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My brothers and sisters, we were talking about the ways of dealing with difficulties and living in times of stress. We talked about what Rasulullah ﷺ advised us and he said, do not say the word if. Whatever Allahﷻ decreed is what will happen. Whatever Allahﷻ decreed is the best that could happen. And we accept the decree of Allahﷻ and we are pleased with the decree of Allahﷻ. Rida bil Khada.
The second thing he said is, do not complain. Don’t look for nukhus. Don’t look for the nakhs in the thing. Don’t focus on what you don’t have. Don’t focus on faults. Because you will see whatever you focus on. So if you focus on something which is not there, you will only see that. And you will not be grateful for what Allah has given. So he said, focus on what we have. And that is very important to focus on, what we have, not on what we don’t have. To thank Allahﷻ and to thank the people, this is very, very important. And the, Allahﷻ also mentioned in Surah Ibrahim, where He said, لَا يَنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَا عَزِيذًا لَكُمْ وَلَا يَنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ أَذَابِهِ لَشَدِيدٌ (the one who is thankful, I will increase my blessing for him. And the one who is ungrateful, let him beware that my punishment is severe).
I remind myself and you that the key to happiness is gratitude. Research shows, they actually did an experiment in UCLA, in University of California, with people, people who were chronically depressed. The experiment was, they gave them what they call the gratitude diary. The task given to them was, every morning when you get up, write down ten things that you have to be grateful for. Ten things you have for which you are grateful. It can be the same ten things every day, but write. Write.
I remember in Pune once, I was there teaching some course and I met another consultant. And he told me that his job was, he was a counselor for, he said, my clientele is all children of super wealthy people. So I said, what do they suffer from? He said, depression. I had this girl recently, one of my patients, who was on the point of committing suicide because her father bought her a sports Mercedes, sports model, Mercedes. And it was the wrong color. It was not the color she wanted, some other color. So she gets a brand new… Mercedes sports. And she is, goes into despair because it is the wrong color. Yeah, inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon (for whatever we have received). That is the level of ungratefulness that becomes its own curse. So gratitude in itself is a blessing. Being thankful in itself is a blessing. And the opposite. Being ungrateful in itself is a curse. Quite apart from whatever punishment, may Allah save us from that. Imam Hassan al-Basir Ahmad Tullali once passed by a man who was complaining to another man about his problems. Whatever he had, he was complaining. So Hassan al-Basir Ahmad Tullali stopped there and he said to him, how strange is the one who complains about Ar-Rahman to someone who has a problem. How strange is the one who complains about Ar-Rahman The other man is a human being. What Rahman does he have? He said, how strange is the man who complains about Ar-Rahman to somebody who has no Rahman. Because whatever happens to us, happens because Allah chose it for us. Right? Whatever it is. If I have a headache, it is because Allah wanted me to have a headache at this time. Alhamdulillah. This is what my Rabb wanted. This is what Allah wants for me. And Allah said, In the hand of Allah is only goodness. So it means that this headache is goodness. It’s not something I have to get sad about or something I have to despair about. This is good for me. Alhamdulillah. I may not understand exactly how good it is. And if it is paining, it is paining. But there is something beneficial in that headache.
And even without, you know, I don’t need to have some pain. Sixth Sense or something. But Nabi said that Pain is a way in which Allah forgives sins. Alhamdulillah. We ask Allah to forgive our sins without the pain. I always make this point. You don’t need to give us this. But if that is our Qadar, it’s our Qadar. In one hadith, Nabi said, If Allah wants to give His slave Jannah and He has not done enough good deeds or He has not done the right kind of things to get Jannah, then Allah will put him into difficulties. Allah will give him suffering. Allah will give him illness. Allah will give him something which causes him pain and then He forgives all his sins. So the man gets Jannah. Now whatever pain or whatever thing he got was obviously in this life it is temporary. Nothing in this life is permanent. And he gets Jannah. Now contrast that with what the Quran itself says about those who are not just evil but rebellious beyond all consideration. Like we are seeing some people today in this world. They are evil as no ending. Right? So you say what is going to happen to this person? If you look at those people, all of them are in positions of great power and great wealth. So you can ask yourself and people who don’t understand, they will obviously ask themselves, how is it that if goodness gets goodness and if evil gets bad results, then how is it that these people who are so evil, who are so bad and so obviously bad, how is it that they have so much wealth and so much power and so much authority and so on and so on. How is it? Somebody asked Imam Shafi this question. Imam Shafi recited the ayat of Surah Al-Anaam where Allah mentions this specifically. Arabic And Allah said that when they increase in their transgression and they break all boundaries and they do not listen and they don’t turn back. Then Allah says Arabic So what Allah does is He doesn’t give them a thab. He doesn’t catch them. Allah says, we open on them all the doors of everything in this world. He gives them more money and more wealth and more authority. And then Allah says when they are completely engrossed and immersed in enjoyment of those things, we catch them. Immediately. Arabic And then they are broken in spirit. They do not even get time to make this thab. That is denied to them. The doors of Hidayah have been shut. So Imam Shafi said when you see an evil person not being caught by Allah when you see the evil person apparently has freedom, has wealth, it is a sign that the doors of Hidayah have been shut. For that person. That person will not get Hidayah. May Allah save us from this.
So when we complain we are saying that we don’t like what Allah chose for us. Now what’s the point of complaining to people? What can they do anyway? They cannot change your situation. They cannot, even if they want to help you. There may be people who are genuinely your friends. They genuinely want to help you. They cannot help you. They are human. They have got limitations. So complainers become the objects of pity. And eventually they become a source of irritation. People don’t want to meet you. Every time they meet you, you are complaining. Sometimes people have this thing where especially elderly people, and this is advice for people of my age. So when you are an older person, you find that you know your younger relatives, maybe your grandchildren, maybe your nieces, nephews, they don’t come to see you that often and so on. So a lot of older people have this habit. When they do come, the first thing out of their mouth is Where were you all these days? They don’t even turn and ask. They don’t even come. How long has it been? Oh! Now they have come. There is no danger. They haven’t come since so long. So where were you? You never think of me. You never come. The fact that he has come now. So appreciate that. Because what happens is, every time somebody comes, you only complain. Then he won’t come at all. Then what do you do? So appreciate. If somebody is doing something good, say Alhamdulillah. So nice to see you. Wonderful. That’s it. There is no need to complain. You didn’t come. For what? What are they going to do?
One of my favourite stories, and I will end with that, is that of Mahmud Ghaznavi. The ruler of Ghazni in Afghanistan. And his favourite slave, Ayaz. Ayaz was his slave. He was also his very close friend and advisor. He was a very wise man. So they were, both of them were sitting on top of the terrace of Mahmud Ghaznavi’s palace. And Mahmud Ghaznavi was sitting on his chair and Ayaz was sitting at his feet. And Mahmud had a cucumber in his hand. And he was cutting this cucumber, slicing and giving it to Ayaz. And Ayaz was eating it and they were talking, whatever they were talking. Until finally there was only one piece, the last slice of cucumber which was left with Mahmud. And Mahmud put it in his mouth to eat. And then, that cucumber was like poison. It was extremely bitter. Sometimes these cucumbers are bitter. They are very bitter. So, he spat it, he threw it and you know, then he said to Ayaz, I gave you the whole cucumber, slice after slice. You kept on eating it. You never told me it is bitter. Even from your facial expression, I could not make out that you, it was bitter. Obviously, you didn’t like it. Why didn’t you tell me? Why were you eating it? I don’t expect you to eat something bitter. Why didn’t you tell me?
He said to him, he said, Your Majesty, I was so conscious about who was giving it to me that the taste of the thing had no value for me. It didn’t matter to me, whatever it is. It doesn’t matter. I am so conscious of who is giving it. Whose hand is it? I had so much sense of it that what is it? I don’t know what it is. It doesn’t matter. Who is giving? Who is giving us? Rabbul Aalameen. Rabbul Ashil Kareem. And then we complain? Say, Alhamdulillah. Never complain. Alhamdulillah. Alakulli haal. In this way, in the context of shukur is also to thank the people through whom we receive the blessings of Allah. The Rasool Allah said, Ma lam yashkurillah lam yashkurinnas. The one who has not thanked Allah the one who has not thanked the people has not thanked Allah. He has not thanked Allah, the one who has not thanked the people. So if you have not thanked the people, you have not thanked Allah. So whoever does anything good, thanking them is part of our Islamic akhlaq. And the Prophet made taqid on this. And he said, thank the people. And if you do not thank people, it means that you have not thanked Allah. And Allah told us, if we don’t thank Him, it’s a cause of worry for us. So we ask Allah to help us to be from the shakireen, from people who are thankful and to express our gratitude to our parents, our teachers, our families, our friends, the people who work for us, our servants. How many times do we thank our servants for coming and working for us? We think we give them a salary, that’s enough. Why should I say thank you? No. It’s very important. Thank them. Because if one day they don’t come, you feel the difference. But they come, they work for us, they serve us, they clean after us, you know, all kinds of things. Alhamdulillah. So, thank them. Whoever it is. We ask Allah to make us among His thankful slaves. We ask Allah to always help us to be thankful for all that He gives us and all that He protects us from. Wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ala nabil kareem wa ala ilayhi wa sahbihi al-mahmood wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.