Khutba on the Wisdom in Tribulation

الحَمْدُ للهِ، الحَمْدُ للهِ الذي جعل الدنيا دارَ الفتنةِ والبلاءِ، ليمتحنَ بها قلوبَ المومنين والفقراء، ويرى من كان منهم يُلقَّاها بالصبرِ والرضا، نَحْمَدُهُ تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، مَنْ يَهْدِ اللهُ فلا مضل له، ومَنْ يُضلِلْ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ، ونَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ  وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ، له الملك وله الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير، ونشْهَدُ أَنَّ سَيِّدَنَا ومولانا مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُه وَرَسُولُهُ، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدّى الأمانة ونصح الأمّة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحقّ، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعَلَى آلِهِ وأَصْحابِهِ ومَنْ تَبِعَهم بإِحْسانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّيْنِ.  أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَيَا عِبَادَ اللهِ اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون، يا أيها الذين آمنوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا، يُصْلِحْ لَكُم أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا، يا أيها المسلمون اتقوا الله فيما أوصى وأمر، وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر. قال الشارع:

فَطَوَى الأَرْضَ سَائِرَاً وَالسَّمَوَا * تُ الْعَلاَ فَوْقَهَا لَهُ إِسْرَاءُ

فَصِفِ اللَّيْلَةَ الَّتِي كَانَ لِلْمُخْـ * ـتَارِ فِيهَا عَلَى الْبُرَاقِ اسْتِوَاءُ

وَتَرَقَّى بِهِ إِلَى قَابِ قَوْسَيْـ * ـنِ وَتِلْكَ السِّيَادَةُ الْقَعْسَاءُ

رُتَبٌ تَسْقُطُ الأَمَانِيُّ حَسْرَى * دُونَهَا مَا وَرَاءَهُنَّ وَرَاءُ
ثُمَّ وَافَى يُحَدِّثُ النَّاسَ شُكْرَاً * إِذْ أَتَتْهُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ النَّعْمَاءُ

وَتَحَدَّى فَارْتَابَ كُلُّ مُرِيبٍ * أَوَ يَبْقَى مَعَ السُّيُولِ الْغُثَاءُ

“He travelled over great tracts of the earth,
and traversed the heavens above in his Night Journey.
So praise the night in which 
the Chosen One sat upon the Buraq.
And ascended on it to two bow-lengths away –
that is the established dominion.
He ascended to ranks people do not even aspire to
in their wildest hopes, and what was behind them was behind them.
Then, in gratitude he told his people
of the great blessing from his Lord,
And challenged them. Thereupon, every one with doubt in his heart doubted him,
for does scum remain after a torrent of water has swept past.
These are the words of the Hamziyya of Imam al-Busayri relating to the Night Journey, and they highlight and indicate one of its great purposes, namely to purify the Umma and remove any weakness so that it was fit for the task at hand. So that it was fit to fulfil the purpose for which Allah had created it, to establish the greatest society and community man had ever seen, a shining beacon of light and justice to provide guidance and instruction for the people of the age and the people yet to come. For Allah describes them, saying,

كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ

the translation of which is, “You are the best community ever to be produced before mankind. You enjoin the right, forbid the wrong and have belief in Allah.”. And they were only that, they were only this great nation because of the purges and purifications they had been made to endure, the trials and tribulations that had tested them in their bodies and tested them in their belief. The times when you are close to defeat and seem to be hanging on with your fingertips and the times of great openings  and accomplishment when you feel like you have finally arrived – each can be as dangerous as the other. Such times have the potential to uplift us and take us to new heights, but equally they have the potential to set us back significantly if we fail to see them for what they are and take them in the wrong way. This is the way with most of the times in our lives that are truly momentous and meaningful – the moments of great opportunity are also the moments that pose the greatest danger. These can, on the surface, appear to be great blessings and incredible miracles and they can appear to be great losses and unbearable tragedies. But they have the potential to be both, at an individual and a societal level. They are hidaya and fitna, two sides of the same coin, depending upon the state of a person’s heart when they confront them. Allah says,

أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَنْ يُتْرَكُوا أَنْ يَقُولُوا آَمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ

the translation of which is, “Does mankind truly think that he will be left to say, ‘We believe’, and not be tested? We tested those before them so that Allah would know the truthful and would know the liars.” One event can affect different people on different ways – it can increase them in certainty or fill their hearts with doubt. It can reveal what is truly in the heart and show whether someone is truly sincere in what they claim or not. Without such events, it would be impossible to know, it would be impossible to separate the sincere from the insincere, those who are working for Allah from those who are working against him, the wheat from the chaff.
The whole of this life is a test, even the things that happen to us that seem the most insignificant and innocuous, even those things that outwardly seem to be blessings, like the Laylat al-Isra, a tremendous honour and blessing for this Umma and its Prophet, but the cause of many of those ruled by doubt leaving the deen. Every situation is an opportunity to either take a step towards Allah or away from Him, every situation. So we must learn to extract their benefit. If we suffer a loss or everything seems to be going against us, we must realise that our Lord is doing this to us for a reason and that there is hikma in His every action. If we are believers, then it is not punishment, it is care and concern. The Prophet said,

عَجَبًا لأمرِ المؤمنِ إِنَّ أمْرَه كُلَّهُ لهُ خَيرٌ وليسَ ذلكَ لأحَدٍ إلا للمُؤْمنِ إِنْ أصَابتهُ سَرَّاءُ شَكَرَ فكانتْ خَيرًا لهُ وإنْ أصَابتهُ ضَرَّاءُ صَبرَ فكانتْ خَيرًا لهُ

“How amazing is the affair of the the believer! His entire affair brings him good, and that is true of no one but the believer. When something joyous happens to him, he is thankful, – thereby making it good for him; and when something distressing happens to him, he endures it with steadfastness, – thereby making it good for him.” Allah wants to remove our complacency and strengthen our resolve. And He wants to protect us from the detrimental effects of things in this world that are hidden from us. If we receive blessing after blessing and never suffer any hardships or setbacks, then we may start to take it for granted and feel that it is our due. We may come to rely on those blessings to such an extent that they come to define who we are. We may start to abuse them and use them to lord it over the people of this world in a manner that is displeasing to Allah, as Qarun did when he said about his huge wealth, 

إِنَّمَا أُوتِيتُهُ عَلَى عِلْمٍ عِندِي

“I have only been given it because of knowledge I possess.” This dunya can pose the same danger to us. Allah says,

وَلَوْ بَسَطَ اللَّهُ الرِّزْقَ لِعِبَادِهِ لَبَغَوْا فِي الأَرْضِ وَلَكِن يُنَزِّلُ بِقَدَرٍ مَّا يَشَاءُ إنَّهُ بِعِبَادِهِ خَبِيرٌ بَصِيرٌ

the translation of which is, “Were Allah to expand the provision of His slaves, they would act as tyrants on the earth. But He sends down whatever He wills according to its qadar. He fully knows and sees His slaves.” Allah knows each and every one of us better than ourselves, and such is His concern for us, the muminun, that the tests He sets for us are ones that He knows we can bear. For those that He knows cannot bear wealth, He tests them with hardship and poverty and purifies their hearts in that way, and for those that He knows cannot bear poverty, He tests them with great wealth and purifies their hearts in that way. In a hadith qudsi, Allah says,

إن من عبادي المؤمنين لمن يسألني الباب من العبادة فأكفه عنه أن لا يدخله عجب فيفسده ذلك، وإن من عبادي المؤمنين لمن لا يصلح إيمانه إلا الغنى ولو أفقرته لأفسده ذلك، وإن من عبادي المؤمنين لمن لا يصلح إيمانه إلا الفقر ولو أغنيته لأفسده ذلك، وإن من عبادي المؤمنين لمن لا يصلح إيمانه إلا الصحة ولو أسقمته لأفسده ذلك، وإن من عبادي المؤمنين لمن لا يصلح إيمانه إلا السقم ولو أصححته لأفسده ذلك، إني أدبر أمر عبادي بعلمي بقلوبهم إني عليم خبير 

“There are believers who ask Me to enable them to do a particular act of worship, but I prevent them from doing it so that they will not feel-satisfied and become corrupt as a result. There are believers the soundness of whose belief is contingent upon their having wealth, and were I to make them poor would become corrupt. There are believers the soundness of whose belief is contingent upon their being poor, and were I to make them wealthy would become corrupt. There are believers the soundness of whose belief is contingent upon their being healthy, and were I to make them sick would become corrupt. And there are believers the soundness of whose belief is contingent upon their being sick, and were I to make them healthy would become corrupt. I plan the affair of My slaves according to My knowledge. I am All-Knowing, All-Aware.” 
But it is only those whose hearts are one with Allah that benefit, all others succumb. They are corrupted by wealth and poverty alike. They fail every test – a situation that brings greater certainty to the mumin simply brings them further doubt. They cannot see past the means to the source, and so the means becomes everything. They measure their success by what happens to them in this world, by the material they accumulate. When they acquire plenty of it they feel smug and self-satisfied, and when they are denied it, they feel bitter, wronged and resentful. They even think that their material success is a sign of their Lord’s love for them. Allah says,

فَأَمَّا الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَأَكْرَمَهُ وَنَعَّمَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَكْرَمَنِي, وَأَمَّا إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَهَانَنِي كَلَّا

the translation of which is, “As for man, when his Lord tests him by honouring him and favouring him, he says, ‘My Lord has honoured me!’ But then when He tests him by restricting his provision, he says, ‘My Lord has humiliated me!’ No indeed!” Material success is meaningless in the eyes of Allah unless it is used as a means to further the ends of the deen, to strengthen the position of the Muslims. Having it does not mean that Allah loves you, many of the people of wealth will be in the lowest levels of the Hell-Fire, and lacking it does not mean that He has forsaken or mistreated you, some of the great Companions were poor such as Sayyidina Ali. And the reverse is also true, many of the great Companions who were promised the Garden were wealthy, and many of those who are most bitter and misguided are poor. In the end, it is only a test to see who is worthy of being in the party of Allah. Allah does not look to what is in our hands but what is in our hearts. That is the wealth that truly matters. The Prophet said,

إن الغنى غنى القلب وإن الفقر فقر القلب

“True wealth is the wealth of the heart and true poverty is the poverty of the heart.” That is the currency that Allah accepts and that you can take with you into the grave, That is the currency with which you can buy yourself passage to the Next World and experience its delights. That is the currency of the mumin, the only currency that you can use in the Souq of the Garden.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيم

الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته. قال الله تعالى في كتابه العزيز: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ

Allah says in His Mighty Book, the translation of which is, “O you who believe, seek help in sabr and in the prayer. Allah is with those who have sabr.” Even when we know that the hardships we face are a sign of our Lord’s care and concern for us, it can still be difficult for us to bear them and not be overcome. We are human beings with all of the weaknesses of human beings. We get emotional, we forget, life can consume us. The immediate grief that we feel often clouds us and prevents us from seeing the bigger picture. And so our Lord helps us – He gives us a quality that makes it so much easier to deal with these things – He grants us sabr – fortitude, the capacity to endure. It is a rare gift indeed, for without it we would most surely drown and be completely overwhelmed.  But with it, we swim strongly through them towards our Lord, our love of Him and our awareness increased beyond measure. Allah says, 

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوفْ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الأَمَوَالِ وَالأنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُواْ إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ

the translation of which is, “We will test you with a certain amount of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and life and fruits. But give good news to the people of sabr: Those who, when disaster strikes them, say, “innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji’un – ‘We belong to Allah and to Him we will return.’” And the Prophet said,

ما أعطِيَ أحدٌ من عَطَاءٍ خيرا و أوسعَ من الصبر

“No one has been granted a gift better or more comprehensive than sabr.” 
Its station with Allah is so exalted that He raised up a group of the Messengers on account of it, calling them the ulu’l’azm, and mentioned it more than ninety times in the Qur’an. Its value so huge that when a man is raised on the Day of Rising and sees the amount of reward he receives on account of the trials, tribulations and afflictions that befell him during the course of his life, he will wish that all of his children, relatives and loved ones had died before him so that he could have received the reward for enduring those losses with patience and steadfastness.
We ask Allah to place among the ranks of the saabireen. We ask Him to give us the patience and the fortitude to bear whatever affliction befalls us, no matter how great, and allow us to find peace and contentment in what He has written for us. We ask Him to make us amongst those who, when afflicted, say: 

إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون اللهم أجرني في مصيبتي وأخلف لي خيرا منها

“To Allah we belong and to Him we return. O Allah, give me refuge in my time of afflictions and give me something better than it in return.” 

إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُهَا الذِينَ آمَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً. 

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ  أَجْمَعِينَ. وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ، وعن أم المومنين عائشة التي أمرنا الله في سورة النور أن ندافع عنها، وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ أَجْمَعِينَ، خُصُوصاً اِلأَنْصَارَ مِنْهُمْ وَالمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَعَنِ التَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.

اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ وُلَاةَ أُمُورِ المُسْلِمِينَ لِمَا يُرْضِيكَ وَلِاتِّبَاعِ سُنَّةِ نَبِيِّكَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَهُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ المُسْتَقِيمِ، وَأَصْلِحْهُمْ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ. 

اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى شَيْخِنَا، وَعَلَى أَمِيرِنَا، وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ أُمَرَاءِ وَزُعَمَاءِ المُسْلِمِينَ. 

اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى المُسْلِمِينَ فِي هَذِهِ المَدِينَةِ، وَوَفِّقْهُمْ لِمَا تُحِبُّهُ وَتَرْضَاهُ يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ. 

اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسِْلمِينَ، وَاخْذُلِ الْكُفْرَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ، وَانْصُرِ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ. وَاجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وَكَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلَى. 

رَبَّنَا ءَاتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقَِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ. 

إِنَّ اللهَ يَامُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَّكَّرُونَ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَقُومُواْ إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يَرْحَمُكُمُ اللهُ.