Yasmin Mogahed – Seeking Solace in Life’s Storms
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shaytani r rajim Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah while Elio savage mine, rubbish raha sadri we are certainly Omri. What, Hello Dr. Millis any of the holy
it is it is a pleasure and an honor to be with you tonight for this very, very worthy and and and urgent and important cause. In fact, Yemen is the world's largest or worst humanitarian crisis, over 22 million people in Yemen are in need of aid. And that is three fourths of the population, I was absolutely astounded when I saw these, these numbers, this is a very, very worthy cause. And there is no better time than now in the month of Ramadan where Allah subhanaw taala multiplies our deeds 10 up to 700 up to, you know, his infinite mercy. And there's no better time than now to support such a needy such a worthy and, and, and important cause. I want to begin by actually making
sort of, I'm going to prove to you and I hope inshallah to make the argument that when we give and when we serve, and when we help those in need, first and foremost, and ultimately, we are actually giving to ourselves, we are actually helping ourselves. Now that might seem a little bit strange, but I'm going to inshallah, explain why that's the case. There is a principle that we find throughout our tradition, when you when you survey when you look at the end, and you look at the Sunnah, and and the Hadith, you find that there's this principle that is repeated again and again. And that principle is that the way we treat people is a reflection of how we are treated by God. So
I'm going to repeat that because it's extremely important that the way we are with the creation is a reflection of how the creator will be with us. Now, I was asked, you know, what, what Title I wanted for this for this short talk, and I said, the title that I came up with was solace in the storm. And I think it's very appropriate to talk about charity and to talk about giving and to talk about service in the context of talking about solace. And the reason is that we are told in countless narrations via Lynas messenger, that one of the most reliable ways to find solace for ourselves in our own lives, is actually to provide solace for others, the one of the most reliable ways to to, to
receive the help of Allah, to receive the protection of Allah is to help another person in need. One has he for example, and there are countless heavy, it's a heavy set talk about this. But one Heidi's, for example, a loss or the prophets, I seldom tells us that anytime we help a person in need, Allah will help us when we are in need. And he specifies that, that Allah will help us when we are need on the Day of Judgment. And now this is actually, you know, earlier today I was listening to a talk by by shikata Nasir Junga. And he was talking about another Hadith in which the prophets I send them says, if, if, if any of you would love and, and and just who wouldn't love this, if any of
you would love for Allah to save them from any of the difficulties or the or the trials of the Day of Judgment. And, and and so now we're kind of pausing and saying, Well, yeah, I definitely would love that. How How do we do that? And the prophets I send them went on to say that you would help another person you see someone who's in need. And I can tell you right now that Yemen is one of the places where people are most in need, I mean to have three fourths of the population in need of humanitarian aid. That is that's like unprecedented that is that is an absolute humanitarian crisis. And the prophets I send them said that, that if you want for Allah to save you from the the
difficulty and the end the trials of the Day of Judgment, then find someone else who's in need, and help them and give them relief. And so it really becomes almost like a fast track like a like a shortcut to the help of Allah subhanaw taala and I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, every single one of us will be in depth
Need of the help of Allah subhanaw taala on the Day of Judgment, everyone, the Prophet sallallahu Sallam himself said that no one will enter Paradise just by their deeds alone. And, and and and he said except that Allah has has his mercy except by the mercy of Allah subhana wa Tada. And the companion said, Well, okay, the companion said, even you older sort of law, you know, we can understand that might be the case for us, little people. But when they ask the Prophet side, I send them even you oldest little law and he said, Even me, except that Allah has mercy upon me and upon all of us. So what does that tell us? It tells us that we can I mean, we can never outdo the Prophet
Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam in worship? Like, I mean, I don't know, I don't care how many times you you're gonna finish the quarter and this Ramadan, or how long you're going to stand up in prayer. You know, and and, you know, so those were filled with man, you know, you know how many just I did, right? We're never going to outdo the prophets. I send them in our worship. That's impossible. We're never going to outdo the prophets. I send them in taqwa. And yet, even the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said that he would not enter by his deeds alone. So now, what does that leave us? I mean, I guess if you sit and reflect on that, it can, it can leave a person feeling a little bit deflated, like,
there is nothing I can possibly do in terms of deeds alone. That would get me there. You know what I'm saying? And then when you look at who we're competing with, I mean, let's think about who we're competing with at the door of Allah subhanaw taala in a sense, right. Like look at the creation. We are essentially competing with angels, right? They're a creation. They don't do anything but worship Allah Spano, Ghana. We are competing with prophets. Peace be upon them all, are competing with the Olia the companions. These are who you know, that's who else we're with. In this in at the door of Allah subhanaw taala. And, and, and, and, and the door of Jenna, right? So So what do we have? It's
like, almost like, Is there any hope for us? Right? I mean, our deeds alone are just not sufficient. So what can we do then? And the answer is, and this is so important, when you read the Quran, the more you read the Quran, and the more you study the words of the prophets, I send them and his life, you recognize that Allah created service, he created sadaqa, he created charity, as a fast track, to the mercy of Allah subhana wa, Tada. It's like, it's really, um, in a sense, it's our saving grace, because our deeds alone are not enough. It's not enough to take us to paradise. It's not enough. Definitely to compete with with the, with the, the, you know, these giants in worship, right? And so
what can us little people do? And the answer is we can help someone in need. And if we excel in that, if we excel in service, if we excel in, in, in charity, if we excel in South Africa, then we really have a good chance of getting into a really good place in paradise. And, you know, if there's any area that really proves this, it's this a it just, it just struck me when I when I understood this area, and and that's that Allah subhanaw taala talks about people. And and he mentioned that, at the time of death, when you know, a person who hasn't really done good, right, who who isn't in a good place at the time of death, they're going to have certain regrets. They're going to ask Allah
subhanaw taala send us back, right? And then they start to list what exactly they're gonna want to do when they go back. Right? Because think about it once you are at the time of death. And now you're still I mean, you're basically entered, you've left this little realm of this life, right death is upon you, your soul is being taken out right, the angel is there. And at that point in our life, Allah subhanaw taala tells us that our site becomes clear, right, fat cat chef nan galletto, ffl boss, Oracle, Yama, Hadid, Allah subhanaw taala says that at the time of death, when we leave the illusion of this life, he removes the veil from our eyes. And at that point, our sight is keen,
it is sharp, we see things as they actually are right? In this dunya many of us most of us do not see things as they actually are. We are covered with veil upon veil of deception. Right We are veiled with money and luxury and and and and super
Official materialism, worshipping other things, idols, you know, and when I say idols, idols of the heart, right we other the creation can become a veil for us where we, where we become distracted from Allah subhanaw taala because we love other things, as we should only love Allah subhanaw taala there's so much deceiving us, there's so much I mean, we are distracted, right? Allah Subhana Allah says in the end of that and hackathon with the castle, that you have become distracted by gaining more and more, what are we trying to gain more and more of what we're trying to gain more and more wealth. And now in the modern world, we're trying to gain more and more followers more and more
likes more and more praise. You know, they're more and more power. So Allah saying that you'd become distracted by this mutual rivalry in in getting more right. And hacker with tech castle had to resort to mal macabre until you enter the grave. Now when you get into the grave, when you you leave, you know you step over this line between life and death. And at that moment, everything becomes clear that veil is taken off off of your eyes you see things as they really are bizarre look for bizarre Okayama Hadid at that point. Even Pharaoh knew what was what was happening. And at that point, even Pharaoh was trying to believe right? We pulled this in the Quran at the time of death.
Even Pharaoh who was the worst tyrant to walk the earth, right? He He stood up and said no bukom will Allah he was he was the most tyrannical person. And yet even he, at the time of death, could see the truth and help the actual truth capital T. And even he at that point wanted to start he wanted to believe and Allah subhanaw taala says to him and and now like Now, question mark, it's too late at that point, right? Now, what do people say, at the time of death? What do people wish they could come back and do? What is the first thing that they say that they wish they could come back and do and that is to give sadaqa now, I think if there's anything that that can really demonstrate
how heavy or how heavy charity, how heavy soda, how heavy service is, in the scale of Allah subhanaw taala it's that it's that that reality, that that we will all wish, you know, those who did not take advantage in this life, rather, will wish that we could come back to this life. And this is going to be that number one deed that we're going to wish we could do. If there's anything that tells us the importance, it should be that this is an illustration of how heavy soda is in the scale of Allah subhanaw taala and the fact we're also told that sadaqa the prophets I send them told us that sadaqa it actually extinguishes The Wrath of Allah and the anger of Allah subhanaw taala and it protects
the individual from calamity. And now this brings me full circle, when I'm when we're talking about solace, when we're when everyone is looking for solace, who doesn't want solace in their life for themselves and their family, who doesn't want protection from calamity who doesn't want the help and the mercy of Allah Subhana Allah, we're all desperate for these things. And when it comes to true solace and protection, this is actually one of the fastest way and one of the ways promised by Allah subhanaw taala to get Allah subhanaw taala has told us that if we help another person in need, alone will help us when we are in need. And that if we remove a difficulty from another, then Allah will
remove a difficulty from us. Now think about this, this isn't this isn't like a one to one transaction, right? Say I give a certain amount to help someone. But that's not equivalent to the infinite divine help. And so Allah subhanaw taala is making a transaction with us. That is actually it is something finite, that we give, and in exchange, we receive something infinite. And that opportunity happens when we give and when we help and when we serve the creation. And this is an opportunity to do that. And no better time than then in this in this blessed month of Ramadan. no better time than to protect ourselves, to protect our families and to protect the world and those
suffering most by by being in that in that state of giving and support.
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