When Life Gets Hard - Khutbah

When Life Gets Hard - Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan

Opening Praise and Introduction

Praise be to Allah, who did not take a son, nor did he have a partner in the kingdom, nor did he have a guardian from humiliation, and glorify him greatly.

And praise be to Allah, who sent down the Book to His servant, and did not make it crooked.

The Standard Opening of Khutbah

And praise be to Allah, to whom we praise, to whom we ask for help, to whom we ask forgiveness, to whom we believe, to whom we put our trust, and to whom we seek refuge from the evils of our souls, and from the evils of our deeds.

Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whom He misguides, none can guide him. And we bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And we bear witness that Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger.

Allah has sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so that he may manifest it to the whole religion, and Allah is sufficient as a witness. Indeed, the most truthful hadith is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

The Nature of Life's Tests

There are few places in the Quran where Allah elaborates His guidance for trial. Human beings are created in this life, and one of the purposes of this life is to be continuously tested. And things that we have been given, all of them are actually tests.

The good things that we've been given, and the bad things that we've been given. And Allah talks about the fact that life is a test constantly, and this is not something that none of you are unfamiliar with, you've heard this all the time. But in one particular place in the Quran, in Surah Al-Ankabut, Allah talks about tests that are difficult.

The Story of Khabab ibn al-Arat

This was later on in the Meccan period, so the Prophet ﷺ was already preaching the message of Islam for nearly a decade now, and things had escalated. So, not only were the Muslims being made fun of, or they were being ridiculed, or pushed away, or they were kicked out of their families, and things like that, or economically boycotted, things took the next step. Now, Muslims were being tortured.

So, one such Muslim was Khabab ibn al-Arat (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ) who they grabbed him, the mushrikun grabbed him, and they took coal, and they heated coal on the ground. And then they forced him to lie down on it, on his back, and then they stood on him. So, his back kept on burning, and he kept screaming, and they wouldn't get off of him, until his entire back just melted off.

And he was completely traumatized and burnt, and in that state, he came to the Prophet ﷺ, and he cried, and he said, Ya Rasulullah, we're the ones that have the truth, why is Allah letting this happen to us?

The Reality of Following the Truth

If you're doing the right thing, why should bad things happen to you? And these are the best people, they're the ones that are supporting the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. So, they're not just doing some random good deed, they're doing the best of all deeds. And yet, these terrible things are happening to them.

Now, this is an important question, because a lot of people say, I'm trying to do the right thing, then why are bad things happening to me? And before we ask ourselves that question, why is it happening to me? You and I have to remind ourselves, that there were people that came before us that were much better than us, Prophets, people that supported Prophets. And those Prophets themselves, and the people who supported them, went through much more difficult things than we'll ever go through.

The Prophet's Life of Hardship

Our Prophet ﷺ was publicly humiliated constantly for over a decade. Then there was attempts made at his life. His own family used to abuse him every single day, and that's the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And then he had to escape from his own home that he loves to death. He has to escape from it because they're trying to kill him. So, it's his entire life.

Actually, one way of looking at it is, his entire life is a life of pain. Is a life of extreme pain. And the people that were close to him, or decided to follow his way, the pain came with it.

The Promise of Other Religions vs Islam

You know, sometimes people say, well, why should I follow Islam? What's it got for me? Like, what do I get if I follow this religion? Is my life gonna get better? Are my problems gonna get solved? Am I gonna get a job? Am I gonna get healthier?

And this is actually what many other religions offer. You go to the temple, and you go to some church, or you go to some place of worship, and you have some idol in front of you, and you put some things in front of that idol, and say, I really need a new car. Or you put something in front of it, and say, man, I really need this problem to go away.

But Quran is painting a completely opposite picture. These people are turning to God, and everything used to be normal before they turn to Islam. And when they turn towards the Prophet ﷺ, their family hates them, they lost all their money, they're being tortured, they're being burnt alive. Their life turned to hell, because they accepted Islam.

The Quran's Definition of a Good Life

We created the human being, drowned in exhausting painful labor. This life is exhausting, it's difficult. For some people, it's financially exhausting. For other people, it's mentally exhausting. For other people, it's physically exhausting. There are different kinds of exhaustions.

But the Quran's definition of a good life is very different from anybody else's definition of a good life. For everybody else, a good life means nobody is giving me a hard time, I have decent money in the bank, I have a car, I have a house, I have health. That's a good life.

But the Quran's picture of a good life is no matter what storms are happening around you and outside you, and no matter what people are doing, there's a calm inside you. You're content with Allah and you know that whatever you're going through, is going to come and go. But the only thing of value, the real treasure you have to protect is actually your iman inside, your faith inside.

The Success of Ibrahim (Abraham)

Take the example of Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ). One of the most successful human beings that ever lived. How is it successful to be kicked out of your home? How is it successful to be homeless? How is it successful to be told, you have to slaughter your son? Or you have to leave your family in the middle of a desert? How is it successful to be thrown into a giant fire?

That success isn't on the outside. If you look at this man's life, you know, you're like, he's, what? What happened to him? He was thrown in a fire? He was kicked out of his house? He was almost killed by a mob? That doesn't look like a good story.

But our messenger is the greatest success of all, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The Passage on Trials - Surah Al-Ankabut

Quran (29:1)

Allah is starting the surah by saying, there are some things you will never understand. There are some things you will never get the answer to. Like, why is this happening to me? That's an answer you will not get. Just like the answer to what question? What does الم mean? What do all my difficulties mean? What do all these challenges mean? Why are people treating me like this? Why is Allah doing this? You will not have the answer to those questions yet.

Did people imagine that they're just gonna be left alone? That they just say that they have faith? And they're not gonna be put to a burning test? They're not gonna be put, you know, fitna is actually in old Arabic when you take gold and you put it under extreme fire. Because unless you have extreme heat, you cannot melt gold. And only then, the impurities that are deep inside the gold burn off.

Allah compares our trials in life to gold being purified. And that's His way of saying you're gold. That's His way of saying you're valuable. And there are some impurities deep inside you and me that cannot come out unless you are put to an extreme test.

We absolutely tested, thoroughly test, burning, we gave burning test to those who came a long time before them. I've been doing this. You're not new. This is not a new story. This is not why is this happening to me. I've been doing this since Adam (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ). Then Allah will expose those, He will absolutely expose those who are truthful when they say they believe in Allah. And He will expose those that are liars.

The Question of Justice for the Oppressors

Did people imagine that those that commit sins... One question is, why is this happening to me? But on the other hand, the question comes, how come these people are getting away with it? Why doesn't Allah strike them down? How come they did so much evil and nothing happened to them?

Allah says, did people who have committed evil acts, did they think they got ahead of us يَسْبِقُونَ actually is used when, you know there's like a chase and the cops are chasing you, or the authorities are chasing you, but your car is too fast and it just gets away. Allah says, the people who commit crimes, did they think they just got ahead of us? They just escaped سَاءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ What a terrible decision they made.

The Meeting with Allah

He says, whoever has been hoping for the meeting with Allah, well, that meeting is coming. Meaning, if you never lost hope in Allah, no matter what bad happened, and you knew one day I'm gonna stand in front of Allah, and he will know everything I went through. He will know all of it. He won't dismiss any of it.

He knows every turbulence of every heartbeat that I felt. Every anxiety that I... He knows it. He says that meeting is coming. And he's hearing everything and he knows everything.

Struggling for Yourself

If you remember nothing else from this khutbah, I pray you and I can nail this teaching into our hearts. He says, whoever continues to struggle, what that means is, they continue to struggle to do the right thing. They don't abandon their faith. They hold on to what's right.

Whoever continues to struggle no matter what the pain فَإِنَّمَا يُجَاهِدُ لِنَفْسِهِ They're only doing it for themselves. Don't you ever dare think you're doing something for Allah.

When you do the very best you can do, when you do jihad, you're only doing it for who? Yourself. When Khabbab ibn al-Arat (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ) when you lost your back, the skin on your back, you did that not for Allah, but you did that for yourself. That was a favor to you for yourself.

Listen to this carefully. He said, Allah has no need of any people of all, any of the nations. Allah doesn't need you or me. Allah doesn't need my prayers. Allah doesn't need my duas. Allah doesn't need me to stay away from haram things. If I am doing those things, I've only done them for my own benefit, for my own self.

The Promise for Those Who Hold Fast

And those who have faith and do good deeds, what that means is when people are going through a really hard time, they hold on to their faith and they don't let go of good things. They don't let go of prayer, for example.

When you go through a tough time, they stop praying. I don't feel like it. When you do that to yourself, you're cutting your connection to Allah off. That prayer is what helps you in your life. It's what gives me and you the strength in our hearts to deal with all of our problems.

Allah says, if you can do that لَنُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَحْسَنَ الَّذِي كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ We will bury away their sins. The mistakes they made will be gone. Will be completely buried. And He says, we will compensate them with the very best of what they used to do.

Allah is saying, if you can survive with your faith, and if you don't abandon your faith, and you do good things, you don't let go of good things, then I will take the very best things you've ever done, and I will give you the reward based on your very best.

The Trial of Parents

We told the parents, we counseled human beings to be good to parents. Why are parents mentioned? Because parents can be the biggest trial. The entire passage is about what? Trial. So being good to parents can be a very big trial for any human being. And even if they're struggling against you to do shirk with Allah, then don't obey them.

What happened with Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ) is he was with his mom, he lived with his mom, his mom took care of him his whole life. He loved her to death. And when he became Muslim, he was a teenager, he became Muslim. And his mom said, how could you hurt me like this? You became Muslim? You've humiliated me.

And she said, I am not going to eat until you leave your faith. I want you to come back to the way you used to be.

By parents, a larger principle is being taught. Doesn't matter who loves you, if they're making you do something out of love for them, that disobeys Allah, don't obey them. إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ You're gonna have to come back to me. You will lose those people, you won't lose me.

The Company of the Righteous

And those of you that have faith and do good deeds, remember the first time he said, I'll pay you based on your best deeds. The second time he says لَنُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ فِي الصَّالِحِينَ We will absolutely enter them into the company of good people, of righteous people.

What that means is, when you go through such a trial, and you hold on to your faith, maybe there are some toxic people around you. Maybe there are people that are no good for you. Allah says, if you continue to hold on to your faith and do good deeds, I will absolutely bring you into the company of good people. لَنُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ فِي الصَّالِحِينَ That's not just in this world, but also in heaven.

The False Believers

And there are some kinds of people who say, we have iman in Allah. Of course, everything you said, I already do that. Some people say, no, no, no, we already have faith in Allah.

فَإِذَا أُوذِيَ فِي اللَّهِ جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِ And when in his faith in Allah, during his faith in Allah, this person gets pain brought to them, gets hurt, gets tortured in some way, physically, emotionally, psychologically, financially.

جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِ Then they say, the difficulty people are giving me, how people are testing me, this must be Allah punishing me. Why does Allah hate me so much? So in their head