One of the methods that Allah uses to bring us closer to Him,
is by inflicting us with something we perceive as negative.
So naturally a believer who has some iman /faith will then realize,
You know what, I need to turn to Allah.
Let me raise my hands for Allah.
Let me make tobah / repentance, let me change my life.
Let me do something better.
This is Allah calling me, literally calling me through these issues.
And I promise you, the doors begin to open one after the other.
Never give up on du'a what Allah says in the Quran,
Who is there besides Allah, who will respond to the one in distress?
But if Allah blessed you and gave you and did everything for you,
and you passed with flying colors, and you've got authority,
and you've got good looks, and you've got lots of knowledge,
and you've got lots of this, and whatever else it may be,
if that drifted you away from Allah, it cannot be the mercy of Allah.
So understand the favors of Allah and let it bring you closer to Allah.
How do I come closer to Allah?
If something bad earns you a sin,
the opposite of it, when it's good, will earn you a reward.
I'll give you an example, the hadith of the Prophet (pbuh),
he says, you know, when you fulfill your base desire in a halal way,
you get a reward of a charity.
The companions (ra) were a little bit surprised, obviously,
because people say, I'm going to sleep with my wife,
basically, and I'm getting a reward for it.
They asked him actually that if one of us was to fulfill his base desire,
would he really get a reward for that of a charity as a saddaka, as a reward?
So the Prophet (pbuh) said, do you see
If someone did haram in terms of Zena or adultery, would he earn a sin?
They said yes. He would.
Well, if he earned a sin to do it in the wrong way,
he would earn a reward to do it in the right way.
subhanallah, 'that's Allah.
That is Allah, the mercy..
My brothers and sisters, one of the methods that Allah uses
to bring us closer to Him is by inflicting us with something we perceive as negative.
If you take a look at the world,
there will be uncertainty, why? Allah wants you to turn to Him.
There's no other reason.
There will be anxiety, why? Allah wants you
to do better in your relationship with Him.
There's no other reason. There will be health problems.
Look at this virus that came in.
What was the purpose? That it came in is only one purpose.
There's no other purpose.
Allah wants you to come closer to Him.
No other reason, nothing.
Allah wants you to mend your ways to turn to Him.
When you don't know what's happening in your business or there's anxiety
or a massive loss or something burned down totally,
there is only one reason for a believer, Allah wants you to come closer to Him,
and if you came closer to Allah because of any one of those things or anything negative
It was the blessing of Allah and it's the mercy of Allah and the gift of Allah.
If your leg was amputated and that made you repent to Allah, what was that?
What was that? That's the mercy of Allah.
But if Allah blessed you and gave you
and did everything for you, and you passed with flying colors
and you've got authority and you've got good looks and you've got lots of knowledge,
and you've got lots of this and whatever else it may be,
if that drifted you away from Allah, it cannot be the mercy of Allah.
So understand the favors of Allah and let it bring you closer to Allah.
How do I come closer to Allah?
I do better in my salah.
I do better in my recitation of the Quran, which is the Book of Allah.
The most powerful word in existence is the words of Allah.
How much do you read?
Do I read a day?
I can do better. I read one page.
I will do two. I read one juz (chapter),
I will do two. I do two juz, I'll do three.
I do one page.
I'll read the meaning as well.
I'll do something more.
If you improve your relationship with the Quran, that's a big blessing.
It's improving your relationship with Allah.
So, my brothers and sisters,
when Allah wants something from you, He puts a test in your life.
When He puts a test in your life; draw close.
Don't worry. You're not the first person who is sick.
You're not the first person who is ill.
May Allah grant shifa (cure) to all those who are sick and ill.
You are not the first person who is suffering the loss that you are suffering.
Nope.
There were millions before you and millions after you.
You are one only to Allah. He loves you.
He wants you to come.
So naturally, a believer who has some iman / faith will then realize you know what?
I need to turn to Allah.
Let me raise my hands for Allah.
Let me make toba, let me change my life.
Let me do something better.
This is Allah calling me, literally calling me through these issues.
And I promise you, the doors begin to open one after the other.
Never give up on du'a.
Nothing is impossible for Allah.
Look at what Allah says in the Quran.
He is the one who responds to the one in distress.
Who is there besides Allah Who will respond to the One in distress?
I've known of people who were perhaps given a short time to live by medicine
and the medical fraternity based on their experience,
six years on, and they are alive and healthy and well.
Why?
Who is there besides Allah, who responds to the one in distress,
When he calls out you are totally helpless,
And you say oh Allah, there is nobody and nothing and not me,
and not any power on earth that can help me right now besides you, O Allah,
Allah says I listen to that, I listen to that and I respond immediately.
And He is the one who makes us inherit the earth.
Allah says is there any deity besides Allah,?
It's Allah alone, Allah alone.
Very few take heed.
May Allah grant that to us.
So we turn to Allah.
Let's invest in our relationship with Allah.
Invest in it by making an effort.
Salah is very important.
I have found something.
If you want your life to change; five Salah, and you do it enthusiastically,
happily, come a little bit early, fulfill your Salah and go back.
That Salah itself will help you to stay away from Haram.
It will increase your goodness, it will increase baraka / blessings in your family.
And the same way you invest in your relationship with Allah,
you must invest in your relationships within your families.
You have a wife, you have, for example,
brothers and sisters, your parents, your children.
You need to invest in the relationship, your time, your effort.
You need to teach them a word of goodness.
Or you need to at least mention brilliant words.
When you invest in a relationship,
it will blossom, starting with Allah and then everyone else.
Don't think I'm suddenly going to have a good relationship with my children or
with my spouse when you barely talk to them.
In the new generation,
we have to speak some beautiful, sweet words to our spouses every day.
If you don't, it's like a little Qiyamah.
Yes, you know how it is, the new generation.
You have to talk, you have to say things, because this is an age of social media.
It has so many negatives, but it has positives too.
But unfortunately, we're drowning in the negatives.
That's a fact of life.
And that's why we remind each other invest in your relationship with Allah.
Put away a little bit of this stuff.
Talk to Allah, communicate with Him,
fulfill your salah, beautiful gift of Allah.
And secondly and lastly, make an effort with the Quran.
I said it already and I'm saying it again make an effort.
You will find something amazing.
I found this is something powerful.
Get acquainted with Allah during your days of ease.
Get close to Allah, when nothing is wrong in your life,
everything is smooth sailing, then go close to Allah.
So what will happen when the days are tough for you?
Allah will come to you.
Subhanallah, my worshipper.
Prophet Yunus / Jonah (a.s), itt is reported that when he was down
in the belly of the fish, in the darkness of the water,
at the bottom darkness, the angels were saying oh Allah,
the one who does
dhikr that involves the glorification of Allah and with a beautiful voice every day.
Today the same voice is calling from a totally different place, seeking Your help.
What miracle happened?
The fish spat him out, he came out.
He was not even proper in terms of his skin and so on.
Allah helped and he was cured and everything happened.
Something impossible;
Today, when you tell people, they might think this is a fairy tale.
Allah. We have Yaqeen (firm conviction)
It happened.
It is true that's Allah. It's in the Quran.
It's in the previous books too.
Our version is the correct one. Why?
Because Allah says there
had he not been from among those who constantly engaged in tasbeeh,
he would have remained in the belly of the way until forever.
What does that mean?
Because he was close to Allah during days of ease,
at a time of difficulty and hardship.
Here's Allah,
Allah throws His rope to you straight away.
I guarantee you in your life and in mine, that is Allah.
When Allah promises you something, there's no doubt.
Yes, it's his timing, not yours.
You might make a dua, say but Allah is not hearing.
Don't even think that, Allah will give you when the time is right.
Every minute of delay is an absolute blessing.
May Allah Almighty grant us all goodness.