Dr. Hamid Ghazali - 6-20-25

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Dear brothers, let's make dua for our brothers in Palestine, in Gaza, in Sudan, in Iran, in Yemen, in Lebanon, in Kashmir, in Pakistan, in every place that is a hot spot. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect them and grant them inshallah the victory.

Grant them the peace of mind and the peace of heart inshallah. Accept those who passed away, those who lost their lives as shuhada inshallah. May Allah cure those who are injured and bring them inshallah back inshallah to full safety inshallah.

Two Phases of Islamic Development

As we all suffer, as we all unable to do anything that can result in a change. It's important to go back to the seerah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to the Quran and see how Allah was helping guiding the Muslims during these difficult times. And I want you to zoom out of the whole seerah so that you can distinguish between two periods, two phases.

The period of the phase of da'wah in Mecca and the da'wah in Medina when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam migrated to Medina. These are two distinct stages in the history of Islam. The focus in Mecca was on the individual.

And the focus in Medina was on how this individual would work within a society, within a community, with a government, with rules, regulations, a state and so on. So we have two distinct stages. And Allah was building the individual so that that individual deals with difficulties.

And when the Muslims migrated to Medina, Allah was preparing them to act together as a country, as a group, as a jama'ah who can defend themselves, and who can stand against injustice, and who can spread justice all over the world. And that's where Allah tells them:

O you who believe, seek help in patience and prayers. And Allah tells them:

And we'll test you with fear, with hunger, with loss of children, and loss of money. And then we'll see, you know, when a calamity comes to you, we say, إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ And give that guidance to those who are patient, and those who are looking for the reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Meccan Period: Building Individual Resilience

On the other hand, in Mecca, was helping the individual cope with the stress, cope with the difficulties on an individual level. And I'd like to share with you today, in this khutbah, examples, so that we can see how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was helping the Muslims become strong, and stand within themselves, stand for justice as well.

And I'll pick up maybe a period where the Muslims were the most in suffering in Mecca, which is after the third year, between the third and the fifth year, when the da'wah went from public, from secret to public, and the oppression started to come to them. We see Bilal, we see Sumayya, we see Ammar ibn Yasir, we see those companions are being tortured during that stage. So let's take one example.

And then we'll look at another example in the tenth year, which was called Aam al-Huzn. Towards the end of the tenth year, Aam al-Huzn. We'll pick up one example, and see how Allah was dealing with difficulties, when the difficulty was at its peak, its maximum.

Surah Al-Duha: Hope After the Long Night

And we talked about this before, so let me continue the talk, after we talked about surah al-Layl. I want to talk to you today about surah al-Duha. And see how it helped the Muslims cope with the difficulties.

Especially the Prophet ﷺ as a model for all of us. And Allah says to him:

So there is a qasam, there is jawab al-qasam, a sworn statement. And when you look at it, Allah's words by al-Duha.

Duha is the time where we pray salat al-Duha, after the sunrise, maybe 20 minutes, and you know, for an hour, two hours, you know, before technically, until before dhuhr. So you really have that time, and if you want to catch it, people go to the masjid, and they won't leave the masjid after salat al-fajr, until they pray al-Duha, to follow the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. So that Duha is a very special time. That's the time where life starts to come back again.

That's the time where the birds and the animals and the fish in the sea start to look for food, and life comes back again, after a long night. That's a very special time. Allah's words by it.

Why? Because that's where things come back to normal. You're asleep, now you're awake, you know, now you're going to do something, now you're going to start your day. That is the significance of it.

The term, وَالْلَيْلِ إِذَا سَجَىٰ and when the night stands still, gives us another significance. So the duha and the night, when the night is standing still, سَجَىٰ, سَجَىٰ means standing still. When you look at the tafsir, you will see different meanings.

I'm picking the meanings that goes with the overall interpretation of the surah, which is called التفسير الموضوعي للقرآن and the thematic interpretation of the Qur'an. So I picked up this meaning because it goes well with understanding the whole surah. سَجَىٰ means stand still.

What does it mean stand still? Means that you have a long night that seems not to go. You're tossing in the bed, you just have a problem, and the problem doesn't seem to go, and you're bothered, you're just, you know, thinking about it, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem that you have. That is where سَجَىٰ comes in.

So if you have a long night like this, Allah tells you, rest assured, listen to this carefully, rest assured, regardless of how long your night is, duha will always come. What a beautiful meaning. What a verse that brings hope for everybody who's suffering, everybody who's looking for a change, everybody who wants obstacles removed, and Allah was telling the Prophet ﷺ when he had this difficulty, and when he started to doubt what is happening, did I receive the revelation, did I not receive the revelation, Allah tells him:

Allah did not forsake you. Allah did not forget you. So regardless of how much difficulties you have, Allah assures you that you will have duha soon. And I pray to Allah to bring duha, the Muslims in Gaza, the Muslims in Iran, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Syria, in Sudan, in every place, and every individual who's suffering to get duha back.

That is important for us. You go next, you will see surah:

Allah tells you, going to the heart here, the point that we want to make, Allah tells you, with difficulty comes ease. And actually some scholars say that there was, some people dropped بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ in between when they read.

Why? Because they thought they were one surah, as we read in the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, that they were one surah and somehow they separated. So it's possible that they were one surah and then they were separated according to an opinion that tells that. So Allah tells you, with difficulty comes ease.

And Allah will expand your chest as Allah was talking to the Prophet ﷺ over here. So focus on your ibadah and that's an important aspect.

The Quality of the Sahaba

So we see from these two examples here, I can go on and on, from these two examples here, the preparation, the tarbiyah of the sahaba, and how they were trained, how they were prepared to cope with stress, cope with difficulties, with the belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, with the trust that they put in Allah.

And no doubt, this resulted in preparation of a very unique generation. A generation which Umar ibn al-Khattab described when he sent to Amr ibn al-As in Egypt, I'll send you an army when he requested an additional help. So I'll send you an army on top of each of these, there is a man that is equivalent to a thousand.

Subhanallah. One is equivalent to a thousand. Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah is one of them for example. So you can see here that the quality of the tarbiyah, the quality of the sahaba that were prepared is very unique. One equivalent to a thousand. May Allah make us among them inshallah and take away the suffering from all the Muslims.

Surah Al-Anbiya: Finding Strength in the Stories of the Prophets

I want to talk about now the peak of the suffering, which was the 10th year and beginning of the 11th year. And that's where Allah sent the Alif-Lam-Ra's and Allah sent the Tawassim. And among these surahs, surah Al-Anbiya.

And I want you to take a special note of surah Al-Anbiya. Why? Because I would like you, recommend for you, excuse me, recommend for you to read it whenever you are under stress. Whenever you're facing difficulties, remember this surah.

Especially the second half, starting from the story of Ibrahim. وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ رُشْدًا From there to the end of the surah, really will comfort you. As Allah sent it to the Prophet ﷺ to comfort him.

And when you talk about Al-Anbiya, you think you're talking about how, you know, strong the Anbiya are. But actually Allah does not talk about how strong they were. Allah talk about how weak they were.

And how strong Allah made them. How much difficulties they suffered, and how much human weakness they went through. And how much Allah empowered them and saved them.

And that's why I strongly recommend that you read it when you're facing extreme difficulties. So that you get an inspiration from the second half or the whole surah. But if you're in a rush, read the second half of the surah, starting from the story of Ibrahim.

The Story of Ibrahim

So they, to make the long story short, they, you know, put Ibrahim, set him in the fire. And then Allah said:

So they wanted, you know, that plan to kill him and Allah saved him.

And we saved him and Lut. And you remember we read, فَآمَنَ لَهُ لُوطٌ Lut believed in him. So there were very few, him and Lut. And yet Allah saved him.

Not only that, Allah granted him:

Allah granted him, you know, Ishaq and Yaqub. And Allah made them salihin. Allah made them salihin. Just as a reward for the father.

And we revealed to them to do the goodness, to pay the zakah, to pray, revelation, thrown in the hearts as a reward for the father.

The Story of Ayyub

And you go, and you read, and you read about Ayyub, and you read about, you know:

gives you how much suffering Ayyub went through. Because the surah is exploring the moments when the prophets were weak. And that's where Allah picked up Ibrahim, when he was thrown in the fire. Picked up Ayyub, where he was helpless.

And then, نَادَىٰ, call upon Allah, with your loud voice. Then Allah, فَكَشَفْنَا مَا بِهِ مِن ضُرٍّ We saved him. And we saved him and his people, and his family.

So, وَآتَيْنَاهُ أَهْلَهُ وَمِثْلَهُم مَّعَهُمْ رَحْمَةً مِّنْ عِندِنَا And we give him from our Rahmah, is also a term that is there in the surah. وَأَدْخَلْنَاهُ فِي رَحْمَتِنَا Entered him into our Rahmah. You want that to come to you, when you really face difficulty.

My personal experience, when I read this surah, when I was in difficult time, somehow Allah relieved the difficulty.

The Story of Yunus

And lastly:

And you know, Yunus عليه السلام When he went, when he left his people, he was thrown in the belly of the whale, and he recognized his mistake, and he said, لا إله إلا أنت سبحانك إني كنت من الظالمين No God but you, I wronged myself. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, after that, Allah saved him.

Allah saved him. And Allah said:

And that's how we save the believers. That is very significant.

So it's not only for him, it's for everyone who recognizes his weakness, recognize how much Allah would help, and call upon Allah, then Allah will help you, inshallah.

May Allah, I wish I have more time, but you can go and visit my website, and go to this surah, and you will see a lot of good things that you can learn from this surah.

Final Du'a

وصل اللهم على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم وأقيم الصلاة