-Abdullah, Asalamualaikum warahmatullah.. How's it going, man? =Alhamdulleah
I gotta tell you this question I got this week It's so awesome
a guy comes up to me and he says: Why can't Allah guarantee me a perfect life a happy life? If He Is in control of every thing
Why does He Have to give me a hard life?
I was, like, Wow! this was piling on my head because I talked to another young man, recently
and I was asking him about religion He wasn't even Muslim
and he said I was raised in a pretty religious family
family until I got to college and then I stopped practicing religion, and I was like, Why did you stop practicing religion?
he said: I look at all these other different religions but I don't really subscribed to any one of them
And the reason for that was, when I got to college I realized, Man! I'm stressed out about an exam, and I'm praying and praying and praying, but I'm not doing better on my tests
So I should have not been wasting my time praying I should have been spending my time studying for the test instead
I realized that I don't need religion, I don't need God, I just need to do the right thing, and that's it
So I've just become more rational about it, I don't think I need religion in my life and a lot of people feel that way
And people who are on the verge of heading in that direction say things like, when I used to have problems in my life I used to say: Why are you doing this to me God? I pray to you so much
I pray every single day I ask for this I do that I give charity All these rituals
and for Muslims it could be 5 times prayer, For a Hindu it could be going to the temple or something else
So I do my part Why aren't you doing your part you have the power to change every thing in my life, Why am I still having a hard time?
So it's this idea of exchange, I gave you, Why aren't you giving me? This is not a good deal!
Which is similar to this guy who says Allah is i n control of every thing Why can't He give me a perfect life?
The problem with this fundamentally, from an Islamic perspective... because I can't answer that from other religious perspectives
Is that in Islam our fundamental relation ship with Allah is
"Rab" and "Abd"
Rab is master and Abd is slave
Now the thing about master is you don't negotiate with a master
you negotiate with an employer, you can also negotiate with a partner, like a business partner, you can negotiate with a family member
I'm going to come home this time, No, no, come at this time Ok fine no problem... these negotiations
but when you have a master and a slave, Who dictates all the terms?
The Master does and the slave's only position is to follow all these terms
Now the other thing about a master is that if he gives you something, it's a bonus, and if he doesn't give you something, he didn't have to
Because you're not salaried, you're a slave. Slaves aren't salaried, right?
And usually when you think of masters, they are oppressive, you think of chains and beatings and things like that
But that's human masters. Allah Is a different kind of master,
and this is the only kind of master like Al-Fatiha tells us, this is the kind of master that before you even know that He is your master, you know that He deserves praise and gratitude
no other Master deserves praise and gratitude right off the bat
The first thing you think of a master is someone you should praise, someone you should be grateful for
The only thing the slave would think is: When can I get free of this guy? But for Allah all you have is praise and gratitude
Now coming back to this idea of Why doesn't Allah give me a perfect life?
The question assumes that Allah owes you something, doesn't it? Like the employer owes you something, your paycheck, Your business partner owes you something, your cut
Your parents owe you something, they are responsible to raise you
Your children owe you something, your wife, or your husband, they owe you something
Allah Owes you nothing. He Doesn't owe you anything
As a matter of fact, you owe Him every breath
So when you phrase this question, I should have a perfect life, you've already undercut the idea that Allah Is your Master, like you're in some sort of position to make demands, right?
And when you take that away, It's an uncomfortable thing
"I want God to be my friend, I want Him to be someone who helps me like I pray to him"
you want to dictate what this relationship should look like
You know like any relationship, friendships, there are different kind of friendships, right?
Some friends I have the way I talk to them is not the way I talk to some other friends, it's different
So in every relationship you kinda figure out what's going to be the give and take, So some people figure they should figure out what their relationship with God is going to be like
They are going to figure out well, I'm going to do this for Him, He'd better do this for me, etc. The give and take.
=it's pretty one-sided
It is, but the bigger problem with it is you're deciding what the terms are
Now to put it in perspective, Who should decide what the terms are between you and the supreme being?
=Probably The One who knows everything - The One who knows everything
So His terms overrides yours What you have in mind is less relevant, and what He dictates is far more relevant
When I say that it sounds harsh, but when you give His terms a chance, this is the last part
If you actually study revelation, study Quran, Quran is His terms... here's what it means to be my slave, isn't it?
When you study Quran you find that it's not a book of rules, it's not a book of do this. if you don't do this. this is going to happen. and that's going to happen. Actually, very few rules
for the most part it's the relationship of loyalty, gratitude, love, friendship, remembrance, longing
it's a really beautiful relationship
This Master wants me to be a slave who loves Him, who is friends with him, who talks to Him all the time, remembers Him all the time, He says "Remember me, I will remember you"
Who talks like that? That doesn't sound like a master, right?
so the Quran shatters your view of what does Allah mean as He is a master
He wants to be your friend, He wants you to be his friend, But first understand that He is your master, Then understand that He is your friend
He wants to be a Giver of gifts to you, but before He gives gifts to you, He wants you to understand He is your master, And you're the slave, and He also wants to give gifts to you
He wants to show you love, He wants to show you mercy, He wants to give you forgiveness, He wants to give you all this stuff,
He wants to give you guidance, He wants to give you wisdom, He wants to Knowledge, He wants to teach you, He wants to be your teacher, too
He wants all of these things, all these relationships with you, it's not one relationship, it's a lot relationships
But at the helm of them all, He's Master, and you're slave. Which means whatever happens in this relationship, your humility should never go away
cause the idea of slavery is it's the most humble job description in existence, there's no more humble a job than slave, you can't get lower than that
These questions lack humility, cause they reek of entitlement
"I want, I want, I want" You could still want, but if you want as a slave, it's different than when you want as someone who's entitled
Allah isn't saying you can't ask, you can,
But he will decide when to give and what to give
=He knows best - He knows best
So the answer to this question isn't actually in what Allah decides to or not to do, but actually how we perceive Allah ourselves, it's our perception where the problem lies
And once you get that, the problem is solved
This is probably one of the most fascinating things I've ever learned
about the people around the prophet -pbuh- who didn't believe
The Quraish
If you were to ask them who made the skies and the Earth
They would say Allah
It's in the Qur'an "If you were to ask them who made the skies and the Earth, they would say Allah"
They have no problem accepting Allah?! they have no problem accepting Allah as the Creator,
"He made it, fine, good, He made it" but if you were to ask them "Who the master is?"
There's silence. Cause that requires that I have to be a slave, if I called him Master, this makes me slave, makes me humble
If I ask you "Who do you think made this car" and you say Lexus did, or Jaguar did, or somebody did. Fine, I can accept that, they made it
"Who is your boss, who is your ultimate authority?"
"Let's take a step back here a second, hold on a second! That's my car"
So that's the line that has to be crossed when somebody enters into Islam
They have to actually accept no only Allah as Rabb, Master, they also have to accept themselves as slave
I'll see you next time InShaa Allah