Reliance Upon God

Alhamdulillah, another great blessing upon us from Allah ﷻ to allow us to send blessings on His Prophet ﷺ.

And if Allah ﷻ did not want good for us, He would not allow us to engage in an act that is beloved to Him ﷻ , especially an act that He participates Himself in, ﷻ , which is in sending blessings on the Prophet ﷺ. Regarding what's going on in the world right now, there's two very beautiful verses in Surah Tawbah that I was reading earlier and I just wanted to share them.

Allah ﷻ talks about the believers in a very difficult situation, in a situation of war in which many of them were killed and many of them lost their lives. And Allah ﷻ commands them to say, and commands the Prophet and by extension the believers, قُلْ لَيُصِيبَنَا إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَّنَا هُوَ مَوْلَانًا And piece by piece He says, Say, nothing will ever afflict us except for that which Allah has written for us. And this really beautiful subtlety here is that if Allah ﷻ wanted to say that this was written against them, it would be كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا That what Allah has decreed against us.

But He didn't say that. He says what Allah has decreed in our favour for us. لَيُصِيبَنَا إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَّنَا Nothing will afflict us except for that which Allah has written in our favour.

He is our minister. وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ And upon Allah let the believers put their trust. Second verse, قُلْ هَلْ تَرَبَّصُونَ بِنَا إِلَّا إِحْدَى الْحُسْنَيَينَ Say, O Prophet ﷺ and the other believers, to those who are in your opposition, are you waiting to happen to us anything except for the two greatest things that could ever happen? Either victory or martyrdom.

Victory or paradise for eternity. And this is the type of belief that they went into these battles with. That they understood that they had the connection to the Messenger ﷺ and they had this connection to Allah ﷻ, حَبْلِ اللَّهِ الْمَتِينِ the greatest stronghold, the greatest أَرْضَةِ الْوَثْقَةِ the greatest thing to hold on to, which is the word of Allah ﷻ. And that regardless of the outward outcome, they are winners.

They are victorious. Either in this world, and their ultimate victory is delayed, or in the next world as well. And then he says, وَنَحْنُ نَتَّرَبَّصُكُمْ أَيُّصِيبَكُمُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابٍ عِنْدِي أَوْ بِأَيْدِينَ And then outwardly, you are all waiting for one of two outcomes as well, but in a completely different way.

So the believers, they have these two things. First, what is our perception of what's going on? Even though we would say that there is an atrocity, or there is a calamity, or a tribulation, or there is oppression. And for the believer, that their affair is always good.

Because Allah ﷻ has a wisdom for them. And if we keep the hereafter in the equation, these are the greatest of people. These are the people who have attained the highest level of success.

And this reminds me of just one story, really quickly. One of the companions, and maybe the teachers can remind me of his name. It's not coming to me right now.

I believe it's Huwaitha, but I could be mistaken. He was brought in front of one of the kings, who was very oppressive at the time. And he was brought into the court of the king.

And he was encouraged to leave the religion of the Prophet ﷺ. And after he refused, and they tried him in many different ways, the king made some sort of vats of oil, and boiled it, and threatened to throw him in. And then after this very stoic kind of standing, patiently through all these tribulations, he started to cry. So the king thought he broke him.

So he says, Oh, so now you're crying. And the companion, he explained that the reason why I'm crying, is because I only have one soul. And that I wish that I had a thousand souls, that I can be thrown each time, into this vat of oil, for the sake of Allah ﷻ. And this is the types of people, that the Qur'an imbibes, and mixed with their flesh, and mixed with their hearts, this is the type of person it produces.

So the king said, allowed him to go with one condition, that he kiss the forehead of the king. And the companion, he was smart, he said, okay. He kissed the forehead of the king, and him and all the other captives were released, and Sayyiduna Umar instructed every other believer in Medina, to kiss the forehead of this companion, for what he did for them.

So we ask Allah ﷻ, to give us ease and well-being in this world, and to relieve the difficulty of all the Muslims, especially our brothers and sisters in Palestine, and other places in the world. We also ask Allah ﷻ, for this type of tawakkul, and this type of strong yaqeen and certitude, that nothing that happens in this world, could ever distract us from our ultimate goal, which is to be in the presence of Allah ﷻ, for absolute eternity, next to the Prophet ﷺ.