Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 4
13 / 31
Juz’ 12: Sh. Belal Assaad | Grief, Patience, and the Story of Yusuf (as)
In this special episode of Qur'an 30 for 30, Sh. Belal Assad joins Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro to share his story of loss and grief, and hope. Through Surah Yusuf in the twelfth juz of the Qur'an, he found connection to the prophets, lessons in patience and sadness, and reasons to turn back towards Allah in every situation, no matter how painful.
2:22 - Intro
6:07 - Sh. Belal Assad reflects on Surah Yusuf and its lessons on grief
9:45 - The human response to tragedy
12:21 - Connecting with a higher power
14:24 - Sh. Belal's dreams
22: Qadr in Surah Yusuf
28:40 - Can you be overly attached to people?
29:58 - Beautiful patience
34:05 - Sh. Abdullah Oduro reflects on the power of sajdah
36:26 - The best du'as
40:05 - Dr. Omar's most painful loss
Download our FREE eBook “Qur’an 30for30: Judgment Day Edition”.
This Ramadan, help support free content and resources like this. Donate today!
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, everyone. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. Alhamdulillah wa barak to Allah. We are on Juz 12 now, alhamdulillah, and we're joined by one of the most beloved human beings on the face of the earth to me, even though he lives very, very far away, alhamdulillah Sheikh Bilal As'ad, alhamdulillah. I can't tell you how much I love Sheikh Bilal for the sake of Allah. He is a dear brother, subhanAllah, someone who felt like a long lost brother until we actually got to spend some time together in the UK this past December, alhamdulillah. And before we got started, Sheikh Abdullah also said he was his favorite speaker in the English da'wah, so I was like, oh man, that's a high testimony, alhamdulillah. But I think many people, alhamdulillah, have been touched by your words over the years and your class of Sheikh Bilal and some of those lectures and those recitations. And I think what, you know, what distinguishes them is that they're always heartfelt. And, you know, subhanAllah, a few years ago, obviously, you know, we came to know of the tragedy in your life. And I think people got to see even another level of that heartfelt connection. And I witnessed it myself, alhamdulillah, the way that you try to help people, you know, through their grief and, you know, are willing to be vulnerable through, you know, some of the own hardships that you had. And we just, we love you, Sheikh Bilal. We are so pleased and so grateful that you're joining us at a hard time in Australia, because Australia is like 46 hours ahead of us, apparently, you know. How are you? Alhamdulillah, wallahi, those words, mashaAllah, they just touched me.
The honor is mine, wallahi. I'm privileged. And I ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to accept our actions and our deeds. And may Allah accept your great efforts. You two are no less inspirational to me than your beautiful words that you just said to me, mashaAllah. I've always loved both of you from afar. In our trip to the UK, we became even more closer than ever. I truly did feel the brotherhood from you. And I don't want to now say too much because I don't want you to feel uncomfortable. However, Allah knows how much I love you. Wa alaikum salam. Wa alaikum salam. Gather us under his love on the Day of Judgment. Sheikh Al-Habib, we're going to actually just ask you, so this is a special session. Typically, we all will reflect on the juz. Sheikh Abdullah and I will take a section, our guest will take a section. But we wanted to do something a little bit different today. You know, for those who are not familiar, obviously, with your story, obviously, Surah Yusuf is a difficult story. But it's also a comforting story. It's a shifa, it's a cure. And I think, you know, just for the sake of the audience that may not have been aware, Sheikh Bilal lost his son, Rahimahullah, and his brother, Rahimahullah, in a tragic accident very recently, and was so gracious enough to actually be willing to sort of talk through Surah Yusuf and the Qur'an and what it has meant to him through that. And I think, inshallah, this session will be very helpful, especially to people that are suffering in whatever ways that they are. Sheikh Bilal, we're just going to ask you to talk as long as you want. Sheikh Abdullah and I will simply reflect after you speak, inshallah. Fadlur, Sheikh. My pleasure. Bismillah, alhamdulillah,
wassalatu wassalamu ala rasoolillah. My brothers and sisters, truly, as Sheikh Omar said, I chose to speak about Surah Yusuf in a realistic way, or in a practical way, and just bring it to our lives through my own personal experience and my interaction with this Surah. As Sheikh Omar began by saying, yes, I did go through a tragedy. Like many of my brothers and sisters around the world also went through it. And for the first time, I was able to really feel what they feel, and as if I am connected with all my brothers and sisters around the world. And that's what triggered me even more to meet with people, my brothers and sisters, who have gone through grief around the world and connect with them. Alhamdulillah, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has brought this about. And I truly have connected with a lot of our brothers and sisters around the world. So when you share your pain, and your grief, and your experience with other people who have shared it, and you bounce off each other, this is rahmah, this is mercy that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has given. And that's why we should be a community, and we should communicate with each other, and not just isolate ourselves, as Allah says that the brothers, we are brothers and sisters, and we are like a building. Each rock supports the other rock. Each stone, each brick, supports the other brick, and we are like one body. If one part of us is in pain, the rest of it is also in fever and can't sleep. So we have to give back, and take, and give, and alhamdulillah through our experiences, I found that a lot of people have found relief, and I found relief myself. So the first thing I want to begin with is, it was a tragedy that was unexpected, and it happened
right before my eyes, and my father's eyes, and we had a couple of cousins with us who witnessed everything. It happened within a split moment. One minute you're somewhere, and you've got this image in your head of the future, with your son, and your brother, and your family, and you've got all these ambitions, and these things you're looking forward to, and suddenly Allah says, no, there's something that needs to change, and Allah directs you into a total different world altogether. The other world becomes non-existent, and you think, where is it? Was it a dream? Was it real? And sometimes you even question, are you real? Now I'm starting off like this just to be raw and real to everyone else, because we're all humans. I'm human, and every sheikh, and imam, scholar, whoever it is, every prophet is real, and there's pain, there's crying, there's sadness, there's grief. We all go through it, but there's only one difference between a believer, or a person who has, how can I say it, certainty in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the hereafter, and patience that is coupled with it. So yaqeen and sabr. And I'd like to start off with that by saying that Surah Yusuf gave me these first foundations, yaqeen and sabr, patience and certainty in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which kept me afloat. But before I say that, you know, when a person goes through grief and tragedy, the first thing that the human wants to do is connect, emotionally connect to someone that they can confide in, and share their experience. And it can't be just anybody, it has to be somebody who can relate, and better yet, someone
who has shared your experience. And what better than the prophets, and even people around you. You've got family, and friends, and people you meet, but ultimately the prophets, for me, was the greatest foundation, and greatest boat, and ark, which I boarded, and helped me sail, and my family. You know, when I was a child, my father used to connect me to the companions, and to the prophets. He always used to tell me the prophets' stories, and the companions. And from a very young age, I could feel my connection to the past great men, and great women. And I even got bullied at school, believe it or not, when I was really young, in year seven, because I wanted to pray at school. You know, in Australia, people were still new to Islam, Muslims were migrating, and I wanted to pray. I didn't want to have a girlfriend, I wouldn't shake hands with another woman, another girl, or touch her, because you know, Islam tells us all these things. But when I was a child, I got bullied because of it, and I started to connect with the companions, and the prophets. And I said, well, if they went through hardships, then I feel privileged to go through this type of hardship. And so this was, you know, the foundation. Until the moment the tragedy happened, as soon as I saw my son pass away, and my brother moments later, I needed that emotional connection with someone. My father was there, but he also needed an emotional connection. My mother came along, she needed support. What am I supposed to do? How do I keep myself up on my feet? And I was very vulnerable, extremely vulnerable, in every sense of the word. The first thing I started to ask about is Qadr. Where to from now? What happens now? You know, all those plans are now shattered. Where do I go? What's going to happen to me now? Where is my journey? Do I give
up everything that I've done before? And you know, there are questions of why, but not in the sense of going against Allah's decree, but more like what the angels asked when they said to Allah, Ya Rabb, oh, our Lord, will you create on earth, beings who will shed blood and corrupt? And he said, I know that which you do not know. And that's what I held on to. So, subhanAllah, as soon as this tragedy happened, I needed to connect with a higher power, connect with a higher power, because the soul has gone to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I want to, I want to be there. I want to see what's happened. You still have that connection with that loved one. And it's just been ripped away. So, I spent the next two weeks at least, while I was in Lebanon, unable to eat or drink even, unable to sleep. Just, you become a little bit lost. And you need support and guidance. And among the most impactful surahs in the Quran was Surat Yusuf. Wallahi, I do not say this lightly. When you have a connection to the Quran all your life, the Quran is the first place that you go to. You know, back in my days, I used to, I have to admit, I listened to a bit of music and it intrigued me and moved me and everything. But there wasn't a time where I listened to music, say pop music or R&B. And then I thought, I feel like going to the masjid now. But when you listen to the Quran, it connects you to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a way that cannot be described. So, I resorted to Surat Yusuf. And believe it or not, brothers and sisters, this is what happened. Surat Yusuf, you know, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us through Surat Yusuf that He gives us two types of supports. One is objective and the other one is subjective. The subjective one is really about
yourself, what you go through personally. And it's difficult to tell people about it because it's really yours. It's something between you and Allah. The objective is reading the Quran reading this and reciting the story of Yusuf alayhi salam and other prophets. But that's subjective. That's for everybody. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does give you something personal that you and only you can share between you and Allah. But the condition is you need to connect with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, he's the first one that I went to. The first thing that came to my mind were dreams that I started to reflect on very heavily until today. They were dreams that I saw before the tragedy. And I'll share them with you now for the first time. One of the first dreams I started seeing for about a year on and off was an ocean rising on earth. And I'm climbing the mountains and my son, brother and family are with me. And I'm guiding everybody and saying this is the end of the world. The ocean is going to get us. If anyone wants to survive, keep climbing the hill, keep climbing the hill. And as we reached a certain distance, people are going upwards. My brother and my son who were with me, for some reason subhanAllah, it was as if I was in Lebanon in my dream, near the village, our village, my father's village where I spent some childhood there. My brother and son left me and said we're going there to get protection and safety. You know, brothers and sisters, that's exactly where they got buried. I mean, my son was born here in Australia. My brother was born here in Australia. They had never been to Lebanon in their life. And in that literally nine days that we spent in Lebanon, subhanAllah, they passed away. And I swear by Allah, they got buried exactly in that village.
And the hill looked exactly the same as my dreams. And, you know, you read Surah Yusuf and you see Yusuf alayhi salam seeing a dream as a child and telling his father, dad, this is what I've seen. And, you know, I went through that. My father, I told him about the dream and we could never make sense of it really. But that was one thing that was subjective for me. True dreams. And Allah subhanAllah preparing you for something. Now, the second dream I saw was about one month before they passed away. And again, reflecting on Surah Yusuf and true dreams of Yusuf alayhi salam seeing the 11 stars and the sun and the moon prostrating to him and his father, giving him hope, but at the same time, ending his conversation with Yusuf alayhi salam with a statement that's a bit abstract. And that is inna rabbaka alimun hakeem. Your Lord is all knowing. He knows what you're going through. He knows what is going to happen to you. He knows exactly where it's going to end up, which gives you a sense of trust and connection with Allah that he's never going to leave you. And he knows exactly what you're going through and what you're going to be facing. And hakeem means wise. You know, Yaqub alayhi salam, Yusuf's father couldn't tell him what exactly this was, what was going to happen. I mean, you can see later on that Yaqub alayhi salam is planning and guiding his children, but everything keeps going. It looks like it's going the other way. It's not going according to Yaqub's plan and his advice because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is hakeem, he's wise. And until we can have that certainty, we're going to struggle even more with hardships. So you have to let your heart go really to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You have to really give it to him. You have to really give your heart to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and put that trust in certainty of his knowingness and his wisdom. So the other dream that I saw, I don't know if you're familiar with an organization here in Australia, a charity organization, which was set up by a young man who had cancer and passed away, Allah irhamu, his name is Ali Banat. He became very, very popular on social media and many people visited him and he passed away. I met him and he established an amazing charity organization. Lots of masjids and orphanages were built in his name and well, as a result of what he left behind as a legacy, because mashallah Allah had given him wealth and he donated it all into that cause, which keeps going today. It's called MATW. And Ali Banat, I had seen him a month before the passing of my brother and son and I was in the car with him and as if I was taking him around all these different places in Africa and other parts of the world where he had established orphanages and masjids and I'm sort of hosting him and giving him news that this is what your legacy has left behind. And he's just looking at me smiling and nodding and in a peaceful, peaceful way, as if he wants to tell me something, but he doesn't want to hurt my feelings. It's as if he knows what I'm saying, he's just going along with it. That's another subjective thing for me of a dream that happened just before. And a month after that, they passed away. And I reflect on that dream. So then what happened to me was that I asked Allah and made dua night and day, night and day. And I have to admit, I said, Ya Rabb, I'm not going to be able to eat. I'm not going to be able to be myself. I can't until I get some help from you, my Lord. I need your support.
I need your assistance. I need to see my son. I need to see my brother. I used the name of him, the most merciful. I said, as you showed Yusuf, peace be upon him, dreams, and as you gave Yaqub, peace be upon him, comfort and everybody, give me comfort. I need your comfort, Ya Rabb. And SubhanAllah, the moment, Wallahi, the moment I really gave my heart to Allah, I still remember that night. Everybody was asleep and I'm just alone with no distractions up in Lebanon. And I felt that I'm no longer in this world. I just really gave my heart to Allah and had absolute certainty that Allah will make things better for me and He will guide me and something amazing is going to come out of this. There has to be a great wisdom. This is from Surah Yusuf. I'm reflecting on that as I'm reading it. And that was that night that Allah showed me my son in the most realistic way that I have never seen. I can't describe it. And He assured me that he's fine and that he had a bit of sadness that that he had to leave me, but he comforted me and he assured me that he's with good people and so on. So these are some things that Allah gives you comfort, the true dreams from Surah Yusuf. The other thing is the need for emotional connection, which is called Al-Uns that I mentioned before. And I found Uns, emotional connection, with my Prophet and Messenger Yusuf Alayhi Salaam and Ya'qub from both angles. Me as a son, while my father was there witnessing
the tragedy, and me as a father, like Ya'qub Alayhi Salaam. I'm leaving Ya'qub and Yusuf both and as a brother, him and his brothers, him and his brother Binyamin, how we missed him. And it just hit home so much that it helped me tremendously. And these are the foundations that it laid down for me, SubhanAllah. One of the other things in Surah Yusuf is that when Qadr becomes a question, you know, you have to know eternal past and eternal presence and eternal future and everything that is happening at every millisecond to be able to make, you know, to interpret or make meaning out of something. But you can't. You don't know everything. You can only know some things. And the rest is just left on trusting and relying on Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and really, really just submitting to Him. That's what really helped me just. But when you follow the truth, and you know that you are following a divine revelation, a Quran that hasn't been changed, even by a letter, 1400 years, you can put your trust in a deeper way. I mean, there are other people who put their trust in certain beliefs that they have, certain revelations that they connect to, and it works. But when you're connecting something that you truly know is true, in every sense of the word, and the evidence is all supported, and you don't need to fabricate or lie to yourself, or make up something that sort of convinces you, it just, I mean, when I recited the Quran, I found the Quran reading me. I wasn't reading the Quran. The Quran was reading you. The Quran reads you. And when you feel that, you really find that connection. That's what helped me, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And I advise my brothers and sisters to do that, resort to the Quran and really prepare yourselves and sort of sit down and try to understand it and live with it.
So the Qadr means that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la knows, and there has to be something amazing that's going to come out of it. Maybe Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la took my son because had he grown up, it would be worse for him. Maybe my brother, had he grown up, it would be worse for him, or for me, or for someone else. There is certainly a change that is going to be much better for us in this world and in the next. See, this is not easy, and it takes time, but that's where I reached, Alhamdulillah. Because in Surah Yusuf, in the end, there is victory, triumph, happiness, family comes together, the enemies become friends, his brothers who tried to kill him, they ask him for forgiveness. And that's another thing actually in my life, and I'm not going to talk too much about that, but I also could relate to that. You know, there are times when people conspired against me, even when certain times when people said things. But if you are patient and stick to the truth and keep going, Allah SWT turns everything around. I swear by Allah, these people come back to you, and they humble themselves before you and say, I apologize from my heart, and they're very awkward about it, without you doing a thing, SubhanAllah. There was the guilt of sadness for me, you know, because in Islam, we're taught that you shouldn't be sad for long, and if you're too sad, then you're going against Allah's Qadr. This is what people say. Or if you cry too much, they say it's a sign that you're not accepting Allah's will, and people try to tell you don't cry. This is all wrong. Wrong. And going through it myself, I could feel how wrong it is. Because even the prophets cried. So I looked at Ya'qub, and I thought, surely, surely him being so sad that his eyes went white, because he missed his son so much. I'm not better than Ya'qub, I can be sad. I can miss my son,
and my brother, I can miss them a lot. But there's one difference. Ya'qub held his tongue, he held himself together. And as the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam followed, you know, we say the eyes tear, the hearts are filled with grief, you know, we miss you. But we won't allow our tongues to say anything except that which pleases Allah. And when the companions said, Ya Rasulullah, even you are crying? Because even they had that idea that you're not supposed to cry. And he said, no. Ya Ibn Awf, it was Abdur Rahman Ibn Awf, he said, no, Ya Ibn Awf, these tears are tears of mercy. You know, when you love someone, when you miss them, it's the mercy that's reacting. So that's what happened. And I felt better about crying a little, crying more and being sad. Ya'qub Alayhi Salaam stayed sad Allahu Alim how long? We don't know exactly from the verses of the Quran, but it looks like it could have been two decades at least. So it's okay to miss someone. I still miss them till now. It's okay for everybody to miss them. Sometimes you just cry. Sometimes you get sick and your distractions go away, you try to distract yourself in life. But then when you're alone, and you become vulnerable, you remember the loved ones and you cry. And when you cry, you call upon Allah. Because Ya'qub Alayhi Salaam, when he cried, and he was sad, what did he do? He said, Innama ashqoo bathi wa huzni ilallah wa a'lamu minallahi ma la ta'lamun. And he used to say to his children who kept on saying harsh words to him, man. They kept saying to him, Father, you're still in your old ways. You keep missing him. Isn't it over? You got to take it easy on yourself. People told me that when I was up in Lebanon, even here in Australia, when I came back, people told me that they say, you know, you're a sheikh, you're an imam, you should
be the role model, let us see. And I thought, what do you mean, let you see? I'm not being tested here by people to let you see. This is what you see. You're seeing a human before your eyes, like Ya'qub Alayhi Salaam. But you won't hear me saying anything that's wrong, inshallah. So you turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he says, I merely complain my sadness and my grief to Allah. And I know about Allah that which you do not know. I know that Allah is wise. I know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has a plan. You guys don't really see it, he said to his children. And so the nights were the best for me, connecting with Allah, crying to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know, talking to him and complaining to him about my sorrow, my feelings, complaining in a respectful way. These things really, really work, subhanAllah. And I love it, you know, when I'm counselling, helping someone, they cry. And it's okay, it's good to cry. It relieves you, mashallah. This is a rahmah from Allah. So extreme connection. Someone said to me, the reason you're going through this is because you had a strong love and connection to your son. And it's true. I had, there was no best friend more to me than my son. And my brother, we lived together in the same house, we woke up together, we went and came together, you know, from places. And then to see them leave me, subhanAllah, I can't describe the pain. So the pain is intense. And someone said to me, it's because you were too attached to your son. I don't know how they said that, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. But it made me feel guilty a little bit that what, am I not supposed to be that attached? Is it like dunya, is like a children, you're not supposed to be attached to them. But then I read in Surah Yusuf how Yaqub alayhi salam had extreme attachment to Yusuf, Yaqub alayhi salam, to Yusuf and Binyamin. And, you know,
subhanAllah, you're allowed to. And when you see that, that pain turns into strength. That missing and that extreme connection turns into strength, brothers and sisters. But you have to have that divine support. And lastly, one of the most important things out of all of this is you get to feel Allah's presence. That Yaqub alayhi salam says, Obviously, his sons were saying a lot of hurtful things. And he said, I will exercise beautiful patience. And beautiful patience means that when a person truly and only directs his or her pain and inner real feelings to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As for in front of people, they put on a face. And that's okay, you can put on a face, you can keep smiling, you can keep going. But you know that when you come back home, that night, it's you and Allah. And that's called beautiful patience. That your complaint and you're in a respectful way. When I say complaint, I meant, Oh Allah, I complain to you my sorrow, I complain to you my sadness, I complain to you my pain, my grief, you know what I'm going through. Sometimes I just make a sajda for about 45 minutes saying nothing, just crying. Because I know that Allah knows what I'm trying to say, and I don't know how to say it. So that's sabr and jameel inshallah. And I think this is something I connected with Prophet Yaqub alayhi salam. So my dear brothers and sisters, finally, the verse of the Quran which really hit me was when he said to his children, when they came back and bin Yamin had been taken. And that made Yaqub alayhi salam go blind. Finally, he said to them,
You see, that really hit me tremendously. What he said, Oh, my sons, don't lose hope. Don't despair. Don't give up on the mercy. And you know, on the mercy and kindness and closeness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's always there. He knows what you're going through. The only people who would despair and lose hope from the mercy of Allah are the people who don't believe in his mercy, the ones who deny Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy and his love and his closeness to you and that he's always there for you. And that's the certainty. That's the yaqeen. So till today and forever inshallah, this is my situation. And I hope, Ya Rabb, that the listeners have benefited in some way. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to relieve everyone's, all my brothers and sisters and people around the world, their pain, their grief, whatever they're going through, and to assist them and support them as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala supported me. Turn to him, my dear brothers and sisters, turn to him and give your heart to him. Connect with the Qur'an. And if you do that, I hope, Ya Rabb, that the Qur'an will be reading you and you will also find this amazing paradise, which Allah has made on this earth, which is not money. It's not fame. It's not status. It's this. And if you can find it, then you'll feel a taste as if you can smell the paradise in the hereafter, inshallah.
Bless you and increase you and reward you for being willing to share in the midst of, I'm sure it's not easy for you to tell the story over and over again, so may Allah reward you and have mercy on your son and your brother. May Allah azzawajal grant you in Al-Firdaws Al-A'ada and allow other people to find comfort through this, that have gone through this devastation. Yeah, my dear father, actually, we're talking about him. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect him and preserve him, Sheikh. Sheikh Abdullah, if you have anything you want to share, ask him. There's a lot to me, subhanAllah. I mean, just one thing that you mentioned about the sajda, and I think it's befitting to mention that for all of us as Muslims that, you know, sometimes you're, you know, you know, these duas that you, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, but sometimes you don't remember them because of the intensity of the emotion that you're going through while you're making the dua. It's like flashbacks of things that are happening in your life to where you don't know what to say, you know, and just that advice that you gave us, Sheikh, just to remind all of you that, you know, in those times of vulnerability, in those times of your heart just being pierced and broken and open, don't worry about what I'm supposed to say, just go, you know, just go in your sajda, just say, call on his names, call on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, don't think too much about what I'm
supposed to say. Yes, what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said was the most eloquent, and it's jami' man, it's comprehensive, and it's very eloquent, and it's the best, you know, actualization of understanding the names and attributes of Allah, but sometimes it's so intense, you don't know what to say, and I love the fact that you said that, because it brings comfort to a lot of the Muslims that may not have known these duas, a lot of youth that may not know what to say, so, you know, I've talked to some youth, they say, well, I don't know what to say in dua, so I don't make it, and they hold those emotions inside, but it's important to just go, go in sajda, and stay there, and have flashbacks, and try your best to remember those moments to where you didn't want to remember them, and to be as vulnerable as you can for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because vulnerability is the key to, it's unlocking the doors to getting closer to Him, and subhanAllah, you know, as you mentioned, Sheikh, this was a means that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala used to bring you closer to Him via the dreams, and in the actions of worship, that you acted on, and responded based on those dreams, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserve you, and preserve them, and raise them. I mean, Abdullah, you know, in saying that, when you talked about the sajda, and not knowing what to say, I'm going to share this as well, I think it'll help a lot of people. You know how they say the best dua is seeking, you know, copying the dua of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, from the sunnah, and that is true, that is true, but ironically for me, that time I just said whatever came out from my heart, and the duas of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I used them, but I had to understand what they mean first, because how is the dua, how is the accepted, and how is the dua really meaningful? It's when it comes from within, you need to feel it, and know what you are actually saying. So I want to say to my brothers and sisters that you don't have to memorize all those duas you learned at school, or your parents taught you, or the imam
taught you, or you know, some people grab husl and muslim, for example, fortress of the muslims, which is an amazing book of dhikr and dua, and they go through those duas. Some people say to me, what should I say in the times of sadness, and fear, and everything, and you give them the sunnah duas, it's amazing, but also add to that your own, like talk to Allah genuinely from your heart, and you don't have to talk it in Arabic, you can say it in any language. Sometimes you can just, as I said, just cry it with feelings, and they mean a lot, because Allah alim, He really knows exactly what, you know, what's traveling through you. And one more thing, you know, that time when I came back to Australia, Sheikh Abdullah, it happened to be COVID. Right after that, the world went into isolation. I still can't put, I still can't understand that part. Was it, I don't understand subhanAllah, because that's exactly what I needed. I needed to go into isolation a bit away from the distractions of the world. You need to go through grief, I just needed family. And that moment gave me time where I didn't have to go to tarawih in the masjid, and always be leaning imam here, and meeting with people, and which is amazing, but sometimes you need, you really need that time to yourself. And I got to pray my tarawih as long as I wanted, do my sujood in the night prayer as long as I wanted, say whatever I wanted without someone telling me, hurry up, or we've got work tomorrow, or people are tired. So I advise my brothers and sisters, actually, as you go to the masjid, it connects you with your community, and your identity, and it motivates you, but also leave some time for yourself, even a couple of rakahs that you can pray at home, just by yourselves, and stay as long as you want, say whatever you want, cry as much as you want, talk as much as you want with Allah subhanAllah, it has a profound effect. That's all I just want to say about that. I just want to mention one thing, there was one thing that subhanAllah, you know, just mentioning
this, what you said again subhanAllah, I remember the night that I came home before I became a Muslim, and I got into a big argument with my mother, because I came home like around, you know, three in the morning, and I shut my door, and then I just dropped on my knees, and all I was saying was, please God, please God, please, I didn't know what to say, all I knew was, please God, just guide me, I know what I'm not doing is not right, please, please, you know, I had my hands clasped, you know, because I was Christian, please, please, please, tears running down my face, and then, you know, about a week, two weeks later, I became a Muslim. You converted, you reverted or converted to Islam? Yes, yes, I'm Sheikh Abdullah, I didn't know that, subhanAllah. Yes, yes, Allah accepted from you. You know, subhanAllah, Sheikh Abdullah, when you're talking about the, you know, those signs that you look for, so, subhanAllah, the most painful loss I ever encountered was the loss of my mother, that's nothing like losing a child, and losing a brother, especially the way that you encountered it, in your vision. Each one is its own, Sheikh Omar, I mean, we all go through the same grief, in the same process, whether it's your mother, or your child, or your father, they're just different griefs, subhanAllah. You know, you were talking about the looking for a sign, so I actually just shared something recently, subhanAllah, that happened, that was just, I mean, it was, it was incredible, it might be something small, people might say this isn't, but, but, you know, you're grieving, you look for things. So, I wrote this book, actually here, For Those Left Behind, this was a series that I did, Guidance on Death and Grieving, it was actually a series that I did,
for Yapin, in 2020, when COVID happened, and it's like the journey of the soul, and how you, how you grieve, and how you stay connected to a person after they pass away. And I was inspired by your experience. And subhanAllah, I actually mentioned it in the beginning, I wrote, I write the introduction, and I dedicate it to my mother, Allah Alhamdulillah, and I talk about why, where this book came from, and so I, when it went on Amazon, so Cube Publishing published it, and I wrote it, finished it last year, and I noticed the date of sale, February 21st. And I thought to myself, subhanAllah, so this is back in like September, I'm like, why is it February 21st? And February 21st is my mother's birthday, Allah Alhamdulillah. So I actually was, I actually messaged the brothers at Cube, I was like, did you know that? Like, where did the date February 21st come from? SubhanAllah. That's what I'm talking about, that subjective, personal guidance that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la comes to you with. Yeah. And you understand it, subhanAllah. We all get some of it. Absolutely. Isn't that beautiful, Sheikh Omar? It's beautiful that not only, not only are there, you know, just Quran and hadiths and things, but there's also, things are happening still now. You know, as Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us that the dreams are a portion of prophecy, of what the prophets left behind, and of a portion of wahi, that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la continues to connect with you on a personal level. This continues, subhanAllah.
Allah doesn't leave his creation, ya khay, it's us who leave him. It's us who leave him. Yeah. Allah return us back to him in a beautiful way. Sheikh Bilal, I could, we could talk to you for hours. And we appreciate you more than you know. And I pray that everyone who watches this, if you can take a moment to make dua for Sheikh Bilal, make dua for his family. InshaAllah. My family and every Muslim around the world, brothers and sisters, every Muslim around the world is, you know, those who are suffering as well, not just me. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la have forgiveness and mercy and ease the suffering and pain of all our brothers and sisters around the world. There are people who have lost their entire families, ya khay, every person they ever knew. So ours is simple compared to when we hear about the tragedies of other people. So may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la reward everyone for their struggles and their efforts and their patience and nothing goes, nothing, nothing just goes away. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la counts everything and everything is in a record. Everyone is compensated inshaAllah. Just have that faith and that belief. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Abdullah. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Abdullah. It was a pleasure. Oh, it was an honor. It was all mine, Sheikh. It was all mine. And those, if you get a chance, watch his video, just type his name and watch the video of the story. It was very impactful. I shed many tears every time that I watch it, SubhanAllah. JazakAllah khair. Remember us in new du'a. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
