Reminders
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Do Not Fear the Virus | Daily Reminders
Sh. Yasir Fahmy reminds us of a simple theological truth: no harm can come to us unless Allah wills it, just like no benefit can come to us unless Allah wills it.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala wa baad. My dear brothers and sisters, I would like to remind myself and all of you, all of my beloved brothers and sisters, of a simple theological truth. And that is, this coronavirus will never kill us. This coronavirus will never ail us. Let alone any other virus or any other disease. For it is only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who is al-naafi al-dhaar. It is only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who brings us benefit and it is only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who brings us what we conceive as being harm. And this truth is something that all of us should strive to internalize. Because Allah makes it categorically clear in the Qur'an and our beloved messenger Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam makes it categorically clear in the Sunnah, that only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala takes the soul. As he says in Surat al-Zumur, Allah yatawaffal anfus heena mawtiha wa allati lam tamut fee manamiha. It is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who takes the soul at the moment of death and the one that does not die when it sleeps. Fayumsikul lati qada alayha almawt. He holds, he takes the soul that death has been decreed upon. Wayursilul ukhra and he lets the other one go. Ila ajalim musamma. Until an undefined time. Inna fee thalika la ayati li qawmi yatafakkaroon. Allah says in that there are signs for those who think and reflect.
Brothers and sisters, every single night when we put our heads on the pillow and we fall asleep, we die a minor death. Allah withholds our soul. And that's why before we sleep, we are taught by the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam to say a specific dua and this dua should help us theologically orient ourselves every single night every single night as we're about to go into that minor death when we say Bismika Rabbi. Watatu jambi wabika arfa'o. Ya Allah, I lie down in your name. Bismika Rabbi. In your name my Lord, I lie down. Wabika arfa'o. And in your name, I rise. Fa in amsakta nafsi. Ya Allah, if you take my soul, farhamha. Ya Allah, have mercy on it. Wa in arsaltaha. And if you return to me my soul, fahfadha bima tahfadh bihi ya ibadaka al-salihin. Protect it and preserve it with that which you use to protect and preserve your righteous servants. So brothers and sisters, it is so categorically clear that Allah is the only one who brings benefit and harm. Allah is the one who takes our souls. That nothing will take our souls except that which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has decreed. So the question is simple. Do we fear the virus or do we fear the creator of the virus? And you as well as I know categorically, we only fear the creator. We fear the musabbib. Musabbib al-asbab. Allah is the one who causes
these realities. In our theology, we believe that only Allah possesses what we call effective cause, nothing else. Allah possesses the ability to create and do realities and undo realities. So all the time that we spend agonizing over this virus and whether or not it's going to touch me and come into my airways or into my lungs, let me spend all of that time and let us all collectively struggle and try to push ourselves to spend all of that time thinking about the creator. The one who my spirit, my soul is in his hands. That my ruh bayna asabi ar-rahman. That my spirit and my soul are between the fingers of ar-rahman as is befitting to him. And so rather than ever fearing this virus, I should be fearing Allah. As Sayyidina Umar would say in his Qunoot, Allah, we seek and we strive and we have hope in your mercy and we fear your wrath and your punishment. And those are the two wings of the believers, brothers and sisters. Fear and hope. And when we fly using these two wings, we will soar in this dunya. We will fly above the fray. We will not be tantalized by the horizontal realm as we see it, the created dunya. But rather we will soar and bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, we will soar well into the afterlife, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, by Allah's permission, into the highest heights in the company of al-Habib salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So we take this time to reorient ourselves around the majesty, the quwwah, the power,
the qahri reality, the majestic and mighty reality of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We enter into his audh, na'udhu bihi, we seek his refuge and his comfort and his close company. And we ask him, Ya Allah, you are a nafi, you are a daar, protect us, aid us, support us, rid us of all harms, Ya Allah. That is what we do. And so horizontally, if you will, in the realm of asbab, we have to wash our hands, we have to maintain social distancing, and whatever other indicators, or whatever other guidance is given to us by the experts. But that never alters or informs what I know to be the truth, horizontally or vertically for that matter. And that is, it is all about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So I should not obsess over whether or not there may be a singular microbe or a virus on some part of my body, maybe I didn't wash it, and I become terrified of the potential of this virus. No, I take the asbab as is instructed, I am responsible in that regard, and then I lift my worries and my concerns, and I surrender to Allah, and what Allah will will, and what Allah will desire, will absolutely be. May Allah grant us the certainty, may Allah grant us the trust, may Allah grant us the reliance of those who know Allah, those who trust Allah, those who love Allah, and those who lovingly surrender to the Most High and the Great. BarakAllahu feekum, wa jazakumullahu khair,
wa salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.
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