Zia Sheikh – Being Optimistics During Hardtimes Jumuah 162017
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Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the
Greatest I bear witness that there is no
god but Allah I
bear witness that there is no god but
Allah I
bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah I bear
witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
Come to Prayer Come to
Prayer Come
to success Come to
success Allah is
the Greatest, Allah is the
Greatest There is no god but
Allah I
bear witness that there is no god but
Allah They
will not have any fear and they will
not have any kind of worry.
So again and again we look at this
word huzn, this word worry, and Allah SWT
always uses the no or negative terminology related
to it.
There are a few places in which there
is no negativity associated with the word.
And those few places are in the story
of Yusuf A.S., Joseph, when he got
lost, when his brothers basically left him in
a well and the father was grieving for
him and he was worried for him.
So in that sense, when the grief and
the worry of the father is being described,
then it shows him to be worried and
it shows him to be grieving.
So from that perspective, a father who loses
his beloved son and doesn't know where he
is and doesn't get closure, he doesn't find
a body, he doesn't know where he is.
So in that sense, it is almost justified
for a father to be worried.
So Allah SWT does not use the word
huzn negatively in that connotation.
In another place in the Quran, Allah SWT
describes Fir'aun, when he picked up Moses,
Musa A.S., from the basket, from the
river, and Allah SWT says فَلْتَقَطَهُ آلُ فِرْعَوْنَ
لِيَكُونَ لَهُمَ عَدُوًّا وَحَزَنًا The family of Fir
'aun picked him up so that he could
become an enemy for them and a means
of grief for them.
And obviously, this did occur in the future.
Musa A.S. became the means of the
destruction of Fir'aun.
He drowned and he did not accept the
message of Musa A.S. And because of
that, Musa A.S. became a source of
grief for him.
So in that connotation, obviously, this occurred.
And then there's another verse in the Quran
referring to the Prophet A.S. in which
Allah SWT says قَدْ نَعْلَمُ إِنَّهُ لَيَحْزُلُ كَالَّذِي
يَقُولُونَ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَا يُكَذِبُونَكَ وَلَا كِنَّ الظَّالِمِينَ بِآيَاتِ
اللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ We know that the attitude of
the disbelievers towards you, O Prophet of Allah,
is worrying you.
So the Prophet A.S., he has the
natural tendency to also be worried.
But Allah SWT consoles him by revealing these
verses that this verse and the following verses
basically tell him to calm down and to
make him understand that the same attitude happened
with all of the rest of the Prophets
that came.
Every single Prophet met with challenges.
Every kind of Prophet, every Prophet met with
disbelief.
Every kind of Prophet met with rejection from
his people.
So, O Prophet of Allah, you should also
have sabr and be patient like the other
Prophets have.
So the word huzn, the summary is that
whenever we have the word huzn in the
Qur'an, Allah SWT mentions it in a
negative sense and not in a positive sense.
So that means that we should also not
adhere to having this negativity in our lives.
We should try to get rid of any
kind of negativity and pessimism.
Rather, we should focus on a positive thing.
So what are the things that we can
do so that we can become better mentally
and we can try to avert these kinds
of tragedies and problems from happening?
Firstly, we need to understand that not every
negative thing is bad for us.
Allah SWT says, وَعَسَىٰ أَن تَكْرَهُ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ
خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ Maybe on the face of something,
you dislike it.
But maybe that thing is better for you.
وَعَسَىٰ أَن تُحِبُّ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌ لَكُمْ Maybe
you like something and that is bad for
you.
وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمْ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ Allah knows and
you do not know.
So sometimes we need to just leave things
to Allah SWT.
Why did this event happen?
Why did such and such a person get
elected?
We do not know what the wisdom of
Allah SWT is behind that.
So maybe you dislike something and that thing
is better for you.
And maybe you like something and that thing
is bad for you.
Only Allah SWT knows.
So again, whatever happened has happened and we
leave the decision to Allah SWT.
It was the decision of Allah and we
should not question Allah SWT in this thing.
Our focus should be on changing ourselves.
And making sure that our deeds are not
the reason that we are the recipients of
challenges and tests from Allah SWT.
Allah SWT says, إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا
بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ Indeed, Allah SWT
He doesn't change the people, that change the
situation of the people until they change what
is with them.
Meaning the people need to change themselves.
We need to change our attitude.
We need to change our belief.
We need to increase our Iman.
We need to increase our A'mal.
We need to increase our presence in the
Masjid.
We need to stay away from Maasi and
Sin.
We need to focus our attention towards Allah
SWT.
And then Allah will change the situation that
is with us.
We can consistently and continuously complain that we
are going through difficulty.
We are having a hard time and we
have this problem and that problem.
But until and unless we change ourselves according
to what this verse says, Allah SWT will
not change our situation.
And the verse actually goes on to say
something very powerful.
وَإِذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُؤًا فَلَا مَرَدَّلَ Whenever
Allah SWT wants or intends for any people
to have any kind of difficulty, there is
no rejecting it.
There is no returning it.
وَمَا لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِ مِّن وَالِ And there
is nobody who can protect them other than
Allah SWT.
Other than Allah SWT Himself.
So from this ayah we learn that we
need to make sure that rather than focusing
on the exterior and focusing on what is
going on and the negativity around us, we
need to reflect upon ourselves that what situation
do I have with my Creator?
And what relationship do I have with my
Creator?
How is the situation in my community?
Is my community close to Allah or is
it far from Allah SWT?
These are the things that we need to
think about when we think about this verse.
We need to also focus on istighfar.
Istighfar is basically seeking forgiveness from Allah SWT.
The Prophet ﷺ used to seek forgiveness from
Allah SWT 70 times a day or more.
According to another riwayah, 100 times a day.
And he was asked, Ya Rasulullah, why do
you need to seek forgiveness from Allah SWT
while your previous and future sins have been
forgiven?
Meaning you have not committed any sins, so
why make istighfar?
So he said, Should I not be a
grateful slave of Allah SWT?
So if the Prophet ﷺ could make istighfar,
then why should we not make it a
focus of our lives to avert these kinds
of challenges?
Allah SWT, He says, وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ
وَأَنتَ فِيهِمْ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ مُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ
O Prophet of Allah, Allah will not send
down a punishment upon the people until you
are amongst them, while you are amongst them.
And He will not punish them while they
are making istighfar and seeking forgiveness from Allah
SWT.
So this is a very clear verse telling
us that istighfar actually averts the punishment of
Allah SWT.
It gets rid of the punishment of Allah
SWT.
It removes the punishment of Allah SWT from
coming.
So this was actually revealed about the kuffar
of Quraysh, the disbelievers of Quraysh, that they
used to make tawaf around the Ka'bah
and they used to, while they were making
tawaf, they used to ask Allah for forgiveness.
So even though they were committing shirk and
they were doing all kinds of wrong things
of disbelief, but because of the fact that
they were making istighfar, Allah SWT did not
send down the punishment upon them.
So as believers, should we not believe in
the power of istighfar?
We should make it a constant part of
our lives and set a minimum of istighfar
that we are doing daily, maybe a hundred
times, maybe a fifty times.
Just sit down and make istighfar and ask
Allah for forgiveness and think of the sins
that we commit night and day while He
is being merciful towards us and He is
not taking away any of our blessings.
He continues to shower us with His blessings
and His sustenance and yet we continue to
disobey Him.
That is the kind of attitude that we
should have when we are seeking His forgiveness.
We look at the story of Noah and
how he taught his people to seek forgiveness
and he said that this forgiveness is not
simply seeking forgiveness for the sake of forgiveness,
but it also has a profound effect on
one's life.
Noah says about himself in the chapter called
Noah I
told the people that seek the forgiveness of
your Lord, indeed He is of forgiving.
He will send down as a result of
your istighfar, as a result of your seeking
forgiveness, He is going to send down rainfall
and He is going to help you with
wealth and children and He is going to
make gardens for you and He is going
to make rivers for you.
Meaning that the help of Allah and the
sustenance and the rainfall and the crops and
the harvest and the fruits and our businesses
and our money and our wealth, all of
it is related to making istighfar.
The more we make istighfar, the more we
will get these blessings.
It is not an issue of simply just
seeking forgiveness.
The effect of istighfar is much more and
more broader than that.
So we should make it a habit of
our lives that we constantly inshallah make istighfar.
Also part of averting these kinds of challenges
from Allah SWT is that we need to
make sure that we are making what's known
as amr bil ma'ruf and nahyan al
munkar.
Meaning ordering people to do good and forbidding
them from evil.
And this is seemingly, it's very easy to
say.
But when that evil is going on around
us and it's done by people that are
close to us, it becomes very difficult for
us to challenge those who are nearest and
dearest to us and tell them to stop
what they're doing.
Whereas Allah SWT, He tells us in the
Quran, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِكُمْ
نَارًا O people of faith, O people of
iman, save yourselves and your families from the
hellfire.
Meaning that when my family is doing something
wrong, when my family is being disobedient to
Allah SWT, when my family is not praying,
when my family is doing things which is
completely against the command of Allah SWT, then
I should be, I am the one responsible
for guiding them and telling them what is
right and what is wrong.
It is not the responsibility of the local
imam or a group in the masjid or
the youth director in the masjid.
It is first and foremost our responsibility.
That is why the Prophet ﷺ, he said,
كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ وَكُلُّكُمْ مَسْؤُلُنَا الْرَعِيَةِ All of you
are shepherds, all of you are guardians, and
each one of you will be questioned about
your subordinates, your flock, the people that are
under you.
So each and every person who has been
given any type of responsibility, a father, a
husband, or even the leader of the community,
the imam, each one has his own responsibility
and each one will be questioned about that
responsibility that Allah SWT has given them.
So we should make sure that we are
engaging in amr bil ma'ruf and nahyan
al munkar.
The Prophet ﷺ, he said in a hadith
which is narrated, collected in Tirmidhi, وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي
بِيَدِهِ لَتَأْمُرُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَلَتَنْهَوُنَّ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ أَوْ
لَيُوشِكَنَّ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ أَنْ يَبَعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابًا
مِّنْ عِنْدِهِ ثُمَّ تَدْعُونَهُ فَلَا يُسْتَجَابُ لَكُمْ Most
certainly you should make amr bil ma'ruf
and nahyan al munkar.
You should order people to do good and
forbid them from evil.
Or the time is very close.
It means that something is about to happen.
Something is about to happen.
The time is very close that Allah SWT,
He sends a punishment upon you.
And from Himself.
And then you make dua and the dua
is not accepted.
And according to another hadith, it is mentioned
in the same kind of context that the
Prophet SAW said that Allah SWT will send
leaders upon you that will be oppressive.
And when they engage in this oppression and
then you call to Allah SWT, your duas
will not be accepted.
So we often ask this question.
Why do we get this kind of leadership?
These dictators that are brutal and these people
that imprison people for no reason.
And they give their countries and the people
in their countries a hard time and a
difficult time.
Political prisoners and punishment and torture and killing.
Why does this happen?
It is quite possible that the reason behind
it is the fact that we have neglected
our responsibility of amr bil ma'ruf and
nahyan al munkar.
Commanding people to do good and forbidding them
from evil.
So basically, we're running out of time.
But the focus for ourselves should be that
first and foremost, we should never be negative
about any place or time.
The focus should be on ourselves and on
our deeds.
What are we doing?
What are what our deeds are displaying?
Is are we being obedient to Allah SWT?
Are we being disobedient to Allah SWT?
That should be our focus.
And when we when we try to correct
ourselves, we will see that the situations around
us, inshallah, they will correct themselves.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what is being said
and heard.
Just a reminder for everyone that the Friday
collection has been very minimal in the past
few weeks.
And we've mentioned this so many times that
the Friday collection, it covers the day to
day expenses of the masjid.
That means the bills, the salaries of the
employees and so on.
They are all covered by this particular collection.
And we are short every single week, whereas
the by 50 percent, maybe you can say
is being collected.
50 percent is not being collected.
And it got to a point, I believe,
this month that we do not have enough
to even cover the bills.
And we request some people to just get
a minimal amount of 20 dollars per week.
If not 20, then 10.
If not 10, then five.
But put something in the donation box.
We do not have tithing like we do
in the churches outside.
Right.
Where you give a portion of your salary
to become a member of the particular church.
You have to give actually a percentage of
your salary.
If you want to be a member of
a church, you have to give a percentage
of your salary to become a member of
a particular church.
So we don't have that.
We only rely upon these donations that are
voluntary.
And we as Muslims, we believe that any
donation, any any charity we give will be
a form of protection for us.
It's an investment for us in the hereafter.
So please do make a point of bringing
20 dollars, 10 dollars, five dollars, something that
you can put in the in the box,
inshallah, for charity.
And inshallah, this will become an investment for
you in the hereafter.
I pray that Allah gives us tawfiq to
understand and practice what has been said and
heard.
I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness for
me and for you and for the rest
of the Muslims.
So ask His forgiveness.
Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.
Alhamdulillah, we worship Him, we ask His help,
we ask His forgiveness, we believe in Him,
and we put our trust in Him.
And we seek refuge in Allah from the
evils of our souls and from the misdeeds
of our deeds.
Whosoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and
whosoever He sends astray, none can guide him.
And we bear witness that there is no
god but Allah, alone, with no partner.
And we bear witness that our master and
master is Muhammad, His servant and Messenger.
Allah Almighty said, Indeed, Allah and His angels
send blessings upon the Prophet.
O you who have believed, send blessings upon
him and give him peace.
O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad and upon
the family of Muhammad with the number of
those who pray and fast.
O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad and upon
the family of Muhammad with the number of
those who sit and stand.
And send blessings upon all the Prophets and
Messengers.
And upon the angels who are near.
And upon the servants of Allah who are
righteous.
By Your mercy, O Most Merciful.
O Allah, honor Islam and the Muslims.
O Allah, shun polytheism and polytheists.
O Allah, help Islam and the Muslims.
O Allah, help those who have helped the
religion of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon
him, and make us of them.
And take those who have taken the religion
of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him,
and do not make us with them.
O Allah, help us and do not help
us.
O Allah, plan for us and do not
plan for us.
O Allah, increase us and do not decrease
us.
O Allah, give us and do not deprive
us.
O Allah, our Lord, give us good in
this world and good in the Hereafter.
And protect us from the punishment of the
Fire.
And admit us into Paradise with the righteous.
O Allah, help Islam and the Muslims in
Palestine, Kashmir, Syria, Burma, Somalia, and all over
the world.
And make us of those who strive for
Your cause.
And do not let them fear You, if
they do not repent.
Ameen, O Lord of the worlds.
Ameen, O Lord of the worlds.
Indeed, Allah commands justice, goodness, and giving to
those who are near.
And forbids immorality, evil, and transgression.
He warns you that you may remember.
Remember Allah, the Most High, the Most Glorious.
He remembers you.
And calls upon Him to respond to you.
And the remembrance of Allah is higher and
greater.
And Allah knows what you do.
Aqeem Salat.
Just like to request everyone to stay for
five minutes.
Scott is visiting us from a neighboring church.