Half-Empty or Half-Full Understanding God s Plan By Ustadh

Half-Empty or Half-Full: Understanding God's Plan

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Peace and blessings of God be upon you all.

Opening

Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and his family and companions.

Before formally beginning, I'd like to seek the pardon of the esteemed Sa'dah who have honored us this evening with their presence. I ask for your forgiveness and permission before I begin my speech. I admit that it is inappropriate for me to speak in front of you, so I ask for your forgiveness before I begin my speech.

I hope you will allow me to do so. And after seeking their forgiveness, I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to my dear friend, Ustad Muhammad Nasir, and the team at Simply Islam for what is, again, their generosity and their kindness. And also to my very esteemed friends and uncles, the Sayyid Abdul Qadir al-Haddad and Captain Qasim for very generously hosting me.

And last but not least, to extend my condolences to the bin Hafidh family at the loss of the Sayyid al-Habib Abdullah bin Salim, may Allah have mercy on him.

Main Body

When you speak publicly, as often as I am unfortunately charged with doing, the subject matter of lectures can become very repetitive. Topics can become cliche, and that can result in a very real challenge of either speaking in a way that is disinterested, meaning that you're speaking in a way that you're not interested in the topic, or can force the speaker to talk, to make themselves feel enthusiastic about a topic that might otherwise not be, may not excite them.

This evening's topic is one that I have spoken about before, and for a couple of reasons. It captured me from the moment that I found out I was going to be speaking about it first. The first reason for that is, upon arrival, Muhammad Nasir pulled me aside and as soon as the gates opened at the airport here in Singapore, he says to me, we have a crisis.

And in my country, crisis is a very loaded word. So I was worried. I said, Habib's not coming, is he? And then I saw the golden arches in front of me, McDonald's. He said, come sit down. And so I knew something was really, there was serious news. So he wouldn't answer me, but he said, I said, Habib isn't coming.

Now, like all of you, I was very excited to see Habib Omar this evening. And that's actually why I'm in Singapore. I'm here because I believe that Habib Omar was going to be here. And like all of you, I am both disappointed in his absence, but also I had a moment before, you know, talking about this idea of understanding God's plan, I had a moment to be able to really reflect upon this idea.

You travel from California to Singapore. Let's just say it's not exactly a short trip. It's a fairly lengthy trip. And you come here because you want to see somebody. And then you find out that that individual who you want to see is not going to be there.

So then you have to ask a question, who willed this? Who's the one who decreed that he would not be here? And you understand that it's Allah. And then you remember when he says:

"Perhaps you dislike a thing and it is good for you."

And then I reflected and I said, SubhanAllah, I planned for several months to be here. And traveled all this way. And for some reason, by Allah's grace, I wasn't that bothered. I wasn't as disturbed as I probably otherwise would have been. And I was thankful to Allah for that. I said, Alhamdulillah, Mashallah, he's not here, it's okay.

There are other noble people to benefit from and there is a beloved community here to see. But then I reflected at an even deeper level and said, What is it that we are even thinking about ourselves? What is it that we are even thinking about how I feel about it? When my teacher lost his uncle. How absurd is it that I'm even thinking about me at all? When somebody who I claim to love is in a situation where they have lost their beloved.

Look how selfish we are, may Allah forgive us. May Allah forgive us. And then I thought to myself, SubhanAllah, we expect so much from our teachers, so much from our leaders, so much from our mashayikh. And we have gone to the blame with the extent of almost treating them like they're entertainers. Almost treating them like they're there to serve us. Almost measuring the value of what they give us by how it makes us feel and how excited we may have been.

When in reality the question is about how much we benefit from what they are teaching us. So, I got to think about this, understanding Allah's plan. And then I remember the saying of one of the knowers of Allah who said:

"I did not come into realized knowledge of God except through my resolves not being fulfilled."

Meaning what? Every time I went to do something, it didn't happen. I planned, and I did everything according to plan, but then when it went for the thing to happen, it didn't happen. And modern people don't like that very much.

They don't like that. What do you mean? All the ducks were in a row. All the T's were crossed. All the I's were dotted. All the right relationships were built. I set 14 different alarms on my iPhone, told my wife to wake me up, and I still didn't get there on time.

Subhanallah. Knew all of the right people, was in the right place at the right time, wearing the right thing, and it still didn't happen the way I wanted it to happen. Why? Because Allah (may His glory be exalted) is helping you to get to know Him through knowing yourself, and knowing that you may plan to do something, but it's not going to happen the way that you want it to happen.

Understanding God's Plan

My comments will be divided into two parts. The parts based off of the topic. Understanding God's plan will be the first part, and then the second part half empty or half full.

This first part, understanding God's plan, it's actually more of a how question than it is a what or a why question. What do I mean by that? As people who have chosen to orient themselves in the world as believers, we have chosen that. You have a choice. You get to decide. Do I want to believe that Allah is real? Do I want to acknowledge that He is real? And do I want to orient myself from that position in everything else that I do and how I understand the world? Or does a person want to deny that? There are some people who've chosen to deny that.

And for them, there's no need to understand God's plan. You know, when I worked in the prison, there was a colleague of mine who was a psychologist. And he was an admitted atheist. He said he believed in mulhid. He says there's no God. And we used to have very interesting conversations.

So one day I said to him, Dr. So-and-so, how do you process gratitude? How do you... What do you do with the feeling of gratitude? And he said to me, I think you and I are having the same emotive experience. He begins to psychoanalyze me. I believe you and I are having the same emotive experience, but you call it gratitude and I call it appreciation of my circumstances. In other words, it's just arbitrary. It's just random. There's no divine plan. There's no providence. There's no God-willingness. It's just circumstances and I appreciate them. There are people who've chosen to orient themselves in that way.

But as people who've chosen and have been blessed to be people who believe in Allah and say that we are people who submit to that, it is actually more a question of how do I go along with Allah's plan with good manners? How do I go along with his plan and submit to his plan? More than it is, how do I understand it every step along the way?

And I'll give you a simple example. I have a friend who's come here to Singapore with me before. His name is Micah Anderson. He's a white American convert and one of the things about him is that he's been all of these different places in the world. He's kind of a cultural aficionado. He knows something about everything. And when you travel with him, he knows where he's going.

I am challenged in terms of knowing my way around the city. The first time I ever rode the subway in New York alone was last year. And it felt like graduation. Because I'm usually with Micah. You know, tell me take this train, take that train and so on and so forth.

We were just in Osaka and Kyoto a couple days ago in Japan. And I've never been to Japan before. You go to a country you've never been to. You need to know where you're going. And one of the interesting things about Japan is that they write English words on the maps. But then when you get close to the map, there's no more English.

So it says Osaka. Then you get up close and it's all Japanese. So if I was there alone, I wouldn't have made it to Singapore. But Micah has been to Osaka before. And so we would leave the hotel and we would go to the train station and we'd take this train and take that train and get off at this stop. Do you think I asked him every step of the way, what train are we getting on? Where does it end up? He knows where he's going. I don't know where I'm going. I'm not going to stop him. If I stopped him and said, are you sure you know where you're going? You know what he'd tell me? Go take your own train.

You go to the doctor. And the doctor tells you, I'm going to first use a stethoscope and examine your lungs and then I'm going to check your ears and then I'm going to take your temperature and so on and so forth. Do you tell the doctor, why didn't you do this first or do that? He'll tell you, I'm the doctor. You're the patient. You don't ask even your doctor.

Maybe a more culturally appropriate example. You're watching an auntie make murtabak. The best murtabak maker in all of Singapore. Murtabak means layers, right? Layers. So, when does she put the dough? When does she put the mutton? You don't say, well, why did you do it this way? Why did you do it that way? She'd tell you what? Go to McDonald's. You're not getting murtabak. You don't ask questions along the way.

So, reflect with me for a moment on this verse from Surah Al-Qasas:

"Your Lord creates whatever He wills and He chooses what He wants. It is not for them to choose. Glory be to Allah above all that they associate with Him."

One of the reasons we don't read the Qur'an like we should read the Qur'an is because it bothers us. One of the reasons we don't read the Qur'an like we should read the Qur'an is because it agitates us. It's too honest. It's too direct. It's too real. They don't get to choose. Again, modern people don't like conversations like that. You mean I don't have a choice?

Modern Understanding vs Traditional Faith

You all have heard of Facebook. Facebook. Have you heard of Facebook? I went to their campus in California. A friend of mine works there. He says you should come to Facebook campus. For what? For Jumu'ah. We had Jumu'ah on the campus of Facebook. I said it's definitely the end of time. We're doing Jumu'ah on the campus of Facebook.

It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It's a combination of a university campus and Disneyland. Anything you could possibly want to eat is there. Anything you could possibly want to drink is there. And it's all free. If you're an employee, they have laundry services. You drop your clothes off and you pick your clothes up a few days later. Anything you could possibly want. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life.

I said to my friend who's there, I said do you have a gym? He said yes. I said do you all have a steam room in the gym? He said no, but I should ask for it because they'll give it to us. I said subhanAllah. As if it was Jannah.

So after that, we went there. And then the brothers and sisters who came with us were amazed at Facebook. They just want to go to Facebook for free food and free drinks. So I made the mistake of taking my children with me to Facebook one day, the campus. And we walked up inside of the cafeteria.

And my friend who's hosting us took us to the soda machine. He said there are 266 some different options from this one soda fountain. You want Coke with 7-Up, 7-Up with Coke, Cherry, whatever you want. Did you know that there are some 32,000 options of drinks at Starbucks? Combinations. What do you want? I want an extra hot, half skim, half low fat, triple shot, cold macchiato. How's it going to be hot and cold at the same time? I don't know.

Modern people don't like to be told you don't get to make a choice. You don't get to make a choice. Modern people don't like those kind of conversations. You don't get to make a choice.

One of our sellers found himself very ill. And his friend came to visit him. And he said to him:

"What's wrong? What are you complaining of?"

What did he say?

"My wrong actions."

And we say what? Is it your stomach? Is it your head? What is it? What do you complain of? What is your ailment? He said:

"My wrong actions."

He said:

"What would you like?"

When you're sick, people give you whatever you want. You want orange juice? You want chicken soup? What do you want?

"What do you want?"

He said:

"Paradise."

He said:

"Should we bring you a doctor?"

And he said:

"The doctor is already present. The doctor is already here."

And they said:

"What did the doctor say?"

"The doctor said, I do whatever I want."

Who's he referring to when he says the doctor? He's referring to Allah (may His glory be exalted).

When Sayyidina Abu Bakr As-Siddiq fell very ill, they said:

"Should we bring you a doctor?"

He said:

"The doctor made me sick."

He said, The doctor made me sick. In other words, who's the doctor? Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala). So these are people who understand iman. They understand the nature of being a believer.

So, you know an authentic conversation about religion when you feel agitated. We have to be very careful that we do not turn our religion into entertainment. That we do not turn our religion into what makes us feel good. What feels like a massage. An authentic conversation about religion is one that should make you feel uneasy. Not to the blame or the extent of being dislocated. But what? You should feel uneasy. You should feel trepidatious as a believer in the world. You should feel concerned. And you should be deeply sober inside. You should be concerned and you should have a sense of weight and magnitude about things. Because everything is in Allah's hand.

Now the good news is this. It's found in a narration that Allah says:

"Oh my servant, you want and I will. We both have irada."

You have things that you want and I have things that I want.

"But I, as God, do whatever I want. So if you leave what you want to be for what I want, then I'll take care for you exactly as you want."

Now people say, but I thought you said we don't have a choice. How is Allah going to be how we want if we don't even have a choice? What that means is that Allah will inspire you to preemptively want what He's going to decree so that when it happens you have no objection to it. It happens and you say:

"That's what Allah willed."

No matter what happens, you don't object to it. You don't feel bothered by it. You don't feel like, oh, it should be different than it is. Let's change it. But you find it exactly suitable.

Examples from the Prophets

Now, I want to reflect with you for a moment. I'm going to take a little departure. Reflect with you for a moment on what's happening to religion in a modern context. And we have to be very, very careful.

This study that was done was done by an American sociologist named Christian Smith in a book called Soul Searching. And you should buy this book. I think it's available on Kindle as well.

And this book is examining, this study is examining the spiritual and religious lives of American teenagers. Why is that important for people in Singapore? Because globalization doesn't just bring with it genes. It doesn't just bring with it Justin Bieber. It doesn't just bring with it Miley Cyrus. It brings with it Miley Cyrus religion if you're not careful. In other words, exportation of American pop culture can bring with it an exportation of an American understanding of religion.

Christian Smith argues that the notion that there's some type of separation between the religious identification of young people and that of their parents is actually incorrect. That there's more continuity between teenagers and their parents in terms of identifying with whatever religious tradition their parents identified with. That there's more continuity than is popularly assumed.

He observes, however, that a minority of teens naturally absorb by osmosis the content and character encouraged by the religious traditions. In other words, what? Don't worry. We're Muslim. Our parents were Muslim. So our kids are naturally going to be Muslim. And they're naturally going to absorb everything that we absorb from our parents.

We're in an age where, guess what, that doesn't happen as easily as it used to happen. People used to grow up with firm faith, strong religion just because they watched their parents. You can see you're now in an age more than ever before when young people may have very religious, very devout parents, but for some reason their children lose their iman.

May Allah save us from that. He says that these religious traditions are being colonized. The religious traditions are being colonized by what he calls Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. If anybody can remember that before the end of the night, I'll be very happy. Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Shifting believers from the orthodoxy of their old faiths toward its alternative vision of quote, divinely underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness. He said, divinely underwritten personal happiness. Understanding God's plan. So what do we mean by that? Oh, as long as it has in it my own

personal happiness, I'm fine with God's plan. But if it does not a happy story for me, then maybe sign up for a different plan.

So listen, in simpler terms, he says that faith is reduced to the following things. One, God created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth. This is Deism. He created the world and he watches over life. Two, God wants people to be good, to be nice, and to be fair to each other as taught in scripture. No problem. We're okay with that. We agree with that.

Three, good people go to heaven when they die. And one of the most common questions asked by Muslim youth is, what if a person was a good person but they didn't believe in God, do they get to go to heaven? Which is not really our business in the first place. That's up to Allah, who goes to paradise and who doesn't. That's not the topic of tonight's conversation.

Four, listen carefully, the central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself. Sound familiar? The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. And finally, and most problematically, God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when needed to resolve a problem. May Allah bless you.

God does not need to be, you know, Allah, I'm gonna do me, you do you, but don't get involved unless what? It's finals time. I have exams. Or I'm going to go ask for this girl's hand in marriage. Or I'm going to apply for the job. All of a sudden, they need Allah. You need Allah. So now, I need you to get involved, Allah. Can you help me out with this thing? And then when we're done, you go back to being God and I'll just do me.

That's very very different than how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) understood God's plan.

And I'm gonna look at two examples, brief examples. Number one, Sayyiduna Rasulullah Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). What personal happiness underwritten, what was in it for him, did he get? (peace and blessings be upon him). Let's try being born an orphan. Losing your mother. Losing your grandfather. Losing your uncle. Being belied by your people. Losing your beloved wife, Habibi Khadija (may Allah be pleased with her). Being exiled from your homeland. Having your companions killed. Having lamb innards thrown on your back because you told people that there's no god but Allah. People trying to kill you. People putting spells against you. People putting assassination attempts on your life. Etc, etc, etc. Okay.

At one of the low points, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) no longer has support in Mecca. He goes to Ta'if:

"And he used to go to the tribes and ask for them to help him to deliver the message."

Just give me support. Why? They already offered him money. They already offered him women. They already offered him leadership. So what are you seeking? What do you want? I just need support so I can tell people:

"There is no god but Allah."

That's all I need. So he goes to Ta'if (peace and blessings be upon him and his family and companions). And he asked them to support him. Now, if a person goes and they're a notable person and they come to seek your help, your assistance. If you wanted to reject them, the least that you would do would say what? You'd send out the security or you would send out a staff member and say sorry we can't help you.

But what do they do? They send the imbeciles of the city. They send the riffraff of the city. They send children to throw stones at Sayyid al-Wujud (peace and blessings be upon him and his family and companions), he's bleeding, left alone. For what? For what? There's no agenda. The agenda is to help people. And at that moment, what does he say?

"Why is this happening to me Allah?"

Like people say. People say why to Allah? Why is this happening to Allah? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) doesn't say why. What does he say?

"There's no God but God, the Great, the Forbearing."

"There's no God but God, the Lord of the Mighty Throne."

"There's no deity save God, the Lord of the Heavens and the Lord of the Earth and the Lord of the Noble Throne."

This is really important. Before he even prays for anything, he affirms God's reality. When you say to somebody who's generous, that they're generous, you're asking them for something. Right? If you go to someone who's always been kind to you, every time you went to their house, they made you a really beautiful dinner and gave you a really beautiful dessert and gave you a gift on your way out and said,

(جَزَاكَ اللهُ خَيْرًا - jazakAllahu khairan) come again. Next time you come over, you say what? Dinner was really good last time. What are you saying to them? I hope that we have it again.

If there's somebody who gave you a gift and you say to them (جَزَاكَ اللهُ خَيْرًا - jazakAllahu khairan) the gift you gave me was really nice. You're saying in a way what? Give me another gift. When you mention to a generous person their generosity, it's like asking them for something.

"Should I mention to you my need or is your modesty enough for me?"

So he says what?

And then he says, Oh God, to you alone I complain my helplessness, the lack of my resources:

"and my insignificance before mankind."

(peace and blessings be upon him) the insignificance before mankind (peace and blessings be upon him) the Master of Existence (peace and blessings be upon him) and my insignificance before mankind.

I'm complaining to you Allah. Allah is the only one who loves to hear your complaint. Allah is the only one who loves to hear your complaint.

One of our problems is that we complain too much. You know they have this new feeling button on Facebook? Feeling annoyed. Feeling sad. Feeling hungry. Yeah, I don't care how you're feeling. You complain just to complain. Oh, oh, it's raining. Oh, it's not raining. Oh, you just find a reason to complain.

Allah is the only one who loves to hear your complaint. You are the most merciful of the merciful. And you are the lord of the helpless and the weak and you're my lord. Into whose hands would you abandon me?

"Who are you going to leave me to?"

Into the hands of an unsympathetic distant one who would frown upon me? Or to an enemy who's been given control over my affairs? However, if your anger does not fall on me there is nothing for me to worry about.

"If you're not mad at me, I don't care."

That's understanding God's plan. That's it. If you want a tweetable version, 140 characters or less, understanding God's plan. I'm not going to count if you are not mad at me, I don't care. As long as you're not displeased with me.

You're sitting there, you've been stoned, you're bleeding, you've lost your family, you're being belied, as long as you're not displeased with me Allah:

"I don't care. I do not mind."

And then he goes on with his beautiful prayer (peace and blessings be upon him).

What happens next? What happens next? Gabriel comes. And this is the beautiful thing about the prophets (peace be upon them). I mean, think about it for a minute. If you met Gabriel, if somebody didn't invite you to a wedding, or somebody didn't say salam to you when you came into the conference, or somebody said that you were a bad person, or somebody, whatever, they did something to really upset you, or somebody lied about you, or somebody stole money from you, or somebody disrespected your family, or, or, or. And Gabriel came to you and said, would you like me to take care of him? I mean, think about this for a minute.

Yeah, yeah. See, I'm from a place where if you know the right people, you never have any problems. I mean that. You don't have to do anything. If you know Big John, Big John is a hypothetical character. But if you know Big John, you don't have to worry about anything.

You know, someone looks at you wrong, Big John says, you want me to take care of him? You say, no, Big John, don't worry about it. Because you know, if Big John takes care of him, it's gonna be bad. Gabriel comes, alayhi salam.

And what does he say? Ya Rasulullah, the angel of the mountains is seeking your permission to crush the city. Atbikuha. I'll crush the city. Whoever is there, they're gone. Wipe them off the, why? Because of how great Sayyidina Muhammad is to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). What does he say? Nay, I would rather it be that there come forth a people from their loins who worship Allah.

I don't want people to be destroyed. I'd rather there be people who come from their loins that worship Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam).

The second example. Abraham. Is anybody in the audience around 16? Raise your hand if you're around 16 years old. Please. I wish I could raise my hand. Anybody. There's no one in the audience 15, 16, 17 years old. One person, one person back there. Anybody else? Two, three. Anybody else? Four, five, six.

Now why am I asking that? Sayyidina Ibrahim (alayhi wa sallam) according to one opinion he was for a long time the only believer in the world. The only believer in the world. It's difficult and I know about this if you're the only Muslim in your family. There's two, three Muslims in my family. It's hard. You have family things. You're the only Muslim. If you're the only Muslim at your company. It's difficult. If you're the only Muslim in your neighborhood. It can be difficult.

Imagine Abraham was the only believer on the face of the earth for a period of time. And what did he do? They worship idols. And what does he do? He challenges the idols and says they're fake. He opposes the idolatry that the power structure was perpetuating. And what happens? He was 16 according to the dominant one of the opinions. And Shaitaan inspired Nimrod to build a catapult.

They say that this is where the invention of the catapult came from. Was from Satan who inspired Nimrod's people to build a catapult. Then they built a fire and they lit a fire. And this fire was so hot that the birds couldn't fly above it and people couldn't come near it and it was stoked for the better part of a month or longer. All of that was to punish Abraham for simply challenging their idol worship. He's in the catapult sitting waiting to be cast into the fire.

Now imagine for a moment. I want you to really imagine this for a moment. You're sitting in a catapult looking down at a fire that's bigger than any fire you've ever seen. What would you be thinking? You know, what did I do to deserve this? What do you mean they're not gonna upgrade me to first class? What do you mean you ran out of milk? What do you mean I didn't get the job? What do you mean her father said no? Good for her that her father said no. What do you mean? What did I do to deserve this?

What do you mean somebody spoke ill of me? He didn't do anything except propagate:

and he's sitting in the catapult and they launch him into midair. Now imagine yourself flying through midair. Just imagine this. He's flying through midair and who comes? Gabriel. Imagine for a moment Gabriel stops you in midair and he says to him Do you need anything? So the guy's messing with you. He wants to fight you. Big John comes out of nowhere. You need anything? Big John can you? This guy right here.

Or you know somebody who's the CEO? Or you know the CEO's son? Or you know so and so who's the vice president? Such and such. Do you need anything? This is Gabriel (alayhi salam).

If Gabriel came to me right now I have a long list of things I could ask him to help me with. A long list. Do you have a minute Gabriel? Because there's a few different things I need to talk to you about right now. Habib Omar didn't come. Can we go to Tareem? Can you take me to Tareem?

What does he say?

"Do you need anything?"

"Not from you."

Now I wouldn't say that to Gabriel. I wouldn't say that to Gabriel.

"I don't need anything from you."

What does Gabriel say to him?

"Ask your Lord."

Now imagine you're in mid-air about to fall into the fire. And he says to him, Not from you. I don't need anything from you. He says to him, Ask your Lord. What would you do then? If Gabriel told you to ask your Lord, you'd say what? Ya Allah.

What does he say?

"It's enough for me to not even ask that Allah knows what's going on with me."

He didn't even ask Allah. Wait a second. You're about to be thrown into a fire for telling people there's no God but Allah. And you're 16 years old. What did you do to deserve anything? What did you do to deserve to be thrown into the fire? And he says what? I'm so at peace with Allah. I am so submitted to the reality of Allah's divine guidance that I don't even need to ask Him because I'm positive that He knows what's happening for me. I know Allah's got my back.

I know Allah's gonna take care of me. And I know He knows what's happening. So what happens? He falls into the fire. You'd think what? Gabriel takes him out of mid-air. They fly away. No. No. He falls into the fire. Now he's in the middle of the fire.

But what does Allah say? Oh fire:

"Oh fire, be peacefully cool for Abraham." Quran 21:69

The Mufassereen said something very interesting. If Allah had said:

"Oh fire, be cool."

The fire would have been so cold that it would have burned Abraham from the coolness. But what did He say?

"Oh fire, be peacefully cool for Abraham."

And had He not specified for Abraham, the fire would have been eternally cold. Primordial fire, cosmic fire would have become cold and we wouldn't cook, we wouldn't burn, we wouldn't do anything with fire. Because He would have made it cold. But He said specifically, Oh fire, be peacefully cool for Abraham.

So what happens? Completely unscathed. Not a burn. Sits in the fire according to one opinion for seven days and comes out completely unscathed. And what are you gonna do now Nimrod? What are you gonna do now? He comes out of the fire completely unscathed. And it was narrated that He said later, The sweetest days of my life were the days that I sat in the fire. Because He acquiesced to Allah's promise (peace be upon him).

Half Empty or Half Full

Which leads us to the second point. Half empty or half full? Is it half empty or is it half full? This is the second point as we begin to wrap it up. We actually are presented with either one as an option. We get to choose. So is it half empty or half full? You get to decide. In a regularly authenticated hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) narrates on his Lord, on behalf of his Lord, in a hadith Qudsi, that Allah says:

Hadith Qudsi - Sahih al-Bukhari

"I am as My servant thinks of Me."

So let him or her think of Me what they will. Let them think of Me what they will. If they think good, they will find good. And if they think bad, they will find bad. That's the answer to the half empty, half full thing. If you want to be someone who sees the glass is half empty, you have that option.

The bad news is that it's going to be as you see it. If you see it as half empty, it's going to be half empty and things are going to be difficult for you. If you see it as half full, it's going to be half full and then things are going to be good and easy for you.

But we have to be really, really careful with this. Why? Because we often measure it incorrectly. When we get an increase in money or we get a new home or we get a better job or a better car or a new pair of shoes or, or, or, or, or we say what? Things are going great. When we lose the job, God forbid, or you take the shoes to the masjid and they get stolen, God forbid, or you lose some money, God forbid, or you get sick, God forbid, you say what? Things are horrible. It shouldn't be going this way. What did I do to deserve this? And then we ask questions like, Am I being tried? Is this a tribulation?

I have some really difficult news for myself and all of you. Everything is a tribulation. Everything is a trial. And again, modern people don't like to hear that. The whole thing is a test. You guys are mad at me right now. It's not, I'm not telling you, it's not my interpretation.

"The One Who Created Death and Created Life to Test You. To see which of you is better in action."

And this is why the scholar said, the foundational reality of the world is tribulation. It's (اِبْتِلاء - ibtila'). It's difficulty. And you're gonna be in one of two situations. You're either (مُبْتَلَى - mubtala) or you're (مُعَافَى - mu'afa). You are outwardly afflicted or you're outwardly well.

Which means what? God forbid you're sick or poor or in hard times. Or you're healthy and rich and things are easy. So those are one of two situations. But they're both being tried. And if you were outwardly well, which the majority of us are outwardly well. The fact that we're sitting here right now means we had health enough to walk here. We had wealth enough to pay to get here. Etc., etc. We're not sitting freezing on the borders of Turkey like Muslims from our community.

We're not sitting imprisoned because we're fighting for our right to assembly like many Muslims throughout the Muslim majority world. We're not experiencing a number of difficulties that people are experiencing throughout the world.

So we're outwardly well. And they said if you were outwardly well Allah will send you people who are afflicted. And if you do not help them, you will become afflicted. And again, you might be mad at me, but it's not my idea. That's the truth. If we are outwardly well, Allah will send people to us that need help. And remember what the Prophet said (peace and blessings be upon him):

"Allah has certain people that He created for other people's needs."

People will run to those people when they have need. They what? Something comes up, they run to that person. And you say, again? Really? You need help again? Didn't I help you last week? Didn't I donate before?

"These are the people who will be safe from Allah's punishment."

May Allah make us from them. Say ameen.

"These people will be safe from the punishment of God because other people come to them and they have need and they help them."

May Allah make it easy for us to help other people.

So:

"As for the human being, when his Lord tries him and then treats him with honor and makes him lead an easy life, he says, my Lord has honored me."

I'm too blessed to be stressed. I'm too anointed to be disappointed. It's all good in the hood. She said, yes. I got the job. I got the car. I got the house. Etc, etc. Everything is perfect.

"My Lord has honored me."

"But when he tries him differently, then limits his means of sustenance, he says my Lord has disgraced me."

Why is this happening to me? How could I not get the job? What do you mean I didn't get upgraded to first class? What do you mean I didn't get accepted to the university? God forbid, God forbid, God forbid. What do you mean a loved one died? What do you mean I lost something? Is Allah disgracing me? He's the one who gave it to you in the first place. People come and say there's no God.

Why there's no God? Because I lost a family member. Who created the family member? Who you lost in the first place? And I'm not making light of people losing loved ones. I have lost a lot of loved ones.

So you say, is Allah disgracing me? No. You were fine when things were good. Everything was fine. But then when it becomes difficult, you should say what? Mashallah.

Give glad tidings to those when they are afflicted with an affliction, they say:

Salama, when her husband passed, Abu Salama, she was told, say this verse and say the dua, O Allah reward me in this affliction of mine:

"and give me that which is better in it."

And she said to herself, who could be better than Abu Salama? Who could possibly be better than Abu Salama? Because he was a good man (may Allah be pleased with him). And he passed away. But she said, I'll say the dua anyway. So she said the dua.

Who married her? Sayyidina Rasulullah (peace and blessings be upon him). And with all due respect to Sayyidina Abu Salama, she was married by the best of creation (peace and blessings be upon him). So even in the most difficult situation, to remember that Allah is in control:

"Remember that you're going to return to Him."

May Allah make us realize all of this. That's what's important.

So we have to maintain a good opinion of Allah. We have some people here in the crowd who were descendants of Imam al-Haddad. Allah be all pleased with Imam al-Haddad. One of the great Imams of Islam. And he has a beautiful verse where he talks about having a good opinion of Allah. And he says:

"I'm constantly having a good opinion of Allah."

"So this good opinion of Allah is my It's my best friend."

(خليل - khalil) means what? It's my bosom friend. It's my very best friend. The Prophet said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

"If I was going to take a good friend, a bosom friend, other than my Lord, it would have been Abu Bakr."

And they say (خليل - khalil) comes from the word that means emptiness. Something that is (خالي - khali) is empty. Which means what? You can't fit anything else in there.

So Imam Al-Haddad says, good opinion of Allah is my

"And He's also my ally. And the one who brings me a feeling of intimacy."

The person, the one who sits with me and makes me feel like it's gonna be okay. I just need someone to hang out with so that I can feel a sense of comfort.

"And the one who I sit with."

What does that mean? I hang out with (حُسْنُ ظَنّ - husn than) all the time. He personifies (حُسْنُ ظَنّ - husn than). I sit with (حُسْنُ ظَنّ - husn than). I'm constantly having a good opinion of Allah.

"All night and all day."

What does that mean? It means that I'm always going to try to see the glass as half full. Even in the most difficult situation. Even when I can't even make any sense of it. I'm going to have a good opinion of Allah (may His glory be exalted).

There's a weak hadith narrated by At-Tabarani. But the meaning is sound. Where the Prophet is reported to have said that there is no deed better than having a good opinion of God and having a good opinion of His servants. There's no deed better than having a good opinion of Allah and having a good opinion of His servants.

What does that mean? When you can interpret things through examining a situation and through attempting to look at all of the variables in a situation and you can make sense of the situation then you can say I understand this and it makes sense. When you can't, you should say what? Masha'Allah, there must be something going on here that I don't actually understand. There's something going on, it's beyond my ability to comprehend. It's beyond what I can see. You should always try to have a good opinion of Allah (may His glory be exalted) and have a good opinion of His servants as well.

Meaning what? Even when you can see wrong in somebody try to interpret it in a good way. And the people that made the likes of Habib Umar (may Allah preserve him). The school, and when I mean the school I mean that in the literal sense of the word. The way of understanding the madrasah that produced people like that is a madrasah that had the following type of understanding.

One of the great imams of their tradition studied with his father for a number of years. And this is one of the beautiful things about their tradition is that they studied with their fathers who studied with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). One of the great imams of their tradition studied with his

father. And his father told him you're done with your studies but you have one more task. You have one more job.

He said:

"What is it?"

He said, I want you to go into Tarim and I want you to find somebody who's less than you. Bring me someone who's less than you are. You're in a higher status than him. Just bring him back to the house. He said, okay.

So he comes into the city and he sees a person on his way in doing something disobedient, doing something wrong. And he hides behind a tree and he comes back around. So the imam said to himself, perhaps between the time that he went around the tree and he came out, he made tawbah. He repented to Allah. From the time he went around the tree and came out, he repented to Allah. So even though he was doing something outwardly wrong, there's no way that I'm better than him. Because he made tawbah and his tawbah is probably accepted from Allah.

So he had a good opinion of the person. Then he comes and he sees a young boy. And he says to himself, yeah, there's no way that I'm better than this child because he's young. He hasn't been around very long. And there's no way he could have committed wrongs such that I could be better than him. So there's no way I'm better than this young person.

So he says, I can't take him either. He walks along and he sees an older person. Not religious ostensibly. No signs of religiosity. But he says, yeah, there's no way that I'm better than this man because he's older than I am. He's been around longer than me. He's worshipped Allah longer than I have. How could I be better than him? There's no way I'm better than him.

So he says, I can't even find anybody in the whole city who's less than me. I'm gonna fail in my final task to my father. I'm gonna have to come home and say, you know what, I couldn't fulfill the final thing you asked me to fulfill.

So on his way back home, he looks and he sees, pardon the expression, the carcass of a dog. An old dead dog. And he says, I couldn't find a person, but at least I'll go home and I'll take to my father this dead dog. And I'll say to him, father, I couldn't find a person less than me, but I found a dog carcass and this is all I could present to you.

So he's carrying the dog carcass on his way back home. And then he thought to himself about the day of judgment.