How the Prophet ﷺ Taught Hope | Dr. Omar Suleiman

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How the Prophet ﷺ Taught Hope | Dr. Omar Suleiman

 How the Prophet ﷺ Taught Hope | Dr. Omar Suleiman

I want to thank brother anas for the generous uh welcome you know subhanallah this will be a

Lesson in in the qatar of allah actually i met brother anas

By chance and very quickly i was at a conference with him for american muslims for palestine

And he introduced he sat next to me and introduced himself to me i was only there for three four hours i was on my way

Actually to the the janazah of the daughter of malcolm x at hajj medical marriage and

I told them oh you're from turkey i said i'm going to be transiting through turkey i'm on my way to bosnia insha'allah i'll

Be there for a day he said let me host you this is how that all happened in a

Matter of uh less than two weeks alhamdulillah so may allah bless you brother anas for

Uh your generosity and and may allah reward all of you for coming out i've been university it's an absolute

Pleasure to be here at hamdini and so i just appreciate all of you for making it out may allah reward you all

For breathing the rain to come here tonight and allow that to be on your scale of

Good deeds the topic that i have is

A pretty common one but i want to speak about it from a very specific perspective

How many of you have heard of the incident of with the prophet saws

Okay how many of you have heard the dra of life very famous

And so on will i complain to you of my weakness my inability you've all heard that right

Famously translated uh relayed narration through the books

Though it's not documented with the scrutiny of a hadith but very famous

Transmission of the sentiment of the prophet salallahu in that moment of life

But i want you to think about the duras that you've never heard

Was the only person with the prophet salallahu on that journey of thought that

Witnessed him walking covered in blood with pebbles

In his shoes and what hurts more

Is the rejection more than the stones to the face of the prophet sallam

The punches the blood were the wounds that were caused to his

Heart and allah mentions that it hurts you what they say this is the culmination

Thought of comes after a lot of heartbreak thought comes after

The death of the people that would console him i'm in it's called the year of grief the year of grief is when he lost hadith

And he lost it compounded the hurt that is yielded on the prophet sallallahu alaihi

Wasallam over time did not witness the prophet saws after

It she saw the prophet's islam after uh where the prophet saws from a physical

Perspective was wounded heavier than he was in life

Physically the prophet saison almost died in uh his teeth were knocked out

He had blood running down his face he was carried on the shoulders of his companions

And she thought that was the worst day of his life but instead the prophet saws mentioned that that was the worst day of

His life it was thought when the people degraded him mocked him humiliated him

And he is left to call upon allah alone now subhanallah i think to myself

How amazing is it we actually don't have a single narration about what the prophet saws was saying

Throughout the night as he made your to allah he prayed all night after allah

Can you imagine the sincerity and the depth of those words that were never narrated to us

That allah was hearing allah who is more merciful to his creation than a mother

To her child hearing the most beloved of his creation to him

Cry out to him in his lowest moment think about where the dua of the prophet saws is reaching

In those moments think about how that dua is probably shaking the heavens

And none of us heard it it's not documented in the books but it's documented with allah

In the battle of badr the night before badr you know one of my my favorite

Places to actually visit is badass it's not like uh which is very close to the masjid of the prophet saws

It's about an hour and a half out of medina it's very tranquil it is uh

The battlefield is intact and so you can see exactly how it plays out in front of

You there's no streets cutting in between you can see where the wells of bed that were still carved out

You can see where the enemy came from it's all there is the masjid of the tent where the

Prophet saw son was camped out the tent of the prophet saw islam was right there [music]

Says that the prophet saison spent the entire night before badr in dua

Think about that the night before bedr the prophet saws was supplicating

The entire night now all we have from that

Is the end of it and it's when the prophet saws sees quraish coming

So he's been praying the whole night right i mean this is a very scary time this is the first time that

The muslims are going to come face to face with quraish heavily armed

Outnumbering them with bad intentions their intention is to wipe out the

Muslims once and for all to kill the prophet slice on them and to kill each and every single one of his companions

And it seems like a sure shot when they're coming so islam

Was meant to end right there in that battlefield of badass there weren't muslims around the

World that would carry on islam that was the only isaba the only group of people upon

La ilaha can you imagine all of the people in one part of the earth

That's stunning right they're all there and the prophet saw islam is with them

And narrates the moments when the prophet saw some sees quraysh

Coming with their arrogance with their sense of triumph before the battle even starts

And the prophet saison raises his hands to the sky and he raises his hands so high

That the garment that is on his shoulder sallallahu alaihi

His garment falls and he says

Oh allah the victory that you promised me oh allah fulfilled to me what you

Promised to me o allah in isabel if this group of people is killed

You're not going to be worshipped on the earth after today you won't be worshipped on this earth or

Allah if this group of people is killed and as he's doing that

Who picks up his garment his shawl and he puts it around his shoulder he says

Enough messenger of allah your lord will give you what he promised you

And the prophet saws puts it back on and he recites

That they will be defeated and they will turn back on their heels their animals and everything they came

With will turn back in the direction of mecca that they came from with such confidence

Almost to where the naked eye would see it as a contradiction if you looked at the prophet saws at

That moment you might think that maybe there's doubt

There was no doubt but the naked eye might look at him and say the way he's making dura right now

Looks like a person who is very desperate who's in doubt

The words that he's saying seem to indicate a fear in his words and this is very

Powerful because the scholars say the prophet saws was making dua throughout the entire night we don't

Know those we haven't heard them they say that that part of his dua

Was actually a teaching moment for the companions about how to make dura

Like a mischief like a person who is destitute like a person who is completely in need

Of allah subhanahu the supplication of the poor and the

Oppressed look at the prophet of allah a man who receives divine revelation

And look how he pleads with his lord and that was the moment that allah

Said when you called out to your lord you

Pleaded with your lord and allah answered you and that's when allah in the thousands the thousands of

Angels came down from the skies from the heavens to support the prophet sallam and his

Army so it was a teaching moment to the companions of the prophet of allah

That is what the ayah indicates

Do you think that you will enter into paradise

And then you hear about those that came before you alba

Sickness all sorts of sicknesses break out amongst them

And they were shook what is that referring to fear and anxiety

So they're struck in their material means they're struck in their physical bodies and they are struck in what

With their anxiety they're struck with their fear until hat

Until the messenger of allah and those that believed with him said

When is the help of allah coming the help of allah is close to you it is

Near now as a scholar say when is the help of allah

Could be a form of praiseworthy dura or a form of hated questioning

When the prophet says it it is not questioning allah's ability

It is reaffirming that nasrul that the help of allah is near

It is not a question of if it is a question of when it is not a question of allah's

Capability it's a question of have we done enough to deserve his help just yet

Have we done our part to qualify for the nusra of allah to qualify for

The help of allah subhanahu ta'ala subhanallah if i'm a companion

Watching the prophet saws what is this

Well what did it do it immediately translated into the angels coming down from the heavens in a

Way that even the companions could see so it gave them a form of a form of firmness

And they realized the prophet of allah was teaching them about what it's like to plead to allah

And desperation we will one day see the prophet's license and make dua

We will one day see the prophet slice and make dura can anyone tell me when

The day of judgment when the people have been gathered

The first of them and the last of them the human of them and the jinn of them

Every single human being that has walked the face of the earth from adam alaihissalam

Until the last person on this earth gathered in in the place of assembly what an awesome

Site awesome not in the sense that it is something that we would look forward to

But awesome in that it inspires a sense of awe and the greatness of allah over his creation

All flat earth one plain white land no landmarks no signposts no

Distinguishing features to any human being except for those who allah has praised

And you look to the angels and how are the angels described [music]

Amazing

The angels lined up in rows and they don't speak

Everyone is looking for something to initiate

The day of judgment and the words of the prophets and everyone that day is what deficiency

Everyone's worried about themselves and the people start going to the prophets of allah

They go to these prophets of allah asking for intercession until they come to the prophet saws

And the prophet salla says it is for me and he says

I will ask permission to enter upon my lord and i will enter and i'll fall in sajdah

Prostration the entirety of mankind is watching the prophet of allah

I want to see your lips move when i the entirety of the creation is watching

This man and placing its hopes in him and he enters into the presence of his

Lord and sajdah and what does he say sallallahu alaihi wasallam it's really powerful he says

That allah will inspire in me [music]

Words of praise words of glory

Words that will be inspired to me that have never been inspired to anyone before me meaning there's a dua that i'm

Going to make there that even i don't know yet how allah think about that even the

Prophet of allah islam is not sure yet what that dua is actually going to be

But allah gave adam islam the words when adam islam fell from the heavens

Allah look how merciful allah is allah gave

Him the words to seek forgiveness and that's when he called out to allah

If you don't forgive us and have mercy upon us then we're going to be from the losers allah gave him those words

Words of repentance and here the greatest son of adam is and the entirety of the children of adam

Depending on this dua and the prophet saws doesn't know what he's going to say yet but he knows that allah will give him

Words to say that will initiate

The entirety of the day of judgment allah will tell him raise your head o prophet of allah

Ask and you will be given intercede and your intercession will be accepted subhanallah what an

Awesome sight may allah allow us to be amongst those standing behind our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam on that day

May allah grant us a special intercession of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam on that day

But those words we won't know even he does not know

There are those words that you say to allah with the utmost sincerity

And the most beloved of your duas to allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are those supplications

That are made completely affirming his perfection

And affirming your own brokenness before him

And you are the most merciful of those who show mercy say subhan allah ayuba islam he

Minimized his pain he maximized the mercy of allah even after 18 years

Of living under horrific torture okay subhan allah all of that time

And he calls upon allah says i've been struck by a hardship

And you are the most merciful of those who show mercy and allah opens up the doors for you

In ways that he has never seen before the topic

Is how do you see light in times of great darkness how do you find hope

In times of great despair and for many of us when we think about the light at the end

Of the tunnel we spend so much time trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel that we forget to focus on

The one who gives light allah that the point of getting through hardship

Is not that you can rationalize a way out sometimes when you're going through something individually

The only time you find some peace or contentment is when you can actually think of the way out you actually can think about what allah is going to give

You afterwards and you can see a path forward and that's when you start to feel goodness not realizing that the point is to focus

On who allah himself to focus on the giver of light to focus on the giver of mercy to focus on the

One who relieves all distress in those moments and that is a form of beauty that's

Number one keeping your focus on allah number two and this is something that

I think a lot of us make a mistake sometimes when we're thinking about the collective

The community and the plans that we make for goodness

In this life and the things we hope to do for the sake of allah

A lot of times we get obsessed with the results of our own efforts we get obsessed with seeing goodness

Come to be in our own lives subhanallah

Do you think you'll enter into paradise allah answers with what all of the hardships of this

World and people seeking relief in this world not with

The reasons by which a person enters into jannah because the focus should be on jannah

The entire time the focus should be on the reward of allah not the success of your results

The focus should be on the reward of allah not the success of your results and a lot of times we mix up the two

We get so focused on seeing victory seeing our efforts come to fruition

That we forget that at the end of the day allah is the one who is going to bless or deprive

Allah will give on his time and what i need to be focused on is the

Sincerity of my intention and the pursuit of his reward and that's not going to translate into a

Lack of effort in fact it will give me resilience of my efforts of good because i trust that the efforts are

Never really in my hands and so i put and i put and i put into

Those efforts knowing that allah may give fruit to this effort

After i pass away it might not come to fruition in my lifetime

How many people inspired the world but never got to live to see the inspiration that they put into this world

Can you imagine never live to see the legislation of salah

Imagine if the prophet saw some could have come down from islam and went to khadija

And told khadija about what happened in the raj khadijah did not get to make hidra she

Died in mecca before all of them a woman of perfect iman never lived to see

It's incredible she didn't see it all of this was foreign to her because

Allah wa ta'ala took her before all of that even happened but it's there

Think about the anvia of allah the prophets of allah in one narration the prophet saw some mention 124 000 prophets

A hundred twenty four thousand prophets some of those prophets we know and we know about the hard time that

They had averaged

Less than a convert per decade think about that

The if you take the entirety of islam's followers and you spread them out over 950 years 80 followers in one narration

Over 950 years that means it's less than a convert per decade

And along the way lots of mockery and humiliation and look what allah subhanahu ta'ala

Makes of new hade the first messenger of allah that will be called on the day of judgement and

The umm of saison steps in to testify on his behalf the first messenger of allah

Called on the day of judgment is allah and the entire ummah of muhammad said some reciting surat

Steps in and says that this prophet did his job we are a testimony

To the job of nu hadi islam to his people he did his job

Imagine islam seeing this entire ummah of people standing on his behalf in the courtroom

Of allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala islam did his job and there are prophets you know the prophet saw some describe the ambiya of

Allah like a house he is the last brick sallallahu there are prophets

Who left this earth with one follower prophets

Who left this earth with no followers a nebby of allah

A prophet of allah with his miracles and not a single person to accept his

Message but he's still part of the house and that's the point

Allah decides how to build the house not you you do as you're told

And allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will bring something out of it even if it is in ways that you cannot comprehend or

Understand and so focus on his reward not your results

Focus on his reward not your result many great people walked this earth and put seeds in it

And even those that were growing did not recognize who planted the initial seeds but allah

Allah will document every footstep allah will document every deed put forward allah will document the legacies

And allah will compensate accordingly it's there but focus on his reward not

Your results you have to let that go the next thing is to focus

On the planner not your plan sometimes you plan

And allah plans and sometimes your plans don't work out

As long as you are sincere in your intention and doing your best

Allah will make something out of it it goes back to a very personal level where um

Who talked about dua you know the prophet saws said that allah will answer the dua of a person

Until they say what allah will answer your du'a until you say what

Anyone know

I made dura and allah did not answer me that's when it's closed allah will answer your drags until you

Shut the door of your own dua yes he'll answer it in ways sometimes that you can't understand but he will

Keep on answering your du'a if you make a hundred to ask for the same thing and you can't you have not seen the result

Of a single one of them allah has answered all 100 of them in ways that you cannot understand

Until you say i made dura and allah did not answer me

Then you take out the ability or the efficacy of your own dua

By your questioning the one who you're making dua to don't question the planner don't question the designer allah knows

What he's doing and so you make your heart and the last thing your brothers and sisters

The ability of the prophet saws to see good and the hardest of times

Sometimes there are things that are happening around us that are

Good omens for us to to say alhamdulillah for how many of you have heard of iman suraj

Wahaj you see all right imam siraj is

An amazing human being an imam in the united states really a pioneer

Has done much work may allah preserve him and bless him and accept from him and i remember

Being at a fundraiser with him recently you know our generation of muslims we're down on

Everything we talk about how bad the community is we talk about how no one's doing anything right all organizations are

Failing all the few are corrupt everyone is horrible and at the end of

The day you know what that gives us it gives us an excuse to not do anything an excuse for my idolness is to question

Every good effort cast doubt on every good effort and say it's all for nothing and these people

Are all fake and everyone is this and everyone is that and what does that do it gives me a sense of complacency and a

Sense of of meaning and purpose because i'm the only one tweeting i'm the one that's doing all the you

Know i'm setting the record straight so you do your jihad on your keyboard

And everybody else's mujahada is for bottle it's for falsehood but your jihad on your keyboard masha allah

Right we have we have this this this a bit this tendency to just keep on you know

Just throwing negative uh things towards everything right and sometimes it's a lot less nefarious than that i mean

Sometimes it's pessimistic about everything someone starts something good and you say this is going to fail

No way they'll be able to overcome this as subhanallah there are naysayers in every situation even in the quran

Like think about if you were with the people of musa gets to the water

Think about the pressure on musa he's got his whole ummah with him the most ruthless army in the world is

Right behind him on his tail the people looking at

Like what are you going to do now we're dead right we've seen

Cut people into pieces over and over and over again we're done right and what did

They say they start to blame him they caught us where is your god now what's going to

Happen now like like he needed that at that moment right he didn't need that at that moment

And of course there were some believers amongst many islami that might have been shook by those words

But what did allah give him allah gave him the staff split the seas for him

The naysayers they rode along they took the opening but the reward was only assured for

Those who had certainty throughout it the dunya we opening the worldly opening

Everyone benefited from you know it's a the term is bandwagoning in in america

At least right they jumped on the bandwagon at that point when the success is happening everybody can ride along

But there were some that were walking through the season saying masha'allah probably patting musa islam on the back and saying good job we never doubted you

But a minute ago we're saying what we're done can't you see what's happening now

But now masha'allah in handa in khanda with the prophet saw salam

And the believers that were digging the ditch there were some that were not really digging

Right some of them were they were hypocrites they were pretending to be amongst them

And they weren't really digging you had some that were digging masha'allah right there's a difference in the digging now

If you if you walked up to them in those moments you see them all you know with something in their hands

The prophet saws dug by himself by the way more than what 10 people would dig

It's one of my proudest moments of the prophet saws who describes me so i saw the prophet

Saw some rise up from the ditch and the prophet saws every part of his skin was covered in mud

What a beautiful prophet like what a leader right what a say you to his home what a leader

Of his people he was in the trenches literally to where not a single part of

His blessed skin showed sallallahu from the amount of work that he was doing

And the ansar and the muhajireen are singing these songs

And the prophet saws looks at them and says oh allah there is no life except for the life of the hereafter

So forgive the ansar and the these young people that gave it all in but you know what you know what those hypocrites were

Saying [music] allah and his prophet have not promised

Us except delusion we're done why are you people happy why are you

Singing these songs of motivation why are you making you out why are you digging so hard we already know they're going to find a way to massacre us we're

Never going to build this trench in time but you better believe that after the success of the honda

Some of those people came for it then we're high fiving each other right we did it you didn't do anything

You rode along at the end and then you waited for the next moment so that you could show your hypocrisy but everyone

Wrote at the time of success the prophet saws

Subhanallah like it's one of my favorite moments because it's like those subtle things about the prophet saws

I always thought good always saw good so

By the way is one of my favorite companions because his story

Is an exception to the majority of the those who became muslim last

He really he he really has an almost strange phenomenon if any of you watched the first

Watch the lecture that we did about very interesting person i mean

Two decades of oppressing the prophet saw islam but then when he became muslim he resembled the muhajiri

Interesting person and died as a shaheed

It's the last person you want to see when the prophet saws the meaning of the

Word suh is ease rasulullah saison smiled and he said

Our affair has become easy allah therefore things are going to be

Sahad like he even saw good are in the name

Of the chief negotiator that there is something to be happy about that allah is sending us signs

Of goodness to come as he sends to us

That's special that's the eye of prophetic optimism

To see hope and to expand it to see hope and to expand it in difficult times

I think i forgot to tell you the imam saraj story didn't i i just realized that i went from imam saraj and then i

Started talking isla and i forgot about imam saraj imam i was sitting with him

And he literally i was sitting next to him he taught me on the table he said omar i never thought in my

Lifetime i'd see banners about islam on the subway system

And thousands of massages in america because he lived in a time in america

Where they had less than 100 masjids and the public knew very little of islam

And he was just bragging about where islam has come and subhanallah i remember right before

He said that to me i was thinking about something negative about the state of our community and

He's just so optimistic so happy and i'm like what a man what a beautiful eye to have

The prophet saws had that prophetic eye and when we think about good you know seeing goodness even in

The midst of a very hard time seeing light even in the midst of darkness

Those who say the people have no hope in them is the most hopeless of them all is the most hopeless of them all

Is the one who is making them all hopeless you know when the naysayer in the group

Deflates everybody don't be that person don't be that person

Something good is happening and immediately you point out the flaws of it don't be that person

You see something or someone imperfect see the good and make that allah expand

It don't put it down don't put it down because pessimists make pessimists

They deflate dreams and they stop great people from being great sometimes or they stop people from

Following great people right because they get in the way with very convenient barriers of

Negativity if you're a pessimist most of the time you're going to be right most of the time you're going to be

Right you know it's really nice see i told you so i knew right away that thing was gonna fail

I knew this was gonna happen good for you now what good are you doing nothing

Next person that tries to do good odds this this this is why it's going to fail then when it fails masha allah you're

Able to offer your commentary and portray yourself as a wise man or a wise woman you're not wise

You're just really really unpleasant to be around that's not wisdom that's not hikmah to be able to see

Error and to bring it down or to be able to predict failure because most efforts will fail

Proportionally speaking most of the time efforts are not going to materialize

But allah teaches us why

If you are grateful i will increase you that equation is true for everything

Including light in the time of darkness in your personal life

When you have a million reasons to complain but one reason to be grateful and you

Say alhamdulillah for the one reason allah will increase it and put in the perspective

The million reasons to complain and in regards to our diva and our

Efforts and the things that bidding we hope to do for his sake so long as we

Hope to do it for his sake alhamdulillah look where it's coming

There was a time where this gathering was not possible alhamdulillah for this gathering

Despite all of the forces that try to do what yuri duna

They wish to extinguish the light of allah with their mounts

They can grow their media outlets they can get more exquisite and specific

In their arguments against islam they can get better at skewing and misinterpreting and

Decontextualizing they can get more advanced in messing with your minds with the imagery

That they are able to use they wish to extinguish the light of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

But who's going to preserve allah's light it's not you and i wa

Allah will preserve his light allah will preserve his light even if they hate it allah will preserve his

Light we just hope that allah will let us carry those torches

We don't like the torches we don't make the light happen we just say alhamdulillah when allah

Gives us one allah gave me a candle allah gave me a light kem did it after that

Let allah expand that light we know that the design of the designer

Will come to be here's the the blessing of where we're at this ummah will never die

Islam will not be extinguished the muslims will not be wiped out

The end of times is victory from allah

At no point should we ever feel like allah has lost control of this affair it's never

Happened and it never will happen allah is in control during the time of the crusades

And allah is in control during the most glorious days of islam allah is in control in mecca allah is in

Control in madinah allah is in control in habasha allah was in control in the year 610

Allah was in control in 623 when it looked entirely different allah did not

Lose a grip of things at any point but as believers

Just remember these two things focus on his reward not your results

Focus on his reward not your result focus on

The planner not your plans may allah allow us to always see the

Light and darkness may allah allow us to be the light in darkness may allah forgive us for our

Shortcomings may allah forgive us when we question him may allah forgive us when we are insincere to him

May allah direct all of our efforts to be sincere for him all of our longing to

Be towards him and may allah make us amongst those who make our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam proud

Ya allah we ask you to make us amongst those that make our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam proud

Ya allah allow this gathering to be one that is pleasing to you let all of us who came be forgiven

Let the sins be departed from us and write us amongst those who you are

Pleased with we ask you oh allah to open up the doors for us in our personal lives and in our community lives

We ask you a lot to lift the hardship from your ummah we ask you o allah to put barakah in our

Efforts to please you and we ask you o allah that all of it materializes

In your reward of jannatul dose from the companionship of our beloved messenger

Muhammad [applause]

Okay thank you very much uh dr omar for this wonderful speech we would love to hear until morning i mean i was like

Just you know listening and then i watched at the time and was almost one hour and uh was so

You all agree with me was so you know fast it went like anything so thank you very much again for this

Wonderful speech now we have a q a but i would like to ask

You from now we would rather not to have comments we have questions that not

Have more than 30 seconds please if you have questions

Go directly to the topic maintaining hope in dark times and ask the the

Question directly so we can have as much as questions we have in china

All right we have a question here all right go ahead

[music] um i'm just wondering especially with

Mental health in islam it's coming up a lot more um there also seems to be a lot of spiritual bypassing you know like

Um i think you know what i'm talking about in terms of you know how strongly man pray that type of thing

So i'm just wondering in terms of maintaining open dark times what's the balance between tying your camera

Tying your camel trusting allah and especially for those who are suffering from mental health illnesses

Or dark really dark times [music] for the question

[music] first of all yes there's a lot of spiritual bypassing

Um one of the things that we're we're blessed to have at japin alhamdulillah i mean is we have on our research team

Mental health specialists as well as scholars of the tradition and uh the trauma series at japin is

Something i've personally benefited from a lot so it was actually a research that i mean that research was commissioned

And for a year you had sisters who are mental health professionals working with

Islamic scholars to produce a series of papers that are now being compiled into a book alhamdulillah

There are some videos that accompany it as well the trauma series and uh

To answer your question there is spiritual bypassing however spirituality is part of the healing

Process in all situations but at the same time we shouldn't discount the role of mental

Health where it becomes most harmful is when a person is facing depression and they're told that it's because you don't

Have faith where they equate depression with low iman and the reality is that it's a far more

Complex matter of course and there's a lot that's happened over the last couple of years in particular

That i think requires us to to refocus so i would say that it's important for

Us to incorporate that component of mental health and at the same time i would say that it's important for us to always keep

Islam as a part of our mental health faith as a part of the healing as a part of our mental health

Even while we consider the physiological elements of ourselves our emotional elements our mental elements our

Spiritual elements our physical elements that islam is always a part of it and inshallah that will help us to always

Have a more wholesome response to it but to those that may be struggling uh with depression

To seek help or to seek a cure for your anxiety for your depression

So that you can be more able a more able servant of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and a better version of yourself is actually

Ibadah it's an act of worship a lot of people would think it's a weakness when i have to seek help

And try to overcome whatever it is that i'm facing at the moment but the reality is is that when you do

That for an intention to please allah to be the best version of yourself then that in and of itself insha'allah is a

Form of ibaad it's a form of worship and certainly not anything that would be displeasing to allah

[music]

Uh firstly welcome to our university your home and i will i would like to say you jump

In the stories of bakara there is

Gives us that permission that i will not give you any difficulties about which

You cannot do but at the same time we pray uh why my dear allah please don't give me uh

The difficulties which i cannot do why uh is there any uh contra contrary or

Something like that i want to see exactly a very good question actually

Um in the end of surat al-baqarah la

Beyond its scope and then you ask allah o my lord do not burden me

Beyond my scope and in the way that people before us were burdened first and foremost even the sahabah had

This question yeah they were afraid when they heard in matthew and fusikum

They were afraid of the verse that if you conceal it within yourself or if you express it allah will hold you

Accountable for it so some of the sahaba they feared ya rasulullah will even be accountable for our thoughts and indeed

The prophet saws said allah has forgiven my ummah for what a person says to themselves

As long as a person does not verbalize it or act upon it so something that may arise on the inside

You will not be accountable for it then the ayah here la you killed

I think it's important to break down um what the immediate implications of the eye are there's a wide implication here

That you will not be burdened beyond your scope and a lot of times you don't understand your scope

Until you're pushed you know i'm not going to say how many of you lift weights because everyone's going to say you exercise and lift

Weights you know all the guys are going to raise their hands and their arms are popping out of their uh their clothes but

You know if anyone has lifted weights before like i don't smush online always lifting away sir

[music] [laughter] when you lift weights um you don't know your capacity until

You keep pushing yourself and a lot expands your capacity that's the physical self spiritual self is very similar to that

Actually when you start praying piamole praying with it is a burden

Praying with it is a burden then you add two racquets to that and maybe the first time you know

That's okay you're starting but your capacity is expanding when you're tested and tried

There are times and i know that there are people in here that have gone through tests that they thought they would not get through but

Allah brought you through it didn't he right and that's something important by the way

You know there it mentioned very beautifully about zakariya um

I've never been deprived every time i've called upon you oh allah before you've given it to me one of the say

Very beautiful he said that he asked the one who showed him ahsan in the past to show essan to him again that's

You've known how much i've wanted this child i'm 90 years old now did it have to wait until my hair became great

No he says i've never felt let down by you oh allah so sometimes you're in the

Midst of a hardship and you can't you think you're not going to make it through but then allah pulls you through it so your scope expands your capacity

Expands so that's the certainly there's a benefit to that but the immediate implications of the ayah

A kefara that is given to an oath there is expiations that are given to

Broken oats there are you know licenses concessions

For the one who is sick for the one who is traveling in regards to fasting and other things for hajj

For only the one menace only the one who can do so so the immediate implications are the tasir the

Ease in the sharia of muhammad salla because it's the last sharia that was given to earth

It embeds the most ease so actually if you compare the sharia of

Muhammad sallam to the shariah of musa there is more ease more

So that's the immediate implication that allah has made things easy for us and truly islam is not hard

Some people you know the religion is easy the prophet saws some people say why is islam so

Hard why is islam so hard why it's not really that hard you know imagine if we had to pray 50

Times a day imagine that right 50 times a day look at the day see it even in the

Legislation of the most important practical pillar of islam salah 50 to 5 and then you're rewarded

For 50 when you pray five so that's the immediate implication also in the muha

And how allah takes account of us that allah does not burden us by punishing us

For things that we did not act upon but things that may occur in the head okay so that's ease so that would make

The ayah is

Burden us with a burden that was placed on those before us notice the ayah does

Not say don't overburden us like you burden those before us because even those that came before were

Not overburdened allah did not give to the to the people of musa islam an unreasonable sharia

Okay but our sharia is easier so you're not saying don't over burden us like you

Overburdened those that came before us you're saying don't burden us with the same burden of those that came before us

Okay so it's even easier and we ask allah that with iman and with yakin and

With certainty and faith that these things even become easier for us to practice

[music]

Welcome to our university first of all the other day i was in the class and

An email came uh dr uman i was like i stopped the lesson and started looking at it and i

Told my students that guys register for it you know it was very excited alhamdulillah that allah

Gave us this opportunity i had a very um general and broad question but i just

Wanted to have a glimpse of your ideas on it every time has its glitters and you know

Of battle and attractions and it was there in the time of muhammad sallam too but what is

The basic syllabus that we need to follow especially when we are preaching what we are telling

Things about our religion to youngsters and children what is the basic that we need to follow ourselves

And teach it to our children thank you that's a great question um

You know the last two hotma's that i've given are actually on the subject by the way on seeing through deception and

Distraction and the importance of seeing through things so it's a thoughtful question um

The answer that i'll give will be partial i think one of the the methods of tawa that we

Find from the prophet saws and from the ambiya as a whole is they called attention

To the emptiness that the idols were actually providing to their people

Yes oh my father why are you worshiping that

Which does not see hear or benefit you in any way

She was it was was embedded in the call of the prophet of allah these idols are not doing anything for

You and the thing is they knew it they knew that the idols were not doing anything for them

I think that in this day and age to call attention

To the emptiness that all of these false ideals which are also

False idols yield is a powerful way of bringing someone back to the meaningful life of islam

Okay so for example in a world that emphasizes image you emphasize self-actualization

Who are you who are you do you like the person that you see in the mirror how do you start liking the

Person that you see in the mirror not because of the cosmetics of you or because how many people like you

But because of the character and the faith that yields something more meaningful i think that this world uh

Is becoming emptier i think people are finding less reasons for fulfillment i think we're the most

We are the emptiest generation i just gave a talk on hope

God all right let me rewind that all right

Here's here's the glimpse of hope of this all right collectively even the prophet slight

Cinema said that every generation decreases in faith so every generation that comes

Collectively as a generation is worse off than the one that came before it then eventually there's a revival

And there are revivers in every generation right but i think subhanallah you know uh this pandemic

Really revealed a lot about humankind didn't it uh it really brought out

What people are seeking and some sometimes people don't yet know what they're seeking

But when they find allah they say this is what i was missing you know subhanallah there are people

I was doing an interview earlier today bananas gave me a million interviews to do today that was the the not-so-see i only

Mentioned the hopeful thing which is i met him and then alhamdulillah this happened but i didn't mention the other things but there's also good food

Along the way but no seriously you know subhanallah there was

A question and i was talking about

The fact that so many people that were born and raised in islam they don't realize the blessing that

Literally fell in their laps i see people become muslim that leave behind the most glamorous lives

That leave behind parties and palaces and they say i've never been happy until

Now and then i see young muslims running towards that glitter and that and that

Lifestyle thinking that it's going to give them happiness it's like you have the treasure in your

Lap you were blessed how many of you were raised muslim can i see a show of hands

Did anyone in here i'd like did anyone in here convert to islam are there any converts in the crowd

Subhanallah one two all right now it feels like a fundraiser

Three people that converted to islam you don't know the treasure that's

Fallen in your lap you know and imam so there's something to think about this that

You know you have to rediscover the beauty of your faith and how much fulfillment it gives to you and especially when you're talking to those

Of you that are parents and you're talking to your kids give them the ways to where they can really appreciate the beauty of faith

For themselves instead of being something that's been passed down you know say the best wealth

You know people don't uh are are more reckless with their inherited wealth than they are with their earned wealth

So subhanallah those that earned the wealth of islam they're a lot more diligent with it you see people i see

People that convert to islam i say subhanallah in one week that person is a more pious muslim

Than me you know than most people that i know how did that happen right because they found it and when you find it you're

Like oh this is what it was this is what it was the whole time so there's a saying from

Allah says oh allah you gave me islam and i didn't

Even ask you for it it just fell in my lap

And i'm asking you like you gave me islam so easily i didn't have to fight for it

How merciful of arab you are how merciful the lord you are so give me jannah and i'm asking you for it

What is it then if i ask you for jannah for what we have and we have to

Translate that beauty to other people and sometimes that means pointing out how the false ideals are indeed false

Idols and they're not yielding you anything but more emptiness exactly

[music]

Thank you very much thank you for your talk you mentioned something very interesting

And compelling about pessimism however one proverb in the english language that really speaks to me is

Pessimism of intellect and optimism of will maybe it's because of the british weather that i have this pessimism of

Intellect but if i may come to the question how do we safeguard ourselves from being

Carried away with optimism and if we would like to relate this to something like climate change

Many people because of their optimism they deny this and if i may i wanted to also ask about

How we as muslims contend with and do about these disastrous predictions

Put forward by many organized organizations about climate change and about what will happen

The last part could you say that again about what how do we contend with and what do we do about

The predictions made by many organizations regarding the climate and

What we can practically practically do about this as muslims thank you [music]

Um great question there is good hope and there is bad hope there is good fear and there is bad fear

Good hope is to have hope in allah

That while you do your best and fall short that he will fill the shortcomings bad hope is

Okay [music] people that said

That you know all i've heard is heard is about the mercy of allah you know he's so merciful i might not pray i might not

Do all this stuff i might be doing this haram but you know even if i go to hell like it'll just be a few days

Allah talks about that mindset yeah i'm not the best muslim it's okay like being content

And complacent with sin and then expressing hope in allah don't do that hope is doing the best you can and

Knowing that allah will accept you for your imperfections because of who he is not who you are so long as you're

Trying your best delusion is when you're not doing anything and then you're placing your hope in allah's

Mercy while rejecting his commands and his pathway to that mercy fear

Is that i might not be doing enough so i need to do more

Despair is debilitating i'm not going to do anything because i'm going to fail anyway

Uh so that's which is healthy healthy fear and um

Uh what's the word iblis actually comes from this

People that despair from the mercy of allah subhanahu so optimism is always good

Just like allah's mercy exceeds his wrath our optimism should always be enough to push us

Forward but at the same time we shouldn't be delusional we also should not stop being

Self-critical uh you know a good sign of a person's iman is that they criticize themselves

In ways they don't criticize others so there's the person that

Deflates everybody else's efforts and says everyone you know they're all on bottom and they don't know what they're doing and i'm i'm on hak because i can

Call out the bottom right i'm on the truth and they're all upon falsehood and i get it and they don't

And they don't do anything nor do they let anyone else do anything and then there are those that say you know

Mashaallah these are beautiful efforts may allah bless them and they're self-critical they look at their own sins their own pitfalls and they say how

Can i do better they're self-critical so that's the balance of that as for the

Gloomy predictions you're right

It's not looking good when it comes to climate change and that is

That corruption has appeared it's one manifestation it's not the obvious meaning of the ayah

But truly corruption has appeared on the land in the seas because of what man's hands have earned purely man-made disasters

I think this is one of the areas where muslims should be leading in the

Ethical discourse about climate change a lot of what's taking place with

Climate change right now is an extension of the overall greed that dominates human beings

That i will do what is what is convenient to me even if it's the destruction of everybody around me

That's both at the level of corporation and that consumer institution and individual right

That it just doesn't matter what happens to the world around me people or earth i'm gonna do what's convenient there's

No consideration for the toxicity of what we do nor for the generation that comes after

Us i think muslims should be leading the way and producing

Ways forward from a spiritual paradigm of how to address

Environmentalism and climate change i also think artificial intelligence is another realm in which muslims should

Lead the way in terms of ethical discussions as we're really starting to depart from

What it means to be a human being the first time i ever saw a robot in a restaurant by the way was today i don't know if that's a

Thing in turkey or not but we don't have robots and restaurants in texas you know we have people with guns but we don't

Have robots in our restaurants in texas like what's going on here so we should be leading the way i think in the ethics

And the discussion of ethics when it comes to climate change as well as artificial intelligence because these will

By far i think be the dominant uh two realms in the immediate future

[music] here i think i have a special gift for

You uh first of all i'm umar from africa uh actually i consider today as one of

The most important moments in the life i've been uh in my life at even hadoon university

Actually you are one of my uh young one of the scholars that i

Really love i follow you on instagram twitter

And any other social media platform and i do like the way that you try to promote the image of islam and you are

You stand for for the course of allah but the most important uh aspect of your

Scholarship is not uh how you tend to kind of promote the image of islam but

How you use that platform of being islamic scholar to speak for humanity

And uh i really appreciate the way you stand for those who have been oppressed

Over over the years especially in u.s and uh i realized that uh you admire the

One that i love the most uh one of the one of the important uh of

One of the important uh arduos in the uh in the history of black

People in america uh that is why i decided tonight uh to come and give you this special gift

As or something to appreciate you for your stand against the abuse of humanity so i have

A book here that i write to to to rewrite the history of africa

Because i'm not actually okay with the way that the slavery colonization and the imperialism of africa

Have been writing about by the europeans and other scholars around the world so i took my time to say yes it is time for

Africans to stand up and write their own history so this is

[music]

So here's the book it's my first book the reason that i say it is my first

Book because i let him do live i have another one and it will be out in no time so i would

Like to present my first book as a gift to you tonight and i think it is something very important for me

[applause]

I know you're gonna make it [music]

[applause] [music]

[music] you got it

[music]

So we have a community a center that we try to make tawa in istanbul

And i am volunteer of the center for a couple of years and we when we go into the mosque waiting for the foreigners to

Make dawah by saying and when that person that we called to

Islam just walks out of door without having it without taking the shahada

We're just disappointed heartbroken and i know that we cannot be professionals in this because this is

Something that we do with our own heart but also we need to improve i know this

So i personally have some difficulties about having that balance between saying

Okay i could have done better so i should improve this and this side maybe i could have uh give this answer this side so

That maybe it would be better and with the other side saying this was not by me this is by allah so i should not be sad

So um i i want to ask you about this balance so we should improve but also

About tawakkur on the other side thank you [music]

Something very precious that one of my messiah told me never regret anything that you said or did seeking to

Please allah so when you're looking in the past and you say i could have said that better i

Could have done that better if you were sincere when you did it don't regret it but improve for the future

So do not dwell upon how you could have done this better or said that better as long as you were sincere instead

Refine your sincerity and refine your methods inshaallah ta'ala and keep thinking about how to speak how to get

Better how to do better but don't look back and say i could have done this or i could have done that better because

That's not going to be helpful nor is it what allah tasks you with and that's the tawakkul and allah

Subhanahu wa by the way i'll say this subhanallah sometimes so

As a public speaker sometimes i give a lecture and i think it was awful

But it changed someone's life and sometimes i give a lecture that i think is a good lecture and it didn't benefit anyone

So you also don't know how your words are being received sometimes you hear them differently when you say them

Than the heart that is in front of you and they needed to hear it in a certain way or see it in a certain way also

Someone can tell when you're being sincere and you're speaking to them don't give dawah looking down on someone

Beneath your nose right give dawah as someone who cares about the person in front of you

And if people can perceive your sincerity

Nothing benefits the heart except that which comes out of the heart people can perceive that you're speaking from your heart and that you're being sincere

Towards them then they're likely to overlook some of the things that you might say

That maybe you didn't mean to say and to benefit much more because they can perceive your sincerity and your darwin

Show all right i have one question may i

Okay um we're speaking about the hope um do you think that the discussion of

Hope in the west is much have like differences from the

Discussion of hope in the east of course with the modern term of western east

Right someone might say you know it's easy for you to have hope because you're seeing this this and that happen

Right and then i live in a country where i'm not seeing that happen i'm seeing that it's becoming tighter for muslims

Tighter for islam i think it's important to recognize

Subhanallah that even in the lifetime of the prophet sallam there were people in medina and people

In mecca at the same time and people in abyssinia and those three groups of people were

All interacting with with the concept of hope in very different ways

While the muslims were saying allahu akbar after badr

[music] was locked up in a basement being tortured in mecca right like it's it's it's it's

Interesting and abyssinia the muslims were encountering it in a different way but the concept of trusting in allah was a

Same acro it was the same across the board i get you know there was once a question that was asked by uh

Someone on my head's group and i'll end with this inshallah because it tells you about what you're seeing the light that you might be missing or or not seeing he

Was really upset he said you keep talking about the reward of praying in the haram

And praying one time in masjid al-haram in mecca is worth how many salawat

A hundred thousand he's like how is it fair that allah put me in america

And these guys and this he said they're not very nice people that live around the haram

Get to go pray a hundred thousand salawats he was really upset like he was deeply troubled

First time by the way it happened usually when i share that with my hajj group they say masha allah let's make sure we catch every salah in jamaa

This guy was like red in the face and angry he's like these people can go pray a

Hundred thousand salah i'm stuck in america i have to pay all these thousands of dollars to come get a few salawats here it doesn't make sense

And what i told him was you are surrounded by non-muslims

If allah guides one person through your hand it is better for you than the dunya and

Everything in it you have opportunities these people will

Never have right i recognize how many of you have never

Seen someone say how many of you have never seen a convert in front of your eye someone converts to islam in your eyes you've

Never seen someone take shahada can you raise your hands at least half of you

Have never seen someone become muslim in america

Salatur juma

It's a blessing but you know what today when i heard the adhan for salatul

I was like yeah like what an amazing feeling to hear the adam being called in the

Streets how easy is it for you to go out and to be muslim

And not have to worry about someone saying something to you or doing something to you just because you're

Muslim like the easiness the blessing of your islam here

It's a blessing it's a nirmah so allah has divided opportunities

And divided his good deeds they're all mercy of allah bounties from allah subhanahu amongst the servants and allah

Knows you you're here and i'm there for a reason trust me

The food is better here than texas and turkey's a lot nicer i'm here i'm like

Why am i in texas all right but allah put me there and he put you here for a reason alhamdulillah allah

Made certain good deeds available to you that he has not made available to me and made certain good deeds available to me

That he has not made available to you and opportunities so the hope is once again in your efforts

And what you're doing with your circumstances may allah accept from all of us.