Taraweeh Talk, Learn Quran and Arabic Centre, 2021

Juzz 2: How should we Muslims deal with suffering and grief? (Patience)

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Night 2

Lesson from Juzz 2

How should we Muslims deal with suffering and grief? (PATIENCE)

 

How should we Muslims deal with suffering and grief? How should we comfort a friend or relative who is in distress?

“O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.”

‘Sabr’ means having patience. But it doesn’t indicate ‘inactivity’ / ‘not doing anything’

Old arabs used to use the work ‘Sabr’ in which they didn’t show any weaknesses.

One of the Pet Hatim At Tayee wrote a poem: “We did ‘Sabe’ against them by holding the swords, within the pains and struggle, until they became quiet and stopped.

Another Arab Poet Juhair Ibn Abi Sulma said –

“While riding on the strong horses, the Kings showed Patience at the war field when all others lost their hopes”.

 

We get the meaning of Sabr from Quran as follows:

  1. To accept the Incidents of our lives that cannot be explained using our limited knowledge
  2. To do the tasks that will make Allah happy (Kahaf: 67)
  3. Stay away from the tasks that will make Allah unhappy (Hud: 11)
  4. To rely on Allah (Imran: 125)
  5. Stay patient against People’s ridicule, bad remarks, tease, bully (Ibrahim: 12)
  6. When people are against the truth, still standing with the truthfulness and to keep continuation of speaking the truthfulness (kaf: 39)
  7. Patiently endure the torture due to following Islam, even not to leave Imaan even if there is a danger of death (anam: 34)
  8. When the oppressed forgives the oppressor .. its nothing but ‘patience’ (araf: 126)
  9. Not to make hurry for the result. Wait until Allah’s decision comes in. (kalam: 48)
  10. Wait for the right time (hujrat 5)
  11. To stay firm and steady against the unfavourable / bad situation (Baqara 250)

Three things to consider while having ‘Patience’:

  1. To face and endure pain and sufferings while having the patience
  2. While struggling to change the condition, Don’t do SIN
  3. While having patience, DON’T GO AWAY FROM ALLAH’S OBEDIENCE

Your son has 39 degree temperature. You should pour water on his head. But if you do not do so, only stay at prayer matt and ask help from Allah, this is not what is meant by the ‘patience’

You have to give the best treatment to your son and at the same time ask to Allah help in Salah On & On .

You’re struggling to look for a job / business / opportunity. ….so you have to struggle the best and then completely reply on Allah by asking Dua/help in Salah.

Allah subhanallahu ta’ala then reminds us:

“Be sure We shall test you with something of fear and hunger; some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil) but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Who say when afflicted with calamity:

“Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhir raji-oon”

“To Allah we belong and to Him is our return.”

They are those on whom (descend) blessings from Allah and Mercy and they are the ones that receive guidance.”

From these verses we can see that in a Muslim’s life, hardship and suffering should never come as a complete surprise. In fact, Allah promises us some hardship as a certainty, somewhere during our lifetime. It is a test of our iman, our faith in Allah, and we should not despair, because there are lessons to be learnt from every situation, especially from misfortune.

Let us consider Nabi Ayyub’s example, which appears in Sura Al- Anbiyya_h, v. 83 and 84:

“And (remember) Ayyub when he cried to his Lord “Truly distress has seized me but You are the Most Merciful of those that are merciful.”

So We listened to him: We removed the distress that was on him and

We restored his people to him and doubled their number as a Grace from Ourselves and a thing for commemoration for all who serve Us”

To a Believer, good fortune and misfortune are merely two sides of the same coin of life. Although we do not welcome hardship, we know that even in the noonday of life, we live in the shadow of death; in the peak of our prosperity, we are just a few short paces away from poverty and in the prime of our good health, illness lurks in the shadows nearby.

 

Suhaib reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

عَجَبًا لِأَمْرِ الْمُؤْمِنِ إِنَّ أَمْرَهُ كُلَّهُ خَيْرٌ وَلَيْسَ ذَاكَ لِأَحَدٍ إِلَّا لِلْمُؤْمِنِ إِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ سَرَّاءُ شَكَرَ فَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ ضَرَّاءُ صَبَرَ فَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُ

Strange is the affair of the believer for there is good for him in every matter and this is not the case with anyone except the believer. If he is happy, then he thanks Allah and thus there is good for him, and if he is harmed, then he shows patience and thus there is good for him.

Source: Sahih Muslim 2999, Grade: Sahih

Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

عَجِبْتُ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَقْضِي لِلْمُؤْمِنِ قَضَاءً إِلَّا كَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُ

I am amazed by the believer. Verily, Allah does not decree anything for the believer except what is good for him.

Source: Musnad Ahmad 12495, Grade: Hasan

So why should we (the believers) worry at anything fortune / misfortune in life?

A hadith narrated by Abu ‘Abbas ‘Abdullah, says:

“Remember Allah in times of ease, and He will recognise you in times of distress. What hit you could not have missed you, what missed you could not have hit you. Remember that victory comes with patience, relief comes with affliction and ease comes with hardship”.

 

THREE PROPHETIC DUAS TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY FROM BAD DISEASE:

 

  1. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever recites it three times in the morning will not be afflicted by any calamity before evening, and whoever recites it three times in the evening will not be overtaken by any calamity before morning :

In the Name of Allah, Who with His Name nothing can cause harm in the earth nor in the heavens, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.”

(Abu Dawud 4/323, At-Tirmithi 5/465, Ibn Majah 2/332, Ahmad. Ibn Majah’s chain of transmission is good (Hasan), Ibn Baz, p. 39.)

  1. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “O Allah, I seek refuge in you from evil character traits, evil deeds, and evil desires and evil diseases.”

Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 3591

Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani

 

  1. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said,

Oh Allah, I seek refuge in you from leprosy, madness, elephantiasis, and Unknown / evil diseases

(Abu Dawood 1554, Book 8)

 

Ref: https://legacy.quran.com/2/153-157

Juzz 1: The Dua of Prophet Ibraheem (As)

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Night 1

Lesson from Juzz 1

And ˹remember˺ when Abraham raised the foundation of the House with Ishmael, ˹both praying,˺ “Our Lord! Accept ˹this˺ from us. You are indeed the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

Our Lord! Make us both ˹fully˺ submit to You1 and from our descendants a nation that will submit to you. Show us our rituals, and turn to us in grace. You are truly the Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful.

Our Lord! Raise from among them a messenger who will recite to them Your revelations, teach them the Book and wisdom, and purify them. Indeed, You ˹alone˺ are the Almighty, All-Wise.”

1st lesson:

O’ Allah, Accept our Tasks / Ibadah

Note [1]: Ponder on the story of Ibrãhīm (a.s.) ; study his life; see how he took his son and wife to the land where now Mecca stands, and settled them there; how their lives progressed until finally the“sacrifice” of Ismã‘īl took place and, in the last moment, he was ransomed by Allãh; read how they together built the Ka‘bah. You will find that it is a complete cycle of devotional journey. It shows how a servant proceeds from his “self” to his Lord, from a far away station to the centre of “Divine Nearness”;how the journey is accomplished avoiding the vanities of this world, shunning its protection, keeping away from its desires –prestige, wealth, women and children – freeing oneself from the intrigues of satans, not letting them pollute the purity of intention,and turning with total surrender and progressing with completedevotion to the Lord, the Great, the High. These apparently unrelated events are in fact of an unbroken series. They are historical narratives, but they describe the stages of the spiritual journey of a servant from self to the Lord. They teach us the discipline of that journey, instruct us in the rules andmanners of seeking nearness to Allãh, of reaching His presence. The more you meditate on his story, the deeper will be your spiritual understanding – you will come to know the demands of Divine love and sincere devotion.

2nd Lesson:

PERTAINING TO REPENTANCE

 

Nu’man b. Bashir reported: Allah is more pleased with the repentance of a believing servant than of a person who set out on a journey with a provision of food and drink on the back of his camel. He went on until he came to a waterless desert and he felt like sleeping. So he got down under the shade of a tree and was overcome by sleep and his camel ran away. As he got up he tried to see (the camel) standing upon a HIGH AREA (mound). but did not find it. He then got upon the other mound, but could not see anything. He then climbed upon the third mound but did not see anything until he came back to the place where he had been previously. And as he was sitting (in utter disappointment) there came to him the camel, till that (camel) placed its nosestring in his hand. Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than the person who found (his lost camel) in this very state. (Muslim)

 

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying : Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said: I live in the thought of My servant and I am with him as he remembers Me.

When he draws near Me by the span of his hand. I draw near him by the length of a cubit and when he draws near Me walking I draw close to him hurriedly.  (Muslim)

Repentance is a door of mercy through which you turn towards the right path. It is a decisive human decision to keep away from wrongdoings and deviation. Allah has made repentance obligatory for every Muslim, even our last Prophet Muhammad PBUH himself used to say Astaghfar 70 times a day.

Evil Deeds Change Into Good Deeds

Repentance does not only remove the darkness of sins but it also replaces the darkness with light.

Except him who repents and believes and does a good deed; so these are they of whom Allah changes the evil deeds to good ones; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. And whoever repents and does good, he surely turns to Allah a (goodly) turning. Surah Furqan, Verse 70

Repentance Brings Happiness In Life

It is related in Tafsir al Qurtubi that Hasan al-Basri (r.a) was once seated. A man came saying ” O Master, I’m very sinful do tell me an act which I can do to be forgiven”. Hasan al-Basri (r.a) replied, “Go and do Istighfar”.

Second person came and said, ” O Master, for many days rains have stopped and there is drought. Tell me an action through which Allah (s.w.t) will send down rain to us”. Hasan al-Basri (r.a) replied, “Go and do Istighfar”.

Third person came and said, ” I am under a lot of debt. I am working, but please make dua that Allah (s.w.t) give me wealth so I can be saved from debts”. Hasan al-Basri (r.a) replied, “Go and do Istighfar to Allah”

Fourth person came and said, “It is a wish of mine that Allah (s.w.t) give me an offspring. So please make dua that Allah (s.w.t) gives me pious offspring”. Hasan al-Basri (r.a) replied, “Go and do Istighfar”

Fifth person came and said, “I have a orchard please make dua that it gives more fruits, so that the return will be more.” Hasan al-Basri (r.a) replied, ” Go and do Istighfar”

Sixth person came and said, “If I was to get water spring in my house, I will be so pleased”. Shaykh Hasan replied, “Go and do Istighfar”.

Shaykh Hasan al-Basri’s (r.a) disciple, Ibn Sabih (r.a) who was sitting close, was very surprised thinking, “Why is it that Shaykh Hasan al-Basri (r.a) is giving the same solution of Istighfar to whoever comes to him”? So Ibn Sabih (r.a) eventually asked “Why are you giving one response for all the problems”? On hearing this Shaykh Hasan al-Basri (r.a) recited what Allah (s.w.t) said in Qur’an:

 

(Nuh) said (to them): ‘Ask forgiveness from your Lord, verily, He is Oft-forgiving; He will send rain to you in abundance, and give you increase in wealth and children, and bestow on you gardens and bestow on you rivers.} [Surah an-Nuh (71): 10-12]

3rd Lesson:

Raise from among them a messenger who will recite to them Your Quran / revelations, teach them the Book and wisdom, and purify them

 How can it be applicable right now /  to us?

 Raise among us Scholars / Torch bearer generation to educate the people the knowledge of Islam and prepare them the skills to spread the knowledge of Islam.

Abu al-Darda’ (Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

“Scholars are the inheritors of the prophets.” [Related byTirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Nasa’i, Ibn Maja, Ahmad, Ibn Hibban, and others]

We should raise a generation who will be learning Quran and teach others the Quran & Purify themselves and others using Quran & Sunnah.

 The Prophet, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, “Whoever reads the Quran, learns it, and acts in accordance with it, on the Day of Resurrection, his parents will be given a crown to wear whose light will be like the light of the sun, and his parents will be given garments which far surpass everything that is found in this world. They will say, ‘Why have we been given this to wear?’ It will be said, ‘Because your child learned the Quran.’”

[Al-Haakim; Al-Albaani: authentic]