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Feeling Paralyzed by Stress and Fitna? | Khutbah
How do we stay prayerful and productive when bad news rapidly unfolds, and life becomes increasingly stressful?
Listen to this khutbah by Dr. Omar Suleiman as he explains how we can get maintain productivity when we are feeling paralyzed by bad news and stress.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in his blessed path until the day of judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahuna ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, a common sentiment that we may feel when there is a global climate of unravelling fitna, of trials and tribulation, even technologies that can also be a tribulation that we don't yet know how to get a grasp of, coupled with our own personal struggles and what is generally an observable decline in human happiness, that people are less equipped than ever to deal with their own personal strife, with their own personal stress, and the overexposure to bad news that is around us. You literally cannot scroll any social media platform or change the channel on any TV or any set except that you're going to see tribulation after tribulation after tribulation. Whether it's the local tragedies that happened, we had the Allen shooting that took place this past week, or the global tragedies, the routine bombardment of Gaza, so many different things that we notice, the turmoil in Pakistan. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make it easy for our brothers and sisters all over the world. Allahuna ameen. So there is a compounded sense of paralysis when you're being exposed to all of this on a global level, it's right in front of you constantly, and on a personal level, again, we're less equipped than ever to deal with our personal problems, to deal with the stress that we're feeling at our level.
And you will notice that as you look through the tribulations that faced the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the generation of the companions, that Allah subhana wa ta'ala changed the nature of the tribulation, yet the nature of their certainty in Allah subhana wa ta'ala was one and it was able to carry them through. Now I wanted to actually fast forward to really answer this question of how we're able to overcome paralysis when there is an overwhelming environment of fitna, of trials and tribulations and turmoil. And I want to actually go towards the very end of time and work backwards. We start from the place of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the companions when we're talking about the nature of the certainty, the yaqeen that they had, the certainty, the iman, the faith that they had to propel them through every tribulation. And then we start from the very end when we talk about how bad things can get. How bad things can get. And we're somewhere in between at all times. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said something very interesting about the time right before al-Masih al-Dajjal appears. May Allah protect us from his fitna. Allahumma ameen. And that's a tribulation that we seek refuge in Allah from every single time we pray. We ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to protect us from the fitna of al-Masih al-Dajjal. The fitna of this Dajjal and that shows you how severe it is. That the Muslims now and a thousand years ago were seeking refuge in Allah subhana wa ta'ala from this tribulation at least five times a day every time they prayed. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells us something very interesting that before the appearance of al-Dajjal, there is a certain desperation that precedes that. You see when people are desperate, then they're more vulnerable and they can be exploited. And that's a dangerous combination.
But the stars of this ummah shine in its most difficult times. He said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, right before al-Dajjal appears, he said there will be thalat sanawat shidad yusibun nasa feeha juu'un shadeed. He said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that three years before al-Dajjal appears, there will be complete drought. A severe drought that strikes the people. And people will be struck with severe hunger. He said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in the first of those three years, Allah subhana wa ta'ala will command the skies to hold one third of its rain. And the earth to hold one third of its produce. So one third of the rain, one third of the produce. A decline in what comes from the heavens and a decline in what's produced from the earth by one third. Then he said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in the second year Allah azawajal will command it to hold two thirds. Two thirds of the rain will be held, two thirds of the produce will be held. Can you imagine now if you play this out, the desperation of mankind as this starts to unfold. Then he said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in the third year Allah azawajal will withhold the rain so not a single drop of rain will fall for an entire year. And the earth will completely withhold its produce. Can you imagine a year of global drought? A year where Allah subhana wa ta'ala does not let a single drop of rain fall. قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَصْبَحَ مَآءُكُمْ غَوْرًا حَمَىٰ يَأْتِيكُمْ بِمَآءٍ مَعِينٍ You know in Surah al-Mulk where Allah azawajal talks about people that use the means by which they're supposed to know Allah subhana wa ta'ala to instead instill in themselves a sense of arrogance and pride. الْأَفْئِدَ وَالسَّمْعَ وَالبَصَرِ Your faculty to think, you're seeing, you're hearing.
And Allah subhana wa ta'ala highlights the desperation. He says, you know, who's holding these birds in the sky? If you're looking at a tayyib, who do you think is holding these birds in the sky and giving them this ability? And as human beings you take things for granted. And you start to think you're so advanced. And subhanallah, look at California of all places, where all of these new technologies are being produced. What happens when a drought hits California? What happens when Allah withholds? أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَصْبَحَ مَآءُكُمْ غَوْرًا فَمَا يَأْتِيكُمْ بِمَآءٍ مَعِينٍ Okay, as advanced as you want to get, create all the technologies that you can, all by the permission of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. But if Allah holds back the water from you, what are you going to do? You might figure out something creative, alternative water for some time to survive. You might come up with some new technology. But what will you do if Allah subhana wa ta'ala withholds the water from you? And so this humbles mankind across the board when Allah commands for a whole year that water does not fall from the sky, rain does not fall from the sky. And he said, salallahu alayhi wasalam, فَلَا تَبْقَى ذَاتُ الضِلْفِنِ إِلَّا هَلَكَتْ إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ اللَّهِ He said, salallahu alayhi wasalam, that all the hooved animals, meaning the sheep, the cattle, the pigs, the deer, all of the hooved animals will die. Except for a few that Allah subhana wa ta'ala allows to survive. So where do you even get your meat from now? How do you survive from your food? So you don't have food, you don't have your drink. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was asked by the companions as he was narrating this, قَالُوا فَمَا يُعِيشُ النَّاسَ فِي ذَلِكَ الزَّمَانِ Ya Rasulullah, how will people live in that time? How will people survive? And this is a powerful response that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam gives. He says, salallahu alayhi wasalam, أَهْتَ التَّهْلِيلُ وَالتَّكْبِيرُ وَالتَّحْمِيدُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ And he said, salallahu alayhi wasalam, وَيُجْزِعُ ذَلِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ مَجْزَأَةَ الطَّهَامُ That in that time, your tasbih will take the place of your food. Think about this. You feel a sense of suffocation. And Allah teaches you another lesson. That if Allah azawajal wants you to be sustained, even physically, by سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ Allah azawajal will make that happen. Even if you don't have water. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to change the way that you operate as a human being so that He can sustain you, He will sustain you with dhikr. He'll sustain you with the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Talk about people literally feeling a sense of suffocation. And Allah turning their dhikr into breathing. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ لَا إِلَى اللَّهِ اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ What Shaykh al-Islam bin Taymiyyah r.a said is like, water is to the fish, oxygen to the human being, that is dhikr to the heart. أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبِ Even till now, dhikr is what settles the heart and gives you tranquility in a way that nothing else can. If you feel yourself suffocating, if you feel the constriction of the chest, if you feel like you can't move, you can't operate due to the global circumstances or due to the circumstances in your own home. وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِ فَإِنَّ لَهُمْ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكَةً When you turn away from the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala things become constricted, tight, but dhikr opens the pathways. Remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala opens the pathways so much so that in the worst of times to strike mankind, dhikr will literally be your food and your drink. Subhanallah. That's what it will become to us. But the greater lesson or of the greater lessons is first and foremost, لا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا Allah does not burden a soul beyond its scope. Even then, Allah will provide a way out.
Allah does not burden us beyond our scope. He gives us what we can handle and He gives us the tools of success. Otherwise, we're not accountable. But when we have the tools of success, then we become accountable. Also, that remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the midst of madness is the only way that a person can survive. And remembering Allah does not simply mean repetition on the tongue. Remembering who Allah is as you remember Him with your tongue. And thinking deeply about what you're saying when you remember Him with your tongue. And then allowing that to penetrate your heart when you remember Him with your tongue. That opens the pathways that allows you to breathe, to not suffocate when things are happening. الحمد لله Allah is in control. سبحان الله تبارك الله I trust Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when you walk out of the door. بسم الله توكلت على الله ولا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله You're already acknowledging that whatever it is that I'm leaving my house to do, I trust that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to be the one to provide sustenance for me, and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to be my protector, that Allah is going to be my provider, and that if anything happens in the system that I perceive to be different, Allah azza wa jal has the keys. And so I'll continue to renew my trust in Him. What dhikr does to allow a person to not be paralyzed and not be suffocated is tremendous. And by the way, you will not understand this unless you've experienced it. Some of you might be thinking to themselves, oh here they go again, dhikr. اذكر الله. Whatever. Really? You know, so if I repeat this, you will not understand the hal of ahl al-dhikr until you become one of them. The station of the people of remembrance until you immerse yourself in remembrance and become one of them. That's the only way you're going to understand the way that it truly allows you
to navigate the madness of this world. Otherwise, you're a person looking in from outside and you can't understand the experience. It's like you don't know the temperature of a place unless you're inside of it. But you could tell that it must be cool if the people are not sweating. And so you don't understand the hal, the place of ahl al-dhikr, the place of the people of remembrance. May Allah make all of us amongst them, Allahumma ameen, unless you're in it. And if you want to know what it felt like, go back to Ramadan when you were in the last ten nights and you were in the masjid remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The temperature, how did it feel? How did your heart feel when you were in that state of dhikr? That's not something that's reserved for Ramadan, that's something we reserve for Ramadan. So how do we overcome the sense of paralysis and how do we overcome the sense of suffocation in the midst of distress? Number one, al-dhikr wa al-dua. Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min al-hammi wa al-hazan, wa a'udhu bika min al-ajzi wa al-kasal. SubhanAllah, look at the connection between these things. Oh Allah, I seek refuge in you from al-hamm, anxiety about what is to come, wa al-hazan, grief over what has passed, wa al-ajzi, to be paralyzed into inaction, wa al-kasal, to be lazy, to be struck by laziness. Ham and hazan, if a person dwells too much in anxiety and grief, then they're unable to have the opposite of al-ajz wa al-kasal, incapacity and laziness. So you turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and ask Allah azza wa jal to unlock those things for you. The next thing we learn from our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is that where there is confusion there is always a certain course of action. da'ma yuribuk ila ma la yuribuk. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, leave that which causes you doubt and immerse yourself in that which causes you no doubt. Meaning when there's something that's confusing to you, because fitna can become very confusing and you don't know, you're unable to sort things out properly, you're unable to figure out the best course of action, then exert yourself in a place
where you know that your course of action will be blessed. But don't stop exerting yourself. ba'dilu bil a'mal as-saliha. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says as fitna comes towards you, rush to do good deeds. Rush to do good deeds. And we also learn from our beloved Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the importance of setting achievable goals in the midst of it all. We're a goal-oriented creation. As human beings, when we don't feel like we are useful, then we find ourselves falling into that sense of worthlessness. And the only way that you can consistently renew your sense of self-worth is to keep on setting goals for yourself. Achievable goals. And keep on taking that next step towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And when you take one step towards Allah azawajal, He comes to you much quicker. And that feeling, just like a dhikr, becomes a lot closer to you and opens up doors for you. So set achievable goals for yourself. The next thing we learn from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is to solve problems that are within our capacity. man qala halak al-naas fa huwa ahlakuhum The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, whoever says the people are done, is the one who is causing them to be that way. aw ahlakahum, in one narration. He is the worst of them, the most perished of them. When people look around the world, they talk about them now, they call them keyboard analysts or keyboard warriors. Before there were keyboards, they are the people that always look at the situation of the world and talk about how terrible it is. And they did absolutely nothing to solve anything of the world. So there is problems in the masjid. Forget about the masjid. Why don't you get involved? Because the masjid is full of this and this and that. Not your masjid, of course. But the masajid are this and this and that. Or, why don't you get involved with this? What's the good of this? What's the point of doing this? What's the point of doing that? Because if you do this much, they're doing that much. And so you can't make any real changes. So that person that always is negative and that always finds a hole in a course of action, is someone who
never does anything for themselves and becomes the most accountable in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because they're deflated on the inside and they deflate everybody else. Solve the problems within your capacity. And that is going to help you, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala, unlock something with the barakah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that's far greater. Most great people didn't realize that they were great until after they died. This is something that you have an opportunity to do, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala, so solve the problems that are within your capacity. We also take from our beloved messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, this idea of making our breaks intentional and counting our breaks as ibadah. Look, we live in a world that tells you, you have to constantly do, do, do, do, do. But when you take a step back and you don't, that can be ibadah in and of itself. Your sleep can be ibadah in and of itself. To sometimes take a moment and pause is in and of itself an act of worship. And so sometimes you feel like even when something is happening in the world, if I don't hurry up and weigh in on this WhatsApp group, then everything's going to fall apart. I have to hurry up and act, act, act, act. Be intentional about taking a step back and recalibrating and remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that will allow you to be better equipped to face the problems as they are arising in your midst. The last thing, dear brothers and sisters, is to embrace your challenges as opportunities. This is the beauty. When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, عَجَبًا لِأَمْرِ الْمُؤْمِنِ How wonderful is the affair of the believer. That everything that happens to him is good. And that's only for the believer. Now I want you to think about this. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us about how difficult the last times are. How difficult the end of times are. But he put this opportunity ahead of us, alayhi salatu wa salam. He said that those people that will be with Isa alayhi salam are the best of this ummah. Right next to the sahaba of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. There is an opportunity to rise.
Even in the most difficult of times that will strike this earth, there is an opportunity to rise to be amongst the most favorable in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentions the increase in the challenge, he mentions the increase in the opportunity. Inna min wara'ikum ayyam al-sabr That behind you or what comes after you O companions are days that require great patience. That patience in those days kaqabdin ala al-jamr is like holding on to a burning hot coal. But the one who acts in those days has the ajr of 50. Has the reward of 50 people. 50 of them Ya Rasulullah? No, 50 of you. So when the challenge rises, the opportunity to be pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rises as well. Dear brothers and sisters, when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances and when the global challenges around us become so difficult, when we find our personal stress as well growing, remember to do the good that you know how to do. To speak the truth that you know how to speak. To avoid the falsehood that you know is falsehood. And to avoid acting in confusion and uncertainty. And remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala all along. And ground yourself. Ground yourself. In the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because in the remembrance of Allah we have clarity. And in the remembrance of Allah we have a course of action. And in the remembrance of Allah bi-idhnillahi ta'ala we have a special place with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In the hereafter may Allah make us amongst al-zakireen, allaha kathiran wa al-zakirat those who remember Allah frequently. From the men and from the women. And make us amongst those who perform good deeds frequently from the men and from the women. And keep us sincere. Allahuma ameen.
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