Khutbahs
110 / 215
Why Don't We All Have the Same Blessings? | Khutbah
In this khutbah, Dr. Omar Suleiman discusses why we are all blessed and tested in different ways by Allah. And how did the Prophet ﷺ teach us to deal with that discrepancy when we come across it?
Support free resources. Become a Yaqeen Sustainer today.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. And bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear witness that Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi 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. Allahuma Ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, Ubaid Ibn Ka'b radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he narrates in a narration in Muslim Imam Ahmed, that when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala created the children of Adam Alayhis Salaam, that as Adam Alayhis Salaam was seeing his descendants come out of his back, and we of course know that as those descendants were being taken from his back, he saw bright lights, the beauty of some of the anbiya, the prophets and the righteous ones, may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us amongst them. Allahuma Ameen. And he saw all of these different variations, the span of creation that exists within the human race from start to finish. And as he's looking at all of his offspring being spread out from his loins, he looks at them and he asks Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, as he sees al-ghani wal-faqir, the rich and the poor. And then he sees hasana al-surah wa doona thalik, he sees those that have beautiful appearance and those that have the opposite of that. Faqala rabbi law la sawayta bayna ibadik? Oh my Lord, had it not been that you just made them all the same, that you just created them with all the same features,
all the same blessings distributed proportionately across all of them. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala responded to him and said, Ya Adam, inni ahbabtu an ushkar. Oh Adam, I wanted or I love that I be thanked. I wanted to see the gratitude come out of this creation. Now Adam Alayhi Salam is speaking from a very interesting reference point. Adam Alayhi Salam is in paradise. No one in paradise senses any type of deprivation or deficiency. This is a new concept to see people have a distribution of hardship and trial and blessings and it not be all the same. And obviously when we come into this world, if everyone had the exact same thing, then of course there would be no concept of shukr. There wouldn't even be a recognition of those blessings in the first place for people to be grateful for them. No one would even know what deficiency looks like or feels like. An example is the status of those blessings that are unseen to us, that operate within us on a daily basis. You sit with a doctor or someone that understands the way that the heart functions and the doctor could sit there and tell you about all these things you should be praising Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for, but prior to that description, it's really all foreign to you. Because it's something that you take for what? Granted. That happens all the time, it operates in the background. And so if the blessings were all equally distributed amongst us, no one looked different, no one had anything different, then part of what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has put in this creation of trial would defeat the purpose that Allah Azza wa Jal seeks from this creation. If we all looked around and had the same thing and looked exactly the same,
then it would defeat the purpose of why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has put us here. Now by the way, before I go any further, none of this is to suggest that there are inequities that should be ignored because that's just how Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala created us. You know, when you see people that are struggling and don't have blessings that are accessible to you, well that's your problem, Allah is testing you, have patience and Jannah awaits you. Because shukr to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is not merely thank you. It's not just saying Alhamdulillah. It's the actual activation of people across that spectrum of blessings towards those that don't have the same blessings that are accessible to them. That's part of shukr to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught us that gratitude to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and showing gratitude towards the people and being activated in acts of gratitude to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala towards the people, all of those are inseparable from one another. And so you can't say I'm grateful to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for whatever blessings He has given to you if you are not activated towards those who don't have the exact same blessings that you have. Now how do we start to unravel this a little bit more? Because it's a concept that is not so unfamiliar. There's a famous hadith from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, انظروا الى من هو اسفل منكم ولا تنظروا الى من هو فوقكم The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, look to those who have less than you, do not look to those who have more than you. Why? فهو أجدر ألا تزدروا نعمة الله عليكم That is more befitting, lest you start to belittle the blessing of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala upon you. Pay attention to those that don't have what you have, not those who have what you don't have. If you are someone who constantly follows what other people have that you don't,
then you will always be in the prison of this dunya. You will be absolutely imprisoned. And this is an entire industry, isn't it? The industry of influencers. People who get paid currency of dunya to make you think that dunya is all glamour because their lives are wonderful. And so we follow this and we think to ourselves, this is what I need to be beautiful. This is what I need to be wealthy. This is what I need to be stress-free. This is what I need to get rid of my insecurity. This is what I need to do this. This is what I need to do that. And in the process, you see everyone else's blessings, but you only see your own hardships. You see your trials and you see their blessings. You don't even see the flip side of their blessings. The blessings and the hardships that come from the blessings themselves that are given to them. You see your own hardships, your own pain, and you see their prosperity. Of course you're going to be a miserable person. Of course you're not going to be grateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the Prophet ﷺ is saying, look to those who have less than you of this dunya, otherwise you will belittle the ni'mah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala upon you. You'll reduce them to things that are just in the background and things that are supposed to be there anyway. In another narration, also authentic, the Prophet ﷺ said, إِذَا نَظَرَ أَحَدُكُمْ إِلَىٰ مَنْ هُوَ فُضِّلَ عَلَيْهِ فِي الْمَالِ وَالْخَلْقِ فَلْيَنظُرْ إِلَىٰ مَنْ هُوَ أَسْفَلَ مِنْهُ If one of you sees someone, so there is a context to this hadith as well, that if you come across someone that has more than you in terms of wealth or in terms of something that is physical, then look to those that have less than you in this process. Now when you hear that type of a narration, what you could take from that is simply that okay, all I need to do when I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the things that people seem to have that I don't have
is simply go on Twitter and start watching videos of people that are dying from starvation. And then just walk away from it. The beauty of the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ, and if you take nothing else from this khutbah, then hopefully you take this. The beauty of the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ is that it is precise and it engages us at the level of du'a and at the level of amal. Every time there is a level of realization, there is a supplication and then there is a deed. That's the beauty of his guidance ﷺ, that you never stop there. You never stop at shifted perspective because if you don't do anything with that perspective, then you get stuck and eventually the dominant visual will retake your perspective. You understand? So if you stop at shifted perspective for a moment, but you don't do anything with it, then the next visual will simply take you back to the skewed perspective until another more powerful visual comes and then takes you back to that perspective. That's not how the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ works. And so when you start to go through some of these narrations, first and foremost, obviously, the Prophet ﷺ is saying, be intentional about where you let your vision go. Where do you put your vision? Where do you put your eyesight? Try to engage your eyesight by engaging those of this world that don't have what you have. Every single person that exists in this dunya has something to say alhamdulillah for, has something to praise Allah ﷻ for of blessings, and has something that someone else doesn't have. Focusing on what that deficiency is so that you grow in your own appreciation of your own ni'mah and then get activated to step two, which I'll talk about, is where we start with this hamd. Because shukr comes from what? Recognition. Gratitude comes from a place of genuine recognition.
Otherwise your alhamdulillah is empty and meaningless. It's like the person who you ask them, how are you? And they give you ten reasons about why life is miserable and then say alhamdulillah at the end. It's a meaningless alhamdulillah. It's like the disclaimer at the bottom of a really bad opinion piece in the New York Times. It doesn't mean anything. You say alhamdulillah from a place of recognition. Alhamdulillah that engages you in certain ways. So what did the Prophet ﷺ teach us to do in terms of dua and then deed? The Prophet ﷺ says in one narration, that's Hasan, he said ﷺ as Ibn Umar ﷺ narrates, من رأى مبتلاً Whoever sees someone that has been tested. In one narration, من فجأه صاحب بلاء Whoever is taken by surprise by someone that's been tested. SubhanAllah we become desensitized to things we see on a regular basis, right? Even of tragedy and pain. And that's actually one of the problems with overexposure to catastrophe. So that's no longer catastrophe. Oh, 300 people just died off of a boat in the Mediterranean, Syrian refugees. Oh well, right? Because we become desensitized to it because of the overload of it. So the Prophet ﷺ is saying, a person who suddenly is captured by the sight of someone who is صاحب بلاء someone who has been tested in some way. He said, say, الحمد لله الذي عافاني ممن مبتلاك به وفضلني على كثير ممن خلق تفضيل الحمد لله الذي عافاني All praises be to the one who spared me ممن مبتلاك به from what he has tested this person وفضلني على كثير ممن خلق تفضيل
and preferred me over many of those that he has created with a great blessing. Now, the Prophet ﷺ said, whoever says this will be spared. Here's the thing. This is the initial thought, right? The initial statement of recognition. And as Al-Khattabi رحمه الله says, this is not something you say to a person who is actually in بلاء, who is actually in trial. In the same way that when you give charity, you don't go up to the person and say, إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللَّهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنكُمْ جَزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا We feed you for the sake of Allah. We don't want to be thanked. We don't want any type of compensation. It's an internal conversation, right? So Al-Khattabi رحمه الله says, the Prophet ﷺ is saying, this is an internal conversation, right? الحمد لله الذي عافاني ممن مبتلاك به All praises be to the one I thank Allah ﷻ for sparing me from this particular trial that He has tried you with. And I also acknowledge that Allah ﷻ has preferred me with certain blessings upon other members of this creation that He has not given to them. This is the dua the Prophet ﷺ taught us to make. الحمد لله It starts with الحمد لله الحمد لله I see someone that has less than me in some way, some way, even if I am going through something that is devastating, and I say الحمد لله and I acknowledge that Allah ﷻ has given me things that He has not given to that person. That is شكر in قلب and then شكر in لسان That is taking that gratitude from the heart and then gratitude to your tongue. And then there is, what do you do now when you see that person? And even if you cannot relate to that person in terms of an experience, you can relate in the sense that you know that you have a blessing that Allah ﷻ has given to you
not because of anything you did to earn it that Allah ﷻ has not given to someone else. Then you activate yourself towards that person. That is where empathy comes from. That is where the deeds of the Prophet ﷺ towards every single member of the community came from. Because that recognition led to a du'a and then led to a عمل, led to a deed, which is every single thing we take from the Prophet ﷺ. So your شكر then becomes serving that person. It brings out the best in you. And that شكر, which is serving that person, is عبادة, is part of your worship. And then perhaps that person praises Allah ﷻ and thanks Allah for you because you are a blessing that Allah ﷻ sent to that person in that moment. And then perhaps that person thanks Allah for you and is activated towards someone else. And it has this impact and this effect of bringing out the best of us as human beings and we are at our best when we are شاكرين, when we are grateful people and we are at our worst when we are شيطاني, when we are shaytanic, which is the opposite of being شاكرين, which is the opposite of being grateful, which was the challenge of the devil. Now this mindset, dear brothers and sisters, speaks to how we see blessings as a whole and this understanding that this dunya, at the end of the day, is not meant to be the place of eternal blessing and bliss. And that's also part of the blessing of that disproportionality, that it directs us towards something that's more permanent, that has no expiration date to it, that has no catch to it. And so when a person gets older, you see the blessings that you used to have, that you no longer have.
And you thank Allah سبحانه وتعالى for when He gave you those blessings before and then you long for a jannah in which those blessings don't expire. You may see blessings in other people that you never had. And so you long for those blessings in the place of al-jannah, in the place of paradise where Allah سبحانه وتعالى gives them without any type of proportion and without it being minimized in any way. You see hardships that other people have and you say, alhamdulillah, that Allah عز و جل spared you from those hardships and you seek refuge in Allah from the hardship of the hereafter which has permanence to it. And you are activated towards using what you've been spared from towards that which will benefit you in the hereafter. You see hardships that are incurable, things that happen to us that don't have an end in sight. You know when they say there is no end in sight. When there is a test that comes to you that has a chance of being temporary, then there is hope in it being alleviated in this dunya, right? But then there are the tests that seem to have a permanence to them as far as the dunya is concerned. That's the definition of prison when you relegate yourself then to that, you relegate your happiness to that particular circumstance because you don't see much hope of it being alleviated in this dunya. And so what ends up happening when you see those hardships that are incurable that have no end in sight in this dunya is that you long for a place where those hardships no longer exist. It activates us towards Allah سبحانه و تعالى. And no blessing, dear brothers and sisters, no blessing in this world is truly a blessing unless you thank Allah for it and it leads you to the permanent blessing of paradise. And no hardship in this world is truly a hardship if it unlocks the permanent blessing of paradise for you in the next life. Even the way we see blessings and hardship.
A blessing can become a curse, a hardship can become a blessing. The deciding factor of whether or not this becomes this or this becomes that is what happens to you in the akhira, is what happens to you in the hereafter. And the defining deed that will guide you to either of those two destinations is going to be your own shukr, is going to be your own gratitude when you see that which you have and you act upon it in a certain way. And subhanAllah, you also see some people who have been led astray by the blessings that have been given to them in this life and you swear that if those blessings came to me, I would never act that way. You swear, ya Allah, if you give me this, I'm not going to be this way. Ya Allah, if you would have put me in this position, I wouldn't have been that way. And Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he narrates this, right, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sees this person who asks him for so much and Allah azawajal sends the blessing and then says, asrifuhu anhu, take it away from that person. Why? Because if I give that person that blessing, atkhaltuhu annaar, then I'll have to enter them into hellfire. And that person keeps on, yatatayyar, keeps on looking to the heavens and saying, sabqani fulan, dahani fulan, this person beat me to it, this person got the blessing instead, wama huwa illa fadlullahi alayhi. And that was all the blessing of Allah upon that person the entire time. Allah was actually blessing that person the entire time. On the other hand, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa la tu'jibka amwaluhum wa la awladuhum. Don't be amazed by what Allah has given them. Meaning the kuffar, the disbelievers, the enemies of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, of all these blessings, don't let your eyes fall on it for too long, don't be amazed by it. yureedu allahu liya'adhibahum biha. Allah is punishing them with those blessings. Those blessings are making them miserable in this life and they'll make them even more miserable in the hereafter. Why? Because they take them away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They take them away from the best potential version of themselves and end up leading to their doom and their destruction. Now you don't have to look at this, dear brothers and sisters, and be like, you know, I'm pretty certain I wasn't going to become a pharaoh, a fir'oon, or become a horrible person if this blessing was given to me. You don't have to think that way. Instead, what you ask yourself is, the maqam, the station that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has promised for you, should you be patient and should you be grateful, if that was going to be reduced in any way that Allah recognizes in you, should He have bestowed that blessing upon you in this dunya? Then alhamdulillah. لا تجعل مصيبتنا في ديننا. Don't let my musibah, don't let my tragedy be in regards to my deen. And if you know, O Allah, that this is a means by which you will take me to that maqam, to that daraja, to that station, that you have guaranteed to special people in the hereafter, then alhamdulillah. It doesn't necessarily mean I would have become a pharaoh, but perhaps I wouldn't have had the rank of the salihoon, and the shuhada, and the siddiqun on the day of judgment, the rank of the martyrs and the truthful ones, and that special rank on the day of judgment that so many people would want to have. Imam bin Hajar al-Makki, rahimahullah ta'ala, he comments on this hadith, or this narration from Ubayy radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and he says, innal ghanee yaraa idamaa ni'matil ghinaa. That the ghanee, the rich person sees the blessing of that wealth that comes upon them, and so they're grateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they spend of that wealth. And he says, walfaqeer yaraa idamaa ni'matil laahi alayhi, fil mu'atha, that the faqeer, the person who's been deprived, if they pay attention, they'll actually look to that which wealth has brought to some people, and they'll say,
alhamdulillah Allah spared us from kadarid dunya, wanakdiha, wata'biha, alladhi laa haasila laahu ghayru tuulil hisaab. Alhamdulillah Allah spared me from that wealth that has clearly ruined some people's lives, and actually exhausted them, and made them miserable people, and the only thing that it bears for them in the hereafter is what? Tuulil hisaab, is a longer accountability. I'm actually happy that I don't have all of that. And he says, commenting on it, wahasana as-sura, yaraa maa, that the one who has been given, wahasana as-sura, the one who has been given the blessing of appearance, they see what that person has been given in terms of al-jamaal al-zahir, the external beauty, and so they focus on al-jamaal al-batin, they focus on the internal beauty. How is it that a person focuses on the blessing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives them of husn as-sura, of a good appearance, if they have a good appearance, Allahuma kamaa hussanta khalqi, hussan khuluqi. Oh Allah, as you've beautified my outside, beautify my inside. As you gave me health in this world, spare me in the hereafter as well. They channel it towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And he says, waghayruhu yaraa, anna adamal jamaal, adfa'u lilfitna. And then someone else sees that, you know what, what's been given to that person of that appearance and of those things, is actually closer towards fitna for them, and is happy they've been spared from the fitna, if they're grateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The point that he's making here, and it's a longer quote that I don't have a chance to go through all the way, but the point that he's making here is that every single person then who is grateful starts to see even the blessings they've been spared from as potential harms by which they have seen other people fall in this world due to those things.
The famous person wishes to be obscure once again. The obscure person wishes for prominence and fame. The rich person wishes that they didn't have all of the headache and hardship, they missed the simple days. And the simple person wishes for the mansions and the palaces and the cars and all of that type of stuff. The grateful person sees all of it from a lens of shukr. Because their focus is what? Their maqam in the akhira, their focus is the station in the hereafter. And I end with one thing subhanallah which is very profound. You know the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam mentioned an envy on the day of judgement. There are stares in this world. Stares towards people that have been tested by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in more obvious ways. Stares towards people that are poor. Stares towards those who have been tested in regards to their health. Stares, that hurtful gaze. The stare, the hurtful stare and the looking down on someone and the condescending stare. And what did the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam say on the day of judgement? He said, ahlul aafiya, people that have been spared in this life, that had an easy life, are looking towards ahlul bala. They're looking towards those who have been tested in the hereafter. And they're looking towards them and they're envying them. Because they see the way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is rewarding them. And they're just hoping that maybe one of those people from ahlul bala that's been tested will recognize that person from ahlul aafiya and pull me into your rank. The poor are entering paradise before the rich. And the rich are hoping for what? The shafa'ah, the intercession of the poor. Because you would have spent, if you were a righteous rich person, a righteous wealthy person, you would have spent of your wealth. And the recipients of that would say, ya Allah, that person all the way in the back with the agniya, in the back of the line with the rich people, used to spend. And so they pull you up in terms of your rank and they pull you up in line.
SubhanAllah, the tables are literally turned on the day of judgment with both the things that we see and the things that we wished and we would have hoped for. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for the best of this life and the best of the hereafter. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that every blessing that he has bestowed upon us becomes a means by which we achieve the blessing of his pleasure and his paradise. I say this and I ask forgiveness of the wrongdoer and the sin of the Muslims. So ask forgiveness. He is the most forgiving and merciful. May Allah forgive us and forgive us and have mercy on us. You are our master, so help us against the disbelieving people. Arabic
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items