 my beloved brothers and sisters in islam whenever we go through financial difficulty or hardship we need to bear in mind that Allah سبحانہ و تعالیٰ is in absolute control and we need to bear in mind that Allah سبحانہ و تعالیٰ would not have left us without advice without guidance without instruction as to what to do in order to help ourselves لیکن مالو مالو اللہ و حیر پر حیر پر اللہ کیا ہے when you came onto the earth what did you have you did not even have your clothing your parents or someone else had to close you thereafter as you grew older what happened perhaps there were days when yourself or your parents or those a little bit earlier could not afford a pair of shoes perhaps they could not afford a motor vehicle or a car meaning or a house or even transport for that matter there were days that that has happened and when you leave you will leave with nothing whatever clothing you have on you shall be removed and replaced with a shroud whatever wealth you have already that which you spent your name will be written next to it that you spent this money that which you did not spend others will be owning it or if not owning it then they may even fight for it مالو سبحانہ و تعالیٰ not let that happen i mean so we know that at this moment in time in this country we are going through such a difficult financial time or should i say such difficult times whereas it's so tough to explain to someone who's not living it as to what is going on we agree you tell someone living in singapore for example that you know we have something called bond notes it might take you half an hour to explain and even after that they will not comprehend exactly what's happening we are taught number one by اللہ سبحانہ و تعالیٰ that when you are going through hardship difficulty one of the first things you should do is thank allah amazing how many of us knew that you have to be thankful how can you tell me i'm going through hardship i must say oh allah thank you how can you say that that is what allah says سبحان اللہ you want increase in goodness you have to thank him how can i thank allah i'm going through such a mess i owe this one i have to do this i cannot afford that i don't know where my food is going to come from i don't know where my clothing is going to come from i have no idea how i'm going to survive my brain is totally you know stressed out completely my whole system is struggling and suffering my health is deteriorating and you are telling me to thank allah the answer is yes that's what allah says اِنَّ عَظَابِ لَشَدِدْ if you are going to be thankful we will grant you increase in goodness and if you are going to be ungrateful and because you are going through certain problems and issues you forget the goodness that allah has bestowed upon you in that case our punishment is quite severe allah says we can punish we know may allah سبحانہ وتعالہ not do that to us so the way that the prophet ﷺ taught us to show gratitude is by looking at those who are suffering in a bigger way take a look at people across the globe suddenly they're driven out of their homes you know if we think we have a few potholes on the road because of the rain take a look at those who have lost their lives because of floods they've lost their property hundreds of thousands of people have lost so much across the globe you would not be able to even go through a little bit of that so allah says i'll let you get away with five potholes on your street and that also we complain allahu akbar so if you don't want the potholes okay we can fix up the road but what if we decide to send a flood that will destroy your home and kill a few people ستخفیر اللہ رہا تھنک اللہ to say yeah اللہ we are fortunate we still have a means to get through we still have five potholes other places they don't even have the road so this is the teaching of the prophet ﷺ remember my brothers and sisters we cannot stress it enough always look at those who are struggling more than you are spend time to sit in one place and to think about what's happening we read stories about people who've lost their homes whole cities like look at syria for example aleppo and so many other cities totally completely destroyed the hundreds of thousands and millions of people have no other means of survival besides thinking of jumping on to a makeshift boat to cross an ocean a few thousand kilometers have you ever even thought about that do you ever think subhanallah that your problem can be worse than that people with bombs raining all over them left right and center they don't know why they themselves have no understanding of why this is happening why me what did i do is it just because i am saying لا الہ الا اللہ is it because i'm a muslim is it because the land i am living in has oil or has diamonds or has gold or something valuable under our feet what is the reason we don't know that's what they will tell you سبحان اللہ but they are struggling when you look at they are struggling you will realize what we are going through is nothing you have a bond note they don't even have a note and they don't even have a bond may Allah سبحانہ وتعالہ forgive us so you have to you have no option one of the first steps of alleviating financial strife or struggle is to thank اللہ oh اللہ i have i have what do i have i have a lot you've given me clothing i've been used to buying new clothing every second year i don't need that i can have the same clothing for five years ten years what's wrong but when you start thinking that the lifestyle you've been living for such a while is no longer financially viable feasible and if that is your financial struggle then my brother my sister you need to revise your understanding there are لوگ who don't have clothing recently i was looking at the weather in some parts of the northern middle east siria and so on the amount of snow the amount of cold weather meaning the the the temperatures and people without clothing people who barely have socks and here we are with temperatures that are far higher than that and we have the best of clothing when i say best of clothing the worst from amongst us has the best clothing compared to them that's what it is may Allah grant us the ability to thank him the problem with us is we tend to just complain everything is a complaint everything is a problem we want to live such a lavish lifestyle that it is so high in terms of financial demand we cannot meet it but we are complaining that we cannot live to that level why this brings me to the second point my brothers and sisters in order to help yourselves and myself included going through this financial crisis we have to learn to downgrade our lifestyle whether you like it or not you don't need the latest and the best you don't need to eat out every day you don't need to have a meal until you're full remember this the sunnah is to only have one third of solid one third of liquid one third of air maybe your financial capacity might force you to adopt the sunnah my brothers and sisters it is a sunnah even if you had money you're not supposed to be wasting so downgrade your lifestyle i'm being serious many people are complaining out of fresh air i can't afford my son school fees well where do you send him well the fees is three thousand dollars a term my brother there is another school down the road where it is three hundred dollars you cannot collect zakats of the community in order to oil the fact that you would like to live up to the joneses not at all it's wrong and don't ever you dare complain about financial difficulty when you have not downgraded that no it's an embarrassment well if you think it's an embarrassment then suffer the consequences of not being human enough to lower your level lower it lower it you don't need to live on such a high level i know people may not agree wallahi it is fact you have to agree you have to downgrade there's no harm you have to downgrade if you are struggling financially take a look at the few dollars that you can save sit down and right where have i spent my money take a look this is unnecessary that is and you will be shocked at how much you can save and then you will see there are others who are really struggling they have nothing subhanallah and they are still thanking Allah they will be there what did you eat my brother i had one avocado allahu akbar i've heard this with my own ears and they are happy they're at salah in the same masjid you are sitting in subhanallah and they are so excited and another person is so upset and angry because he used to go out to eat five times a week and now he can only go out once a week and for him that is an issue and for this man with an avocado he's thanking Allah that he had one avocado where are we this is why going back the hadith says look at those who have less than you wallahi you will always find that you are way above most others way above most others we have such بیوٹی فول سویل that we can grow our own fruits a lot of us have our own fruits and veggies in our own garden's how can you complain you are lazy perhaps may Allah subhanahu واتحالہ not let that happen to us may we be from those who thank Allah and who downgrade who look at others and who realize how fortunate we are i do not have the time to go into specific examples but i've given you one or two and you need to look at people around you who are struggling listen to the news and you will see those who are in riches are today not even in rags they don't even know where they're going to go i met a brother in the uk who was from syria and he was one of the wealthy people he left on a boat subhanallah he left everything behind him he owned almost a street a whole street everything gone and his family was so divided that he did not know where members of his family were and we think we have problems lahu akbar we think we have problems may Allah subhanahu واتحالہ forgive us thank Allah i'm repeating again point number one when you have financial difficulty and any other difficulty the first point you do thank Allah many of us think you know what we would start but not with thanking Allah subhanahu واتحالہ then there after my brothers and sisters seek the forgiveness of Allah that is very important seek the forgiveness of Allah to ensure that what you're going through is not a punishment but rather it is part of the test of Allah life is a test you have to seek the forgiveness of Allah why because Allah says وَمَا کَانَ اللَّهُمْ عَذِبَ هُمْ وَهُمْ يَسْتَوْفِرُونَ اللہ will not punish them while they are seeking forgiveness so if you are seeking forgiveness even what was the punishment of Allah will be converted to a test seek the forgiveness of Allah look into where you have gone wrong if i am struggling i need to ask myself what did i do did i eat اندرسٹDid i usurp the wealth of someone Did i cheat and steal Did i harm someone Did i hurt someone's feelings Have i usurp the rights of someone Did i swear backbite What wrong did i do search yourself introspect You have to When you come to the ulama they will tell you no my brother don't worry It's a test from Allah Yes that is their duty to tell you but you need to know yourself search your life جو اپنان پر دنیدھائی ہے کہ اللہ کوتا بھی محکوم کریں لیکن ہم آگی ہونا چاہتے ہیں کہ جب آپ کو سوچ جانتے ہیں جب آپ نے سوچ جانتے ہیں اللہ کو سے عقلی نہیں ہے وہ just سوچ جانتے ہیں۔ اگر اپنے اپنے حادشپ پر بگیطہ ہوتا ہے اس میں کتھوں ہوسک چیٹتا ہے اللہ کیا یہاں تھا وہ ہوئی後 کرتا ہے کہ اسِ اللہ کے مطلب۔ Joey تو اپنے حادشپ پر بگیطہ ہوسک چیٹ کینے اللہ کے محکوم کریں کہ اس میں سے لئے ساالی valve ایک کوری کا ساتھ تک سے بہت بہت کیوڑا دائیہ ہے کہ ان کے لئے ان میں مطرح ساتھ ایک بہت ایکٹو بہت ڈو بہت ہوتا ہے لیکن یہ پر ملی ملی ملی پیروگوں کو گانے کے لئے جانسا کہ بنکریں گی تھی کہ آپ کے لئے ا 돼 کوئی بروگوں کو یہاں ک占ہ ہوتا ہے آپ اس کے لئے أیک مجھے کنے کیا لیکن آپ ہم کو شاہتے ہیں آپ کو مجھے لیکن آپ کو پہلے شاہتے ہیں کہ ہم جو میں بہت کرتے ہیں allowed me to meet but perhaps that can happen so Allah says don't say why you when you came on earth you're pressed you came here to be tested you attest is like an examination paper the questions on your paper were already set you cannot change them so stop saying why you these are your questions these are your questions answer them to the best of your ability then you shall die and get the result of your examination simple why don't we look at it as that we say as Muslims we have come to this world or to the earth in order touckles ہوتا تھe کے جانتےong کو کشرور طHE کھوڈ ی bangs ہوت کو werd ل divided کی بحazaہ کیم اس گہرتے ہیں پان ستناب Blind باق actually allows one more muss to be Service latent ایک اللاتھ حافظ بیان ایک بیان فرام مطالات مجھلے جانگہawkو کوسکط کھر دیاہایا ہے۔ آپ کو درام حہوماتی نہیں دارتے ہیں۔issement museum撿 کرے۔ آپ سب Dominican one of the reasons is you need that patience in order to pray as well셔 بھان اللہ you need patience to pray you need to restrain yourself from what other things you want to do at the time of prayer you have a big financial problem if you do not fulfil your Sa please don't complain probably your problem will start multiplying and probably you become depressed rather than becoming acceptable or a person who accepts the degree of اللہ Da differentiate اللہ کہا when you get close to me I don't promise you millions but I promise you will be content you'll be happy because you're with me I'm with you that's it amazing so what you have to do when you are going through a problem go to Salah کانہ رسول اللہ صلى اللہ علیہ وسلم اگه حذابہ هو امر فزی عائل الصلاة the Prophet صلى اللہ علیہ وسلم himself when something was overcoming when something was big a huge thing came وہ سلام Bem but طرح طرح کہا جا رہا ہے اور وہ شباہانے میں وقت Serve ملے رد ہوا اور وہ اللہ پر ہی کہا ہوں جانتے ہیں کے لئے اسی بلگی مثالاتیں ، ہمیچکا کرو گا اللہ کیا ، گزیدہ ہے ، ہم جانتے ہیں ، ملے اگر یہ بھی نπόν تجر کسی حلوہ جانتے ہیں ، شخصوں کو مطابق أنہائی رہے گا ، Your problem might not be resolved in 1 ای, 2 دنی وای, 2 سنی لی because اللہ ہی اگر آپ کو پاہنے کا رسلہ ملے رہے گا ، سلکتے ہیں ، کیونکہ آپ آپ کی تیارت پر سامنے کے لیوے لگے کیا لگا ہے ۔ آپ کو کو کوچ آپ کو جو مجھےی شرق ہوظہتے ہیں کہ آپ کو سائلے کا مجھے ہی سالے سے سجنے میں کھلتے ہیں کہ آپ کے لئے اکزا ہے söلکی کے بارے میں سکھےگا کہ آپ کے especially سبحان اللہ کہ آپ اس کے بارے میں سکھے گے特ور پر ، آپ سوچِ درماز کے بارے میں سکھیں اور آپ کو تل hay ماشا اللہ کے بارے میں سکھے گا سکھیں سبحان اللہ ہے سبحان اللہ کے بارے میں سکھیں سبھان اللہ کی لیکن now look i don't have a leg what's going to happen to me how am i going to walk what all those questions are there but can i tell you what a mo'min will do he doesn't have a leg now he goes he thanks allah at least i have one other leg he thanks allah at least i'm living he will go to seek some medication they might make him an artificial leg he starts walking until there comes a time when you will see him walking you won't even know this man don't have a leg subhan allah why he's thankful to allah he walks and he what did allah do for him as a result of his positive attitude and his gratitude to allah allah gave him contentment without the leg subhan allahi amazing but the same problem in another person who just continued to complain what will happen he becomes depressed he now needs medication for psychiatric assistance or you know solution and so on and he will not be happy up to the point of death the other man is working he's got a good job he's driving everything is happening this is the same with us when we have our problems your marital problem any other problem social problem financial problem today we are discussing financial problems because we're all going through it i don't think there is a single exception in our society and community so you have to thank allah for what allah has bestowed upon you you have to look at it positive keep on going one day you know you may think i'm never going to make this no with allah you can do it i promise you with allah you can do it get close to allah keep trying people may swear you they may say things to you you may go through the roughest patch trust me with allah you will come out of that trust me with allah you will come out of your problem but you need something so many times in the quran when allah speaks of major obstacles facing the mu'min in he says we will help you when you have sabr and taqwa you need to be patient when you are patient don't tell everyone i'm making sabr i've heard people say this i'm making sabr you know i'm making sort of why are you spoiling your face why are you telling the world you're making sabr keep quiet sabr is such that you should know you're making the sabr you don't need to tell the world you're making the sabr you just pretend like nothing is wrong such that when people see you they think wow this person's got the life that's what they think but only allah knows you know you're stuck