Wisdoms in the Quran #17 Are You A Fitnah

Today's Quranic wisdom, we just recited Surah Al

Furqan.

And verse 20 of Surah Al Furqan,

Allah says,

And We have made

every single one of you to be a

fitna,

a test and trial to others.

Every one of you

shares the fact that you are a fitna

for other people,

and other people are a fitna for you.

Groups of people

are tests and trials for other groups of

people.

Then Allah asks, Atasbiroon,

are you going to show sabr?

Now this ayah, once again, is one of

those profound

Quranic wisdoms that we could deconstruct

and talk about for many hours, but just

some brief reminders.

Now first, the context of the verse. The

context of the verse is about Allah sending

the prophets and those who reject them. So

Allah azzawajal is telling the prophets

that, O prophets,

you are gonna be a test for your

peoples,

and your peoples will be a test for

you. So, O prophets,

you must show sabr.

And when our Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was

accosted, was ridiculed, was rejected, when things happened

that were difficult, he literally invoked

the memory of the previous prophets. In one

narration,

when some Bedouins surrounded him and they were

very crude and vulgar, He said to himself

and the sahaba heard, he said,

Musa alayhis salaam was tested more than me,

and Musa showed patience.

So he's reminding himself of this verse that

Musa had it more difficult than me, and

he showed patience. This means I can show

patience as well. So this verse is meant

to give us a consolation

when internal

issues, bickerings, and politics happen. And our scholars

commented on this verse. Ibn al Qayyim actually

has an entire page. It's very beautiful. I

will bring benefits from it. He said, and

so

every single group of people,

they have within them

that are a test and trial for other

groups of people. And then he gave some

examples.

He said, the rich

are a fitna for the poor, and the

poor are a fitna for the rich.

How so? If you have wealth,

if you have

plenty of mal,

it is a fitna for you. How are

you gonna deal with your money? Are you

dealing with it Islamically?

Are you earning it halal? Are you spending

it on halal? Are you giving its rights

to the fukhara?

Conversely, if you don't have wealth, it is

a fitnah for you. To be in poverty

is a trial. To be in poverty is

a test. How are you responding

to that fitna?

Ibn al Qayyim says, those in power, politicians,

their power is a test for them.

And those that they rule over, the ones

that are being ruled, they too are a

test for the ones in power. Each one

has rights and responsibilities,

whether they're gonna pass it or not.

Men and women, they are a test for

each other. Men and women, they have urges.

They're tests for each other. Can you control

those urges or not? Parents and children, each

one of them, they have tests and trials.

And subhanAllah,

the reality is the exact same fitnah for

1 group of people, its absence is a

fitnah for another group of people. So those

that have parents,

I have to take care of them. That

is a test and a trial for them.

Those that don't have parents, that is a

test and trial for them to deal with

that tragedy.

Those that have children,

some of the biggest tensions come from taking

care of children.

Those that don't have children,

the fact that they don't have children is

a test and trial for them. SubhanAllah, the

same thing. Its

presence is a test. Its absence is a

test. Those that are single, and, mashaAllah, we

have plenty of them. In Safa Nawaal, I'm

gonna give you the shout out. Those that

are single, that was a free call up

to you guys, mashaAllah.

It's a test for them to be single.

And those that are married,

I have heard from some people.

I wouldn't know. I have heard from some

people that

being married might have its fitna's in trials.

But this is the reality of life, that

wajaalna

ba'adakumlibaadin

fitnaq.

You will not be safe.

You are being tested

at multiple levels.

You are a fitna for other people. They

are a fitna for you. And Allah is

saying such is life.

Atasbiron.

You're navigating

the test. What does fitna mean? It's a

test. It doesn't mean you will fail, you

will pass. It is a test. It is

your job to pass the test. You must

pass the test as much as you can.

And how do you pass the test? Atasbiron.

Are you going to have sabr? And here,

we have a profound reality because if you

remember, we talked about sabr. We all talk

about sabr being 3 categories. Sabr, atqadr of

Allah, we accept Allah's qadr. So

abstaining from the haram, and sabr in doing

good.

This ayah

manifests all 3 types of sabr. How so?

We made groups of you, a trial to

others at all three levels of sabr. Number

1,

sabr at the level of qadr.

You must accept that Allah has given you

certain things and not given you certain things.

You must accept other people have and you

do not have. And you have and other

people do not have. This is a fitna

of your sabr, of qada and qadr.

Allah tests people, and shaitan comes. How come

I didn't get that wealth?

How come, you know, my friend, my cousin,

he started like me? Now, he's a multimillionaire.

Where am I? And shaitan comes and gives

waswasa.

How come I don't have what other people

have? And people look and they desire, and

they're greedy, and they're jealous. No. Atasbiroon,

you must accept Allah's qadr. If you wanna

work to change it, that's fine. You wanna

try to get richer, that's fine. No problem,

in a halal manner. But in the end

of the day, nobody's equal. And by the

way, we have to say this before I

go on, you think that somebody's better than

you because they have more wealth. You think

somebody's better than you because they have, you

know, maybe a sister thinks she's more beautiful

than me. A person thinks their marriage is

more

better than mine. Their wealth is better than

mine.

How do you know?

Brothers and sisters, that person whom you think

is wealthier than you, they might have more

money, but the stress that that wealth brings

their life,

the hassle, the grievances that that wealth brings,

Allah protected and saved you. You don't have

to worry about it. That marriage you think

is rosy, you do not know the reality

behind closed doors, and how many married couples

you think they're living, mashaAllah Tabarakallah,

ends up in a divorce and you're shocked.

What? Because you don't know reality.

You do not know. So atasbiroon,

at some level,

you must accept

Allah gave me what is best for me.

Allah gave me the test I can pass.

Maybe if I had that wealth, I would

fail that test.

Maybe if I had that beauty, I would

fail that test. Maybe if I had what

I am jealous of other people, I would

fail it. So

level number 1, atasbiroon,

accept Allah's adr, sabr at Allah's qadr. Level

number 2, sabr in abstaining from evil. This

is the second category of sabr. So, atasbiroon,

whatever you have,

are you making sure you do not use

it for evil? The wealth that you have,

are you using it for evil? This is

Atasbirun.

The fame that you have, if Allah blessed

you with handsomeness, with beauty, are you controlling

that with the opposite gender and not doing

the haram? This is atasbiroon.

And then the 3rd category of sabr, sabr

in fulfilling the rights that are due. Sabr

intaa'at.

And so when it comes to wealth, atasbiroon,

are you giving sadaqa and zakah?

Are you earning halal and spending on halal?

When it comes to power, are you giving

the power it's due, the fame that Allah

blessed you with, the power that Allah gave

you? And by the way, every one of

us has power at some level. Every one

of us is in charge, whether it's even

of our family and friends, we are all

leaders at some capacity.

Are we being just with those under our

control? Are we giving them their rights, their

due, our spouses, our children, our family and

friends? So this ayah, brothers and sisters, is

a profound ayah. Next time you get involved

with bickering and politics,

next time somebody hurts you, and wallahi, this

is life. Whether it's a family member, whether

it is a friend, whether it is office

politics, whether it is the global situation,

nobody

will be safe from internal politics.

You will be hurt, you will be harmed.

Remember this ayah,

And one final fa'idah, not directly linked to

this ayah, but it is overall linked to

the concept.

Realize,

just because you have a problem with somebody,

doesn't mean that that person is evil and

you are good.

It is possible 2 righteous people don't get

along.

It is possible 2 muttaqeen

are having an internal issue. And it is

possible each one of them will pass the

test.

Just because you don't get along, doesn't

mean Allah is not happy with them. Please

humble ourselves.

You do not represent astaghfirullah Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala. You do not represent the deen. If

somebody doesn't like you, doesn't mean they're an

evil person. The Sahaba themselves had massive issues

between them. And once somebody came to Ali

radhiallahu an and said bad things about Mu'awiya

radhiallahu an, Ali said, no, don't say this

in front of me. He said, but you're

fighting against him. Surely he's an evil person.

And what did Ali radiAllahu anhu say? No.

This is a problem between 2 brothers, And

I pray that Allah makes us in the

verse that,

I pray that Allah causes both of us

to enter Jannah, and to remove

whatever

animosity was in our hearts that we are

sitting facing on couches reclining in Jannah. This

is the spirit of Islam. Just because you

don't get along with somebody, doesn't mean he's

a bad person. You have sabr, the other

person have sabr, you can both pass the

test and both enter jannah. So brothers and

sisters, remember, you are a fitna for others,

and others are a fitna for you. Your

goal is to pass the test, and you

will do it by showing sabr in all

three things. Sabr in qada and qadr, Sabr

the good. And inshaAllah will continue tomorrow.

the good. And inshaAllah will continue tomorrow.