Yahya Rhodus – Hikmas #105-106 Lightening the Pain of Tribulation
AI: Summary ©
The segment discusses the importance of preparing oneself to face TabER and not just run away from reality. It also touches on the importance of human psychology and the need to be prepared to faceangstation. The segment emphasizes the importance of learning to handle one's spiritual path and not giving up on one's knowledge. It also touches on the impact of Islam on one's life and behavior, including the creation of the world and the desire to be worshiped. Finally, the segment discusses the importance of praying and not giving up on one's spiritual health and success.
AI: Transcript ©
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen,
wa abdullahi wa sallamu alayhi wa atimu taslim,
ala Sayyidina wa Mawlana Muhammadin, wa ala alihi
wa sahbihi wa sallim ajma'in.
Subhanaka la ilmanana illa ma'alamtana inna kanta
al-'alim wa al-hakim, wa la hawla wa
la quwwata illa billahi al-aliyyil adheem.
We have reached the 105th aphorism in Insha
'Allah ta'ala that we might get to
the 106th as well today.
They actually go hand in hand.
And in this aphorism, we are taught by
the great Imam Ibn al-Tayyid al-Sikandi
radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, wa nafa'ana bi
ilumihi fid-dareen, something very, very important that
every single one of us needs.
Because the nature of this world, this is
the abode of tribulation.
We know by virtue of living in this
world that we will go through tribulations.
liyabluukum ayyukum ahsunu amala, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, He is the one who tries us
in order to see which one of us
is best in action.
And so that he says, radiyallahu ta'ala
anhu, liyukhaffif alamal bala'i anka ilmuka, bi
annahu subhanahu huwa al-mublidaka, falladhi wajahatka minhu
al-aqdaru huwa alladhi awwadaka usnul ikhtiyar.
So this might be translated, let your knowledge
that He is the one who tries you
glory be to Him.
Lighten the pain of tribulation.
For the one who confronts you with His
decrees is the same one who has accustomed
you to His good choice.
So let's look at these words, liyukhaffif, khaffafa
yukhaffifu, is to lighten something.
And here the file is, and this is
where we began with it, ilmuka.
So liyukhaffif, that let, and we'll get to
the file, let it lighten for you.
What is it lightening?
The alam of bala', alam is pain, and
bala' is tribulation, calamity, affliction, however it is
that you choose to translate it.
So alam al-bala', the pain of tribulation,
anka, yani from you, ilmuka, your knowledge, bi
'annahu, that He, subhanahu, glory be to Him,
huwa'l-mubli, He is the mubli.
So abla' yubli is to put someone through
a tribulation.
So He is the one from the standpoint
of reality who puts you through that tribulation.
Falladhi, so the one that wajahatka minhu, wajahu
is to confront or to face al-aqdaar,
which is the plural of qadr, which are
the divine decree, the ways that manifest here
in this world.
Huwa alladhi awadaka, He is the one who,
awada, which is where we get the word
ada from, custom, He is the one who
has accustomed you, He is the one who
has habituated you to what?
Husnul ikhtiar, ikhtiar is a choice, and husn
of course here is that indicating that choice
is good.
So this is very important because we've said
over and over again throughout this session, and
it's one of the most important things of
all that a believer needs to learn.
How to prepare ourselves to face tribulation.
Because we know that we're going to face
tribulation.
It's inevitable by virtue of living in this
world.
So in this sense we are realists, not
in the philosophical sense of the way that's
defined in Western philosophy, but in the sense
that we are people that must come to
terms with reality.
The more that you try to run away
from reality, the harder that it hits when
it strikes.
The more that you try to come to
terms with reality without unnecessarily putting yourself in
a difficult situation, the more ready you will
be if you do what we're supposed to
do, and that's a combination of placing our
trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
taking the means.
You take the means outwardly, and Allah ta
'ala gathered for us in the Fatiha, the
Sharia, and the Haqiqa.
Take the means, and the outward manifestation of
that in the Fatiha is that you alone
do we worship, and you alone do we
seek your help, and this is the combination.
And so it's our job to prepare ourselves,
and what we mean by preparing ourselves gets
into something very deep within human psychology, if
you want to call it that, deep within
the heart of the individual.
And all voluntary human action begins with a
khatar, with a thought.
So when we have certain thoughts, do we
embrace them or do we just run away
from them?
So the essence of preparation internally is we
start to think about realities that we're supposed
to think about, like death, and our Prophet
of course taught us, as we probably all
know, أَكْثِرُوا مِن ذِكْرِي هَاذَ مِن لَذَّاتٍ Remember
often the ender of pleasures, which is death.
And we have some indications, is that there
are certain reflection exercises in relation to death
that you can do, and as a result
be found in shuhada, from the martyrs, by
virtue of remembering death, that often.
And so this is something that we are
taught to do, and in fact that we
know in the shemail of Rasool Allah ﷺ,
he didn't chew a morsel of food, nor
blink his eye, except that he was aware
of his mortality, that that could be his
very last moment here on earth.
And for him it was very different, because
no one was more aware of this earth
being a cage.
And our teachers actually, that mention, is that
when the Prophet ﷺ said أَشَدُّ النَّاس بَلَآءًا
الأنبِعَة Those greatest in tribulation are the Prophets.
That the greatest tribulation of the Prophet ﷺ
was to have such an overwhelmingly powerful knowledge
and love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
and have to remain here in this world
to convey the message.
And as long as, as long as he
was conveying the message, خَلَص The utmost adab
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but once
he's given the choice خَلَص We just took
in Sahih Bukhari that every Prophet has been
given the choice when they near their death
to remain or to return to Allah ta
'ala, for the Prophet ﷺ said رَفِقَ الْعَالَىٰ
أَلْهَا اللَّهُمَّ رَفِقَ الْعَالَىٰ He wanted to return
to the highest companion, subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But this is something you and I have
to embrace.
And what this great Imam Ibn Atayla has
given us is one of the ways internally
that we can help prepare to face reality
and to withstand tribulation, not only withstand it,
where then tribulation actually becomes a gift.
And very easy to talk about, much more
difficult to put into practice and to live.
But this is where we start, by learning
this as a science, because this is a
science.
And through the barakah and blessing of connecting
to shuyukh, rightly guided that spiritual masters and
then striving on our own to tread the
spiritual path, Allah ta'ala is too generous
to bless us to know that this exists
and to attach our hearts to the means
and not to bless us to taste some
of its fruit in this world before we
return to Him.
So لِيُخَفِّفْ أَلَمَ الْبَلَىٰ أَنْكَ إِلْمُكَ بِإِنْهُ سُبْحَانَهُ
هو المُبْلِي So let your knowledge that He
is the one who tries you go away
to Him, lighten the pain of tribulation for
the one who confronts you with the decrees
of fate is the same, who has accustomed
you to His, good choice.
So let's look at what some of the
commentators say about this blessed aphorism.
So some of them start by saying is
that this aphorism is what's called tasliya, is
to give solace to the sadiqeen, to those
who are still treading the spiritual path.
حَتَّى يُذُوكُوا مِنْهَا مَذَّاكَ الْعَارِفِينَ Until they're able
to taste what it is the knowers of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taste.
And the knowers of Allah because they see
everything being from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is that this is the secret when you
combine that with rida and contentment where tribulation
actually becomes sweet.
Yes, it is possible for tribulation, intense tribulation
to become sweet.
This is possible, this is the state of
some of the sahaba, our teacher just used
to mention is that Sayyidina Bilal radiallahu anhu
was asked why he's being tortured, persecuted on
the hot desert sand with that heavy rocks
being placed on him and he continues to
say over and over again, ahadun ahad, ahadun
ahad, is that he was asked and that
every time they put more and more pressure
on him he says they got sweeter and
sweeter.
And this is possible, one of the righteous
imams was that, he mentions this in the
ihya, just before he was passing he was
going through intense pain and he just kept
saying, oh lord, no matter how much pain
you put me through, you know that my
heart loves you.
So for them, when you're content and you're
aware that Allah is the Mubli, he is
the one who's putting you through this and
there's a divine wisdom behind it, Allah ta
'ala is ghani anna, he doesn't need to
put us through difficulty for the sake of
putting us through difficulty.
He doesn't need us to begin with subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
There is a meaning that we are required
to perceive in it and this is very
important because especially in the spiritual path, there
are certain things that we want to attain
but sometimes we think through our limited intellects
and knowledge of matters is that we know
how to attain what it is that we
want to attain.
So someone wants a particular maqam or station,
someone has a particular matlab thing that they
are seeking, whether it be something in this
world or in relation to a station in
the hereafter.
And we think that in order to do
that I need to do this or I
need to do that or I need to
do this or I need to do that.
And it almost never is the case that
that's actually really what we need to do
to attain what it is that we are
seeking.
Now that doesn't mean that we don't have
adab in terms of how we approach the
sacred law.
But also the foundation of how we approach
everything that we do outwardly, knowledge, devotion, service,
all of the derivatives of them following the
sunnah of our Prophet ﷺ, the foundation of
all of that is that tahqiq al-ubidiyah.
We do it to actualize our servitude because
we do it because Allah Ta'ala commanded
us to do it.
So we seek sacred knowledge because we've been
commanded to seek sacred knowledge.
We worship because we've been commanded to worship.
We give people the rights because we've been
commanded to give people the rights.
All the things that we do that relate
to taqwa and everything that relates to the
first stage of the spiritual path we do
because we've been commanded to do.
And those things though without the fadl of
Allah and His bounty are never going to
do anything for us although we have to
do them.
And from here when we understand deeply that
the spiritual path is not linear, it is
highly likely that the vast majority of us
will be put through, if we're sincere, various
situations, oftentimes they relate to tribulation, where really
what we're seeking lies there.
And it might be that that's what actually
gets us to where we want to be
when we thought there'd be somewhere over here.
But these things you still have to do,
if that makes sense.
And sometimes the really pious people that are
really close to Allah, at the very end
of their life, sometimes things happen and even
people around them are wondering why some of
these things are happening.
Even amongst maybe their family members or something
like that.
People start to think, wait, isn't he a
wali?
Isn't this person a person of Allah?
Why are these things happening?
Why are these things happening to his family?
But the reality is that there's degrees and
the people who have perception know there's degrees
that Allah Ta'ala wants to give him,
the only way for him to attain that
is to go through this.
And that's comforting and that opens up a
huge door for us to have a good
opinion of Allah Ta'ala.
And the real way that we attain the
highest degrees of all is the highest station
is through the having been realized in the
highest station of what are known as the
maqamat al-jaqeen, the station of certainty, which
is rida, which is contentment.
And there's a lot that could be said
about that, but in this topic in relation
to being content with the divine decree.
And there are leaps and jumps and that
enormous degrees that can be, we can ascend
to and to understanding that.
And really when you're around the people of
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, you
find that they're not agitated, is that they're
very calm.
And that stems from just their contentment.
They see themselves as nothing.
They see themselves as entirely undeserving of anything.
And they don't see themselves as deserving anything.
They don't see themselves as they're the furthest
people from having any sense of entitlement.
And they really look at themselves as if
they're nothing Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
And when, again, reading these blessed hadith, Sahih
Bukhari, the hadith that kept coming about Sayyidina
Aisha, and the hadith that did ifq, and
when she said that she looked at herself
as being too lowly to have Allah Jalla
Jalaluhu reveal a verse about her.
You say, I just hope that the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would see a dream about
me.
But this is Sayyidina Aisha.
She's how beloved she was to the best
of creation.
And this is how she sees herself.
That being too lowly to be able to
have Allah Jalla Jalaluhu reveal a verse about
her.
But this is precisely why they are who
they are.
So this aphorism is tasliya.
It brings us solace.
Until that we can reach this state that
the ra'arifin billah reach.
And what is that?
Is that an-nirbalay min mawlahu wa sayyiduh.
Is that all tribulations are from Allah.
We know that cerebrally.
We understand that with our minds.
But we want to move beyond that where
that is our state.
Is that when it happens to us, this
is what we're reminded of.
Wa huwa arham bihi min waridatihi wa waridihi.
And Allah Ta'ala is infinitely more merciful
towards us than our own parents.
He says, kayfa yabqa law bal alam ihsaas,
am kayfa la yataladhd bih, kamayat al laddha
bini'mati sa'il al nas.
Once this is our mashhad, this is how
we are seeing things, how could you have
any more pain then?
And how could it not be transformed into
something that's actually pleasurable?
And how could you not find pleasure in
that the way that you'd find pleasure?
In blessings.
So he says there, idha al-sabitka ayula
insan musibah, aw nazarit bik baliyah.
And so that if any one of us
is afflicted by a tribulation or we go
through some type of hardship, fil badin, in
our physical body, aw ahl, aw maal, in
relation to our family, our wealth, fadkur.
This is what they're reminding us now.
This is of course the commentators on this.
Remember that what?
Man anzala dhadika alik.
The first thing that we should do is
to be aware as to who is the
one who put us in this situation.
Qul lan yusibana illa ma kattab allahu lana.
Nothing will afflict us save what Allah has
written for us.
It is impossible for any affliction to come
our way if Allah ta'ala did not
decree that to happen.
Wa ma huwa muttasifun bihi.
And then remind ourselves after that, He's the
one who put us through this, but then
what qualities and attributes does Allah subhana wa
ta'ala possess?
Man al rahma, wa rattha bik, wa al
muhabba, wa al atfa alik.
All these beautiful qualities that He has of
mercy, compassion, love, tenderness.
La'allaka tafham.
Perhaps that that will be a means for
you.
Ma fee tayyi dhadika min al ya'm.
Is that what is folded up in that
literally, what is hidden in that from divine
blessings.
And so in other words, Allah will give
us tawfiq and enabling grace when we strive
to see things as being from Him to
give us something of what it is that
we can learn that we are benefiting from
that tribulation.
And so one of the first things which
is good to do, the first thing is
we remind ourselves that Allah put me in
this situation.
And then we look internally, what did I
do?
Did I do anything?
Fattish, that try to see if there's something
that you did.
And oftentimes we'll find something.
Ah, I fell short here.
I fell short there.
This is the way the righteous are.
One of the great scholars in Hadramah, Tabi'
al-Rahman bin Abdullah bin al-Faqih.
He one time had a servant and that
he had failed to remind his servant to
pray one of the obligatory prayers.
Shortly after that, he was summoned by the
political ruler and imprisoned unjustly.
And they made him put him, what was
called a zir, a zir, which is like
essentially like a barrel.
That's probably about four or five feet tall.
We have to kind of crunch in and
they used to keep dates in it and
they kind of put him to humiliate him
with audhubillah in this like date barrel.
And when they eventually released him, is that,
you know, people came to console him to
ask how he was doing and so forth.
And, you know, started to get angry at
the Sultan for doing that and so forth.
He says, no, no, no, I know why
this happened.
He says that one of my servants is
that prayer time came in and I forgot
to remind her to pray on time.
He says, I knew this, I knew, I
knew what had happened.
And as a result, that affliction happened.
And the righteous used to say, I can
tell if I've made a mistake, fallen short
or committed a sin by the way that
my riding beast responds to me.
And nowadays we don't ride on horses or
mules or camels or donkeys, but look around
you.
And if Allah loves you, He actually will
send a tribulation your way.
And there's actually a beautiful story where there
was someone who kept falling short in a
particular area, but every time he'd fall short,
Allah would send him a tribulation.
Fall short, Allah would send him a tribulation.
Kept doing it.
And then one time he just kept doing
the same thing over and over again.
Allah didn't send him a tribulation.
Then he panicked.
He always saw the tribulation as an atonement,
but then he worried that Allah had abandoned
him.
So he made a sincere tawbah and never
returned back to that.
So this from our end is a good
thing to do too.
Look, scrutinize yourself.
Think, did I do something?
And if you're sincere, it's like istikhara.
Istikhara at first, people ask like, what's the
answer to my istikhara?
If you do it enough and you travel
the spiritual path, your heart becomes more and
more pure.
Your answers will become more and more clear.
These types of things, the more you do
this, the more awareness you develop, the more
internal you get, the more clarity that you'll
have.
And usually with a little bit of spiritual
struggle after you do this, is that Allah
will unveil something of what you did in
order to receive that.
Even though the reality is that, think about
how much bad luck that we have for
the loss of parenthood.
When was the last time we even concentrated
on our prayer?
When was the last time we ever did
any act of obedience in ways we didn't
let alone all the things that we do
night and day of wrong.
We deserved to be swallowed up by the
earth and khalas.
So it's just only from his lutf and
gentleness that we're able to remain here on
earth.
Anyhow, Allah will usually make it clear to
you what it is.
And then we always remain broken.
And so there's seeing things from the standpoint
of haqiqa, the reality, doesn't negate looking at
things from the standpoint of the outward or
the sacred law.
We do both hand in hand.
And then he goes on to say, that
wa ma ya'qubahu min sawabigh al-fadl
wa al-karam.
And what comes after these states of tribulation
from these great blessings that are manifestations of
his bounty and generosity.
Wa law lam yakoon illa tatheeruk min al
-dhnoob wa tamheesuk min al-ayoob wa taqribuk
min hadrat alam al-ghyoob.
It would suffice were the only blessing that
corresponds with tribulation to be purification from sin
and that purification from faults and being brought
close to the divine presence.
This would suffice.
So then when we think about that, i
.e. that Allah is the Mubli.
He is the one who is trying us,
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Then fa allathee wajahatka minhul akhdar huwa allathee
awwadaka husnul akhtiyar.
So the one who is putting us in
this position, we are facing these manifestations of
the divine decree, is that he is the
one that has accustomed us to his good
choice.
So if we think about our lives, when
we think about all of our blessings and
the way that things tend to work out,
we should come to the conclusion that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is the all-knowing,
the all-powerful, the most merciful, the generous,
tabarak wa ta'ala.
Think about things and the way that they
tend to work out.
Think about that despite difficulties that we've gone
through in the past.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us his
deen.
Just to believe in Allah in a time
where the vast majority of people on earth
don't care about anything that relates to religion
or belief in God.
To believe in Allah and then to be
connected to real fuyuh or awliya of Allah.
To know that this science even exists.
To be someone who actually prays blessing upon
blessing upon blessing upon blessing upon blessing.
When was the last day any of us
went without a meal that didn't have clothing
to wear, that didn't have safe refuge of
some sort and shelter?
SubhanAllah.
And these are things we just have to
remind ourselves of over and over and over.
And to further this point, Sayyidi Ahmad ibn
Ajeeba, he says, فهل تعودت منه إلا الإحسان؟
Have we been accustomed to anything other than
Ihsan, benevolence from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?
وهل رأيت منه إلا غاية المبرى والامتنان؟
Have you seen anything other than just sheer
grace and giving of blessing?
And so he says, فالذي واجهتك منه أحكام
قهري هو الذي عودك تمام إحسانه وبلح فالذي
واجهتك منه أحكام قهري هو الذي عودك تمام
إحسانه وبلح So then he goes off of
the hikmah and he brings about different dimensions
and different ways of looking at it.
So the one who puts you in a
situation where you face the ahkam, which is,
and usually we translate that as judgments, but
here the hikmah also can be the decree,
they relate to his qahr.
He's forcing you into this position.
He's the one who also habituated us to
receiving his full benevolence and generosity.
والذي واجهتك منه ظواهر المحن هو لأسبغ عليك
بواطن المنن The one who puts you in
a situation where you face these outward dimensions
of tribulation, he is the one who has
colored you with, and covered you with, and
immersed you in that internal blessings.
فالذي واجهتك من حضرة قهريته الرزاية هو الذي
أتحفك بأنواع الكرمات والهدايا And again, the same
meaning over and over again.
Being put in positions of difficulty, but then
there are blessings that you and I receive.
And they mention the story of Imam Junaid,
which is really beautiful.
And he says that So he says that
one time that I was with Siri Saqati,
and that I was sleeping next to him.
And when he woke up he said And
he's going to tell him about a dream
that he had.
So he said, I saw a dream but
as if I was standing before Allah.
And then he said to me, Oh Siri,
I created the creation, all of them.
I created everyone in creation.
And they claimed that they love me.
So I created creation, and the creation claimed
that they love me.
So I created the dunya, the world, that
the creation inclines towards, right?
And he said that nine-tenths of them
that ran away from me.
وَبَقِيَ مَعَيْ الْأُشْرِ Only one-tenth remained with
me.
فَخَلَقْتِ الْجَنَّةِ So I created paradise.
فَهَرَبَ مِنِّي تِسْعَةُ أَشْرِ So nine-tenths of
the one-tenth, when paradise is created, is
that they ran away from me.
وَبَقِيَ مَعَيْ الْأُشْرِ So one-tenth of one
-tenth.
فَصَلَطْ عَلَيْهِمْ ذَرَّةٍ مَنَ الْبَلَاءِ So then I
forced them to experience an atom's weight of
tribulation.
فَهَرَبَ مِنِّي تِسْعَةُ أَشْرِ So one-tenth, only
one-tenth of the one-tenth of the
one-tenth remained.
فَقُلْتُ لِلْبَقِينِ So I said to these chosen
few that are remaining.
لَدْ دُنْيَ أَرَدْتُمْ وَلَا الْجِنَّ أَخَذْتُمْ وَلَا مَنَ
النَّارِ هَرَبْتُمْ So you don't want the world
and you're not worshiping me to enter into
paradise, nor to flee from the fire, even
though we have ta'lim for paradise in
the fire.
The motivation behind our worship is ultimately at
the highest degree, because Allah deserves to be
worshipped.
But if someone worships out of fear of
* or a desire in paradise, that's not
a bad thing.
But the higher degrees are in, we worship
Allah because He deserves to be worshipped.
فَمَا تُرِيدُونَ So that in this dream, that
Allah says, what do you all want?
إِنَّكَ تَعْلَمَنَا You know what it is that
we want.
And it means they want Allah, Jalla Jalaluhu.
And from here that you see these beautiful
statements, the likes of Abu Yazid, is the
vast majority of people that are asking Allah,
they're asking Allah for something.
But in relation to Abu Yazid, he is
seeking me.
There's a difference between seeking something from Allah
and then seeking Allah, يعني knowledge of Him.
There's a difference between the two.
And so he says to these remaining few,
after they say that, they want to know
Allah.
إِنِّي مُصَلِّتْ عَلَيْكُمْ مَنِ الْبَلَأِ بِعَدَرِ أَنفَاسِكُمْ I
am going to subjugate you to a tribulation
that is severe to the number of your
breaths.
مَا لَتُكُمْ لَهُ الْجِبَارَ الْرَوَاسِ That even that
very, that firmly rooted mountains cannot bear.
أَتَصْبِرُونَ Are you going to be patient?
قَالُوا So they said, إِنْ كُنْتَ أَنْتَ الْمُبْتَرِ
If you are the one, and we're aware
that you are the one who's putting us
through these tribulations.
فَفْعَلْ مَا شِتْ Do whatever it is that
you want.
And in the dream, Allah said to Siri,
هَأَوْلَىٰ إِبَادِي حَقًّا These are My true servants.
So, before we make dua to be from
the people of Allah, we gotta think twice.
Do you really want to be from the
people of Allah?
يَا اللَّهِ Ya Allah.
سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ Allah.
يَعْنِي Some of the عَرِفِين بِاللَّهِ would ask
for great things.
They say, يَا اللَّهِ Ya Allah.
مُلْجَمَ مُسْرَجَة Muljama musraja يَعْنِي أَتَوْنِي بِهَا يَعْنِي
الْأَمَانَةَ الْكُبْرَةَ One of them said, يَعْنِي أَتَوْنِي
بِهَا يَعْنِي الْأَمَانَةَ الْكُبْرَةَ مُلْجَمَ مُسْرَجَة Muljama musraja
bridled and saddled.
وَقَالَ لِي إِرْكَبْ And they just said to
me, get on, ride.
The vast majority of us, if we're tried
with the least thing, we're in big trouble.
So we ask Allah Ta'ala for dutf
and afiyah.
But this is how they view these things.
نعم Yes.
So being aware of this reality, that Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, that He
is the One who puts us in these
situations, is that it brings solace to the
heart.
It opens up the door for us.
Then after we see it as such, to
be able to do what it is that
we need to do, to lighten the pain
of that tribulation, and to then be a
means for that tribulation to turn into something
that is profoundly beneficial for us.
Now, فَإِنَّ الَّذِي وَاجَهَتْكَ مِنْهُ الْأَخْدَارِ فَإِنَّ الَّذِي
وَاجَهَتْكَ مِنْهُ الْأَخْدَارِ أَيَّ الْأَمُورِ الْمُقَدْرِ عَلَيْكُ مِنْ
مَرَّةٍ وَنَحْمِي هُوَ الَّذِي أَوُّلَ حُسْنِ إِخْرَاءِ إِخْرَاءِ
الْأَمْرِ حَسَنٍ So we've already spoken about that.
And of course the verse in Surah Al
-Baqarah, وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تَكَرُهُ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ
وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تَكَرُهُ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ Perhaps
that there are things that you dislike, but
they're actually good for you.
وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تُحِبُّ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌ لَكُمْ And
perhaps that you love something, but Allah Ta
'ala, it's actually that bad for you.
وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ Allah knows.
وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ And you do not know.
So Allah knows and we do not know.
And then just very briefly, we'll go over
number 106 because it relates to it.
And this states, مَنْ ظَنَّ إِنْ فِكَاكَ لُطْفِهِ
عَنْ قَدَرِهِ فَذَلِكَ لِقُسُورِ نَظَرِهِ Whoever supposes that
his gentleness, his لطف, is separate from his
decree does so out of short-sightedness.
So ظَنَّ is to think something that in
فِكَاكَ, in فَكَّ is to separate from something.
So somehow that his لطف, which is his
gentleness, is somehow that it's separate from his
قَدَر.
Okay, we're not speaking about قَدَر in the
very general sense.
Theologically, we differentiate between قَدَر and قَدَر.
But just in general, we're talking about his
decree.
فَذَلِكَ, يعني if someone thinks that somehow when
you're tried with things that there's not لطف
and gentleness from Allah Ta'ala, لِقُسُورِ نَظَرِهِ
قَسُورِ يَقْسُرُ is to that fell short in
something.
So this is because of this person's short
-sightedness is that they're not having the correct
نظر.
They're not seeing things the way that they
should be.
So that Imam al-Shanubi that he says
about this that من ظن إن في كاكة
لطفه تعالى وتخلف عن قدر اللي يقدر عليه
وأنزله به من البلاي والمحن فذلك الظن إن
ما حصله لقسور نظر أناشئ عن ضعف اليقين
So if this is the way that someone
sees something, this stems from their lack of
certitude, يعني their weak certitude.
If their Iman was stronger, this is not
the way that they would see things.
فَإِنَّ الْعَارِفِينِ يَشْهَدُونَ الْمِنَنِ فِي الْمِحَنِ Because the
knowers of Allah they witness blessings that are
in outward forms of tribulations.
وَالْأَطَايَةِ فِي الْبَلَايَةِ So these words go hand
-in-hand.
من and محن.
It says you have a منحة and a
محنة.
منحة is a gift and a محنة is
a tribulation.
And they see gifts in tribulations.
بَلْ كَثِيرًا مَا يَتَلَذُّونَ بِهِ And often times
that they find actually pleasure in it.
لِمَا يَعْقُبَهَا مَنِ الْمَزَايَةِ Because of the great
qualities and states that they are gifted as
a result.
فَإِنَّهَا تُجِبُوا شِدَّةَ قُرْبِ رَعَادٍ مِن مَوْلَهَا Is
that they make the servant intensely close to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
لِإِنَّهُ يُكْثُرَ التَضَرَّ عَنْدَ النُّزُولِهَا بِهِ And one
of the reasons why is, when someone is
going through a tribulation, this is one of
the times that you make the most sincere
supplications of all.
Is it when we're going to tribulation.
This reminds us of the reality of our
state.
Is that we are in absolute need.
And if everything is fine, we just tend
to go through our days and nights and
not put ourself in that state voluntarily, where
we realize that we're in absolute need.
But when we go through tribulation, we turn
to Allah, at least we're supposed to.
وَيَسْتَعْمَلْ حِسْنَ صَبَرَ رَضَاعٍ And that you are
supposed to be in a state of that
good and beautiful patience and contentment.
وَاتَّوَكَّلْ عَلَى مَنْ أَرَادَ لَهُ هَذَا الْقَضَاعِ And
placing our trust in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala.
إِلَى غَيْرِ ذَكَةُ That other states.
And then of course we have the blessed
hadith of our Prophet ﷺ narrated by Imam
al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.
إِذَا حَبَّ اللَّهُ عَبْدًا إِبْتَلَهُ When Allah Ta
'ala loves a servant of His, He puts
him in a state of tribulation.
فَإِنْ صَبَرَ إِجْتَبَ If that servant is patient,
Allah Ta'ala selects that servant.
فَإِنْ وَإِنْ رَضِيَ إِصْطَفَ And if he's content,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala chooses that servant.
So there's degrees.
إِبْتِلَهُ Outwardly could lead to إِجْتِبَة Which is
being chosen.
And then, beyond that is a state of
إِصْطِفَة Of being selected by Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
And that's one of the greatest blessings of
all.
But it's going to come to tribulation.
Just read Surah Taha up until that where
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells سَيْنَ مُوسَى
وَاصْطَنَعْتُكَ لِنَفْسِ And just before that, وَفَتَنَّاكَ فَتُونَ
Look at the emphasis there.
وَفَتَنَّاكَ فَتُونَ The نُولِ التوكيلِ الثقيلِ Along with
that the مفعول that being repeated again which
indicates خلاص different ways of emphasis, we tried
you in all different types of ways but
that's just outwardly, the reality of it is
وَاَصْطَنَعْتُكَ لِنَفْسِي that I have chosen you for
me and all of that is taslih it
is bringing solace to the best of creation
يا رسول الله that everything that you are
going through just as those before you like
Sayyidina Musa and the whole story of Sayyidina
Musa and everything that happened from the time
that he was a child and all the
way until towards the end of his life
and everything in between just as that for
him was a means for him to be
chosen by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
selected for him is that even more so
with you because you're the best of creation
and subhanallah then Allah ta'ala also says
about the Messenger وَاسْبِرْ يَحِقْنِي رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِعَيُونِنَا
be patient with the decree of your Lord
because you are under our watchful eye وَاسْبِرْ
يَحِقْنِي رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِعَيُونِنَا may Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala bless us to be able to
taste these meanings to experience them and to
have them actualized within us يا رحمة الله
وبركاته bless our portion not to be just
the moving of our tongue fill our hearts
with love of Him and love of His
Messenger ﷺ and love of the awliya and
the salih and those that have treaded the
path and those that have attained and ascended
to degrees of closeness to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala may Allah ta'ala bless us
to be able to follow in their footsteps
and may Allah ta'ala bless us to
be able to put these meanings into practice
in the highest ways, ways that are most
pleasing to Him سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ وَرَكُنِّي صَلَيْهِ جَنْبٍ
شَيْءٍ وَخِيْطًا لِلْأَخِرَةِ وَصَلَّى اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِمْ مُحْمُدًا عَلَيْهِمْ
بِسَلْمًا الفَاتِحًا