My Mom - My Role Model by

My Mom - My Role Model

Imam Omar Suleiman

(خطبة الحاجة Opening Khutbah)

Main Khutbah

Dear brothers and sisters, with everything that our beloved brother Imam Suhaib said about the virtue of the Messenger Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. I want you for a moment to imagine the scene of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم's death.

When you had Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and these type of people there. And the people were in such trauma that there was a Bedouin Arab who was running around back and forth in the masjid saying:

"Oh Allah, take away my eyesight."

Because I don't want to lay my eyes on anyone after the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. And you know, subhanallah, the death of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم being the greatest tragedy that this ummah has ever faced. It was so great that after the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم passed away for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, the way to console a person who had lost someone beloved to them was to say to that person:

"Remember your disaster, your tragedy in the death of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم."

But in essence, al-Imam al-Dhahabi رحمه الله he said something extremely powerful. He said, wallahi, even though he passed away Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم he was still alive in the actions and in the character of the people.

You could look at people and you could find the exact demonstration of the life of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. They were trying to smile like him صلى الله عليه وسلم. They were trying to act like him. They were trying to walk like him صلى الله عليه وسلم. He was alive in the ummah until eventually people moved on to other things.

And you know, subhanallah, this talk would be different from any other talk that I've ever given because I'm not going to do what our beloved Shaykh did and mentioned many sources and mentioned different stories and different tafsirs and things of that sort.

Because many times we look at the lives of these great men, the sahabah of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. We look at the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. And there's this idea that we can't be them, so we might as well not try to aspire.

But there are people that have lived amongst us that tried to follow their example and that succeeded in becoming tremendous people because the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

"In every single generation of my nation, there are people that are foremost, that are sabiqoon."

Reference: Hilyat al-Awliya by Abu Nu'aym

Shaykh Yasir talked earlier about al-Mujaddid, the one person at the head of every 100 years, but also an authentic riwayah in Abu Nu'aym. In every single generation of my Muslims, of my nation, there are people that are foremost, that are sabiqoon.

And today I wanted to talk about the person that I met, the person that I knew that inspired me more than any other human being ever has. I have a person that was not a shaykh, that was not a scholar. In fact, if you were to ask this person what madhhab she followed, if you were to ask this person about some of the terms that we see floating around on Facebook today, she would not even know what they were. She's the most inspirational human being that I've ever met.

And it's my mother, may Allah have mercy on her.

The Importance of Role Models at Home

Because many times we look for role models, we look for heroes, and we try to find them in books, or we try to find them as great scholars that live halfway across the world that we would never meet, but we neglect the role models and the heroes that are in our homes.

How many of us would not even be here if our parents did not teach us (لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ - la ilaha illallah). Yes, alhamdulillah Allah guides people to Islam. But at the same time, how many of us are here because our parents cared enough about us to teach us the meaning of (لَا إِلهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ - la ilaha illallah muhammadun rasulullah)

So I wanted to share with you my dear brothers and sisters, for the purpose of you making dua for her and understanding that wallahi there are people that live and lived amongst us that are truly extraordinary and amazing people.

Her Background and Family

And I just wanted to talk about her upbringing for a moment. My mother, رحمها الله تعالى was the granddaughter of Al-Allama Munib Hassan, رحمه الله, the faqih of Palestine in the Ottoman Empire, the only Arab scholar in Mahkamah al-Tamyiz, the court of high scholars in the later period of the Ottoman Empire.

If you're thinking to yourself, I'm saying that just so everyone can say, mashallah, that's why she's such a great person. Her grandfather was the faqih of Palestine. You're wrong. Because Allah tested her family and the people, the children.

Some of the children of Munib Hashim, رحمه الله تعالى, actually left Islam in Palestine. They were part of the royal families. My mother was the first cousin of the mother of Queen Alia of Jordan. And they were from Bani Hashim, Banu Hashim, the direct descendants of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم.

And I know that doesn't impress you if you're a desi, because every desi thinks that they're from the lineage of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. I know all of you are sayyids, all that kind of stuff. Doesn't impress me either. But with all of that, her family were not a people who used to pray, they used to drink.

My mother grew up in a totally Catholic school in Jerusalem next to the Church of the Nativity run by nuns. And when she grew up in that school, she did not understand what it was that Allah wanted her to be. The granddaughter of the faqih of Palestine. She didn't know. She grew up confused.

But at the same time she always had this inclination to spirituality. So although her family was extremely irreligious and not upright, she used to sneak out of her house as a 7, 8, 9 year old girl and go pray salatul fajr in the masjid. Just asking Allah for some form of guidance even as a young baby, even as a child, as a toddler. She had inclinations. Her fitrah was always calling out.

Her Education and Character

And then Allah blessed her after she finished her schooling, not to take the path of becoming a nun or anything of that sort. She graduated with a degree in Arabic literature. She became a teacher. She was caring, compassionate. She loved to teach.

So she taught in Ramallah. She taught in Palestine. And then whenever she came to America, the irony of it was that she taught some of the daughters of her students in Palestine. Loved to teach Arabic. Loved to be compassionate, kind towards her students. Loved to raise people. Loved to see other people smile. Was always smiling.

And subhanallah, we look at the khuluq of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم in one of the descriptions of him صلى الله عليه وسلم:

"He was always smiling and laughing and making other people smile or laugh." Reference: Shu'ab al-Iman by al-Bayhaqi

I cannot recall a single picture of my mother as a child with her not smiling. And I remember all of the moments where she would smile at every single person that she would see.

And it was that khuluq, that character that won people's hearts. But Allah did not send her true guidance until she met my father, not in Palestine, but in Houston, in the University of Houston. And at that time, they got married at the Islamic Center on Richmond Avenue, the only masjid that was in Houston which was just a house.

And she didn't understand where her life was going. But at the same time she trusted Allah enough that Allah would guide her to the straight path.

Her Journey to Islam

She started wearing hijab later on in her life. She started to draw close to Allah. She started to pray. And then in the 1980s, 1981 to be exact, she developed a disease called Myasthenia Gravis, which is Latin for grave muscle disorder.

She lost her ability to walk freely. She started feeling like her muscles were weak. She wasn't as mobile as other people. Then she developed another blood disorder. She had to go through 17 blood transfusions in 2 years.

After my older brother Jamal was born, whenever she sat with the doctor, the doctor told her that she would never be able to have kids again. And wallahi, dear brothers and sisters, this woman who had just started practicing Islam just a few years, she laughed at the doctor and she said, you're not God.

And Allah allowed her to get pregnant a month later. And she was pregnant with me. And whenever she became pregnant with me, the doctors told her that you're not going to survive or your baby is not going to survive. Because all of the blood transfusions, at that time there was the AIDS scare. All of these diseases that probably came in with this blood, it's not going to happen.

Allah proved them wrong once again. With her faith in Allah عز وجل, that was no obstacle to her. She never doubted for a moment. She never said, why is Allah doing this to me?

Her Trials and Unwavering Faith

In 1990, she had her first stroke. And it was discovered that it was because she had throat cancer. She came out of that stroke and she said:

"Alhamdulillah, Allah through this stroke has purified me from the sins that I had before."

Then a few years later, another stroke, 1993. And they discovered that the cancer was getting more severe. She had to go through chemotherapy. The doctor said the chance of her survival is 40% or less. Allah proved them wrong. She never complained.

She said:

Wallahi, not once complaining. Not once saying, why is Allah doing this to me? I just started wearing hijab. I just started praying. And her family members actually told her that this is God punishing you because you wear hijab. And she said, no, you're wrong. This is Allah purifying me from my past.

She kept going. In 1996, she had another stroke, a third stroke. And with this stroke, she went into an unresponsive coma for 14 days. The doctors told us she has no chance whatsoever. She's just a vegetable. She's not gonna wake up from this.

While the doctor was speaking to my father on the 14th day and telling him she has no chance, she opened her eye and she said, Ahmed, I'm thirsty. My dad's name, Ahmed. Get me a cup of water. And she drank from that water. She said:

"Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Allah is purifying me."

Can you imagine with all of that? Half of my childhood, she was in the hospital. She once had a detached retina. We were walking in the mall and her retina fell out and she couldn't see anymore. She had to have her thyroid taken out. She had osteoporosis.

All I remember is my mother going to the hospital time and time and time again. And while she would go, she would make dua to Allah. She would say:

"O Allah, purify my sins and allow me to see my children grow."

All she wanted was to see her children grow up. And every single time she was in the hospital, she would make that dua.