# The Glass is Half Full | Daily Reminders

**Author:** Sh. Abdullah Oduro
**Series:** Reminders
**Published:** 2020-03-30
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/60k-S_-WH94
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/reminders/the-glass-is-half-full-daily-reminders
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
Sh. Abdullah Oduro describes how the Prophet ﷺ loved expressing optimism by saying a good word or behaving in an optimistic manner. We should stop focusing on the negative, but rather take from the Prophet’s example and make the best of the situation we are put in. Have hope in the future that...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. Abdullah Oduro. I was on the phone the other day with one of the congregants at my masjid and he seemed a little upset. Whereupon I asked him, why are you so upset? He said, because I spoke to my co-worker

**[0:16]** the day before and he seemed very upset and angry. I said, well, why was that? He said, because he started to talk about, man, we got to work from home. I can't go into the job. I'm here with the family. Got to sit here all day with the family. Cancel my trips. You know, this coronavirus thing

**[0:31]** has just messed everything up. And he said, no, that made me upset. Made me very angry. I said, why did it make you angry? He said, because, I mean, give a good word. It's something that we can't control and we should do our best to just stay at home and try to self-quarantine. So when saying that, I said,

**[0:47]** mashaAllah, that's the exact attitude that we have to have. You know, the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he said in an authentic hadith, al-Anbukhari, he said, la adwa wa la tayra. wa ya'jibuni alfa'al. qalu malfa'al? qalu malfa'alu?

**[1:03]** qala alkanimatut tayyiba. The Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he said, there is no adwa. There is no transitive disease or contagious sickness. And la tayra, there is no belief that there are bad omens. Like if the black cat crosses or black dog, what have you,

**[1:18]** then you should not proceed because if you do, it's bad luck. In Islam, we don't believe that. And then he said, wa ya'jibuni alfa'alu. And a good word, optimism amazes me. I love it. And they asked, what is that? And he said, alkanimatut tayyiba, a good word.

**[1:33]** The scholars have mentioned that this could be vocal or it could be through our belief and our actions to be optimistic, to be a person that loves to have hope in Allah and what he has given you and hope in what will happen in the future.

**[1:49]** So whatever's in front of you, you have good thoughts about it. You think good of it. And whatever may happen in the future that you don't know, for instance, you don't know if you may get tested positive. You may know someone that is tested positive. You have good hopes that they will pull through inshallah.

**[2:04]** You make dua for them. Oh Allah, may Allah cure them. You know, you come to them, you say, la'bat stahuran inshallah. No problem, inshallah. May this be a means of purification for you. You're optimistic. You look at the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam when he entered upon people

**[2:20]** that had a fever. He said, la'bat stahuran inshallah that this sickness, this illness, this pain that you are facing will be an alleviation, an expiation for your sins. When we look at that, al-Hakeem puts something in front of you and as an expiation.

**[2:35]** So looking at things, look at the brighter side of things, that the cup is half full, to the best of your ability. We're human beings. That initial feeling that you'll have of fear, of panic is natural. But what do you do when you make your salah inshallah or you make dua

**[2:51]** and you stop and think, what do I have control over? Who has ultimate control? Is my heart tied to him, his names and his attributes of protection, of love, etc. There's a beautiful dua that Hisham ibn Arwah,

**[3:07]** one of the grandsons of Zubair ibn al-Awwam, he mentioned a dua that he said, my father would not come home with food or provisions except that he made this dua. And it's a pretty long dua but there's a portion that is so beautiful here. I want us to ponder over it in terms of looking

**[3:23]** at the bright side of things. That he said, Allahumma alfatna ni'matuka bikulli sharrin fa asbahna wa amsayna minha bikulli khair nas'aluka tamamaha wa kamalaha wa nas'aluka tamamaha wa shukraha Oh Allah, alfatna ni'matuka

**[3:41]** your ni'ma, your blessings have been found in every evil, with every evil. So we ask you to make us of those that awaken and that go to sleep at night with this ni'ma. We ask you for the completeness of it

**[3:58]** and to be gracious with it. So look at how he called the sharr. He said, with the sharr, we see the ni'ma. When we see the evil, we look at the good. We look at the bright side of things. As a matter of fact, we understand that any evil

**[4:15]** that comes our way is a ni'ma. And that's how we view it. So when you look at it in that way, your heart clings towards the one that has brought it towards you, and you know that it is either a test or maybe some type of expiation or punishment.

**[4:30]** But in the end of the day, we turn to Allah with hope and love. So with this time of the coronavirus, we see it spreading rapidly. We're taking the means, but we know that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has control over all things. Whether you have been tested

**[4:46]** positive or you know someone that's positive, or you're someone that is still, mashaAllah, not tested positive, have your heart, try your best to have your heart cling to the creator of all things. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you all. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Thank you.

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