The Cure to Every Hardship

The Cure to Every Hardship

Khutbah by Sheikh Suleiman Moola

Opening

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Opening Khutbah (Khutbat al-Hajah)

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الْعَلِيمِ الْخَبِيرِ الْمُتْقِنِ نِظَامَ الْعَالَمِ بِلَا مُعَاوِنٍ وَنَصِيرٍ ، فَسُبْحَانَ اللهِ الَّذِي حِكْمَتُهُ بَالِغَةٌ وَعِلْمُهُ غَزِيرٌ وَنِعَمُهُ وَاصِلَةٌ إِلَى كُلِّ صَغِيرٍ وَكَبِيرٍ، وَنَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ فِي نَقِيرٍ وَلَا قِطْمِيرٍ ، وَنَشْهَدُ أَنَّ سَيِّدَنَا وَمَوْلَانَا مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ الَّذِي هَدَانَا بِكِتَابٍ مُنِيرٍ وَدَعَانَا إِلَى اللهِ بِالْإِنْذَارِ وَالتَّبْشِيرِ ، صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ مَا دَامَتِ الْكَوَاكِبُ تَسِيرُ

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَقَدْ قَالَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى فِي الْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ وَالْفُرْقَانِ الْحَمِيدِ

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Quranic Verse

Translation: "And We will remove whatever is in their breasts of resentment, [so they will be] brothers, on thrones facing each other."

Introduction

Honorable scholars, respected brothers, elders, mothers, and sisters:

As Muslims, we are often reminded of our moral, ethical, and religious obligation to fellow humans who are in some difficulty, adversity, or tragedy. From time to time there is a call and a campaign: respond, assist, empower.

Like someone said in the Arabic language:

"Your patience in your own calamity is better than your panic, and your panic in your brother's calamity is better than your patience."

It's always better for you to persevere on your own pain and affliction. And it's always better for you to react and assist and not be silent on the pain of others.

To a certain extent, the Muslim Ummah continues to rally, assist, and support, and may Allah bless one and all. But that's not the focus of my talk today.

Main Message: Sharing in the Joy of Others

I want to change strides momentarily as we draw towards the final days of the sacred, blessed, and momentous month of Ramadan. How often are we reminded and told that it is our duty in an equal way to share in the joy, happiness, and prosperity of others?

When my brother or my sister has accomplished something, they are in a prosperous situation. Then as a Muslim, it's my duty to wish well for them, compliment them, and congratulate them.

The Example of Abdullah Ibn Abbas )رضي الله عنه(

Abdullah Ibn Abbas )رضي الله عنه( said:

"I would hear that rain has come on a neighboring town, on a neighboring country. I don't have any family there, nor do I have any flock grazing there. Just to know that rain has come and benefited some humans in some part of the world, for me it gives me the equal sense of joy as though that rain has benefited me myself.

I would hear about a judge, an advocate who is executing justice. I don't have any case, nothing pending, I don't have any year in, I have nothing to do with that particular judge or advocate. But just to know there's a good man who's selfless, who's giving value back to the community brings joy to me, brings happiness to me."

And that's the message that I want to conclude as we put farewell to the sacred month of Ramadan.

Story: The Prophet Endorses Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud's Prayer

The Prophet is having a private meeting with Abu Bakr and Umar )رضي الله عنهما(. It's the late hours of the night, the early hours of the morning. As they conclude and they exit, they find Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud )رضي الله عنه( engaged in prayer, in nocturnal prayer.

The Prophet comes from the rear and then he pauses and he extends an attentive ear to Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud. Abdullah is engrossed, immersed in his prayer.

He says to Abu Bakr and Umar:

"If you want to read the Quran like how it was revealed to me, then follow this man. This is the manner in which the Quran ought to be recited."

Then Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud goes on into prayer. And as he's supplicating, the Prophet is saying Ameen to his supplication. Abu Bakr and Umar are standing on the wings, green with envy, green with envy.

Umar's )رضي الله عنه Joy for His Brother

Umar )رضي الله عنه( said:

"In my heart I decided that tomorrow I'm going to go to Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud and I'm going to share the good news. You were in prayer, you were in supplication, clueless of who was standing behind you. Only to know the Prophet was endorsing your prayer and saying Ameen to it.

The gathering concluded, we dispersed, I retired to bed. Early morning I rise, I dash to the door of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, I knock on the door. He opens and he ushers me in. I say to him, 'O Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, I have good news for you.'

He says, 'Tell me, what's the good news?'

He said, 'You recall last night you were performing prayer?' I said, 'Absolutely.' He said, 'Well, I want to tell you, after your prayer when you were supplicating and making dua, the Prophet ﷺ was saying Ameen to your dua. I have come to share that good news. I'm happy for you.'

Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud said, 'I appreciate your sentiments, but Abu Bakr was here earlier and he conveyed it to me. "

Umar Ibn Khattab )رضي الله عنه( said:

"I knew that Abu Bakr had always excelled me. I thought there was a niche for me to tap in here, and that is just to have the cleanliness of heart to share in the joy of others. But lo and behold, Abu Bakr is a legend by excellence. He has excelled on every front."

The Core Message

My message is, my brother and my sister: Find it within yourself to be happy on the accomplishments of others, and every day you will be happy in your life. And if you're a person who's depressed by the accomplishments of others, then every day of your life will be an added day of agony and depression.

Story: Zaid )رضي الله عنه and His Father

The most telling tale in this regard: The Prophet tells Zaid )رضي الله عنه( who initially he had adopted. Zaid )رضي الله عنه( was adopted by the Prophet ﷺ and then his father went looking for him.

The father laments the separation of his son: "As long as the sun rises and the birds chirp and the winds blow, your separation agonizes me."

Finally, he comes to the Prophet and he says:

"I believe my son is in your care."

The Prophet said, "Yes, absolutely."

He said, "I have come to pay ransom to take him."

The Prophet said, "No, no, you can have him. I will not take a dime in lieu. I will not take a cent in lieu. But one thing I will not do: I will not send Zaid against his wishes."

So his father says, "O my son Zaid, come, I have come to take you," and his uncle was with him.

He says:

"O my biological dad, I respect, honor and revere you. You are my father and that is my uncle. But the Prophet embodies an uncle, brother, friend, associate in every regard, in his personality. I see everyone and everything I need."

So he opts to stay with the Prophet.

The Marriage of Zaid and Zaynab رضي الله عنهما(

Time moves on. The Prophet sends a proposal. Listen to this very, very attentively.

The Prophet ﷺ sends a proposal to his cousin Zaynab رضي الله عنها(Zaynab bint Umayma. Umayma was the aunt of the Prophet, his maternal aunt, his paternal aunt, the daughter of Abdul Muttalib, the sister of Abdullah, the father of the Prophet.

Zaynab )رضي الله عنها( has a reservation. She says:

"No, Zaid, I don't think I'm comfortable because in the lineage of Zaid, there was a stint, a period of slavery. So then she felt it's not compatible. I belong to another class, he belongs to another class."

Allah revealed the verse:

Translation: "It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should [thereafter] have any choice about their affair."

When the verses were revealed, she obliged, she acceded, she responded, and the marriage was solemnized.

The Marriage Difficulties

The marriage was solemnized, but just to expedite it, by the will of Allah, the marriage was just not compatible. It just wasn't developing. There were issues, there was back and forth, there were ups and downs.

It was turbulent. And then Zaid would come to the Prophet:

"Myself and Zaynab are not getting along."

And the Prophet said:

"Listen Zaid, just keep your wife. Just hang on, don't dissolve, don't terminate, don't end. Just make peace, reconcile."

But he realized at some point it's going to dissolve.

Now in his heart, the Quran says in the 22nd Juz, he concealed an emotion which Allah was going to divulge and Allah was going to reveal. And what was this emotion? And that is he was going to wed Zaynab if Zaid )رضي الله عنه( divorced her.

"Because the only way I can mend her heart, rescue her emotions, comfort her self-esteem, empower her—she took the bold step of wedding Zaid against her wishes on my proposal. Lo and behold, it did not materialize. Now to patch and mend her emotions, I will have to wed her."

But this is where I bring you to the point of reflection on my topic.

Reflection: Be Light, Not Toxic

The environment out there is toxic, my brother and my sister. We're carrying too many grudges in our life and we're giving off this negative energy. We need to become light. We need to become relaxed. We need to be happy. We need to empower. We need to be cheerful.

The Prophet Sends Zaid to His Former Spouse

The Prophet sent Zaid, the former spouse of Zaynab. Said:

"Go to your ex-wife and go and tell her I am proposing to her."

Wow! Did you get that, my brother? Did you hear that, my sister?

Generally when a marriage breaks up, it's like: "Well, I want to see if he can get better than me. And I want to see if she can get better than me. You can tour the world, you're not going to get another me."

It has ended, it has dissolved. The Prophet is sending Zaid that you go back to your spouse and tell her.

And in this wisdom: what happens between the two parties of hatred and disagreement then divorce. It is not allowed to be prevented from advising one of the two parties to the other.

So Zaid, despite what happened between him and Zaynab, he goes to her and says to her:

"Be happy, O Zaynab."

The Wisdom of This Action

The practical wisdom incorporated in the Prophetic methodology of dispatching Zaid )رضي الله عنه( to his former spouse is to impress upon us that even if you had a sour ending with someone, that doesn't mean you should stop desiring good for your former spouse.

The teachings of Islam are: Be selfless, be wholesome, empower and benefit people even if it means someone with whom you did not have the best of relationship.

The Story of Prophet Yusuf (عليه السلام)

I came across-we live in a world today where people go for these motivational talks and then you have the psychology and then you have this therapy and then you have this theory. And then they package it together and it's in a glossy magazine and it's quite colorful and flamboyant and conspicuous. And then these are the five things to do, five not to do, anger management, this and that.

But listen to this amazing phenomenal reflection in the verse of the Quran.

Yusuf Recognizes His Brothers

So Allah speaks about the time when the brothers of Yusuf arrive in Egypt, and Yusuf is on the throne of Egypt. He's on the throne and his brothers arrived.

He recognizes: "This is my brothers." Yeah, but they didn't recognize him because he evolved. He was a child when they dropped him in the well. There were so many different milestones as he grew and evolved. And they were in the advanced age of their life and they couldn't imagine him sitting on the throne. It's a verse of the Quran.

Anyway, formality goes on. He speaks to them, they're given some food, some corn, some grain.

He then calls the servants of the palace and he says:

"When you go back and these people leave, the money taken from them, put it back in their saddlebags. Put it back in the saddlebags."

That's my blood.

The Secret is Revealed

Fast forward. The whole tale comes. The moment where the bubble burst and the secret is divulged and the brothers confess and concede guilt:

"We are wrong and Allah has honored you."

Now, I beg for your undivided attention. And I came across this, it's such a profound reflection. I promise you, if you and I can take this lesson of life, it's a formula to make your stay on earth pleasant.

So the Prophet Yusuf says:

"Listen my brothers, the 40 years of infliction, systematic oppression, separation, lies, distortion, fabrication, brutality-I have forgiven everything and I will continue praying to Allah to forgive you."

How Could He Forgive?

The question arises: As much as he was a prophet, he was a human. He was a mortal. How do you master the courage? What's the psychology? What's the thinking? What's the vision? What's the mechanism?

What's the stimulation?

I mean, you're a human, you're a mortal, you have emotions. There's so many things. You can have, you know, go down memory lane and all these inflictions can evoke nasty memories. How could he master the courage and clear out everything in one slate?

And this is what I read in a tafsir and it's so profound. Oh my words, I know my time is up and I'm going to conclude on this note.

The Deep Insight: Two Ways of Viewing Wrong

I want you to just absorb and digest this. The theory, the analogy given to explain the vision of the pious, how they can flush out negativity, close the chapter, turn the page, move on, embrace a new page of life and be light and happy, cheerful and not hold and keep any grudge. How they do it?

When a servant views the wrong of fellow servants, a human views the wrong of fellow humans with the apparent eye, the physical eye, the tangible eye, then he destroys his whole life in proving his innocence and implicating others.

"No, no, but I'll never forgive you what you did to me on my wedding day. But that was nasty, that was evil, that was obnoxious. How evil, how could you have ever said such a nasty thing to my son? But that was wicked of you to do this to my sister."

So when a person views the happenings around him of fellow humans with the apparent, the outward, the physical eye, his entire life goes in back and forth, up and down, productive, counterproductive, exonerating himself, implicating others to no avail. Your life ends.

But flip the coin and look at the lenses of the pious:

When a servant views the atrocities of other humans to him with the deeper eye and the inner eye-and that is the will of Allah—that those around me are nothing more than instruments for the execution of the plan that Allah has decreed for me, then he can release all negativity in one go.

Because he knows: Whoever has harmed you, as much as that person is a guilty party, my Allah has the clout and the muscle to block him and stop him. And if Allah did not stop it, then that was the will of Allah in my favor.

So he rises above, he goes beyond. He doesn't have a cursory glance. He has a deep eye. He doesn't have the outward eye. He has the inner eye.

Don't you marvel at Yusuf when he seen how the plan of fate, destiny and taqdeer played out?

He said:

"I've got no gripe with you. You dropped me in the well, the caravan picked me up, but ultimately this is what my Lord has decreed for me. So my chapter with you is done. I have forgiven you and may Allah forgive you."

Closing Supplications

"O Allah, have mercy on our weakness and make our matters easy. And end our good deeds. My Lord, the doctor was unable to treat us [so heal us]. And the time was corrupted and [You] saved us. And our condition was weak and [You] enabled us. O Allah, You carried Noah on the same [ark of] planks and nails."

Story: The Charity of Forgiveness

My concluding remarks as we end the khutbah: It's the occasion of Tabuk. The Prophet ﷺ had exhorted the companions to spend. Those that were wealthy, they had the economic muscle, they donated in large amounts.

There was a companion by the name of Ulbah (رضي الله عنه). He got up by night. He said:

"O my Lord, You've instructed us to donate and spend. And then by Your will You haven't given me wealth through which I can spend. And I've come to Your Prophet ﷺ and he couldn't provide me with any help or conveyance because of the fact that all resources were depleted and exhausted."

And Allah sketches the image in the concluding page of the 10th Juz of the Quran:

"There is no blame upon the weak or upon the ill or upon those who do not find anything to spend if they are true to Allah and His Messenger."

"There's no blame on those who come to you and ask you to take them on a conveyance or give them funds and you say you don't have anything. They turn while they tear and sob that they don't have anything to give."

He got up that night. He said:

"O Allah, I don't have economic wealth or money to give, but I want to make a donation. I don't have a physical, I don't have a tangible. I want to make an invisible, intangible donation. My donation is not money, is not monetary. My donation is: any person who's offended me, violated me or insulted me or will offend me or violate me, I have forgiven them all unconditionally."

And then he went to bed.

The next morning when he came to the Prophet, the Prophet said:

"Last night someone gave charity. Please make yourself known."

So he didn't think that was him.

The Prophet said:

"Last night who gave charity of his self-esteem?"

He said:

"Me, O Prophet of Allah."

He said:

"May Allah bless you. Your charity has been readily accepted and embraced by Allah."

The Statement of Muhammad bin al-Shafi'i

Muhammad bin al-Shafi'i said:

"I have forgiven everyone. I don't want to appear before Allah on the Day of Qiyamah and realize that the entry of someone into Paradise is suspended because I have not forgiven him. So I have forgiven anyone and everyone."

In English, the very profound quotation is: "Forgive the next person. He might not deserve the pardon, but you deserve the peace."

The Prophet said, "May Allah bless you."

Closing Verse and Call to Prayer

"Indeed, Allah commands justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded."

"And remember Allah, He will remember you. And call upon Him, He will respond to you. And the remembrance of Allah is most high and most precious and most honorable and most glorious and most important and most perfect and most great. And Allah knows what you do."

"Stand up for prayer."

End of Khutbah