There Is No Life But The Hereafter

There Is No Life But The Hereafter

Opening Praise and Testimony

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ - al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn)

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

(لَا عَيْشَ إِلَّا عَيْسُ الْآخِرَةِ - lā ʿaysha ʾillā ʿayshu l-ākhirah)

O Allah, there is no life except the life of the hereafter

The Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Quran 3:200 - O you who have believed)

We bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, and that there is no partner with Him. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves. We bear witness that whomever Allah guides is guided, and whomever Allah leads to error, no one can guide them. We ask Allah to give His blessings to His Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and his companions and his family.

Gratitude for Return and The Power of Dua

My dear brothers and sisters, I pray to Allah that today in one of His masjids, we may get closer to Allah. As always, I thank Allah for bringing myself and brother Jihad back from a trip to the United Kingdom, in the city of Cardiff in Bristol.

I have come to appreciate over the years the significance of making a dua or supplication for one another. And Allah is my witness—Jihad doesn't even know that while I was gone, I tried to think of every one of you by name, by face. If I didn't know your name, I tried to conjure up your face. For many of you, I made dua. I asked Allah, and I didn't make the same dua for everyone. I made a dua for Shaykh Hassan, a special dua for him. For Umar Mukhtar, I made a special dua for you. And everyone—I made a different dua for everyone that I could remember.

I just recently met a brother from Niger. He came to my office. Isa, I never met him. I never knew him before. He's been coming here for years, and because he came to my office, now I know him. I made dua for Isa. I made dua for every brother and sister that I can remember, my own family. And I tried to imagine your faces. And when I didn't know your name, and even if I couldn't remember your face, then I made a specific dua for

everyone here because I know the significance of especially making dua for your brother and sister in their absence. Allah hears the dua.

Make dua for each other. And when someone comes to you as a Muslim and does something for you, the best compensation that you can give him is to say: (جَزَاكَ اللهُ خَيْرًا - Jazakallahu Khayran - May Allah reward you with goodness). Allah is the one who gives compensation for everything, and you can't say anything better than that. And you can't compensate people better than that. You can give people money and you can heap on them all the praise you want, but there's no better dua, no better thanks than to ask Allah that Allah compensates them and rewards them with the best.

The Core Message: There Is No Life Except the Hereafter

Today's theme—and I'm going to make it short, so please get the point—the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, according to Anas ibn Malik, said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 4099, Sahih Muslim 1805 - O Allah, there is no life except the life of the hereafter)

And I want to drum this point home. Even those of you specifically that I ask Allah to enrich you—I was careful that if I mention, "O Allah, give this brother riches of this world," but let those riches not take him away from the akhira. So I didn't just say, "O Allah, give brother so-and-so money," but "Give brother so-and-so money that he may spend in the way of Allah."

And I want you to get this message very well, the words of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him:

And I want every brother and sister to remember these words, because whenever you're confronted with a test—and you're going to be tested, even today, tomorrow, next week—I want all of you to say:

O Allah, there's no life, there's no real life, except the life of the hereafter.

And what I'm going to focus on today, even though I may mention a number of hadith and a number of ayahs from Quran, I'm just going to focus on two hadiths—this one and two other ones. I want to drill it so you get it well, that there is no life except the life of the hereafter.

Assignment: Visit Seven Places to Understand Life's Reality

And I have an assignment for you. I want you in the next few days to visit seven places. I want you to visit, every one of you, in the next week:

First: A hospital. Go visit a hospital.

Second: I want you to visit a nursing home, a home where old people live.

Third: I want you to visit what they call an insane asylum, a psychiatric ward of a hospital where people have mental diseases.

Fourth: I want you to visit a homeless shelter in the next week.

Fifth: I want you to try to visit a refugee center, a place where refugees are. I want, even if we can get a bus to take the brothers, to go to Fort Dix and go visit the brothers and sisters from Kosovo, to visit them and to see what it's like to be a refugee away from your home.

Sixth: If you can, I want every brother and sister to go visit a prison. See what it's like being locked up in jail and not having any freedom.

And after you go to the hospital, after you go to the insane asylum, after you go to the refugee center, homeless shelter, after you go to the nursing home, after you go to the insane asylum, after you visit all these places in the prison, then I want you finally, the last step:

Seventh: I want you to go to a cemetery. Go to any cemetery. You don't have to go to Rosedale. Go to any cemetery where people have died. And I want you to go to visit a cemetery and just stay there for a moment. And I want you to reflect. And I want you to reflect about your own life.

The Prophet's Dua and Its Blessings

Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was a man whom every believer wanted him to make dua for them. Can you imagine the supplication of the Prophet? There's a man who was old of age and he was very healthy, and he said that his health, his good eyesight, and his good hearing was as a result of the dua that the Prophet made when he was a weak baby. And the Prophet made dua for him, and this man was healthy even at an old age.

Every Muslim would seek the supplication of the Messenger of Allah Muhammad. Even Ukasha asked the Messenger of Allah to make dua that he would be one of the seventy thousand people that would go to Jannah without any punishment and any reckoning. He made dua for him, and Ukasha became one of those, and he said, "You are one of them," as a result of the dua that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, made.

Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, made dua that Ibn Abbas would become knowledgeable of the Quran, and this man became one of the most knowledgeable in understanding of Al-Quran. It was as a result of the dua of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

Prophet Muhammad made the dua that Umar ibn al-Khattab would become Muslim. Allah accepted the dua of the Prophet Muhammad, and Umar ibn al-Khattab became not only a Muslim but one of the great leaders among the Muslims. And go out to the history of Islam, and you will find many cases where people asked the Prophet for supplication and he made dua for them, and Allah answered his dua.

The Woman with Epilepsy: A Lesson in Patience

But today I want to go over a woman who asked the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, to make supplication for her. And I want you to consider the response of the Messenger of Allah.

First, let me say this: everywhere I go, I notice people who like to talk about their suffering, and they mention that no one has suffered as much as them. For instance, Jews—they talk about the Holocaust and how many people, maybe six million or so, Jews died in the Holocaust. We never minimize anyone's suffering. If they died and all of them died, we don't minimize it. We accept that they had great trials. We accept that.

So everyone claims that they had great trials. And you talk to the Indians, how many of them were killed in this land called America by the English who came over here and stole their land, and they talk about their own sense of adversity.

When Jihad and myself went to a place called Bristol, we visited a museum called the Slavery Museum. And I wish I could take all of you there. I'm taking my family there because it was so significant to read the history of African slaves around the world. Some historians say that as many as one hundred million slaves were taken out of Africa.

When I read some of the history of some of those African slaves in America and in Europe, I cried. Jihad didn't even see me. I was back there crying, wiping my tears. He didn't see me. And if I were not careful, I would become angry at what was done to these slaves. It was so bad that some of the women who gave birth to their children killed their own children because they didn't want the children to grow up as slaves. And you cannot imagine the condition of some of those people, how they were treated less than animals. And you start naming all of the millions of blacks, Africans, that died on the way to America and on the way to Europe. And it was amazing how they were treated and never got compensated for all the work that they did to build up these economies.

You look at these economies today and how great, powerful they are, but you don't realize the essence of their wealth was because of the slave trade. So black people say, "Well, no one suffered as much as we." So black people complain, Indians complain, Jews complain, and all of them talk about how bad it was and that they were the worst.

Identifying True Suffering and True Wealth

Today I want to talk about whom we know is the worst, who received the worst adversity ever in the annals of history. We're going to talk about that person today.

Conversely, other people talk about how wealthy they are, how much greatness they have, how much wealth they have, and they brag about how wealthy they are. Today we're going to identify the person who had the most wealth.

So today we want to identify two people: the one with the worst adversity, and then the other one with the best of wealth, the best of goodness in this world. And Na'im—Na'im means the best of all the blessings. The person who had the best, and it's not Bill Gates. It's someone else. I'm going to talk about that, inshallah, in a moment.

First Hadith: The Black Woman Who Chose Paradise

I want to begin this hadith. This hadith is Muttafaqun Alayhi—you can find it in al-Bukhari and Muslim. This is one of the two hadiths that I want to discuss today. It's just a really short khutbah, and it's interesting how the hadith begins.

Ibn Abbas, he says to a man, to Ata ibn Rabah, he says:

(أَلَا أُرِيكَ امْرَأَةً مِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ - ʾalā ʾurīka imraʾatan min ʾahli l-jannah)

(Sahih al-Bukhari 5652, Sahih Muslim 2576 - Do you want to see a woman of the people of Paradise?)

That's how the hadith begins. Do you want to see a woman who is, or will be, one of the people of Paradise?

Now you have to understand that the only way Ibn Abbas can say that is that he got it from the Messenger of Allah. It's not upon himself. He can't assign anyone to Jannah, and he doesn't know except what Allah and His Messenger reveals. He knows what Allah has revealed to the Messenger Muhammad. And then he said:

(هَذِهِ الْمَرْأَةُ السَّوْدَاءُ - hādhihi l-marʾatu s-sawdāʾu)

This black woman.

She came to the Messenger of Allah and said: (إِنِّي أُصْرَعُ - ʾinnī ʾuṣraʿu)

I have this disease that you call epilepsy. You know epilepsy-seizures. You fall down with seizures. And when I have these seizures, then I'm exposed.

Here's a woman who's trying to cover her modesty, but when she has the seizures, she falls down. And as a result of falling down, then her body is exposed. And then listen to what she said. She said, "Make dua for me."

Here's a woman-epilepsy. She's a believer. She believes in the Messenger of Allah. She asks the Messenger of Allah, "Make dua for me."

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said something very significant:

(إِنْ شِئْتِ صَبَرْتِ وَلَكِ الْجَنَّةُ، وَإِنْ شِئْتِ دَعَوْتُ اللَّهَ أَنْ يُعَافِيَكِ - ʾin shiʾti ṣabarti wa laki l-jannatu, wa ʾin shiʾti daʿawtu llāha ʾan yuʿāfiyaki)

You wanna thank Allah for giving you sight? Thank Allah by only looking at the halal and staying away from the haram and closing your eyes to the haram and looking down on the haram and look to the halal.

You wanna be thankful to Allah? Easy to say, "Allah, thank you for giving me good eyesight." That's easy. But the real thing, if you're really thankful for your ability to see, then focus, focus these tender eyes on the good, on the halal, on the right.

Thank Allah for Your Hearing

When last did you thank Allah for your ears, ability to hear?

You wanna thank Allah? Tell Him with your tongue. That's good. But if you really wanna thank Allah, no more ghibah, no more backbiting. Don't listen to it. I don't care how good it sounds—gossip, slander. I don't wanna hear it. "Brother, did you hear?" I don't wanna hear it. "But brother, you don't know the latest juicy gossip." I don't wanna hear it.

You wanna do something? Bring me Quran. Bring me Shaykh Hassan and let me listen to Quran. Let me listen to Hadith. Let me hear the Haqq. Let me hear the truth. Give me some nafi'ah. Help me.

You wanna thank Allah for those ears? Then listen for the good. And when you do something, when you start looking at people, you know my hobby that I have? I have a hobby of looking at people. I like looking at people. I look at old people as they try to get around, and I say, "Allah, you know what? If I live long enough, that's gonna be me." So I just try to picture myself trying to go across the street.

I saw one man—I was sitting in my car. Old man, he was trying to get across the street. He couldn't do it. He'd take a step, he was afraid, he stepped back, couldn't do it.

Look to those that are beneath you. Don't look at those who have all the wealth.

Second: Be Patient with Your Condition

Two things: number one, be thankful. And number two, sabr—be patient of your condition.

I close with these words. When I look at people, I notice that Allah has given different people different things.

Shaykh Hassan, Allah gave him a tremendous tongue to recite Quran. I can't recite like him. And that's my task: "O Allah, help me to recite better." Don't be envious of my brother. My brother has memorized entire Quran. Many of us can hardly memorize one or two ayats of Quran. That's Allah's blessing. He gives it to whomever He pleases.

Jihad and myself, we met a brother in Bristol named Ahmed Ali, Ahmed Ali from India or Pakistan.

Subhanallah, what a scholar of Islam he is. I mean, verses from Quran, hadith like that come from his mouth,

flowing from his mouth—Quran and hadith like that. And I said, "Subhanallah, look how Allah gifted, gave my brother a great gift."

Allah's Distribution of Beauty and Blessings

And then I want you to start looking at people, and you will notice that there are some women who are so beautiful. You can't help but admit, "What a beautiful woman." This is the way it is. And there are some women not as beautiful as that, and there are some women far from that. In the eyesight of man, you would say that she's not a beautiful woman. She's not a pretty woman.

You look at some men, some men are handsome. You look at them—what a beautiful face. And people look at them, they marvel. "Oh, what a handsome young man." And then there are some people not as handsome, and then there are some who are far away from being handsome.

And I look at all these people that Allah blessed, and I imagine everyone is saying, "Boy, I wish I could be handsome like that. I wish I could be beautiful like that woman."

But you know what? These are my last words to you: whatever your condition is, you be thankful to Allah that it is as good as it is, and you be patient with Him for whatever it is.

Why? Because you don't know people's trials.

Wealth Can Be a Trial

You know what, brother? Really, truthfully, some of you—and Allah knows who you are and who we are—if Allah gives you a million dollars, you go straight to hell. I have evidence from the Hadith that there are some people who are poor and said, "If I had wealth like this wealthy person who does the evil, I would do exactly what they did."

Some of you can't do evil because you don't have money to do the evil.

I was invited recently to Las Vegas. No, not to gamble—to give a talk in Las Vegas. A Muslim, a Muslim in Las Vegas. "Brother, inshallah, I have to go, but I have to bring Ibrahim with me." Yes, Las Vegas. If some people, you give them money, they run to Las Vegas, run to gamble, run to drugs, run to women. And that's a test.

Some people, it's better that you don't have money, because the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said that he looked to the door of Jannah and found that most of the people were poor.

You want wealth? I know you do. But Allah knows better than you. And just maybe, just maybe, if He gave you all the wealth, maybe you'll spend it in the way of Allah. But maybe you'll spend it on the haram and throw yourself in the Fire. Allah knows better.

Beauty Can Be a Trial

Maybe, brother, if Allah gave you a handsome face—and to me, all of you are handsome, but you know some are more handsome than others—just maybe if Allah gave you a handsome face, brother, it'll be a trial you can't handle. Maybe so many women running after you, and with that beautiful face, you go straight to hell.

Be thankful for whatever Allah gave you. Be thankful for your face. Be thankful for your condition.

Final Words: Every Trial Brings Reward

And remember this: every adversity you have, Allah is giving you some reward for it, taking some sin from you. So whatever your condition is, be patient.

O Allah, there is no life except the life of the hereafter.

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.