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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahirrabbilalamin. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah ﷺ, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain. Tasliman kaseeran kaseera. Fahmanni wadhu.
My brothers and sisters, alhamdulillah.
We have been given a religion by Allahﷻ which is good for all time.
Allah sent His book. Allahﷻ revealed His Kalam, which is good for all time. And He sent His messenger Muhammad ﷺ, whose life is an example for us, also for all time. Because Rasulullah ﷺ was sent as a messenger to all of mankind till the end of time.
This is the difference between the Rasulullah ﷺ and the other prophets before him. Because the other prophets were sent to specific people. Inna arsalna nuhan ila qawmi.
To his people.
And so also other messengers. Musa alayhi wasallam was sent to the Bani Israel. Isa alayhi wasallam was sent to the Bani Israel. And so forth. But Rasulullah ﷺ was sent for all of mankind. All of humankind until the end of time. The reason I say this and I remind myself of you is because
sometimes we forget this. And sometimes we make what Allahﷻ made ghair mahdood (unlimited). We make it mahdood (limited) because of our aqal (intellect). What Allahﷻ made without boundaries, we confine it within boundaries because of our brains, our intelligence. And we say this is for this time, that time, and that was an older time, and this is a newer time, and so on. None of this is true. It’s all false. And if we actually believe that, it’s a major issue as far as the Aqidah of Islam is concerned. So that, the life of Rasulullah ﷺ is an example for all people of all time. Now today we,
ideally speaking, we should take examples from the life of Rasulullah ﷺ for our lives, whether we are living in so-called good times or bad times. Right? Because the life of the Rasulullah ﷺ is not an example only for hardships. It’s also an example for the blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. If Allah has given you wealth and health, and He has given you influence and families and what not, and if you ask how should I live in all of this beauty, and all of this peace and harmony, and all of this wealth that I am surrounded with, where will you look for the example? In the life of Rasulullah ﷺ. Right? The example of the Rasulullah ﷺ is an example for all times. But may Allah, there are many examples for us; we only think of Allah when there is trouble. If there is trouble, we remember Allah. If we have plenty, we are too busy enjoying that. We don’t think of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, we don’t think of the Rasul. We think of Him only when there is a problem. So that is why Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala also sends us problems. So we keep Him, we always keep remembering. But think about it like this also. If we did not, if we remembered Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala in times of goodness, then maybe times of hardship would not come to us. Because, remembering Allah all the time draws us close to Him. And if you are far away, then Allah removes the reason you are far away. You are far away because of well-being, so remove that well-being, then you come back to Allah. May Allah have mercy on us so we come to the time of Nisa Salam. So today again we say okay, we are living in difficult times. I’ve said this many times before, I’ll say it many times again: these times of so-called difficulty are nothing; they are less than nothing compared to the difficulties that this Ummah, the Muslims, have gone through. Alhamdulillah and come out. If you read history right, if you read history, there have been times which are compared to today—I mean, there is no comparison. They are so terrible.
Yet, Alhamdulillah, Muslims lived through them, and Muslims came out of those times victorious.
And the reason is because of following the Sunnah of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So, even for these times, the life of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is the best example. So, if you ask, what shall I do today? Look in the Seerah of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now, one of the periods of the Seerah, the other day also I mentioned this, that we can compare—not compare directly as in point by point, but compare in terms of conditions and so on—and how Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam handled those conditions. It is the Makkan period of his life, 13 years. 13 years is not a small period. 13 years is a very long period. 13 years, 13 years of hardship, of difficulty in Makkah, where Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam went through this. And as I mentioned, if you read the Seerah, you will see that those 13 years were a time of escalating difficulty. Each year in those 13 years was more difficult than the other, until it came to practically the last year. During that period, the two people who were dearest to Rasulullah ﷺ passed away: Our mother Khadija al-Kubra and Abu Talib, the uncle of Rasulullah ﷺ, who loved him and who supported him throughout his life. These two people who were closest to him, who were the most beloved, they both passed away. And to the extent this affected Rasulullah ﷺ so severely and he was so sad that in history, this year is called Aam al-Huzan. It’s called the Year of Sadness. The year itself was given a name, Aam al-Huzan, the Year of Sadness. And that was the year in which Allah ﷻ also called Rasulullah ﷺ to Himself, where He gave him the miracle and the blessing of Miraj. One of the… Of course, Allah ﷻ knows the reasons, but from what the Mufassirin and the scholars tell us, one of the reasons was to relieve the sadness in the heart of Rasulullah ﷺ. That Allah ﷻ called him on this celestial journey and He called him to Himself, and He showed him His signs. سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسَرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرْيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ (سورة الإسراء: 1)
Allah ﷻ mentioned this in the first Ayat of Surah Al-Isra, Surah Bani Israel, and mentioned this miracle and the incident of Mi’raj. So we look in the life of Rasulullah ﷺ and we say during this whole period—and then of course through his entire life—but I’m saying specifically to this period. A period when he was personally persecuted, he was physically harmed, he was emotionally harmed where his followers, some of them were actually killed; there were many of them who were tortured, they were in a state of great hardship. What is the central theme in their lives if we look at it? Because they were following Rasulullah ﷺ, so if you see the theme in the life of the Prophet ﷺ, he ﷺ was in a state of great hardship. So if you see the theme in the life of the Prophet ﷺ, you’re looking at the theme in the life of Muhammad ﷺ. What was the central theme in their lives? And that central theme was the complete and total Yaqeen on Allah ﷻ. Now think about this in this sense that to have Yaqeen when things are going your way is not difficult. We say Allah is all-powerful and everything is happening according to how I want, and I believe Allah is very powerful. Alhamdulillah. But if I say Allah is all-powerful, nothing happens without the will of Allah, la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah, and I find that in my life there is difficulty after difficulty, there is illness, there is sadness, there is accident, there is loss, and I’m saying Allah is all-powerful, I believe in Allah, but my life is going upside down, then is the test. Then is the test because what does logic tell? Logic tells us: if I believe that Allah is all-powerful, I believe in Allah, whatever challenges there are, but that does not mean the mind is not divine. The more you believe that Allah is all-powerful, the more you should realize He is by nature free from any imperfections like a knife; that is His perfection. Do you believe this is the story that we are getting at? You do not believe upon yourselves that Allah or people are better than Him. This is what seems to be reflected in our lives. Where, when difficulties come, we start running here and there.
Either we go materially and personally to try and solve issues, going to this person or that person, or we go superstitiously to this place or that place.
This is what we have to understand. The Sahaba did not do this. The Prophet did not do this. Their continued focus was on Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala alone. I mentioned the issue of the incident of Taif and how the Prophet’s dua after whatever happened in Taif—his dua is what? His dua is, “Ya Allah, if You are not pleased and the whole world is pleased, it doesn’t matter. I will continue to work until You are pleased.” If You are pleased and the whole world is not pleased, I don’t care. Because You are pleased. Ridha of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
So I remind myself and you: let us focus on that. So therefore what must we do? We must look at our lives and say, what is it, what is there in my life which is perhaps displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala? And it’s not so much a question of perhaps we know what it is. We don’t need any fatwa from the Mufti to know what is going wrong in our lives. Let us look at our own lives and say, what is going wrong in my life? What am I doing in my life which Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala does not like? Which is displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, which is against the Sunnah of Rasulullah s.a.w. And correct that.
This is what a Sahaba is. What is to do?
If anything went wrong, they would make Istighfar and Tawbah. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned this.
Surah An-Nuh, Nuh alayhi salam is telling his people, “Go make Istighfar to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. He is the one who forgives you.”
He will send you rain. You are suffering from drought. You are suffering from hardship.
Allah will send you rain. From the skies: Yursilus-sama’a ‘alaykum midrara. Bayum didukum bi amwalin wabaneen. And He will do Madad for you. He will help you with wealth and with children, with influence and family and so on.
Fa ja’alakum jannatin wa ya’alakum manaran. And He will give you gardens and He will give you rivers.
But condition is, faqul tu istaghfiru rabbaka. Go make Istighfar. Ask the forgiveness of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. So I remind myself and you, let us look at our own lives. Let us see what we are doing, which is perhaps displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. And let us correct our lives. This is the lesson from the Seerah of Rasulullah s.a.w. I remind myself and you, let us think about that. Let us do it. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to accept it. We ask Allah to forgive us. We ask Allah to make it easy for us. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala not to test us. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to keep us in a state of Istighfar, in a state of steadfastness, until we meet Him, Jalla Jalaluhu. Wa sallallahu ala nabil kareem, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain, bi rahmatik ya’at marraha. Al Fatiha.