# Don’t Just Ask for the Loss to be Less, Ask for the Replacement to be More | Daily Reminders

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Reminders
**Published:** 2020-04-05
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/Ymf5S9ybyXQ
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/reminders/dont-just-ask-for-the-loss-to-be-less-ask-for-the-replacement-to-be-more-daily-reminders
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
The perfect supplication is when you ask Allah for the best, the highest in your perception, and accepting what He grants as the best. But how do you do this in times of hardship, times of loss and uncertainty? Download our eBook of du’as relevant to these times.

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Salamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh everyone. I'm Abdullah Samiyani from Al-Shaytan Al-Rajim. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa la'adwana illa'al adhalameen. Wa la'aqibatu lilmuttakeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka al abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam.

**[0:15]** Tasliman katheeran. So yesterday in the virtual khutbah we talked about this idea of building a structure of trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A structure in tawakkul. And one of the things that we covered in that was this idea that don't ask Allah to answer the prayer the way that you want it to be answered.

**[0:36]** But ask Allah to answer the prayer in the way that he knows is best. And that's extremely important when you're making du'a, when you're supplicating. And so the balance here has to be though that when you're making du'a, when you're supplicating, when you're praying,

**[0:51]** that you're not low-balling Allah because you believe he's not capable or you want to lower your expectation. The perfect talab, the perfect request, the perfect supplication is when you ask Allah for the best, for the highest in your perception.

**[1:08]** And then you are satisfied with his response as the best no matter how he gives it to you. So you ask Allah, وَأَنتُم مُّقِنُونَ بِالْإِجَابَةِ With complete certainty in the answer of your supplication that he's going to answer it in a way that's best.

**[1:24]** But at the same time, you don't pin your expectations on the exact consequence of your request. So you aim extremely high with your du'a and you expect the best with your du'a as well.

**[1:40]** But you understand that the best that you're expecting might not be in what you understand as best. Okay, so what does this mean when you're in the midst of loss? And how do we reconcile this with what we're talking about when people are losing much and then they worry,

**[1:58]** are my prayers being answered in the first place? Okay, so how do you come to terms with trusting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with the answer and then not low-balling Allah with your requests, with your supplications, still asking Allah with full certainty and with high expectations. And one of the things that we find from the practice of the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet peace be upon him,

**[2:18]** he said that when a calamity strikes you, when you're struck with some sort of loss, he said, Say, إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَجِعُونَ To God we belong and to Him we return. And then he said, Say, اللَّهُمَّ عِنْدَكِ احْتَسَبْتُ مُصِيبَتِي فَأْجُرْنِي فِيهَا وَأَبْدِلْنِي مِنْهَا خَيْرًا

**[2:39]** Okay, the meaning of that is that, Oh Allah, I seek the reward with you for my affliction. فَأْجُرْنِي فِيهَا So give me the reward of that affliction. Give me the reward of that trial. وَأَبْدِلْنِي مِنْهَا خَيْرًا And give me better than that which was taken from me.

**[2:55]** Give me better than that which was taken from me. This is really beautiful if you really think about it because you have a person that's losing everything. And when you're losing everything in your dua, in your supplication, as you're desperate, you tend to just ask for the bleeding to stop.

**[3:11]** You just want to preserve what is being taken away from you. Just don't let it be worse than it already is, right? But here the Prophet ﷺ is saying, Don't do that. Instead, ask Allah to replace what's been lost with better. And that is having a good opinion of Allah when you make your dua, when you make your supplication,

**[3:29]** that you believe that God will give you better than what has been taken away from you. Even as you are in your moments of desperation and things are fleeting from you, okay? So again, he said ﷺ, peace be upon him,

**[3:44]** إِذَا أَصَابَ أَحْدُكُم مُصِيبًا When one of you is struck with a tragedy, فَلْيَقُلْ إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ Let them say, To God we belong, To Allah we belong, and to Him we return, and then say, اللَّهُمَّ عِنْدَكَ احْتَسَبْتُ مُصِيبَتِي فَأْجُرْنِي فِيهَا وَأَبْدِنِّي مِنْهَا خَيْرًا O Allah, I seek the reward from you of my affliction,

**[4:05]** so meaning the reward in the hereafter, and give me better than that which was taken away from me. And this was narrated by Umm Salama ra. And Umm Salama she says that when Abu Salama, when her husband was passing away radiyaAllahu ta'ala alaihi wa sallam,

**[4:21]** he said, اللَّهُمَّ خَلُفْ فِي أَهْلِي خَيْرًا مِنِّي O Allah, Replace for my family better than me, give my family what is better than me, as he was dying. And of course, Umm Salama also was making dua that Allah give her better than what she had lost.

**[4:41]** And she thought, you know, Abu Salama radiyaAllahu ta'ala alaihi wa sallam was an amazing companion, an amazing human being, an amazing husband, just an amazing person, an amazing Muslim. And she thought, there is no way that I could ever get a husband better than Abu Salama.

**[4:56]** And then she said, Allah sent me the one person who unanimously would have to be accepted as better than Abu Salama, and that was the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him himself. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I'd be married to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, this old widow, right, and I just lost my husband, an amazing human being.

**[5:16]** I never thought that I could be married to anyone better than him, but I was taught to make that dua, make that supplication, not just to ask Allah to help me cope with the pain of the loss, not just ask Allah subhanAllah to make the loss less, not just to ask Allah to give me the reward in the hereafter, but to ask Allah subhanAllah to give me better, wa khluf li khayran minha,

**[5:37]** to give me better than that which was taken away. And so a lot of us are going to lose things, and these times you lose some health, don't just ask Allah to restore your health, ask Allah to give you health better than that which was before. A lot of us are going to lose careers, lose income, ask Allah to bless you with income better than that which was taken from you,

**[5:57]** with opportunities better than that which was taken from you, okay. Don't just ask Allah to stop the bleeding, ask Allah to increase the reward and ask Allah to give you a better replacement, and that's part of expecting well of your Creator when you ask of Him. Again, as we said yesterday, don't concern yourself with how the answer comes,

**[6:18]** but know that the one you are asking is fully capable and knows what he's doing, okay. Have full trust that he knows what he's doing, I'm going to put the request towards him, and however he chooses to answer is best for me.

**[6:33]** However he chooses to answer is best for me, and I have to have that certainty in my dua, in my supplication, but that is part of husna dhanan Allah, having a good expectation of Allah, that oh Allah, do not just replace it, make it better.

**[6:48]** Don't just replace it with the same, make it better. Don't just keep it, don't just preserve it, don't just safeguard it, increase it. And that's part of our good expectation of Him subhanahu wa ta'ala. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for everyone who has lost, that they are given what is greater,

**[7:05]** either in this dunya or in the akhirah, either in this life or in the next, but certainly Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the bestower of all good, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is capable of all things, so we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for the best in this life and the best in the next, and to protect us from the punishment of the akhirah. Allahumma ameen.

**[7:21]** Jazakumullahu khair wa salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

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