Just Trust Him, He Has Plans

Just Trust Him, He Has Plans

Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda - 15th MAS ICNA Convention

Opening

Bismillah, walhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in. Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Addressing Spiritual Crisis in Modern Times

So to touch on something that Shaykh Sa'ad mentioned. Because I have been coming across this increasingly with everything that continues to happen worldwide in Syria, Burma, different places. The things that are unfolding here in this country as well politically. There's an increasing amount of frustration and angst particularly amongst younger folks of faith, younger Muslims who are suffering or are dealing with that spiritual crisis of how can all these terrible things happen? And how do I reconcile my faith? How do I reconcile my belief in Allah with all these terrible things occurring? And Shaykh Sa'ad talked about it very beautifully.

Lessons from Saint Thomas Aquinas

One of the things that I was gonna add on it that might help particularly our younger folks who are studying, going to colleges, are exploring and growing intellectually. Something I wanted to share with them. One of probably the greatest medieval philosophers is Saint Thomas Aquinas.

He pretty much wrote the book quite literally on Christian theology and Christian philosophy. His most famous work is referred to as the Summa Theologica or just sometimes referred to as the Summa. And admittedly in his own writings he talks about how heavily influenced he was by Muslim philosophers and scholars like Al-Ghazali and others.

So you definitely see shades of a lot of early Islamic thought within his own construction of thought and within his writings. He says something very fascinating at the conclusion of his entire Summa, his entire presentation on theology. He says that at the end, all the objections to God were frivolous. All the objections to God were frivolous. Very easily dismissed. Did not even warrant a proper academic discussion.

He said, aside from two. There were two objections that I feel need to be dealt with. The first one is the more intellectual one. But he also says that that is also symbolic, that is also representative, excuse me, of a spiritual problem. And he says that that is there being a scientific explanation for everything in existence. That basically how does faith counter the idea that there's a scientific explanation for everything.

And he said that's purely just intellectual arrogance. He says the one concern that is actually has some meaning or has some substance to it. He says it's the problem of suffering, the problem of human suffering, which is summarily referred to oftentimes in theology and philosophy as a problem of evil.

The Problem of Suffering and the Afterlife

But he says something very fascinating, very profound about this. He says that, however, this particular problem, struggling with human suffering, this is actually representative of something very good within the person. It's coming from a good place.

And that is that a person is still a human being. They can still see, they can still recognize, they can still acknowledge and be bothered by another human being's suffering and pain. And so he said it's the soul that cries out, that why is this person suffering? But the solution to that problem in our tradition, as he mentions it as well, is the afterlife.

We just simply have to understand that the scope of our conversation, the scope of our belief and our iman is not limited to this world, but it extends into the eternal life of the hereafter. And that's very important for us to understand and deal with. And I wanted to mention this, not only to kind of touch upon that, but also to lead forward with what I wanted to talk about.

Our Response Plan in Difficult Times

And that is with everything that's been transpiring, what are we supposed to do now? What's our game plan? What is our plan of action? What are we going to do now in the face of all these overwhelming circumstances? Where we see a very difficult time potentially coming ahead.

The first thing I want to mention, and I've mentioned this before a few other places, and I need everyone to really understand what I'm saying here. We first and foremost have to stop living in, you know, like a 10-second burst.

Like life is not a snap. We can't just our memories and our understanding of this life and this world cannot be limited to just the last 10 years or 20 years or 30 years or 40 years or whatever it is that I know, whatever my frame of reference is. When we go back into our history, we see that this is not the first time that Muslims have been embattled.

Historical Perspective on Muslim Struggles

It is not the first time that people have been persecuted. There have been very tragic and difficult times before. And you know what the remarkable thing is? We're still sitting here in a room full of people today.

That's the remarkable thing. Difficulty has come before and we hope for the best, we pray for the best. And I don't want to frighten anyone, but difficulty will come again.

That is the nature of this world. Ups and downs and highs and lows and good times and bad times. That is how this world works. That is how Allah has constructed this world. That is why there is an afterlife. So we face difficulty before as a community.

Whether it was the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) in Mecca, and nearly 80 Muslims sneaking out in the middle of the night and fleeing their own homes to go and live in East Africa as refugees. Whether it's the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) home being surrounded by assassins who are trying to kill him. And Allah rescuing him through there.

Whether it be the city of Medina being laid siege to, being besieged. And 10,000, an army of allies has gathered together around the city of Medina to burn it to the ground. And they still had another day to look forward to.

The Quranic Principle of Always Working for Tomorrow

There was still a tomorrow. In fact so much so that Allah says in the Quran:

That even if the situation became so dire that everyone had to go out there, and it seemed like it was the last fight, the last battle, and there might not be even a tomorrow, you still gotta leave a group of people behind who can hold the fort down, who can make sure the community is still intact for tomorrow. Because there will be a tomorrow.

Your iman and your belief tells you that there will be a tomorrow. When the sun rises from the west, then there's no tomorrow. But until and unless that happens, you always work for tomorrow.

That even when everyone has to go out there to fight whatever last battle has presented itself, you still gotta leave a group of people behind who can hold the fort down, who can make sure the community is still intact. Why? لِيُنذِرُوا قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْ Because there will be a tomorrow. People will come back home, and we will have a community.

Our Theological Foundation

So that's our reality. As the Sheikh was saying, that is our theology. That is our belief. That is real practical aqeedah. That is what God has told us in the Quran. That is what Allah has said in the Quran. And that's what we believe in. So we will always be working. Now how do we respond when things start to take a turn for the worse? We respond with even more action.

We respond with more vigor. We respond with a re-commitment to our principles, to our ideals, to who we are and what we do.

The Prophet's Four-Point Action Plan

And I'll share with you what the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) in a very beautiful narration, in a very beautiful hadith, found in the musnad of Imam Ahmad, in the jami'ah of Imam Tirmidhi, along with many other books of hadith and seerah.

(Musnad Ahmad 8729, Jami' Tirmidhi 2485)

When the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) arrived in the city of Medina, he laid out the mandate, the game plan, the plan of action for the Muslim community. And it holds true till today. It has not changed even today.

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) he said:

1. Spread Peace

Ya ayyuhan nasu afshu's-salam

Number one! O people! O humanity! Spread peace. And this has both its broader meaning and its more specific meaning. Broader meaning, meaning create an environment of peace. Create an environment of safety and protection. Allowing people to feel safe and secure once again. And then it has the more specific meaning within the community which is giving the greetings of peace to one another. That truly become a community and connect with one another.

2. Feed People

Wa at'imu't-ta'am

Number two, which means if you literally translate it, it translates to feed food. That is very peculiar. And a lot of times it's translated as feed the needy. It's not only just feed the needy. Feed the needy is a part of it. Feed those who are hungry is a part of it. But it's just share food. So again it has a broader meaning of just sharing food and specific meaning of specifically feeding those who are hungry.

So feed those who are hungry. There should never be anyone who's left hungry. There should never be anyone left in your community who is bracing the cold out there on the streets without a roof over their head, without a coat on their back, without a blanket on them. That should never happen. There should never be anyone going hungry. That is your mandate. That is your responsibility.

And then feeding food overall is that just eat together, get to know one another, develop more deeper relationships. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), a very beautiful habit of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) that's mentioned in the shama'il, the prophetic personality, is that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) never ever ate by himself.

He never ate by himself. No matter where he was, he would always call someone, find someone to come sit with him and eat with him. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) beautifully taught us, food for two is enough for four. And food for four is enough for eight. That has to become our mantra. We do not eat alone. We feed people, we feed everyone. We make sure everyone is taken care of.

3. Strengthen Family Ties

Wa silu'l-arham

Number three, That's strengthen and maintain family relationships. That's secure your homes and your families and lead by example and show other people what it means to be a family. And also bring other people into your family as well. Treat others like family.

Remember that moment when the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) comes out during the battle of the trench which I alluded to earlier. And they're digging the trench and the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) told them to divide up into their groups based on their families so that they know each other. Divide up into your families and start digging the trench.

Take a portion of the trench and start digging. He comes out to find a debate going on. What is the debate? That there are two groups that are arguing, that are debating that Salman al-Farisi, Salman the Persian (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ) should be digging with their group.

Because the Ansar, the Medinan Muslims, say he is an Ansari, he is a Medinan. He came to Medina before Islam came to Medina. And the Muhajirun, those who have migrated to the city of Medina, they're saying, no, no, no, he's from amongst us because he's not a native of Medina, so he should be digging with us.