Facing Calamity with Iman
By Nouman Ali Khan | 2026-01-08T20:47:56.433738+00:00 | Topic: Trials
Facing Calamity with Iman - Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan
Opening Dua
O Allah, there is no god but You at the time of death, keep us firm. O Allah, make us among those who believed and did righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.
O Allah, make my matter easy for me and untie the knot from my tongue that they may understand my speech. My Lord, expand for me my breast.
Understanding the Concept of Musibah (Calamity)
Some of you that are from Arabic background will know that the word (مُصِيبَة - musibah) for what happened. It comes from the Arabic verb (أَصَابَ - asaba) which actually means to hit a target or to correctly hit a target. And the Quran is very strategic in using this term as opposed to (كَارِثَة - karitha) which means tragedy or some terrible event or something like that.
But it strategically uses the word (مُصِيبَة - musibah) to suggest that whatever thing has struck, struck right on target and right on time and it couldn't have hit anybody else. So whatever calamity has taken place is not an accident. There's no question why is this happening to me? It could only have happened to you.
It couldn't have happened to anybody else. Why is this happening now? It could only have happened now. It couldn't have happened at any other time because it's right on target.
The Nature of Human Life
It's the thing that hits on target. That's the term that's used for difficult circumstances or situations that we find ourselves in in life. And life is full of them. Allah says:
We created the human being in the middle of a lot of difficult labor, toil.
So that's just part of human life.
Types of Calamities
And by the way, what are the natures of these calamities? We're not just on the one hand talking about things like earthquakes or volcanic eruptions or tornadoes and hurricanes and rainstorms and things like that, right? So that is a reality.
And that's why Allah says in another place:
No calamity that strikes you on the earth... and in yourselves.
Meaning earth-related calamities you can even argue here. But that's not the only kind of calamity. It's not just the earthquake that happens on an island or somewhere. It's also the earthquakes that happen inside of ourselves - (فِي أَنفُسِكُمْ - fi anfusikum).
There's a huge tragedy or calamity taking place between a husband and a wife or between parents and children. Or between someone who's stuck in some, you know, awkward or very difficult family circumstance or situation. There are people that are stuck in a very difficult financial situation.
The Role of Iman in Facing Calamity
There are people that are stuck in all kinds of traumatic problems. And this could be related to your emotional health. It could be related to your physical health. It could be related to all kinds of things. But the thing here that I wanted to highlight is what is the role of our iman? The fact that we're believers, that we believe in Allah. And our ability to deal with calamity.
And how are we supposed to respond to calamity as believers? For a lot of people who's, and this actually depends on our level of understanding of what it means to have a relationship with Allah.
Two Types of Bad Situations
On the one hand, the first thing I'd like to explain to you that the Quran is very wise about is to make a separation between two different kinds of bad situations. There's a bad situation that looks like a bad situation that was completely out of your control. You could do nothing about it.
You got stuck in a flood. You didn't cause the flood. You just happened to be living there. There was no way for you to escape or you happen to be traveling. You had no idea it was coming. It wasn't on any reports or anything else.
That's not you. That's entirely planned by Allah. You had nothing to do with it. There was no way you could have gotten out of it. This is not the same as someone who reads the news report and says, hey, there's a major storm coming. Please evacuate the city and there's a tsunami heading our way.
And somebody says, you know, this is a good time to check out the beach. And they head towards the beach. And then something bad happens to them. They don't get to say, oh, qadar Allah, what can I say?
Allah had decided that I was going to run into this. You don't get to say that. And Allah is very clear about that.
Personal Responsibility vs Divine Decree
He says:
There's not a calamity that strikes you... It's because of what you earned with your own hands.
You brought this on yourself.
Now that's, if you only thought of it that way, that would also be a problem. Because if you're going down the stairs and you slipped and you fell, then you start thinking to yourself, I must have done some sin and that's why Allah made me fall down the stairs. This is a sign from Allah that I have committed some evil and Allah is teaching me a lesson by breaking my arm in the hotel lobby or something.
Two Extremes in Understanding Calamity
You start reading into things that happened to you. And you start thinking there's some ghayb, cause and effect. And that can go into an extreme. So the thing that I'd like to highlight here, human beings, believers in Allah can go into two extremes. One extreme is everything happened because of Allah, I have nothing to do with it. Whatever happened, you can't blame me, it's the qadr of Allah.
Whatever calamity strikes you, it comes by Allah's permission.
He said that in Surah At-Taghabun, he said it directly. It happens by Allah's permission, this was Allah's plan, what are you gonna do? So some student can not study for their exams and not do any of the assignments and get fail and fail and be kicked out of the school and then say, what do you want me to do? Qadr of Allah.
They get to blame Allah. On the other extreme, there's the believer who blames everything on himself. Allah is doing this to me because I'm a terrible person. This happened to me because I'm a horrible human being. It doesn't help when other ignorant people around you, and sometimes a lot of ignorance comes from your own family. They come and tell you, you know why this happened to you? Because you're a bad daughter.
Finding Balance Through the Quran
You know why this happened to you? Because you're a bad son. You know why this happened to you? Because you're not good to your in-laws or whatever. No, I just got in a car accident because a truck came and hit me and he crossed a red light. Not because I argued with my wife or something, it's not the reason. But other people will come and tell you, this is happening to you, Allah is doing this to you because of that. Like they got an email from the ghayb that told them that this is the reason why this happened.
Cause and effect. So there are these two extremes that are possible. What does the Quran do? The Quran in everything gives us balance. In everything we understand in life, it gives us balance. And by the way, if you don't have this balance, you lose a lot of peace in life. You know, it gives another meaning:
By remembering Allah, hearts become calm.
The ultimate remembrance of Allah, the dhikrullah, is actually the book of Allah. And the book of Allah clarifies how Allah deals with us in this life. So I would argue that if you're just saying subhanAllah or alhamdulillah, and your understanding of how Allah deals with you is flawed, you still might not find peace.
Drawing Lines Between Responsibility and Divine Decree
Inshallah you will if you're sincere. But the intent here is to be clear in how Allah deals with us. So I'd like to share some things about that with you. As far as blaming myself is concerned. And you know, where do we draw the line between this is from Allah and this is my fault? Where do you draw that line?
You know, in the physical world, it's very easy to understand. What do I mean by the physical world? In the physical world, if I put, instead of putting gasoline in my car, I put water in my car and it didn't work, then you don't get, clearly you don't get to say this was Allah's plan.
That was you. So physically speaking, or if you're eating junk food, and you're constantly eating all kinds of sugary foods, and then you get a diagnosis for diabetes at the age of 45, then you don't get to say, Ya Allah, this musibah has come to me, I don't, you know, it's a test from Allah. No, it's a test of your bad appetite.
The Moral World vs Physical World
You don't eat cucumbers. You eat swiss rolls or whatever you eat. You know, you've been downing junk and that's why this happened to you. You understand? So in the physical world, the cause and effect, there's an effect, it's something that all human beings with common sense understand. In the moral world, you missed a salah. You woke up late.
You didn't pray fajr. And now you're praying it late. And then that day you had a job interview. And the job interview didn't go well. And you're like, this is because I missed salah. Now the answer to that is it may be, and it may not be.
And there's no way you will ever know. There's no way you or anyone else will ever know. But the thing that will help you is, ana inda dhanni abdi bi (I am as My servant assumes Me to be - Hadith Qudsi, Bukhari 7405).
Allah's Nature of Forgiveness
The thing that will help me is that Allah says, I will be as you assume me to be. If you're assuming Allah took revenge from you and put this on you because you missed fajr, then that's who Allah is to you now. If you assume, no, this job, I tried my best, I did a good job at the interview, but this was not a good job for me.
Had it been good for me, Allah would have let it go. Allah would have given me this job. If you have that attitude, then that is who Allah is to you, despite all of your mistakes. Despite you waking up late. Our job when we make mistakes is to make istighfar. Not wait for Allah's revenge.
Please understand that. Our job is not, oh, I messed up, now Allah's gonna get me somehow, it's gonna happen. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what Allah does. Which is why Allah says:
Whatever calamity struck you, whatever difficulty you find yourselves in, a lot of it has to do with what you did yourselves, with your own hands. You brought this on yourself... And He pardons a lot too.
Physical vs Spiritual Consequences
And even in the spiritual sense, sometimes there are difficulties that come on us because of our deeds. If you are, for example, continuously horrible to your parents, and then bad stuff comes to you in your life, then probably there is some connection. And then in those kinds of cases, what does Allah do? He says, He pardons a lot too.
In the physical world, if I jump off of a second floor building, there are going to be consequences. Allah will not say, no, this time I'll forgive you, I won't break your leg. No, no, what's gonna happen is gonna happen.
When you put your hand in a fire, it is gonna burn. Allah is not gonna say, well, you prayed Fajr this morning, so no, not for you. It won't burn for you. That's not gonna happen. But when it comes to spiritual consequences, He says (وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ - wa ya'fu 'an kathir). When you do a sin, then Allah says actually, Allah lets a lot of it go. He doesn't just avenge immediately.
The Damage of Using Allah as a Weapon
He doesn't just take immediate account and then make you suffer in this world because of the mistake you made. He doesn't do that. That's the nature of Allah with us. (وَيَعْفُو عَنْ كَثِيرٍ - wa ya'fu 'an kathir). This is something you have to internalize for yourself. I would argue the reason I brought up this particular subject is because one of the greatest crimes, spiritual crimes, that occurs everyday in the ummah is at the hands of loved ones to loved ones. Parents, spouses, husbands, we have sometimes the most, the worst things to say to our loved ones.
And sometimes we say those things in the name of Allah. Allah will punish you for what you just did. There will be justice on you. Allah will not forgive what you, you know. And mother can say that to her child. Wife can say to husband. Siblings can say to each other. Like invoking, like Allah is some angry weapon that you can invoke because you're upset, Allah must be upset. And you can just use Allah like that.
The Consequence of Misrepresenting Allah
That's not our place. And you know for a lot of people, they have heard this kind of thing so many times over and over and over again that they have become far away from Allah Himself. They heard from their loved ones.
A child heard from his father or his mother all the time. Allah will punish you if you don't pray. Allah is gonna get you if you don't pray. Allah is very angry at you because you ate that cookie. Constantly, Allah is angry, Allah is angry, Allah is angry. When that young boy becomes a 16, 17, 18 year old, he wants nothing to do with Allah.
And when he hears Allah is merciful and Allah is forgiving, he has a hard time believing it because that's not what he grew up with. He did not grow up with an Allah who is forgiving or an Allah who is merciful. As a matter of fact, every time he got in trouble is because of Allah he got in trouble.
That's how he got in trouble. And then those same parents say, we taught this child about Allah from the beginning. I don't know why he's running away from deen. Yeah, but which Allah did you teach him about? An angry Allah? An Allah that seeks to punish?
What's Allah gonna get out of punishing you?
That's what Allah says Himself. Why is He in just a business of coming after you, going at you?
Personal Testimony: Finding Allah's Plan in Difficulty
So what happens with people? They are in a difficult situation and what do they do? They're constantly thinking Allah is getting them. Allah is hurting them. Allah is doing this to them. You know, I was
reminded by a colleague of mine. When I was coming here to Malaysia, out of nowhere, this has never happened.
I developed this crazy bacterial infection thing in my tonsils. And it swelled up and half of my neck was completely blocked. And I felt like I was drowning in one nostril. And I was still on the plane. And I get halfway to Abu Dhabi on the way here. I run over to a clinic.
They say, you have to take these heavy medications. I come here. The recommendation is I should go to surgery. I was like, what is going on? And they even told me this never happens. Like this is really crazy. In my entire career of 30 years, I've seen like one other case of this.
And I was lying there in the hospital bed waiting for a surgery to take place. And I'm thinking, and I was reminded by a colleague, this is the best place you could have been. Like there's no better place than this hospital bed for you at this moment. That is Allah's plan for you. Here I am thinking I have to cancel this program. I can't go over here.
I can't go over there. How are we gonna manage this situation, that situation, that calendar, that meeting, all this way. I came all this way and now look, I didn't get to do this, that or the other. And then all of a sudden, just that little reminder. I was just like, yeah, this is the best place I should be. There's no better place.
Allah's Love Behind Every Plan
Because this wasn't planned by me, this was planned by Allah. This is entirely planned by Allah. We have to have a closeness to Allah, that when He plans something for you and me, even when it's painful, He doesn't do it for anything except love.
That Allah loves His servants. That He loves what is best for them. He loves us more than we could ever love ourselves. He cares more for us than we can ever care for ourselves. He provides us more than we could ever provide for ourselves. When we forget that, when we forget that, guidance goes away.
The Test of True Iman During Difficulty
Allah says:
In Surah At-Taghabun on the same issue, whatever calamity strikes you, it comes from Allah, it came by Allah's permission, and whoever can have iman in Allah at that time.
You have iman in Allah anyway, you believe in one God. But when you're in a difficulty, that's when you start questioning, why is Allah doing this? That's the time when Allah puts the words, (وَمَنْ يُؤْمِنْ بِاللَّهِ - wa man yu'min billah). Whoever can truly believe in Allah then.
Yeah, you always say Allah is Ar-Rahman, but do you really feel Allah is Ar-Rahman right now? Nah, right now He's probably Dhuntiqam. Right now He's probably the one who takes revenge. Right now He's probably Jabbar, not Ar-Rahman right now.
See, your iman went away. Your iman in Ar-Rahman went away when you were in difficulty. Allah says, if you can have iman in Ar-Rahman at that time, the best of Allah's names, the best of what Allah is to you, what He described Himself to you, at that moment, then what gift will Allah give you?
The Ultimate Gift: Guidance of the Heart
And this is the conclusion to my khutbah. What is it that Allah will give you? I want health, I want recovery, I want a job, I want money, I want a better family situation, I want escape. Some people just want escape. I just want this other person to stop hurting me.
I want people to stop talking about me. Whatever it is, there's something that's bothering you. And it's eating away at you. And if you think if that problem went away, you would have peace. Every one of us has some problem that keeps us up at night. We're thinking about it, we're saying, man, if that went away, I'd be alright.
Guess what? When that one goes away, there's gonna be another one. And when that one goes away, there's gonna be another one. And when the other one comes, you're like, the last one was easier. Where did this come from? This is way bigger a problem. What does Allah give you when you can trust Him? He doesn't end your problems. This life, problems will not go away.
Learning from the Prophets' Examples
If problems were gonna go away, they would have gone away for Yaqub (peace be upon him) a lot sooner than for you and me. If no problems would have come because we have iman, then Maryam (peace be upon her) should not have had problems. Rasulullah (peace be upon him) should not have had problems.
You study the people that are closest to Allah, and all you're studying are problems. Really big ones. Their entire life. That's all you're studying. You're just learning about one problem to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next. That's all you're learning.
Yusuf (peace be upon him), a great profound messenger of Allah. I mean, from childhood, there are problems. From childhood, there are problems.
The True Gift of Trust in Allah
So, I keep asking that question. What is it that Allah has given you? What do you get when you completely put your trust in Allah in the middle, in the thick of a difficulty, when everybody else is telling
you, Allah is... On the one hand, people are telling you, Allah is angry at you, that's why this is happening. Allah hates you, that's why this is happening.
On the other hand, you start thinking, Allah is punishing me, that's why this is happening. At that moment, when you can have the best impression of Allah, maintain your love and reliance and bond with Allah, that Allah has not let you go. He hasn't... What does He give you? (يَهْدِ قَلْبَهُ - yahdi qalbahu). He guides this person's heart.
He gives their heart guidance. I can guarantee you, when your problem goes away, if it's a money problem, if money comes in. If it's a health problem, and health comes back. If it's a family problem, the family problem goes away. None of the good things in this life are worth anything compared to that one gift. That one gift is (يَهْدِ قَلْبَهُ - yahdi qalbahu). He'll guide his heart.
The Peace That Comes from Divine Guidance
Your heart will be at peace. No matter what is happening in life, there's still a smile on your face. And people are looking at you and saying, why are you smiling? Why are you okay? Look at what's happened to you. Look at what's going on. Yeah, it's okay. It's fine. It's cool. When you can develop that, there are people that will have all the money in the world and they still can't sleep. There are gonna be people that have everything you ever imagined will bring happiness.
They have it, and they don't have peace. They are not happy with themselves. They drown themselves in drugs and alcohol to escape reality. They can't face reality. And other people watch videos about how amazing their crib is, and how sweet their ride is. And they're looking at that and saying, I want that.
I wish we had what Qarun has.
Man, that's some boss life he's living. And yet on the other hand, all Allah will give you, if you can turn to Him, He'll give you the one thing that no amount of money, no amount of popularity, no amount of people not arguing, or people liking you, people appreciating you, none of that will give you what this one gift that can only be given by Allah - (يَهْدِي قَلْبَهُ - yahdi qalbahu). Allah will guide his heart.
The Ultimate Gift of Musibah
Allah will guide this person's heart. This is the ultimate gift of Iman. This is the ultimate gift of Musibah.
So now, let's finally let me conclude. I started this khutbah talking about difficult situations. People are stuck. You're stuck, I'm stuck. In some situation we don't see a way out. Those difficult situations are actually Allah's way of giving us the most valuable gift we could ever earn.
His way of guiding our hearts. If we can just use those situations to find Allah in those situations, to talk to Allah in those situations. And you don't have to know Arabic to do that. You don't have to know a lot of Quran to do that. You just turn to Allah, and you say, Ya Allah, you are the best planners. Ya Allah, nobody loves me like you do.
The Guarantee of Divine Guidance
Nobody cares for me like you do. I know this situation is best for me, guide me. I need your guidance. There's no way that you will turn to Allah genuinely asking Him for guidance, and He will turn you away. You will ask Allah for a car, He may not give you. You can ask Allah for a house, He might not give you.
You might ask Allah to cure your disease, He might not. Maybe He will, maybe He won't, because He knows what's better for you. But one thing guaranteed He will give you when you ask Him sincerely is His guidance. That He will give you. And when He gives you that, everything else is solved. Everything else is taken care of.
Closing Dua
May Allah make us people who truly genuinely beg for His guidance, and may Allah make all of our difficulties, all of the challenges we have in our life, a means by which we draw closer and closer to Him, and earn His priceless guidance.
Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving aid to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded. And establish prayer. Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times. And Allah knows what you do, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. (Quran 16:90, 4:103, 29:45)