Allah is Greater Than Our Problems
By Zaid Shakir | 2026-01-16T05:15:41.330503+00:00 | Topic: Allah
Allah is Greater Than Our Problems
Eid Al-Adha Khutbah by Imam Zaid Shakir
Opening Praise and Testimony
We praise Him, we ask for His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we turn to Him, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is none to misguide him, and whom He misguides, there is none to guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, there is no partner for Him.
And I bear witness that our Master Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims. (Quran 3:102)
O you people, fear your Lord Who created you from one soul, and created from it its mate, and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah through Whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Verily, Allah is Ever an All-Watcher over you. (Quran 4:1)
O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will then amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment. (Quran 33:70-71)
As for what follows, verily the truest of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of affairs are the newly invented matters, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
The Greatness of Allah
Allah is greater. Allah is greater. There is no god but Allah. Allah is greater. Allah is greater. And all praise is due to Allah.
Allah is greater. Allah is the greatest. Allah is greater than this gathering. Allah is greater than this park. Allah is greater than this city. Allah is greater than this state. Allah is greater than this country. Allah is greater than this hemisphere. Allah is greater than this world. Allah is greater than this sky above us. Allah is greater than the stars beyond the sky. Allah is greater than any galaxy beyond the stars. Allah is greater than the universe that holds it all. Allah is greater than all of creation. Allah is greater than all of creation.
Allah is Greater Than Our Struggles
Allah is greater than you and Allah is greater than I. Allah is greater than our problems. Allah is greater than our grief. Allah is greater than our anxiety. Allah is greater than our worries.
Someone said, don't tell Allah you have problems, tell your problems you have Allah. We say no, we tell Allah we have problems. Because Allah is the reliever of all problems. But we also tell our problems we have Allah. And we acknowledge that Allah is greater than our problems. Whatever is vexing us, whatever is grieving us, whatever we might be struggling with.
We might be struggling with the hardship and the burden of trying to raise our children in this troubled and confused world. Allah is greater than that struggle. We might be struggling with scarce and disappearing employment opportunities in the face of both automation and discrimination. Allah is greater than that struggle. We might be struggling with some form of addiction. May Allah give us iman that is stronger than any addiction. But it is what it is and reality is reality. Allah is greater than that struggle.
Opening Our Hearts to Allah's Greatness
But for us to realize the greatest greatness of Allah in our lives, we have to open our hearts to be receptive to His greatness. We have to open our souls to be receptive to His greatness. We have to allow our hearts and our souls to become mirrors that reflect the greatness of Allah in our lives. And when we do that, we will realize just how great Allah is.
Closing Supplication
O Allah, forgive us our sins, and may we leave this place of prayer clean. Ameen, Ameen, Ameen. All praise is due to Allah and may you be well in this blessed moment. And peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. (لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ اللهُ أَكْبَرُ ، اللهُ أَكْبَرُ ، وَلِلَّهِ الْحَمْدُ - la ilaha illallah, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, wa lillahil hamd).
All praise is due to Allah. All praise is due to Allah.
The Importance of Gratitude
Brothers and sisters, one of the greatest things we can do to invite the greatness of Allah into our lives is to praise Allah and thank Allah for the blessings He's bestowed upon us. Because when we thank Allah for the greatness of the blessings, we realize how great Allah is.
Imam Ali, may Allah be pleased with him and honor his face, is related to have said: عَظِّمُوا الْخَالِقَ فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ فَصَغْرَ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ فِي أَعْيُنِهِمْ - They magnified the greatness of the Creator in their souls, and everything other than Him
became small in their sight. They magnified the greatness of the Creator in their souls (عَظَّمُوا الْخَالِقَ فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ - 'athamul khaliqa fi anfusihim) and everything other than Him became small in their sight (فَصَغُرَ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ فِي أَعْيُنِهِمْ - fasaghura ma duna dhalika fi a'yunihim).
Brothers and sisters, magnify Allah in your soul. Magnify the greatness of Allah in your soul. Extol the greatness of Allah on your tongue and your problems, your worry, your grief, your struggles, everything you might encounter in this life will be small in your sight.
Rejecting Ingratitude
Don't be an ingrate. The greatest kufr is the rejection of the gifts of Allah. And iman is a great gift of Allah. Kufr is but a rejection of the gift of iman. But we should realize kufr is the rejection of any of Allah's blessings.
When Allah says to all of us in His book, in the Qur'an:
Remember Me, I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me. (Quran 2:152)
And that's a rhetorical statement from Allah because Allah never forgets. It's a reminder and an emphasis for us to remember Him. (وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ - Washkuru li wa la takfurun) - Give thanks to My blessings and do not be an ingrate. Allah is talking about rejecting His blessings.
When Allah says:
And when your Lord proclaimed: If you are grateful, I will surely increase you in favor; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe. (Quran 14:7)
وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ
Counting Allah's Blessings
Allah has blessed us. He has blessed us coming and going. He has blessed us by night and by day. He has blessed us with food. He has blessed us with shelter. He has blessed us with clothing. He has blessed us with moderate temperate weather. He has blessed us with water to drink. He has blessed us with clothing to put upon our back. He has blessed us with iman. He has blessed us and inspired us to come here this morning when we could be doing so many other things. These are blessings we should thank Allah for.
The Example of Prophet Ibrahim
Ibrahim, peace be upon him, whose life, many critical events in his life, the pilgrims are reenacting and commemorating. Ibrahim, peace be upon him, is described in the Qur'an, amongst other things, in the following way:
Indeed, Ibrahim was a [comprehensive] leader, devoutly obedient to Allah, inclining toward truth, and he was not of those who associate others with Allah. He was grateful for His favors. Allah chose him and guided him to a straight path. (Quran 16:120-121)
Amongst other things, Ibrahim was thankful for the blessings of Allah. (شَاكِرًا لِأَنْعُمِهِ - Shakiran li an'umih) - He was thankful for his blessings, the blessings of Allah which were bestowed upon him. He was thankful, we should be thankful.
Ibrahim as an Ummah - A Leader
But he's also described as an ummah. (إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ كَانَ أُمَّةً - Inna Ibrahima kana ummah). And we want to focus on this in the balance of the first part of this khutbah, (إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ كَانَ أُمَّةً قَانِتَا لِلَّهِ - Inna Ibrahima kana ummatan qanitan lillah).
Three things are mentioned by most of the exegetes, others mention more, but three things they focus on, in terms of Ibrahim being an ummah. First of all, he was a leader, he was an imam. Ummah is from the same root as imam. Ummah, alif mim mim. Ummah, alif mim mim. And imam, alif mim mim. So Ibrahim being an ummah, he was a leader, he was an imam.
And each and every one of us should be a leader. We were not given this deen to be followers of those who do not have iman. We were not given this deen, this way of life to be followers of those who do not have guidance. We were not given this deen, this religion to be followers of those who don't have good sense. We were given this religion to be leaders.
The World Needs Muslim Leadership
And if there were ever a time when people were in need of the guidance and leadership that Muslims can provide, the time is now. The time is now, brothers and sisters, when people are confused as to their very self. People don't even know who they are or what they are. They're describing themselves in unseemly ways. They're inventing new words to describe themselves. Words that human language has no precedent to present. They're making it up on the fly. They're pulling many Muslims into a vast social experiment the outcomes of which they have no clue, absolutely no clue as to where it leads.
And many Muslims, as opposed to leading them, as opposed to saying to them, as Allah says in Quran:
And the male is not like the female. (Quran 3:36)
Instead of leading them to human dignity:
And We have certainly honored the children of Adam. (Quran 17:70)
Telling them the ways in which Allah has ennobled the human being. They join their confusion.
Brothers and sisters, the world is in need of you. The world is in need of us. Our country is in need of us. And we must rise to the challenge. Rely on the greatness of Allah. And you will find strength you never realized you had.
Finding Strength Through Allah
You will find strength you never realized you had because that strength will not emanate from you. You and I are weak in and of ourselves.
And mankind was created weak. (Quran 4:28)
But we are strong through Allah. We are strong with Allah. We are strong relying on Allah. We are strong clinging to the rope that Allah extends to us. Seek your strength in Allah, brothers and sisters. Seek your strength in Allah.
And don't be deceived into believing you can rely on yourself. This is the great lie of liberalism. That all the human being needs is his or her individual self. They can rely on themselves. They can define themselves. They can be whatever their whims tell them they can be.
Ibrahim Named Us Muslims
Ibrahim, peace be upon him, told us, Ibrahim told us we are Muslims:
And strive for Allah with the striving due to Him. He has chosen you and has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty. It is the religion of your father, Ibrahim. He named you Muslims. (Quran 22:78)
We are Muslims. And a Muslim is a human being who realizes his or her weakness in and of himself. We are not deceived by that. But realize we can be strong through Allah. We can be strong through Allah.
Having the Courage of Ibrahim
Brothers and sisters have the courage. Ibrahim was courageous. He smashed the idols. He had the courage to smash the idols. Do we have the courage to smash the idols that people are worshiping? Idols that are leading people astray. Idols that are tearing people's lives apart. Idols that are demanding a worship that destroys lives and empties souls. Do we have that courage? We can find that courage through Allah. Just as Ibrahim, Abraham found that courage.
Teaching Good to the People
He was a leader. And ummah, as Ibn Mas'ud and others say (مُعَلِّمُ النَّاسِ الْخَيْرَ - Mu'allimun nasil khair) - One who teaches good to the people. So we should be leaders, not followers. We're not sheep being led by a shepherd of destruction to our
doom
We're leaders who should be leading people who think they're sheep. And to show them they're not sheep but they're human beings. Dignified, upright, noble human beings.
And ummah is one who teaches good to the people. We cannot stand idly by while people teach evil to the people. They fill their mouths with profanity. Words that many of us who are old enough, if we spoke those words in our youth, we'd be admonished severely. Our mouths would be washed out with soap. But we've allowed people to use that dehumanizing language as if it's commonplace. As if there are no spiritual consequences.
We cannot even say, God darn it. Some of you are old enough to remember. What would our parents say to us? Boy, I don't want to hear you using the Lord's name in vain. We were taught to reverence the name of God. I mean, we weren't Muslims at that point, so we say God. But those Christian parents, they taught us to reverence the name of God. And not to use God's name in vain. And we would be admonished, we would even be physically punished for using the Lord's name in vain.
Extolling Allah's Name
Now people use the name of God with impunity. And they're taught to belittle God. When the Muslims, the believers, are taught to extol God. This is the day of Takbirat. Not just for the salah, but as we walk through the marketplace. In our comings and goings. As we drive in our cars. As we go to visit our friends. As we go to eat and share food and break bread with our beloveds. Our tone should be extolling Allah throughout this period until Maghrib of Wednesday.
"Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest. There is no god but Allah. Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, and all praise is due to Allah."
Getting Back to Prophetic Teachings
Brothers and sisters, we have to get back to some of that old time religion. We have to teach people. Young brother, don't talk like that. Don't use that language. Young sister, don't dress like that. Don't act like that. A lot of the sisters are old enough to remember a time when their mothers or grandmothers said to them, that's not ladylike. Now if we said that to a young lady, that's not ladylike, she'd be insulted. You sexist pig, don't talk to me like that. No, we have to teach what we were taught. Because what we were taught was a remnant of prophetic teachings and guidance that sufficed us. We have to get back to that and not be afraid.
Ibrahim was not afraid. He taught monotheism, he taught tawheed, and he taught prophetically informed character, etiquette, adab, akhlaq, in a world of shirk. He was alone, but he wasn't afraid to be alone. We have each other. We have millions of Muslims in this country. And we have Allah. We need to teach people good.
Being a Moral Exemplar
And finally, he said an ummah is a qidwa. It's a moral exemplar. Someone who is not afraid to challenge themselves, to be better than what our world, our society, our culture has made us. A qidwa, a moral exemplar for people. None of us are perfect, but we should strive for perfection. We should have the courage, the willpower within ourselves to strive for perfection. And we shouldn't be afraid of it.
We should be like that young Arab said one time:
"A courageous young person isn't one who says, my forefathers were this or that, but rather one who says, here I am."
Our Time and Our Deeds
I don't want to hear anyone talking about what the Muslims used to be. Or what the Muslims used to do. This is our time, what are we doing and who are we? We should look at them for inspiration and motivation. But if we're not doing anything, if we're not standing for anything, if we're not representing anything, then we shouldn't talk about what they did and what they stood for and what they represented. If that can't inspire us.
"That is a nation which has passed on. It will have what it earned, and you will have what you have earned. And you will not be asked about what they used to do."
This is a nation that has passed away. And this is interpreting the verse figuratively. Because literally it's talking about the previous ummahs. But we're talking about the previous generations. This is a nation. (تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ) - They are gone. They're not walking on this earth any longer physically. Their influence is here. The spiritual energy they generated while they were in the world is here. But they're physically gone.
(تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ) - They will have what they earned. Our great Muslim ancestors who preceded us, who built the empires, who built the architectural wonders that we point to, who established the intellectual greatness that we read about, they're gone. And they will be rewarded for the great things that they did.
(لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ) - And you will have and be rewarded for what you did. We will be rewarded for what we did.
Make Up Your Mind to Do Something Great
Brothers and sisters, make up your mind to try to the best of your ability to do something great, meaningful and significant in this world. Nothing can stop you if you rely on Allah. Nothing can stop you if you rely on the greatness of Allah. Make up your mind you're not going to be a follower. Make up your mind you're not going to be petty. Make up your mind you're not going to be insignificant. Make up your mind that you're not going to be someone who people point to and say, yeah, those Muslims they talk about this and that but look at them.
No, make up your mind like that young person. Here I am. I'm not perfect but I'm doing my best to stand for something. I'm doing my best to be somebody. I'm doing my best to make a positive contribution to this world as long as Allah keeps me in this world. And relying on Allah, anything in human terms is possible.
As salamu alaikum.
Second Part of the Khutbah
"Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest. There is no god but Allah. Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, and all praise is due to Allah."
Days of Celebration and Remembrance
Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed us. These days are days of festivities. But they're days to remember Allah. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, described this day of Eid and the three days of Tashreeq:
(Source Name)
"He said, peace and blessings be upon him: They are days of eating and drinking and remembering Allah."
Remembering Allah. So brothers and sisters, eat and drink and remember Allah. Visit your friends, your neighbors, your relatives. Make amends with people you might have had fallings out with. This is the time. And ask Allah to forgive your sins on this day. This is a day when people are liberated from the hellfire. This and the previous day, these are days of liberation from the hellfire.
Remembering Those Less Fortunate
And as we eat and we drink and we remember Allah, let us remember all of our brothers and sisters who don't enjoy the blessings that we enjoy in this world. And never forget, someone might say, you said:
"If you are grateful, I will surely increase you in favor."
I thank Allah and thank Allah and I don't see any increase. The increase might not necessarily be in this world. But the increase will come.
Doing Good in All Relationships
When you do good in your relationship with Allah, you do good in your relationship with your family members, and you do good in your relationship with your neighbors, and you do good in your relationship with your fellow citizens, then you're a muhsin. And Allah loves the muhsinin.
"Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good."
Allah loves those who do good in all of their relationships.
The Greatest Increase in Paradise
But the increase for the Muslim, literally, the greatest increase, and one we should all hope for. And just as we said Allah is greater than this world, the increase, the greatest increase, the world could not contain if the world were to witness one instance of that increase manifested. This whole world would be rendered, would be split
asunder. The heavens and earth and everything in it would be obliterated. And so that increase has been reserved for us in paradise.
Allah tells us:
"For those who have done good is the best reward and extra."
Those who do good in all of their relationships, starting with their relationship with Allah, they will have good and they will have an increase. (الْحُسْنَىٰ وَزِيَادَةٌ). What is this (زِيَادَةٌ) increase?
"Some faces, that Day, will be radiant, looking at their Lord."
The increase is the beatific vision, the increase is the ru'yah. And this is the great Eid.
The Greatest Eid
The believers have the weekly Eid, the Jumu'ah. And we have two annual Eids, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. And then we have the greatest Eid of all, and that's the Eid in Jannah. And the Eid in Jannah will be the day that we are blessed with the ru'yah, with the beatific vision. That will be the Eid in Paradise, and that's greater than anything this world could ever give us.
And that:
"That is the great increase for those who do good and for those who are thankful, the shaakireen. That is their greatest benefit. So if you don't see the increase in this world, be assured that you will see it in the next. And when that occurs, the mere Jannah will make you forget this world. And the ru'yah will make you forget everything else, every delight and pleasure in Jannah. And that is the greatest Eid.
Conclusion
But we have this Eid, so enjoy this Eid. And enjoy your family, and enjoy the blessings and bounties of Allah. And extol the greatness of Allah as you go through these days.
"Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, there is no..."