 It's a great blessing to gather for the remembrance of Allah and to gather for the remembrance of Allah and the remembrance of His blessed Prophet ﷺ. One of the great inheritors of our Prophet ﷺ, Abu-Athman al-Hiyari, he was a great Imam who is from Uray in Persia and he moved to Nisapur where he studied, he spent his entire life studying and seeking to learn and implement the prophetic way. And he died in the year 298 after Hijrah, the same year that Imam Junaid passed away, Allah be pleased with them all. And in Nisapur, in his biography Imam Zahabi describes Abu-Athman al-Hiyari as an eminent Imam. He says he is an Imam, someone to be emulated or taken as an example. He calls him Sheikh al-Islam which is a title reserved for only the greatest of our Ulama, generally speaking. So he was once sitting with one of his companions, Abu-Athman al-Hiyari, and he asked his student, he said, Alastum tarona, an'a'inda zikr al-salihin, tanziyal al-rahma. He says that do you not hold fast to the principle that when the righteous are mentioned, Divine Mercy descends and the student said, of course, and Abu-Athman al-Rahim al-Huwa says, fa Rasulullah ﷺ sayid al-salihin. He says in that case, Allah's Messenger, salallahu alayhi salam, is the Lijlord, is the master of all the righteous. So if mentioning any righteous person is a means of mercy descending, then what about mentioning the best of creation, salallahu alayhi salam? And that the title for the Maulid this year is triumph during tribulation, the prophetic light triumph during tribulation. Tribulation is very much what defines the context of the Seerah that our Prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, underwent the most difficult of trials. He was orphaned at birth, losing his father before birth. In fact, he, salallahu alayhi salam, his mother, he lost his mother Amina at the age of six, salallahu alayhi salam. And then he went under the care of his grandfather, Al-Muttalib, whom he lost at the age of eight. A couple of years later, salallahu alayhi salam, and then he was brought under the care of Abu-Talib and raised in his house, salallahu alayhi salam. He had seven children total in his life, salallahu alayhi salam, six with our spiritual mother, Lady Khadija, radhula anha, Qasim, and then Zainab, Ruqayya, Um Kulthum, and Fatima, radhula anhum, and then Abdullah. And then he had a seventh child with Mary al-Qubtiya, Ibrahim, Al-Mussalam. And that of the seven children, he lost six of them in his life, salallahu alayhi salam, all except Lady Fatima, radhula anha, that he buried with his own blessed hands, salallahu alayhi salam. He was persecuted by his people, his own kinsmen, his own family, salallahu alayhi salam. He was ridiculed, he was fought against, hostility was shown to him. Throughout the prophetic life, the blessed Seerah, we find tribulation after tribulation, trial after trial. And of course, when he was asked what his most difficult time was, salallahu alayhi salam, he said, he referred to the year which in the books of Seerah is called Aam al-Huzan, the year of sadness. And in that year, he lost two very close loved ones, Abu Talib, who was like a father figure for him and who not only raised him, but was the means for his political protection in Makkah, that despite the hostilities and ridicule directed against him, salallahu alayhi salam, the Quraish could not wage an all out war, they could not actually attack him fully or threaten his blessed life while Abu Talib was alive. Why? Because of the tribal system of the Quraish and Abu Talib being the head of his clan, salallahu alayhi salam, that he maintained that protection of him, salallahu alayhi salam. So, and on top of that, Abu Talib was like a father figure for him. In fact, when he was 12 years old, according to the hadith in which he traveled with Abu Talib to Syria and he met the monk, Buhairah, and Buhairah noticed signs of his prophethood and asked him, salallahu alayhi salam, before he asked the prophet questions, he asked Abu Talib, what is his relation with you? And Abu Talib says that he is my son. He is my son. Buhairah says that's impossible because the scriptures had that the last prophet would be orphaned, salallahu alayhi salam. And Abu Talib then admits, actually he is my nephew. But the fact that he calls him my son, it shows that the intimate, the close relationship that they had. And Abu Talib loved him like a son and in fact more than his own children. And Abu Talib wrote a lot of poetry, very eloquent poetry, that in fact, Ibn Qayyim says was more eloquent than the classics of Quraish that were hanging on the Kaaba, those sort of legendary poetic works that were so great that they hung on the Kaaba. Abu Talib, his poetry was in fact arguably more eloquent than those, the Mualliqat. And he has tremendous love and praise for the prophet in that poetry, salallahu alayhi salam. So he loses Abu Talib and along with the political protection afforded through that relationship. And then of course, within a couple of days, he loses his beloved, blessed wife, companion, best friend, lady Khadija, radhula'u anha. She is waziratu sitq, she is the minister of truth, minister of genuine support for the prophet, salallahu alayhi salam. He was of course the one that Allah ta'ala decreed that he would have most of his children, six of the seven, salallahu alayhi salam. She was in fact the one that Allah ta'ala decreed that under her, during their marriage, that wahi began. And in the famous hadith of the beginning of revelation, Badr wahi, that our mother Aisha describes, Allah be pleased with her, that when he came back from Hira after revelation and the encounter with Gabriel, that she comforted him. So she has this maqam, this station, Allah be pleased with her, that Allah will never forsake you. And she mentions his virtues, that you are someone that you maintain kinship bonds and you help the people in need and you serve the poor, etc, salallahu alayhi salam. And she was someone that, that he in fact said that Allah provided me, it was provision from Allah that he loved her. Because later in his life, salallahu alayhi salam, you know, he would still think of her, he would send gifts to her friends, sometimes when they would slaughter a sheep, he would send part of that meat to the friends of Khadija, thinking about her. And he told our mother Aisha, in Sahih Muslim, that Allah has given me the provision of love of Khadija. And her rank is so great, she's the best of women that, of course, Gabriel came once in the hadith in Bukhari, in Muslim, that Gabriel alayhi salam came and said, Khadija is on her way with a pot of stew and meat and some drink. And when she comes, right, so I read her, alayhi salam, that convey to her salam from her Lord and from me, Gabriel alayhi salam. And give her tidings of bait in the Jannah of a house in Paradise, from reeds, in which there is no raising of voices, there's no shouting, and there's no exhaustion and fatigue. And some of the ulama mentioned that of the wisdoms of this description, that her home in Paradise has no shouting and no fatigue or exhaustion, because not once in their marriage did she raise her voice to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, and not once in their marriage did she annoy him in any way or cause him fatigue, cause him frustration, salallahu alayhi salam, that the perfection of their relationship, the perfection of her being a blessed wife. And what is to say of her rank that Allah Ta'ala himself sent salam to her, subhanAllah, that Gabriel alayhi salam, when he came with the salam, it wasn't simply from Gabriel, it wasn't simply from him, he says, convey to her, O Allah's Messenger, convey to her salam from her Lord and then from me. And so what is the rank of Lady Khadijah, the Prophet loses her in the year of sadness, salallahu alayhi salam. And then of course, when he makes his dawah to Ta'if, he goes to the neighboring city of Ta'if and he preaches and invites them to Islam. And in addition, he's seeking support so that he can continue his preaching in Makkah, that perhaps they might afford him the political support, now that Abu Ta'ib had passed. And the story is well known that the leaders of Ta'if mocked him, they were rude and they ridiculed him, salallahu alayhi salam, they were sarcastic with him, salallahu alayhi salam, and they said vile things. And then later when he continued making dawah to the others, the public of Ta'if, then they sort of riled up the people and they got the Sufaha, the foolish and the ignorant to be hostile to him. And they made two rows and they got the the servants and the children, the slaves and the children to throw stones at him, salallahu alayhi salam. And in one Rewaya, Zayd ibn Haritha was with him, Radhula Anhu, and trying to shield with his body, trying to shield the Prophet from the harm, salallahu alayhi salam. But despite that, that he was pelted so much and when he would, sometimes in the description in the Seerah, his blessed body, he would go to the ground because of it was so much and that they would lift him by his arms and push him forward, salallahu alayhi salam, to the extent that there was blood, his blessed blood on his blessed legs, salallahu alayhi salam. And so this is the most difficult time, the most intense tribulation for him. What does he do? He turns to Allah Ta'ala. He teaches us how to deal with our most difficult moments. He teaches us the adab, the proper etiquette of dealing with hardship, dealing with constriction, dealing with abuse, is firstly to direct ourselves to Allah Ta'ala and he makes the famous dua, one of the most beautiful du'as in the sunnah and in the seerah, that he says, O Allah, to you alone do I complain of my weakness and my lack of resources and the abuse I'm facing, the abuse and humiliation that people are directing towards me. And that, O most merciful of those who show mercy, you are the lord of the weak, the disenfranchised, and you are my lord, that manifesting his servanthood, direct servanthood to Allah, turning to Allah, you are my lord. And by implication that he is manifesting that he is the A'bd, he is the servant of Allah. To whom will you entrust me? You know, Ta'if was not his family, his family is Quraish. He had to go outside to a different city. To some far off person, a stranger, not a familiar, not a relative, not one of the Quraish, to one of the Banu Ta'if, of Ta'if, to Ila Ba'id, and Yatajahamuni who's going to just abuse me, or to a near person, a close person, a relative, to whom you have given them control over my affair, who has control of my situation. In any case, so long as your anger is not on me, oh Allah, so long as your anger is not on me, I don't mind, I don't mind. This was his concern, that is this a manifestation that Allah Ta'ala is upset with me, or is this simply a test that is an expression of Allah's love, and of course for him, everything that happened was an expression of the intimate love of Allah for him, that he is Habibullah, but this is something for us to have introspection of, is look at the etiquette, is that if we're faced with a circumstance that leaves us straightened and constricted, that we go back to Allah in servitude and we ask Allah and we also ask ourselves, that is this a sign that Allah Ta'ala is upset with me, or is this a raising of my ranks? How do we tell? We make toba, we ask ourselves am I involved in something, am I persisting in something that is displeasing to Allah Ta'ala, and also a way for us to gauge, a way for us to measure or have an indication of why the test is coming, whether as an expression of Allah's wrath, God forbid, or Allah's pleasure and love, is how is our response during it? Do we have the patience and fortitude and the contentment with Allah and His decree, which would indicate, as sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, Rahimullah, he said, if a person has patience and is content with Allah's decree, that's a sign that the test is coming from Allah's pleasure and love. But if a person is lacking patience and falling apart and not having fortitude, it's a sign that the test itself is from the displeasure of Allah, God forbid. And so back to the dua then he says, As long as you're not angry with me, I don't mind. But then what does he say? However, well-being, safety, security, afiyah from you, it gives me more room. It's wider for me. Subhanallah. And in the hadith he said, salallahu alayhi salam in the other hadith, he says the best dua to make, the best thing to ask Allah ta'ala for after yakin, after certitude is afiyah and mo'afa, well-being, health, safety, security. Afiyah encompasses all good in terms of one's life and livelihood. And so he says, as long as you're not angry, salallahu alayhi salam, as long as you're not angry, I don't mind. But your afiyah is easier for me, it gives me more room. And then what does he say? Salallahu alayhi salam. And this connects, you know, the title of the Maulid that the Prophet's light, salallahu alayhi salam, triumph during tribulation. Because his light, salallahu alayhi salam, is a mirror and expression of the light of Allah ta'ala, Allahu nurus semawati wal-arad. Allah is the light and the source of all light in the heavens and the earth. And so what does he say next? Salallahu alayhi salam. I seek refuge and protection in the light of your countenance, the light of the wajj of Allah. And in our theology, wajjuhu, thatuhu, the countenance of Allah is the very being, the very entity of Allah. Wa thatuhu wujuduhu. And his entity is this very being, jalla thanauhu, kapirubi, being, the necessary being of Allah ta'ala. And so he says, I say, salallahu alayhi salam, I seek refuge in the light of your countenance, the light of your very being, that illuminates all darknesses and by which all affairs of this life and the next are made right. This is the Islamic answer to the problem of evil and suffering, the philosophical problem of evil and suffering. The answer to that is in this prophetic moment and in all the moments of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, but explicitly in this dua, in this supplication, because it's the light of Allah that removes all darknesses. In other words, if we recognize that Allah ta'ala is behind, is the one governing all of our tribulations, is the one governing, is the owner and master of every moment of existence, that Allah ta'ala has decreed everything eternally. Recognizing that is recognizing the light of the heavens and earth. And so the darknesses of our tough times and our constrictions and our moments of anxiety and depression and the trauma that we face, those darknesses are illuminated by Nurul samawati wa l-arut, Allah ta'ala himself. And so tawakul, you know, trusting, relying on Allah, relying on the illuminator and the light of the heavens and earth lights up the darknesses. It shows the light behind the darkness. So he says this, That I seek your refuge in your light, O Allah, lest your anger or wrath descend upon me, you have the right to blame as long as you're pleased. You have the right to blame and censure as long as you're pleased. And there's no strength, there's no power except with you. This is the light, this is the, what is the light of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, at heart, right, you know, of the most salient virtues of his light, sallallahu alayhi sallam, is his perfect, the perfection of his slavehood, the perfection of his servitude, sallallahu alayhi sallam. And al-iftiqadu in Allah, expressing our need for Allah, expressing for the servant to express his need for Allah ta'ala. This is what the Prophet does, sallallahu alayhi sallam, this is what he teaches us. One of the contemporaries of Imam Junaid Abu Bakr al-Kitani, he said, If the need for Allah is authentic and real, then one's enrichment through Allah will be authentic and real. That the darkness of our circumstance is illuminated when we go to Allah with need and we express our absolute, intrinsic need for Allah. فاقتك لك ذاتية يبنى الطائلة says your need for Allah is intrinsic to what you are, is intrinsic to who you are. It never leaves us. وورود الأسباب مذكيراتناك بما خفي عليك منها. And when tribulations occur, they are but reminders of what we forget, that we need Allah in every moment. This is why the adab of the righteous is that even in the comfort of their homes when they make dua, they make dua as if they're drowning. They make dua as if they're drowning, even in the comfort of their homes. Because our reality is we're always drowning, we're always in need of Allah ta'ala. And so that this is the light of servitude that the Prophet ta'ala sallallahu alayhi sallam. In the hadith of Tirmidhi, the Prophet ta'ala sallallahu alayhi sallam إنّ عظم الجزاء مع عظم البلاء. The greatness, the magnitude of the reward is commensurate with the magnitude of the tribulation. The greater the tribulation, the greater the reward from Allah ta'ala. And then he says sallallahu alayhi sallam وإن الله تعالى إذا أحب قوماً إبتلاهم. And barely Allah most high when he loves a people, he tests them. When he loves a people, he tests them. There's so much tribulation happening in the ummah right now. It's a sign that Allah loves this ummah because this is the ummah of Habibullah sallallahu alayhi sallam. So insofar as we are the ummah of the beloved of Allah, we are the ummah that is beloved to Allah, so long as we adhere to his way, so long as we emulate him sallallahu alayhi sallam. وإن الله تعالى إذا أحب قوماً إبتلاهم فمن رضية فله الرضا ومن سخط فله الصخط. So whoever, and again this is how we know why the test is happening, it's about our response. So whoever, for من رضية, whoever has ridah, whoever is content and satisfied with Allah, فله الرضا. They shall receive the divine satisfaction and the divine good pleasure. ومن سخط فله الصخط but whoever is angry and frustrated at Allah, God forbid, then they receive the same from Allah تعالى. And so approximating ridah, always seeking to increase in our contentment with Allah تعالى. What is the means by which we increase in our ridah, Abu-Athman al-Hiyari, the same Imam we began with today, one of his teachings, Rahimullah, and he was an eminent Imam, Haqim, the great hadith master of Nisapur at his time. He said, لم يختلف مشaikhuna أن أبعث من مجاب الدعوة. He said, none of our teachers, none of the sheikhs of Nisapur had a difference of opinion. They were in consensus and agreement that Abu-Athman al-Hiyari was someone who was Mujab al-Dawah, that his dua was always answered immediately. And Imam Dahab, he says, Abu-Athman al-Hiyari was for the people of Khurasan, of Persia, like Imam Junaid was for the people of Iraq. He was at the level of Imam Junaid. That Abu-Athman, what did he say? He says, اتفويد مقدمة الرد. اتفويد رد ما جهلت إلى علمه. He says, تفويد is to give back to Allah what you don't understand. It's to return back to Allah, to consign to Allah what you don't understand. وأفوض أمري إلى Allah. I consign my affair to Allah. I don't understand why this is happening. وأفوض أمري إلى Allah. I consign my affair to Allah. And he says then, what تفويد مقدمة الرد. And تفويد is the precursor to رد. It is the means by which we can attain unto true contentment with Allah. And his decree. And then he says Abu-Athman رحمه الله ورضا باب الله العظم. And contentment and satisfaction with Allah is the greatest door to Allah. Is the greatest door to Allah Ta'ala. And so what did the Prophet say in the Moslem of Imam Ahmad, صلى الله عليه وسلم in the authentic hadith عجبا للمؤمن. How amazing is the true believer لا يقضي الله له شيء إلا كان خيرا له. Allah Ta'ala does not decree anything for the believer except that it's good for him. عجبا للمؤمن لا يقضي الله له شيء إلا كان خيرا له. Allah Ta'ala how wondrous and amazing is the believer. Allah decrees nothing for him save that it is good for him. And another hadith of Muslim Imam Ahmad, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was counseling one of his companions that had a a defect something with his gate the way he walked was a problem and the Prophet was counseling him and he said but I have this this disability which is why he and and the Prophet insisted that he he took his counsel of had to do with his dress his garment and then what does he say صلى الله عليه وسلم فإن كل خلق الله فإن كل خلق الله عز وجل حسن فإن كل خلق الله عز وجل حسن. He says do it anyways even if your your disability will be more manifest because why because everything in the creation of Allah is beautiful everything in the creation of Allah is Hassan and this is one of the secrets of the light of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam is that this is how he saw the world even in the year of sadness even with the loss of his loved ones Abu Talib and Khadija Radhanah even with the circumstances at Ta'if his vantage sallallahu alayhi sallam is always hussan the beauty right the beauty of Allah because the beauty is the beauty of Allah and what did he name his grandchildren hussan and hussain from the same root and Imam Hussain ibn Ali radhullahu anhum what did he say with respect to dealing with tribulations to manifest the beauty in in in in located in his blessed name hussain like his brother hussan alayhi sallam what did he say he says whoever relies on the beautiful choice of Allah for him he will he will not desire anything other than what Allah chose for him whoever trusts and relies on the beautiful selection of Allah for him he will not desire anything other than what Allah Ta'ala chose for him and so the the beauty of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam his blessed light is a perfect reflection of the Fatihah itself which begins after the Basmala Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen whatever our circumstances whatever we're facing the good times the bad times the times of joy and elation the times the times of joy the times of elatedness elation or the times of constriction depression sadness pain what rings true and what should be reverberating echoing in our hearts and on our tongues is Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen whatever pain whatever difficulty we experience all praise belongs to Allah Lord of all the worlds nurus samawati wa l-ard we ask Allah Ta'ala to make his people who manifest these teachings who reflect this beautiful light of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam in our own character and behavior inwardly and outwardly and that that Allah Ta'ala relieve our difficulties and the difficulties of the ummah and Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen assalamu alaykum rahmatullahi