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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. Wasalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasulullah ﷺ, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasleeman kathiran kathiraan. Fadlamadu.
My brothers and sisters, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, *Innama al-hayatu ad-dunya illa mata’u al-ghurur*. Allah said the life of this world is only a deception. The thing to understand and remind ourselves, which I remind myself anew, is that appearances in this dunya are deceptive. What appears to be good and desirable may not necessarily be good and desirable. I am not saying every time it is good and desirable there is something wrong; no, but it’s not a rule. Similarly, something which seems to be negative may not be negative. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned this in the Quran many times.
For example, in Surah Al-Kahf, the three incidents with Musa alayhi salam and Khidr alayhi salam are examples of this. Something which on the face of it seems to be negative is actually positive. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala also mentioned the story of Yusuf alayhi salam. If you take the whole story of the life of Yusuf alayhi salam, the small child is thrown into a well, into a dry well by his own brothers. So it’s a negative thing. Then he is taken out of the well but sold into slavery. So it’s like from the frying pan into the fire. That’s even worse. Then he is sold into slavery and then in that slavery period he is falsely accused. He is innocent but he is falsely accused. And even though the falsehood is proven, even though it is proven that his accusation was false, he still goes to jail. Where is the justice in this? His accusation, the fact that it was all cooked up by the women, was clear before he went to jail. Even before that. Despite that he went to jail. And he stayed in this jail for a long time. Several years.
Take the case of Ibrahim. Right from the beginning, his father throws him out of the house. Then the people of the place where he was living, they throw him into the fire. And then he is going from place to place to place. The mother, Allah tells her, put him into a basket and throw him into the Nile. Negative. Is that a way of saving anybody? The mother is worried, my child might be killed. So Allah says, put him into a basket, throw him into the Nile. The Nile is famous for the Nile crocodiles. It has some of the biggest crocs in the world. Now imagine how Allahﷻ, what is Allahﷻ trying to show us? Not only is he thrown into the Nile, but Allahﷻ makes sure that the one person who should not catch him, it goes straight into his lap. And even there, there is no deception. It’s not as if the Pharaoh found the baby. Okay, nice baby. No, no, no. He knows exactly. His astrologers tell him, this is the one. You killed 70,000, God knows how many poor innocent children were slaughtered. But all of that was, they were all innocent. This is the one that you were trying to find. He is here, in your hands.
Now all of these stories, we know the result. Alhamdulillah. Allahﷻ showed us what happened to Yusuf ﷺ. Allahﷻ showed us what happened to Ibrahim ﷺ. To Musa ﷺ. Take Nabi ﷺ case. Father passed away before he was born. Mother passes away when he is about maybe five years old. And that also, she dies on the road between Mecca and Medina. He is alone with the slave girl, Ummayman R.A. She is the only person who knew and who saw Rasulullah S.A.W. from the day he was born to the day he died. Nobody else. Only one person. So he is there. Then people come, a caravan comes, they bury his mother, and they take him back to Mecca. He is with his grandfather. For a couple of years, grandfather dies. All supports, all supports, one by Allahﷻ takes away, cancels. Then he is with his uncle for a while, uncle dies. Allahﷻ gives him a beautiful wife, and the unfortunate year is called the year of sadness. One after the other, one after the other. But Allah is showing us what is the result. The result of Rasulullah’s difficulties that he passed through and these and others.
You’ve got a billion and a half people today, 1500 years later, who say Ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah. What more do you want in terms of popularity or whatever you call it? The opposition to him, salallahu alayhi salam, the opposition to his religion has not decreased. It has been there from day one. So people are not worried. Sometimes people get worried and what will happen with Islamophobia. Islamophobia has been there from the day Islam came. Literally from the minute. When Prophet salallahu alayhi salam stood on Safa and he called the people, he said, *Wah Subaha*, he called the people, come. What did he say? His own uncle, Abu Lahab, what did he say? He said, may your hand be broken. You called us here for this? You tell us about this? You called us here for this? So opposition started from the word go. So nothing to worry about. We say Alhamdulillah.
Because the reality is also the one who genuinely looks into Islam with the intention. The key thing is there should be the desire for Hidayah. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala always gives hidayah. The proof that Allah always gives hidayah is the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala sent this kitab, Udal linnas, hidayah for all humanity. So nobody can say, I did not get hidayah. No. You did not accept the hidayah. That’s a different issue. Hidayah was given to you. Guidance was provided. Guidance was given. You didn’t accept the hidayah. You rejected it. Your choice. But if there is genuine seeking in the heart, genuine guidance, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala always gives.
So I remind myself and you that when we see conditions, and we are seeing today, Alhamdulillah, Allah has kept us very safe from whatever, whatever is happening. Even the fighting now seems to have calmed down. Let’s see what happens. Inshallah, we ask Allah for safety and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for peace and harmony and justice. But wherever there is, there are people who are actually involved, so they are suffering. The thing to understand and remember is that none of that shows any weakness as far as Islam is concerned. Alhamdulillah, we have the deen, *Deenu-l-Haqq*, *li-yuzhirahu ala ad-dini kulli*, *wa kafabil lahi shahida*. You heard the ayat in the recitation: *Huwa al-lazee arsala rasoolahu bil huda’ wa deenil haqqi liyuzhirahu ala ad-dini kulli, wa kafabil lahi shahida*. He is the one who sent his Rasool ﷺ with guidance and with the Deen of Truth so that this will become ghalib upon every other deen. This will become the preferred religion, the preferred way of life of everyone in the world. And Allah is enough as a witness.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said this open challenge. And the meaning of ghalib does not mean that, you know, oppressively murdering people or… No, this means this will be so clear that this is the most beautiful way of living that people will adopt it. If you look at the world today, people are suffering, people are crying out because this whole system, the capitalist system and the communist system, the two major systems, that are there, both of them have collapsed. Both of them have proven to be completely and totally false and negative. This entire consumerist society is based on lies. And this is clear. You don’t have to convince anybody. Anyone with half a brain understands this today. Everyone knows this. Nobody is happy. I’m not talking about Muslims. Nobody is happy. I speak to Christians. I speak to Jews. I speak to Hindus. I have… Everybody is in the same situation. No one is happy. And they say, what is the solution? The solution is Islam. And Allahﷻ is showing this to us in very clear ways. Alhamdulillah. So we ask Allahﷻ to keep us on Islam, keep us strong, and make us those who will show Islam and demonstrate Islam in our lives. Not only talk about that. Demonstrate Islam in our lives. Because the whole point is this. If you think it is so good, how come you don’t practice it? Right? This is a legitimate question. Nobody can ask you.
So talking is not enough. We have to also practice in our lives. We ask Allah to enable us to do that in a way that pleases Him. Wassalamu alaikum. Wa ala nabiyyil kareem. Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi al-mayn. Bi rahmatik ya Rabbi. Allahumma sallim. Al Fatiha.