When Calamity strikes,
the first thing you do is you say, inna illallah inna ilayhi raji'un
If you are content at Calamity,
that struck you, inshallah, you're a good person.
But if you are struggling and you are really battling
and it's changed you in a negative way
and it's made you even worse, then guess what?
When calamity strikes in your life and it has to strike at some point,
the first thing a believer should do is connect to Allah.
Allah describes the believers and Allah says, those whom when calamity strikes,
when difficulty and hardship befalls them, the first thing they say and they utter is
we belong to Allah and unto Him we shall all return.
So when calamity strikes, the first thing you do is you say
Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.
I belong to Allah.
What does that mean as a believer?
The fact that you know you belong to your Maker.
He made you.
He has you here for a short time, and you are going to go back to Him.
That will cushion whatever difficulty you are going through.
Don't think that you won't have hardship in your life.
Do not think that calamity shall not strike you.
It has to strike you.
If not today, then tomorrow.
If it has not already struck, it is coming.
And if it struck once, it may strike many times.
And a lot of us have had it many times already.
Guess what? It does not get any easier.
It gets bigger.
Because that is the plan of Allah.
He rewards you in a greater way as time passes.
You think it was simple because you lost a child.
Wait until you lose three or four one time.
May Allah (swt) not test us with that.
So when calamity strikes, we say we belong to Allah.
We believe that we belong to Allah.
Because a believer is such that you don't just utter words, you believe them.
I don't just say in Inna Lillah and
I don't even know what I'm saying, you hear about the death of a person.
Isn't that calamity striking from one angle?
Yes, it is. What do you say: Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.
You know what satan does...
Shaitan makes us say that words as
a spontaneous effect of having heard the news without thinking of the meaning
of those words and what we are actually saying, that's what happens.
So that's why we are saying, my brothers, my sisters, think of it.
Who do you belong to?
You belong to Allah.
Do you really think as a believer, He would do something nasty to you?
The answer is no.
I lose my limbs.
It's not nasty for me if I have connection with Allah.
That's Allah. destiny is written.
The pens have been lifted and the pages are dry.
Your destiny is already there.
You're going to go through tests that Allah chose for you.
So take it in your stride.
we belong to Allah, I belong to Allah, you belong to Allah.
We all belong to Allah.
I don't even belong to myself.
That's why when you say this is mine, this is mine, this is mine.
Hang on, hang on.
In actual fact, you and whatever you think is yours is actually Allah's
When you came on earth, you came with zero.
You suffered and struggled and fought
and made enemies your whole life to get a bit of money.
And then you left with nothing, zero.
What was the point of that fighting?
What was the point of the war?
What was the point of all that toiling if it did not bring you closer to Allah?
So when you toil on earth, when you work hard,
let it be a balanced working, no matter what you are working towards,
it should be halal, it should be in the obedience of Allah.
And I should have Allah in mind and be conscious of Him all the time.
Then no matter what you're doing, it will be converted into an act of worship.
You go out to earn halal because you are conscious of halal and haram.
You're conscious of Allah.
You want to give charities.
You are humble, you are a beautiful individual.
You remember your duties unto Allah.
The more you get, the better it makes you become as a person.
That is an worship
That's a gift of Allah.
And one day it strikes. What will strike?
You have to suffer loss.
All of you who are in business, anyone who's in any form of job,
anyone who has beautiful health, may Allah protect us all.
But the day will come when Allah will test you with it.
That particular thing. You think, you know what?
I'm calm, I'm relaxed and I'm sitting.
As I was driving to this masjid earlier,
I was talking to some of my friends who were with me and we were saying,
imagine how Allah can change the condition of a person in a flesh.
Today you're sitting calm, you don't realize it will strike.
Why? You know why?
For a believer, the true reason is Allah is giving you
the opportunity to outshine the old you
and to come to a new level in your connection with Allah.
That's the reason why He tests you a bit more.
If you didn't have tests,
you would not be able to be as close to Allah Almighty as you are now.
But you are, because you have the tests and you're a believer.
Because some people, when they have a challenge, they resort to intoxicants.
They resort to everything else, the wrong things.
They go and drink themselves out of that problem, according to them,
but it's actually creating a bigger problem.
They do the wrong things,
they end up in the pubs and the clubs and gambling and whatever else that's wrong.
But when you have a calamity that strikes,
and like I said, it shall strike, it must strike.
Your iman / faith and your connection with Allah will cushion you.
It will make you smile. When someone says, how are you?
You say, Alhamdulillah, knowing very well that I'm suffering,
I'm going through the most challenging time of my life.
I am really almost broken;
Had it not been for the mercy of Allah.
That's what I'm going through right now.
Anyone in my condition,
if they didn't have faith, they would have killed themselves.
Perhaps, but I have iman.
Allah is keeping me afloat.
In our lives that swim through your calamities and hardship;
What will keep you afloat is Allah and your connection with Allah.
Do not lose it.
My brothers, my sisters, connect with Allah.
We've mentioned this hadith so many times.
Get acquainted with Allah during your days of ease
and Allah will get acquainted with you in your hardship.
You will have something that can crack your back.
But you are still smiling, saying Alhamdulillah.
you're greeting everyone, you're happy, you're hugging.
And guess what? People have smaller problems than yours,
but they are in such distress and you are there comforting them,
them not realizing that in actual fact, this person needs to be comforted.
And here they are comfort. What is the difference?
The iman, the connection with Allah, that's what it is.
So you say we belong to Allah myself and everything I have belongs to Allah.
And on top of that,
do you know what the second part of the statement we always say wa inna ilayhi raji'un?
And we are all going to return to Allah, some of us a little bit earlier,
some of us a little bit later when Allah's prescribed time has come.
Trust me, nothing was going to bring it forward by a split moment.
And nothing was going to delay it.
If it is written your soul.
he's going at this particular moment, this second, this nanosecond.
When that second comes,
no matter what the condition is and no matter where you are, you're gone.
Simple as that. You are gone.
Be Prepared... May Allah make it easy.
The beauty of it is when you go, those whom you love are following.
Those who believe and their family members
or their progenyes followed them in belief.
Allah says
We joined and connected and reunited their families with them.
Based on that goodness, did you lose someone in your family close to you?
Good news. Connect with Allah.
You'll connect back with them and be reunited soon, very soon.
But when you go back to be reunited
with your loved ones, you'll be leaving behind other loved ones
for whom your departure will be considered a calamity.
And you are smiling and you're swimming in some bazakh that
no one knows exactly what it's all about besides a little that we've been told.
And here you are, having gone with a smile.
Those who were around you are busy crying at the loss. May Allah make us such.
Because some of us, when we die,
the people would say, alhamdullah, the man's gone.
The way we operate on earth, sometimes people are waiting for us to go.
Just wait a few more years.
He's old now, he's unhealthy now.
in sha Alla, soon he will go.
If people talk like that about us.
We were a burden. Astaghfirullah.
I see you relate.
May Allah never make that happen to us.
But it's a reality.
You go oh, you go to a good place.
Do you know why you were on earth? You tried.
Yes, things might have happened.
But you were not evil.
Wherever you are corrected, correct yourself.
Wherever you are told, this is right and wrong.
Don't become upset at the one correcting you.
If they are right, change. Change it.
It's okay if they tell you, look, you shouldn't be doing this.
And that's no problem. Let me correct myself.
Do not abuse someone.
Because that brings me to the second part
of this issue of calamity, this calamity that struck.
Am I calm and content about it? Am I okay?
Am I able to continue that swim that I was talking about just now with a smile?
Mashallah, you see, the professional swimmers, watch them.
They glide across. Have you noticed that?
Effortlessly. And they super quick.
Mashallah, before you know it,
the best of swimmers and the fastest of them are not the ones who kick the water
and who want to make the biggest, subhanallah, of the biggest of splashes.
They are the ones who glide through silently.
You can't really hear much.
You don't see a lot of splash, but they gone before, you know.
You know what? With us in our iman,
when calamity strikes, are you going to be a professional
in the sense that are you going to be a good Muslim?
Are you already close to Allah?
Does it make you fulfill more salah?
Does it bring you closer to Allah?
Do you check yourself?
And if you do, you know what you're going to glide through?
You're going to actually swim through.
Before you know it, you're on the other side of the calamity, subhanallah.
Thanking Allah, oh, Allah, I thank you for what You bestowed me with.
You know why? It could have been worse.
As a believer,I am taught, when calamity strikes, tell Allah,
Oh Allah, I thank You because it could have been worse.
You lost one leg.
What if you lost both?
You lost one child, what if you lost both, subhanallah?
You lost some business.
What if you lost your life?
Someone knocked your car but you came out without any scratches.
Thank Allah. What if your whole body was messed?
It has happened to others each time something happens,
as a believer, my brothers, my sisters,
tell yourself and tell Allah, I thank you, oh Allah, it could have been worse.
I thank You that it's not as bad.
At least You tested me with a test that is okay.
With your help, I'm going to keep going.
But with that, look at the condition of your heart.
If you are content at calamity that struck you, inshallah, you're a good person.
But if you are struggling and you are really battling
and it's changed you in the negative way and it's made you even worse,
then guess what?
You have to look at yourself.
Ask yourself the first question have you ever harmed someone?
Because now the damage of that dua they made against you
is probably hitting back at you.
Then there's going to be such a calamity
that will strike that Allah will not help you through it because it is a punishment.
The prophet Muhammad (pbuh) says,
be very warned and be very careful about a du'a that is or
a supplication made against you by the one whom you have wronged.
You have made opppression on someone you wronged someone, watch out for that du'a.
Because there's no barrier between that du'a and Allah.
When they make a du'a against you, it's over.
The justice of Allah will descend.
If not now, just a matter of time.
So in this world, you may not receive true justice.
You may not. Do you really think that Allah,
the Lord of the world, will let someone go when they have wronged you?
I tell you what. One of the ways of achieving amazing contentment it's not easy,
but it's a fact is to let go.
Oh Allah,those who harmed me, I forgive them.
Oh Allah, those who wronged me, I forgive them.
Oh Allah, those who have taken my things, I forgive them.
Oh Allah, those who have been jealous, I forgive them.
Those who have spread rumor, I forgive them.
All of that.. try out.
You arrive at a new level of content
because Allah says
forgive and embrace.
Wouldn't you like Allah to forgive you?
Well, if you release, Allah will release you.
So if Allah released you, where are you going to end up?
In paradise. It's not easy because you need justice.
You're a human. You want to fix a guy.
Today road rage is such that a guy who just cuts slightly into you
because you were discourteous and you didn't even let them in.
And they desperately wanted to get to the other side of the road and they cut in.
You get so angry that you pull out a gun on the guy.
That's what's happening in South Africa. Agreed or not?
You get so upset.
They haven't even wronged you.
That's the fact of life.
They're just driving and they're thinking of how to do something.
And you get so raged that it's actually called road rage.
And it's a disease and a sickness.
And you get angry and you cannot release a guy who came in front of you.
How is Allah going to release you? That's a question.
What you did was far worse, man.
So Allah says, Release it, man. Just let it go.
It's okay. Fine.
This verse, Allah says Allah is most forgiving, most merciful
was actually revealed for Abu bakr (ra)
And when he made a promise after his daughter, our mother Aisha (ra) was accused,
he said, I'm never going to spend on this guy who's spreading the rumor.
I used to give him money.
He's a relative of mine.
No appreciation.
Look at him spreading rumor.
Look at him going around talking whatever nonsense he is.
I don't want to have anything to do with this guy.
And Allah says no, good people don't do that.
Good people don't do that. Immediately Abu bakr (ra) said,
you know what, I will break my oath and I'm going to spend on him again.
And I'll make the peace. Are you ready?
Are you ready to make peace with your brother?
Are you ready to make peace with your sister,
with your uncle, your aunt, your nephew, your child, your parents?
Are you ready?
Allah is telling you if you're ready, I'm ready to give you paradise.
It's not going to be easy.
You might have to let go of some money.
Mainly fights and arguments. About what?
About something you didn't come with and you're not going to go back with.
That's what you're fighting about. You thought of that?
Mostly the fights in this world are about something you didn't come with.
And you're not going to go backwards.
But while you're here arguing, fighting, punching, doing whatever about what?
That thing? You're going to leave it, man.
You're going to go just now? Let's release it, man.
What do you want here? Allah saying I'm watching.
Your life after death is going to be far longer than your life on this earth.
People have already died for 500 years ago.
They only lived for 70 years, but they died 500 years back.
It's longer, so you should prepare for which one more?
70 years, If you didn't have a house, big deal!
Most of the world lives in rented accommodation.
So, my brothers, my sisters,
when calamity strikes beyond what I've just said, you look at your condition.
If you're not content, ask yourself have I harmed someone?
Go make peace with them.
If you can't reach them, make dua for them.
Undo what you did against them.
Because I tell you something amongst us seated here today,
and all those who might be across the globe, they are hidden,
hidden Friends of Allah.
You don't know, they probably do one deed.
Someone you didn't even realize.
A poor chap sitting in one corner there.
He might have weaknesses, no problem.
But because of some of his strengths, Allah loves him so much.
And you just came and you treated him badly.
You did something rough.
You didn't pay someone at work.
You undercut them, you shortchanged them, you delayed salary.
I always tell people the winner, a true Muslim, one who pays one day in advance.
You due on the 30th from May 29, you'll have your salary in sha Allah.
If I made a real mistake, 30th today, and I'll pay you properly.
Properly means the amount you're supposed to get and a little bit more.
Those are the believers that's the faith.
We've lost it, brothers and sisters. We have lost it.
Work for a Muslim.
Firstly, he'll give you the lowest possible salary.
Secondly, he will not pay you on time.
Thirdly, he'll make you the problem.
And fourthly, he won't stick to the conditions.
He'll call you outside hours for more without any recompense.
That's what Muslims are all about.
Why? Change it..
calamity is striking upon us from every angle.
You know why?
We are causing oppression against one another on a daily basis.
How many of us talk good about one another behind their backs?
But when it's something bad, it flies like, subhanallah,
And when it's good, we don't even say it.
Go out of your way, to say good words.
See you...change the whole world.
So what if they have one, two issues?
I was saying, if it's a friend of Allah,
I promise you, you harm them with your tongue.
It's written already.
The angels have already written what happened.
They're waiting. You either seek forgiveness,
or when the time comes, sadly, you're going to have to pay for it.
Through what? Disaster calamity in your life.
Allahu Akbar. May we make peace before that comes.
May Allah forgive us.
And like I said, if it happens to any one of us, I promise you try it out.
Be the bigger person. Forgive for the sake of Allah, release.
What hasn't Allah given you?
When someone swears, you ask yourself, what hasn't Allah given me?
He gave me way beyond the person who is swearing me,
release it..
That's why when Aisha (ra) was accused, guess what Allah said in the Quran,
Allah says those who came with the accusation, they are from amongst you.
They are in your midst, from your Kith and kin.
Don't think it's bad for you. It's actually good for you.
What do you mean? They spread rumor about me?
How can it be good for me? Status is elevated.
And we're giving you an opportunity to see
if you're going to forgive this person or not.
You forgive them. Subhanallah.
You arrived at a status beyond your imagination of contentment in this world,
of goodness, in the religion, the acceptance to do good deeds,
Allah gives you acceptance to do good deeds.
You are not sitting here because you wanted to sit alone.
You are sitting here because Allah accepted that one of yours to sit.
That's what it is.
And above that, Allah Almighty says, you know what?
We will forgive you.
We will forgive you in the hereafter.
Because Allah's quality of forgiveness, He is the most forgiving.
When He sees you have a small quality of it, He'll forgive you as well.
My brothers, my sisters, I wish to end by saying let's not harm one another.
Let's not oppress one another.
No matter who it is, at home, at work,
wherever else it may be, let's talk good about one another.
We are an ummah, we are all members of the Ummah.
And this, ummah needs us.
It needs every one of us.
Everyone seated here, everyone who might hear this later.
The ummah needs you, everyone.
And to be a positive member of this Ummah, learn to have a big heart,
learn to sacrifice, learn to let go of things that are not so important.
It's okay.
What are they going to do if they say this and do that?
It's okay.
And wherever the need arises to stand firm for a cause,
we stand for it for the sake of Allah (swt).
May Allah bless all of us.
May Allah soften our hearts.
May Allah truly make us better people.
So that when we fulfill our salah.
Our hearts are content when we say Allahu Akbar..
We're not thinking of our enemies.
We're rather thinking about Allah and how insignificant we are.
I need the salah.
I desperately need to put my head on the ground for Allah
with a clear mind to say Subhana Rabbi Al Ala “Glory is to my Lord, the Most High"
Not that I'm busy thinking about....
Let me spend my time cursing this one and hurting this one.
Let's not do that.
May Allah (swt) grant us goodness.