Ramadan 2014 – Jumuah 3 – Tragedies and Calamities

Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

smilla rahmanir rahim al hamdu Lillah

Allahu Allahu la sharika Allah

sallallahu wasallam Obara, Karolina vivamente Buddha Mohammed. Meanwhile,

we praise Allah subhanho wa Taala we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his entire household we asked Allah to bless them all and to bless every single one of us. And we ask Allah Subhana Allah to Allah to have mercy on us. My brothers and sisters, this is a beautiful day of the month of Ramadan.

And we are drawing to the end of this beautiful month. If I'm not mistaken, this is the second last Friday of this beautiful month of Ramadan. And the time has flown by so quickly that

it leaves us from amongst those who confirm the prophecy of Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam wherein he says they will come a time

when time itself will be crumpled, crumpled, meaning it will move very quickly such that a year will move as though it was just a month. And the month will be as though it was a week and the week will move as though it was just a day. And I'm very certain that it is true for every one of us. That it seems like Ramadan just started the other day. And already we are almost through before you know it is going to be over. And just like that, before you know it, half your life is over. And before you know it, your entire life is over. So let's not waste time. Let's not be from those who dilly dally. Let us turn to Allah Subhana hearts Allah.

We will all met with some very sad news late last night and early this morning.

And this sad news has struck us and hit us in such a strong way.

That it is important for us to give some guidelines as to how to look at this. Because as much as we know what has just happened.

And so many lives have just been lost.

And we are praying for this beautiful country in Malaysia. And we have seen

so much of goodness, I have been here for a while and I have seen the love in the hearts of the people and in their eyes and the beautiful faces and then we come to see news of this nature and some people begin to say that this is the punishment of Allah. That is not correct. We cannot determine that this is the punishment of Allah. What makes us say that is it because we consider it a calamity or something that was a tragedy. If tragedies and calamities

depicted solely and only the punishment of Allah, then those who are punished the most would have been the companions of Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam all himself now, Allah protect us that is a dangerous blasphemous statement.

Because if we look at problems and difficulties and ask ourselves who went through the most problems and difficulties, we would unanimously agree as Muslims, that according to our books of history, Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam went through the most difficulty ever, ever.

So let us never be irresponsible in our statements, may Allah protect us all. And let us understand that Allah tests us in many ways, this is the month of Ramadan, people are asking forgiveness of Allah from day one. People are tending to Allah there is more Salah prayer. There is more in terms of fasting more in terms of recitation of Quran, people have been generous, I have seen Malaysians and others with my own eyes, how they reach out to people in the month of Ramadan is unique. The atmosphere that I have tasted in this beautiful country in this month has been something

that is a learning experience for me. You know the hearts even of those who are newly hard hearted? These are softened in Ramadan. So how can we say that Allah is punishing Allah protect us. But rather it's a test from Allah, life and death is in the hands of Allah. Even if I'm healthy. I have to go. Does that mean I was punished last minute? No.

Even if I'm healthy, I have to go at some stage and that is a prescription

It is something predefined by law. So

let's take a look at Muhammad Sallallahu sallam,

the best of creation, the most honored of all the prophets of Allah, the highest of the lot

when he was born,

we know his father had already passed away. Was that a punishment stuff in no way not at all. In fact, it was the choice of Allah to give us and from amongst us those who are orphaned hope to say that that does not spell doom for you. It does not mean that your life is going to be a mess here is the most favorite of our entire creation. And he did not have a father when he was born, his father had already passed away. After a few years, his mother passed away was that a punishment Not at all, innocent child. This is a test for those around him as well as for him, as well as for those distant to learn later, Allah grant us goodness.

After that, his mother passed away, then his grandfather looked after him for two years, and he also passed away now who is left, distant relative known as an uncle. And uncle is not such a close relation.

Meaning not as close as a mother or a father, the uncle, so the uncle starts looking after Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam and he grew up. And Allah made him the messenger, and Allah knew that this is the best and the highest of creation. But still, he went through so much difficulty. Let's take a look at more of what happened.

When he had his children Subhana, Allah, may Allah bless us all with good offspring, who will be the coolness of our eyes.

I have come across people who lose children.

As we speak, there is a cousin of mine, whose wife fell down the stairs a few days ago with a baby who was one year old, that is a niece of mine, so to speak. And the niece is critical in ICU. How to Look at this, is it a punishment? Not necessarily, in fact, no, it's an opportunity to do what?

To understand the plan of Allah, that is Allah, and to get closeness to him and to prepare for the day, we're going to go back to him. That's what it is. It's a call for me to look at something and to tell myself, you know what,

let me understand that life is very short. people lost their lives, I can lose mine. But I need to live my life in a way that when I meet with Allah, I'm a person who does not regret what I did in the past. That's it. So if something that the world calls a tragedy brings you closer to your maker, it was a gift for you.

Meaning, it was a reminder for you. It was something that came to you that improved you as an individual. There are people who oppress their wives, they oppress their children, they speak badly with those who work for them, they steal and cheat. They do things that are wrong, when sometimes a tragedy occurs in their lives to someone else. It wakes them up in a way that they stop cheating, they stop stealing, they speak kindly, they become people who are very, for example,

soft hearted after they were hard hearted and so on. So what was that? That was a that was in fact, Allah subhanho wa Taala as a reminder for us, we may never understand why Allah does certain things. That is because let us

know No, we do not have the right to question him. But he has the right to question us. He is the maker. You know, he has made he has gifted us so much, that when he takes us away, he always leaves behind the reason why we went so that we don't blame him so can Allah he's there is always a reason this man died because of cancer. May Allah grant cure to those who are struggling with cancer. This man died because he had a heart attack this man died because of a car crash Allah grant us all goodness, this man died because someone killed him. This men died because of this. There is always a because right. But if Allah wanted they would not have been a because but in order for us not to

insult Allah and for us to understand that you have to go and for us to know that it's part of the plan of Allah subhanho wa Taala. He leaves the reason and this is why my brothers and sisters if you look at age, when you calculate age, the minute you say someone is one year old, you must understand that that means they are going to die at one stage. Why do I say this because you are counting. If they will not going to die You will not count. When I say I'm in grade one. It means one day I will graduate from university if I have life. Because next year I will be in grade two. And that means I'm one year closer to graduation or I spent one year more

The fact that I'm counting means it's limited. That is the gift of Allah for us to understand. Anything you count has a boundary, what you do not count as no boundary. That's why when we go into gentlemen, Allah grant us all paradise I mean,

and May Allah grant us paradise without reckoning because we have deeds we are not proud of when he takes accounts, we will lie, it's going to be so difficult for us to give account of everything we've done. So we rather pray that Allah take us to paradise without reckoning Your mercy alone. And we believe in that nursing, may Allah grant us the mess.

So when we get into paradise, one thing unique that will happen is that time,

time shall be brought in the form of a small animal, and it shall be slaughtered. Gone.

So from today, or from that day, should I say, no more counting, there's no time. Why? Because now there is eternity. So we stopped counting, the question does not arise. How long are you here? Because I'm in paradise. There's no question, how long am I here? So going back to what I was saying, the fact that you are one year old, two years old, there will be a time when you will be 70 years old. If Allah has given you the life, then what do you want? Well with us, man is such that no matter how old he is, he still wants to live longer, and he still wants to leave, he is 90 years old. He says make to Allah gives me good health and long life, Mashallah that is good. But it's the

way Allah has created us this mind that I have believes that you know what, I have a time to spend in this world.

And because it is a human mind,

I sometimes will not understand unless I have belief, why Allah takes us away. If I have believe, then I understand Allah takes us away because we were never created solely to live in this world. But this world, we came to pass a phase and the stage and we will going to go out. Anyway, from the very beginning, I was dipped into this college or school, known as the dunya of this life. And I need to graduate from the tests a lot of places in my life, every year I will face 234 1020 tests depending on what Allah wants for me, and I have to pass them one after the other, collect a certificate of graduation into the next year, the following year, I might have more difficult tests.

And the following year, I will have more difficult tests until I die with a certificate that will grant me graduation into paradise. Just like when you get to school grade one has an easy test. grade seven has a difficult test form one and two, if you're operating on the British system, you have form four, for example, it has the old levels, quite difficult compared to grade seven. And if you have the A levels, it's even higher, then you get the certificate you graduated to university and when you are finished all your studies, you have a huge degree and that is when you graduate into the world where you will get a job based on how well you have done back at school. If you did

not do well, what type of job would you like? So the same applies we are just in the school, we have come grade 123, we will go up to about 70 in some case, some cases in perhaps some less, some more, a little bit more. And then we graduate into the grave and into the hereafter to Allah and we take with us a certificate and Allah gives us based on the certification we have based on the certificate we have he gives us something so we get now paradise, but like you know, not everyone who is wealthy, has a good qualification and school. Have you seen that? Sometimes the richest of people they have hardly been through grade seven. And they've got

so the same way. the mercy of Allah is such that even if we haven't done too well in this world, sometimes he can just give it to us if we have a good heart. If we understand we try to develop a link with Allah some good deeds he may love from us that will actually grant us paradise. One of these deeds is to enjoy when he inflicts you with something endures. Don't question Allah but turn to him, ask him to have mercy. Ask him to bless those who are affected, ask him to bless us all reach out to those who are in their time of tragedy, speak good words to them, reach out to them. That is the teaching that we have been taught by Muhammad salatu salam. So we start off by saying in

Allah he were in LA Raja, that's the first statement you say when some news of a tragedy comes to you. What does it mean? It means we belong to Allah and ultimately we are all going to return to him anyway. That's what it means. But it's a prayer to say that let's understand the plan of Allah in La La La La Jolla. If someone tells you you know what something disasters

This has just happened. First thing you say in

Raja which means we, alas, we belong to Allah, we will return to Him. So Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam was blessed with a child Subhana, Allah, a boy. And he had a few boys, they passed away all of them in childhood,

or infancy, without exception.

Now we've heard people when someone dies in the home, they say, unless punishing them,

wake up, say statements that are responsible. Don't just call, you know, speak and say things that you don't even have knowledge regarding. So it's important for us to know if that was the case, Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam lost one child and another and another. So much so that something extremely

important for us to make mention of Do you know that Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam lost every single child of his, including the females whilst he was alive besides one, and that was Fatima, minty Mohammed

who passed away just after a mozzarella salon passed away. So if you were to ask anyone that the best of creation, did he go through any struggles, he went through the most whatever you can think of, it's already happened. news came to him of the death of his companions. New news came to him of how they were attacked. In certain cases. He was faced with armies who came to him to attack him.

Is it ever recorded in the books of Islam, that that was a punishment against Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam no Look at his companions. They struggled in a very big way.

They struggled in a huge way they were

persecuted solely because they said we are Muslim. It happens today. You why your Eman is being tested.

Me

has he been?

A Abu

Salah

maybe Allah subhanho wa Taala says at the beginning of surah to land Caboose

Allah says Alif Lam Meem? Do people think that it is enough and sufficient for them to say we believe and then they will not be tested about that. Indeed, we will test them like we have tested those before them. And indeed We have tested those before them in order to distinguish who really believes and who does not believe.

This is what Allah says, we will we will test you. And the Quran says while another new one be a mineral,

mineral.

Meaning, we will definitely test every single one of you with a little bit of fear with some hunger and some loss of produce loss of life.

Lack of profit, you lose something, we will test all of you with the minus sign not only with the plus sign in order for you

to be patient. Allah says give good news to those who have suffered, you know what is suffering,

endurance, patience, to bear patience to restrain yourself is also a part of suburb, we can careful Allah has promised he will test you with the minus sign. And I call upon you to understand what that means. It does not mean that you only tested with the plus sign if I am to test you mathematics. When you are a baby, I might teach you or ask you what is one plus one. But when you are an adult, I need to ask you what is one divided by one? What is five minus three? What is five minus 10? Then you need to give me an answer to say minus five. So Allah does not test you only by giving you when he gives you a lot. It's also a test of Allah don't think that you know what, it's just a happy

moment where we must enjoy ourselves and forget why we are here and the fact that we are going no, he has blessed you with so much he is testing you. What do you do with that so much if it makes you arrogant and haughty, and it makes you a person who thinks that you are it you become proud you want to oppress people you want to just claim authority and start dishing out instructions as though you are the big boss, you are losing it, you're losing it. Why? Because you are placed in a position of authority in order to lead a responsible life.

In order to understand a must plan, you will given wealth in order for you to be able to spend it correctly. So you correctly spend it correctly. When you have you have you have addition, addition, addition, all good things are happening to you. It is not a sign of the pleasure of Allah nor is it the sign of the displeasure of Allah. But it is a test from Allah to see, what do you do with what we've given you? We gave you a shed, we gave you millions of ringgits, for example, or Rams of dollars, whatever you'd like to say. What did you do with them? How did it make you did it keep you humble? Did you understand? Like the Sahaba the companions of Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam understood

when they were multi millionaires look at

he passes away leaving behind millions of gold coins. But he was such a simple man, he did not miss a Salah. He never spoke to people, disrespectfully, he says the community and the people and the nation. It's something amazing, this is a last test for them. But there will come a time when you have to be tested with the minus sign my brothers and sisters, if you are a businessman, there was a day and there will be days when you will be tested with a loss. Something goes not according to your plan. So don't say I'm being punished. Reflect over your condition and say this is testing me now what do I do when something has happened? What according to what I like. Sometimes it happens once,

twice, thrice and we still turn to Allah closely. We become closer and closer to him. And we say Oh Allah, we belong to you take a look at Muhammad Sallallahu sallam,

not one loss 123 so many losses his children his daughters passed away after they were married Rukia minty Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam passed away, and thereafter, consume after some time also passed away and they passed away one after the other. So

that was a test minus sign. The one who was given the most comprehensive test is the one whom Allah loves the most because he has the highest qualification. So the Hadith confirms this. And it says in Allah.

Allah when Allah loves the worshiper, he tests him much more than the ordinary person. So much so that the companions of Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam when they were not tested, they were worried. They will ask him for the pleasure of Allah Allah We hope you are happy with us. Subhana Allah when they are tested, they're made to endure Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam when he was tested, he knew that Subhana Allah This is a test from Allah subhanho wa Taala. So remember this my brothers and sisters in life we will be tested with the minus sign. Sometimes we suffer loss sometimes we suffer death sometimes we suffer so many things it is for us to learn a lesson. As for those who have gone they

have gone had they not gone in that way they would have gone in another way because their time was up I come with the time you come with a tag best before is written on food. But for us expiry lavaca we don't like to believe that. But Angela, there is an expiry date when is your date? Well you need to check now and again, making sure that you are not caught unaware caught unaware meaning I go and I don't even realize that you know what I haven't prepared for the day. I'm going so I have a beautiful car and a house and a family and clothing and perfume and watches and and operators and phones and everything else is excellent and beautiful and I look so good. But I never ever thought

of that let me prepare for the day when all these looks will mean nothing because I'm going to be in my grave anyway. So that is the expiry May Allah subhanho wa Taala make it easy for those who have gone have gone. Those who remain either directly or indirectly connected to what just happened. Take a look at this aircraft. Those are gone are gone. May Allah give those gentle and May Allah grant in Paradise, those from amongst them, they have had, if they have had a man in their hearts, Allah will look at him with mercy. But to be honest with you, for us to start saying this is a punishment and this is this and that we are assuming the role of Allah and that is an insult to Allah, we should

not say this.

Secondly, those who are related to those who have lost their lives in such a tragedy, it's for us to reach out to them and comfort them no matter what Muslim or non Muslim. It's your duty. It's your duty to reach out to them. They are human beings they have feelings, they have a heart. Perhaps if you reach out to them positively and express your condolences and sympathies and show that you are standing together with them in this tragedy of this it will soften their hearts even towards Islam as such where today Muslims are being looked at as the worst people on earth for some strange reason yet Islam is the best and purest way of life ever. Now in order to reach out to people once the

calamity of this nature happens. People say look, I'm only for the Muslim as for the non Muslims, they can go to hell.

Aston Villa. This is a statement that people utter, but you as a human being the bare minimum, perhaps you might be restricted in exactly what you are to make for them by the Quran and the Sunnah of Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, but to express your condolences and sympathies is something that every human needs to do. What's wrong? If I go and I say my brother, I feel your pain. I share your pain. If there's anything I can do for you. Please let me know you are a human being some of them are really close to us. they've served us some might have worked for us so many different things. They've lost their lives, go to the family, send a message to them, tell them you know what, I share

your pain. I stand with you today. I sympathize with you. I express my deepest and sincerest condolences. So para la, this is a Muslim, this is what you should be doing.

Don't be lost and fooled by those who say you know what, because they are not Muslim. You've got nothing to do with those. How dare you? How dare you. You think that is the teaching of Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam? Not at all, no ways he reached out to those who harmed him, let alone those who were non believers who you know,

may Allah subhanho wa Taala protect us. There was a woman who used to throw dirt on him every day, one day she was sick. He went in to ask about he prayed for her good health. We pray for the good health, even of the non Muslims and the Muslim mean, there's no restriction on that. You ask Allah to grab, perhaps their hearts will be softened towards the goodness that you have brought. So she accepted Islam based on the fact that Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam went to inquire about her health, yet she was an enemy of his Wow. It's a long story. I don't wish to go into it. But the third thing we need to know

those who are related we've just said we will reach out to them somehow May Allah help us. Reach out positively Be careful for negative words. Be careful of negative words. And the third category of people, those who are not connected to anyone, not at all, some of us might not be connected. Well I know in Malaysia, every single person is connected because it was our airline.

May Allah safeguard this country? May Allah safeguard the airline May Allah safeguard us completely, may he make us appreciate the gift of goodness we are in never, ever undermined the security of your land. It's one of the biggest gifts you have. We really work towards preserving what you have as a gift from Allah subhanho wa Taala. So those sometimes are not connected at all the minimum for them is it is a lesson, a lesson. They need to pray to Allah reach out in whatever way you can. You might not be connected to anyone, but you turn to Allah in prayer. Indra, you change your life. You ask Allah Allah, let me prepare for the day I'm going to meet you. I don't know how I'm going to go. I

fly often. And no one would like to go in that way. But if that's the way Allah has chosen for you to go, you don't know it's pretty this time is predestined, actually, you something that happens before you and I were born, it's already written How you going to go that's up to Allah. So this is why we as Muslims call it a test. And I want to end by telling you one thing very important, a believer and the non believer, one who believes and one who does not believe would look at a calamity very differently, very, very differently. Yesterday, I was reading some of the tweets of some of the people and I could pick up this person doesn't believe and this person is a believer.

People are swearing Allah, how can you do that? That's the worst thing you could ever do. As it is you have one calamity. You closing the door by adding your own calamities. You don't sweat Allah, a believer looks at it in a different way. We call it a test. And we call it a great test. When we say a great test, what do we mean? We don't mean we are happy with this or that? No, we mean it is something Allah has chosen for us to enjoy. We would go through it. And we ask Allah help to say Oh Allah, you have decisions that you make, nobody can override, you override our plans. You know, we are taught we plan Allah plans and the ultimate is what Allah will plan. So I don't have a choice.

Sometimes I can try my best, but that's where it stops. Try your best. But what happens? The rest of it is in the hands of Allah May Allah subhanho wa Taala Have mercy on us. I thought I would share these few words with us in order to to highlight how a Muslim should look at this type of tragedy and calamity seeing that today. We have just heard the news of this devastating tragedy of Malaysian Airlines flight number Mh 17. May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless this nation, may Allah protect you all and us And may Allah grant you ease and really we reach out in prayer to those who have lost their lives and to their families, and to the nation and to all the nations they are different

nationalities, all of them are human beings, our brethren in humanity and we reach out to them May Allah Subhana Allah Allah grant us ease wa sallahu wa salam ala nabina Muhammad