Zaid Noor - How to be Grateful

Opening

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu. In the name of Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His chosen servants, especially upon the Master of the Messengers and the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his pious family and his pious companions. Indeed, the truest hadith is the Book of Allah, and the best guide is the guide of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And indeed, the worst of things is its innovation, and every innovation is an innovation, and every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is a fire.

Allah Almighty says in His Glorious Book, after I say, I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan, In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

Indeed, a Messenger has come to you from among yourselves, exalted is he over whom you turned away, eager towards you as believers, kind and merciful.

The Times We Live In

In these dark times, where we constantly hear about atrocities, catastrophes, devastating news happening in the Muslim world, and we're reminded about the way the Prophet told us that there would be a time that would come where the nations would gather against Muslims.

And he was asked, will it be because we are few in number? And the Prophet said, no actually, you will be great in number. However, you will be like that rubbish that is on the shore of the sea that people step on and has no value. In these times, it's important for us to turn to the sunnah of the Prophet. And there is a forgotten sunnah that I wanted to speak about today.

The Forgotten Sunnah of Crying

And that is the crying of the Prophet in front of his Lord. We live in a time where we have to. It's necessary for us to have a relationship with Allah where we can be so vulnerable in front of Allah that we can shed tears in front of Allah.

And so, how did the Prophet cry? At that time, crying for a man was looked as a sign of weakness. But the Prophet would show the softness and the tenderness in his heart by crying as a form of mercy. So, Abdullah ibn Shakheer radiallahu anhu, he says:

(Abu Dawud)

That, I came to the Prophet and he was praying. And I could hear, there was an audible sound coming from the chest of the Prophet. Much like the sound of a boiling kettle, that slight hum.

You see, the Prophet wasn't excessive and extreme, such that it would be performative. Which was actually a common thing and a common practice at the time of the Prophet, called niyaha, where people would wail and they would scream, and they would rip their clothes and beat themselves.

The Prophet's weeping and crying was soft. It was from dignity. And why did the Prophet cry? He cried out of love and concern.

He Cried Out of Gratitude

He cried for loss, and he cried out of gratitude. It's narrated that the Prophet would stand for so long, that the feet and the heels of the Prophet would swell, and he would cry and ask Allah. And he would be asked that, your sins are already forgiven, why are you crying and why are you doing so much? And he would respond that, shouldn't I be a grateful servant? Shouldn't I show gratitude to that Allah that has given me every single thing, that Allah who has made me a Prophet, that Allah who has given me so many favors.

He Cried at Loss

He would cry at the loss of his children. And we know that the Prophet lost and buried six of his children with his own hands. Just burying one child is a test, that we ask Allah not to test us with that, but it's a great trial and tribulation.

At one point, the Prophet was holding one of his daughters, and in his arms she passed away. And in the presence of the Prophet was a unique individual, Umm Ayman radiyallahu anha. And there are certain people in our life, who they can talk to us and speak to us in a way no one else can.

Maybe our brother, maybe our sister, maybe our mother, that no matter if you're the CEO of a company, or you're a big shot lawyer or doctor, they can say, hey sonny, sit down, sit down. So, Umm Ayman, she begins to cry very loudly at the death of the child of the Prophet. And he says to her that, you're crying like this, and you're in the presence of the Prophet. So she responds, because she was one of the three that nursed the Prophet as a child. And she lived all the way until the Prophet passed away even.

She said that, don't you cry too? Haven't I seen you cry also? And the Prophet said, yes, but I don't cry like that. When the Prophet's son Ibrahim passes away, and there's a solar eclipse at the same time, and the people, they start to say, oh, this solar eclipse is happening because the death of the Prophet's child. And the Prophet said, no.

That the sun and the moon are two signs of Allah, and they don't eclipse because of the death of any one of you. And because of that, the Prophet prayed the salah. And then he says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

He says that, I felt lost. And so the eyes cry, and they're moist. And the heart is grieving. But we don't say anything except what will please Allah.

That even at loss, yes, we cry and we grieve, but we don't start questioning the decree of Allah. Why did you do this, Allah? Why did you do that?

He Cried Out of Love for His Ummah

And then the last thing, the Prophet would cry out of his love and concern for us. Out of his love and concern for his ummah.

And Allah says:

That indeed there has come to you a Prophet from amongst you. It weighs heavily on him that anything should harm you, that any type of harm should come to you. Your well-being is something that causes him anxiety. He wants the best for you. And to the believers, he's extremely caring and loving and kind and merciful.

Once Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiallahu anhu was sitting in the company of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Recite some Quran to me. Recite some Quran for me. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiallahu anhu is amazed that, O Prophet of Allah, I should recite to you, and it was revealed to you.

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, I love to listen to it as well. So Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiallahu anhu he said, I started reciting from Surah Nisa. And I kept reciting until I reach the ayah:

At which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Hasbuk, enough. And he said, I looked at the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's face and it was covered with tears. Because the ayah is saying that, how will it be on the day of judgment when we bring from every nation a witness to witness against that nation. And we will bring you, O Prophet of Allah, as a witness against your people.

You see, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his main concern in this world was the salvation of every single last one of his ummah. That every single one of us will be saved from hellfire and will be entered into paradise. And for that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would cry in the middle of the night for hours, اللهم أُمَّتِي، اللهم أُمَّتِي.

Asking Allah, Ya Allah, please take care of my ummah. Ya Allah, please save my ummah. And when the eclipse is happening, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is praying that, O Allah, You promised me that You would not punish them as long as I'm with them.

Where Allah says in the Quran:

And You promised, O Allah, that You would not punish them as long as they ask for Your forgiveness. And we are asking for Your forgiveness. That the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was constantly worried about us.

Where Are the People Who Cry for the Ummah?

So the question is, where are all of the people who are crying for the ummah? There used to be a time where the believers would stand up in the middle of the night, and they would ask Allah, that Ya Allah, help the ummah, help the ummah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said for us:

Cry profusely over your sins. When was the last time that we raised our hands in front of our Allah, and cried, and begged Allah? When was the last time we did that?

Second Khutbah

Indeed, all praise is due to Allah. We praise Him and we seek His help, and we seek His forgiveness, and we believe in Him, and we put our trust in Him. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and from our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides, there is none to misguide him, and whomever He allows to go astray, there is none to guide him. And we testify that there is no god except Allah alone with no partner, and we testify that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger.

Allah the Exalted says in His Noble Book, after I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

And the Messenger said:

(Sahih Muslim)

One of the best ways for us to see if our hearts are alive, if our hearts are healthy, is to see if we can put our hands in front of Allah, in front of our Lord, and cry and weep.

The Seven Who Will Be Shaded

There is a hadith of Rasulullah that speaks about seven groups or categories of people who will be shaded on the Day of Judgment. They will be under shade, they will be safe when everyone is walking in fear and terror, when everyone is walking wishing they could get one good deed on that day. These groups will be safe. One of these groups is:

(Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)

That man who remembers Allah when he is alone. You're driving, there's no one in the car with you. You're at home alone, in your room, or even you're awake in your room and the lights are off and no one can see you. At that time, you just remember Allah, everything that Allah has given you, all the protection that Allah has given you. Then think about all the times when we disobey Allah, we break the laws of Allah, we leave the sunnah of the Prophet, then we leave the obligatory acts.

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali rahimahu Allah said that those tears, those tears are actually a way to soften hearts. It's a way to bring life back to hearts. Then you try to be at ease so that you are at ease before Allah, and this brings ease to people, brings ease to the ummah.

Our Brothers and Sisters Around the World

There are so many brothers around the world who are suffering. We know all about the suffering in Palestine and Gaza, but there's so much suffering happening elsewhere. Right now in Sudan, there are so many atrocities happening with the brothers and sisters in Sudan. Where are the people who will cry for them?

We are those people. We need to become an ummah of people who will raise our hands and will shed tears for our brothers and sisters all over the world. We need to be people who will wake up in the middle of the night and ask Allah, ya Allah please help the Muslims who are struggling, the ones who are suffering, the ones who are without food, ya Allah help them. We need to cry for our own salvation and we need to cry for others as well.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said two drops are more beloved to Allah than anything else. One that drop that a person sheds in the fear of Allah and another that drop which is shed in the path of Allah. And two types of eyes the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that will be saved from the hellfire. One eye that sheds tears for Allah's sake and one eye that is watchful and guarding for the sake of Allah.

Closing Du'as

We ask Allah to make us of those who follow the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. We ask Allah to make us of those who cry over our sins. We ask Allah to make us of those who cry out of the fear of Allah. We ask Allah to make us of those who cry and beg Allah for the status of the ummah. We ask Allah to make us of those who do dua for our brothers and sisters all over the world.

Aqeem as-salah.