- [Narrator] When you face a financial hurdle,
it can feel like the foundations you've been establishing
for your family begin to crumble.
Then you start to question everything.
Are others better off because they work harder than me?
Is it my fault that I'm in poverty?
How can we understand the blessing of Rizq
while also understanding the blessing of being deprived?
It all starts from a single truth,
Allah has already decreed your Rizq for you.
Losing wealth can be devastating.
There is the uncertainty of the future,
the regret from the past,
and the feeling like all of your hard work
just went to waste.
Even more than your own grief and anxiety,
there can be the shame of facing your family.
You feel like you failed them.
You fear that they've lost respect for you.
And then you witness the tears of your loved ones
and it hits you like an arrow to the heart.
The tension in a household
that is going through a tough time
is going to be felt by everyone, especially the kids,
but in everyone learning
to accept a new financial circumstance,
there's a potential growth
that could prepare you for anything that is to come.
It's sometimes the first potential iman-breaking
or iman-making tests
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is going to give you.
Before Allah tested Ayyub 'Alayhi Salaam
with his family and his health,
he took all of his wealth away.
Before Allah took Khadijah and Abu Talib
away from the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
he tested him with the boycott
and the loss of all of his possessions.
Accepting your Rizq is at the core of accepting the life
that Allah has decreed for you going forward.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala Anha said
habbadhal makruhaan al mawt wal faqr
Accept two things that you dislike.
Death and poverty.
And he said by Allah,
I do not care whether Allah tests me with wealth or poverty,
for the right of Allah in each of them must be fulfilled.
So if it is wealth, then the answer is gratitude,
and if it is poverty, then the answer is patience
and that's what Sufyan al-Thawri Rahimahullah said,
"True richness is only found in contentment."
Just like the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
"If Allah wills good for a servant,
he puts richness in his soul,"
meaning that person is going to be content
with whatever he has
and is always going to feel rich.
And the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said
"And if Allah wills harm for a servant,"
ja'ala faqrahu bayna 'aynayhi
"He places poverty right in front of his eyes."
Meaning, no matter what he actually possesses,
he always sees poverty.
So should we love deprivation then?
In some ways, yes.
The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
"If only you knew the rewards that you had with Allah,
you would want to be increased in poverty and need."
But the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
wasn't saying to ask for the circumstance of poverty.
He was saying to ask for the rank of the poor
and the blessing of perspective that comes with being poor.
A person not given too much of this world
is just not going to be as deluded by it
as someone who has so much of it
and if he's content,
he's happy here and he's happy in the hereafter.
In fact, his contentment makes up
for the other deeds he could never do.
Imam Hasan al-Basri Rahimahullah said
man radiya minallahi bil yasiri minal rizq
radiallahu minhu bil qalili minal aml
"Whoever is pleased with Allah, with a little bit
of sustenance, Allah is going to be pleased
with a little bit of his deeds."
So being content with Allah no matter
what the circumstances,
can lead to Allah being pleased with you in the next life
and fast tracking you to Jannah.
And subhanAllah, The majority of this ummah
are of this mold,
simple poor people who do their dhikr,
who maintain their obligations
and who sleep with full hearts even if they
have empty stomachs
and it's no coincidence.
Yahya ibn Mu'adh Rahimahullah said
verily the poor only become happier
than the rich because of their remembrance of Allah.
For they are in the custody of Allah.
And look at what he says he says,
if the siege of poverty were to be lifted from them,
you would find few of them still remembering Allah.
Subhanahu Wa Ta'Aala
because that's how we are as human beings.
Now there is a Bilāl path to Jannah,
and there's a ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf path to Jannah
The path of hardship and the path of generosity.
Most people get into Janna through the Bilāl path,
but the Ummah always needs its ibn 'Awfs
But how many people
with full stomachs have limitless cravings
that leave them spiritually starved?
Imam al Muzani Rahimahullah
said, you are sufficed in this world
with whatever you are content with,
even if it is a date, a sip of water,
and just a little bit of shade over your head.
Then every time more of this world is opened up for you,
the more disappointment consumes your soul.
The point is, what are you craving
and who are you competing with?
Allah makes it clear that people who look around at others
and wonder will almost certainly stop looking towards Allah
and the wonders he has promised them,
and even though it may seem like they have it all
or that the constraints on your rizq
always keep you a few steps behind,
that same appearance of poverty with the worn down shoes
or the tattered clothing will be a mark of honor
for the believer on the day of judgment.
The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
said, my fountain is vast.
It's water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey.
Its cups are as numerous as the stars.
Whoever drinks from it will never be thirsty again
and the first people to arrive at it
will be the poor migrants,
their hair disheveled
and their clothed stained, who are not considered
for marriage and for whom the gates
of leaders are not opened.
The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
is saying to those who don't have in this world,
look at what you can have in the next,
but it's not just that Allah replaces your sustenance in the
next life with reward if you are patient.
Ibn al-Jawzi Rahimahullah said,
if you've been prevented from rizq in one category,
know that you are not prevented from another category
and so while you may feel you are prevented
from sustenance in one way,
it may be that Allah has increased it in another way.
Sometimes the rizq of wealth is actually stopping you
from seeing another form of rizq.
Maybe it's your friends or your family
or other blessings you didn't even realize you had
or that weren't even possible when you had your wealth.
Now, does deprivation come through sin?
Yes, sometimes it does.
The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
said, verily the servant is deprived of rizq
because of a sin he commits.
And as Ibn al-Qayyim Rahimahullah said,
nothing brings rizq like leaving off sins,
but that gain or loss could be in quality
instead of quantity,
because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Aala
is the one who puts barakah in a little
and destruction in a lot which
SubhanAllah,
We have a Lord who deprives some people out of love so
that he can raise their rank
and some people out of punishment to bring them down.
But whatever the reason, a person has this opportunity
to gain from their loss, it's either the repentance
that brings you back to a path to Jannah or the rida,
the being pleased with Allah,
that increases you in Jannah.
Sometimes Allah is inviting you to a spiritual opportunity
to live with true tawakkul
As the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
said, if you were to rely upon Allah, truly,
he would provide for you just
as he provides for the birds.
They go out in the morning with empty stomachs
and they return full.
You only get to know Allah as Al-Qabid,
Al-Basit, the one who withholds and the one who gives.
When you live both of those situations
and you learn to trust Allah in both of those states,
then the circumstance becomes irrelevant.
The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said
atta'imu shaakir bimaanzilati saam mis sabir
the one who eats and is grateful is just like the one
who fasts and is patient.
It's not about what you have or don't have,
it's about your ability to see Allah
through both poverty and prosperity.
There is a debate between two Islamic scholars in the past.
One of them was rich and the other one was poor,
so the one who was poor comes late
and he takes this shot at the other one
and he says, you know, I'm sorry I got distracted
because I ran out of oil for my lamp
so the rich scholar, he responded
and he said, well, you know, I too was distracted
because of how beautiful my chandeliers were.
The point was is that they both had their tests
and they both got to know Allah through their tests.
Mata 'ataka ashadaka birrahu
wa mata mana'aka ashadaka qahrahu
fahuwa fi kulli dhaalika muta'arrifun ilayk
wa muqbirun biwujudi lutfihi alayk
When he gives you, he shows you his kindness,
when he deprives you, he shows you his power
and in all that, he is making himself known to you
and coming closer to you with his gentleness.
If you are given, be grateful,
but if times are tight, be graceful
and at all times rely upon Allah.
He is the best Wakeel
the best agent you could possibly ask for.
If your situation is difficult, then seek the means
to come out of it with full hope and optimism
and don't confuse being content with Allah's decree,
with despair in Allah's relief.
Continue to strive and rely upon Allah
because he knows what you have lost
and he knows what you have missed through all
of these tests and trials
and he can give you more in return
than you could ever imagine.
Just don't throw away the opportunities Allah
is putting in front of you
because they don't seem valuable at the time.
Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)