Why Does Evil Exist Hardships & Struggle on the Path to Allah

Why Does Evil Exist? Hardships & Struggle on the Path to Allah

Ustadha Yasmin Mogahed

Opening

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ. بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and upon his family and companions.

Whom Allah guides, no one can misguide him. Whom He misguides, no one can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner.

And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. My Lord, explain to me what is in my heart, and make easy for me my affair, and release a knot from my tongue, so that my speech will be pure.

The Test Before Paradise

Allah says in the Qur'an:

you will enter paradise without encountering that which came to those who passed before you (اَلْبَأْسَاءُ - al-basa'u), (مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاء وَزُلْزِلُوا - massathumul basa'u waddarra'u wa zulzilu) That (بَأْسَاء - basa'u) and (ضَّرَّاء - darra'u), adversity, suffering, hardship, (وَالضَّرَّاء - waddarra'u) these things. And they were shaken (اَلْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاء وَزُلْزِلُوا - al-basa'u waddarra'u wa zulzilu) They were shaken to such an extent (أَلاَ إِنَّ نَصْرَ - ala inna nasr) Allah (آمَنُواْ مَعَهُ مَتَى نَصْرُ اللَّهِ - amanu ma'ahu mata nasrullahi) that with them asked where, when is the help of Allah coming, where is the help of Allah. And then Allah ends the ayah by saying (أَلاَ إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ - ala inna nasrullahi qareeb) So in this ayah, Allah is asking us a question: Do we think that we will enter paradise without going through what those who came before us went through? There's a couple of things we can learn from this. First, is that there is a price for Jannah. And the price for Jannah is, you know, here's the thing too: Jannah is something infinite, Jannah is forever. Jannah is this perfect life where you have whatever you want:

For them will have everything that they want, everything that they could ever desire. And there's something extra for them. And that extra, commentators say, is the pleasure and the presence and the company of Allah Himself. The fact that you get to see Allah that that is the additional and that's the best part of Jannah. But in order to get this, you know, this is something infinite. Now we don't live forever in this life, we live for a limited amount of time. We only have a limited amount of capacity. We spend, I mean when you go and you look at how many years of our life we spend sleeping. How many years of our life we spend, you know, eating or doing other things. We can only really possibly worship Allah a very limited amount of time. And yet in exchange for that, if we do that, we get something infinite. You know when you guys go to the store and you get something on sale. But I'm not just talking about a sale, like a major clearance. You know, like suppose something costed like a thousand dollars and you paid a penny for it. You'd be pretty happy, you'd be like, that's a deal, right? Yeah, you'd be like, I got a deal. Well, this isn't something that cost a thousand dollars. This is something that's infinite. So I want you just to imagine, something infinite and you're paying a penny for it. Really, because if you think about what you really, Allah is asking from you. In exchange for it, you get something infinite. Something that no money could ever buy. And something that you didn't actually deserve. But you get it because of the mercy of Allah. And the greatest, again, the greatest reward is: Imagine that you actually get to be with Allah. And you actually get to see Allah. That is the greatest reward of Jannah.

The Greatest Punishment

And on the other hand, the most painful punishment of Jannah—I'm sorry, the most painful punishment of Jahannam, of hellfire—Is not the, you know, Allah describes Jahannam, right? And he describes, you know, the fire and the burning. And there's a lot of physical pain and punishment. But the worst punishment of being in Jahannam is not just that physical pain, is not actually that physical pain. It's the fact that Allah on that day will say to you, I want nothing to do with you today. That I will not speak to you, and I will not purify you. And you do not, and there's a veil that's put between you and Allah. And those people who enter Jahannam cannot see Allah. Cannot be with Allah. And can you imagine Allah saying to you that today you will be forgotten as you forgot his signs in this life. So the same way that we turn away from Allah in this life—If we turn away from Allah in this life, the door is always open in this life. We can always come back to Allah. Allah is At-Tawwab. Allah loves for his servant to come back to him and to repent and to go back to him. But once this life is over, the ones who turn their back on Allah and his remembrance in this life, Allah will not face them. And they will not be able to see Allah. And they will be forgotten in the hereafter. So this should be our greatest fear. Ultimately, all of the things in life that we're afraid of—We're afraid of losing money. We're afraid of losing our health. We're afraid of losing our house. All those things combined should not be anything compared to this fear. The fear that Allah will want nothing to do with us in the hereafter. That should be our greatest fear.

The Price for Paradise

But in order to get this presence of Allah, to be able to be with Allah in Jannah, to have Jannah, there's a price. And again, it is not equivalent to what you're getting. It is beyond a clearance. Okay, I'm giving you an example of a clearance because it's something we can kind of conceive of. We are putting in very little effort for something infinite. Now, the brother, may Allah reward him, recited some very profound ayats in the beginning of this talk. In Surah Al-Baqarah Allah says:

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan.

And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a lack of wealth and lives and fruits. So first, he begins by saying that be sure, you will be tested with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits of your toil. And he ends this ayah with saying: But give glad tidings to those who have sabr—those who patiently persevere.

So, two things here. Now, the ayah before that I began with, which talks about "Do you think that you will enter Paradise without experiencing what those who came before you experienced"—Now, that ayah tells us that there is a price for Jannah. But it also tells us something else. It tells us that we are not the first or the last to be tested. We are not the first or the last to undergo hardship. Sometimes when we're in a difficult place, we feel like we're the only ones. Right, we feel isolated. We feel like, you know, I'm alone in the world. I'm the only one who's going through what I'm going through. Allah here is reminding us that the people who came before us were so shaken—Zilzal is an earthquake. Zulzilu, from the same word, the same root as earthquake. They were so shaken that even the messengers and those with them who believed were asking, Mata Nasrullah. They were so shaken that they were asking when is the help of Allah coming. But Allah is reassuring us by saying:

Indeed, the help of Allah is near.

So there is a lot of reassurance in this ayah. It tells you first that you're not alone. That those who passed before you went through similar shaking. And that, you know, it's not─You're not the first and you're also not the last. After us, people will also go through hardship. And before us, people went through hardship. And during our hardship, others are also going through hardship. Again, we have to realize when we're in that place, sometimes we feel like we're the only one. We're not the only one. Other people are also going through hardship. And everyone's hardship is different. Everyone's test is different. And inshallah,

I'm gonna talk about the fact that we oftentimes limit the definition of test. We think that a test is only a hardship. A test is only in losing things. But this isn't true. We are also tested in getting things. We are also tested with ease. We're also tested with bounty. We're tested with blessing as well. And inshallah, we'll talk about that.

Who Are As-Sabireen?

So in this ayah in Surah Al-Baqarah, which is verse 155, when Allah says that you will be tested with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits of your toil. So Allah is giving glad tidings to a particular group of people. When you're tested, there's a particular group of people Allah is giving glad tidings to them. Why is He giving glad tidings to them? Well, because this test will actually end up being good for that person. This particular group of people. So we wanna know who is this, right? Who are these people? That this hardship and even this loss will be good for them. And Allah tells us it's as-sabireen. But who are as-sabireen? The next ayah goes on to explain and describe what these people look like. So in verse 156, the next ayah Allah says:

Those who, when affliction or calamity befalls them—So when they're afflicted with calamity, they say. So Allah here is describing these people as those who, when hardship comes to them, when calamity hits them, they say (إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ - inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un). When do we usually hear this statement? When somebody dies, right? When somebody dies. But this statement is beyond that. And this is not just a statement. I wanna talk about, this is a complete attitude. The meaning of (إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ - inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un) is that indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we will return.

So this is, this actually is not just a statement of the tongue. It's a complete attitude. And the beginning of the attitude starts—It starts with knowing who you belong to. It starts with knowing what everything that you have belongs to. So you see, in order to respond correctly when the hardship comes, you have to have the correct attitude. You have to have the correct understanding that every single thing that you have and every single thing that I have does not belong to me. Does not belong to you. It belongs to Allah. That means everything. That means my own body. My own self. My own soul. My own health. My own beauty. My own family. My own spouse. My own children. My parents. All of it belongs to Allah. If Allah gives us these gifts, it doesn't mean it belongs to me. It's on loan. It's like a loan Allah has given me. So when Allah takes it back, do I, am I in any position to complain? Am I in any position to complain when I get sick? My health wasn't mine. My health belonged to Allah. Am I in any position to complain when I start to get old? We get wrinkles. We lose our hair. Some people really don't like that. They don't want to ever get old. They want to always hold on to their youth. They want to always hold on to their

beauty. Am I in any position to complain when it never belonged to me? So this is the attitude of the one who responds properly to calamity or to loss. And that's (إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ - inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un)

One example to kind of explain this concept is imagine that you have a very generous friend. And you don't have a car. But your friend, because your friend is very generous, lets you borrow their car. And since this friend is extremely generous, you know, he doesn't just let you keep the car for a day or two, but he lets you keep his car for years. Now, after a few years go by, now this friend wants his car back. So he comes to you and he asks for his car back. Or he's now going to take his car back. Now what should your attitude be? Now if you have forgotten that that car belonged to him all along, at that point you're going to be very upset. What are you doing? You're taking my car. You're stealing my car. You're taking it away from me. That's the attitude of a person who forgot that it was always on loan. That it was always just borrowed. But the one who remembers that this was his car to begin with and he was generous enough to let me use it will say, it belongs to him and to him is the return. The car belongs to my friend and to him is the return. This is the concept we need to have with everything that we own—that we own in quotation marks. It does not belong to us. So this is how we can respond to any kind of calamity with the proper response of sabr. Knowing that it doesn't belong to me and it's returning to its original owner. Similarly, I too will return to my original owner. That's the other concept here. That I belong to Allah. And I will return to my owner as well. And I will return to Allah.

The Reward for Proper Response

The next ayah now describes—Remember we said that if you have this proper response that the loss itself will be good for you. Can you imagine that? Losing something, having some calamity happen and it's actually good for you. This is actually the case for those who fit this category. The next ayah says in verse 157:

Those are the ones on whom descend blessings from their Lord, and mercy, and they are the ones who receive guidance. Having this proper response to calamity—By the way, every single one of the—This ayah lists three things. And every single one of these things could never be bought with money. Every single one of these three things you could not, I mean you couldn't trade everything in the heavens and the earth for these. (صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ - salawatun min rabbihim) is one first. The three things: (صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ - salawatun min rabbihim) will descend on them. Blessings salawat from their Lord. Blessings salawat. That's not something you can buy at Macy's. Like what I'm saying. The next one is (رَحْمَةٌ - rahmah) Mercy. The mercy of Allah. Like, this is again something absolutely priceless. First the blessings of Allah. Then the mercy of Allah. And then finally (وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ - wa ula'ika humul muhtadun) - Those are the ones who will be rightly guided. Those will be the ones who receive guidance. So think about it when you-When you have this—This calamity or you have this loss, it hit you. Okay. Now, in order to get

—Let's back up a second. These are three priceless things which everybody—If they really understood what these things are—Would give everything under the sky for it. These are—This is really what matters. The blessings, the mercy, and the guidance of Allah. Ultimately that's all that really matters. You would give anything for these things. Especially when you come on the day of judgment. You know we're told in the Quran that on the day of judgment a person who did wrong (مُجْرِمٌ - mujrimum)—So this is like somebody who did wrong—Will be willing to give up everything. Even their own family. Even those who protected them. Just to protect themselves from the punishment of Allah on that day. Just to protect. People will be like, here, take my kid. Just save me. Take my kid. Take my mother. Just save me. That's the mindset of the—The intensity of that day. So we would be willing to sacrifice our own children, our own parents, our own spouses, our own siblings for the mercy of Allah. Just to be protected from that punishment. And here Allah is telling you that this, for those people who respond in this way, there will be mercy. So I'm just trying to just have us understand the heaviness of this gift of mercy of Allah and how much we would be willing to give for it. But think about it. According to this ayah, these are gifts that come in response to what? In response to the proper reaction to loss. To calamity. To affliction. So do you guys see where I'm going with this? The affliction itself becomes a mercy. The affliction itself becomes a source of blessing, mercy and guidance. So how can we ever complain? It's a gift from Allah. But see sometimes it's not wrapped in the way that we usually think gifts are wrapped.

The Story of Malik ibn Dinar

I'm going to give you guys a story which really shows this. The story of Malik Ibn Dinar. Malik Ibn Dinar was one of the greatest companions of the Prophet. But when he relates his story, before he—At the beginning, before he became what he later became, he used to be basically an alcoholic. He used to drink so much. And he would, you know, he was, you know, he wasn't on the right path. And what happened was he had a daughter. And he loved this daughter so much. I mean he just loved her. And what happened was when she was very young, she died. Now after she died, he just, I mean he had started to sort of get away from the drinking. But once she died, he just lost it. And he vowed that he would drink more than he had ever drank before. And so he did that. And he drank so much until he passed out. I mean when he passed out, he had a dream. And in his dream he saw that it was the day of judgment. And on the day of judgment he saw that there was this giant snake running after him. And he's trying to get away from this snake. And then he sees this old man. And he's seeking—He's trying to get help from that old man. And he's asking the old man to help him. But the old man is saying I'm too weak. I can't help you from this snake. And then he kind of goes to a different area. And he sees there's this like big field. And he sees a bunch of children. And then he hears his daughter's name. And he goes there. And he finds his daughter. And he sits down with his daughter. And his daughter explains things to him. She tells him, you know what that snake was? And he said what was it? And she said that was your bad deeds. And the old man was your good deeds. The old man—Your good deeds were too weak to protect you from your bad deeds. And then she recites an ayah from Surah Al-Hadeed where the ayah says:

So Allah in this ayah says: "Has the time not come that the hearts of the believers should be humbled to the remembrance of Allah?" And Allah—He wakes up from this dream, Malik Ibn Dinar. And then he—He decides to go to Fajr at the Masjid. And when he goes there, the one who is praying recites this exact verse. And from that day on, Malik Ibn Dinar completely transformed. And he ended up becoming one of the greatest companions of the Prophet.

When you reflect on his story, the loss of his daughter—Ultimately was it a good thing or a bad thing? Ultimately it was a good thing. Even though in a worldly sense that loss, it would be considered a bad thing. Who would say that losing a child is a good thing, right? And yet it was that loss that ended up making him turn back to Allah. And if you think about it and you widen the lens and you step back and you look at it from an ultimate sense, how long was he without his daughter in this life? A blink of an eye, right? And yet for eternity he can be with his daughter. And not just be with his daughter in eternity, but in a way that is much better than this life. If he had lived with his daughter in this life to adulthood, he would still have to see her get hurt. He would still have to see her get sick. He would still—I mean it's not a perfect life together. And yet in Jannah it's the perfect life together. So when you look at it in that sense, what happened to Malik ibn Dinar was actually a blessing because it brought him back to Allah. And this is how we have to understand everything in our life. That anything that brings us nearer to Allah is actually good for us. Even if it hurts. Even if it involves loss. Even if it's painful. But if it brings us closer to Allah, then it's a blessing. Then it's good for us. And here's the other point. And this is where I want to get into the idea of ease. And you know blessings also being a test.

Understanding Tests Beyond Hardship

We are under the impression—A lot of times people are like, you know, I wonder I'm not being tested. I'm not being tested. Is there something wrong with me? Because Allah says He tests those He loves. But you know what? What some people don't realize is that you are being tested. We are always being tested. We are tested with both ease and hardship. We are tested with every single thing that we have is a test. The fact that you guys are alive and you're healthy—That's a test. The fact that you have a roof over your head-That's a test. The fact that you have money—Everything that you have. The ability to speak. The ability to walk. All of these things are tests. What are you going to do with these things? The ability to see. The ability to believe. These are all tests. You were given Islam. What are you going to do? What are you going to do with this amazing blessing that you have? It's all a test. So we shouldn't limit our concept of test to just hardship. You are being tested when you're in ease. And a lot of times the test of ease is

actually harder than the test of hardship. You know why? Because when things are easy and comfortable, you have a much more tendency—Much stronger tendency to forget about Allah. Yeah? When you're very comfortable, look at the story of Qarun in the Quran. The man during the time of Musa who had been given so much wealth that even just the keys to his property was itself wealth. He had so much. And he used to walk in the midst of the people. And people would look at him. His people would look at him and be like, wow! I wish I had what he had. He would basically show it off. And the people who Allah tells us in this surah that those who want this life—Those who yearn for this life—Used to look at him and say, wow! Look what he has. I wish I had what he had. He's so lucky. Right? And yet those who actually had knowledge would say to him, you know, be grateful, be humble. Thank Allah for what you had. And you know how he would respond? He would say that I got it from a knowledge within me. What's he doing? He's taking credit. He's saying it's because of me that I have all this. Because of my knowledge. It's because of my ability, right? It's this arrogance. He didn't thank Allah for what he had. He was deceived by what he had. And as a result he was destroyed. And now after he's destroyed, the people who used to -The day before, before that—Used to wish that they had what he had. You know what they're saying now? They're saying thank God we weren't given what he was given. Thank God we were not given what he was given. Because we would have maybe been destroyed as he was destroyed. So his test was in his wealth. His test was in that—The things that he had. That was his test. And he was destroyed. He failed it. He did not pass that test. So we should be very careful in looking at everything we have. Everything that happens to us as a test. Not just the hardship. And asking the question: How can I pass this test? What does Allah want from me? What am I supposed to be doing from this? What am I supposed to be learning? Every experience that you go through in life, ask yourself that question. Every experience is intended for a reason. Don't ever think anything happens without a reason. You got into a certain college. You didn't get into another one. You got, you know, you were—You wanted to marry someone. You couldn't marry them. You were able to—Whatever happens. Every single thing happens for a reason. What we need to do is study the things in our lives and see how those things can bring us back to Allah.

The Believer's Advantage

And the Prophet talks about the matter of a believer. He says that the matter of a believer is strange because everything is good for him. And this is only the case for a believer. This is only for a believer. Why? Because if something he likes comes to him—He's, you know, something good—Then he's grateful. So it's good for him. And if something he doesn't like-If a hardship or a calamity comes to him -He's patient. So it's still good for him. Remember we just talked about the blessings and the mercy and the guidance that comes from being patient in hardship. So you see this is a situation where everything is good for you. No matter what happens to you. If you are a believer and you respond correctly. Everything is actually good for you. Can you imagine that? You know people ask this question: Why do bad things happen to good people? And I put those bad and good in quotations. Why? Because we have a problem in how we define bad and good. We have a problem in how we define bad and good. When someone

says why do bad things happen to good people, you know what they mean? They mean why do good people, good people lose things of dunya. Lose material things. So the definition of good and bad is limited to this life. You see? The definition of good and bad is limited to this life. If you gain in this life, it's good. If you lose, it's bad. But that's not the proper definition of good and bad. I gave you the story of Malik ibn Dinar. Would that be considered a good thing or a bad thing? In the dunya definition, good or bad? Bad. In the ultimate true definition, good or bad? Good. So you see the definition is the problem. So when people ask why do bad things happen to good people, it's because the definition of good and bad is flawed. The definition of good and bad is limited to this life. The truth is, and this is what the hadith is telling us: Bad things never happen to good people. Only good things happen to good people. Only good happens to good people. And that's what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is saying when he says that the matters of a believer are strange because everything is good for him. So no matter what happens, it's good for you. Only good things happen to good people. And only bad things happen to bad people. It just depends on how you define it. We talked about the story of Qarun. Was that good or bad, his money? Dunya definition, good. Ultimate definition, bad. Bad things happen to bad people, good things happen to good people. It just has to do with how we define good and bad.

The Proper Understanding of This Life

So in order to properly respond to hardship, we have to first have the proper understanding. And we have to have the proper expectation. If we know that this life is a test, we're going to respond very differently than if we thought this life was supposed to be a paradise. You know the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says that this life for a believer is a prison. And for a disbeliever is like a paradise. What does that hadith mean?

(Sahih Muslim 2956)

Sometimes people I think misunderstand this hadith to mean that, okay if I'm a believer I just gotta suffer through this life and then I get Jannah, right? And if you're a disbeliever, it's all Disneyland. No. Think about it like this. In comparison to what you have in Jannah, for sure this is a prison. In comparison. In comparison. This life is nothing compared to Jannah. It's just like someone who's stuck somewhere and would rather be somewhere better. What's a prisoner? What's a prisoner? A prisoner is someone who has to do the time and then go back home. We as believers in this life, we have a certain appointed time and then we get to go back home. But a disbeliever, this is the best it gets. So it's like their paradise. But here's the problem. This life will never be perfect. This life will never be perfect. And if you're trying to make it perfect, you're just gonna suffer. If you realize that this life is not intended to be a paradise but rather is intended to be a test, then you will interact with this life very differently.

Allah says in Surah Al-Mulk:

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful.

Blessed is he in whose hand is the kingdom, and he is over all things competent. Who created death and life that he may test you which of you is best in deed. It is he who created death and life in order to test you-Which of you are best in deed. This is the whole purpose of this life. Of the creation of death and life. Meaning our time on this earth is to see which of us are best in deed. It's a test.

The Wisdom Behind Hardship

Now before I inshallah end and open it up for discussion and questions, I want to talk about some of the things that Allah mentions when he talks about hardship and calamity in the Quran. That what is the outcome and what is the purpose of sending hardships to people. In one of the ayats Allah says:

What's translated as: Before you we sent apostles to many nations and we afflicted the nations with suffering and adversity in order that they might learn humility. Here Allah is saying that the reason why hardship and calamity is sent to people—One of the reasons is—In order that they might reach a state of (تضرع - tadarru'). What is (تَضَرُّع - tadarru')? Here it's translated as humility. But that's not really enough to explain. (تَضَرُّع - tadarru') is something that you can try to conceive of if you imagine a person in the middle of an ocean. And all of a sudden a storm hits. And that person is now, you know, just desperate. Starts calling for help. Starts looking for a boat. Starts looking for the life jacket. Everything fails them. And then they realize I have no way out of this. And now after trying everything else, turns to Allah and makes dua. And by the way even you put an atheist in this situation, they're going to turn to something. Something higher than themselves for help. This is just the human nature. And when you turn to Allah, you realize that in that situation, that's (تَضَرُّع - tadarru'). Imagine the humility and the desperation that you would have in that state where there's no other way out and you are on the brink of death. That's (تَضَرُّع - tadarru'). Why is Allah sending the storm? Why is Allah sending the hardship? To help us get into that state. Why? Because that state is when the servant is so close to Allah. In that state Allah and the servant are so close. So Allah is actually helping us because Allah doesn't need to send any of these things, these are all in his control. Allah is helping us to get closer to him and get to that state of (تَضَرُّع - tadarru') which otherwise when we're comfortable on shore sipping-Hopefully not tequila—Sipping virgin Pina coladas—That it's much harder to get into that state of humility and desperation and nearness to Allah. So the storm is what made you seek Allah in a way

Hope and Promise

But Allah tells us and he gives us hope and he says in surah al-imran:

Do not lose heart and do not fall into despair, for you will gain mastery if you are true in faith. If you are truly from the believers. Allah has told us that yes, we're going to come to this life. And when Allah sent down Adam to this world, He told him that yes there's going to be shedding of blood. We know that. There's going to be enmity. Some of you are going to be enemies among each other. But he says this, and this is the hope that Allah gives us, that there will come guidance to you. And whoever follows the guidance of Allah, Allah says:

That although there's going to be this time in this life and it's going to be hard, there's going to be suffering, if you follow the guidance of Allah, there will be no fear on you, nor shall you grieve. This is the promise of Allah. That the protection that we have is in his guidance. And if we are near to Allah, if we are close to him, nothing can hurt us. Nothing can really hurt us. You know subhanallah, these beautiful statements of the scholars who passed before us. And one of them is the statement of Ibn Taymiyyah,

rahimahullah, where he says, "What can my enemies do to me? My paradise is in my heart. You know they put him in jail. They threw him in prison. And yet he's saying what can my enemies do to me? My paradise is in my heart. If they imprison me, it's a time with khalwa with Allah. It's seclusion with Allah. If they exile me, then I can go through the lands—The lands of Allah. And if they kill me, I can die a shaheed." So there's nothing that—This person—This person cannot be enslaved. That for this person whose heart is with Allah, and that paradise is in the heart, no matter what happens to you, it's always going to be good for you. Back to the hadith of the prophet that the matters of a believer are strange. Everything is good for them. As long as you respond properly between patience and gratitude. Between sabr and shukr. Depending on what it is. You're either in sabr or you're in shukr.

Understanding Allah's Tests Differently

And I want to end by kind of asking you to unlearn a concept that we have about tests. Now most of the people in this room are students. So you guys, we have a concept about tests. Usually when a test is administered, it's given by a professor. Right? And usually a professor might be kind of heartless, mean. Doesn't really care how you do on the test. In fact maybe they kind of want you not to. They don't want too many A's, right? Sometimes professors are like that. I don't know why, it threatens them or something. I had a calculus professor and he like got mad when someone got 100 on a test. I don't know why but anyway. The point is that this is the way we think of tests. It's given, administered by a professor who hands you the test and then steps away and is distant and just watches how you do. Are you allowed to raise your hand during a test and ask for help? No, that would be cheating. You don't raise your hand and say, hey professor, can you help me out with this question here? Because he'd be like, um, no. You're cheating, that's cheating. And so what we do is we think of Allah's tests in the same way. We think that Allah is like that professor who gives us a test, steps back and watches how we do. And he doesn't really care how we do, he's just giving us marks. That's absolutely wrong. Allah when he gives you a test, He wants you to raise your hand and ask for help. It isn't you on your own, here's a test, take care of it on your own, you can't ask for help. This is why we become overwhelmed by tests by the way. It's because we try to depend on ourselves. We try—We think we have to take it on ourselves. Or we try to depend on the creation. So women and men tend to have different tendencies. Women in general, we tend to go to the creation. We go to our friends, we go to our families. We want support. And that's fine. But often times what happens is we get let down. Okay, so we go to different things to seek help in our tests. In our hardships. So women, we tend to go to the creation. Men, they tend to depend on themselves. But guess what? Yourself. Your friends. All of this is a creation. You yourself is a creation too. I am a creation, I am weak. I am not able to deal with anything on my own. I need Allah. So the concept of self-dependence also is an illusion because I myself, I can't carry anything on my own. And one of the adai of the Prophet that he made very often was:

.

(Hadith at-Tirmidhi 3502)

Do not leave me to myself for the blink of an eye. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) he is the greatest human being, is saying, do not leave me to myself for the blink of an eye. Why? Because if we are left to ourselves, if we really think we're independent—Oh I can deal with this myself, right? Self-dependence, I can do this on my own, I'm strong─We'll fall. We'll fall because we cannot even stand without the help of Allah. We can't do anything without the help of Allah. So this is why we become overwhelmed. And sometimes, you know, we drown in the test. We drown in the hardship. Because we think, oh no, it's me against this. It's me against the world. I gotta take this on myself. And that's not the point. The point is to bring us back to Allah. Remember we said Allah is not giving you the test to leave you on your own and see how you do and then give you marks. Allah is giving you the test actually so that you do raise your hand and ask for help. Subhanallah. The whole purpose is to make us seek help from him and to get closer to him. And to be that person in the storm who calls on Allah and asks for his help. And in that way becomes nearer to him.

Closing

I say this and Allah asks forgiveness for me and for you. He is Forgiving and Merciful. We bear witness that there is no god but you and we ask forgiveness and repent to you.

In this day and age man is in loss, except for those who believe and do righteous deeds and follow the truth and patience.

I wanted to leave time for questions, thoughts, reflections. And usually there is like a dead silence right at the beginning. But inshallah.

Questions and Answers Session

Yes, thank you. I have a question. You talked about that only good happens to good people and that only bad happens to bad people. But to what extent do we really believe that anyone is essentially bad or essentially good? Don't we believe that all human beings have the ability, the capability to be good in a good way or a bad way?

Definitely every human being—Did everyone hear her question? She is asking about the statement that good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people. She is saying to what extent is

someone all good or all bad? Essentially every human being has the capacity to be good or bad and that's absolutely true. There is no—There is no human being who has been assigned to being bad or being assigned as being good. But rather every human being who has the capacity to think and has free will. And so every human being Allah tells us in surah shams for example, that the self is—It's driven or it has knowledge or it can be pulled towards fujur or taqwa. Either the corruption or the─You know the disobedience of Allah or taqwa or the obedience of Allah. So within every human being is the capacity for either. That's very true. But what we are saying here is—We are talking about the actions that one chooses to do. So if someone is doing—If someone or the belief—Because we talk about those who believe and do righteous deeds. That that category of people is what I am referring to as good. Meaning that they have chosen to believe and have chosen to act. It doesn't mean that they could never become bad and vice versa. Those who are not believing and not doing good deeds—At that moment they are being bad. But that doesn't mean they don't have the capacity to be good. Did I answer your question?

Yeah, do you mind if I follow up on that? So I guess I am still confused in reference to the example that you said because the sahaba that you mentioned─And like no disrespect to him of course. But like in the case of In the beginning he is doing bad deeds. So wouldn't he by that definition qualify as a bad person?

Well see again it's not the person itself because it's not like a stable—It's not a constant state. Okay. What's going to matter is basically where we are at when we die because there is a hadith of the prophet that says that a person might live their entire life doing the deeds of the people of paradise until they are an arm's length away from paradise. And they revert and they do the actions of the people of hellfire and so they enter it. And similarly on the other hand, there could be someone who spends their entire life doing the deeds of the people of hellfire until they are an arm's length away from hellfire. And they do the deeds of the people of jannah and so they enter it, the paradise. So it isn't a stable state, it isn't an inherent quality in a person that you're always going to be bad or you're always going to be good. But rather it is the choices that we make. We have the choice to either obey Allah or to disobey Him, that's something that Allah has given us. The ability to choose. In that he gave us free will. And in the case of Malik ibn Dinar, you know radiyallahu anhu is that he chose. He chose to take a different path. And it was a very high path. He became one of the greatest companions. Similarly Umar radiyallahu anhu. What was Umar radiyallahu anhu on his way to do? To kill the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Yeah, when he heard the revelation he became, and Umar is Umar radiyallahu anhu, he was the one who the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, if there were a prophet after me it would be Umar. So this man who was on the path to kill the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) became this, so we should never think you know─You know we're stuck, yeah we can't—We don't have the capacity to be something great, just because of our past. You know we think about sometimes people—Sometimes people feel discouraged by their past, you know like-You know it kind of like—Sometimes it holds people back. Like maybe somebody has like a not so good past, and they feel like Oh I can't go to Allah, I can't become religious or I can't become—Because I have a past, but really we need to reflect on these stories, Umar radiyallahu anhu. I don't think any of us

have a past like Umar radiyallahu anhu, you know he buried his daughter alive. He was on his way to kill the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and yet look at what he became. So we always—We never lose hope just because we have a particular past.

Other questions?

Yes. If Allah knew what was going to happen in our life, what's the point of us living in it?

So one of the things that we do, and you know people ask this question a lot, one of the things that we do is we limit Allah by time. First of all, time itself is a creation of Allah. Allah is not limited by time. When we talk about future and past, that's only something we experience. Allah is not, you know, limited within past and future. Allah's knowledge encompasses everything. But what we're going through right now, this life, really ultimately if you think about it, it's a test. Not for him to see what he already knows, but it's really, we can see what we're going to do. When you come on the day of judgment, imagine for a second that you come on the day of judgment and you never had this life. And Allah in his knowledge knew, you know, what you would have done. So he assigns people based on what they do or what they were going to do. What would we say? Wait a minute, I didn't even get a chance. You didn't even give me a chance. No, let me go back to earth and get a chance. Right? This is our chance. This is almost like, you know, when you have a case and you have witnesses. So that the person cannot, you know, the—The criminal is going to try to deny that they did something. So what do you do? You bring witnesses. This life is about -This is our witness. This is our limbs are going to witness against us. Our book is going to be written. Everything we did. So on the day of judgment we can't come and say actually no, no, I didn't do that. Oh no, no, I wasn't going to do that, I was actually going to believe. I should go to Jannah. It's kind of like, you know, the day of judgment is like a courtroom, almost, right? Allah is the judge. But there is going to be witnesses. And this life is about gathering that evidence, really. Ultimately, everything that we do in this life is going in our book, and it's going to witness either for us or against us. So again, it's not so Allah can find out. A'udhu billah, Allah is─You know, Allah is not limited by time. Allah's knowledge encompasses everything. But there is another reason. And you know, Allah ta'ala alam.

Yes. Yes, thanks. You're talking about in terms of the way you're conceiving of it, would it be better to sort of just encourage the believer to just be deferent to what Allah has ordained? Because if you're talking about good and evil, what happens to the individual, the adult who Allah has denied guidance to? Does that make sense?

Well, what you're saying is that what happens even in the wording of saying denying guidance-Almost -Almost I think it's dangerous. I think it's not proper to say it in that way. Because that implies that Allah is the one blocking them from guidance. Denying it, holding it back. Allah says that whoever strives in our way, we guide him. Whoever strives to us or for us, we guide him to our way. So Allah, yes, gives guidance. But Allah gives it to those who strive. So, you know, we can't sit at home, right, and make no effort and then say, oh, Allah didn't guide me, you know, like there was a companion of the Prophet,

peace be upon him, and he wasn't praying. I think he was asked if he was praying qiyam. And he said to the Prophet well, if Allah wanted me to pray qiyam he'd make me pray qiyam, he didn't make me. You know, and the Prophet, you know, said that mankind is, we're very argumentative. You know, we try to blame Allah for what we're doing or not doing. And that's the same tactic that shaitan took, by the way. When shaitan made a mistake instead of repenting and instead of being humble and asking for forgiveness, he instead blamed Allah for his mistake. He said that because you have, you know, put me out of the way, because you have done this, now I'm gonna try to bring as many other people with me to hellfire. So, you know, we have to be careful not to blame Allah for what we do and what we don't do. That the hidayah, the guidance comes to those who seek, you know, Allah says for example in the hadith, Qudsi, that the one who takes one step towards Allah, Allah takes ten steps towards him, but that person needed to take the first step, yes. Allah's mercy is much more than our efforts, but we, you know, you take that first step and Allah takes ten steps towards you. You go towards Allah walking, Allah comes towards you with speed. But there needs to be that part from us.

Yes. Yes, for sure we have free will. So, you know, Allah is the most just, and Allah would not punish for something we didn't have a choice about. Yeah, so we definitely have a choice. And those who choose not to believe, that's a choice that they made. And those who choose to believe, that's a choice that they made. And so, you know, out of Allah, one of the attributes of Allah is his, you know, many attributes have to do with mercy, forgiveness, but also justice. And when it comes to justice, he never is going to give someone a punishment except what they deserve. He never gives you more than you deserve with punishment. But he gives you more than you deserve in reward because of his mercy.

Other questions?

Yes. Well that's kind of what the ayah talked about that we began with where it describes the ones who show patience as those who, when calamity hits them, they reply with or they respond with (إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ - inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un). And then we talked about the concept of that it's a whole world view. It's a whole, you know, perception that everything I have doesn't belong to me. Everything I have actually belongs to Allah. And everything I have will return to him. So patience has to do with, and if you want like specific things of what patience looks like, is that what you're asking? I'm saying not—Yes, knowledge, but not this kind of knowledge, I'm saying this kind of knowledge. There's a difference between information, knowledge I have in my mind and knowledge of the heart. That when I truly know—There's a difference between believing, you know, oh yeah I know there's a day of judgment, or I know Allah is, you know, going to reward me. But there's a difference between knowing it here and knowing it here, so yes I would say yes, the knowledge internally. The knowledge of the heart, of knowing truly that none of this belongs to me, and it will return to Allah will allow us to be patient when it's taken back.

Any other questions?

Okay, thank you.