Zaid Shakir – A Message of Hope #12
AI: Summary ©
The importance of forgiveness, seeking refuge from God, a positive mentality, and a positive attitude towards the situation is crucial in addressing evil behavior. The need for a god-like partner, a positive mentality, and a positive attitude is essential for a successful return of Islam to the United States. The conflict between Muslims and Muslims is causing violence and loss of lives, leading to a lot of violence and loss of lives. The importance of finding inspiration and affirmation in times of stress, and finding inspiration and affirmation in times of stress is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
We praise Him, we ask for His help,
we ask for His forgiveness, we ask for
His forgiveness and we turn to Him and
we seek refuge in Allah from the poverty
of our souls and from the evil of
our deeds.
Allah guides him, so there is no guide
for him, and whoever is led astray, there
is no guide for him.
And I bear witness that there is no
god but Allah, and there is no partner
for Him.
وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ
كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا
اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا يَعْصِلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَعْفِي
لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُبْعِي اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ
فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا أَمَّا بَعْدُهُ فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ
اللَّهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهَدِيهَةِ يُمَّ حَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلَّمْ فَشَرَّتْ أُمُورَ مِحْدَثَتُهَا فَقُلْ مِحْدَثَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ
بِرْعَةٍ
بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ
بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ
بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ
بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ
بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ بِرْعَةٍ The one
who has fed them, driven hunger away from
them, and has made them secure from fear.
These are great blessings that we should never
take for granted.
That we should always thank Allah for.
Allah tells us, وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَا رَبُّكُمْ لَإِنْ شَقَرْتُمْ
لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَإِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ And when
your Lord proclaimed, if you give thanks for
the blessings, I will increase you in the
blessings.
And if you reject My blessings, you should
know that My punishment.
This is not to say that if any
group or people or corner of this ummah
are experiencing hunger, or experiencing insecurity, it's not
necessarily a punishment.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ informed us, إِذَا
أَحَبُّوا اللَّهُ قَوْمَانَ إِنْ تَبِتَ لَهُمْ If Allah
loves the people, He tests them.
All of us are being tested.
Because we're tested in different ways.
And in response to the test, there are
generally two great responses.
The test of hardship, difficulty, hunger, insecurity, warfare,
requires the response of sabr.
And the test of graces and bounties, of
food and plenitude, abundance, security, requires the response
of shukr.
So the believer is always at one level
between sabr or shukr.
أَلْمُؤْمِنُ دَائِمًا وَأَبَهًا بين صَبْرِ وَشُكْر This is
the nature of the believer.
We know that there's a genocide going on
in Palestine and Gaza, and being expanded into
the West Bank and into Lebanon.
This genocide is now officially in terms of
the Palestinians' ethnic cleansing.
Because the Zionist, racist regime has
proclaimed there are no longer any civilians in
northern Gaza.
Meaning any man, woman, child, as has been
the case for the last year.
Is an open target to be murdered.
May Allah continue to bless the people there
with patience.
And may they know that their patience, their
resilience, is echoing all over this world.
There are probably more people, I'm a convert
to Islam.
I'll be 50 years, my 50th anniversary, or
you could say my 50th birthday, when I
was born into faith, will be in 2027.
Over the course of these 50 years, I've
seen a lot.
But I'll tell you one thing I haven't
seen.
I haven't seen a year where more people
have come into Islam than this past year.
And the overwhelming majority they say we were
inspired by the people of Gaza.
And you know some of their names.
Some of them are very famous people.
So may Allah bless them with patience.
We have the genocide and we know that
our government is a full partner.
And I say this with full confidence.
Our government is not the junior partner, they're
the senior partner.
We provide the bombs.
We provide the fighter jets.
We provide the spare parts for the jets.
We provide the diplomatic cover.
And believe me, people in this country are
noticing.
Don't be deceived by the election.
Don't think, oh, people don't care about the
genocide.
They elected someone who said he's going to
get the job finished.
Etc.
70% of the people in this country
said they support a ceasefire.
Almost that number they support cutting off all
military aid to the State of Israel.
People are noticing.
You're hearing conversations in the media you would
never have heard even two or three years
ago.
Never.
Things are changing, but we have to be
patient.
But we also have to work.
And to work, we have to have a
mentality of hope.
We have to have a mentality that's positive.
After the elections and after a year of
genocidal massacre and slaughter, many people are depressed.
Many people are feeling hopeless.
Muslims are depressed.
Some Muslims are feeling hopeless.
We have to understand.
Hopelessness has no, no, it's a word that
doesn't exist in the Muslim lexicon.
When Yaqub, alayhis salaam, sent his sons into
Egypt to search for their brothers, what did
he say?
وَلَا تَيْعَسُوا مِن رَّاحِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهُ لَا يَعَسُوا
مِن رَّاحِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ الْقَوْمُ الْكَافِرُونَ And as
you go and you search for your brothers,
don't despair of Allah's mercy.
Verily, no one despairs of Allah's mercy except
a disbelieving people.
No one despairs of Allah's mercy except a
disbelieving people.
Some people, they think we're so weak.
We're not weak.
We're strong.
We just don't realize how strong we are.
And that strength starts with our faith.
Starts with our faith.
When the Muslims were down, feeling probably like
a lot of the brothers and sisters are
feeling now.
At Uhud, or after Uhud.
The victory was right there.
Then as we know, some of the archers,
not all of them.
Their Amir and others were steadfast in obeying
the command of the Prophet ﷺ.
He said, don't leave.
They didn't leave.
But enough left for Khalid to come around
the Muslim flanks.
You all know the story.
And then as they say, victory for the
kuffar was snatched from the jaws of defeat.
Which made it worse.
It's one thing to just lose our fight.
It's like a sports team.
We're in Massachusetts.
I can talk about the Yankees.
They're winning.
And then all of a sudden, they're losing.
It's a wrap.
We got this.
It wasn't a wrap.
So the Muslims, it's a wrap.
It's done.
Let's clean up the battlefield.
Here comes Khalid and his troops.
The Prophet ﷺ is wounded, bleeding.
And he's feverishly wiping up his blood.
And they're asking him why.
He said, because if the blood of the
Prophet ﷺ hits the ground during the battle,
Allah will wipe out his enemies.
Musab bin Umair, his emissary, who was instrumental
in opening up al-Yathir, which would become
al-Madinah for Islam.
He's dead.
His uncle Hamzah is assassinated.
The situation is getting dire.
And they come to him and ask to
pray for him.
Pray against the enemy.
And what does he say, ﷺ?
He basically said, Allah, forgive them.
He wouldn't pray against them.
Because he was in sin.
He said, I was in sin to curse
people.
ﷺ وَلَكِنَّهُ أُرْسِلَ رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ وَمَا أُرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا
رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ I've only been sent as a
mercy to all of the worlds.
And my enemies are part of the world.
ﷺ This is our messenger.
He never let go of his faith.
And he never let go of the principles
that his faith defined.
We'll come back to this subject.
So Allah says to the believers.
They're depressed.
The victory for the kuffar was snatched from
the jaws of defeat.
A lot of them are dead.
Wounded.
They limp back into Mecca.
And what does Allah reveal?
وَلَا تَهِيمُوا وَلَا تَحْسَنُوا وَأَنتُمُ الْعَالَمُ إِن كُنْتُمْ
مُؤْمِنِينَ Don't be weakened.
Don't let your resolve be shaken.
Don't think this is the end of the
affair.
Don't become so depressed that you can't get
up and continue to struggle.
وَلَا تَحْسَنُوا وَلَا تَهِيمُوا وَلَا تَحْسَنُوا And don't
be saddened.
Yeah, it was a rough day.
But better was a little better outcome.
So perhaps tomorrow's conflict or confrontation or encounter
will bring a better outcome.
So don't be saddened.
Don't be saddened.
All your brothers and sisters who are killed,
they're shuhadat.
They're going on the easy pass lane into
Jannah.
Everyone's in easy pass lane now.
But in the old days, when you had
the toll booth, and you're out there, all
the people, they left their wallet at home,
they don't have any cash, and it's clogging
up, it's clogging up, and the people in
the easy pass, swoosh, swoosh, they're going in.
The shuhadat, they're going in.
Be ready, he said.
We're out there having our account taken.
This was taking so long because he or
she has a lot to account for.
This one left his wallet at home.
Metaphorically speaking, allegorically speaking, but you get the
idea.
The shaheed is in the fast track, the
easy pass track of lane into Jannah.
So why are you saddened?
Be saddened for the one who's not a
shaheed, who didn't live the best life, and
now has to come for every word, every
action, every decision.
That's the one you should be sad for.
Maybe he won't have the right answers.
Maybe the excuses won't be accepted.
Maybe.
There's no maybe in the case of the
shaheed.
So Allah says, don't be saddened.
You're struggling for truth.
Don't be saddened, no matter what the outcome
is, as long as we are struggling for
truth, as long as we're calling people to
the truth, as long as we're sacrificing for
the truth, the outcome is with Allah, which
He stated earlier in this chapter, Al-Imran.
لَيْسَ لَكَ أَمِيدَ الْأَمْرِ شَيْءٍ You have nothing
to do with the outcome of this affair.
لَيْسَ لَكَ أَمِيدَ الْأَمْرِ شَيْءٍ The outcome is
with Allah.
Our responsibility is to struggle.
Our responsibility is to sacrifice.
Our responsibility is to keep our heads up,
so that the people who are looking for
guidance, direction, looking for an example, looking for
a light in very dark times, they can
look to your brothers and sisters and find
inspiration.
That's our job.
وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْسَنُوا وَأَنْتُمُ الْعَالَوْنَا Don't be
weakened, don't be saddened, while you are upermost.
Why?
Because your truth is superior to their falsehood.
Your justice is superior to their tyranny.
Your principles and respect for life is superior
to their barbaric murderous tactics.
وَأَنْتُمُ الْعَالَوْنَا The fact that you say لَا
إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ Because we
follow the Prophet ﷺ, who is uppermost.
Not because he won every battle.
These verses were built after Uhud.
It wasn't a victory.
Not because he won every battle, but because
he fought every battle on the basis of
principle ﷺ.
Because when he was uppermost, and this will
be a challenge for the Muslims, on the
day of Mecca, Fahim Mecca, he could have
come in.
He has the largest army the Arabian Peninsula
has ever seen.
Their enemies have been systematically neutralized.
He could have exacted revenge.
He could have wiped out Mecca.
The organizers of the campaigns against him, at
least there he could have started with them,
Abu Sufyan in India, who hired the assassin
to kill his uncle Hamza.
رضي الله عنه What did he do?
He came in humbly, with his chest down
on the neck of his mount, with his
head bowed in humility.
And he said to these people, go, go,
you're free.
And he said, concerning Abu Sufyan in India,
what did he say to them?
Whoever goes into the house of Abu Sufyan
is safe.
He made the house of his enemy a
sanctuary for the people.
Whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan is
safe.
صلى الله عليه وسلم Our time is coming.
So after that, what does Allah say?
إِنْ يَمْسَسْكُمْ قَرْحٌ فَقَدَمْ لَسْتَ الْقَرْمَ قَرْحٌ مِثْذُورٌ
If a setback, a defeat, a painful injury
like Uhur has afflicted you, you should know
your adversaries have been similarly afflicted.
You suffer now today at Uhur, they suffered
yesterday at Badr.
إِنْ يَمْسَسْكُمْ قَرْحٌ فَقَدَمْ لَسْتَ الْقَرْمَ قَرْحٌ مِثْذُورٌ
وَتِلْكَ الْعِيَامُ نُدَاوِنُوا هَيْنَ النَّاسِ We alternate these
fortunes between people.
وَلِيَعْلِمُ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَيَتَّخِذَ مِنْكُمْ شُهَدَاءٌ وَاللَّهُ
لَا يُحِبُّ الظَّالِمِينَ And we alternate these fortunes.
يَوْمٌ لَكَ وَيَوْمٌ عَلَيْكَ There'll be a day
in your favor and there'll be a day
against you.
This is the nature of things.
One of the meanings, I forgot to mention,
وَأَنْتُمُنْ أَعَلَّوْنَا If you look at history, you'll
find that eventually, truth will prevail.
Eventually, the prophetic heritage prevails.
The heritage of Isa a.s. prevails.
The time of Muhammad, the heritage of Muhammad
prevailed, salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Like no other deen nor the social force
in history.
You're living it right here.
There are African people in here and people
of African descent.
There are European people in here and people
of European descent.
There are South Asian people in here and
people of South Asian descent.
There are Central Asians in here and people
of Central Asian descent.
There are North Africans in here and people
of North African descent.
There are East Africans in here and people
of East African descent.
No force has brought more people together in
peace and harmony like the peace and harmony
you see in this masjid right now than
Islam.
And we have a responsibility at this time
when our country is being fragmented.
And there are calls to return to the
kind of racism that culminated in race riots.
Cities being burned down.
Innocent people being lynched.
There are demagogues that want to return to
that time.
And as Muslims we don't say it as
a political slogan we're not going back.
We say inshallah with the light of Islam
that is carried by the Muslims when we
stand up and resume our responsibility this country
is going forward.
It's going to move beyond racism.
It's going to move beyond the heritage of
slavery and the social conditions, the racism and
supremacy that undergirded slavery.
But we have a job to do.
And a lot of us are not going
to stand up to the challenge.
But if enough of us do, if enough
of us do Allah will use us.
كم من فئة قليلة غالبت فئة كثيرة بإذن
الله والله مع الصابرين How many times has
a small force vanquished a larger force by
Allah's permission.
And Allah is with those who are patient.
Brothers and sisters ولا تهيموا ولا تحسنوا وأنتم
العالون إن كنتم مؤمنين Don't be weak and
don't be sad in all your utmost if
indeed you are believers.
Let's pick our heads up.
Let's focus our efforts.
Let's redouble our efforts at da'wah.
Real da'wah.
Calling people who aren't Muslims to Islam.
Now calling other Muslims to my understanding of
Islam.
That's what da'wah has been degraded into.
So we're fighting a revival of the Aqidah
wars of the 1990s.
We have a higher calling.
And may we answer it.
قُلُوا قَوْلِ هَذَا وَاسْتَغْفِرُوا الْبَهَرِينَ وَلَهُمْ وَالسَّائِلِ
الْمُؤْمِنِينَ