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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah ﷺ sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Ameen. Ameen. My brothers and sisters, today we spoke about the issue of what our ambition should be.
And as I told you, Allah ﷻ said,
Allah is with the people of taqwa and Allah is with the people of ihsan.
So when we say, what do I want to become? Then think about it and say, I want to become a mutafiq. Because if I am a mutafiq, I want to become a muftaqiq. If I am a mutafiq, then I have the help of Allah with me. Because Allah ﷻ said, that the one who has taqwa, Allah ﷻ will extract him from his difficulties. Allah will solve his problems for him. وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا And he will provide him from sources that he cannot imagine. وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ هَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ He cannot make ihtisab of this source of sustenance or income. لا يَحْتَسِبُ وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَزْبُهُ And the one who has tawakkul on Allah, Allah ﷻ will become sufficient for him. Every single need of this person, Allah ﷻ will take care of it. Every desire of his, Allah will take care of it.
وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَجْعَلْ لَهُمْ مِنْ هَيْتَسِبُهُمْ And He has provided the person with taqwa. So taqwa is the fundamental boundary condition. So if I say that my ambition is to become a muttaqi, then I am opening the door to all kinds of benefits in this dunya wal akhirah inshaAllah.
So today to develop on that, I remind myself with you that
everything good that happens, everything that happens in life, is the result of the rida of Allah. If Allah ta’ala is pleased with me,
then all good will happen to me.
For example, one of the primary considerations today, and in any situation, any time, the number one requirement is that of safety.
It’s not of food, it’s not of shelter, it is not of business or ambition or anything. Number one consideration is safety. If my safety is not guaranteed, if my safety is not assured, then what does it matter whether I have the best food in my house, what does it matter if I have the best house, what does it matter if I have the best job, or I don’t have the job, what does it matter if my business is working or not working? There is no safety. Right? I’m not sure whether I will be alive or dead. I’m not sure if somebody will kill me, I’m not sure if somebody will kidnap me.
And believe me, this is happening in the world, there’s nothing new.
So if my safety itself is not assured, then nothing else matters. Right? So for our safety, we are willing to spend, if you have the money, you will spend any amount of money to ensure that you are safe. But we forget that safety is a factor of the Ridaa of Allah ﷻ. It’s not a factor of circumstances.
Safety is not a factor of circumstances. It’s a factor of the Ridaa of Allah ﷻ.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated, in her house, in the garden of her own house, by her own security guard.
So where is the question of safety? She had the highest possible safety that the government of India can give anybody, but she was killed by the same people. The people who are supposed to provide her safety, one of them killed her.
Princess Diahannam, was traveling in an armored Mercedes,
right?
And the vehicle crashed. I mean, Mercedes is safe and an armored Mercedes is even safer than that.
The vehicle crashed.
She and the person with her in the backseat, they both died.
The driver died. She, But the guard who was sitting next to the driver,
he lived.
Nothing happened to him.
I’m giving you live, real-life examples to show that safety is not a factor of circumstances. You take precautions. I mean, nothing wrong with taking precautions if you want to do that, but that is not what will save you. What will save you is Allah ﷻ. And the evidence of that we have, is Ibrahim A.S. was tied up. He was thrown into the fire.
And as far as the people could see, he flew in the air. He was thrown, shot from the catapult. And he flew through the air and he fell, went into the fire.
And while people thought that they had destroyed him and they had killed him, actually he was fine. He was in a garden. Until Allah ﷻ kept him there and he brought him out.
Now, Muslim al-Qawla, in Yemen,
he was tied. They tried to burn him alive also.
Where there was a man, the ruler of that, he was in a place. He declared himself to be a Nabi.
And he asked, he told Abu Muslim,
Alhamdulillah, he said,
what do you say about Muhammad ﷺ? He said, Ashadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ashadu anna Muhammadin Rasulullah. The man said, I am the messenger of Allah. Abu Muslim said, I cannot hear you. This happened three, four times. He burned him alive. Nothing happened to him. The ropes burned and he came out.
Safety is a factor of the resolve of Allah ﷻ.
If safety depended on circumstances, Ibrahim Ali Salam would have died. He would have been burned. Because circumstances were all completely negative.
If safety was a factor of circumstances, Nuh would have drowned. Along with everybody. But Allah ﷻ, in the middle of that whole flood and everything else, Allah ﷻ saved Nuh and the people with him.
Allah ﷻ is showing us all of these examples of his Ambiya, to prove that safety is not a factor of circumstances. If safety had been a factor of circumstances, the people of the time would have crucified Isa , which is what they tried to do, which is what the Christians believe. But that’s not what happened to Allah ﷻ. It’s the same thing.
Similarly, personal success, again, is not a factor of the circumstances, but it’s a factor of the Ridha of Allah ﷻ.
The evidence of that is Yusuf Ali Salam.
A small boy is taken by his own brothers. They tried to kill him, throw him into a dry well.
By all factors, he should have died there itself. Throw a small four or five year old boy into a dry well, what will happen?
He’ll break his neck, he’ll break his back, he’ll break something, he’ll die. He did not die. Then he is pulled out of this well and he is sold into slavery. Now what is worse than slavery? Nothing. Slavery is the end. He is sold into slavery. Not only is that, it doesn’t even end with that. Then he is bought by somebody, and that somebody then makes a false allegation, against him, on his character. And even though that allegation is proven to be false, in public, still he is jailed. Think about it, why is he jailed? For what?
What did he do to go to jail? Because before going to jail, the allegation of that woman has been disproven. It’s been proven to be false. Still he goes to jail. And he is in this jail for? We don’t know. Be the Aseenian. Allah said, that can be up to nine years or more. Long period.
So all the circumstances that you are seeing in his life until that time, and by then he is almost 40 years old or around that.
So all the circumstances of his life until that time are circumstances of failure.
But he ends up as the ruler of Egypt. He is the king of Egypt.
He is the governor, ruler, whatever you want to call him. At the end of the day, he was the ruler. He was not the king. He is the ruler.
If success of your mission, with Yusuf Ali Salam, personal success,
if success of your mission, which obviously includes personal success,
if that was a factor of circumstances, then take the life of Rasulullah ﷺ. He announced his mission. Instantly he becomes the most unpopular person in Makkah. To the extent that he is unable to stay in his own motherland. Place where he was born. Place where his family and his tribe lived for centuries. And they were, not ordinary people. They were the caretakers of the Kaaba. So they had special status even there. Yet his life was threatened. His freedom was threatened by his own people, his own uncle, Abu’l-Ab.
We are talking about success of the mission. So and why did they do that? Because of mission.
Because of the mission, his mission, which is the mission of Islam. To bring Islam to those people.
Then he goes to Taif to try to get some help. And we know the whole story of Taif.
Not only is he refused, but he is abused, he is attacked, he is injured, he is bleeding, he is in pain.
Physical pain is one thing. Internal, emotional, imagine if I, for someone of stature, for someone of that level, to be insulted,
that pain is, you cannot compare that to any physical pain. It is so severe.
Sayyid Ayesha Siddiqur A.S. asked after the battle of Ahad where he was injured and so on. She asked him, which was the most difficult day of your life? He said, the day of Taif.
Taif.
Yes.
So that happens. Then we have Badr. Then before Badr, then he is expelled from his land.
We are talking about success or mission. This is the circumstances. And imagine, think about this. This is not just any mission. This is a mission given by Allah ﷻ. It is not something that he decided to do. You know, I start, I decide to have a start-up, I decide to start a business, I decide to do this or that. Inshallah, my intention is to do this or that. My intention is good. Inshallah, what I am doing is good. It is halal. Nothing wrong. But I cannot say, this was given to me by Allah ﷻ. No. It is my idea. Alhamdulillah, it is a good idea. Nothing wrong with that. We should do it. But I cannot claim or anybody cannot claim that this is a mission given to me by Allah ﷻ. It is not. But with the Rasool , it was given to him by Allah ﷻ.
So if anyone has a right, to expect the help of Allah, it is the Rasool ﷺ.
No, Amrur, you are the one who has the right. If it was with your help, your help would not have come. But never complain. Did he ever say that?
Did he ever say, Matar Rasool Allah, where is the help of Allah? He did not say this.
On the contrary, he said, Ya Allah, I will continue to work until You are pleased. Hatta Tarda.
Until You are pleased.
If you are pleased with me, it does not matter who is displeased.
If everybody is pleased with me, but you are displeased, then there is no point in doing this. And I will continue to work until You are pleased.
So he is expelled from his own land.
Then there is a little bit of respite. In this, you are not doing any good. of the leader. Then there is a battle, battle of Badr.
After that comes to Lahodeviya. Where is? Again? No, after that is Ohad. In Ohad, he is physically grievously injured. 70 of his closest companions, 70 of the Sahaba. Imagine that one friend, if a close friend of yours dies,
ordinary circumstances, whatever, you know, how sad we feel, how bad we feel, how depressed we feel.
70 of his, including Amzab and Abdul Muttalib.
People who helped him, people who literally gave their lives for him. 70 people died. How much he must have suffered. Salaam.
Then comes Suleyha Hodeviya. Where he is? Signing and agreeing to this treaty, which is one-sided, which is unfair.
So if all of these circumstances
were signs of success, then what do you say about the mission of our Sulaimha?
But we know, history is witness, present is witness.
That Islam did not die.
Islam has always been opposed. Today we feel, we feel sometimes, you know, anxious. Oh, what will happen? There is so much Islamophobia. They have, they have invented, they keep inventing new words. So they invented this word called Islamophobia.
There has always been opposition to Islam. Islamophobia. Always. For every Nabi. Tell me, which prophet was supported?
Every prophet was opposed.
And every prophet brought Islam. They didn’t bring anything new.
You call it phobia, call it what you want. End of the day, there has always been opposition for the truth. Falsehood has always attacked the truth. And the most truthful of the truthful are the prophets of the time. And so they were attacked. Their people were attacked. Their followers were attacked. This happened. Nothing new. Nothing to worry about and nothing to get anxious about. What we should be anxious about is, is Allah ﷻ pleased with me or not? Because if you look at all the stories of the prophets and Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
the result was success for the prophet. The result was success for the mission of the prophet.
Because Allah ﷻ is pleased with them. Ibrahim alayhi salam succeeded. Musa alayhi salam succeeded. Isa alayhi salam succeeded. Noah alayhi salam succeeded. Right? Everybody succeeded. Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam succeeded. There is no such thing as a Nabi who has failed. There is no such thing as a Nabi who has not succeeded.
Just as there is no such thing as a Nabi who did not face difficulty. Both are there. Except for Sheikh Sulaiman alayhi salam. Even Dawood alayhi salam faced difficulty. He fought in the war against Jalut.
His son Sulaiman alayhi salam, Allah ﷻ gave him, you know, the rida of Allah ﷻ. The mawadi of Allah ﷻ.
He didn’t suffer. But other than that,
I remind myself when you, that what we should focus on is, is Allah ﷻ pleased with me or not? And if there is difficulty in my life, then go back in your life and say, what is it I’m doing wrong? Otherwise, difficulty will not happen. This difficulty is happening to bring me back online.
Anything, whether it is sickness, whether it is financial difficulty, whether it is difficulty in the family, difficulty political, whatever. This is what, this was the way of the Sahaba. This was the way of the Ambiyans. Allah ﷻ said, any time they face difficulty, they went back in and said, this is not happening because of circumstances. Because, nothing has any power, nothing has any ability to do anything except Allah ﷻ. So if the difficulty is coming,
no musibat comes except with the hukum and reason and will and permission of Allah ﷻ.
So if I’m facing a difficulty, there is something I have done for which Allah ﷻ is putting this difficulty on me so that I correct myself, let me correct myself. Make istighfar and tawbah, change your life and you will find the difficulty will go away.
Because everything depends on the Ridha of Allah ﷻ. We ask Allah ﷻ to help us to work for His Ridha, to help us to do that which pleases Him, and to save us from what does not please Him. And may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the noble Prophet and his family and his companions. May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him and his family and his companions.