Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Wa alaikumussalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajeem. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa lillahi rabbil alameen. Wa ala aqeebatu lil muttaqeem. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barakan abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam tasliman kathiran. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. I think that first and foremost, I want to thank you all for being here, making it a point to be here and keeping your hearts engaged. MashaAllah, it's been inspiring to see the response of the community. I think to every single action that we've had for Palestine in the last few weeks, whether it is a community du'a, or whether it is a protest, or whether it is some form of educational form, to see the way that the hearts are so connected, I think in and of itself is proof that this ummah is not dead. So before I start with anything else, if there is one thing that we take as an immediate silver lining of what is happening right now is that the hearts of the ummah are beating hard, and inshaAllah ta'ala this is a means by which we come back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we once again remember that we're part of this one human body, this one ummah that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam spoke to us about. Now with that being said, you know, I thought as we talk about this topic of resilience and solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Palestine and how we learn resilience so that we can be resilient like them and for them. Resilient like them and for them. And we'll kind of break that down inshaAllah ta'ala in a bit. It was very interesting that the electricity went out today for a lot of us, and it's kind of been flickering on and off.
Some of our houses still don't have power, and you can see just in a few hours the way that we start to get uncomfortable with ourselves and we start to, you know, wonder what we're going to do with this and what we're going to do with that. And you can imagine what it's like for our brothers and sisters in Palestine, in Gaza right now, that have been without power, without fuel, without water, without food, and under the cruel bombs that are financed by the American government, dropped on them by the Israeli government. And here we are, and we learn a lesson. And solidarity can only truly be felt with empathy. And so I think it's a teaching moment for all of us. Every single time we experience a little bit of discomfort to remember what it is like for our brothers and sisters right now. Now, inshallah ta'ala, we're going to be speaking about the topic of resilience. And resilience has many connotations, and alhamdulillah, we're joined tonight by, of course, Sheikh Yasef Rajas and Sheikh Abdullah Aduru. So this is a community event for us, but we want to get to a very specific angle as we've been talking about Palestine, which is resilience. And I think that as we watch the scenes of our brothers and sisters there, we wonder, how is it that they have such strong faith? As much pain as we feel for them, we should also feel for our own spiritual poverty when we see the richness that they have in their iman, the richness that they have in their spirituality. Subhanallah, the bombs are dropping on them. They're not sustained by the things that we expect on a daily basis, yet somehow they're able to breathe dhikr, to breathe la ilaha illallah, allahu akbar, alhamdulillah. They're able to breathe, subhanallah, wa la hawla wa la quwata illa billah, hasbiallah wa ni'ma alwakeel. They breathe these things so naturally.
And that in and of itself is a miracle. And, you know, before we get started, because this does hit us close to home, I want to mention brother Iyad, who is here, our beloved brother Iyad, who lost 21 members of his family a few nights ago. May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala have mercy on them. Accept them all as shuhada. May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala allow them all to be nestled from the throne of Ar-Rahman in this moment. May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala join them and all the shuhada of Gaza with Sayyid al-shuhada and with al-sadiheen and with the anbiya. And may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala join us with them. Allahumma ameen. So this is hit close to home. And our hearts are with our brothers and sisters that are experiencing this maybe a little bit deeper. But I want to start with this part. When the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says that the mu'min is to the mu'min like a building. Yashudu ba'duhu ba'duha. That one part of it enforces the other. That means that the relationship of the ummah with each other is a relationship of solidarity. And one of the ways that you develop resilience is when you look at another part of the body and you see the weight that it is carrying. And you say if they can carry those 3,000 pounds, then surely I can carry my 30 pounds. If my brothers and sisters can hold it down like that and they are carrying the weight of la ilaha illallah Muhammadun Rasulullah in that way, then I need to be able to hold it down for them. And one of the most important lessons that we take from this is that it's all interconnected. Your overall righteousness is connected to your brothers and sisters in Gaza. Your overall wickedness is connected to your brothers and sisters in Gaza. So when we are stronger as Muslims, more resilient as Muslims, stronger as a human body in general, then we naturally reinforce that part of the body. We remove some of the burden, some of the load off of them. And that's part of the reason why we want to develop that resilience
so that we can be doing our part. And so when someone says my qiyam, my dua, you know what, your prayers, your qiyam, just the very fact that you're praying qiyam allah, the very fact that you're crying before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala now, the very fact that you're learning to make dua with more sincerity, the very fact that you've put aside your personal concerns in a world that tells you to be a narcissist, and you are glued 24-7 to the affairs of your brothers and sisters in Gaza and trying to think of ways to be there for them. All of that is a means by which we become a stronger body. walhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. And so when it comes to solidarity, individual resilience is part of solidarity. Now there are different words, different terms that are used in the religion for resilience. One of those words is azeema. It's very interesting, azeema. How do you build determination? You know, if you look at this on an individual level, Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah talks about after niyyah, after intention comes azeema, comes determination. It's one thing to say, I want to help my brothers and sisters. It's another thing to try to turn every single stone, to try to look at every single course of action and to situate yourself in every single place that you possibly can so that you can help them. And so one person says, I want to help the people of Gaza. I want to help Palestine. But your azeema is the sincerity of that intention, the zeal that you bring, the determination that you bring is the zeal that comes with that intention. And we don't want to just be people of rhetoric. We don't just want to be people that say we want to be there for our brothers and sisters in Gaza and then disappear. We don't just want to be people that tune in for the cycle. We want to be people that pace ourselves for the long run. And it's important for us to understand that our enemies, our enemies, because the people that are crushing Gaza right now
are our enemies too. So our enemies in the most wholesome sense, they count on us losing spirit. They count on us getting tired. Imam Hassan al-Basri rahimahullah said, الشجاعة صبر ساعة. Another word that's used. Courage is being patient for another hour. What does that mean? The scholars used to say that patience in this sense is resilience. It's outlasting your enemy for an hour. It's being willing to stay the course and drawing from something that is divine, that defies the laws of just physics and nature and comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know, when you talk about attrition, when there are two people that are competing with one another in a sports match. And I know Sheikh Abdullah can talk a lot about this from a physical perspective. Honestly, you draw from something deeper. Willpower is what they'll call it, right? You have to have a stronger willpower. You have to want it more. الشجاعة صبر ساعة. The Muslims were always able to outlast because they drew from something greater. They saw something greater. And so we have to pace ourselves and not let our spirits get crushed. One of the beautiful things about our brothers and sisters in Palestine is how long they've been at this. It is resilience to have every sort of trauma inflicted on you and to say, I'm not leaving my home. Allahu Akbar. I'm not leaving my home. What's left of your home? I'm not leaving my home. Can any one of us actually say that if we were in that position, we'd be able to muster up, I'm not leaving my home. So the question becomes, how did they get there? And how do we get there for them? And inshallah ta'ala, as we start to go through some of the questions, you know, with Sheikh Yasser, Sheikh Abdullah, I want to mention something that I found very instructive from the ulema in this regard,
because it'll take us back to Ramadan in a bit. And that is that the scholars say that determination is built through learning to be patient with things that you don't desire, with hardship. أن تعود نفسك على المكارح To make yourself accustomed to, adjustable to hardships. To be able to inflict discomfort on yourself on a regular basis for the sake of something greater, so that when a greater hardship hits you, you have already established that type of a relationship with your nafs, with yourself and with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so waking up for fajr, on an early morning, waking up for qiyam, fighting your sleep, fighting your hunger, fighting your thirst, fighting your desires, taking some of the hardship that comes with being a Muslim right now. All of that is you are teaching yourself how to be patient with things that are undesirable because you desire something greater from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so when we talk about the people of Gaza, they didn't just find a light switch somewhere. They didn't find a light switch on October 8th or 9th or 10th or whenever the bombing started to come down that way. They didn't just find a light switch. This is a light that is being kindled on a regular basis. And then it shines brightest when it gets darker around them. And so as-sabr, resilience is when you are able to endure discomfort for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on a regular basis intentionally. You don't inflict darar, you don't inflict hardship on yourself by the way, harm on yourself. But you do incur and endure discomfort on a regular basis. One of the sisters that spoke on the yaqeen program that we had
two nights ago, subhanAllah, she was talking about our sisters in Gaza. I couldn't believe what she said. She said that the women are going to sleep in their hijab in case they get exposed in a bombing and they want to make sure that they're still practicing that ibadah. I mean if that does not bring to life the very real example of that woman who came to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and said that I have epilepsy, Ya Rasulullah, sometimes I am overtaken by a seizure and then I pass out and atakashaf and I'm laid bare. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam told her to be patient and she would have jannah and he said, Ya Rasulullah, can you just make du'a then that when I have a seizure my awrah is not exposed. Here you have an example in our day and age of that woman and she was promised jannah. These women do that under airstrikes. Where do they get that from? They still pray. You see the pictures of them praying in destruction. How many people do we see on a regular basis? And I don't mean to put us all to shame but when someone says I stopped praying because something bad happened. I'm finding it hard to pray these days because I made du'a and I wasn't getting the answer to my du'a. Look at these people. They make the adhan and they go and they pray in their ruins. And they pray janazah more than they pray salah now. More than they pray their regular salawat and they're still praying. So the light switch was not suddenly found. They've been making themselves, adjusting themselves to something greater on a regular basis. And subhanAllah, Sheikh, when you read about resilience they say it's finding meaning in adversity. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam taught us that on a regular basis. We find meaning in adversity. We don't just wait for the adversity to finish. We find meaning in adversity. And we try to gather the lessons of that adversity. When Allah azawajal says to the community after the slander of our mother Aisha radiAllahu anha that tahsaboonahu sharran lakum that you think that it's bad for you. bal huwa khayrun lakum
but it's better for you. And then on an individual level asaan takrahu shay wa huwa khayrun lakum you might hate something and it's better for you. The believer finds meaning in adversity and then we build the community of resilience. tawasaw bil haqqi wa tawasaw bil samr We are enjoining one another in good. Enjoining one another in patience. And right now our brothers and sisters in Palestine they're holding up their end of the deal with showing us and teaching us a lesson in resilience. And alhamdulillah rabbil alameen the ummah is alive and we want to keep as many of our brothers and sisters alive as possible inshaAllah ta'ala and be there alongside them. So biidhnillahi ta'ala we're going to inshaAllah have a panel now and just sort of discuss how do we build resilience? How do we do our part here? Learn from them. And then also see the end goal. So Shaykh Abdullah I'll start with you inshaAllah ta'ala How do these events keep us resilient in our faith? How do we find triumph in trial? Not after trial, in trial, in the midst of it? Jazakum khair May Allah subhana wa ta'ala protect our brothers and sisters in Palestine May Allah subhana wa ta'ala bless them and protect them in their Iman Mostly may Allah subhana wa ta'ala protect our brothers and sisters also that are suffering in Libya, in Morocco, in Afghanistan, in China May Allah subhana wa ta'ala protect them Really what we are seeing, what we are hearing now is a trial without a doubt But it's important to know that that is something that is conditional I mean when we see the word resilience Resilience comes after a trial You fall and then you get back up You fall and you get back up You fall and you get back up And right now we're seeing this fall with our brothers and sisters right now in an open prison without food or water or even subhanAllah any means of even exiting SubhanAllah it's something that just as you mentioned when the lights flickered off before we left I stopped my family and said just think about what's happening now
We're leaving our home but there's no lights, there's no electricity So it's that istish'ar, it's that feeling, that feeling and that empathy that we must have in order to activate what we initially have with our faith in Allah subhana wa ta'ala So the trials firstly brothers and sisters when a trial comes know that it is a sunnah of Allah subhana wa ta'ala It is what Allah has predestined and is what Allah has willed subhana But what's most important is when that comes to you when you face it, not if, but when you face it What is your response? What is your response? With the reality that we as human beings will fall short or with the reality that we as human beings will get emotional We will get sad and this is normal as human beings This sadness when you watch on the news, watch on your phone when you read inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon When you hear with your brothers and sisters like our brother that has suffered, you know, his family members have passed away and we have some in our community as well You read those text messages and then you recite it to yourself and you say subhanallah, what if it was me? And it makes you sad. This is normal as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was sad when his son passed away And he mentioned that his eyes shed tears and the heart is saddened But at the very end he said, وَمَا نَكُلُوا إِلَّا مَا يُرْضِي الْرَبِّ We will not say anything that displeases our Lord subhana So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created us as human beings But even within the word an-nas or insan Some scholars mention comes from nasya Which means that there is a level of negligence or forgetfulness And that is exactly what took place with our father Adam alayhi salam So with this natural trait that we have that Allah has created and put within us There is a time frame that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us to be human
But at the same time from our humanity There is a time frame for us to come back Whether it's inaba, turning back to Allah And that's why it's so important during the times of al-rakha, the times of ease That one is still turning to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Subhanallah, I was mentioning in the chapter of al-imran And I tell my community and all of us that This is a time for us to read surah al-imran Because it speaks about certain trials Particularly that of the battle of Uhud Which took place in Medina a couple of years after hijrah So we see when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam With this battle, some would consider We say that the Muslims lost quote unquote in this battle There could even be a level of disappointment, a level of sadness Because we see what took place In the beginning they were winning Some of them came down They didn't obey the message of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam May Allah be pleased with them Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was mentioning a statement That one of them mentioned about Abu Sufyan When he with his army, when he was non-Muslim When he came as a general of the army of the Meccans And he wanted to annihilate the Muslims What was mentioned when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Was giving a description of the believers When he said The ones that when people come to him I want to capitalize on this portion of this verse When people came to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam As was mentioned And they said That all of mankind or particularly some scholars mentioned Was Abu Sufyan in particular Which was a representative of all of the Meccan army at that time
They've come as a battalion against you You are more in number What did he say? Be fearful of them Just stop right now How many times do we see on the media The messaging from these news agencies Major news agencies And they come with this messaging for us to say The Muslims have lost They come with this messaging for us to say We are destroyed To where this sadness will persist And possibly lead to despair And that's where it can be problematic Not the sadness The sadness rather is from our Iman The anger is from our Iman But the despair is where there's a fine line So when he said Fear them Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la After that mentioned what happened to the Mu'mineen at that time internally When that what one would expect The one that does not have an ultimate purpose in life By turning to Allah ultimately Initially and ultimately Allah is my motivation And Allah is my destination The reason I do something Is for the sake of Allah Because I want to be with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la So when that statement of fear came to them It increased their Iman It increased their Iman It increased their Iman And that is how the trial is the Sunnah and the means The means that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la uses for you To strengthen your faith How many videos have we seen Some brothers and sisters in my community They'll send a text message They'll send, you know, our brothers and sisters
They're running and they're repeating this Hasbiya Allah wa ni'ma al-wakeel They're running out of breath Allah is sufficient for me And that's exactly what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la said after that The ones that their Iman was increased And they said, Allah said, and they say Hasbiya Allah wa ni'ma al-wakeel Allah is sufficient for me And He is the most excellent of those that is relied upon This is important as well Allah is showing the statement of the believers in a time of trial and tribulation That when that time of trial comes You say, Allah is sufficient for me And what does that even really mean That when I, the more that I get to know Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in ease The more I will know Him in hardship And this is a beautiful hadith The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam A portion of his hadith And this is a conditional sentence The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is saying Get to know Allah or come closer to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la In times of ease What will happen? What's the result? He will know you in times of hardship Meaning that He will be there Allah is always there for all of us And it is a test for us to see What is our response What is our response And with that response of making the attempt to do better As the Shaykh mentioned Making that intention with yourself Setting your alarm Inshallah At least five minutes before Fajr goes off I'm going to wake up I'm going to wake my children up And I'm going to have them be a little uncomfortable Because with uncomfortability comes success And that's ultimately generally how the trial can be a means of triumph The choice that you make to be a better person
To be the best version of yourself Particularly in times of hardship And when you see that Know that it is a huge opportunity To be a stronger believer To be a believer even Because some of us this could be a catalyst for us to start praying It could be a catalyst for us to start praying five times a day A catalyst for us to wake up in the middle of the night And remembering that beautiful statement Hasbi Allah That Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is enough for me Allah is enough for me Turning to Him I'm sufficient It is enough for me The predestination of what has taken place With our brothers and sisters in Palestine I know that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la Has a bigger plan What Allah has allowed to happen I will try my best to go through the process Process of resilience And that's what I want to end on Wallahi it is a process It is not something overnight You know I couldn't imagine SubhanAllah If a family member Family members of mine Passed away And you see it on the news or you hear it from someone It's a process And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la Al-Aleem, Al-Hakeem, the all-knowledgeable, the all-wise Knows that it is a process But he wants us to stick through it Because that is ultimately what the believer is in those characteristics Because he is ultimately the one that we trust on Wa-ni'mal waqeel And he is the excellent one that we trust in ultimately So really the trial is a means for us for triumph If we trust in him ultimately And we turn back to him Subhanahu Wa Ta-A'la And do not rely on those things that could bring us down a slippery slope Because sometimes it may be a rough patch back SubhanAllah I think that one thing sheikh when you say It's a powerful hadith that fits the situation Get to know Allah in good times
And he will know you in bad times Good times are very relative The best times of the people of Gaza are probably your worst nightmare Their best times, right, are things that we would consider of the worst of ahwal Ashadd al-ahwal, the worst of situations But it is perspective To them, rakhat is what? The fuel turned on The electricity turned on We're not getting bombed right now We're able to have our weddings and have our social activities In this open air prison without the prison guard violating us in the moment That to them is rakhat That's their good time, right? So it's perspective And you got to think about that And the reality is that if you never knew shiddah If you did not even know what real hardship is in the first place And I'll speak to myself I'll speak to myself I don't know what real hardship is I've never been tested like that I've never been tested like that, right? So I'll say I don't know what real hardship is But that comes back to the more you know Allah The less important that all becomes All of that relativity is then factored in There's a saying, subhanAllah, that at once I'm probably mixing up a few sayings, but you can't reduce your tests But you can choose to not be reduced by them And truly, your trials are going to come And you're not going to be able to choose What selection of trials are given to you in life In the same way, you're not going to really be in control Of what selection of blessings come in your life But you can choose as a person to not be reduced by them And in the case of the Muslim, that is a ta'alluq billah That is a connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That connection cannot be disrupted The cell phones are cut, the lines are cut But their line to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is still there
They still have that connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So long as that is not disrupted The sense of purpose is not disrupted Sheikh Yasir, I'm going to turn it to you And Sheikh, now if you could talk to the seerah component of this I think that a lot of this resembles sort of that Meccan period, right? The early Muslims, the struggle of the early Muslims That look and find hostility in every direction Can you kind of walk us through how we can learn resilience through that? Bismillah, rabbil alameen, salallahu alayhi wa sallam Barakah nabiyyuna Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam Tasliman kathira thumma ma ba'd Subhanallah, before I get to the seerah component I was just thinking about what you guys were saying About hard times and convenient times and so on I couldn't help but remember the statement That hard times create strong men And strong men create convenient times And convenient times create weak men And weak men create hard times And the cycle is going to go on and on and on and on So for us, we are living in convenient times, subhanallah And that's why you see how the society in America You know, forget about the 1950s after the Second World War And then after that, subhanallah Those strong men that we now would say the veterans in those times They create convenient time for the society that came afterwards And now we're suffering because of that convenient time Creating, unfortunately, weak leadership and weak people Even to the level of, unfortunately, that emptiness in morality in that sense So, when we look at the brothers and sisters in Gaza I'm sure that you guys have seen a lot of these viral videos About this young kid, remember, subhanallah This young kid who was pretending to be a reporter And reporting about Gaza And as he was reporting, suddenly a bomb or actually a rocket Came over his head So he just paused and looked up And then he heard the bomb and he continued reporting Like nothing happened He didn't flinch He didn't move He didn't want to hide Nothing, he continued speaking
And just like, where is this strength coming from? Seriously, subhanallah People just going about their lives And trying to get the best out of this difficult time They're going through, subhanallah And then I see also, I saw just today A video when little kids are playing in a trench That was just open in the ground They made a big ditch actually in the ground Preparing for the mass grave That they're going to be actually burying the people in them And these kids were playing They were jumping in that space And having fun with the new thing that happened in the streets And then when the camera came to them They said, well, we're having fun right now We're playing with this We never know, we might be buried here too I'm just like, wow They're saying it and they're speaking It's just like, no seriousness to the matter of death to them, subhanallah They don't fear that So where is this coming from? Where is this really coming from? I think I learned that really recently even From another video that came Maybe some of you have seen that video Somebody forwarded it to me actually An un-Muslim lady who was also observant of that resilience Of these people and these kids And she was wondering where this is coming from Somebody told her it's from their Qur'an So she never read the Qur'an before So what she did, she went actually And she started listening to the Qur'an She found an audible version of the Qur'an She was listening to the Qur'an And she was mesmerized by the messages That she was getting from that Qur'an And she goes, no wonder No wonder these people they find that strength And that resilience and that power actually It's in their teachings And we can see that from the seerah From the time of the Prophet ﷺ At the beginning of the revelation obviously So in the Meccan period If we look at how the Sahaba were conducting themselves And what were the teachings that were given to them For 13 years, imagine 13 years of their time In comparison to 10 years in Medina 13 years, the Sahaba in Mecca In terms of the numbers were few If you look at the ratio of the Muslims Who were in Mecca all these 13 years
In comparison to the number of Muslims Who embraced Islam in 10 years afterwards That number was very, very little The number of the muhajireen That came from Mecca to Medina was very, very little But they were the strongest of the strongest Because they were very well prepared During those hard times And those difficult times in Mecca The Meccan era and the Meccan period Was all about building a strong believer A strong individual That's why in Mecca you don't see Salat al-Jama'a There was no congregation of prayer in Mecca There was no fasting together, Ramadan, in Mecca There was no collective, you know, act of ibadah That they all had to participate in collectively As a jama'a, as a group There wasn't But they were responsible to do their own duty To Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, first and foremost So in the first year after the revelation of Iqra The sahaba, radhiAllahu ta'ala, were given the order To pray tahajjud They were ordered to pray tahajjud For an entire year Every single night They were ordered and commanded to pray at night I mean, you guys, in Ramadan When we do that for 30 days and 30 nights You know, back to back Half, not even halfway The first few days, mashaAllah, we're very excited Maybe day four, night five, night six The masjids are empty already And by the time Ramadan is over What happens to the hajjud? We put it on the shelf until the next year But these sahaba, they worked on this for an entire year And then finally they came to the Prophet, salAllahu alaihi wa sallam Complaining, ya RasulAllah, we can't take this anymore It's too much Can you ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to make it easier on us? So Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, made that ibadah To become optional, not obligatory anymore So when it became optional, it became voluntarily They did not stop Now they have a choice So they chose to do it even more Because now they have a choice, subhanAllah That built resilience for them These people, when they embraced Islam The iman in their heart was strong and powerful It was noticed even by the people around them
They were shocked and surprised How could they handle all the pressure they had to go through? Look at Bilal, for example Bilal, radiyAllahu ta'ala, in which he was Every single day, his master at the time, Umayyah ibn Khalaf He would bring him and drag him all the way in the middle of Mecca Or in the desert, outside in the desert And bring him a boulder or rock to put on his chest And ask him to renounce his faith And curse the Prophet Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa sallam And he would deny, he said, absolutely not And he keeps saying one word, he says, ahadun ahad I believe in one and only one I believe in one and only one And they would be enraged by that They keep trying And he himself, he said to them, if I know another word That makes you more actually angrier, I would use it But he kept saying one and only one Because he believed in Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala We've seen Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, radiyAllahu ta'ala When he became Muslim as well And Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, for the context Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, radiyAllahu ta'ala In terms of his physique He was actually a very tiny man He wasn't a strong, big man He was very little, actually But when he embraced Islam, he loved the Qur'an And his voice was so beautiful with the Qur'an That he decided to go and recite that publicly In the main court in Mecca Where the leaders of Quraysh would be there listening Although he was warned against it, but he didn't mind it So he went and he was the first person To ever recite the Qur'an publicly, radiyAllahu ta'ala What was the result of that? Abu Jahl, one of the big guys in Quraysh Came and slapped him, severed his ear, radiyAllahu ta'ala But he said, I'm going to do it again And he kept trying to do it again Why? Because I am going to recite the words Of Allah, subhanAllah, wa ta'ala Between them so they can listen to it Where did they get that resilience from? We look at Khabab ibn Arad, Suhaib al-Rumi, radiyAllahu ta'ala And all the other sahaba, radiyAllahu ta'ala And then later on in the history of the seerah All these sahaba were put together In what we know today as concentration camp
Which is called Sheikh Abi Talib Literally, they were physically were removed And put in one valley And they were barricaded over there Not allowed to come in and out as they wish And they were banned from trading with them Marrying from them, dealing with them So they cut them off completely Ostracized from the society Socially, financially, you name it Few people were helping them out secretly Because they still believed their relatives No matter how So they smuggled some humanitarian aid to them Here and there, every now and then To show you how difficult it was Sa'd ibn Waqqas, the companion of the Prophet, salAllahu alaihi wa sallam He said, one night I wasn't able to sleep I was so hungry I haven't eaten in days, he said So he got up at night And he started looking around for something to eat There was nothing No grass, no leaves, nothing left He goes, I remember, he said, that night I stepped on something that was soft and tender So I bent down, I grabbed it, put it in my mouth He goes, until this day, I have no idea what that was But just something to satisfy their hunger with And then, when you look at that Why they remained so strong during those difficult times So the ulema, they studied the seerah And they said the number one reason for that Is their strong iman and belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Once you subjugate yourself to one and only God People become irrelevant to you Once you believe that you belong to Him Then everybody else becomes nothing to you That's why as Muslims, what do we say? Inna lillah wa inna ilayhi raji'oon We always say these words We all belong to Allah And our return shall always be back to Him So if you believe that you belong to Allah Who is out there who can subjugate you to themselves? Why would you even subjugate yourself to anybody? To their whims and desires and their plotting and so on You're strong right now because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Is on your side We've seen that when the Prophet ﷺ
Was in the cave with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq And Abu Bakr as-Siddiq was anxious And what did he tell him? Qala tahzan inna allaha ma'ana Don't be sad, Allah is with us That strong belief That Allah is one and only and He is with me subhanahu wa ta'ala Is so powerful It really frees them from any want Or any need Or any dependence on anybody The second thing we know about the Sahaba radiyaAllahu ta'ala That made them be so strong Is their strong belief in the akhira In the akhira Which means in the hereafter That they believe this life is temporary This life is just a test And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala prepares for the believers You know, a better life That's what the Prophet ﷺ says about this world as well This is just a siege, this is a prison for the believer And the akhira is gonna be actually their freedom So when they believe in that And if you look at the Qur'an, the Mecca Qur'an Most of the verses of the Qur'an When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is speaking to the people Highlighting these two things You believe in Allah azza wa jal Strengthen your iman in one God and only one Number two, believe in the hereafter That there's a day of judgment Which means You're now at ease You're gonna be compensated for what you've done in good deeds And you know that all these people Also gonna be returned back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala No one's gonna get away with all that they're doing And even if I don't get my right here I will get it in the akhira And that's something That gives that strength and stability as well to them These sahaba also They learned that From the history of the nations from before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned that story in the Qur'an For what reason? He spoke about the pharaoh He spoke about the story of Ibrahim alayhi salam And his father and his people He spoke about Prophet Noah and his people You can imagine all these stories What's the reason for that? To tell us that we're not the only people Who've gone through trials and hardships And eventually Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Gave them triumph So when we get into that point We realize how serious the matter is Subhanallah So I think it's extremely important for us
When we look at our brothers and sisters in Gaza Unfortunately, we think that we're grieving You know, we're grieving for them, right? For what they're going through Here's the fact that I really When I observe what they're going through And the thing that they have to run through and so on They don't even have time to grieve Like literally, there's no time to grieve From one bomb to the other one From one massacre to the other one And from one death to the other one So they don't even have time to grieve, jama'at They simply just gonna have to pick up the pieces And just move on We're grieving on their behalf And frankly, instead of us teaching them lessons We should learn from them We should learn from them how to be resilient Allah Allah As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Subhanallah, the hadith الدنيا سجن المؤمن They call Gaza the world's largest open-air prison Dunya as a whole, this whole world Is an open-air prison Subhanallah And it's about perspective once again You know, I'm thinking about Mecca And what you're mentioning, Sheikh Imagine that moment where Khabab al-Arat Radiyallahu anhu Comes to the Prophet ﷺ Because there's this idea of like We know we have the truth on our side Rasulullah ﷺ We've seen this man split the moon We've seen Rasulullah ﷺ Split the moon in two halves By Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's permission You've seen trees and stones Cry for him ﷺ You've seen some of the miracles Around the Prophet ﷺ And you know that he is Rasulullah And that his du'a is not rejected And Khabab radiyallahu anhu Walks up to the Prophet ﷺ And he's got You know when they say skin in the game He's got no more skin left to give to the game He has no more skin on his back It's been burnt off in torture Skinless back And he sees the Prophet ﷺ And he says Ya Rasulullah
Ala tad'u lana Aren't you going to make du'a for us? Ala tastansir lana Aren't you going to ask Allah to give us victory? And the Prophet ﷺ He responds to him And he reacts to him with what? Look There were people that came before you That were placed in the ground And sliced into two Because they said la ilaha illallah You're being hasty Now subhanAllah there's so much That you can unpack from that In Mecca in particular Because there's no end in sight in Mecca There is no end in sight in Mecca There is no superpower That's coming from outside to save you Remember how Medina was a surprise Gift to the Prophet ﷺ The Arabs are not coming to help The Persians are not coming to help No one's coming from outside to rescue this group of people with a new religion And the Prophet ﷺ says to Khabab with full confidence You're being impatient Hold on, you're being impatient He's saying that to a man with no skin on his back anymore Allah will certainly give victory to this affair Do not be impatient SubhanAllah in this regard There's a frustration that grows Right? Every day you're seeing it And it seems to be getting worse And worse and worse And we've only been in this now for a few weeks In this particular episode of the ordeal Right? I mean if you've been engaged in sort of the occupation And what's happening with it all this time That's one thing But this last episode is only a few weeks And every day it's like you're waiting for the miracle Do not be hasty
Do not be hasty I think that's where that individual ibadah That you're talking about Sheikh in Mecca is so important So Medina comes around and you have a community now And Alhamdulillah I think one of the things that we have is we do have a community So as much as you have the voices of suppression from the media and from the political establishments I think there's something inspiring about the streets of the ummah being filled And the connection that Muslims are forging across continents Despite social media Platforms trying to shut them down That are expressing the sense of community solidarity So what does this look like now on a community level when we have that in the madani phase if you will with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam I will look at the madani situation phase We said that in the Meccan era The focus was on building strong individuals Once these individuals became strong enough When they moved into a community What do you expect they're going to produce? A strong community So when they build that strong community But how was it? What made them so strong and resilient? Especially when you talk about Medina at the time of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was Yathrib Which was not a so significant city or town actually in the Arabian Peninsula It wasn't like a big community or Mecca or anything else around it It was something on the road of their path to go to Sham It wasn't significant But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala made it so significant Because that small group of people who believe says you know what?
We'll take you in We'll support you So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said the moment he arrived in Medina The first thing he worked on is strengthening the ties of the community obviously And the first thing he did is the pact of brotherhood So he made them into brothers and sisters Literally As if they became like blood brothers and sisters That you live with them You marry from them You assist them You help them out in every aspect Every way that you can think of It's like saying nowadays we have refugees for example Their circumstances are very unique and different than our circumstances When they come, how can we help them live that life So they become strong as part of the community as well That's something the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did to the community in Medina And what did he do? He made sure that he built that community based on brotherhood and sisterhood Now that's where Sheikh Omar began the conversation with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam You are like one structure You strengthen each other So Alhamdulillah I think one of the things we learned is that Ummah is strong because of the teachings, Sheikh Not because of any particular leader Or any particular geography Or any particular circumstance It's because of the teachings of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Like I remember hearing Subhanallah speaking about the Muslim community in general He says one thing unique about the Muslim community It's a living organism What does that mean? It thrives anywhere it goes No matter what the circumstances are It thrives anywhere it goes
Why so? Because you build your life around Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala The first thing you think about is what? We need a masjid And then we need to start to have Quran classes We need to come to the masjid We need to do this, we need to do this, we need to do this When the community grows around the masjid You're going around the notion and the idea of what? You worship Allah and only Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala That in itself is so powerful Nothing can kill that So the Ummah is always as strong as a community as long as we have the same principles We always thrive Alhamdulillah As long as we hold on to our teachings Which is why Umar ibn Khattab mentioned his very famous statement where he says We are an Ummah that has been dignified by Islam If we seek dignity throughout anything else We will not get it We will be actually humiliated So as a result what I would say is that for us We need to strengthen that brotherhood and sisterhood We ache when we see someone else aching In pain But I also want to extend that Part of being a Muslim is being compassionate even with the non-Muslims Even in that sense that actually our Rahmah extends to everybody So therefore we need to make sure that you look around and see who is in need of help We look from one community to the other around us until inshallah we strengthen their time that we live in Sh. Abdullah I want to give you inshallah a chance to comment Obviously Sh. you have been listening to a lot I am sure you have some reflections So instead of me asking a question just any final thoughts you would like to share with us inshallah And then we will have a close out message from all three of us The statement that you mentioned by Umar bin Khattab when did he say it? When he opened Quds when he came to Palestine and he opened Quds When he said that statement it was a statement of humility And that is ultimately what this connection with Allah should make us is humble
Humble towards him humble towards his creation And there is one beautiful dua I really want to end with and I remind myself of it And these times the fortification of the heart and making sure that the heart is pure That it is soft and that it is firm Being that it is pure for the sake of Allah and there is a beautiful dua that I want all of us I think all of us know this dua and I hope we say this dua in our sujood Because the Prophet used to say this in his sujood for resilience Because there will be times that the heart will be saddened to the degree to where you will ask Allah متى نصر الله When is the help of Allah as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned The companions even said أَلَا إِنَّ النَّصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ The help of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is near Sometimes your heart will say okay okay I know that But when? Okay just dua The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam used to say in his sujood يَا مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ Everyone repeat after me يَا مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي عَلَى دِينِكِ This is a beautiful dua The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam used to say this in his prostration When looking at the word qalb in and of itself Some scholars mention that they call the word qalb because it يَتَقَلَّبُ Or some say لأنه قالب الشيء That it is something that is consistently in movement Or it is something that accepts what comes to it It is like a container So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam firstly acknowledged the greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala By saying يَا مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ Acknowledging his greatness Knowing him Understanding his properties and his qualities And that's the first thing When we have these experiences that we go through It is important that we always try our level best To resort to Allah and seeing
How did he use these ayats that are in front of me And how did I embark upon the usage of them In a way that's blessed In a way that he is pleased with Because subhanallah I remember when I became a new Muslim I remember the statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala In the chapter of Munafiqoon After Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُلْهِكُمْ أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُكُمْ عَنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ O you who believe Do not allow your children and your money To divert you تُلْهِكُمْ أَلْهَاكُمْ التَّكَاثُرُ You have been distracted from gathering things in abundance So distraction is that which takes you away from traction Which takes you away from that which is more purposeful So here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said Do not allow your children and your money To be a distraction for you From the remembrance of Allah Children and money This is what Allah gives you It is a form of sustenance It is a form of something that you can look at and use To remember Him more But if it is the opposite That's where it can make the heart weak When our hearts are weak for our children Or for the money That's when the choices that we make Can take us away from the ذِكْرِ of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Acknowledges that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Is ultimately the one that is in control of the heart So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Ya Muqallid Acknowledging Him That should be for us a sign that we should Get to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala More from everything that we encounter As Sheikh Omar mentioned Anything that we encounter Try to associate it to How Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving me this How it is a sign And how I'm showing thankfulness to Him By calling on Him And then he asks Him for something ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي Make my heart firm
Make my heart firm So what is that Ya Muqallid al-Qulub The heart that is constantly I'm happy one day I'm sad I'm asking Allah why I don't want to speak I'm very angry These consistent emotions ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي Make my heart firm But my heart firm upon what عَلَى دِينِكِ عَلَى دِينِكِ عَلَى دِينِكِ عَلَى شَرِيعَتِكِ عَلَى قَضَائِكِ عَلَى قَدْرِكِ To make my heart firm In believing In your predestination That what you have planned It is for a divine wisdom It is for a divine reason And with that being the case This is how one Gets that resilience In times And let's be honest There will be times As human beings We will be All of us were caught off guard On October 7th All of us were caught off guard But what happens at that moment? What happens a couple of moments later? What happens when we're crying And that anger comes to us? What do we say? What do we say moments after that? Days after that? يَا مُقَلِّبِ الْقُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي عَلَى دِينِكِ Because I cannot do it by myself So it's important that Subhanallah what we've heard From the time of the companions To look at their lives To see how So eloquently How we look at what they're going through As a lesson for us To look back at ourselves Look in the mirror And asking Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala The one that makes the hearts firm To keep us firm on his faith By knowing him more And using these ayats Whether it's a time Whether it's something That we're going through Within ourselves To use it as a sign And it means to make the right choices To come closer to him And without a doubt Brothers and sisters As was mentioned before It will take you being uncomfortable Being uncomfortable Being uncomfortable And we just got a small dosage of it Subhanallah I almost hit a car on the way here Because the lights were off In the parking lot And then all of a sudden
The lights came on All of a sudden And it just reminded me again Right before I left home And reminded my family Subhanallah Just that small moment of darkness Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Can bring the light At any particular time But what are we doing individually And collectively To keep our hearts firm With Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala In that time of ease Because this Nasr As he promised It's qareeb May Allah knows best Jazakallah khair So I'm going to go ahead And close out Sheikh if that's okay Insha'Allah Do you have something Please go ahead Just if someone wants to take For example an action item To do in order to build Their resilience I want to remind ourselves That Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Says to the Prophet Subhanahu wa ta'ala As he was given his da'wah When you're done Giving the da'wah And when you're done Going out there And putting yourself In the streets And the roads And inviting people To Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala And dealing with the hardships And so forth With the people Once you're done with that He says Then When you're done Stand in worship Until you feel fatigued Now that's unusual Because when someone Is done doing qareeb They say I'm going to pray I'm going to pray I'm going to pray I'm going to pray I'm going to pray I'm going to pray When someone is done Doing something As important as Giving da'wah And they come back What do you ask them to do? Rest Take a break But Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Is telling him There's not a time For you to rest There's a time for you When you stand up And start building yourself So if we Alhamdulillah Many of us Maybe participated In the rallies And went Helped out here and there And went online Made some comments And put some posts And so forth This is all beautiful Now my question for you How are you building How are you strengthening Yourself? So here's how you do that Number one Knowledge Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Says What is your knowledge About Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala? How strong Is your knowledge About Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala? Is it strong enough? Is it strong enough For you to make Everything else irrelevant When it comes To Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala? If not You need to start Working on this Number two With knowledge You build your iman Faith And faith Because Those who have faith And their hearts Find peace And tranquility Through the remembrance Of Allah Because indeed Through the remembrance Of Allah The heart will find Peace and tranquility You need to work on that Number three That faith Should result Into yaqeen Absolute certainty When Allah Described the believers In the beginning Of surat al-baqarah He says He speaks about The believers Those who have no doubt In the book Those who believe In Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala They believe in the ghayb The unseen They pray They give their zakah They believe in what Is revealed to you What was revealed Before you They are absolutely Certain About the day of judgment And there is an end For this Number four After you have This knowledge And you have This knowledge And you have This knowledge And you have This knowledge After you have These three things You put this Into action Which means I need to Translate that Into action That's what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Says what You have faith now Prove it When a man Asked the prophet O Rasulallah How should I Understand Islam Tell me something About Islam I don't have to Ask anybody After you What did he say He said Say I believe Then prove it Remain steadfast Don't fluctuate In your faith And your practice So prove it Through your actions And the last thing When you do that What is left for you Right now Is to put your Trust in Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala And put your Tawakkul On Allah Azzawajal I have my Knowledge That produce Iman in my heart Hopefully It makes me So certain About things I put that Into action And then I Put my trust In Allah Azzawajal
I want to Go back to this Point which Insha'Allah I hope you all Hear me very Carefully on this Very similar To what Sheikh Yasser Said You know The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Talked about This idea Of walking With a person In need Until you Complete their Need Until you Finish the job Until you See that person To the finish line I think that The beauty of Activism And the initial Sense of Rage And the initial Sense of empathy And seeing everything Happening in front of you Is that you Blow all of your Steam out In a protest Or two You come home And you feel like You liberated Palestine And then you're done This needs you To stay engaged And that's a proof Of sincerity By the way Your willingness To stay engaged Until The matter Is seen We want a ceasefire Right now We want the end Of the killing Of innocent people Right This is the beginning We want a ceasefire We want the end Of the killing Of innocent people We want occupation To end We want apartheid To end We want Our brothers And sisters To live In the full freedom That we hope To live with Ourselves Seeing it To its end I know for a lot Of us Subhanallah This consciousness Of the innocent By the way This is character building For the young people As well This is a cause That you need to engage with For the long run Insha'Allah Right now It's You know We want to see People stop dying Eventually Insha'Allah We want to see Our brothers And sisters Live in full prosperity Stay the course And the last thing Speak Speak with confidence Speak Speak with confidence Bi'idhnillahi ta'ala
There's this emphasis In the Qur'an Speak with confidence Don't let the fear Be seen in your eyes Don't stutter I am of the Muslims We believe in La ilaha illallah La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah Hasbuna Allah Wa ni'ma alwakeel Fustu wallah This idea Of speaking it And not being afraid To speak Is a powerful concept In our deen And we need to nurture that Insha'Allah ta'ala In our young people as well Speak with wisdom Speak with courage Speak with consistency Be smart But be sincere Bi'idhnillahi ta'ala We hope That we will see That Allah azawajal Liberate our brothers And sisters in Palestine And that we all Get a chance to pray In al-Masjid al-Aqsa While it is liberated We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala To To support Our brothers and sisters In Gaza In these dark moments We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala To free them From this captivity We ask Allah Azawajal To lift the siege We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala To open up The ways of sustenance For them To accept their dead As shuhada To heal their wounded We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala To place us In their service Allahumma ameen As-salamu alaykum
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