Joe Bradford 11-11-16

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"He has tasted the sweetness of faith, whoever is pleased with Allah as their Lord, with Islam as their faith, and with Muhammad ﷺ as their messenger."

So the bitterness of life should be balanced with the sweetness of faith. And I know that it's difficult sometimes to deal with the things that are bitter in our life, that are difficult to deal with in our life.

Ubadah ibn al-Samit, رضي الله تعالى عنه, was speaking with his son one day, and he said to him:

"Son, dear son, you will never taste the sweetness of faith until you realize that everything that has affected you was not meant to miss you. And everything that missed you was never going to hit you in the first place."

Everything Happens for a Purpose

Everything that we experience in life happens for a purpose. Every negative emotion, every cross look from a person on the street, every disturbing news reel, any disturbing news clip, anything that sets us off, the death of a family member, the sickness of a loved one, these are all there for a purpose.

And the way that we develop that sweetness of faith, of being pleased with Allah as our Lord, being pleased with Islam, submission to Allah as our faith, being pleased with Muhammad ﷺ as our Rasul, as our messenger, is to have this belief in what Allah has destined. That if Allah destined it, no one would have been able to stop it from happening. And if Allah has not destined it, then no one will be able to make it happen for us.

The Prophet ﷺ also said:

"There are three things that if you find them in yourself, this is the litmus test, that if you find them in yourself, then you will find the sweetness of faith:

That Allah and His Messenger are more beloved to him than everything other than them.

And that one of you hates to leave his Islam just as he hates to be picked up and thrown into a blazing fire.

And that one of you loves his brother, he loves him for no other purpose except for the sake of Allah."

Focus on Allah and His Messenger

Look at these three things, that you love Allah and His Messenger more than everything else. You know we as a Muslim community have invested so much time, so much effort, and so much emotion into different isms that are prevalent, ideological movements. We've gone from one ism to the next. And after an upset with the first ism, we decide to switch sides and go to the next.

We've tried conservatism, we've tried liberalism, we've tried all of these other isms, Islamism, anti-Islamism. Let's remove the isms and focus on Islam. Focus on Allah and His Messenger. Focus on our identity as Muslims first and foremost.

One of the key ways of diminishing the effect of our faith in public life, in the public sphere, is by racializing our identity, making us seem like an ethnicity or a race. And there's no doubt that there are some that do that to us, but we should not allow that to be done to ourselves.

Does that mean that there are no legitimate grievances for people who are being racially profiled? That does not mean that. There are legitimate grievances in that area. But when we speak as Muslims, we must speak first and foremost as a collection of beautiful people of different backgrounds who are gathered by one thing, their love of Allah and their love of the Messenger ﷺ. This is what brings us together.

This is what allows us to support each other when we are oppressed, when we are wronged. And when we as a community need to move forward. When we focus on the temporal differences and we're not honest with ourselves, we can project our fears outside of our community. But what about those same things that happen in our community? We can talk about hatred and racism outside of the Muslim community, focused on us. What about when it happens amongst our community? But when we're real with each other that our pleasure is for Allah's sake alone, that we love each other for Allah's sake alone, then we can be honest when those problems come up inside of our community as well as outside of our community.

Lessons from the Trials of the Early Muslims

Now the difficulty that we experience as Muslims nowadays, the bitterness that some of us are experiencing, many of us are experiencing, the surrealness of the events of the last two or three days, pale in comparison to past events. Recent past or the past before that.

Khabbab ibn al-Arat, رضي الله تعالى عنه, may Allah be pleased with him. Khabbab was one of the Sahaba who believed in the Prophet ﷺ in Mecca. And he was also one of those who was the weakest in Mecca. He was tortured for his faith. He was punished for his faith. He was made to be demeaned for his faith. And he came to the Prophet ﷺ while he was reclining in the shadow of the Kaaba. And he said, O Messenger of Allah, make dua against these people. Ask Allah to make it stop.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"A person from amongst the people before you would be brought and a pit would be dug for him, and he would be placed in that pit, and a saw would be placed on his head, and he would be sawed completely in half, and he wouldn't leave his faith. And I swear by Allah, this matter of ours will become dominant until a person can ride from Sana'a in Yemen to Busra in Sham, fearing no one but Allah and the wolf to take one of his sheep.

But you are a people who are hasty."

Notice that the Prophet ﷺ is telling us again, don't look at these individual events as the end of the world. Look at the overall process. Put in the work that's needed to make what you believe in something that others can believe in. To make what you feel is right something that others can feel is right. To change the minds and the hearts of the people before you can change their actions.

When we put in the work, and we realize that the individual events that happen to us in our life, while they are bitter, while they are wrong, and yes, while they are evil at times, we should not wallow in those events. We should not invest ourselves emotionally in those events. Instead, they should bring about an emotional catalyst that says, I have to do even more now to promote the truth that I believe in, to promote my love of Allah and His Messenger, to show people the beauty of who I am and what my faith stands for.

The Example of Bilal

But how do we deal with those emotions? It's reported that Bilal رضي الله تعالى عنه who perhaps no one saw the difficulty that he رضي الله تعالى عنه saw. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه was once asked. Someone came to Abu Bakr and he said, أنت سيدنا يا أبا بكر "You are our Sayyid, you are our master, our leader, O Abu Bakr."

He said, why do you call me your Sayyid, your master, your leader? The only Sayyid amongst us is Bilal. Because he saw what none of us saw. He would have a boulder placed on his chest in the hot arid desert. And this would not deter him from saying أحد أحد "One, one."

He was asked. He said, they said, how did you deal with the punishment? رضي الله تعالى عنه He said something extremely beautiful. He said, I took the sweetness of faith and I mixed it with the bitterness of punishment. And when the sweetness of faith overtook the bitterness, I took pleasure in that.

May Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى bless each and everyone of us to find the sweetness of faith. To allow the sweetness of faith to overcome the bitterness of our lives. To allow the sweetness of faith to carry us to Jannah.

Three Types of Fear

Fear is something natural. Fear is something that we all experience. But at times our fears can be misplaced. Scholars of Islam say there are generally three types of fears.

There is reactionary fear which is natural. Just as one of us fears to take his finger and stick it into fire or to touch a live electrical outlet. This is something that's fear. It's a reaction. An action and a reaction.

The other fear is that type of fear that we develop from circumstance. We're afraid to face our boss. We're afraid to face our wife or our husband. We're afraid to go out in the morning because we're gonna have a difficult day. This is also something that's natural. Even the prophets and the messengers face this type of fear.

Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى says about Musa عليه السلام when he entered the city in which he was being sought after:

"He was fearful when he entered the city looking around."

But the third type of fear is something greater than that. It's the fear that you invest in another human being. It's the fear that you invest in a situation. It's the fear that has no basis other than our personal delusions about what might happen when we walk down the street and we think that each and every person is out to get us. When we walk down the street and we think that everything in the world is going to harm us in some way.

Taking Precaution Without Living in Fear

As Muslims we can't live with this type of fear. We can be naturally fearful. And Allah tells us in our times of fear, خُذُوا حِذْرَكُمْ "Take precaution." No one is saying don't take precaution. Learn your civil rights. Learn how to protect yourself. Learn how to protect your families. But don't allow that fear to go into your heart. Allow that fear to allow you to regroup. Become stronger as a community. Allow that fear to become trust in Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى.

Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله تعالى عنه said, "Never am I afflicted by some trouble except that Allah blesses me four times. Anytime I have a problem in life, Allah gives me four blessings from that."

He said, I can thank Allah for the blessing of this affliction not happening to my faith. And that it was not worse than it could have been. It's not the end of the world. And that I was not prevented from being happy and pleased with Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى when it happened. And that I can hope for a reward from Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى for this problem.

So anytime these difficulties happen in our lives, we have to realize that they're setting the reset button. They're striking balance in our lives. They're causing us to become better people. We've had good and sweet in our life. We have to have bitter as well. And when we have that bitter, we know that Allah has sent that to us as a sign. So that we can become stronger. So that we can become better. So that we can reorient ourself away from the isms and back to Islam.

Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى says in the Quran:

"Never does something befall you in the earth or in yourselves except that it was written before it ever happened. That is easy for Allah to do. So that you're not bereaved by those things that you've missed out on. And you're not overjoyed by those things that you were given. Because Allah does not love someone who is ostentatious and proud."

It shouldn't be good all the time. There has to be balance.

"Those who are stingy, they want the good for themselves, they don't want it for anyone else. And those who seek Allah as their protector, then they know that Allah is sufficient and in need of no one. And He is the One worthy of all praise."

Final Reminders

So anytime you experience bitterness, difficulty, hate, in this day or the coming days or years, I want you to remember that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sees you. So act as if He can. I want you to remember that what He has ordained from you for your livelihood, no one's going to take it except for you. So be tranquil when life has its ups and downs. And that your actions will be done by no one other than yourself. So make sure that you do them well, and do them for the sake of Allah. And know that death is chasing after you every single day. So prepare for it.

"Oh Allah, forgive us of our sins and our transgressions in all of our affairs. And give us firm feet, O Lord of the worlds."

"Oh Allah, we have wronged ourselves greatly and if you do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, then we are truly at a loss."

"Oh Allah, allow us to be those that taste the sweetness of faith. Oh Allah, allow us to be those who taste the sweetness of faith. Oh Allah, allow us to be those who taste the sweetness of faith. يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ"