Khutbah: Enduring Hardship
Royal Holloway College/Friday -11th September 1998
Delivered by Arshad Gamiet
A-uthu billahi minash shaytanir rajeem.
Bisillahir rahmanir raheem.
Al hamdu lillahi rabbil 'alameen. Was salaatu was
salaamu 'alaa ashrafil mursaleen. Sayidinaa wa
nabi'na wamoulanaa Muhammadin wa'ala aalihee wa
sahbihee wasallim.
My Dear Brothers and Sisters, our khutbah today is
about Enduring Hardship.
I am sure that each and every one of us has, at some
point in his or her life, been visited by grief,
tragedy, or tremendous loss, emotionally or materially.
It may have been a serious illness or accident or
death of a loved one, or we may have failed an important
examination, or we may have seen a business or
professional career which has grown and prospered over
many years, finally come to disaster.
To those who have suffered such a loss, their feelings
are hard to describe adequately. There is a sense of
utter despair, emptiness, and a numbing of the senses.
It can become so intense that one actually questions
the whole purpose and meaning of life. In this country
we have many organisations and charities that offer
professional help like bereavement counselling or advice
on dealing with financial hardship. However, many people
are unable to come to terms with sudden catastrophic
loss, and therefore, we often hear of someone being so
overcome with grief that they have taken leave of their
senses, they suffer prolonged and repeated bouts of deep
depression, a complete change of personality. In extreme
cases, some victims of hardship lose all inclination for
life at all and they commit suicide.
How should we Muslims deal with intense personal
suffering and grief? How should we comfort a friend or
relative who is in distress?
In Sura Al-Baqara, verses 155-157, Allah subhanallahu
ta'ala 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.
I am reminded of a Turkish proverb which says that
the best teacher is a bad experience. A true believer
should know that during his lifetime, he must expect
to be visited by success and failure, pleasure and pain,
loss and gain. This is the inseparable duality of life.
We cannot value anything without knowing its opposite.
We must accept life as it comes, in the best of times
and the worst of times, with equal grace and forbearance.
In our arkaanul Imaan, we say:
"Wa bil qadri khairi wash sharr-ree minal laahi ta
'Aalah."
" And the consequences of good and evil, come from
Allah"
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"
Nabi Ayyub was a prosperous man, with faith in Allah,
and he suffered many hardships. His cattle were
destroyed, his servants killed by the sword, and his
family crushed under his roof. But he held fast to
his faith in Allah. As a further calamity he was
covered with ugly sores from head to foot, and his
friends abandoned him. But throughout this ordeal,
his faith, his iman remained rock-solid, unswerving,
undiminished.
Because of this, Almighty Allah was pleased with him,
so he was restored to full health. Not only was his
prosperity redoubled, but his family and friends
returned to him, and Allah gave him 7 sons and 3
daughters. He lived to a good old age, and saw four
generations of his descendants before he died.
This inspiring story of Prophet Ayyub is a wonderful
example to us all. When we encounter sudden hardship,
we should not feel sorry for ourselves, because
self-pity leads us nowhere. We should place our
complete trust in Allah subhanallahu ta'ala, and
have the certainty in heart and mind, that at the
end of our pain and suffering, Allah's love and mercy
will embrace 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.
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".
innallaha wa malaaikata yusalluna alan nabi. Ya ay yuhal
latheena amanu sallu alayhi wasalli ma tas leema.
Allahumma salli ala Muhammad, wa ala ali Muhammad, kama
salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim. Allahumma barik
ala Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali
ibrahim. Fil ala meen, innaka hameedun majeed.
SECOND KHUTBAH:
Sub' hanallahi wal hamdu lillah, wala hawla wala quwwata
illah billah yu althi yual theem.
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
"verily in the Messenger of Allah we have the finest of
examples"
Prophet Muhammad [sallal-lahu 'alayhi wasallam] also
endured much pain and hardship, especially in his youth,
with extraordinary patience and perseverance. He was an
orphan, cared for by milk-mother, grandfather, and
uncles. During the early years of his mission, he was
jeered, taunted, threatened, reviled and persecuted by
his own tribe, the Quraish of Makka. Many of his
followers were killed for their acceptance of Islam. In
the 63 years of our prophet Muhammad's life, he
experienced every human hardship from loss of father,
mother and grandfather to loss of dear friends, personal
wealth and rejection from his tribe. Because of his
unswerving devotion to Allah, he was granted success in
this world, and in the hereafter. History has witnessed
his achievements. Whatever personal grief, suffering or
loss we might encounter in our lifetime, it would be
appropriate to remember Sura Dhuha,-ha. This Sura
addresses Nabi Muhammad directly, but it also applies to
all Muslims indirectly, in all times and all circumstances.
Wadh dhuha_
Wal laili idza_ saja_
Ma_ wad da'aka rab buka wa ma_qala_
Wa lal a_khiratu khairul laka minal u_la_
Wa lasaufa yutika rabbuka fatarda_
Alam yajika yatiman fa a_wa_
Wa wajadaka da_lan fahada_
Wa wajadaka a_ilan fa agna_
Fa am mal yatima fala_ taqhar
Wa am mas sa_ila fala_ tanhar
Wa am ma_ bini mati rabbika fahad-dith
By the glorious morning light, and by the night when
it is still; Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor is
He displeased. Verily, the hereafter will be much
better for you than the present. Have we not found
you an orphan, and gave you shelter and care? Have
we not found you wandering, and gave you guidance?
Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness, nor
turn away The petitioner unheard; but the blessings
of your Lord Rehearse and proclaim!.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, next time we encounter
grief or hardship, and we feel lonely and depressed,
let us remember this Sura, that offered hope and
reassurance to the greatest of men. It offers the
same hope and reassurance to us also. At the end of
every dark tunnel of despair is the reward of Allah,
Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Let us pray, may Allah give us strength to endure
hardship with patience, and to emerge from all the
trials and tribulations of this life, with our Iman
renewed and our trust in Allah redoubled.
Aqeemus salaah!
