Overwhelmed – Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي
وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي
وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِي
يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي
اللهم ثبتنا عند الموت بلا اله الا الله
اللهم اجعلنا من الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات
وتواصوا بالحق وتواصوا بالصبر
آمِيْنُ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِيْن

Today’s khutbah is very difficult subject to explain. It’s about a concept that is at the heart of our relationship with Allah (عز و جل).

Everyone of us is a believer in Allah. And yet that faiths of ours, of Allah, in Allah is tested. It’s not just believing in the concept of one God, or the concept of a God that deserve worshiped. But actually we have a deep intimate relationship and a connection with Allah (عز و جل).

(QS An-Nahl: 60) وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْمَثَلُ ٱلْأَعْلَىٰ

But the idea of a serious relationship… First, let me just say a few things about that. There are people that you know in life, that you have connection with. Some of you are maybe eliminated, or separated from closed friend, or maybe family member. Many of us travel and move to the different part of world.

So you’re not as connected to your uncle, or your grandfather, or whoever else. You know they exist, you have a relationship with them. You may even share a last name with them. But that does not mean you’re intimately connected to them.

You may not even have kept up with their life for the last 10-15 years, you know, or 20 years. And then you don’t know all their kids’ names. You don’t know what their life struggles are like. None of it.

Even though you’re related, it’s a very distant relationship. Once in a while you go back, and you catch up, and all of that, but then other than that, you’re not really connected. And then, compare that to some other relationships you have, that are daily, that you interact with daily, that you talk to on a daily basis, right?

Relationships that Exist, But They’re Connected by a Thread

So in life, there are relationships that exist, but they’re connected by a thread. They’re not very strong. And then there are relationships that are pulling at us every single day. They impact us, they effect the way we think, they effect our emotions on there on a daily basis. Those are very strong and intimate relationships.

It becomes like that when it comes to our relationship with Allah. Allah (عز و جل)… all of us believe in Him. All of us have a relationship with Him. But for some of us, it becomes just a concept.

He’s there, He’s is in the background. I know He’s there. Even when we’re praying, we’re not really that connected to Him. And even if we are connected, we don’t really understand what that connection? What that relationship really means?

And what it’s supposed to be is a very close, deep, intimate friendship, and a close deep intimate. You know, relationship where all of our daily conversations. There’s no conversation we have with anyone else that’s miss a part of it. Is actually a conversation with Allah too. That’s supposed to be a conversation with Allah also.

Human Being Buried Under Heavy Loads

You know, one of the fundamental benefits of the five prayers, is actually – and this is why the Fatihah is called the prayer itself – Fatihah itself can be called the prayer, is because the Fatihah, part of it Allah speaks and part of it we speak. Meaning we have a conversation with Allah. We’re actually directly communicating with Allah.

When Allah said, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ

He speaking.

But when we say, إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ
و إِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

And so on.

We’re speaking.

So it’s actually, when both parties are speaking, there’s a conversation happening. And that’s supposed to be, when you have a close connection with someone. You talk to them every day, you talk to them multiple times a day. That’s actually what the prayer is supposed to be. And that’s literally where the word Salah (صَلَوٰة) comes from. From Silah (صلة), connection.

So with that in mind, I want to share one dimension of that connection you and I are supposed to have with Allah. And how that’s supposed to help. Allah created human beings in difficulty. And He created human beings in heavy burden.

(QS Al-Balad: 4) لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ

“We certainly created the human being buried under heavy loads, exhaustive labor.”

Emotionally you’re struggling. Physically you’re tax, you’re struggling. Health-wise, you may be struggling. Financially, you may be struggling. Because of people, you may be struggling. This life Allah designed it to be difficult.

Sometimes you look at other people and you say, “They have it so much easier than I do.”

But you don’t know what other difficulties Allah gave them that are invisible from you. Everyone has difficulties, everyone has challenges.

You would think for example that the Pharaoh, Firaun had kingdom, empire. He had the worlds largest army at the time. He had everything you could want. All the wealth you could want, all the power you could want, all the status you could want. He has everything.

And how come he has everything and the believers have nothing? And yet Allah describes about him that he lived in a state of fear, you know.

وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ

(QS Al-Qasas: 6) وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ

مَا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ

“They used to live in a state of fear.”

He used to get nightmares at night. He couldn’t find peace. Sometime people have material things but they don’t have peace. Sometimes people have physical health but they don’t have mental health, you know, they don’t have emotional health.

So all human beings were put in a state of struggle, and that’s believers and non believers. So the first thing that I want to get across to all of you and remind myself of, is because we are believers that does not mean our problems disappear.

It’s not like because I’m a believer, I’m not going to be sad, or because I’m a believer, I’m not going to experience anxiety, or I’m not going to have family problems, or I’m not going to have financial problems, or health problems, or whatever else.

Believe, our faith in Allah, our relationship with Allah is not there to solve our problem. It’s not there to get rid of the people in our life that are causing us trouble. That’s not the purpose of our faith.

If that was the case, then the Prophets (عَلَيْهِ ٱلصَّلَاةُ وَٱلسَّلَامُ‎) who had the most close connection with Allah would have had the easiest life. They would deserve. They would make duá, all their problems would be disappear.

And if you study the Prophets, the closest people to Allah, (عَلَيْهِ ٱلصَّلَاةُ وَٱلسَّلَامُ‎), they have the hardest life, they have the toughest life. And sometimes the toughest life comes to them not even from some faraway enemies, it comes to them from their own families.

So in other words, it comes to them from people they can’t even escape. They’re with them every day, they’re with them their whole lives and they can’t escape those problems.

So the idea that human beings are created and were placed in a situation where they’re going to struggle. They’re going to have to deal with very difficult circumstances, very difficult situations. And even people, they are going to have to deal with that is part of life.

And that has nothing to do with you, if you had more iman, you wouldn’t have these problems. It doesn’t work that way. As a matter of fact, the higher your iman, you know, people assume the higher your iman, the problems are going to go away. No, the higher your iman, something else. And that something else is what I hope to explain to you today.

What is the Faith Do?

To put it as an image, Allah created us and he put us inside of a storm. Can you like, imagine a storm and in the ocean. You’re in the storm, and the waves are turbulent, and you’ve got your little boat, etc. And you’re constantly worried about sinking and you worried about those who are sinking next to you.

But Allah (عز و جل) – What is the faith do? It gives you the strength and it gives you the ability to go through the storm, to navigate the storm. It doesn’t mean you don’t get wet. It doesn’t mean sometimes the boat almost doesn’t tip over. But you now have the ability to go through it and survive the storm.

You see? That’s the purpose of our faith. Is not to get rid of the problem but to actually strengthen us, so we can go through the problem. One of the most powerful examples of that – actually before I get into that example, because really at the heart of all of this khutbah today is one phrase from one ayah from surah Fussilat. And I’ll get to that at the end but for now I wanna give you an example.

Two of the hardest burdens that human beings live with are fear and sadness. Fear and grief. Those are the two heaviest burdens that human beings live with in this life. As a matter of fact when Allah sent Adam (عليه السلام) to the earth. He told him that when He gives His guidance.

فَمَن تَبِعَ هُدَايَ
فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ
(QS Al-Baqarah: 38) وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

“Whoever follows My guidance, they’re going to be able to combat fear and sadness essentially.”

In other words, Allah knew that in the story of humanity from Adam (عليه السلام) to the last human being that’s going to walk on this earth. Every one of them is going to have to struggle with fear, and they’re going to have to struggle with sadness.

Now what are these two things? Fear is about what’s going to happen in the future. Fears about am I going to lose my job? What’s gonna to happen to mom? What’s gonna happen to my family? What’s are they gonna say? What’s gonna happen tomorrow? What’s gonna happen with my exam? What’s gonna happen to my immigration? What’s gonna happen with this? And what’s gonna happen with that?

These fears… about what’s going to happen in the next few hours, or the next few days, or in the year from now, or in the future. These fears are small and big, and they’re all the time, they are part of us.

You wake up with afraid. You’re afraid you’re gonna be late to work, you know. You’re afraid that – you know – you forgot about some task that you have to do with or the time’s running out. Small fears, big fears. But fear is a constant part of life. It’s always there.

And what you’re afraid of, let’s say a student is afraid of failing an exam. Up until the moment of the exam, there’s fear, the heart is pounding. And they take the exam, and then unfortunately, they got the result that they failed. And when they fail, there’s no more fear. There’s now sadness. I mean there’s fear what’s your dad’s gonna do to you but there’s sadness mostly, right? Now there are sadness about what happened already.

So fears about the future and sadness is about the past. What already took place in the past. And just because it’s in the past, you don’t get to tell someone, “Well it’s in the past, get over it.”

“It’s done now, you should move on with your life.”

No! You and I are not in any position to tell anyone that they no longer have the right to feel sad anymore. Our Messengers (ﷺ) continue to feel the sadness of the absence of Khadijah (رضي الله تعالى عنها). For years, for years. Feeling sad is not a sign that you don’t have enough faith. That’s it. I mean… he has the greatest faith of all and yet he carries sadness.

Yaqub (عليه السلام) lost his son, Yusuf (عليه السلام). And he carries a great amount of sadness. So much so that he cried so much.

(QS Yusuf: 84) ٱبْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ

“His eyes turn white.”

His eyes turn white out of sadness. But that’s part of… That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have faith in Allah. He doesn’t actually have that, as a matter of fact he would only cry of his fear, and cry his grief, and sadness to Allah.

(QS Yusuf: 86) إِنَّمَا أَشْكُو بَثِّي وَحُزْنِي إِلَى اللَّهِ

Fear and Sadness The Mother of Prophet Musa’s

I’ve given khutbah to you about that before. But today I want to talk to you about an extreme case of fear and sadness first. And that’s the mother of Musa (عليه السلام). I can’t think of a more extreme case of a woman who had to do something so incredibly unthinkable.

She knows that any minute from now, soldiers are going to break her door and they’re going to kill her baby in front of her own eyes. For a mother to imagine the murder of her own newborn baby, unthinkable. And the only idea she had, that Allah put in her, is you need to put your child in a basket, and put that basket.

(QS Al-Qasas: 7) أَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ

“Throw it into the river.”

It’s not even nicely, gently, put it into the river.

إلقاء is to throw.

Now when you throw something in a river. The rivers moving water. When you throw something in a river, it can flip. It’s also the case that a basket may not necessarily float. It may get water inside, it may hit a rock. There are animals inside the water. There are all kinds of things.

As a matter of fact, I often when I used to teach the story a long time ago. I used to give the example, when you see a child go even two feet near a swimming pool. Not even the deep end, the shallow end. A mother will go crazy. She’ll drop everything, and push people out of the way, and grab her baby.

There are women to give their babies a bath, you know, in the tub. And they put the water this little. And the babies like, “Come on.”

“No, no, no, too dangerous.”

“This much is too, you’ll drown.”

“I can’t even fit my head.”

“No, no, no.”

“Not gonna let you.”

There’s a fear.

And this mother has to take her newborn. He can’t even crawl yet. He can’t even do that yet and she has to throw this thing into the water. Can you imagine the kind of fear this woman has in her heart when she does that? And when she does that, she can’t even look at it, and can’t even cry and scream, “My baby! My baby!”

She can’t do that. Because if she does that, the soldiers will know one survived, and they’ll go after him and kill him.

So, she has to not even be… even if she looks, she has to look from the side. And then this water is not standing still, it’s moving.

So, this basket is slipping away from her sight to the point where she doesn’t even know what happened to it. She has no idea what’s happened to it. And now, she’s living with this incredible overwhelming sadness.

“What have I just done?”

“What’s gonna happen to my baby?” You know.

And in those moments Allah (عز و جل) told her.

(QS Al-Qasas: 7) لَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي

“Don’t be afraid. Don’t feel sadness.”

And even though, she still felt afraid, and she still felt sadness. What we’re learning in this ayat is Allah will help you overcome… not being drowned by fear, and not being drowned by sadness. He can let you navigate those two feelings.

Those two feelings are very powerful. They’re enough to drive someone mad. They’re enough to drive someone to the point where they don’t wanna live anymore. It can be that powerful. And yet Allah can give you the strength to overcome when you and I don’t have the strength to overcome.

This mother, like no other mother. Could stand doing that, and survive. So, Allah says,

(QS Al-Qasas: 10) وَأَصْبَحَ فُؤَادُ أُمِّ مُوسَىٰ فَارِغًا

Musa’s mother’s heart was… you can think of the imagery as it was bleeding out, it was emptying out. It’s like her heart was exploding.

(QS Al-Qasas: 10) إِن كَادَتْ لَتُبْدِي بِهِ

She was on the verge of just let screaming out, “That’s my baby! I want my baby back!”

She was on the very verge of it. She couldn’t hold it in.

(QS Al-Qasas: 10) لَوْلَا أَن رَّبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قَلْبِهَا

“Had We not tied her heart up.”

Like literally something is about to shatter and leak. And Allah says, like a rope, He tied it up and held it in place.

What are we learning? We’re actually learning that you and I are not capable of controlling our emotions until Allah gives us the strength to do so. The situation didn’t change. The baby didn’t start flying instead of floating in the water. The reality didn’t change. But our heart changed. Her heart was strengthened by divine intervention from Allah Himself.

(QS Al-Qasas: 10) لَوْلَا أَن رَّبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قَلْبِهَا

And she’s not a Prophet. What we’re learning in these ayah is that Allah will give you and me a strength to our hearts that we’ll be able to overcome the most powerful fear and the most powerful sadness, the deepest deepest kind of sadness.

He’ll make us strong enough. Not that those things will go away, but you’ll be strong enough to go through it. You won’t collapse. Your heart won’t fall apart.

And He says all of this.

(QS Al-Qasas: 10) لِتَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“So, she may be from those who truly believe.”

She could truly hold on the faith. She won’t ever accept that my baby drowned. She won’t accept that. She will hold on to her faith. She will hold on to hope. As a matter of fact in this ayah, for her to be a believer, actually is the same as for her to be hopeful.

One of our connections with Allah, that bond with Allah, we pray to Allah, we put our hope in Allah. What Allah gives us from Him is that glue that holds our heart together and keeps it from being shattered. He gives us that strength.

Our Rabb is Allah

This is actually what I wanted to talk to you about from the ayah of Fussilat.

(QS Fussilat: 30) إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ

“No doubt about it, those who declared our Master is Allah.”

Seems like a pretty simple statement.

“Our Master is Allah.”

It’s not a simple statement. You’re not just saying our Creator is Allah, or the One we worship is Allah. You’re calling Him your Rabb, our Rabb is Allah.

Rabb is a مُنعِم.

Rabb is someone who does favors for you, you don’t deserve, and keeps giving you what you don’t deserve. That’s the first meaning of Rabb.

So Allah is One for us, Who will give me more than I deserve. And He will keep giving me more than I deserve. And He will keep making…

And مُنْعِم also means the One who gives إِنْعَامًا.

Meaning the One who makes things easy. He is the One who’s going to keep making things easy for me. That’s who He is to me. I’ve declared that when I called Him Rabb.

المُنْعِمُ
وَالمُرَبِّي

He is the One who going to make sure that I continue to grow, that I continue to progress, that I’m not going to stay in place. If I’m in a problem, He is going to allow me to grow out of that problem. If I’m in a state of weakness, He will give me the strength.

Like a plant grows in term of… like a little blade turns into a tree, He’ll give me the strength to becomes, to navigate and to be able to overcome the weakness that I have.

This is المُرَبِّي.
وَالقَيِّمُ

The One who’s gonna make sure I don’t fall apart.

Just because you’re ensuring something is growing, doesn’t mean you’re not taking care of the problem.

You know, you can build a building, and you’re building more and more floors but the foundation’s falling apart, the whole things gonna collapse. Allah will hold me in place, take care of me, and not let me collapse.

He is my Rabb, وَالأقَيِّمُ.

وَالسَّيِّدُ, and He is in charge,

He is in charge of what I do. He is taking total authority over me. I’m not in charge anymore.

You know, again maybe imagery will help you understand this.

If you are bad at swimming, and you find yourself in the middle of the ocean. And you’re splashing and doing whatever you can, and nothing’s helping. Water keeps going up your nose and in your mouth.

And nothing seems to be helping, and you’re getting exhausted, and until you realize there’s someone holding you from underneath, you just need to relax, and just let go, and He’s just keeping you floating. He is not gonna let you drown.

When you let go, that’s actually, رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ.

“Our Master is Allah.”

Whatever struggle, storm I’m going through, He is not gonna let me drown, He’s holding me in place. Those who openly declare that, they acknowledge that they’re not in control of their situation. They acknowledge that they cannot control other people’s opinions. They acknowledge that they cannot control what any of the creation of Allah does.

When anybody else… And you know some people, some of you spend your days and nights thinking about how this person’s going to harm me. What are they going to say? What are they going to do? What are they going to think? This is what’s going on in your head all the time. You’re preoccupied with it.

And when you accept رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ.

You let that go. Because the One who’s protecting you, and the One who’s keeping you in place, and the One who’s gonna navigate you through the storm. You’ve declared you’ve handed it over to Him. You’ve let go.

رَبُّنَا اللَّهِ

And that declaration is so powerful, it’s a kind of freedom. There are so many of us who make so many decisions in our live. As a matter of fact so many of our emotions in our live are controlled by other people, that controlled by other people. How sad you are, how angry you are, how hurt you are. We’re letting other people controlled how we feel.

And when you really truly declare, “My Master is Allah.”

The power creation has over you, disappears. Like they’re just creations they have no power when Allah doesn’t give them that power. And when He strengthens your heart then whatever they have to say and do, bounces right off of you. And it doesn’t hurt you anymore.

Again, reality doesn’t change, you change. You change.

The Slander Against Aisyah

I’ll give you another quick example of that. You know there was a terrible slander on the ayah that I was sharing with you previously. I’ll go back to that series soon. The ayah I was sharing with you about the slander against Aisyah (رضي الله عنها).

Ayat came of the Quran. Ayat came of the Quran and she felt relieved. She felt relieved but you know what? The hypocrites we’re still hypocrites. The filthy mouth was still a filthy mouth. People were still saying what they were saying. That didn’t change.

For the believers they recognized it and they took taubah, they changed. But for people who had dirt in their hearts, they didn’t change.

So the hurtful words, and the hurtful slander, and the hurtful accusations continued. As a matter of fact they continue until this day. They continue until today, and yet she is relieved. Reality didn’t change.

Allah didn’t send those ayah so silence everybody. Because that’s not gonna happen. That won’t, Allah doesn’t do things that way. They let them dig their grave, that’s fine. Allah sent those ayah so those who believe can have strength. Their heart could be tied. Their heart could find peace.

That’s actually, إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ

Then He says, ثُمَّ ٱسْتَقَـٰمُوا۟

They didn’t just say our masters Allah, then they lived a life of trying to stand up straight. They live the life of holding on to رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ.

Not letting anybody else pull them down. Not letting any anybody else get control. Not letting anybody else become their owner. Not emotionally, not physically, not financially, not in terms of their temptations. They recognize Allah supreme authority, and control, and care over them. And they reminded themselves of that over and over again.

You know استقامة (istaqaama) in Arabic doesn’t just mean to be straight. They used it for poetry.

استَقَامَ الشِعر اعْتَزَلَ
أو عَزَلَ عِوَجَهُ

Like when… When the poet used to write a poem, it didn’t totally rhyme. So he would make adjustments to fix it until it’s finally even. All the rhymes are even, all the lines are even. All the syllables lineup. That’s the idea of استقامة (istiqaama)

In other words you don’t just say my master is Allah and now you’re perfect. No.

You keep struggling to fix yourself. You find yourself leaning this way a little too much fear in your life when you pull yourself together. And you don’t let the fear overwhelm you. You find too much sadness in your life and you remind yourself of Allah. And you hold on to Allah again and pose you back together again.

The idea of holding on to Allah, to overcome and to be able to navigate your grief and your sadness. Again I remind you as I said in the beginning. Our faith in Allah will not get rid of our grief. And our faith in Allah will not get rid of our sadness, and will not get rid of our fear. But it will make a strong enough to overcome them. Strong enough to go through them without breaking us.

There’s No More Fear and Sadness Anymore

It is in those moments of fear, and of sadness, and of grief that is when syaithan comes and wants you to let go of Allah. Because syaithan feeds you something else.

Syaithon says, if Allah is so great why are you upset? If Allah is so awesome, why did you have to go through all the sadness? Allah could have just gotten grief or sadness. He could have created a situation where you have to experience no sadness.

Why did you have to go through it? Why do you have to have these fears? Why do you deserve this anxiety? Let go of Allah, He’s not doing anything for you. That’s syaithan most powerful opportunity in those moments.

And yet Allah here says, if you can, not only be declare that your masters is Allah but you can hold on to that deep inside you. Not from someone else, for yourself. If you can do that then what does He say?

تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ
(QS Fussilat: 30) أَلَّا تَخَافُوا۟ وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا۟ وَأَبْشِرُوا۟ بِٱلْجَنَّةِ

If people can live a life of doing that and holding on to Allah that way, then as they’re dying, as they’re leaving this world. People around them are crying. They can’t even speak anymore. They’re on their deathbed. And yet they can see what the relatives can’t see. They can see angels come down. And angels having a conversation with a person on their deathbed.

And they’re telling him or her, “You don’t have to fear anymore.”

“There’s no more fear at all.”

“And there’s no more sadness at all.”

“Congratulations you’re going to heaven.”

(QS Fussilat: 30) وَأَبْشِرُوا۟ بِٱلْجَنَّةِ ٱلَّتِى كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ

And then they add something. This is, you know, this is at the end of their life. They’re not even in the grave yet. They’re not even the grave yet and yet they’re being told you’re going to heaven by angels.

Everybody else is crying, they’re the one smiling inside. – They’re the only – Everybody think so sad, this is such a tragedy. And this is the greatest moment of their life. This is the greatest moment of it because they live that. They navigated that storm. When they’re in that moment, what is the angels tell them?

They tell them,

(QS Fussilat: 31) نَحْنُ أَوْلِيَآؤُكُمْ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ

“We were your guardian angels. We were protecting you in this life and We will also in the next life.”

“Allah sent us a special security team just for you.”

“When you were being overwhelmed and you hold on to Allah, We became your security around your heart.”

“When you were overwhelmed with grief, and sadness, and fear. We were the ones that Allah are used to send for you.”

“We were the ones that guarded you.”

“We were the ones that has shielded you from the whispers of the devil.”

“We were there all along.”

They’re introducing themselves to you. You’re meeting them for the first time, they’ve known you your whole life.

(QS Fussilat: 31) نَحْنُ أَوْلِيَآؤُكُمْ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ

Yaa Rabb… That’s the promise of Allah to those who hold on to Him. To those who can hold on to Him.

You’re Part of a Legacy

Now the last thing I want to share with you is, at the moment of death, we are alone. When you live a life and you’re about to part from this life. You don’t take anybody with you. You’re alone, you’re questioning is alone. But the remarkably in this ayah, everything is in the plural.

قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَقَـٰمُوا۟ تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ
(QS Fussilat: 30) أَلَّا تَخَافُوا۟ وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا۟

Everything is plural.

“Don’t be afraid all of you.”

They said our Master is Allah. Why is the plural being used if one person’s at their deathbed? The idea of a plural here is you may have felt that you’re the only one going through this.

But centuries before you, a mother went through this when she was putting a baby in the water. And centuries before that, a man went through this when his father kicked him out of the house. And centuries before that, there are believers and prophets, good people, all across history and all across the world that you’ve never met, that you’ve never known, who’ve gone through exactly the same struggles.

You’re going through in their own way. And they held on to Allah like you hold on to Allah. And you’re actually connected to them in this ayah. You’re not alone. They may have died thousands of years ago but you have a deep and intimate connection with them.

Just like you have a connection with Allah (عز و جل). With Allah, you’re connected by your duas. And with them you’re connected because of the same struggle that you’re going through. You know, this is why we make du’a.

(QS Yusuf: 101) (QS Ash-Shu’ara: 83) أَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ

“Join us among the righteous.”

“Join us among the good people.”

You’re not alone. You’re part of a legacy. There people before you that have already left, that are praying for you actually.

(QS Ali Imran: 170) وَيَسْتَبْشِرُونَ بِٱلَّذِينَ لَمْ يَلْحَقُوا۟ بِهِم مِّنْ خَلْفِهِمْ

“They’re congratulating each other of those who haven’t yet joined them.”

(QS Ali Imran: 170) أَلَّا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

“They’re not gonna have fear and grief either.”

May Allah (عز و جل) help us navigate our fears, and navigate our grief, and not be overrun by them. May Allah (عز و جل) keep us from the emotional torture and the emotional manipulation of others. May Allah (عز و جل) give us a life of freedom from control of His creation and really truly allow us to be His pure slaves of His in every sense of the word.

بَارَكَ الله لِيْ وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقُرْآنِ الْحَكِيْمِ
وَنَفَعَنِيْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ بِالْآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيْمِ