Dealing With Trials & Tribulations

Dealing With Trials & Tribulations

A Khutbah by Sheikh Abu Taubah

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Opening Khutbah

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

All praise belongs to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His forgiveness and His guidance. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own egos and the evil results of our deeds.

Anyone whom Allah guides, then no one can lead him astray. And anyone whom Allah leads to stray, then there is none that can guide him.

And I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship and no gods in reality, except Allah, the one and only, having no partners.

And I bear witness that Muhammad ibn Abdillah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) is his slave and his messenger.

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Opening Verses

Allah says what could mean:

"O you who believe, fear Allah, respect Allah, have taqwa for Allah as it is His right to have taqwa. And don't you dare die except that you die as Muslims."

"O mankind, fear your Lord who created you all from one soul, Adam. And created from that soul its mate, Eve. And raised up and spread from the two of them, many men and women. And fear Allah, the one whom you ask things for. And don't cut ties with the wombs that bore you. Indeed Allah above us all is laying in watch."

"O you who believe, fear Allah. And in light of your fear of Allah, your respect for Allah, then say a word that goes straight to the point."

"He will correct something that you did wrong, rectify your deeds and forgive you your sins."

And whoever is already obeying Allah and already obeying his messenger, has already achieved the highest aspiration anyone can achieve.

Excuse me, red bull. As for what follows, then we must know that the best speech is the speech of Allah.

The best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wasallam). And the most evil of affairs are those things that we ourselves as humans bring into the picture. Each one of these things is something that leads us astray.

And anything that leads us astray will eventually lead us to the hellfire.

Introduction: The Prophet's Trials as a Human Being

We're talking about the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) during his trials and tribulations. Now this topic to me was, I guess it was a conundrum at first.

Because when you're a prophet, what aspect of your life is not a trial and a tribulation? Are we gonna deal with it from the perspective of him being a prophet? I think not, because that wouldn't be fair for us.

As being him a prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) he's safe. And he has to react in his professional capability as a prophet.

And he didn't fail in doing that. So I chose to deal with it. The trials and tribulations that I'm going to mention are not trials and tribulations tied to him being the prophet, but tied to him being a man.

A regular man.

So what are those times in his life (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) that there were trials and tribulations for him?

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Trial #1: When the Revelation First Came

Well the first one, we can see, was when the wahy first came to him. When he first met Jibreel.

And he had that experience. How did he react? Because what we're supposed to see here, what we wanna learn in glimpses of the life with the prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) how he reacted under this adversity.

What did he do? Anybody tell me? It's not a khutbah lecture.

Come on Muslims, what did he do? Yes, he was scared. But what did he do?

He went home to his wife.

He didn't go to the bar. He didn't go see the fellas. He went home to his wife, barakallahu feekum. And he explained the whole situation to his wife.

He told her what happened. And he sought solace with his wife. So we're building up here.

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Trial #2: Calling His Family to Islam

The next great fitna or trial that I chose to deal with, is when he told his family. When he called the Quraysh together, and he told them, I am the prophet. He came out loud and said this.

He called them together, and we know we have the surah:

تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ

"Perish the two hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he!"

Recognizing the Good in Non-Muslim Family Members

He recognized the good that the man had for him in his lifetime. And this is very important for us to recognize as Muslims because a lot of times when we have these families who are not as Muslim as we are or as much as we think we are, because we have these different attitudes. Because we have the way we are in our homes with our family, the way we are in the street, and the way we are inside ourselves.

Okay, and the one inside we don't really like to show to anybody. So, this way we see ourselves and the way we view others, he didn't look down on his family until Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala revealed to him, you cannot make dua for this person. There's no dua for the mushrikeen in this regard.

And then after that, what did he do? He remained silent. You don't hear him speaking about him. Talking bad or negative or saying, oh yeah, that mushrikeen.

He didn't go out of his way to debase the memory of his uncle. Do you understand the point? And how he dealt with it? And what we can take from that in dealing with those people who we deem less Islamic than we are.

Yet there are family members, the same people who probably changed our diapers, taught us how to walk, how to ride a bike and did the various things that they did.

And the main people that are gonna put their money up to help bury us if we precede them to the grave. These people. So he kept good ties and good relations with them even though they were still mushrikeen.

Maintaining Family Ties Without Compromising

But he didn't compromise. And his non-compromising didn't make him rude. You understand? And during trials and tribulations, this death of his uncle, it didn't make him say something foul or lose hope.

Trial #4: The Death of Khadijah

The next great trial that the Prophet ﷺ went through as a man, the same year, was the death of Khadijah.

Now Khadijah was his first wife. His first wife. And he lived, he didn't have another wife. And he loved her. And also she was wealthy.

So she spent her money on him. May Allah give us wealthy wives. Ameen.

Had to throw that in there. You said, Ameen. Ameen, alhamdulillah.

Ameen. Had to say it again.

The Prophet Cried for Two Days

At any rate, when Khadijah passed away, this was a great trial and tribulation for the Prophet ﷺ

Because he loved his wife.

She was a source of support for him from the very first day in Islam. And a lot of people break it down, the first woman to accept Islam, the first man, the first boy. She was the first person to accept Islam.

She believed in him. So now with her passing, what did he do? Anybody know?

The man cried for two days. ﷺ

He cried for two whole days. He was a man. He was a human.

We don't have it anywhere else where the Prophet ﷺ cried for two whole days. So we can see this was one of the biggest trials and tribulations that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went through.

When he got kicked out of Ta'if and stoned, he didn't cry. He bled. He was wounded. Didn't bust a tear.

Didn't bother him. It did bother him. I shouldn't say it didn't bother him.

Because he said, as long as Allah is okay, I'm good. Because you know, that's part of his job. That's not personal, right?

But this was intimately personal.

Unable to Properly Shroud His Wife

And it should teach us that it's alright for us to love our wives and have that tenderness and compassion that he cried for two whole days. Then after that, he had to get on with it. He didn't even have enough to bury his wife.

You know, there was no shroud. Because this happened when they were mahbusun. They were out in the restricted area.

So they didn't have any money. They didn't have any cloth. He couldn't even find a shroud to wrap Khadijah up.

So he had to wrap her up in what the Arabs used as a khimar, a head covering, that they used to cover their face. And that was all he had to use to bury his wealthy wife that helped him and spent all her money, all her wealth on him. Now he couldn't even have enough money or enough resources to find something to shroud her properly.

That's something that caused him great grief. If you understand what I'm saying. Caused him great grief.

Because you want to show your appreciation and your reciprocacity by, you know, doing her the best that you can. So we see that.

Trial #5: The Martyrdom of Hamzah

Then we have the death of Hamzah. رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ Hamzah. When Hamzah was martyred, I shouldn't say the death of Hamzah. Because Allah tells us not to say that the martyred are dead.

And we need to follow that. When Hamzah was martyred in the battle, this was another source of great anguish and pain for the Prophet ﷺ. But he didn't breathe a word about it. He stomached it.

You understand? See the differences when what's going on? This was war. Hamzah was a man, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ He knew it.

They made an oath, a pledge to Allah:

أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ

And they stood by it. And he was martyred behind standing up لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللهِ

The Story of Wahshi

But he didn't forget. Who killed? Who martyred Hamzah? What? You calling me names?

Wahshi

Wahshi means wild.

That's what wahshi means. So wahshi was a person who was bad with that spear. And he got his freedom.

You can't blame the man. He was a slave. Him came to him and said, Look, I give you an offer you can't refuse.

Because if you refuse, they're gonna make life miserable for him. Right? He's still a slave. But if you do this job, you get your freedom.

Who wouldn't do that? And you don't know. You don't believe in the Prophet. The person doesn't believe that he's the Messenger of Allah.

He's not even involved in those types of things. So he didn't know. He didn't believe.

And he went out there. And he killed. He shuts his mouth.

And he hits Hamzah mid-body. And Hamzah is martyred. رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ He gets his spear.

He goes back. He proves that he did that to Hamzah. That he martyred Hamzah.

He gets his freedom.

Years Later: Wahshi Accepts Islam

Years go by. Said the Prophet never spoke about it. Didn't complain. No, he didn't complain. ﷺ

When Wahshi comes, he comes to accept Islam, I'm saying. The believers are in Medina now. So, they're in Medina. He comes and he explains that, I wanna accept Islam.

I am Wahshi. So the Prophet says, Wahshi, okay. Tell me how you killed Hamzah.

What happened at Badr? I mean at Uhud. What did you do? So Wahshi misunderstands. Instead of just explaining what the circumstances were under, he glorifies the story of the martyrdom of Hamzah.

And you could see it disturbing the Prophet ﷺ. You could see that the story of his uncle, his close uncle being martyred, was doing to his ears, listening to this. But he didn't say anything.

The Prophet's Human Response

And then when Wahshi finished telling the story, he said:

"We accept your Islam, but I don't ever wanna see you again. I don't wanna look at your face again."

So what did Wahshi do?

Instead of running away with his Islam, going someplace else, leaving Medina, Wahshi became the shadow of Rasulullah ﷺ

When the Prophet ﷺ would say السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ Wahshi would say وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلَامُ get up. And then the Prophet move, Wahshi would be a little bit behind him. Prophet turn around, Wahshi would move that way.

Move this way. He'd be always a little bit behind the Prophet. Became like a bodyguard, right? But anywhere he turned, Wahshi was behind him.

Wahshi's Dedication

He never stood in front of the Prophet ﷺ again. Imagine that type of dedication. That type of understanding.

Okay? And the Prophet didn't say, nah, I don't mean that. You don't gotta do that. Nah, he was a man.

I won't see you no more. It still hurt. I accept as my job as a Prophet, I accept your Islam.

Me as a person, I won't see you. I got that right. And we noticed that from the Prophet and he didn't change his word.

The Completion of the Story

After he ﷺ died just to finish the story of Wahshi, he took that same spear because the Prophet came to the masjid and said, I had a dream of two gold bangles on me. And then they hit them and they fell apart. And I think these are the two liars.

You know? And so the Prophet, I mean, Wahshi understood the Prophet's having a problem ﷺ with this مُسَيْلِمَةُ الْكَذَّابِ )Musaylimah the Liar). This liar. This imposter Prophet.

So he goes out there and with the same spear that he martyred Hamzah with he kills مُسَيْلِمَةُ الْكَذَّابِ . So he follows up the bad deed with the good one.

Hoping that it'll wipe it away.

The Lesson: The Prophet Had Human Feelings

But the point for our discussion today is that the Prophet ﷺ he had a مَوْقِفٌ )mawqif - stance), he had a stance as a human being based on this type of situation. And we don't say that he held a grudge, but there was pain there.

Trial #6: The Slander of Aisha

The next situation we have is where the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ his wife عَائِشَةُ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهَا was slandered. Now this is a big personal fitna.

Notice the things that I'm pointing us to. These are things dealing with him صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ as a person not as the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ . So here his wife, his young wife, she gets lost from the caravan, meaning everybody knows the story, right?

She goes out to look for the bangle, the qilad - necklace), the necklace that she had, that she borrowed.

She comes back, the whole place is gone. Everybody's gone. But alhamdulillah, the Prophet in his wisdom, he sent a man back to go check, to make sure everything was okay.

The False Accusation

And he found her, recognized her, loaded her on the camel and walked back to Medina with that. But this didn't stop the people from slandering her and saying that she snuck off to have an affair with this man. You know, she's too young, she's too hot, and all this nasty talk, they're talking about عَائِشَةُ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهَا

They're saying this type of thing, saying she committed adultery. The wife of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ what did the Prophet do? Did he run over there and bust that guy in the mouth? Say, what you was doing with my wife?

No, I mean, seriously, some of us would do that. Some of us would take the speech and not even think about it.

Some of them would go and divorce the wife, beat her up publicly. We see what the Muslims do, or do it privately, like some of the brothers here do.

The Prophet's Unique Approach

So what did the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ do? It's very unique, this situation.

He didn't talk to any of the senior men. In this situation, we know the Prophet did something totally, you know, what looks strange. He didn't talk to any of the senior elder sahaba.

He only talked to the young guys, the younger sahaba. Like Ali ibn Abi Talib and a younger, asking them their opinion, what they thought. And he talked about the... He didn't just say she did it.

He came to the masjid, and he said, Yo, who's gonna, you know, straighten out this situation? This guy, they're accusing him, he never came to my house except that I was there. I got no reason to suspect this guy about my wife. And he's no reason for me to suspect his wife, my wife.

The Meaning of Patience

So the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ he didn't blame his wife. He didn't blame the other guy. He was patient.

And patience has been described as complaining to Allah, not to the humanity. Not making statements that we're gonna regret later. Being patient means persevering.

Not just like somebody tied up on a chair, wiggling because he can't get up. And not just waiting doing nothing. Making dua and moving proactively.

Investigating the Matter

He asked the slave girl, What do you think about Aisha? Oh, Aisha, I don't find nothing wrong with her, but she complained from a slave girl's perspective.

But she leaves the dough out and the animals come and eat the bread. You know, that's the concern of a slave girl because she's got to clean up that mess.

She's got to go to the store and get more bread. And this lady is leaving it out. And that's the only thing she can complain about.

They're talking about Zina, and he's talking about the bread being left out. So he's really not nothing that she could complain about dealing with the issue.

And then he goes to Aisha's arch, not enemy, but arch rival, Zaynab bint Jahsh.

These two were arch rivals. And if you look at the hadith, all the time they're competing with each other for the attention of the prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

Aisha is saying, Look, I'm the only virgin here. I don't know why he's married to you guys. That's what Aisha is saying, you know.

And then Zaynab is saying, You know what? Who married you to the prophet? Oh, your father.

Well, Allah married him to me. They're going back and forth like that, you know. And Aisha says, Well, you know, that wahi came down in my house.

They're going back and forth. All the revelation only came down in Aisha's house. So this is the person who, if they had an opportunity, you would think they would say something negative.

Zaynab's Testimony

She didn't say anything negative. I don't know nothing bad about Aisha. You see? I don't know nothing bad about her.

But they're in competition all the time. The reality came down when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala revealed what He revealed about that. This is an example of how we should deal with slander and how we're supposed to turn it over to those people who are responsible to deal with it.

The Main Lesson: We Face Similar Trials

But the point for our talk here is that we can't now in our life claim that we have situations that are not covered in the sharia, like trials and tribulations, that we don't see from the life of the prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

He dealt with the same type of issues that we deal with, family issues. Let's put aside the things about the prophet.

But these are things dealing with him personally and his family. And we see that the مَوْقِفٌ )mawqif - stance), the stance that he took in all these situations has one word:

(As-Sabr) الصَّبْرُ

As-Sabr.

The Importance of Sabr (Patience)

He was perseverant and patient. So we need to, if we're gonna follow the life of the prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ and try to utilize some examples that he has in his life, in our own life, that we need to extract this word sabr, which is mentioned in the Quran over 90 times, which brings another question.

How many times does Allah have to say something for us to pick it up? How many times do you tell your child after you told them once or twice, I told you twice already.

You didn't hear me? And we get upset, right? I told you three times not to do such and such and so. But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is dropping this word sabr. Literally.

الصبر )Sabr). Over 90 times in the Quran. Is that enough example for us? To know that this is something that we should implement and have in our life? Yes or no, guys? I want some admittance here.

Make a Commitment to Have Sabr

We need to have sabr. And if you just sit silently, if you just sit quietly, then I'm not sure that you commit to this.

So what we need to do, really openly have a commitment, make an open commitment in ourselves to have sabr.

And so I challenge every last one of you to look up the word sabr within the next 24 hours. Look it up. Read every definition in tense of it.

Every style of it. And try to understand it better than you do at this moment. And make a conscious conviction in your own heart, here, to change and to add more sabr.

I'm not saying you don't have any. But try to put more sabr into your life. مِنَ الْآنَ فَسَعَادَةً )From now on(.

The Example of the Companions

Because we notice that the companions were like this. Because after we talk about the Prophet, we have to see how the companions responded. How were they? What did they take? And we notice that these men were patient men.

They had a lot of sabr. Everybody knows the story of Omar. His wife is pounding him in the chest.

She's screaming so loud and yelling, calling him all types of names. And everybody can hear it outside the house. And the man's knocking the door, saying, oh, I messed up.

And he said, well, you're being quiet. We're not like that. Our wife says, don't you raise your voice in my house.

Don't you... We don't take that for half a second. I'm trying to be patient with you, woman. That's the way we are.

But that's not right. If we want to take the example of the Prophet, with patience, with his family, and with his family affairs, we need to realize that:

Sabr and Yaqeen Go Hand in Hand

There is no patience without yaqeen, a sabr or yaqeen. These things go hand in hand.

And this is the direction that I'm giving you. Because after we cover those things, what am I telling you? First, I'm telling you you need to have sabr. Next, I'm telling you the reality of sabr will never be attached to you until you have yaqeen.

What is Yaqeen?

What is yaqeen? What is... What is yaqeen? Thank you. What? What? Again? You hear that? He said certainty, conviction. It's like I was teasing you.

I heard you. I just wanted you to keep yelling. You know? It's certainty.

Certain of what? When I say sabr wa yaqeen, what am I referring to? The brother with the beautiful beard and the black thing right there. What are we talking about when we say certain of what? Yes. What are we certain? Everybody is turning around looking at you, bro.

What are we certain of? Anybody know? We're not certain then. Yeah, again.

We're certain of death.

And what are we certain about death? What? I can't hear you. That we're gonna meet Allah. What we're gonna know, we're gonna meet Munkar and Nakir, right? First.

And then we're gonna be resurrected. And then the scales are gonna be established. So we're clear about the last day.

We're clear about belief in Allah and the last day. This is a reality, right? So we're clear also that Allah's way is the only way, basically.

So there cannot be any patience unless you're certain that your patience is gonna come to a result that you want, right? And this is the reason why people disobey Allah and do things their own way.

Why People Lack Patience

Because they're not certain that they'll get the result that they want. Not the right result, but the result that they want if they do it the way Allah says to do it. That's why the guy begs zina.

He doesn't wanna go and ask the father because he might say no. Or he might reject him for some reason. So I'll just go around him.

The Ayah About Trials and Patience

Patience and yaqeen. And we have the example of the Prophet ﷺ. In all those situations we don't see him acting outside of patience. What we see ﷺ doing is acting with full patience in his personal affairs.

Not just affairs as being the Prophet.

I'm sorry. There was a point that I was supposed to mention here.

Remember Who is Testing You

The reason why we're certain and we're patient is because we realize that the one who's testing us is who? Right. And Allah جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ says in the Qur'an, if you ever get any type of trial and tribulation, remember this ayah:

الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

أُولَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ ۖ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ

"And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, who, when disaster strikes them, say, 'Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to

Him we will return.' Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the rightly guided."

Reference: Surah Al-Baqarah 2:155-157

I am the one, without doubt, I'm testing you. So you got a problem with the test? Allah says وَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم (We will surely test you).

I am the one that's testing you with fear, hunger, the loss of this, the loss of that, even the loss of your own souls. But give glad tidings to who (الصَّابِرِينَ - As-Sabireen - The Patient Ones).

Who Are the Patient Ones?

Who are those who are being patient? Those that when something happens to them some مُصِيبَةٌ (musibah - calamity), some trial or tribulation afflicts them because it's not something bad. Stop translating it something bad.

It's something you don't like. It might be some good in it. Okay? So it says, when something that you dislike happens to you, they say what?

They say:

"Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return."

Why this statement? Because it reconfirms.

The Power of This Statement

It gives you more يَقِينٌ (yaqeen - certainty). By saying it out loud, it makes you feel that, that's what I believe. And if you didn't have any belief in it, it strengthens your belief in it.

That's why when we say something happens, we say لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ. It says إِنَّا لِلَّهِ We belong to Allah. So it reminds us, we are the property of Allah.

We are the creation of Allah. He can do with us whatever He wants to. And we can get this feelings of over entitlement off of us.

Because that's what the mentality, the ego tells, I'm entitled to have a good life. Who said? Nobody said. So, He is justice.

So we say إِنَّا لِلَّهِ. So we first get that feeling that we are entitled وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ (And we're returning to Him). So we better watch out.

We're going back. So, we better watch out because we're gonna be judged about this.

These are those that have the صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ (salawat from their Lord).

Allah Mentions Us in the High Circles

What? Allah is making salah on us? So it's not that Allah is offering salah, but mentioning us in the الْمَلَا الْأَعْلَى (Al-Mala' Al-A'la - High Circles). Mentioning us in a beautiful way in the high circles of the angels with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

وَرَحْمَةٌ (wa rahmah) They have the mercy. The mercy of Allah is on them too.

Okay? Those that translate the words صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ as the mercy of Allah, have made a mistake because it's not the mercy of Allah and then the mercy of Allah. It's the mention of Allah and then the mercy of Allah.

And these are the ones who have accepted the guidance. الْمُهْتَدُونَ (Al-Muhtadoon - Those who have accepted the guidance of Allah).

So remember this when you have some trial or tribulation.

Closing

End of Khutbah

Sheikh Abu Taubah

Topic: Dealing With Trials & Tribulations