Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and the end is for those who are righteous. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner, the guardian of the first and the last. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant, His Messenger, His Chosen One, and His Friend. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and upon his family and companions.
In the previous lecture, or the first part of the lecture, we spoke about the nature of this dunya and the nature of the aakhirah and how Allah subhanah has created this dunya as daar al-amr wa l-ibtila as a place of actions and tests and struggles and how Allah subhanah has created the aakhirah as daar al-jaza the place and the abode of recompense and reward and punishment and accountability.
And we spoke about the nature of this dunya and how short it is and the nature of the aakhirah and that it is eternal. And we also spoke about moments and days of our existence and how we should not envisage this dunya as being a wanting or desiring constant pleasure and happiness and enjoyment, and neither should we think that this dunya all of it is difficulties and struggles and calamities or afflictions. Rather there are moments of this and there are moments of that.
And then we spoke about the different type of fitan, tests or struggles which Allah subhanah may place in a person's life and the different situations in which these fitan may occur. And we ended the first part of the lecture with mentioning and emphasizing the importance of dealing with every single difficulty with tawakkul and sabr and raja with reliance and dependence upon Allah and remaining patient and having raja, and raja is having hope in the relief from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We mentioned this is an act of ibadah just as tawakkul, reliance and dependence upon Allah is a form of worship. And Allah subhanah orders with tawakkul and he praises the people of tawakkul, and also sabr, patience, this is an act of ibadah and Allah subhanah loves those who are patient and he commands us with patience and he praises the people of patience. Also raja, also having hope in relief in Allah and relief from this situation and having hope in the meeting with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and doing righteous actions and not losing hope and not becoming despair, and also having hope in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
This is an act of ibadah and Allah subhanah he loves for us to hope in relief from him and he praises those who have raja, hope, and those who do righteous actions and those who do not do not lose hope in the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
In the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud the messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam he mentioned the most severe major sins and he said salallahu alayhi wa sallam the most severe sin is committing shirk with Allah and that is to set up a partner with Allah or to direct an act of ibadah to other than Allah. He said and to feel safe from the punishment of Allah and to feel despair from the mercy of Allah and also to lose hope in relief from Allah. So these the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam he called them from the most severe major sins.
The first of them committing shirk with Allah directing ibadah to other than Allah, and feeling safe from the punishment of Allah and this is the attitude of the munafiqoon and the yahood wal nasara. They think that they have an ahad with Allah subhanah, they have a contract with Allah subhanah such that punishment will not touch them, so having the audacity to do sins and then at the same time feeling safe and confident from the punishment of Allah subhanah this is from the traits of the munafiqoon.
And losing hope in the mercy of Allah such that a person thinks that my sins are so severe Allah will not forgive me, my sins are so severe Allah subhanah will not accept my tauba, my repentance, this in of itself is a sin. And then losing hope in relief from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and Allah subhanah he calls this a type of kufr in the Quran. In surah Yusuf Allah subhanah said in the Quran:
“And do not lose hope in the relief from Allah, and nobody loses hope in relief from Allah and has despair from the relief of Allah except a disbelieving people.”
And there is no doubt that difficulties and struggles there is a bitterness in them and it is difficult for people for a person to navigate through those difficulties and it is difficult for a person to navigate through those struggles. So every musiba, all of the shada'id, every calamity, every affliction, every difficulty, it has its bitterness. However a Muslim has to be positive and proactive and remain optimistic and have hope in the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And he knows that Allah subhanah has decreed that after difficulty there is ease. Verily with difficulty there is ease. Once more, with difficulty there is ease. And also a person should realize and appreciate the greatest blessing and that the greatest blessing is Islam and Iman, and therefore the greatest loss is not the loss of something which is materialistic but rather the loss of Iman and the loss of a person's Islam.
So the greatest ni'ma that we have in this dunya is the ni'ma of our Islam, our Iman, and through our Iman there is the salah of this dunya and the akhira, the rectification of this dunya and the akhira. The greatest loss and there is no loss greater than this is in the losing of a person's deen and of a person's Iman and the weakness of a person's Tawheed.
As for losing something materialistic or temporary from this dunya, or them being a diminishment in this, this is something which is easy. This is not something which is that severe. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in the Quran:
“And to not be like those people who forgot Allah, they turned away from Allah, they neglected Allah so Allah caused them to forget themselves.”
The meaning of this ayah is that if we turn away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we turn away from that which is in our betterment in this life and the hereafter. So in being connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is us actualizing and attaining our benefits in this life and the hereafter, and turning away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is us losing our own selves and forgetting our Maslaha.
Because how can a person forget his creator and forget the purpose behind his existence and creation upon this earth and then he hopes to attain that which is beneficial for him in this life and the hereafter? And this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:
“And to not be like those people who forgot Allah, they turned away from Allah, and so Allah made them forget their own selves.”
Meaning Allah made them forget why they are upon this earth and how they can attain and realize success in this life and hereafter. And they are the people of disobedience.
And I'm going to offer by the permission of Allah small pieces of advice which will help us maintain our hope in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and knowing there is relief in Iman from any struggle or difficulty which we are experiencing.
The first piece of advice is that it is not permitted for a Muslim to question Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's not permitted for a Muslim to say why did Allah do such and such? Why is it me that he has chosen? Why is it my son, my daughter, my house? What about this person or that person? So we are not allowed to have the audacity to question Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala regarding his actions. Rather we have to look at our behaviors.
So we do not question the decree or the will or the action of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but we question our reaction and our behavior and that all of this is a test. How can a person have the audacity to question the decree of the lord of the heavens and the earth, the one who created me and you and created everybody besides us and he's the all-knowing and he's the all-wise and he's the all-informed and he's the all-able?
And so therefore the principle which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala states in the Quran is that Allah is not to be questioned in that which he does rather they are the ones who are questioned. So we, from our Iman, is having Iman in the decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, having Iman in the Qada of Allah, having Iman in the decree of Allah that everything good, everything harmful is decreed by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decrees everything with a Hikmah from him and this Hikmah, this wisdom is divine and this is with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we as Muslims, as people of Iman who have Iman in the Qada of Allah, we do not question the Hikmah of Allah jalla sha'anuhu and neither do we know the Hikmah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And in how many cases have we suffered some form of loss and difficulty, but that very loss and that very difficulty has resulted in a great amount of goodness maybe a month or a year or even decades later? And then when a person thinks back and he thinks all of this Ni'mah which I am in right now perhaps it's because of that difficulty that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had decreed back then, and had it not been for that difficult situation then I would not have made these decisions and these moves and I would not be in this blessing which I have been blessed with.
So this is the first principle and the first advice when going through any difficulty, any struggle: we do not question the decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rather we look and analyze our own actions.
The second piece of advice, ayyuhul kiram is do not isolate yourself especially in moments of difficulty or struggle. Don't lock yourself up in your room, isolate yourself, or break off from those who are around you and also try not to remain unoccupied. Meaning take up whether it's work, whether it's a hobby, whether it's anything, even if it's something from the dunya, whether it's a sport or a hobby or something like that, to fill up your free time.
Because when a person is going through a difficult situation having free time and then isolating yourself can cause many problems and it can lead to a lot of emotional and mental ill health. Because when a person is unoccupied and there's nothing to distract that person from the difficulty they are going in and when a person is isolated and has isolated themselves from others then every moment they are only thinking about that difficulty.
Whereas if a person is busy with something proactive, with some action, with some work, with some hobby or anything, and is always mixing and socializing with people, naturally their mind is distracted from that problem. The difference is that whilst we try to be proactive and to take up some hobby or some action or some work and socialize with people, however we do not connect our hearts neither do we rely upon those actions or those people.
So we do those matters, we do those matters, but our heart is connected with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we rely upon him subhanah in our tawakkul. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he created the dunya and he created asbaab and these asbaab they lead to nataaj. So asbaab are the causes which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala place upon the earth, the means that we have to fulfill, and these causes and fulfilling these means it brings about certain results. And this is also sunnatullah, this is the nature which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created us upon in this dunya.
If a person wants to have children then there is marriage, and therefore marriage is a sabab which brings about by the permission of Allah the result of having children. If a person wants a life which is comfortable then he has to work, and therefore working is from the asbaab which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala place upon this dunya. And whilst we partake and fulfill those causes and those means and avenues we do not connect our heart to those means and avenues, rather our heart remains connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And this is what is found in those people who lose hope in the mercy of Allah. It is because their heart has moved away from Allah and it has restricted itself to only the cause or the avenue, the means which is dunyawi which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has placed. So we as Muslims, this is the meaning of attawakkul. Attawakkul it is sidq al-i'tamadi ala Allah. Ibn Uthami rahma Allah he defines attawakkul in kitab al-tawhid in the books of aqeedah. He said attawakkul sidq al-i'tamadi ala Allah maa thiqa bihi wal-akhd bil-asbaab.
Attawakkul is for a person to have true reliance, complete dependence upon Allah maa thiqa, and having complete trust in Allah that Allah brings about relief and Allah decrees from his wisdom maa al-akhd bil-asbaab, along with fulfilling those causes and those means which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has placed upon the earth.
So if a person restricts themselves to only tawakkul and trust in Allah but then does not go out physically and fulfill those causes and actions this is not attawakkul. And if a person relies upon those means which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has placed upon the earth but then forgets about relying upon Allah, depending upon Allah, having trust in Allah, then this is also a weakness in tawheed.
So the first mistake meaning focusing and concentrating on the asbaab, the worldly materialistic causes and means and avenues, and forgetting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, just focusing on the asbaab, this is naqsun fil tawheed. This is a lack of tawheed and a weakness of tawheed. And restricting yourself to just attawakkul and not fulfilling those asbaab which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has placed upon the earth, this is naqsun fil aqal. This is a weakness in a person's thinking and intellect and this person does not understand the true concept of attawakkul.
And Umar ibn Khattab r.a it is narrated that he saw a group of people, he saw a group of people and they would restrict their times and they would always focus on the masjid and remain in the masjid. And he asked them why are you remaining upon the masjid? And he said we are those who have reliance upon Allah. And Umar r.a said you are not those who have trust in Allah, you are pretending to have tawakkul upon Allah because you have not understood the true concept of attawakkul.
Attawakkul is being proactive and working and partaking in those asbaab, those causes and those means, along with dependence and trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The third piece of advice ayahul kiram is especially when going through moments of difficulty or struggle to speak about and remember the blessings which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has favoured you with. And no doubt if a person remembers and speaks about the ni'm, the blessings, especially in times of difficulty, this weakens and lessens the impact of the struggle or the difficulty upon a person.
So we should not concentrate on just the difficulty which we are going for. Every moment of difficulty Allah has blessed us with thousand other blessings than maybe he has tried other people with. So a person may be going through for example a level of poverty then they remember that Allah has blessed you with aqal and Allah has blessed you with an intellect, Allah has blessed you with good health, Allah has blessed you with family, Allah has blessed you with warmth, Allah has blessed you with Islam, Allah has blessed you with tawhid, Allah has blessed you with security, Allah has blessed you with safety, Allah has blessed with you that you are able to walk and talk and speak.
So there is a small difficulty in one aspect of your life but in comparison to this there are blessings in every other aspect of your life. And therefore why concentrate on that struggle and that calamity and forget all the other blessings which Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has given a person? And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la tells us in the Qur'an: as for the blessings which your Lord has bestowed upon you and favoured you with, speak about them and show shukr to him.
And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la said: and when your Lord proclaimed that if you show shukr to him I will increase you. And this is from the benefits of appreciating the blessings and focusing on the blessings as opposed to the difficulty, that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la increases us in that blessing.
And there is a story which is mentioned. This is not a hadith, it's a story which is mentioned in some books regarding the salaf. Allah knows whether it's an actual story or a story which is mentioned for an impact or for a lesson, a mu'idah. It's mentioned that there was a man at the time of the salaf and he was suffering with many health problems. It's mentioned that he had lost his hair and he was suffering from leprosy in his skin and he was blind in both eyes and he was paralysed in his hands and paralysed in his feet.
And this person in this situation it was heard that he would always say, he would say all praise is for Allah the one who has saved me from that which he has tested others with and he has made me better than many people. So a man passed by him and heard him saying this statement thanking Allah for blessings, thanking Allah for saving him, thanking Allah for giving to him. So the man said to him what have you been saved from? You are blind, you're suffering a skin disorder, you've lost your hair, you're paralysed in your hand and your feet. So what have you been saved from? What are you thanking Allah for?
And this man he replied, he said Allah has given me a tongue by which I can remember him and Allah has given me a heart which shows gratitude and Allah has given me a body which is patient over these tests. So subhanAllah this person, this story, and as I mentioned this is not a hadith, but the lesson or the admonishment here is that despite all of these problems he would thank Allah for the blessings and focus on the blessings, the fact that he has a tongue by which he can make dhikr, and the fact that he has a heart and an aqal by which he's able to show shukr, and the fact that he has a heart and a mind by which he can show shukr, and the fact that he has a body by which he can demonstrate as sabr.
The fourth piece of advice is that we have to know our Lord and we have to know our Lord in times of difficulty and in times of ease and the messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam he said in the hadith and remember your Lord in times of affluency and goodness and ease and Allah subhana will remember you in times of difficulty and this is because the case with the majority of the people is when they are going through and facing moments of struggle they become close to Allah subhana and their heart becomes attached to him and they remember him and they begin to raise their hands to make dua to him and then when Allah subhana gives that person relief and ease and blessings then they forget Allah subhana and they distance themselves from him so the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught us that remember Allah be connected to him worship him in times of ease and then when you're going through a time of difficulty Allah subhana will remember you meaning Allah will aid you and Allah will help you and give you tranquility in your heart.
And know that goodness and all goodness is in meaning knowing Allah subhana and worship him subhanahu wa ta'ala and misery and loss and wretchedness is in a shirk and the four and the most that the greatest the greatest most severe calamity is dying a death of shirk and therefore connect your heart to Allah subhana as opposed to other men and women and invoke Allah subhana as opposed calling upon other men and women and know that your lord he is Ar-Raheem he is the most merciful and he is Al-Ghafoor the oft-forgiving and he's Al-Kareem the gentle and he's Al-Mannan the one who bestows blessings and he's Al-Lateef the subtle and all the other beautiful names and attributes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he's Al-Jawad who is generous and Allah subhana he becomes happy when you ask him and then he's happy even further to respond to your supplication.
So therefore why would you disconnect from a lord who is Ar-Raheem Al-Ghafoor Ar-Rahman Al-Mannan Al-Jawad Al-Kareem and he's happy with you asking and happy to give and instead connect yourself to men and women who when you ask them they don't like you asking them and they hate to give you even if they do give you and they don't have these great attributes of perfection and kindness.
And also from the pieces of advice is in moments of difficulty and struggle Tamassak bi sunnah is to hold on firm to the sunnah of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam and to stay away from all forms of bid'ah innovations because goodness all goodness is in abiding by the sunnah and when we turn away from the sunnah and we turn away from halal and haram the boundaries of halal and haram this is when there are problems in our lives.
And this many imams many counselors will tell you anybody who has an understanding of islam when people come to you and they speak about difficulties in their money their finances their relationships with their wife their children etc you can usually trace this back to some haram which a person did. So that person took a business loan from a bank and now they are having business problems. That person was involved in a relationship which was haram and now they are having problems in their relationship. Because islam is there, the sunnah is there, the ahkam of the sharia, the halal and the haram, the boundaries of islam, those limits, they are there for our benefit not for the benefit of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So when we live a life within the boundaries of halal and haram and we don't exceed those boundaries then this is safety and success in our dunya and in our akhirah. And every time we move away from the sunnah and we move away from the sharia and we exceed the limits of allah then we are inviting problems upon ourselves. And allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said those are the limits and the boundaries which have been set by allah so do not exceed them. And allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in the quran let those people who oppose his command be aware of being afflicted by a fitnah.
So this shows us that sometimes fitan difficulties and struggles we invite them upon ourselves by moving away from the sunnah of the messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam and from the limits of the sharia.
And the sixth and last piece of advice is especially when you are suffering moments of difficulty or struggle look back and read into the lives of the salaf and think about the difficulties that the salaf they went through the pious ulema and imams muslims who came before us look at their lives and the difficulties and the struggles that they went through and if you compare your difficulty in your struggle to the struggles and the sacrifices they make you will not consider your weakness your struggle to be anything at all.
And no doubt the greatest salaf was the messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam and no doubt the most severe difficulties and sacrifices were faced by him and he had to make them. Remember that whatever difficulty or struggle you are going through you will never face not even a tenth or a hundredth of that which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam went through.
Before prophethood he sallallahu alaihi wasallam he was beloved to all everybody would love to socialize with him as you know he was known as as-sadiq al-ameen the trustworthy the truthful. And then after islam and after he began calling to allah subhanah that same person who was beloved by all a friend of all everybody loved socializing with him that same person who was as-sadiq al-ameen now he became a liar and he was exiled and he was punished and he was withheld from his his rights were withheld and he was violated and his sahaba was violated and he was exiled from his lands.
The same person who they used to call as-sadiq al-ameen now they would call him as-sahir al-majnoon al-kahin the madman the poet the fortune teller. And in all of this how did the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam react? Sabr, patience, and tawakkul, dependence on the guidance of allah, ar-raja, having hope in the mercy of allah, remaining optimistic and looking forward because he worships a lord subhanahu wa ta'ala who has all of those beautiful attributes and descriptions.
And the messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam in his seerah you know and you will have studied how for three years him and some of his companions were sanctioned and boycotted and they spent a number of years and months out in the valley and nobody would approach them and nobody would have relationship with them and nobody would feed them and they had no access to their families or their social life or their wealth and provisions and they were forced to eat from that which is found in the deserts and the valleys.
And in all of this how did he react sallallahu alaihi wasallam? Sabr with patience and tawakkul and ar-raja having hope in relief with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I remember the time when he was forced to leave makkah and he had to go to ta'if hoping that perhaps in ta'if there would be people who help him and support him and support his da'wah and instead he faced humiliation from the people of ta'if so much so that they threw stones at him and his feet they bled.
And in all of this he never lost hope in the mercy of allah subhanah and he never became pessimistic he remained optimistic having sabr and tawakkul and raja upon allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And when the angel of the mountains came and he said oh messenger of allah verily your lord has heard what those people have said to you and if you want I will destroy these people between these two mountains and the messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam he refused and he said perhaps allah will bring out from the very progeny of these people a group of people who worship allah alone and they do not commit partners or ascribe partners to him.
So in this severe difficulty he maintained sabr and at tawakkul and raja and optimism and he never lost hope in the relief and the victory of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then after this whilst he was in mecca he would see his companions being punished in front of him and there was nothing he was able to do so much so that large groups of his sahaba of his companions meaning his close friends the circle who are close to him many of them had to migrate to habasha to abyssinia not once in fact twice.
And in all of this he remained sabr he had sabr and patience and tawakkul and raja in allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then after this he was forced to flee mecca which was his birthplace and where his wealth and property and his memories and sentiments all of them were in mecca and he had to move to al madinah and in this move and all of the difficulties with this move he remained sabr mutawakkil ala rabbihi raajiyan fee he remained patient and hoping and relying in his lord upon his lord and hoping for the mercy of allah and relief from him.
And even after he moved to madinah the problems did not stop there was war after war and onslaught after onslaught there was badr and uhud and khandaq and all the other wars which he had to face and in all of these wars and these attacks and onslaughts he had and demonstrated sabr and tawakkul and raja hope in the mercy of allah and relief from allah and having certainty in his lord.
And then while he was in al madinah how many times were there assassination attempts upon him and that yahudiyah she poisoned the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in the food that he was eating and the effects of that poison it remained until he passed away and just before his death salallahu alayhi wasalam he mentioned how he could feel the effects of that poison from that yahudiyah who had tried to poison him.
And in all of this he remained sabran wa mutawakkilan ala rabbihi raajiyan fee he remained patient and reliant upon allah and hopeful in relief and victory from allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And also in al madinah in his personal relationships he salallahu alayhi wasalam he had seven children three boys and four daughters. All three of his sons all of them they did not pass their infancy within the first months 18 months two years all three of them passed away.
The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam he did not bury one son two rather three of his own sons he buried them with his own blessed hands. And in this loss and this struggle and he is bashar he is also a human being but he remained patient and relied upon his lord and remained optimistic and positive having hope in the mercy of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and relief from him.
And also his daughters from his four daughters three of them passed away during his lifetime and each one of those three were at the peak of their youth when they were 30, 31, 32, 28. This is when his daughters passed away three out of four each one of them he salallahu alayhi wasalam buried with his own blessed two hands in his lifetime. And despite this personal loss and this struggle and this difficulty he remained sabiran patient for the sake of allah mutawakkilnara rabbihi reliant upon his lord rajian hopeful in the mercy of allah and relief and victory from him.
So we see that throughout the life of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam every struggle that we are faced he also faced and this is the meaning of the ayah laqad kana lakum fee rasoolallahi uswatun hasana verily there is for you in the message of allah a great role model because every single difficulty that we are facing there'll be examples in the life of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and his sahaba which they also faced and they face them more severe and in all of them they reacted and they behaved with iman with yaqeen with sabr with tawakkul with arraja.
So we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to lessen the masa'ib and the difficulties that the muslims are going through and that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us and bestows upon us a strength of sabr of patience and true tawakkul and having raja hope in him and he bestows upon us a heart which is content and a heart which is fearful.
And we seek refuge in allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allahumma inna na'udhu bika min ilmin la yanfa' the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam he would make a dua allahumma inna na'udhu bika min ilmin la yanfa' oh allah i seek refuge in you from knowledge which is of no benefit and i seek refuge in you from actions which are not accepted wa inna na'udhu bika min qalbin la yakhsha' and i seek refuge in you from a heart which does not fear you wa min nafsin la tashba' and i seek refuge in you from desires which are never fulfilled wa min da'watin la yustajabu laha and i seek refuge in you from supplications which are not answered.
Hatha wallahu a'lam salallahu ala nabiyyina wasalam wabillahi tawfiq.
