situation and through attempting to look at all
of the variables in a situation, and you
can make sense of the situation, then you
can say, I understand this and it makes
sense.
When you can't, you should say what?
Mashallah, there must be something going on here
that I don't actually understand.
There's something going on, it's beyond my ability
to comprehend.
It's beyond what I can see.
You should always try to have a good
opinion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
have a good opinion of his servants as
well.
Meaning what?
Even when you can see wrong in somebody,
try to interpret it in a good way.
And the people that made the likes of
Habib Umar, Hafidhullah, may Allah preserve him.
The school, and when I mean the school,
I mean that in the literal sense of
the word.
The way of understanding the madrasa that produced
people like that is a madrasa that had
the following type of understanding.
And bear with me as I share with
you a brief story.
One of the great imams of their tradition
studied with his father for a number of
years.
And this is one of the beautiful things
about their tradition, is that they studied with
their fathers who studied with the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
Habib Ali al-Jifri was visiting us in
California and he narrated the Hadith of Mu
'akala with one of our teachers, Shaykh Salik
bin Sidina.
Allah ya'faduhum jami'an.
When you eat with someone, there's a Hadith
called Hadith of Mu'akala.
Who says that the Prophet says, whoever eats
with me or ate with the person who
ate with me will go to Jannah.
So when the ulema meet, they eat and
they narrate this Hadith to one another.
And after Shaykh Salik narrated to Habib Ali,
Habib Ali narrated to Shaykh Salik, Shaykh Salik
said, there's a weakness in the chain of
this Hadith but we narrate it for barakah.
Habib Ali said, that's true.
But I'm narrating it to you on the
authority of my Shaykh, Habib Abdul Qadir bin
Ahmed Al-Saqaf rahimahullah, who narrated it to
me on the authority of his forefathers back
to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
His chain of transmission was his family tree.
Are you all listening to me?
His chain of transmission was his family tree.
I took it from my father, who took
it from his father, who took it from
his father, who took it from Sayyidina Ali,
from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Ya Allah, can you imagine?
So this is the madrasah that produce these
people, A'bin Anjad, رضي الله عنهم جميعا.
One of the great imams of their tradition
studied with his father.
And his father told him, you're done with
your studies, but you have one more task.
You have one more job.
He said, Labbaik, what is it?
He said, I want you to go into
Tareem and I want you to find somebody
who's less than you.
Bring me someone who's less than you are.
You're in a higher status than him.
Just bring him back to the house.
He said, okay.
So he comes into the city and he
sees a person on his way in doing
something disobedient, doing something wrong.
And he hides behind a tree and he
comes back around.
So the imam said to himself, perhaps between
the time that he went around the tree
and he came out, he made tawbah.
He repented to Allah.
From the time he went around the tree
and came out, he repented to Allah.
So even though he was doing something outwardly
wrong, there's no way that I'm better than
him because he made tawbah and his tawbah
is probably accepted from Allah.
So he had a good opinion of the
person.
Then he comes and he sees a young
boy.
And he says to himself, yeah, there's no
way that I'm better than this child because
he's young.
He hasn't been around very long and there's
no way he could have committed wrongs such
that I could be better than him.
So there's no way I'm better than this
young person.
So he says, I can't take him either.
He walks along and he sees an older
person.
Not religious ostensibly, no signs of religiosity.
But he says, yeah, there's no way that
I'm better than this man because he's older
than I am.
He's been around longer than me.
He's worshipped Allah longer than I have.
How could I be better than him?
There's no way I'm better than him.
So he says, I can't even find anybody
in the whole city who's less than me.
I'm gonna fail in my final task to
my father.
I'm gonna have to come home and say,
what, I couldn't fulfill the final thing you
asked me to fulfill.
So on his way back home, he looks
and he sees, pardon the expression, the carcass
of a dog.
An old, dead dog.
Jeefat al-kalb ha-shakum wa-kramakumullah.
And he says, I couldn't find a person
but at least I'll go home and I'll
take to my father this dead dog.
And I'll say to him, father, I couldn't
find a person less than me but I
found a dog carcass and this is all
I could present to you.
So he's carrying the dog carcass on his
way back home and then he thought to
himself about the day of judgment.
La ilaha illallah.
And he said to himself, there's gonna come
a time when even the animals get justice.
When even animals who are wrong will get
justice.
And at that moment, a person who denies
faith will say, ya laytani kuntu turaba.
Oh, that I was dust.
And he remembered that and he said, I'm
not even better than a dog carcass.
He said, I can't even take a dog
carcass home to my father.
So he put the dog carcass home.
And he goes, he says, father, I failed.
He said, what happened?
He said, I couldn't find anybody in the
whole city less than me.
He said, now you're ready to teach.
Now you're ready to teach.
That's that madrasa.
They said, you shouldn't see anybody as less
than you.
You say, no, but you don't understand.
I prayed at the masjid this morning.
He didn't pray at the masjid this morning.
My hijab is spot on.
She has four hairs hanging out.
Of course I'm better than her.
What good does it do for you to
judge other people?
What good does it do for you to
think that you're better than other people?
All it's gonna do is bring kibbutz into
your heart.
Allah save us from that.
Always assume people are better than you.
So he should have a good opinion of
Allah and a good opinion of the servants
of Allah.
Try to always see the glass as half
full.
And I'll leave you with one last story.
This is the last thing that I'm going
to say.
Because some of you may have heard everything
I've said and think to yourself, you know,
you just don't know how hard my life
is.
You don't understand what it's like to be
going through the difficulty that I'm going through.
And you're absolutely 100% correct.
I have no idea what it's like to
be going through what you're going through.
And you also don't know what it's like
to be going through what the person next
to you is going through.
And they don't know what it's like to
be going through what the person four Cs
down from them is going through.
And that's exactly why I started by saying
each and every one of us is on
a unique journey.
So it's not about me understanding what you're
going through or you understand what I'm going.
It's not about that.
It's about us recognizing that Allah is in
control.
But let's just assume for the sake of
argument that your life is horrible.
Your life is horrible.
It could not be any worse.
It couldn't possibly be any worse.
You say no, what?
And pardon the expression.
I'm hesitant to say this because of some
of the people in the crowd.
But I don't know if the, you guys
know people speak in acronyms now.
Like I was sitting with a staff member
of mine and she asked me, is such
and such going to happen on such and
such a day?
I said, I'm not sure.
She said, okay, JW.
I said, JW.
I thought she meant the JW Marriott.
She said, JW.
She said, yeah, just wondering.
I said, just say just wondering, JW.
JW.
Now, now people, someone says something funny, you
say, LOL.
You don't even laugh.
Sorry, LOL.
Someone says something silly, SMH.
Shake my head.
There's one FML, which I won't translate.
I won't translate it.
It doesn't stand for formidable Muslim laughter.
That's not what it stands for.
I'm not going to translate it.
F my life, FML.
So for example, hmm.
Yeah.
Can you come over for dinner?
No, I can't.
FML.
No, no, seriously.
I bet you.
Oh, Habib Omar's not coming.
FML.
FML.
Whatever, you fill in the blanks.
FML.
F my life.
Really?
No, really, think about that for a second.
Really?
The plane's delayed, FML.
My shoe's untied, FML.
They're out of, whatever, FML.
Anything that happens, F my life.
Think about that for a second.
Okay, khalas, FML.
Subhanallah.
The smallest thing happens, what?
Forget, and it doesn't stand for forget.
Forget my life.
You say, couldn't get any worse, FML.
Nassalallah al-afiyah.
That's not what a Muslim, that's not what
a Muslim thinks, right?
Well, let's just say that you live in
an FML type of situation.
I mean, it couldn't be any worse.
It couldn't possibly be any worse.
Someone says, you know what?
I cannot believe Habib Omar, hafidhullah, didn't come
to the thing.
Well, did you reflect upon the fact that
Habib Omar was nine years old when he
lost his father?
Did you reflect upon the number of Habib
Omar's teachers and loved ones who he saw
persecuted by the secularists and by the communists?
Did you reflect upon the fact that Habib
Omar went to the masjid with his father
when he was nine years old and came
back with his shawl and never saw him
again?
And what it means for him to lose
his uncle?
Did any of us even have enough compassion
when we say, no, I paid 15 Singapore
dollars.
Habib Omar better, ooh, Habib Omar doesn't work
for you.
He doesn't work for me.
He's mourning his uncle's passing, rahimuhullah.
We should, our hearts go out to them.
We shouldn't be thinking about, Habib Omar didn't
come, FML.
F simply Islam too.
Astaghfirullah.
They did all this hard work.
We say, jazahumallah khair.
Mashallah.
May Allah forgive us.
Say ameen.
The final story.
Imagine that your life smells like death.
It could not be any worse.
Your life is a carcass.
It's horrible.
It's just horrible.
And then think for a moment about Jesus,
alayhi salam, walking with his companions.
And they come across a carcass.
And they see this carcass and the disciples
said, ma'at yanahu.
Oh, how horrible it stinks.
Ma'at yanahu.
It smells so bad.
What did Jesus say?
Ma'ab yada asnana.
Look how white its teeth are.
Are you all listening to me?
Ma'ab yada asnana.
Look how white its teeth are.
That's what they call the silver lining.
You know the silver lining?
Meaning what?
Can you find something that's good?
Can you find something to be grateful for?
Can you find something that you can say,
subhanAllah, maybe X, Y, and Z didn't go
the way I wanted it to go, but
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H,
I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P,
Q, R, S, D, U, V, W is
perfect.
And that's the reality.
Most things are beautiful.
And there's a few things that aren't the
way that we like them to be.
I pray that Allah help us realize what
we're talking about, Ya Rabbil Alameen.
May Allah help us understand this, Ya Rabbil
Alameen.
May Allah make His people who truly submit
to His will, Ya Arham Ar-Rahmeen.
A wallahi.
So it's more about submitting to and navigating
ourselves and having good adab with Allah's plan
than it is understanding it.
And the glass is half full, but we
have to strive and work really hard to
see it.
As such, As'al Allah ta'ala li
walakum kamalat tawfeeq, wa as'alahu an yamuna
alayhi wa alaykum bi tawbatil nasuha, Ya Rabbil
Alameen.
Wa sallallahu wa sallam wa barak ala Sayyidina
Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam.
walhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.
wa ala'afu minakum.