The Beauty of Allah’s Timing | Allah’s Names | Dr. Omar Suleiman | Ep. 16

When We Curse Time, We Curse Allah

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4826)

Allah says: "The son of Adam hurls his abuse at me. He curses time. But I am time. In my hand is the command. I turn the night and the day."

You say, why now? When he is saying, not yet. You say, why me? When he's saying, because I know you. We've spoken about rising above your trials, grounding yourself in your blessings, and breaking out of the cycles.

But the thing is, you don't get to set the schedule on any of that. And that can be extremely frustrating because it feels entirely out of your control. But when you curse time, you're actually cursing the one who owns time.

Just like when you belittle a blessing, you're belittling the bestower of that blessing. So you say الحمد لله for your food and never criticize it, right? What about the delays?

The Remote Control of Life

It's one thing to talk about inner peace. But how do you come to terms with the pace of Allah's doings? When will the door open? When will the relief come? When will the dua be answered? When is this all going to get easier? When will the help of Allah finally arrive?

Allah owns the pause, the play, the rewind, and the forward buttons of your life. But you so badly want the remote yourself, and you want to times two through your trials, and maybe slow motion what feels like your vacations in this journey of life. But it's not yours, and it's not yours to do.

And when you're lying in bed at night and can't sleep, and your heart and mind won't sit still, or when the bills seem to be piling up on the kitchen table, or the job interview went sideways, or another marriage pursuit fell short, and that dua that you've been making for years still seems to have not broken through the heavens.

Wallahi, it's not random, and it's not pointless, and it's not outside of His mercy. The squeeze is from Him, and the breath that will follow is also from Him.

The Blessings of the Waiting Period

And too often in times of hardship, you're waiting so desperately for the hardship to pass, or waiting so desperately for the blessing to arrive, that you neglect the lessons and blessings you could be receiving during the waiting period itself. A window that will soon close once He opens that door you've been waiting for.

Just think of the quality of your dua when you're going through test and trial. It's different, and so is the reward. Think of that mother in the moment that she's giving birth, and as she pushes out another life from inside of her, and she almost loses her own life in the process. But she still finds a way to say الحمد لله.

And then think of the person who receives the news of the death of a child, and feels like they can't breathe, but still they say الحمد لله. In both cases, Allah is giving them something more in the squeeze of the moment.

But even when it's not that dramatic, when you're in a state of hardship, your duas have so much more weight, they feel heavier and more intense. But the reward they get is also heavier and more intense.

Al-Qabid and Al-Basit: The One Who Tightens and Opens

When Allah withholds, He's simply giving in another way. And when He gives, He's withholding in another way. And that's where His names al-Qabid, al-Basit unfold. He is the one who tightens, and the one who opens. The one who draws in, and the one who stretches out.

"Say, verily, My Lord expands provision for whom He wills, and constricts it." So both abundance and scarcity are tests. And the worst thing you'd want is that Allah temporarily give you a greater share here, that ends up spoiling you and giving you a greater share of hellfire for eternity.

"It is Allah who withholds, and Allah who expands. And to Him you will all return." The reality is that the great equalizing isn't here, it's in the hereafter. But here and there, it's always in His hands.

Divine Wisdom in Expansion and Contraction

Even in our communal life, you can see how He takes from the wealthy. That's a kind of qabd by obligation that purifies our wealth. And then He expands it for the poor by making them its recipients. And then in His own creation, He tightens one stream so that He can irrigate another.

"The earth, all of it, will be His handful on the day of resurrection. And the heavens will be folded in His right hand." Here, His qabd shows His might. But on the day of judgment, His qabd, His handful, shows up as mercy.

"He will seize a handful from the fire and take out people whom others had already written off."

The Daily Cycle of Qabd and Bast

And every night, there's qabd and bast with the souls. Every night your sleep is a little death. Your soul is taken and then returned to you. You woke up today because He chose to give you back your soul. That wasn't luck. That was called bast.

Both of these are divine mercy. And both of these are divine management. The tightening is not punishment. It's actually protection. And the opening is not an invitation to indulgence. It's actually a test. And both come from the same hand.

And that's why many of the scholars say that these names should only be mentioned together. Because one without the other could suggest Allah restricting without wisdom or giving without guidance.

The Spiritual Breathing of the Soul

When He holds, He's not being stingy. He's teaching you to look inward and upward again. And when He expands, He's not necessarily rewarding. He's placing something in your hand that you can't let occupy your heart.

Just like when you breathe, you can't live only inhaling nor can you live only exhaling. Qabd and bast are the inhale and exhale of your soul. The sabr that you practice during constriction becomes oxygen for the shukr that you practice during expansion.

So when a person says, الحمد لله, I remember this trial. So now I can appreciate this blessing properly. And Allah doesn't squeeze the believer except to reward him and replenish him as a result.

Examples from the Prophet's Life

Think of Jibril alayhi salam when he squeezed the Prophet ﷺ so hard that the Prophet ﷺ said, "I thought I wasn't going to be able to breathe. I thought I was going to die."

But what he was doing was actually preparing him for "We are going to bestow upon you a heavy word."

But Allah then says, "Did we not expand for you your chest?" Allah expanded his chest for the mighty gift of the Quran. And through that, the Prophet's burdens were removed and his name was elevated.

Likewise, Mecca became unbearable to live in. But then Madinah became the city of the Prophet ﷺ. Until Allah gave him back Mecca in its entirety with an ummah multiplied many times over. Allah squeezes, then he spreads. And it's never outside of his mercy or wisdom.

Collective Applications

And this isn't just personal, it's collective too. When you look at his legislations, Allah tightened the path of Bani Israel out of justice, making things stricter on them due to their transgressions, and holding them to their covenant. And then he widened the path of Muhammad ﷺ out of grace, so that no generation of Muslims could ever say that our religion is impossible to live.

But even within this ummah, sometimes he tightens out of justice, and sometimes he widens out of grace. He restricts one door to protect a people from arrogance, and then he opens another to test their gratitude.

Because just as qabd and bast shape the heart, they also shape our history. Sometimes we forget who we're supposed to be in our moments of glory, and then we only wake up in our difficult moments. And as those people show us what it's like to be in a qabd, in a seizing that we can't even imagine, we are also being tested with a bast, with a stretch that we take for granted.

Al-Muqaddim and Al-Muakhir: Divine Timing

And when time feels stuck, remember that he's also named al-Muqaddim and al-Muakhir, the one who brings forward, and the one who delays. Because sometimes you're not being held back, you're being set up for something greater. Sometimes your delay is your protection, sometimes your slowness is your refinement.

The Story of Yusuf

Remember again how Yusuf alayhi wasalam was sitting in prison? And then I want you to consider the timing of it all. He watches two cellmates leave before him. One of them goes to a palace, the other one goes to a death sentence, but he's still sitting in prison.

And then when Allah finally brought him forward after saving him from death more than once, it wasn't to be a servant in that palace like his cellmate, it was to run it as a leader. And that wouldn't have happened without Allah's timing it so perfectly that his fellow prisoner got out first and then mentioned Yusuf to the king so that Allah would bring him to the throne.

So just like with Yusuf, what's delayed for you is not always denied. Sometimes your fate is being upgraded behind the scenes in a way you could have never imagined.

Divine Wisdom in Timing

So sometimes Allah limits you so that you could learn patience. Sometimes he expands you so that you could learn gratitude. Sometimes he brings you forward to honor your readiness. Sometimes he delays you to protect your soul that's not ready.

Don't rush his decree, trust his pacing. He owns the remote control and that's his mercy because you would have just fast forwarded through the very scene that he wrote to prepare you for the ending you begged him for.

The Du'a of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz

And when the delay hurts, remember the du'a that Umar ibn Abdul Aziz rahimahullah used to repeat frequently:

"Oh Allah, make me content with your decree and bless me in what you have destined for me until I no longer wish to hasten what you have delayed nor delay what you have hastened."

Because once you trust Al-Qabid in the squeeze and Al-Basit in the stretch, then you're content with Al-Muqaddim when he brings forward and Al-Muakhir when he slows you down. And time stops feeling like an enemy and starts feeling like a teacher and an opportunity.

Finding Peace in Divine Timing

And maybe that's the real secret of peace. Not when things finally happen but when you finally stop wishing they would. And let's return to the heart because some people lose their way not in the maze of what but in the maze of when.

You want marriage now, healing now, children now, a door to open now. And Allah's pace is just different. And there's a particular sweetness that the heart cannot taste until it stops trying to fast forward life and stops wishing to rewind and starts loving his timing.

When you finally say with your heart يا مقدم قدمني عندك "Bring me forward with you." يا مؤخر أخرني عما يؤخرني عنك "Delay from me whatever delays me from you."

You'll find that your anxiety has less to do with the calendar and more to do with trust.

Allah's Extended Hand in Repentance

And one thing that's consistent is Allah is always extending his hand to you in repentance. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2759)

"Allah stretches out his hand at night so that the sinner of the day may repent. And he stretches out his hand by day so that the sinner of the night might repent."

And the Prophet ﷺ also taught us that as we ask Al-Muqaddim to put forward and Al-Muakhir to hold back we must seek forgiveness for what we have put forward and what we have delayed.

"Forgive us for what we put forth and what we held back." That way you focus on questioning yourself instead of him and on finding peace in what he gives and withholds while taking responsibility for what you give and what you hold back.

Concluding Du'a

Ya Qabid, Ya Basit - When you withhold let me not lose hope and when you expand let me not lose humility. Tighten my path only to redirect me to yours and widen it in ways that only increase my gratitude to you. Teach me to find you in both the squeeze and the release and to love you both in the stillness and the flow.

Ya Muqaddim, Ya Muakhir - When you bring me forward make me worthy of the moment and when you hold me back make me patient with the waiting. Advance me only when the step will please you and delay me only when the pause will protect me. Wherever I stand in your decree let me always feel content that I am never misplaced.

"And to Allah belong the beautiful names, so invoke Him by them."