The following is a summarized transcription of Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar's February 21, 2010 talk on BEING PATIENT THROUGH DIFFICULTY
From Birth To Death
Allah Ta'aala brings us into this life and interestingly, when he sends us into this life, he sends us empty handed. Every single person enters this world with nothing to their name; forget about nothing to their name, they don't even have a name!
Over time, Allah Ta'aala gives us certain things and He takes away certain things and each giving and taking is a trial from Allah Ta'aala:
- As a newborn, we don't own a thing. We don't even have a name. We are essentially unknown.
- Then, over time, Allah Ta'aala begins to give us strength. He begins to give us certain degree of development and health. He then begins to give us knowledge.
- Eventually, we gain wealth and possessions and then over time we begin to amass these things and eventually pass away.
In the giving and taking of things, Allah Ta'aala has created a test so that, when He gives something, there is a test, and when He takes away things there is a test; and, each human being is being gauged in their response to those circumstances.
We tend to look at the things we have and we tend to ignore them. Then we tend to look at the things that we don't have and we tend to feel bad about them - especially when we lose them.
Example 1: the vast majority of people have healthy children and then if we have a child and the child is not so healthy then it is human nature that we begin to look at other children and we begin to compare.
Example 2: if we have a certain amount of wealth, we don't appreciate it. Then, all of a sudden, when we invest it in something and lose it, then we really feel it.
Even though we would say "this isn't really a balanced way of looking at things. We should be happy whatever we have - whether we have something or we don't have something." Ajeeb that Allah Ta'aala is highly sensitive to the fact that we feel a loss when we had something and it was taken away or when we are lacking something the average person has.
Examples Based on Hadeeth of Rasulullah
When someone passes away and a person is patient with that passing away, Allah Ta'aala will replace the loss that the person feels.
Now, as a young person if your parent passes away or both your parents pass away, obviously you feel it because those are your parents and they raised you. You look around at everybody else and you say "well, I'm only 25 years old, I lost my parents. Look at all these other people, they are 25-30, 50, some people are 60, and they still have their parents around." So then you begin to feel that "I don't have parents." Allah Ta'aala is so sensitive to your loss that He has promised that, if you are patient with that loss, then He will replace that loss with something even better.
Example 1: The most beautiful example of this is that of Umme Salama رضي الله عنه. Umme Salama رضي الله عنه was married to a very righteous husband and was very happy in her marriage; she was blessed to be married to someone so righteous. Then her husband became ill and passed away. She really felt the loss of his passing and went to Rasulullah
and began to explain the loss. The Prophet assigned her the following du'aa to read:
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon
Allahumma' jurnee fee musibatee
Wakhluf lee khayrun minh
Verily from Allah we come and to Him we will return
O Allah, grant me patience in this difficulty
And grant me better than what caused my difficulty (the loss).
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon - is the standard du'aa we are supposed to recite when we lose anything, especially when we lose a loved one. In addition to the standard du'aa, Rasulullah
gave Umme Salama رضي الله عنه the 2 additional, very interesting lines. She had lost a loved one, especially such a righteous loved one and this was her difficulty.
Umme Salama رضي الله عنه began to recite this du'aa and perhaps we might think in our mind that "how could such a replacement even exist because he was such a righteous husband." However, eventually Allah Ta'aala inspired the Prophet
to actually propose to her and she subsequently married Rasulullah .
So, you see, while Umme Salama رضي الله عنه was thinking that she lost the most righteous individual, she married the Prophet
.
This beautiful story highlights a very important principle about the way by which Allah Ta'aala deals with us: anytime we are lacking something or we lose something, we should be excessively patient.
Why? Because...
� whatever we have came from Allah Ta'aala;
� all of what we have is going back to Allah Ta'aala anyway;
� We come from Allah Ta'aala; and
� We are going back to Allah Ta'aala.
Whatever Allah Ta'aala gave us, Allah Ta'aala can take it away... so long as we remain the servants of Allah Ta'aala.
If we have a circumstance that we think is a trial for us, we should recognize that eventhough it is a trial and it is difficult, Allah Ta'aala will surely replace it with something better - probably in this life and if not in this life, certainly in the hereafter.
Example 2: when people see how the disabled people of this world (e.g. people who don't have the cognitive or physical abilities that most others have) are rewarded on the Day of Judgment, each person will wish that they had that exact same disability in this life; because, in the end, they will be rewarded in such a way that we won't even be able to fathom and that (reward) is the real purpose of life.
Dealing With Loss
Anytime we lose anything, we should:
� be patient;
� recognize that it is a trial from Allah Ta'aala and that it is up to Allah Ta'aala to give or to not to give; and
� take advantage of that moment;
Every moment has a means by which we can take advantage of it. The way by which we take advantage of difficulty is to ask Allah Ta'aala to reward us for our patience and to grant us something better than that.
Loss is part of life. We will all lose loved ones and material things.
Over the last few years, many people lost their jobs. 2 things can happen when we lose our jobs:
(1)we can be very upset and say: "this isn't fair, I'm better than so-and-so, how come I lost my job." We can complain and say: "my boss was against me, my boss was purposely plotting and planning for me to lose my job." We can look at everybody else and we can say: "how come these 5 people didn't lose their job and why is Allah Ta'aala testing me this way?"; or
(2) we can say: "SubhanAllah, Allah Ta'aala gave me this job to be begin with. He gave me the abilities to be able to perform this job. Now I lost this job so I ask Allah Ta'aala to grant me patience and to reward me and to preserve me during this difficulty; and I ask Allah Ta'aala to replace it with something better."
If we make this simple du'aa (even in English or any other language) and the true state of our heart is that we recognize that whatever Allah Ta'aala decides for us, we are fine with it and we ask Allah Ta'aala to reward us in our patience and to grant us something better. Then, insha'Allah we will be able to prosper even in our times of difficulty.
Everybody goes through difficulty. I know that when we look at other people we say "subhanAllah this person isn't experiencing one difficulty. Look at how perfect their life is." There is no perfect life. Life is designed as a test and everyone has to undergo that test.
We all have circumstances in which we lose things. And we all have circumstances that are difficult. But, the challenge is to be patient and to recognize that this came from Allah Ta'aala and Allah Ta'aala alone.
Du'aa
May Allah Ta'aala give us the tawfeeq to be among those who exhibit patience at the time of difficulty. May He make us among those who are patient at the time of difficulty. And, may He make us among those who ask for better from Him at those times of difficulty. Ameen.
