Finding Purpose in Everything - Sheikh

Finding Purpose in Everything

By Sheikh Omar Suleiman

Opening Prayer

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. The good end is for the righteous, and there is no transgression except against the wrongdoers. O Allah, send Your prayers, peace, and blessings upon Your servant and messenger Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, and upon his family and companions, and grant them abundant peace.

The Party Analogy

And in this ballroom, everything is halal. I'm not talking about haram. You just wake up and it's a party. Everyone is having a good time, everyone is eating and drinking, everyone is socializing with one another. And in the midst of this good time, you wake up to it and you have no idea how you got to the party. You have no idea what your name is or the names of everyone else. You don't really understand where you are. You don't really understand the purpose of this gathering. But everyone is having a good time.

It's a five-star ballroom. The carpet is nice, you have nice chandeliers, you have good food, good drink. And you ask someone and you say, "Where am I?" and they don't give you the answer. And then they continue to give you something else to eat and something else to drink, and you continue on and you start socializing. But you say, "What am I doing here?" and no one has the answer. "How did I get here?" no one has the answer. And you continue to go forward.

If you were in that situation, no matter how nice the chandelier was, how good the food was, how good the drinks were, how great the socializing was, you're going to become increasingly frustrated. And at some point you're going to lose your mind because you don't know why you're here. It doesn't matter how great everything is - I don't understand what this is in the first place.

The Foundation of Understanding

And so when we talk about creation and when we talk about the question of why we are here, the question of existence as a whole, I want to give you something very simple to start off this entire conference:

If I understand WHY, then HOW and WHAT will always be easy.

If I understand why, then how and what will always be easy. If I understand why, then how and what will always be easy.

If I gave you two contrasting images now - and these are not images that are made up, it's not like the first situation that I gave you, but these are very real things that we see on a daily basis - you see a person who has the entire world given to them. They have the money, they have the fame, they have the islands. But in the midst of sitting in that paradise and being adorned and being adored, they have no idea why they are here. And so they dwell in misery and they die in misery.

Compared to someone who seemingly has nothing, who has just a little bit to be able to pay their rent, to be able to feed their families, and just gets by, but somehow seems so much more satisfied. And the reason being is purpose.

Purpose Must Be Constant

And when you talk about purpose, you cannot just talk about purpose five times a day. You cannot just frame purpose within a very difficult time in your life. You cannot figure out why you are here when something really bad happens to you, when it's hard to think in the first place, when your senses are dulled. But you have to actually have a regular relationship with purpose and the sense of purpose.

And so this is what I want to speak to you about today. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the creation around us, He doesn't talk about the creation around us so that we can neglect it and that we can pay attention to it only momentarily. You know, when Allah tells you about the mountains and the skies and the trees and the water and these types of things, Allah doesn't just want you to think about that in salah when you have your head down. This is for you to pay attention:

"Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people..."

The creation of the heavens and the earth, the alternation of night and day, the wind that you feel, the boat that you see sailing, the sunrise as it comes, the sunset as it goes, the grass around you, the sand around you, the creation of Allah - all of that is for what? To be an ayah, to be a sign for you, to be in constant interaction with this idea of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala being not just great, but you being in consistent observance of that greatness.

And so here's what I want us to do: not just frame purpose in our five prayers, but framing it in our entire lives.

The Branches of Faith

And so I'm gonna give you a snapshot of what your life looks like through the concept of purpose knowing why you are here - and in the process, the how and the what becomes easy.

When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم talks about the branches of iman, the branches of faith, and he says that iman has seventy-something branches, and he said صلى الله عليه وسلم that the highest of them is:

(Muslim hadith 35)

"There is no god but Allah"

The highest branch of faith is "La ilaha illa Allah." And the way that the ulama connected this is that that branch is the branch from which all the other branches of faith come out - that first branch of "La ilaha illa Allah," and then all the rest of them come out. That first branch of "There is no god but Allah, there is no creator but Allah, there is no sustainer but Allah, there is no one worth living for but Allah, there is no one worth unconditional obedience except Allah." All of that, all of the branches of faith come out of that.

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that the highest is "La ilaha illa Allah," and he said the lowest one is:

"Removing something harmful from the road."

And so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is connecting that faith to a very small thing that you would do in your life - to remove something harmful from the road.

The Man Who Entered Paradise

Most people would not connect that to "La ilaha illa Allah." How do you even connect that to purpose, to the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah"? And when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم then says that there was a man that he saw strolling in Jannah because the only thing that he did was he saw something harmful in the road - he saw adha in the road - and he picked it up and he removed it so that the path could be eased for people. And Allah eased the path of Jannah for him. (Muslim hadith 1914)

The first lesson from an aqeedah perspective, from a creed perspective, is that Allah was willing to forgive this person, to enter this person into Jannah, for the smallest deed that he did in his life because he connected it back to Allah.

Abdullah ibn Umar's Reflection

And Abdullah ibn Umar رضي الله عنه used to say something very beautiful. He said:

"By Allah, if I knew that Allah had accepted from me one prostration, I would wish for death."

Because I would have already achieved the purpose of life, which is acceptance from the Creator. If I knew for sure that that one prostration, that one sajdah was accepted by Allah, I would have wished for death. I want nothing more in life because it's already been given to me. But instead we don't know where the pleasure of Allah is.

So we continue to do these small things, connecting them back to "La ilaha illa Allah," hoping that just one of them, one of them Allah looks at and Allah finds us worthy of His acceptance.

The Key: Intentionality

So that's the first lesson from this hadith. But the second thing is not just that this person was walking on the side of the road and saw something harmful and removed it. It's that that person connected it back to Allah. He was intentional about what he was doing. He was purposeful about what he was doing. He made a mental, an emotional, a spiritual connection to that act.

And that's something special. That's what takes a small deed and makes it a mountain in the sight of Allah. Because it's not the size of the good deed that makes it accepted to Allah. It's the heart that's performing the good deed and making that connection to Allah.

But that's not a person that just figured that out in one moment. That is a person that has been working on himself. That's a person that sees Allah in everything that he does. That made a connection between the garbage that was on the street and the obligation that he has to the one who created that street.

The Story of the Thirsty Dog

You hear another hadith, one about a man, another about a woman, where the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم mentions a man. A very famous hadith that we all talk about.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم mentions a man who was thirsty one day. And so he went to a well. He saw a well in the desert and he drew some water from that well. And then he saw a dog that was thirsty. And when he saw the dog that was thirsty, most of us would paraphrase the hadith and we'd say, "He went and he got some water for the dog too." But there's something else to it.

That man looked at the dog as the dog was thirsty, and said that that dog has become thirsty just like I was thirsty:

"Just like I was thirsty, that dog too is thirsty."

So he made a connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah gave me something to drink when I was thirsty. And my position to the Creator is a far greater variation, is a far greater distance of glory than what is between me and that dog, the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And someone might not make the connection at all.

You know, a religious Muslim, a dog might come to them, and when they see the dog, they'll say, "Astaghfirullah, najis" (God forbid, impure). They'll kick the dog away. That's how you practice your religion.

No, this man thought, "You know, I am not greater in the sense of rank. I am not greater or more worthy of being taken care of than that other creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's a creation of Allah too. And Allah took care of me. Who am I to deserve that from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Who is that dog to deserve it from me?"

And he took his shoe and he filled it with water, and he brought it back to that dog:

"And so Allah showed gratitude to him." (Bukhari hadith 2466)

He gave water to the dog. Why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala thank him? Because the man did that, connecting that small act to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Connecting that vulnerability of that creation to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to his own vulnerability with the creation.

"That I was in need of Him and He took care of me. This animal is in need of me, and I can take care of it in the same way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala took care of me." And Allah enters a person into Jannah.

It's not simply giving someone something simple, but it is making a very deep connection in the process of it.

Framing Our Daily Deeds

So when you have purpose, your small good deeds:

(Muslim hadith 2626)

"You do not belittle any of your good deeds"

Because you realize that the one you're doing those good deeds for is Allah. You're connecting it to the Creator.

Likewise when you commit a sin, as Imam Al-Shafi'i rahimahullah commented on this idea that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

"Beware of belittling sins.'

He said:

"Don't look at the smallness of the sin, but look at the greatness of the one that you've disobeyed."

The greatness of the one that you have disobeyed. So don't belittle your good deeds, don't belittle your sins. But you frame that once again with the context of the greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Signs Around Us

Allah, you see the moon so beautiful, the moon of Sha'ban. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to see the moon of Ramadan. Allahumma ameen.

I want all of you to take a moment and to look up at it, and to look up at how clear and how beautiful it is. You think that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala just puts that for us, just to give a little bit of light in our lives, or does He put that for us to also put a light in our hearts to be reminded of Him subhanahu wa ta'ala?

These are signs that are ever-present to show you that you don't put your purpose or your religion in a break. You use it at all times to channel how you interact with everything. And so the first thing, framing your good deeds, the small good deeds.

A Family Example

And you know, subhanAllah, we talk about these things as if Allah only used to accept people back then. But I want you to think about someone elderly in your family that had a good habit, a habit of khayr, something good that they used to do.

I remember there was someone from my family, an aunt, may Allah have mercy on her, and she used to always take some food for the birds. She had the bird feeder. And you know, one time, one of her children asked her why she wouldn't miss doing so. She only traveled away from her home one time. You know, they didn't have the luxury that we have of traveling all the time.

She only traveled one time from her house. And she kept on being concerned when she was asking about her home that they made sure that the bird feeder was full. And when she was asked about why she was so diligent, and these are stories that we have in our families of just righteous people that do small things on the side.

She said, "Is it not that we seek from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sustain us the way that He takes care of the birds? That the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that if you were to have true tawakkul, true trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that you would be like the birds. Allah

subhanahu wa ta'ala would always keep your stomach full. You leave your house in the morning, you come back, and you know that you're going to have your sustenance provided to you from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala."

"Don't we have that expectation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? If that's the case, why don't we interact with His creation in the same way?"

So think about small good habits, a small good deed that is between you and Allah, that people don't expect of you, but through it you seek Allah's mercy, and you make particularly a connection between that small good deed and your smallness in this world, your own vulnerability in this world.

And keep it up on a daily basis, and you don't know which one of those that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to accept. Purpose is what takes the deeds that we do on a daily basis, that are neutral in their nature, and connect them to the Creator and that which is around us, and enters us into Jannah.

The Example of Mu'adh

Mu'adh (رضي الله عنه) used to say:

"That I seek the reward of my sleep, the way I seek the reward of my qiyam, the way I seek the reward of my praying at night."

Because when I go to sleep, I have that purpose, that intention, that I'm not sleeping for the sake of sleep, I'm sleeping for the sake of Allah. I'm sleeping so that I could wake up energetic, and serve and worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Reclaiming Daily Life

And subhanAllah, you know, I was thinking about this as I was thinking about what I would say tonight. I was thinking about, you know, if you summarize your day, and the way that your life usually becomes, and in fact many of us become frustrated, because life becomes too routine. I go to work, I earn, I come home, family, do this, go to sleep, and these types of things. I mean, it's basically career, you keep on working, and we're working harder and harder and harder and harder.

Or you're at home and you're constantly, you know, you're taking care of the house, and I'm working harder and harder and harder. It's work, family, exhaustion, sleep, and that's it. And I can't think of anything else.

I've got to earn my money so that I can sustain my family, and I keep on earning so I can keep on sustaining my family, and I don't feel meaning in my life.

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions to us:

"O you who believe, do not let your wealth and your children distract you from the remembrance of Allah."

How do you reclaim that? The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us to view the daily mundane habits as habits to bring us close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Allah doesn't want you to quit your job, unless it's haram, okay? Just so no one takes a snippet of that. You know, in the United States, they always take snippets of our stuff. Alhamdulillah, there's only one news microphone that's here.

Not to quit your job unless it's haram, as long as it's halal, alhamdulillah. But think about your job as a means to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Think about the recognition part of it.

Family as Part of Worship

Allah doesn't want you... you know, there was once a man that was very harsh to his kid. And, you know, I said to him, "Why are you being so harsh?" He says, "Allah says in the Quran that your families are:

"Indeed, among your wives and your children are enemies to you, so beware of them."

Your spouses, your children, they're your enemies, so you should be aware of them."

But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:

(Tirmidhi hadith 3895)

"The best of you are those that are best to their families."

So what's the connection between the two? Instead of viewing your wealth, your earning, your household chores, your families, and all of those things as things beyond your purpose of life, things that are outside, things that are contrary - because then the more religious you get, the more you're gonna grow resentful of those things.

Instead of viewing it that way, view them as part of the package of purpose and spirituality.

The Eating and Gratitude Connection

And you say, how? You know how I tell you? Some of us might not live to see Ramadan:

"O Allah, allow us to reach Ramadan."

Everyone say, ameen. May Allah allow us to live to see Ramadan. Don't just think that because you've seen the moon of Sha'ban, you'll see the moon of Ramadan as well.

Some of us might not live to see it. But you know what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said? He said:

(Tirmidhi hadith 2486)

"The one who eats and is grateful has the same rank as the one who fasts and is patient."

He said:

(Bukhari hadith 38)

"Whoever fasts Ramadan with faith and seeking the reward of Allah, all of his previous sins will be forgiven."

He also said (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that whoever eats and says:

"All praise to Allah who fed me this and provided it to me without any doing of my own, without any power or capacity of my own."

He also said (صلى الله عليه وسلم):

"All of his previous sins are forgiven." (Abu Dawud hadith 4023)

He said (صلى الله عليه وسلم)something as mundane. You know, when you think about, we barely even remember to say "Bismillah" and "Alhamdulillah" when we eat our food, but a person who really makes it a point to say, "Alhamdulillah. Where did this come from? Alhamdulillah."

Even though I earned all day to put this food on my family's table, I know that it was Allah. I know that I didn't do this myself. You made a connection.

When you're getting dressed in the morning, and you're getting dressed so fast, you're not even thinking about it, you're quickly throwing on things. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said in that is a moment where a person looks up, says:

"All praises be to the one who dressed me with this dress without any doing or capacity of my own."

"All of his previous sins would be forgiven."

Why? Because the purpose of fasting is to make you more conscious:

"So that you may become righteous."

And the purpose of Ramadan:

"So that you finish that period and you become more grateful to Allah."

But that's something that you can be practicing on a daily basis.

Everything as Worship

And so instead of seeing all those other things that you do in life - family, career, life - as outside of your purpose and existence. And one day, "I'm gonna go to the masjid and live the rest of my life reading Quran, and I'll be like that pious elderly person I see in my family."

See your career, see your family, see your food, everything that you do, every form of kindness. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) mentioned intimacy between the spouses:

(Muslim hadith 1006)

"And in the intimate relations of one of you there is charity."

Why? Because if you would have done it in a haram way, then you would have been punished. So Allah rewards you when you do it right.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) mentioned that the morsel of food that you put of kindness in your family's mouth, that's the most beloved charity to Allah.

Don't you remember that woman, that Aisha (رضي الله عنها) saw, and she was poor and she only had three dates, and she gave two to her kids, two of her children, and she was about to eat her own. But in a moment of taqwa, she saw her children naturally wanting an extra piece of the date. And as she was about to eat it, she instead tore her date in half and gave one half to each of her children.

And Allah assured her jannah through the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) through that. These are the types of occurrences that happen in our daily lives. Instead of seeing these things around us as distractions, use them to propel you to Allah.

They're not distractions unless you allow them to be distractions. They can instead be vehicles of taking you to Allah. That's how you start to frame purpose in everything that you do.

Istikhara: Beyond Marriage

If I was to ask someone, when is the last time you prayed istikhara? You know, istikhara is a prayer, and it's something that usually comes up in the context of marriage. I swear some people only pray istikhara when they want to get married. There is more to istikhara than marriage.

The companions used to pray it for things that maybe we would consider small things in life. But the idea of asking Allah for guidance for the affairs that you embark upon, even if you might see them as very small affairs, but you ask Allah for guidance, that shows that you are bringing Allah into your decision making on a regular basis. Don't just leave it.

(Ahmad hadith)

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did not just give it to us just for marriage, so that when your marriage isn't working out, you can blame your istikhara, or you could blame the Shaykh who told you to pray istikhara, and say, "He didn't tell me to pray istikhara," right? And by the way, there are no dreams in istikhara. If you see the person that you wanted to marry because you prayed istikhara, that's probably not because of the istikhara, that's because you were thinking about the person when you went to sleep. You don't see colors in istikhara.

This was to bring Allah into our decision making. That's why the companions were taught to pray it so much by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

When Crisis Comes

And so you frame so far in purpose, your small good deeds, your regular day-to-day deeds, your more important life decisions, and that's where istikhara comes in, right? You rock the boat a little bit.

And then this is where I really want to bring us to. Most people do not actually try to figure out their role here in existence, their purpose in life, until the project of ghafla, the project of heedlessness fails them. "I thought that I could consume myself to happiness. I thought that if I worked a little bit harder, got a little bit of a bigger house, got a little bit more money in my bank account, got this person in my life, had this in my social life, I thought happiness was gonna work out and it didn't work out the way that I wanted to."

And most people don't start asking the questions of existence and creation, until something really devastating happens to them, that shakes their life up.

You know, remember the very first example that I started off with, and those of you that came late, I'm not gonna repeat the example, you can watch the recording and so on. I mentioned the example of a

person that's sitting in a room, that's everything is great around them, but they don't know why they're there. Imagine an asteroid hitting that room. Something devastating happening.

At that moment, then people wake up, and they start to think, "Wait a minute, what's happening here? Why is this perfect world suddenly being shaken?" Most of us don't start to ask the questions of purpose and existence, and try to connect with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala until something like that happens.

And that is a major problem. Because when you are in devastation, when something hard happens to you, that's not the time to form a relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or purpose, that's a time to act upon a relationship that you've already been building.

Know Allah in Ease

Now for some of us that are fortunate, when something bad happens, it pulls us back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's a gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tells us:

(Ahmad hadith 2804)

"Know Allah in ease/prosperity, Allah will know you in hardship. Know Allah in prosperity, Allah will know you in adversity."

What that means is that getting to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when something hard happens to you, and it's a reminder, it's a wake up call, that doesn't mean you know Allah because you cried and you prayed. It's a warning to get to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But get to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in times of stability, in times of ease.

Allah will know you in hardship. And when things are disturbed, what does that mean? That means that because you have already been seeing Allah through the daily things that you do, you've been pursuing the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with small good deeds that other people don't even think about. You've been pursuing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

You've been connecting yourself to a sense of purpose with your work, with your family, with your life. You're not trying to remove those from the realm of spirituality. They're part of your spirituality.

So because you were able to know Allah in ease, and because you were able to know Allah when things were just neutral, now when hardship comes to you, you immediately connect back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Example of Ta'if

Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to think for a moment about the hardest thing that ever happened to you, the worst thing that ever happened to you, the most difficult moment of your life. And I wanna go

to that moment of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in Ta'if, but I don't want to just look at the incident of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in Ta'if in isolation.

I want us to look at the incident of Ta'if in the context of the way that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in his day to day life. The hardest time of the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was Ta'if. We all know that.

Everything that used to be a source of stability was taken away from him. And this is actually very important. This is a dimension we don't usually think about with Ta'if.

You know, when one part of your life shakes, you tend to run to another part of it that feels stable. So if one relationship, think about... I asked you to bring to your memory the hardest thing that ever happened to you. If it involved a person, psychologically, you're gonna run to a relationship that you feel is more stable.

Right? So one friend really hurt me, so I'm gonna go complain to another friend, and in the process of, you know, talking about how devastating that friendship was, I'm gonna actually nurture this friendship here. It's a source of stability. Family falls apart, I kind of run to my career, and I make sure that my career now is stable.

I try to lean on what's stable. One part of my life shakes, psychologically, I immediately run to the part of my life that I feel is stable ground, because that's now shaky ground.

With the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم after Ta'if, he doesn't have Khadija رضي الله عنها anymore, who wrapped him the first time, and said:

"By Allah, Allah will never abandon you, would never disgrace you."

He doesn't have the warmth of Khadija. He doesn't have the protection of Abu Talib to say that even if the people were to persecute me, and even if I don't necessarily believe in his message صلى الله عليه وسلم "You are my nephew, I will protect you, you deserve protection." He doesn't have that anymore.

He doesn't have financial stability. He doesn't even have his home, regular home to run to. He's got no stable ground.

He doesn't have a large group of followers. Family is gone, wealth is gone, followers are gone, everything is gone. What is his stable ground صلى الله عليه وسلم? And imagine those moments, which no movie could depict, when you're getting stoned in the face, blood running down your body, your shoes filling with stones, and you have nothing.

You've been humiliated emotionally, mentally tortured for 14 days, and you're looking up to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. "Ya Allah, I don't see anything."

The Prophet's Response in Ta'if

And you know, a lot of times, a lot of times, when we talk about that, we mentioned the hadith where the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was offered the opportunity to wipe everybody else out, to actually take out his grievances صلى الله عليه وسلم on the people.

"Give the command and the angels will wipe out this entire place." But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم didn't want vengeance at the moment. And I want you to think about yourself for a moment.

If you were the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in that moment, how much anger and vengeance would you have? "I don't care anymore, wipe these people out, I'm done." But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم didn't look at the people, he looked up to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He called upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

He asked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his guidance. Why? Because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم understood the WHY. And so even if the how and the what were hard, he understood the why strong enough that all of that could be put in perspective.

You know when something bad happens to us, a lot of times we ask, "Why Allah are you doing this to me? Why me? What did I do?" Because I didn't get why right, then now my what and my how are messed up too. "Why Allah did you do this to me?" And then the next question is, "What did I do to deserve it?" As if the earth was here and everything was here to honor you and amuse you? And then "How do I get myself out of it?" So your what and your how are not correct because your why is messed up. Your question is, "Why are you doing this to me?" "Oh Allah, you're not interacting with the creation and the creator properly."

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم already had the why right. "Why am I here? I am here for the purpose of service. I am not here for the purpose of being served. I am here for the purpose of serving Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala." I know why I'm here. Therefore the first question the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم asks is, "What does Allah want from me? And how do I earn His pleasure?" He wasn't concerned about the outward part of it.

It hurt him صلى الله عليه وسلم. He hurt and we hurt. But that sense of purpose that he'd been nurturing and Allah had been nurturing in him for all those years, it really came to be. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did not have even in his lowest moment there, "Why did Allah do this to me?" moment.

Instead it was immediately to, "What can I do for Allah? How do I please Allah with this moment?"

"As long as all this happening is not a manifestation of your anger with me, O Allah, then I don't care. I'll continue to persist, I'll continue to move forward."

You don't get that type of persistence and that type of resilience and that type of connection to Allah out of nowhere. That's not a sudden fatha, a sudden inspiration. That's something that you nourish and you work on when you bring Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in your life.

"Know Allah in good times. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will know you in bad times. Know Allah when things around you are relatively stable."

Nothing is ever perfect. And we would be fools to think that everything around us could ever attain full stability. It's the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we're always unstable in some form of our lives.

And wallahi you look at other people sometimes you think, "Mashallah everything is great with that person's life. He or she must have it all." But know that if Allah is testing you with one thing, He's testing that person with something else.

Allah is purifying them of a weakness. Know that if you're being tested with your wealth and that person is not, Allah is testing them with their health or with their family or their relationship. Know that if you're being tested with your health, but not your wealth, Allah is testing someone else with something different.

Every single one of us has their share of tests. But you know why Allah does that to us? Because He loves us. Because He cares about us subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Purpose of Tests

So that we could remember our purpose in this world. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمhe mentioned that Allah has placed in our lives these a'rad. A'rad are hindrances.

You know there are different words for tests. In the Quran and the sunnah. Bala', ibtila', fitam. All of these are words that Allah describes tests with. A'rad are hindrances, they're like hooks. And the Prophet صلی الله عليه وسلم mentioned that if one of them misses you, another one gets you.

What is the point of these a'rad, these hindrances? They slow you down and they remind you so that you don't go crashing into a wall of heedlessness. They remind you of purpose.

So Allah takes away a little bit of your health to remind you that there will come a time that you will have no health whatsoever. Allah pinches you with your wealth so that you know that there will come a time that you will have no wealth whatsoever. Allah pinches you with your family so that you know that there will come a time that you will have no family, no relationships whatsoever. Allah pinches you with these

things, holds you back, not to torture you, not to harm you, so that you could wake up to your purpose and be purified with that.

And alhamdulillah for what Allah gives to us. Because you know what I mentioned to you right now, to think about that hard moment in your life. If you were to be honest with yourself, that hard moment in your life that maybe you could not see through, is a big part of why you are who you are today and why you are here today, and why you are trying to connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

A Personal Example

No one likes harsh wake-up calls. You know I tell this story, my mom, may Allah have mercy on her, rahmatullahi alayha, she used to wake me up for fajr. And you know sometimes some of the mothers, may Allah bless you all, and there's no heart like the heart of a mom, you speak to the mashayikh and you say, "Mashallah, how did you become like this? Like were you like this as children too? Like we woke up reading Quran, we came out of our mother's bellies and we said, 'Inni Abdullah,' you know, 'I am the servant of Allah,' and you read Quran your whole life and you were wonderful."

No, all of us, all of us, I'm not gonna speak for Mufti Mink and Shaykh Abdul Rahim, mashallah, maybe they actually did have that childhood, may Allah bless our mashayikh. I'm talking about myself. I remember salatul fajr.

And you know moms who wake your kids up for fajr? And some of the kids are gonna hate me in here for this. My mom, you know how she used to wake me up for fajr? Cold water. And it hurt.

She used to bring the cold water to the room and she would drip it on my forehead until I woke up. And subhanallah, wallahi there are still days, wallahi there are still days, and my mom, may Allah have mercy on her, has passed away over a decade ago. And there are still days that I could feel those drops on my forehead.

I wake up in the morning and I can still feel those drops on my forehead. And I say alhamdulillah for that because that was formative, that was teaching me, getting me inclined to understand the world around me that you have to wake up. You've gotta do what you've gotta do.

And it was done out of love. Likewise, dear brothers and sisters, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala puts these things in our lives to bring us back to that sense of purpose. Because let's be honest with ourselves.

If I did not tell some of you to look up at the moon and say, "Subhanallah, subhanallah, subhanal khaliq. How amazing is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who placed that moon there. Who crafted the heavens and the earth this way."

You might have walked by another day and you wouldn't have paid attention. Because sometimes we don't pay attention until we're shaken up a little bit.

I remember as someone who travels much, I was commenting to a brother and I said, "How beautiful the sunrise is and the sunset is." And Mufti Mink is going to talk insha'Allah ta'ala to you about the signs of Allah, tadabbur and tafakkur, contemplation and introspection. And I was sharing, I said, "Subhanallah, how beautiful the sunrise is in this place." And you know what he told me? He said, "You know, the sun rises where you live the exact same way."

"But when you're on vacation and you've got a balcony, you actually take the time to look at it. It's not that the sun wasn't rising where you were, it's that you were not paying attention."

So alhamdulillah for a Rabb who cares enough about us to bring us back to attention, not out of punishment or hardship, but so we can be the best version of ourselves.

Conclusion: The Eternal Party

Because I don't want to be in the party and not know why I'm here. Instead, I'm seeking the eternal party in Jannatul Firdaus, where I know exactly why I am there. Where the angels say:

"Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured. And excellent is the final home."

"Excellent is the reward of the workers."

That this is the work that you used to do. Remember when you were back in the world, you know exactly where you come from. In Jannah, you are reminded of the realm before.

Here in this dunya, you have no recollection of where you were before you came here. In Jannah, you are seeing the fruits of the work that you did. In this dunya, you are working for a realm that you do not see until you leave it.

In Jannah, you know why you got to the party, you know how you're in the party, you know what to do in the party. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow all of us to be admitted into that party. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He be pleased with us, that He grant us a great sense of purpose, that He allow us to interact with His signs, whether they are personal signs in our lives, or the glorious signs that are ever present around us that remind us of Him.

Or if it's our daily deeds, or the small good deeds, or the sins that we belittle, we ask Allah to make that all reason for us to come back to Him, to be brought back to attention, to be brought back to a sense of purpose. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us when we become distracted and deluded from Him, for He is the source of peace, and He is the source of mercy, and He is the source of satisfaction, and pleasing Him is our purpose.

And may Allah send His prayers upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions, and grant them abundant peace.