The Blessing You Won t Forget Next Time

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"The Blessing You Won't Forget Next Time"

Khutbah by Dr. Omar Suleiman

Introduction: Reflecting on Recent Hardships

Dear brothers and sisters, as things are getting back to normal now for so many, I want us to reflect a little bit further on the discussion that we had last week in the wake of what so many of us encountered of an uncomfortable deprivation. A deprivation of power, a deprivation of water, an uncomfortable deprivation that ushered in some unexpected blessings for us to think about how we come together as neighbors, how we come together as communities, so that we could take care of each other and take care of those who were not taken care of prior to what had happened.

And obviously the jokes about the Dallas weather, you know, one week it's snow and it's, you know, one degree, the next week it's 75 degrees and things have gotten back to normal.

And of course we know that there are still many people in our own city that still don't have water, especially again the refugees and some of the low income complexes that still don't have access to water even at this point. And I wanted us to think about how we take this lesson with us and we propel ourselves forward from now towards Ramadan. Ramadan is only a month and a half away.

May Allah allow us to witness it and to be forgiven through it and to be made more grateful and patient through it and to get closer to Allah through it.

The Prophet's Choice: Temporary Deprivation Over Permanent Comfort

And I was looking at a few of these narrations and one of them is a very beautiful one where the Prophet Muhammad

expresses how one of the greatest blessings we have in our lives is the way that we go through this cycle in which temporary deprivation of a blessing can lead to permanent changes in our lives to where we appreciate those blessings more.

And this is a narration that Abu Umamah narrates from the Prophet Muhammad.

It's in a Tirmidhi. Imam Suyuti considers it authentic and while some scholars say the chain is weak, they say the meaning is correct. That the Prophet Muhammad said that my Lord offered me or presented me the entire valley of Mecca to be turned into gold.

Now we know, as we spoke about, when Umar saw the Prophet Muhammad and the way that he lives, it made him cry.

The Prophet Muhammad continued to maintain poverty even after he was at the height of his power. Complete poverty. And the Sahaba felt like they wanted to do more for the Prophet Muhammad

Here we also have, of course, where Allah presented the Prophet Muhammad an opportunity at the end of his life to live much longer.

But the Prophet Muhammad chose al-Rafiq al-A'la. He chose the highest companionship. And in this situation, the Prophet Muhammad is saying, not only did you feel like you want to present me more and you want to build a palace and you feel like I should eat better and live better, my Lord presented me Mecca, the entire valley of Mecca in dhahab, in gold.

But I responded and I said:

"No my Lord, I would rather that I am nourished one day and hungry another day. I'm fed one day and I am hungry another day."

I said to my Lord, that way when I am hungry, I will humble myself to you and I'll remember you as a hungry man. And when I am nourished, I will be grateful to you and increase my praise of you. And so it's healthy for me spiritually and it's good for us to go through that cycle where sometimes we have easy access to that blessings and sometimes we don't have such easy access to that blessing.

The Wisdom Behind Fasting

And of course this is one of the blessings of Ramadan as Imam bin Rajab رحمه الله mentioned, he said that some of the salaf were asked in the ta'if al ma'arif, he said some of the salaf, the pious predecessors were asked why was fasting legislated? And they responded and they said:

"So that the person who is wealthy, the person who easily has access to food will taste hunger, will taste hunger. So that's the first thing, they'll experience what it's like to be hungry. And the second part of this, and they won't forget the hungry."

And so it's twofold. On one hand, you won't forget the blessing next time you have it. And the second benefit is that you won't forget those who still don't have the blessing.

Personal Reflection on Recent Hardships

Okay, again, the first one is that you won't forget the blessing because you've tasted what it was like to be away from it. How good were your faucets this week? How did it feel to have access to your clean water? What was it like when your power came back on? What was it like when your water came back on?

And for those who still don't have it, may Allah facilitate it for you, Allahumma ameen, and facilitate it for all of those that don't have access to clean water wherever they are.

But what did it feel like to have all of that, like whew, alhamdulillah, this is amazing, right? So you take advantage of that blessing, and you take advantage of the moment that you were deprived from it to appreciate it more.

That's the first thing. You won't forget the blessing next time. The second thing is that you won't forget those who don't have the blessing next time.

The Connection to Taqwa

And that's a profound experience. Two of those things, or both of those things, are deeply tied to our taqwa of Allah, our consciousness of Allah, and that's the ultimate reason for the legislation of Ramadan. So you become more conscious of Allah, and in order to become more conscious of Allah, you become more conscious of the blessings of Allah upon you, so it directs you back to Allah.

And you become more conscious of those who don't have those blessings so readily available to them, and so you're activated towards them, and that also brings you back to Allah. Because those are acts of gratitude that bring you back to Allah. And subhanAllah, this is true for the material things, and for the things that aren't as easily identifiable.

The Blessing of Unity and Brotherhood

So for example, Allah عز وجل says:

Allah reminds the companions. Allah reminds them, you were at each other's throats. You hated each other. You were enemies. And it was by the blessing of Allah that you became brothers.

Don't forget that blessing of Allah upon you, so that when you start to feel that the shaitan is once again driving those wedges between you as brothers and sisters, you go back:

Allah says, remember, go back and actually reflect on those days and remember, what did it feel like? It felt like a good idea to be a little bit more aggressive. It felt like a good idea to increase the conflict. I've got to do this.

But Allah says, remember how much that time period actually stunk? You did not like that time period. You hated that. You hated being at each other's throats. The discomfort of having that enmity. Remember the blessing of Allah upon you when He brought you back together. He brought you together with the Qur'an.

Moving Forward with Gratitude

So insha'Allah as things do resume back to normal, bi-idhnillahi, and they start to bring us back to where some of the social distancing, hopefully bi-idhnillahi, we'll start to see a relaxing of some of those restrictions, start to see some of it coming back, let's remember that blessing of Allah. For the things that are easily identifiable, like our food and our drink, and for the other things that are not as easily identifiable, but are also just as important, like our relationships with one another, and the things that we do to stay close to one another, where Allah is the only one who descends that through His rahmah, through His mercy.

May Allah keep our hearts connected to Him, keep our hearts connected to each other, may Allah make us amongst those that are grateful to Him, and respond with that gratitude, with added prayers, and with added praise, and may Allah make us amongst those that are grateful to Him, and that we respond by working acts of gratitude towards those that don't have the same access to those blessings that we so often take for granted.

Allahumma Ameen. Allahumma Ameen. Wa min Allahi t-tawfiq, Al Fatiha.

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