 When you speak publicly, as often as I am unfortunately charged with doing, the subject matter of lectures can become very repetitive. Topics can become cliche. And that can result in a very real challenge of either speaking in a way that is disinterested, meaning that you're speaking in a way that is not, you're not interested in the topic, or can force the speaker to talk, to make themselves feel enthusiastic about a topic that might otherwise not be, may not excite them. This evening's topic is one that I have spoken about before. And for a couple of reasons, it captured me from the moment that I found out I was going to be speaking about it first. The first reason for that is upon arrival, Mohammad Nasser pulled me aside. And as soon as the gates opened at the airport here in Singapore, he says to me, we have a crisis. And in my country, crisis is a very loaded word. So I was worried. I said, Habib is not coming, is he? And then I saw the golden arches in front of me, McDonald's. He said, come sit down. And so I knew something was really serious news. So he wouldn't answer me. But I said, Habib isn't coming. Now, like all of you, I was very excited to see Habib Ahmad Hafidullah this evening. And that's actually why I'm in Singapore. I'm here because I believe that Habib Omar was going to be here. And like all of you, I am both disappointed in his absence. But also, I had a moment before talking about this idea of understanding God's plan, I had a moment to be able to really reflect upon this idea. You travel from California to Singapore. Let's just say it's not exactly a short trip. It's a fairly lengthy trip. And you come here because you want to see somebody. And then you find out that that individual who you want to see is not going to be there. So then you have to ask a question, well, who willed this? Who's the one who decreed that he would not be here? And you understand that it's Allah. And then you remember when he says, perhaps you hate a thing, and then it is good for you. Asa and takrahuhu shaytan wahuhu wa khayruan lakum. Perhaps you dislike a thing, and it is good for you. And then I reflected, and I said, subhanallah, I planned for several months to be here and traveled all this way. And for some reason, bifadli-lahi ta'ala, I wasn't that bothered. I wasn't as disturbed as I probably otherwise would have been. And I was thankful to Allah for that. I said, alhamdulillah, mashallah. He's not here, it's okay. There are other noble people to benefit from, and there's a beloved community here to see. But then I reflected at an even deeper level and said, what is it that we are even thinking about ourselves? What is it that we are even thinking about how I feel about it when my teacher lost his uncle? How absurd is it that I'm even thinking about me at all? When somebody who I claim to love is in a situation where they have lost their beloved? Look how selfish we are. May Allah forgive us. May Allah forgive us. And then I thought to myself, subhanallah, we expect so much from our teachers, so much from our leaders, so much from our mashayikh. And we have gone to the blame or the extent of almost treating them like they're entertainers. Almost treating them like they're there to serve us. Almost measuring the value of what they give us by how it makes us feel and how excited we may have been when in reality the question is about how much we benefit from what they are teaching us. So I got to think about this, understanding Allah's plan. And then I remember the saying of one of the knowers of Allah who said, I did not come into realize knowledge of God except through my resolves not being fulfilled. Meaning what? Every time I went to do something, it didn't happen. I planned and I did everything according to plan but then when it went for the thing to happen, it didn't happen. And modern people don't like that very much. They don't like that. What do you mean? All the ducks were in a row. All the teased were across. All the eyes were dotted. All the right relationships were built. I set 14 different alarms on my iPhone. Told my wife to wake me up and I still didn't get there on time. Subhanallah. Knew all of the right people was in the right place at the right time wearing the right thing. And it still didn't happen the way I wanted it to happen. Why? Because Allah is helping you to get to know him through knowing yourself and knowing that you may plan to do something but it's not going to happen the way that you want it to happen. And then Nasser began to talk to me about the event. You know, Muslims, we have events and we plan for events and a lot of work goes into it. And he said, some people may want a refund. I said, well, don't tell them I'm coming because they're really gonna want a refund if you tell them I'm coming. In case you didn't know, I'm not Habib Ahmad if anyone wasn't, of course they're gonna want a refund. But I said not in Singapore, Alhamdulillah. The Muslims here, Alhamdulillah, they have big hearts and they're generous people. And not only should we not want a refund but I would say we should be willing to pay double what we may have paid to get here to support simply Islam and the great work that they're doing and the great work that other organizations are doing. And he did not ask me to say that. May Allah Ta'ala reward you abundantly for that. The second reason this topic captured me is because like all of you, I'm on a journey. I am on a journey to try to know myself, to try to understand the world around me and through that to try to understand reality and to know my creator, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And everybody's journey is different. A husband and a wife, they live in the same home but the husband and the wife have a unique journey. A parent and a child, they live in the same home but the parent and the child, they're still on a unique journey to their Lord. Two best friends. If you take the two best friends in the world, they may spend all day together but they're still on a unique journey toward eternity and a unique journey to try to come to know their Lord. So as we reflect upon this topic this evening, let us do so within that context. Let us think about it in terms of how it relates to ourselves first and foremost because that's the most important thing. Not to think about how it relates to other people and whether or not they understand God's plan but how much we actually understand it as individuals and through that, inshallah, we will derive collective benefit. My comments will be divided into two parts. The parts based off of the topic. Understanding God's plan will be the first part and then the second part half empty or half full. This first part understanding God's plan. It's actually more of a how question than it is a what or a why question. What do I mean by that? As people who have chosen to orient themselves in the world as believers, we have chosen that. You have a choice, you get to decide. Do I want to believe that Allah is real? Do I want to acknowledge that he is real and do I want to orient myself from that position in everything else that I do and how I understand the world or does a person want to deny that? There are some people who've chosen to deny that and for them there's no need to understand God's plan. You know, when I worked in the prison there was a colleague of mine who was a psychologist and he was an admitted atheist. He said he believed in mullah. He says there's no God and we used to have very interesting conversations and when you're a Muslim chaplain you don't have to hide the fact that you're Muslim. You can't because your job title says Muslim. So there's no point in trying to hide. So here's the Muslim chaplain and the kafir doctor for all intents and purposes. He's a self admitted non-believing person. There's no God at all, he's an atheist. So we used to have really interesting conversations. So one day I said to him, doctor so and so how do you process gratitude? How do you, what do you do with the feeling of gratitude? And he said to me, I think you and I are having the same emotive experience. He begins to psychoanalyze me. I believe you and I are having the same emotive experience but you call it gratitude and I call it appreciation of my circumstances. In other words, it's just arbitrary. It's just random. There's no divine plan. There's no providence. There's no God willing this. It's just circumstances and I appreciate them. There are people who've chosen to orient themselves in that way. But as people who've chosen and have been blessed to be to be people who believe in Allah and say that we are people who submit to that, it is actually more a question of how do I go along with Allah's plan with good manners? How do I go along with his plan and submit to his plan? More than it is, how do I understand it every step along the way? And I'll give you a simple example. I have a friend who's come here to Singapore with me before. His name is Micah Anderson. He's a white American convert and one of the things about him is that he's been all of these different places in the world. He's kind of a cultural aficionado. He knows something about everything and when you travel with him he knows where he's going. I am challenged in terms of knowing my way around the city. The first time I ever rode the subway in New York alone was last year and it felt like graduation because I'm usually with Micah. You know, tell me, take this train, take that train and so on and so forth. We were just in Osaka and Kyoto a couple days ago in Japan and I've never been to Japan before. You go to a country you've never been to, you need to know where you're going and one of the interesting things about Japan is that they write English words on the maps but then when you get close to the map there's no more English. So it says Osaka, then you get up close and it's all Japanese. So if I was there alone I wouldn't have made it to Singapore but Micah has been to Osaka before and so we would leave the hotel and we would go to the train station and we'd take this train and take that train and get off at this stop. Do you think I asked him every step of the way? What train are we getting on? Oh, where does it end up? He knows where he's going. I don't know where I'm going. I'm not gonna stop him. If I stopped him and said, are you sure you know where you're going? You know what he'd tell me? I'm gonna take your own train. You go to the doctor and the doctor tells you I'm gonna first use a stethoscope and examine your lungs and then I'm gonna check your ears and then I'm gonna take your temperature and so on and so forth. You tell the doctor, why didn't you do this first or do that? He'll tell you, I'm the doctor. You're the patient. You don't ask even your doctor. Maybe a more culturally appropriate example. You're watching an anti-make murtabak. The best murtabak maker in all of Singapore. Murtabak means layers, right? Layers. So when does she put the dough? When does she put the mutton? When does she put... You don't say, well, why did you do it this way? Why did you do it that way? She'd tell you what? Go to McDonald's. You're not getting murtabak. You don't ask questions along the way. So reflect with me for a moment on this verse from Surat Al Qasas. Your Lord creates whatever He wills and He chooses what He wants. It is not for them to choose. Glory be to Allah above all that they associate with Him. One of the reasons we don't read the Quran like we should read the Quran is because it bothers us. One of the reasons we don't read the Quran like we should read the Quran is because it agitates us. It's too honest. It's too direct. It's too real. They don't get to choose. Again, modern people don't like conversations like that. You mean I don't have a choice? You all have heard of Facebook. Facebook. Have you heard of Facebook? I went to their campus in California. A friend of mine works there. He says you should come to Facebook campus. For what? For Juma. We had Juma on the campus at Facebook. I said it's definitely the end of time. We're doing Juma on the campus of Facebook. It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It's a combination of a university campus and Disneyland. Anything you could possibly want to eat is there. Anything you could possibly want to drink is there. And it's all free. You come as if you're an employee. They have laundry services. You drop your clothes off and you pick your clothes up a few days later. Anything you could possibly want. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. I said to my friend who's there, I said, do you have a gym? He said, yes. I said, do you all have a steam room in the gym? He said, no, but I should ask for it because they'll give it to us. I said, Subhanallah, as if it was Jannah. So after that, we went there and then the brothers and sisters who came with us were amazed at Facebook. They just want to go to Facebook for free food and free drinks. So I made the mistake of taking my children with me to Facebook one day, the campus. And we walked up inside of the cafeteria and my friend who's hosting us took us to the soda machine. He said, there are 266 some different options from this one soda fountain. You want Coke with seven up, seven up with Coke, cherry, whatever you want. Did you know that there are some 32,000 options of drinks at Starbucks? Combinations, you could, what do you want? I want a extra hot, half skim, half low fat, triple shot. Cold macchiato. How's it gonna be hot and cold at the same time? I don't know. Modern people don't like to be told you don't get to make a choice. You have no choice, you don't get to make a choice. Modern people don't like those kind of conversations. You don't get to make a choice. One of our seller found himself very ill and his friend came to visit him. And he said to him, me, ma, te, sheke, what's wrong? Me, ma, te, sheke, I mean, what are you complaining of? What did he say? Zunubi, my wrong actions. And we say what? Is it your stomach? Is it your head? Is it, what is it? What do you complain of? What is your ailment? He said Zunubi, my wrong actions. He said, ma, te, sheke, what would you like? When you're sick, people give you whatever you want. You want orange juice? You want chicken soup? What do you want? Ma, te, sheke, what do you want? He said, el jannah, paradise. He said, hel netikabit tabib, should we bring you a doctor? And he said, inna tabib akad hadar. The doctor's already present. The doctor's already here. And they said, ma, they'll call. What did the doctor say? Qal inni fa'alunima urid. The doctor said, I do whatever I want. Who's he referring to when he says the doctor? He's referring to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. When Sayyidina Abu Bakr, his Sadiq, fell very ill. They said, hel netikabit tabib, should we bring you a doctor? He said, al tabib wa amradani. He said, the doctor made me sick. In other words, who's the doctor? Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. So these are people who understand faith. They understand the nature of being a believer. So you know an authentic conversation about religion when you feel agitated. We have to be very careful that we do not turn our religion into entertainment. That we do not turn our religion into what makes us feel good. What feels like a massage. An authentic conversation about religion is one that should make you feel uneasy. Not to the blame or the extent of being dislocated, but what you should feel uneasy. You should feel trepidatious as a believer in the world. You should feel concerned. And you should be deeply sober inside. You should be concerned. And you should have a sense of weight and magnitude about things because everything's in Allah's hand. Now the good news is this, it's found in a narration that Allah says, oh my servant, enta turid wa ana urid. You want and I will. We both have irada. You have things that you want and I have things that I want. wa inni fa'alani ma urid. But I, as God, do whatever I want. fa idha tarak dema turidu lima urid, kuntu laka ke ma turid. So if you leave what you want, for what I want, I will be for you exactly as you want. La ilaha illallah. Now people say, but I thought you said we don't have a choice. How is Allah going to be how we want if we don't even have a choice? What that means is that Allah will inspire you to preemptively want what he's going to decrease so that when it happens, you have no objection to it. It happens and you say, mashallah, mashallah. That's what Allah willed. No matter what happens, you don't object to it. You don't feel bothered by it. You don't feel like, oh, it should be different than it is. Let's change it, but you find it exactly suitable. Now I want to reflect with you for a moment and I'm going to take a little departure. Reflect with you for a moment on what's happening to religion in a modern context. And we have to be very, very careful. And I say what I'm about to say is somebody who loves their country and loves their people. I'm an American and I'm proud to be an American and I love America and I love the American people. And I mean that with all sincerity. This study that was done by an American sociologist named Christian Smith in a book called Soul Searching and you should buy this book. I think it's available on Kindle as well. And this book is examining, the study is examining the spiritual and religious lives of American teenagers. Why is that important for people in Singapore? Because globalization doesn't just bring with it genes. It doesn't just bring with it Justin Bieber. It doesn't just bring with it Miley Cyrus. It brings with it Miley Cyrus religion, if you're not careful. In other words, exportation of American pop culture can bring with it an exportation of an American understanding of religion. And what I mean by that, I'm not saying this in some anti-American spirit. I wanna be really clear about that. I'm the last person who's gonna come here and bash America. That's my beloved homeland. But we have to be really clear about the fact that what is underway in influencing the minds, influencing the souls of Muslim youth across the world are these very same things. So I want you to think about this. Christian Smith argues that the notion that there's some type of separation between the religious identification of young people and that of their parents is actually incorrect. That there's more continuity between teenagers and their parents in terms of identifying with whatever religious tradition their parents identified with, that there's more continuity than is popularly assumed. He observes, however, that a minority of teens naturally absorb by osmosis the content and character encouraged by the religious traditions. In other words, what? Don't worry, we're Muslim. Our parents were Muslim. So our kids are naturally going to be Muslim and they're naturally going to absorb everything that we absorb from our parents. We're in an age where guess what? That doesn't happen as easily as it used to happen. People used to grow up with firm faith, strong religion just because they watched their parents. You can see you're now in an age more than ever before when young people may have very religious, very devout parents, but for some reason their children lose their iman. May Allah save us from that. He says that these religious traditions are being colonized. The religious traditions are being colonized, but what he calls moralistic therapeutic deism. Moralistic therapeutic deism. If anybody can remember that before the end of the night, I'll be very happy. Moralistic therapeutic deism. Shifting believers from the orthodoxy of their old faiths toward its alternative vision of quote, divinely underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness. He said, divinely underwritten personal happiness. Understanding God's plan. So what do we mean by that? Oh, as long as it has in it, my own personal happiness, I'm fine with God's plan. But if it does not a happy story for me, then maybe sign up for a different plan. So listen, in simpler terms, he says that faith is reduced to the following things. One, God created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth. This is deism. He created the world and he watches over life. Two, God wants people to be good, to be nice, and to be fair to each other as taught in scripture. No problem, we're okay with that. We agree with that. Three, good people go to heaven when they die. And one of the most common questions asked by Muslim youth is, what if a person was a good person but they didn't believe in God, do they get to go to heaven? Which is not really our business in the first place. That's up to a law. Who goes to paradise and who doesn't? That's not the topic of tonight's conversation. Four, listen carefully. The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself. Sound familiar? The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. And finally, and most problematically, God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when needed to resolve a problem. Nassal allah al-afiha. God does not need to be, you know, Allah, I'm gonna do me, you do you, but don't get involved in less what? It's finals time. I have exams. Or I'm going to go ask for this girl's hand in marriage. Or I'm going to apply for the job all of a sudden, they need Allah. You need Allah. So now I need you to get involved, Allah. Can you help me out with this thing? And then when we're done, you go back to being God and all just do me. Nassal allah al-afiha. That's very, very different than how the prophet, alayhim salam, understood God's plan. And I'm gonna look at two examples, brief examples. Number one, Sayyidina Rasulullah Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa salam. What personal happiness underwritten, what was in it for him, did he get? Salallahu alayhi wa salam. Let's try being born an orphan, losing your mother, losing your grandfather, losing your uncle, being belied by your people, losing your beloved wife, Bibi Khadija, radilahu anha, being exiled from your homeland, having your companions killed, having lamb innards thrown on your back because you told people that there's no God but Allah, people trying to kill you, people putting spells against you, people putting assassination attempts on your life, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. At one of the low points, when the prophet, salallahu alayhi wa salam, no longer has support in Makkah, he goes to Ta'if, Wakana yu'ridu nafsuhu alal qaba'il, salallahu alayhi wa salam. And he used to go to the tribes and ask for them to help him to deliver the message. Just give me support. Why? They already offered him money, they already offered him women, they already offered him leadership. So what are you seeking? What do you want? I just need support so I can tell people la ilaha illallah. That's all I need. So he goes to Ta'if, salallahu alayhi wa salam, and he asked them to support him. Now, if a person goes and they're a notable person and they come to seek your help, your assistance, if you wanted to reject them, the least that you would do would say what? You'd send out the security or you would send out a staff member and say, sorry, we can't help you. But what do they do? They send the imbossos of the city. They send the riffraff of the city. They send children to throw stones at Sayyid al-Wujud, salallahu alayhi wa salam, until he's bleeding, left alone. For what? For what? There's no agenda. The agenda is to help people. And at that moment, what does he say? Laikid yarab. Why is this happening to me, Allah? Like people say. People say why to Allah? Why is this happening? To Allah? The Prophet's system doesn't say why. What does he say? Salallahu alayhi wa salam, La ilaha illallah il'azim al-halim. There's no God but God. The exalted, the forbearing. La ilaha illallah rabbul arshil'azim. There's no God but God, the Lord of the mighty throne. La ilaha illallah rabbul samawati wa rabbul ard, wa rabbul arshid kareem. There's no deity save God, the Lord of the heavens and the Lord of the earth and the Lord of the noble throne. This is really important. Before he prays for anything, he affirms God's reality. When you say to somebody who's generous that they're generous, you're asking them for something. Right? If you go to someone who's always been kind to you, every time you went to their house, they made you a really beautiful dinner and gave you a really beautiful dessert and gave you a gift on your way out and said, Dizzakalakir, come again. Next time you come over, you say what? Dinner was really good last time. What are you saying to them? I hope that we have it again. If there's somebody who gave you a gift and you say to them, Dizzakalakir, the gift you gave me was really nice. You're saying in a way, what? Give me another gift. When you mention to a generous person a generosity, it's like asking them for something. Avkuru leka hajiti. O yekfini hayaouk. Should I mention to you my need or is your modesty enough for me? Ah, so he says what? La ilaha illallah. And then he says, O God, to you alone I complain my helplessness. The lack of my resources wa hawani ala nas. And my insignificance before mankind. Khaifa yukuna lahu hawan. Sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam. And my insignificance before mankind. Sayyid al-wujud. Sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam. And my insignificance before mankind. I'm complaining to you, Allah. Allah is the only one who loves to hear your complaint. Allah is the only one who loves to hear your complaint. One of our problems is that we complain too much. You know they have this new feeling button on Facebook? Feeling annoyed. Feeling sad. Feeling hungry. Care how you're feeling? You complain, you complain just to complain. Oh, oh, it's raining. Oh, it's not raining. Oh, you just find a reason to complain. Allah is the only one who loves to hear your complaint. You are the most merciful of the merciful. And you are the Lord of the helpless and the weak and you're my Lord. And to whose hands would you abandon me? Elamante to Keeluni. Who are you going to leave me to? Into the hands of an unsympathetic, distant one who would frown upon me? Or to an enemy who's been given control over my affairs? However, if your anger does not fall on me, there is nothing for me to worry about. If the limb yukun aleyye minka ghadabun phalaubali. If you're not mad at me, I don't care. That's understanding God's plan. That's it. If you want a treatable version, 140 characters or less, understanding God's plan, I don't know, I'm not going to count. If you are not mad at me, I don't care. As long as you're not displeased with me, phalaubali, you're sitting there, you've been stoned, you're bleeding, you've lost your family, you're being belied as long as you're not displeased with me, Allah, laubali, I don't care. I do not mind. And then he goes on with his beautiful prayer, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. What happens next? What happens next? Gabriel comes. And this is the beautiful thing about the prophets, alayhim salam. I mean, think about it for a minute. If you met Gabriel, if somebody didn't invite you to a wedding or somebody didn't say salam to you when you came into the conference, or somebody said that you were a bad person, or somebody, whatever, they did something to really upset you, or somebody lied about you, or somebody stole money from you, or somebody disrespected your family, or, or, or. And Gabriel came to you and said, would you like me to take care of him? I mean, think about this for a minute. Yeah, yeah. See, I'm from a place where, if you know the right people, you never have any problems. I mean that. You don't have to do anything. If you know Big John, Big John is a hypothetical character. But if you know Big John, you don't have to worry about anything. You know, someone looks at you wrong, Big John says, you want me to take care of him? You say, no, Big John, don't worry about it. Because you know if Big John takes care of him, it's going to be bad. Gabriel comes, aleyhi salam. And what does he say? Ya Rasulullah, the angel of the mountains is seeking your permission to crush the city. Atbiquhah, I'll crush the city. Whoever's there, they're gone. Wipe them off the, why? Because of how great Sayyidina Muhammad is to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. What does he say? Nay, I would rather it be that there come forth the people from their loins who worship Allah. I don't want people to be destroyed. I'd rather there be people who come from their loins that worship Allah. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The second example, Abraham. Is anybody in the audience around 16? Raise your hand if you're around 16 years old. Please, I wish I could raise my hand. Anybody, there's no one in the audience 15, 16, 17 years old. One person, one person back there. Anybody else? Two, three, anybody else? Four, five, six. Now, why am I asking that? Sayyidina Ibrahim alayhi sallam. According to one opinion, he was for a long time the only believer in the world. The only believer in the world. It's difficult, and I know about this, if you're the only Muslim in your family. There's two, three Muslims in my family. It's hard. You have family things, you're the only Muslim. If you're the only Muslim at your company, it's difficult. If you're the only Muslim in your neighborhood, it can be difficult. Imagine Abraham was the only believer on the face of the earth for a period of time. And what did he do? They worship idols, and what does he do? He challenges the idols and says they're fake. He opposes the idolatry that the power structure was perpetuating. And what happens? He was 16, according to one of the opinions, and Shaitan inspired Nimrod to build a catapult. They say that this is where the invention of the catapult came from, was from Satan who inspired Nimrod's people to build a catapult. Then they built a fire, and they lit a fire. And this fire was so hot that the birds couldn't fly above it, and people couldn't come near it, and it was stoked for the better part of a month or longer. All of that was to punish Abraham for simply challenging their idol worship. He's in the catapult, sitting waiting to be cast into the fire. Now imagine for a moment, I want you to really imagine this for a moment. You're sitting in a catapult looking down at a fire that's bigger than any fire you've ever seen. What would you be thinking? You know, what did I do to deserve this? What do you mean they're not gonna upgrade me to first class? What do you mean you ran out of milk? What do you mean I didn't get the job? What do you mean her father said no? Good for her that her father said no. What do you mean? What did I do to deserve this? What do you mean somebody spoke ill of me? He didn't do anything except propagate la ilahe la la. And he's sitting in the catapult, and they launch him into midair. Now imagine yourself flying through midair. Just imagine this. He's flying through midair, and who comes? Gabriel. Imagine for a moment, Gabriel stops you in midair, and he says to him, I like a haja, do you need anything? Yeah, so the guy's messing with you. He wants to fight you. Big John comes out of nowhere. You need anything? Big John, can you listen to this guy right here? Or you know somebody who's the CEO, or you know the CEO's son, or you know so-and-so who's the vice president, such and such, do you need anything? This is Gabriel, a la ka haja. If Gabriel came to me right now, I have a long list of things I could ask him to help me with. A long list. Do you have a minute, Gabriel? Because there's a few different things I need to talk to you about right now. Have you bought my didn't come? Can we go to Terim? Can you take me to Terim? What does he say? A la ka haja, do you need anything? I'm a ileka falat, not from you. Now, I wouldn't say that to Gabriel. I wouldn't say that to Gabriel. I'm a ileka falat, I don't need anything from you. What does Gabriel say to him? Sarabbak, ask your Lord. Now imagine you're in mid-air about to fall into the fire, and he says to him, not from you. I don't need anything from you. He says to him, ask your Lord. What would you do then? If Gabriel told you to ask your Lord, he'd say, what, ya Allah? What does he say? Hasbim insu'ali, i'nmuhu bihali. It's enough for me to not even ask that Allah knows what's going on with me. He didn't even ask Allah. Wait a second, you're about to be thrown into a fire for telling people there's no God but Allah, and you're 16 years old. What did you do to deserve anything? What did you do to deserve to be thrown into the fire? And he says what? I'm so at peace with Allah. I am so submitted to the reality of Allah's divine guidance that I don't even need to ask him because I'm positive that he knows what's happening for me. I know Allah's got my back. I know Allah's gonna take care of me, and I know he knows what's happening. So what happens? He falls into the fire. You'd think what? Gabriel takes him out of midair, they fly away. No, no. He falls into the fire. Now he's in the middle of the fire. But what does Allah say? Oh fire, kuni berdan wa salamah. Oh fire, be peacefully cool for Abraham, ala Ibrahim. Oh fire, be peacefully cool for Abraham. The Mufesidine said something very interesting. If Allah had said yannaru kuni berda, oh fire be cool, the fire would have been so cold that it would have burned Abraham from the coolness. But he said what, yannaru kuni berdan wa salamah. Oh fire, be peacefully cool, ala Ibrahim for Abraham. And had he not specified ala Ibrahim, fire would have been eternally cold. Primordial fire, cosmic fire would have become cold and we wouldn't cook, we wouldn't burn, we wouldn't do anything with fire because he would have made it cold. But he said specifically, oh fire, be peacefully cold for Abraham. So what happens? Completely unscathed, not a burn, sits in the fire according to one opinion for seven days and comes out completely unscathed. And what are you gonna do now Nimrod? What are you gonna do now? He comes out of the fire, completely unscathed. And it was narrated that he said later, the sweetest days of my life were the days that I sat in the fire. Because he acquiesced to Allah's promise, alaihi salam, which leads us to the second point. Half empty or half full? Is it half empty or is it half full? This is the second point as we begin to wrap it up. We actually are presented with either one as an option. We get to choose. So is it half empty or half full? You get to decide. In a rigorously authenticated hadith, the prophet ﷺ narrates on his Lord, on behalf of his Lord, and the hadith Qudsi, that Allah says, I am as my servant thinks of me. So let him or her think of me what they will. Let them think of me what they will. If they think good, they will find good. And if they think bad, they will find bad. That's the answer to the half empty, half full thing. If you want to be someone who sees the glasses half empty, you have that option. The bad news is that it's going to be as you see it. If you see it as half empty, it's going to be half empty and things are going to be difficult for you. If you see it as half full, it's going to be half full and then things are going to be good and easy for you. But we have to be really, really careful with this. Why? Because we often measure it incorrectly. When we get an increase in money or we get a new home or we get a better job or a better car or a new pair of shoes or we say what, things are going great. When we lose the job, God forbid. Or you take the shoes to the masjid and they get stolen, God forbid. Or you lose some money, God forbid. Or you get sick, God forbid. You say what? Ya'aweili, ya'aweili. Things are horrible. It shouldn't be going this way. What did I do to deserve this? And then we ask questions like, am I being tried? Is this a tribulation? I have some really difficult news for myself and all of you, everything is a tribulation. Everything is a trial. And again, modern people don't like to hear that. The whole thing is a test. You guys are mad at me right now. It's not, I'm not telling you. It's not my interpretation. The one who created death and created life to test you. In other words, life and death are a test. I give you a better job to see which of you is better in action. And this is why the scholar said, the foundational reality of the world is tribulation. It's Ibtila, it's difficulty. And you're gonna be in one of two situations. You're either mubtala or you're mu'afa. You are outwardly afflicted or you're outwardly well. Which means what? God forbid you're sick or poor or in hard times. Or you're healthy and rich and things are easy. So those are the one or two situations, but they're both being tried. And if you are outwardly well, which the majority of us are outwardly well, the fact that we're sitting here right now means we had health enough to walk here. We had wealth enough to pay to get here, et cetera, et cetera. We're not sitting freezing on the borders of Turkey, like Muslims from our community. We're not sitting imprisoned because we're fighting for our right to assembly, like many Muslims throughout the Muslim majority world. We're not experiencing a number of difficulties that people are experiencing throughout the world. Walilahi Alhamdulillah. So we're outwardly well. And they said, if you are outwardly well, Allah will send you people who are afflicted. And if you do not help them, you will become afflicted. And again, you might be mad at me, but it's not my idea. That's the truth. If we are outwardly well, Allah will send people to us that need help. And remember what the Prophet said, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Allah has certain people that he created, Khalaqahum li Hawa'ijin Nas, who he created for other people's need. Yafza'u nas, ilayhim fi hawa'ijihim. People will run to those people when they have need. They what? Something comes up, they run to that person. And you say, again, really? You need help again? Didn't they help you last week? Didn't I donate before? Yafza'u nas, ilayhim fi hawa'ijihim ula'ikil aminuna min adhabi lah. These are the people who will be safe from Allah's punishment. May Allah make us from them. Say, amin. ula'ikil aminuna min adhabi lah. These people will be safe from the punishment of God because other people come to them and they have need and they help them. May Allah make it easy for us to help other people. So, fa'amal insanu. Ifa maabtalaahu rabbuhu fa'akramuhu wana'amuhu fa'iqulu rabbi akraman. As for the human being, when his Lord tries him and then treats him with honor and makes him lead an easy life, he says, my Lord has honored me. I'm too blessed to be stressed. I'm too anointed to be disappointed. It's all good in the hood. She said yes. I got the job. I got the car. I got the house, et cetera, et cetera. Everything's perfect. Youkulu rabbi akraman. My Lord has honored me. wa'amma idhamabtalaahu fa'qadra'alahi risqahu fa'yukulu rabbi ahanan. But when he tries him differently, then limits his means of substance, he says, my Lord has disgraced me. Lekitha ya Rabb, why is this happening to me? How could I not get the job? What do you mean I didn't get upgraded to first class? What do you mean I didn't get accepted to the university? God forbid, God forbid, God forbid, what do you mean a loved one died? What do you mean I lost something? Is a law disgracing me? He's the one who gave it to you in the first place. People come and say there's no God. Why is there no God? Because I lost a family member. Who created the family member? Who are you lost in the first place? And I'm not making light of people losing loved ones. I have lost a lot of loved ones. So you say, is a law disgracing me? No, you were fine when things were good. Everything was fine. But then when it becomes difficult, you should say what? Masha'Allah, give glad tidings to those when they are afflicted with an affliction. They say, inna lilahi, we're inna ilahi raja'un. Um salama, when her husband passed, Abu Salama, she was told, say this verse and say the dua, oh Allah reward me in this affliction of mine, wa khlifni khaydan minhu and give me that which is better in it. And she said to herself, who could be better than Abu Salama? Who could possibly be better than Abu Salama because he was a good man, radi Allahu anhu? And he passed away. But she said, I'll say the dua anyway. So she said the dua. Who married her? Sayyidina Rasulullah, Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And with all due respect to Sayyidina Abu Salama, she was married by the best of creation, Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. So even in the most difficult situation, to remember that Allah is in control, inna lilahi wa inna ilahi raja'un. Remember that you're going to return to Him. May Allah make us realize all of this. That's what's important, nairam. So we have to maintain a good opinion of Allah. We have some people here in the crowd who were descendants of Imam al-Haddad. Allah be pleased with Imam al-Haddad. One of the great Imams of Islam. And he has a beautiful verse where he talks about having a good opinion of Allah. And he says, wa li husn al-dan ulazim. I'm constant in having a good opinion of Allah. Fahwa khilli wa halifi. So husn al-dan, this good opinion of Allah is my khil. It's my best friend. Khilli means what? It's my bosom friend. It's my very best friend. The prophet said, lo kuntu mutakhiden khaleelin ghayra rabbi la takhathru aba bakrin. If I was going to take a khaleel, a good friend, a bosom friend other than my lord, it would have been abu bakr. And they say, khaleel comes from the word that means emptiness. Something that is khali is empty. Which means what? You can't fit anything else in there. So Imam al-Haddad says, good opinion of Allah is my khil. Wa halifi. And he's also my ally. Why do you need an ally? Why do you need an ally? Because there's a battle going on. And there is a battle going on. There's a battle going on between us and Shaytan. There's a battle going on between us and our nefs. There's a battle going on between us and worldliness. So we need allies. And he says, who's my ally? Husn al-dan. Husn al-dan is my ally. Fahwa khilli wa halifi wa anisi. And the one who brings me a feeling of intimacy. The person, the one who sits with me and makes me feel like it's gonna be okay. I just need someone to hang out with so that I can feel a sense of comfort. Fahwa khilli wa halifi wa anisi wa jaliisi. And the one who I sit with. I sit with husn al-dan. He personifies husn al-dan. Meaning what? I hang out with husn al-dan all the time. I'm constantly having a good opinion of Allah. Fahwa khilli wa halifi wa anisi wa jaliisi. Full lately one ahari, all night and all day. What does that mean? It means that I'm always going to try to see the glasses half full. Even in the most difficult situation, even when I can't even make any sense of it, I'm gonna have a good opinion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There's a weak hadith narrated by a Taborani. But the meaning is sound. Where the prophet is reported to have said that there is no deed better than having a good opinion of God and having a good opinion of his servants. There's no deed better than having a good opinion of Allah and having a good opinion of his servants. What does that mean? When you can interpret things through examining a situation and through attempting to look at all of the variables in a situation and you can make sense of the situation, then you can say, I understand this and it makes sense. When you can't, you should say what? Mashallah, there must be something going on here that I don't actually understand. There's something going on. It's beyond my ability to comprehend. It's beyond what I can see. You should always try to have a good opinion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and have a good opinion of his servants as well. Meaning what? Even when you can see wrong in somebody, try to interpret it in a good way. And the people that made the likes of Habib Umar, Hafidhuullah, may Allah preserve him. The school, and what I mean the school, I mean that in the literal sense of the word, the way of understanding the madrasa that produced people like that is a madrasa that had the following type of understanding and bear with me as I share with you a brief story. One of the great Imams of their tradition studied with his father for a number of years. And this is one of the beautiful things about their tradition is that they studied with their fathers who studied with their father who studied with their father who studied with their father who studied with the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Habib al-Aliya Jifri was visiting us in California and he narrated the Hadith of Muakala with one of our teachers, Sheikh Saleh bin Siddina. Allah, may Allah preserve them all. When you eat with someone, there's a Hadith called Hadith in Muakala who says that the prophet says whoever eats with me or ate with the person who ate with me will go to Jannah. So when the ulama meet, they eat and they narrate this Hadith to one another. And after Sheikh Saleh narrated to Habib Ali, Habib Ali narrated to Sheikh Saleh, Sheikh Saleh said there's a weakness in the chain of this Hadith but we narrated for Barakah. Habib Ali said that's true, but I'm narrating it to you on the authority of my Sheikh Habib Abdul Qadir bin Ahmed al-Saghaf, Rahimullah, who narrated it to me on the authority of his four fathers back to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. His chain of transmission was his family tree. Are you all listening to me? His chain of transmission was his family tree. I took it from my father who took it from his father who took it from his father who took it from Sayyidina Ali from the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Ya Allah. Can you imagine? So this is the madrasah that producing people, abin anjad, radi Allahu anhum jami'an. One of the great imams of their tradition studied with his father. And his father told him, you're done with your studies but you have one more task. You have one more job. He said, labbeik, what is it? He said, I want you to go into Tehrin and I want you to find somebody who's less than you. Bring me someone who's less than you are. You're in a higher status in him. Just bring him back to the house. He said, okay. So he comes into the city and he sees a person on his way in doing something disobedient, doing something wrong. And he hides behind a tree and he comes back around. So the imam said to himself, perhaps between the time that he went around the tree and he came out, he made toba. He repented to a while. From the time he went around the tree and came out, he repented to Allah. So even though he was doing something outwardly wrong, there's no way that I'm better than him because he made toba and his toba is probably accepted from Allah. So he had a good opinion of the person. Then he comes and he sees a young boy. And he says to himself, yeah, there's no way that I'm better than this child because he's young. He hasn't been around very long and there's no way he could have committed wrongs such that I could be better than him. See, there's no way I'm better than this young person. So he says, I can't take him either. He walks along and he sees an older person, not religious ostensibly, no signs of religiosity. But he says, yeah, there's no way that I'm better than this man because he's older than I am. He's been around longer than me. He's worshiped a lot longer than I have. How could I be better than him? There's no way I'm better than him. So he says, I can't even find anybody in the whole city who's less than me. I'm gonna fail in my final task to my father. I'm gonna have to come home and say what? I couldn't fulfill the final thing you asked me to fulfill. So on his way back home, he looks and he sees part of the expression, the carcass of a dog, an old dead dog, Jeefit and Kelb Hashakumukumukumullah. And he says, I couldn't find a person but at least I'll go home and I'll take to my father this dead dog and I'll say to him, father, I couldn't find a person less than me but I found a dog carcass and this is all I could present to you. So he's carrying the dog carcass on his way back home and then he thought to himself about the day of judgment, la ilaha illallah. And he said to himself, there's gonna come a time when even the animals get justice, when even animals who are wrong will get justice. And at that moment, a person who denies faith will say, ya leite nikuntu turaba. Oh, that I was dust. And he remembered that and he said, I'm not even better than a dog carcass. He said, I can't even take a dog carcass home to my father. So he put the dog carcass home. And he goes, he says, father, I failed. He said, what happened? He said, I couldn't find anybody in the whole city less than me. He said, now you're ready to teach. Now you're ready to teach. That's that medrassa. They said, you shouldn't see anybody as less than you. You say, no, but you don't understand, ahi. I prayed at the masjid this morning. He didn't pray at the masjid this morning. My hijab is spot on. She has four hairs hanging out. Of course I'm better than her. What good does it do for you to judge other people? What good does it do for you to think that you're better than other people? All it's gonna do is bring kibbut into your heart. Allah save us from that. Always assume people are better than you. So he should have a good opinion of Allah and a good opinion of the servants of Allah. Try to always see the glass as half full. And I'll leave you with one last story. This is the last thing that I'm going to say. Because some of you may have heard everything I've said and think to yourself, you just don't know how hard my life is. You don't understand what it's like to be going through the difficulty that I'm going through and you're absolutely 100% correct. I have no idea what it's like to be going through what you're going through. And you also don't know what it's like to be going through what the person next to you is going through. And they don't know what it's like to be going through what the person foresees down from them is going through. And that's exactly why I started by saying each and every one of us is on a unique journey. So it's not about me understanding what you're going through or you understanding what I'm going. It's not about that. It's about us recognizing that Allah is in control. But let's just assume for the sake of argument that your life is horrible. Your life is horrible. It could not be any worse. It couldn't possibly be any worse. You say no at what? And part of the expression, I'm hesitant to say this because of some of the people in the crowd. But I don't know if the, you guys know people speak in acronyms now. Like I was sitting with a staff member of mine and she asked me, is such and such gonna happen on such and such a day? I said, I'm not sure. She said, okay, JW. I said, JW. I thought she meant the JW Marriott. She said, JW. She said, yeah, just wondering. I said, just say just wondering, JW. JW. Now, now people, someone says something funny and you say LOL. You don't even laugh. Sorry, LOL. Someone says something silly, SMH. Shake my head. There's one FML, which I won't translate. It doesn't stand for formidable Muslim laughter. That's not what it stands for. I'm not gonna translate it. F my life, FML. So for example, hmm, yeah, ha. Can you come over for dinner? No, I can't. FML. No, no, seriously. I bet you, oh, Habib Omar's not coming, FML. Whatever you feel in the blanks, FML. F my life. Really? No, really think about that for a second. Really? The planes delayed, FML. My shoes untied, FML. They're out of, whatever, FML. Anything that happens, F my life. Think about that for a second. Okay, halas, FML. Subhanallah. The smallest thing happens, what? Forget, and it's not doesn't stand for forget. Forget my life. You say couldn't get any worse. FML. Nassallallah ala afi. That's not what a Muslim, that's not what a Muslim thinks, right? But let's just say that you live in an FML type of situation. I mean, it couldn't be any worse. It couldn't possibly be any worse. Someone says, you know what? I cannot believe Habib Omar, FML didn't come to the thing. Well, did you reflect upon the fact that Habib Omar was nine years old when he lost his father? Did you reflect upon the number of Habib Omar's teachers and loved ones who he saw persecuted by the secularists and by the communists? Did you reflect upon the fact that Habib Omar went to the masjid with his father when he was nine years old and came back with his shawl and never saw him again? And what it means for him to lose his uncle? Did any of us even have enough compassion to say, no, I paid 15 Singapore dollars? Habib Omar better, ooh, Habib Omar doesn't work for you. It doesn't work for me. He's mourning his uncle's passing, Rahimullah. We should, our hearts go out to them. We shouldn't be thinking about it. Habib Omar didn't come, FML. F simply Islam too. Astaghfirullah. They did all this hard work. We said, Jazahum Allah, khay. Mashallah. May Allah forgive us. Say Amin. The final story. Imagine that your life smells like death. It could not be any worse. Your life as a carcass is horrible. Is just horrible. And then think for a moment about Jesus, aleyhi salam, walking with his companions and they come across a carcass. And they see this carcass and the disciple said, ma atyanahu. Oh, how horrible it stinks. Ma atyanahu. It smells so bad. What did Jesus say? Ma abyada asnana. Look how white its teeth are. Are you all listening to me? Ma abyada asnana. Look how white its teeth are. That's what they call the silver lining. You know the silver lining? Meaning what? Can you find something that's good? Can you find something to be grateful for? Can you find something that you can say SubhanAllah? Maybe X, Y and Z didn't go the way I wanted it to go. But A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, D, U, V, W. It's perfect. And that's the reality. Most things are beautiful. And there's a few things that aren't the way that we like them to be. I pray that Allah help us realize what we're talking about, Ya Rabbil Alameen. May Allah help us understand this, Ya Rabbil Alameen. May Allah make us people who truly submit to His will, Ya Arham Al Rahmeen. Ey Wallahi. So it's more about submitting to and navigating ourselves and having good edab with Allah's plan that it is understanding it and the glass is half full, but we have to strive and work really hard to see it as such. I ask Allah Ta'ala li walakum kamala tawfiq wa asaluhu an yamuna aalay wa aalaykum bi tawbat al-Nusuh, Ya Rabbil Alameen. Wa sallallahu wa sallam wa barak ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam wa alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa alafum min kum.