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When Your Heart is On Empty | Khutbah
How do I overcome the feelings of complete numbness in the face of destruction? What if I can’t cry anymore when I see pain, or when I try to pray? How can Ramadan help get me through this?
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. We bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah 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. Allahumma ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, in the midst of the destruction of what is taking place in Gaza, there was a question that someone had asked me that I found very interesting. So this was a brother that wasn't familiar with the Arabic language, and he was watching one of the rescue workers go through and pick people up and move bodies around and settle families and deliver food, and as he was watching this video, there was a subtitle that said, his heart is like a stone, and so he actually stopped me and he said, what does it mean his heart is like a stone? Because that sounds like something inherently negative, and obviously there is a saying that you will hear in some Arab cultures that say, his heart is like a stone or like a rock, but it means something entirely different from what we're actually accustomed to it meaning and the Qur'anic implication of it. When that saying is said, it's referring to a person who is able to bear so much pain in the moment, who is able to settle themselves in the moment and take care of people and almost suppress their own emotions as they're dealing with other people. And so it's actually said in a praiseworthy way, they'll say this, he has a heart like stone, he can go through there, he can, you know, carry the wounded, he can take this, he can take that, and look at him, he's not even crying, look at him, he's not screaming, everyone else around him is screaming,
he's in the zone, right, and I thought to myself, subhanAllah, the difference between that and what Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says, أَلَمْ يَأْنِي لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ Isn't it time for those who believe to humble their hearts to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and the remembrance that he has revealed of truth. وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلٍ فَطَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَمَدِ فَقَسَّتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الْمَاءُ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَاءُ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala mentions in Surah Al-Baqarah that some people's hearts become hard like rocks ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ هِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةٍ Some people's hearts become even harder than stone And Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala condemns that type of a heart A heart that can't receive anything good anymore A heart that doesn't have any type of beating of khair, any type of beating of good It's just dead And subhanAllah the implications of those two things could not be more different And I realize that there's a difference between a hard heart and a tired heart There's a difference between a heart that has shut itself off from revelation and the implications of revelation And in the process became hard And a heart that had to bear the consequences of having to sustain so many people It's like if you have multiple oxygen machines plugged into one And so that heart has to be at a certain level and has to give up its own oxygen But there's a difference between the two And is there any shari'a basis for this? Is there anything within the Qur'an and the sunnah that speaks to this?
And why is it so important right now? As we come into the month of Ramadan and the genocide in Gaza continues There are two sentiments that many of us have heard or felt I feel empty I'm tired I don't feel the ibadah I don't feel the worship like I used to Or you know I'm seeing these images and it's an overload of these images now I'm not crying anymore or my tears are drying up How do I cry or how do I still feel something? Because I don't want to get used to this right? Or of course I put it away because it's becoming too much for me So how do I deal with all of this? And subhanAllah it just so happens that we are in the twelfth juz' Or we have come through the surah of Yusuf alayhi salam And we've been reflecting on Yusuf alayhi salam in multiple ways And the story of Ya'qub alayhi salam in multiple ways And I want you to think about what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about Ya'qub alayhi salam وَبِيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ فَهُوَ كَذِيمٌ It's you know from a pure Arabic language perspective Just analyzing this from a language perspective From a linguistic perspective SubhanAllah seemingly two completely contradicting emotions in one وَبِيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ He cried his eyes out to a point of blindness He went blind from crying المقاتل رحمه الله says he was blind for six years because of the amount of crying Because of the amount of grief over Yusuf alayhi salam And the brothers of Yusuf alayhi salam thought that by throwing him away They would diminish the favoritism They'd diminish the attachment of Ya'qub to Yusuf alayhi salam But what ended up happening is that Ya'qub loved him even more That Ya'qub's attachment to him remained and it only grew in terms of love And so those that tried to throw away Yusuf ended up creating an even greater attachment
And longing and empathy for Yusuf It sounds very much so by the way like our oppressors That think that the more that they kill the more that the world will get used to the killing And the less people will sympathize and people will just simply accept this as a matter of life May Allah allow us to prove them wrong May Allah allow us to prove them wrong Because that's what they're counting on So the brothers of Yusuf thought we throw him away eventually he gets over it Eventually he gets over it وَبِيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ He cried so much that he went blind for six years Think about the time frame of six years فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says while he was swallowing it It's like wait what? You know Allah azzawajal says وَالْكَالْوِمِينَ الْغَيْفِ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ Those who swallow their anger And he uses the same word for Ya'qub a.s. فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ He swallowed it What does that mean? قَتَادَ رَحِيمُهُ اللَّهِ What that means is لا يَقُولُ إِلَّا خَيْرًا He used to cry with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And he would take his grief to Allah So when he says إِنَّمَا أَشْكُوا بَثِّي وَحُزْنِي إِلَى اللَّهِ That I complain of my sadness and grief to Allah That's not posturing That's not him saying to his sons like You know sometimes you say I only do this for the sake of Allah And the fact of you saying I only do this for the sake of Allah Is an indication that maybe you're not doing it for the sake of Allah Right? Or I only cry for the sake of Allah Could actually be a statement Because the munafiqun used to make grand statements Right? It doesn't mean everyone who makes a statement is a munafiq That means that the hypocrites in their nature Would make grand statements But have a lot of emptiness behind those statements A lot of platitudes, a lot of posturing When Ya'qub al-Islam says this to his kids He's not posturing that I complain of my grief to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala I take my tears and my grief to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala It's literally a lifestyle that he has
It is a lifestyle That he bears it and then he takes it to a certain part And the intensity of those emotions Is felt in his dua And then felt in his not giving up hope In Yusuf alayhi salam But it's not to a point I mean you would think that a man who cries over Yusuf alayhi salam that much Would not be able to live with the brothers of Yusuf alayhi salam Somehow, somehow Ya'qub alayhi salam still functions Somehow, he's still in the same household With those that caused him this pain for all of these years Subhanallah, what's going on here? And how do we reckon with the intensity of the emotion on one hand And the seemingly diminished emotion on the other hand And here we are, subhanallah And we face these two realities The dual reality of Ramadan going on Acts of worship being intensified But perhaps the emptiness of emotion And seeing so much tragedy That at some point, just like if a part of your body gets stabbed Or a part of your body gets blunted over and over again There's a protection mechanism to where it numbs itself We feel numbness And I don't know how to reckon with that numbness Should I feel guilty? Is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala going to punish me because the tears dry out? Am I going to be asked about this? And this is what I want to come to, bismillah ta'ala In these few moments, inshallah ta'ala, of this khutbah And I hope you think about it, bismillah ta'ala And inject your worship with what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you To inject your worship with And inject what you are doing for your brothers and sisters With something special When Allah azawajal talks about revelation in the Qur'an And when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam talks about revelation in the Qur'an There is not a condemnation Of those who don't feel the intensity of emotion With the revelation
Rather there is praise for those that do have an intensity of emotion So the intensity of emotion With the revelation coming down Is something that's praiseworthy If it leads you in khushur If it leads you into humility And it leads you to prostration and crying There's praise of that But when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala praises Or when Allah azawajal condemns the other side of that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not condemning the lack of emotion Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is condemning the lack of action on it Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala condemns people that turn away from the revelation The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam condemns people that turn away from the revelation And essentially what you start to see Is that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam Hones in on this idea That you lose the revelation When you fail to recite it and act upon it If you're not reciting the Qur'an frequently You will lose it If you're not acting upon the Qur'an frequently You will lose it And that loss is not simply a loss of memory Your camels will go loose And the Qur'an will leave from you And actually become a testimony against you on the Day of Judgment May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us So the way that you maintain the revelation of the Qur'an Is by reciting it and by acting upon it What about when it comes to empathy? How do I maintain empathy? And what is empathy when it comes to our brothers and sisters And what is happening right now? A lot of times dear brothers and sisters We mistake apathy for fatigue They're not the same thing It's one thing to intentionally not care And to not care that you don't care Like I want to move away from this all And I actually, you know, I need to protect myself So I'm not going to expose myself to what's happening in the world It's another thing to care and to be tired But then to try to find ways to make sure
That what drove your empathy in the first place Continues to drive you to action If the way to maintain revelation is through recitation And through acting upon it If the way to maintain empathy is through acting upon it as well Meaning what? On the Day of Judgment Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la Is not going to raise you and say to you You didn't shed enough tears for Gaza Or you didn't cry enough But He will take you to account for not speaking enough For not doing enough For not praying enough For not moving enough Because that's what the point of that empathy is It's not the intensity of the emotion It's the imperative of the action, the deed that follows That's how you guard it The intensity of emotion is good Especially if you can find a way to channel it The way that Ya'qub A.S. did And that's the perfection of our Messenger S.A.W. The perfection of the Prophets As much as the Prophet S.A.W. was exposed to tragedy And if there was anyone that could numb himself It would be the Prophet S.A.W. The intensity of his qiyam The intensity of his dua The intensity of his relationship with Allah S.W.T Allowed him that necessary outlet So that he could keep doing this In a way that was pleasing to Allah S.W.T Until Allah is pleased And the last thing I'll say in this regard When someone says I feel empty I feel numb I need to move on and things of that sort I need to protect myself You know I was reading Lataaf Al-Ma'arif By Al-Hafidh Ibn Rajab A.S. He talks about how qiyam provokes something How fasting provokes something And he says So that he could taste hunger So that he could feel What it is like To be of the hungry So he could actually empathize with Al-Ja'ir Okay He could empathize with the one who's hungry
It's not just so that a person takes their own blessings And says I understand my blessings The result of that is that you're thinking about the Ja'ir You're thinking about the one who's actually starving You're thinking about the one who's actually hungry Not just Alhamdulillah I feel good I know now the blessings that I have Alhamdulillah I have these blessings They don't have those blessings How can I get them over to them? What do I do? How do I push myself? That has to drive you But if you're finding at times That the emotion part diminishes a bit You know Subhanallah that's going to happen You're going to find yourself in a situation where It's going to be hard They talk about this idea of crying yourself out You're going to dry out of tears at times But when you dry out of tears Don't dry out of deeds And find that connection with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Through this personal Ibadah That allows for an outlet And that allows for an input as well The output Is definitely tears and brokenness The input has to be sincerity and dedication And then you can channel yourself Towards those things inshallah ta'ala constantly So it's not about feeling empty It's about being empty when it comes to your deeds May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala fill our hearts Fill our souls with the Quran Allow us to be amongst those that recite the revelation That make du'a with the revelation And that channel that revelation In our personal lives And towards our brothers and sisters Ameen
Ameen Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic
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