Crisis Response
By Nouman Ali Khan | 2026-01-08T17:08:50.758014+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Crisis Response - Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan
Opening Praise and Testimony
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ خَالِقِ الْوُجُوْدِ مِنَ الْعَدَمِ، وَجَاعِلِ النُّوْرِ مِنَ الظَّلَامِ، وَمُخْرِجِ الصَّبْرِ مِنَ الْأَلَمِ، فَمُلْقِيْ التَّوْبَةِ عَلَى النَّدَمِ، فَنَشْكُرُهُ عَلَى الْمَصَائِبِ كَمَا نَشْكُرُهُ عَلَى النِّعَمِ، وَنُصَلِّيْ عَلَى رَسُوْلِهِ الْأَكْرَمِ بِالشَّرَفِ الْأَشَمِّ وَالنُّوْرِ الْبَاهِرِ، الْكَمَالِ الْمُحْكَمِ، وَكَمَالِ النَّبِيِّيْنَ وَالْخَاتَمِ سَيِّدِنَا وَلَدِ آدَمَ الَّذِيْ بُشِّرَ بِهِ عِيْسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ، وَدَعَا لِبِعْثَتِهِ إِبْرَاهِيْمُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ، حِيْنَ كَانَ يَرْفَعُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنْ بَيْتِ اللهِ الْمُحَرَّمِ، فَصَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَعَلَى أَتْبَاعِهِ خَيْرَ الْأُمَمِ، الَّذِيْنَ تَبَارَكَ اللهُ بِهِمْ كَافَّةَ النَّاسِ الْعَرَبِ مِنْهُمْ وَالْعَجَمِ
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِيْ لَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا ، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَرِيْكٌ فِي الْمُلْكِ، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلِيٌّ مِنَ الذُّلِّ، وَكَبِّرْهُ تَكْبِيْرًا. وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِيْ أَنْزَلَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ، وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ عِوَجًا.
Standard Testimony and Seeking Refuge
وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِيْ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِيْنُهُ، وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَتُوْبُ إِلَيْهِ، وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْهِ، وَنَعُوْذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُوْرِ أَنْفُسِنَا، وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَنَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيْكَ لَهُ، وَنَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُوْلُهُ ، أَرْسَلَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى بِالْهُدَى وَدِيْنِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّيْنِ كُلِّهِ وَكَفَى بِاللهِ شَهِيْدًا، فَصَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيْمًا كَثِيْرًا كَثِيْرًا
أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيْثِ كِتَابُ اللهِ، وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَإِنَّ شَرَّ الْأُمُوْرِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَإِنَّ كُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.
Quranic Verses - Opening
قال الله عز وجل في كتابه الكريم بعد أن أقول، أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم:
"And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, 'If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.'"
"And Moses said, "If you should disbelieve - you and whoever is on the earth entirely - indeed, Allah is free of need and praiseworthy."
"Has there not reached you the news of those before you - the people of Noah and 'Aad and Thamud and those after them? No one knows them but Allah. Their messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they returned their hands to their mouths and said, "Indeed, we disbelieve in that with which you have been sent, and indeed we are, about that to which you invite us, in disquieting doubt."
Supplication
"O Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance] And ease for me my task And untie the knot from my tongue That they may understand my speech, O Allah, strengthen us at the time of death with 'There is no god but Allah,' O Allah, make us among those who believe and do righteous deeds, and advise each other to truth and advise each other to patience, Ameen, O Lord of the worlds."
Introduction to the Crisis Context
So in today's khutbah, inshallah, obviously everybody has the coronavirus on their minds and the kind of panic that many cities are experiencing. People are running into grocery stores and fighting each other over toilet paper and toothbrushes and all kinds of things. You know, hand sanitizers become a rare commodity now. I'm sure those stocks are going up.
Community Decision on Congregational Prayer
And in the midst of all of that panic, of course, congregations of large number, it's advised in any city that's been affected by it that congregations of large number not be held. And everybody already knows that things like sporting events or religious ceremonies and things like that, that it's being advised for the larger community's health that they not be held. And that's actually something I personally find very convincing and agree with also my own take on a community decision here at our campus to not hold the Jumu'ah for the entire community.
There's only like maybe seven or eight people here today in the Jumu'ah on my instruction. And the reason to do that is, on my process in coming up with this decision, I wanted you guys to know how I arrived at such a decision. My first inclination is to discuss this with people who know better than I do. And in this matter, I do like to consult Dr. Akram Nadwi. And so I did give him a call and discussed this with him and shared with him what we have going on in our city and so many other cities. And it is not just his but many other scholars' opinion that if there's a larger harm to come out of the community, then we don't have to think that it's more righteous to come to the Jumu'ah.
Addressing Religious Concerns About Fear and Caution
So before I talk about the subject of the khutbah today, I wanted to address what some people might think is the more Islamic approach. So somebody might come out and say, no, no, no, you have to fear only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you should not be afraid. And this is a conspiracy of the kuffar.
And all kinds of opinions are thrown out because the internet is a crazy place. And not only the internet, the masjid can be a crazy place. Everybody has their own opinion on what to do and not have any fear or concern because if Allah is protecting us, nothing is going to happen to us.
Balance Between Trust in Allah and Taking Precautions
While all of that is true, when Allah protects us, nothing can happen to us. And Allah azawajal gave us these guarantees in the Qur'an.
If Allah aid you, then there's no one that can overpower you. There's absolutely no one or no thing that can ever overpower you.
However, on the flip side, Allah azawajal does teach us a thing or two about caution. And He does teach us that we live in a world in which we have to use common sense.
It's not like Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) when he was making hijrah from Makkah to Medina, said, Allah will protect me. I'm gonna walk right out the front door and walk right outside of Medina. There had to be a plan and a strategy and escape route and secret passages, secret pathways and secret timings in order to escape the enemy's plan.
Principle of Taking Precautions with Trust
And at the end of the day, what we learn in our religion is we do the best we can. We take whatever precaution we can. And then the protection only comes from Allah.
You don't get to drive into a red light speeding and then say, Allah will protect me. No, you have to take your precautions and yes, Allah will protect you. And if Allah decides some harm will come your way, it doesn't matter how many traffic signs you observe, if it was gonna come your way, it was gonna come your way.
There's no way to avoid that. But our religion does teach that kind of responsibility. The other thing is if somebody says, I don't care, I'm coming or we have to stick together. It's not just about you. It's not just about a concern for you. You may have, for example, this virus and you're sitting next to someone whose immune system is very weak and you didn't get affected by it.
Maybe you didn't even know you had it. And a few days later it emerged that you have it because it doesn't show itself except after a few days. And you basically caused this person and their family irreparable harm.
So it's not just even about ourselves. So this is a matter of larger responsibility and that is something our religion does teach. So that's just one thing on the side that I wanted to mention.
Impact of the Crisis on People's Lives
But as this is a trial that affects virtually hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people around the world, their livelihood is affected. It's not just their health that may be affected. Their sense of safety may be affected.
The resources they have access to may get affected. A lot of people depend for their livelihood or for family reasons they have to travel and their travel is affected. So life gets disrupted by these kinds of things and it can be a very difficult trial.
So I'm sure there are people that have had to make many serious changes in their life as a result of what's going on. You know, border closings and governmental shutdowns and all kinds of things that are happening.
Main Topic: Lessons from Musa's Time in the Desert
So as a result of that, I wanted to highlight something that, you know, I was thinking about what to give khutbah about today. And I don't want to give a khutbah about the coronavirus. But what I do want to give a khutbah about is what does Allah say about scenarios in which people feel like the world is closing in on them or they don't know where to go or they feel like they're completely vulnerable and subject to attack, right?
And one great parallel that I think is worthy of contemplation is what happens after, this is important now, after Musa a.s. crosses the water. So the Israelites have now escaped the Pharaoh, they are now in the desert and I want you to understand what that scene looks like.
The Desperate Situation of the Israelites
These are thousands and thousands of people, men, women and children, that have left their homes behind, so they probably don't even have another day's worth of clothes. They can't possibly have days and days and days worth of food, so they don't have a lot of food with them. And there are old among them, sick among them, children among them, babies among them, men among them, women among them, all kinds of people among them.
And they are in the desert, so they actually don't even have shelter from the sun. So they're in the scorching sun, fine, they escape Pharaoh, which is immediate death. But the desert is a kind of death on its own, isn't it? And that's where they find themselves, in the thousands.
And so even if any one person is taking a sip of water, 20 people are looking at them desperately. This is the scenario in which we find ourselves, Allah describing this scene, and they're starting to get agitated, because how are they gonna survive? And they are going to turn to Musa a.s, we're running out of water. That's obviously what's gonna happen very quickly.
Contrast with Modern Conveniences
We're running out of water, you know. It's very different from nowadays when you and I travel, and we're like, man, we're out of snacks, we're out of chips. Okay, stop over at the next gas station.
We take these, the access to food or access to drink as something for granted. They couldn't do that. They can't do that. They can't say, oh wait, I left my favorite juice back in Egypt. They can't do that. They can't turn back, that's gone forever now.
Musa's Address to His People - Reminding of Allah's Favor
So in that scenario, Musa a.s had to speak to all of them. Now they're at unrest, nobody's sure what to do. And Musa a.s basically has to give them a khutbah. He has to give them a talk in that emergency state. And that conversation is brief, it's in surah Ibrahim, but it's really beautiful. Because it's not just about what he said, but that Allah considered that conversation so timeless, and what they needed to hear.
And these are the Muslims of that time. So what Allah says, on the tongue of Musa a.s, he says:
Mention Allah's favor on you. When He just rescued you from the dynasty of the pharaohs, they were humiliating you with the worst kinds of punishments. They were slaughtering your sons. They were letting your women live. And in all of that, in that rescue, there was a great blessing of Allah for you. And in that trial, there was a great trial for you.
Understanding the Meaning of Bala' (Trial and Blessing)
So, bala' means two things, blessing and trial. So, in Allah having you escape is an incredible blessing. Because nobody gets to escape the pharaoh. Not in the thousands anyway. You can't just decide one day, we're no longer slaves and we're gonna walk out of here.
Nobody gets to do that. Armies don't mess with the pharaoh's armies. And you people walked out of slavery while they had the power to kill your children. You know, if nothing else, a family would die to defend their own child. A mom would run in front of a moving car so as to not let the car hit her child. Natural instinct.
The Extent of Pharaoh's Oppression
You've seen videos of like animals when the lion comes after one of the small bulls and the other animals that are no match for the lion herd together, they'll defend their young. It's nature that will defend our young. You'll see a bird fighting against a snake that's trying to eat eggs. Right? And the pharaoh had so much power over the Israelites that he was killing their children in front of them and they couldn't fight back. Like that's how suppressed they were. That's how powerless they were.
So when Musa alaihi salam is saying, Allah just helped you escape that. Would you forget escaping? You didn't even have the power to defend your own children. And everybody knows what it means to let the women live. You didn't even have the power to stop that from happening. And he allowed you to get away from that. What a huge gift that is.
Shifting Perspective from Current Problems to Past Deliverances
Here they are thinking about the problem. What's at hand? The beaming sun, the lack of water, the crying babies, the sick. That's what they're thinking about. And Musa alaihi salam starts his conversation with, actually you had a much bigger problem. And one that was impossible to escape. And it's not just saying, look at the bright side and be grateful.
Obviously gratitude is immediately intended here. But the other intent is, if Allah can bring you out of one impossible situation, why all of a sudden should we even entertain the thought that Allah would abandon us now? How can you even think that? Look at what Allah just did for you. He did this for you and then He forgot about you in the desert? Is that what you're thinking? He brought you through all of this only to leave you at this stage? So have good opinion of Allah.
Building Good Opinion of Allah Through Remembrance
And the way to have good opinion of Allah is to think back in all the impossible situations that Allah pulled you and me out of. How impossible they seemed at the time. How they seemed like the worst disaster and catastrophe at the time. And Allah pulled us out of it. And He brought us out over and over again. And He's reminding all of them of it.
The Divine Promise of Increase for Gratitude
Then He says to them, and this is one of my favorite ayat about gratitude and how the Qur'an looks at gratitude:
"When your master had made a decree, when he made a pronouncement. Now the word تَأَذَّنَ is interesting here because you didn't... You could say very little and get a point across. So you could say, وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ - Allah has said, if you're grateful, I will give you more and more. Easy.
The Linguistic Beauty of Ta'adhdhan (تأذن)
But the word تَأَذَّنَ is placed by the perfect wisdom of Allah. تَأْذَّنَ comes from أَذَانِ. أَذان is also the call to prayer, it's an announcement. أَذَان is called an announcement because it goes in the أُذُن, it goes in the ear. تَأْذَّنَ means when somebody opens up their ears and all else becomes muted and the thing that's being announced overtakes.
So you know, if you're having multiple conversations and one voice overpowers all others and kind of drowns out all the other voices, that's an أَذَان. That's why it's supposed to be louder than any other conversation. That's what an announcement is, right?
So تَأذَّنَ actually suggests there are lots of thoughts in my head, there are lots of thoughts I'm hearing or lots of words that I'm hearing, even having conversations with myself. But this decree of Allah, this pronouncement of Allah the ears need to tune everything else out and hear this. As if until you get rid of all other thoughts and just hear this on its own, you will not appreciate what's being said.
The Significance of "Rabbukum" (Your Master)
This is one of those things that requires a singular mind where everything else has to be erased. So it says وَإِذْ تَأْذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ - When your master made a pronouncement.
You know, and of course when Musa a.s. is speaking, they know that he's speaking on behalf of Allah. He doesn't have to mention that Allah is telling me, Allah is telling me, Allah is telling me to tell you. But he mentions رَبُّكُمْ anyway.
As if to suggest, you know, when somebody is speaking up, you know, I'm working with the kids all the time, and if one of them is speaking louder than the others, nobody's paying attention. But if I try to chime in and say, hey, everybody listen up. And hopefully, most of them hear my voice and say, okay, okay, I gotta stop, I gotta listen.
Because there's an authority when somebody else, a teacher in the classroom when they raise their voice, then everybody else's voice goes down a little bit. You know, when you hear that your master made a pronouncement, then everything else gets put on hold.
The Meaning of Rabb (ر)
And the word رَبّ is important here too because Allah being a رَبِّ means that he's our provider, he's our caretaker, he's our protector, he's our nourisher. My preferred translation of the word رَبّ in English is nurturing master. It's not just someone who owns you, someone who feeds you and takes care of you and protects you. All of that stuff is included inside the word رب
So here you are feeling like, where's our nurturing gonna come from? Where's our protection gonna come from? And Allah says, well, listen to the one that gives you protection and nurturing. And has authority over you. The kind of authority he has over you and me, we don't even have over our own bodies.
The Promise: If You Are Grateful
وَإِذْ تَأْذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ He says لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ - Even if you were to be, it's hard to translate this but I'll try to add more English words to get the point across. Even if you were to be the least bit grateful, if you were at all grateful, like Allah is not in this ayah talking about us being grateful continuously and throughout our lives. Actually that would have been in تَشكُرُوا. The مضارع form the present tense form.
Here it is لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ It's حُدوث it's even if at one instant you have shown me gratitude, real gratitude. You're truly grateful for whatever Allah has given you. You're truly grateful for it.
Finding Gratitude in Difficult Circumstances
And you don't turn to Allah and think, why aren't you helping me? Why, you know, you could be doing better for me. If you can develop the sense of finding something to be grateful for. Now the question
arises, these people are in the desert, they're still hot, they're still sweating as Musa Alayhi Salaam is talking to them.
So when he says, if you were even the least bit grateful, they could look around and say, grateful for what? What do you want me to be grateful for? You know, and the idea, because when you look around, the only things you can see are things to complain about, things to not be grateful for. So what are you being grateful for?
The previous ayah that I referred you to has the key to that question, has the answer to that question. If you and I can think about the times that Allah has come through for us in impossible situations, then first of all, you're grateful for what happened in the past.
Gratitude for Allah's Presence
But more than anything else, you're grateful for the fact that you have someone on your side, someone watching over you that does that for you time and again. His presence, His existence in your life is what you're grateful for. Even if you can't see anything positive around you, zero positives around you, the fact that Allah in the unseen is your Rabb.
And He's been your Rabb and He's been taking care of you. That iman is actually the number one thing to be grateful for. He's there. I'm not alone in this. I'm not insecure in this. I will take whatever precautions I can, but Allah will take care.
Allah's Triple Emphasis on Increase
And so, وَإِذْ تَأْذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ - Even if you could show me the least bit of gratitude, think back and remain positive about the presence of Allah in your life. What does Allah say? لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ - It's one of the most comprehensive brief words in the Qur'an. He says, I will absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
There's three absolutelys here. The لام is لام توكيد The نون is نُونُ ثَقِيلة. That means it's twice the emphasis. So the way I translate that is gonna be clunky English. It's gonna be, I will absolutely, for sure, definitely increase you. So He says that three times over. And the present tense form is used suggesting it's gonna go on forever. So notice the contrast.
The Imbalance Between Our Gratitude and Allah's Response
You were grateful for a little bit, for like a moment. You showed one instance of gratitude. Allah responded with continuously giving you more and more and more and more and more. لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
And what's even more incredible is Allah didn't say increase you in what? He didn't qualify. He didn't say I'll increase you in guidance or I'll increase you in patience or I'll increase you in tolerance or I'll increase you in endurance or I'll increase you in strength. He didn't qualify.
The Unlimited Nature of Allah's Increase
Why? Because He is telling us the way in which He will give us more cannot be quantified. You cannot limit it to one thing or the other. He may increase you in money or in health or in safety or in protection or in guidance or in wisdom or in understanding or in forgiveness.
There are so many things you need increase and I need increase in. And He didn't want to limit that to any one thing. So He says لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ - I'll keep on giving you more and more and more and more and more.
The Linguistic Beauty of the Conditional Structure
The last point here is in Arabic when you have the if and then. If you do this, then I'll do this. There's a little bit of a language lesson but I'll make it simple to understand. It's really beautiful. If you're grateful, then I'll give you more and more. Simplified.
So there's an if and there's a then. But if you come to the next part of the ayah وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ - And even if you are ungrateful, if you're in denial of Allah's favor. Kufr doesn't just mean to disbelieve in Allah. Kufr here is the antonym. It's خلاف الشكر It's the opposite of شكر here. شكر
Understanding Kufr as Ingratitude
And so you can be grateful for something Allah does. That's called شُكْرَانُ النِّعْمَة . You could be ungrateful for something Allah has done. That's called كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَة. So Kufr doesn't just mean denial. It also means to be ungrateful.
Allah's Mercy in Not Directly Connecting Punishment to Ingratitude
Now, he says if you're grateful, I'll give you more and more and more. And if you are ungrateful, even if you're ungrateful, now you would expect when he says, if you are ungrateful, then there should be a then, right? But the then is missing. The then would have been وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ فَإِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ . But actually the ayah says إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ - punishment for sure is intense.
But he didn't make it connected to ingratitude directly. As if to give us relief and say, you should just know that my punishment is intense. But I'm not tying it to your any act of ingratitude. Just because you forgot to be grateful or you were ungrateful, I won't necessarily immediately punish you with intense punishment. But because you've become grateful, next time you're thinking about becoming ungrateful, know that I can be punishing too.
The Grammatical Difference Between Gratitude and Ingratitude
But just like there was a not tied لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ - those two laams, what they do? They make it an if and a then. They're locked in with each other. You want Allah to give you more and more and more, be
grateful. That's the rule.
But what about if you're ungrateful? Then you're gonna get punished. No, no. Allah says, and even if you are ungrateful, just know that I can punish. My punishment is pretty intense. But I'm not telling you that if you are ungrateful, then absolutely I will punish you.
If you're ungrateful, then just check yourself and come back to being grateful. He didn't make an if and then on ingratitude. That's yet another thing to be grateful for.
Our Natural State of Ingratitude
That Allah did not make that correlation because the fact of the matter is you and I are ungrateful most of our lives. There's no way we can actually truly be grateful to Allah for what He's done for us. We can have moments of gratitude. We can have moments where our heart actually recognizes what Allah has done. We can have moments where we fall in sajdah out of sincere gratitude towards Him.
Prayer as an Expression of Gratitude
You know, people ask me sometimes, why should I pray? I mean, just because Allah is gonna throw me in hell if I don't pray, actually? What does prayer begin with? Once you say Allahu Akbar and you start the prayer, the first thing you're reciting is the Fatiha. And in the Fatiha, the first thing you're saying is Alhamdulillah, isn't it?
Allah is telling you what the prayer is for. If you feel grateful, you'll pray. Prayer is actually a sign that you recognize Allah's favors on you. You're acknowledging Allah's favors on you. You're acknowledging how grateful you are and I am. That's what prayer is.
When Prayer Becomes Weak
When prayer is getting weaker, actually, it's not necessarily all parts of your iman. You still believe in God. You still believe in the last day. You still believe in heaven and hell. What might be becoming weaker is your sense of gratitude. That might actually be becoming weaker.
Practical Application in Times of Crisis
So, this is a time for you and I to... We want more. We want more protection. We want more safety. We want our children to be okay. We want our parents to be okay. There are warnings about people of older age that are at higher risk, for example. Or children with certain diseases or people that have immune deficiencies and things like that. They're at risk. And we have loved ones that are in that state.
So, we're scared about that. We're worried about that for ourselves and our families. This is the time where we want Allah to give us more and more and more.
Family Exercise in Gratitude
So, this is the time where as a spiritual exercise for all the families that are listening to this, myself included, that we sit with our children, we sit with our families, and we kind of talk about what is it that we are to be grateful for. What has Allah done for us? And recount. Not just the things you see. Look back and recount. What are the times that Allah did this, and this, and this? And how Allah brought us out?
You know, these ayahs, I didn't even share with you. These were like ayahs number 6 onwards. And I'll wrap up with this. In ayah number 5, Allah says about Musa alayhi salam:
"We gave Musa our revelation. So, telling him to get your people out of darknesses into light.
From Darkness to Light: From Ingratitude to Gratitude
And if you continue that imagery, get your people out of being ungrateful to being grateful. It's one of its themes. How does someone come out of darkness to light? They go from being ungrateful to grateful. And you and I think dark times in our life, and how Allah kept pulling us back into light over and over again.
This is actually something we must do if we want for Allah to open the doors of rizq and open the doors of protection and give us more and more and more.
Prayer for Increase and Gratitude
So may Allah Azawajal make all of us, every one of us in our lives, worthy of more and more and more by His favor. And may Allah Azawajal accept our gratitude and our acknowledgement of His favor that is felt from our hearts and declared to Him.
As for the favor your master has done for you, then talk about it.
Discussing Allah's Favors with Family
Allah says, talk about it. So talk to family about it, discuss it. Don't just sit with your family and say, well, if I die, then what are you gonna do? Or if you die, okay, yeah, you can discuss the emergency state. As if our conversations are gonna secure our future. We can talk about that in a spiritual sense, carry on doing good deeds, (مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن بَعْدِي - 2:133 Quran) But actually just as important, looking back and thinking about what Allah has done for us.
That's actually security. That's actually increase coming from Allah. May Allah give us all increase in our lives in a way that is most beneficial for us.
Closing Quranic Verses
(Quran 88:17-23, 88:21-22)
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ * السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ