Revive your heart. Putting your life in perspective

Ia this reminder, in 1 shấ' Allãh ta 'älã, I would like to share with you soe ions on an ãyah from Súrat al-Qasas, the twenty-eighth sur of fhe of Müsā ('alayhí al-salãm) is mentioned in many places in Qur'an. The story this particular place, Allah is telling us about the pat of his Se the Qur'an. In with Allah on the mountain of Tür. Glimpses of fhe ife of before he speaks i al-salām) before that event are captured in Srat Dayay. De of those events is when he escaped Egypt and made it into Madyg He One ned because he was wanted for murder, even though t wzsaisake. He escaped ad nunched someone, and they had đied by zccident. He had escaped te city, escaped Egypt because they were looking for him znd were ping to kill him if they found him. The order wzs 'shoot to kl". Misã ('alayhi Allah guided him through the desert and He got him all the wey to the waters of Madyan. Madyan is in the middle of he desert but has some waters, some lakes and ponds, so he ends up over there, finally siing getting some relief, drinking some water. Allah ('aza wajall) tells us that (Tr :TAa) ... he found there a crowd of people watering their flocks, md he found apart from them two women holding their flocks back (Al-Qaşaş 28: 23) He found a group of people that were giving their animals drink and besides them he saw two women who were pulling on their animals. In other words, up on top of the hill there are two young ladies that had some animals but they are not letting their animals drink the water, while all the rest of the village is feeding their animals water: their sheep and their goats and their camels and their cows are all drinking water. But these Women with th their sheep, they are just tugging away at them. Obviously the sheep see the wate so they want to go drink; but they're not going, they are staying in place. He sees this scene so he goes up to them and says: ... He asked the women: "What is it that troubles you?" They said: "We cannot water our flocks until the shepherds take their flocks away, and our father is a very old man." sw e Dv1huL 101 boiEV (Al-aşaş 28: 23) odt booss bad s lol oi gniog biow ba nobioos yd hoih bed yoii bs anomoe bataoue mid not goilool sr What's wrong with you two? What's the situation here?" And they said We don't give our flock drink from this pond until the entire flock of the people is done'. What they are trying to say is we don't want to go among those men because a lot of them are perverts; they don't respect women. They howl at us or they harass us so we would rather all of these people finish, because they are a bunch of idiots, and then we will do our work. Ou father is an old man: and one of the meanings of the āyah -wa-abünã shayki kabīr -is a very old man; meaning he cannot do this work anymore, we art the only ones in the family that can do this work. So Müsā (alayhi al-salãm) doesn't continue talking to them, he actual) just grabs the sheep, goes to the well, and moves those guys like they were bunch of insects because he is a very sttrong man. He fed the animals and re :TA ) "My Lord, I I am truly in great need of any good that You might send down to me." (Al-Qasas 28: 24) limã anzalta ilayya min khayrin faqir: Master, whate Rabbi inni limā whatever you sent down my way and this is in the past tense, I did not say whatever you 'send' down my way but whatever you 'sent' down my way: anzalta. Whatever you already sent down, I was in desperate need of it. In other words this shade and that water in front of him, that's all he gets right now. Ue doesn't have a house, he doesn't have food, he doesn't have anything else: and yet he is looking at all of this and telling Allah, Yã Allãh, thank you so much for this; I desperately needed it'. In other words, before asking Allah for more, he is concentrating on what Allah has already given him. If you look at it from our perspective, he has nothing. He's got absolutely nothing! But from his perspective, he was in the middle of the desert and there is no logical reason why he couldn't have died of dehydration. The fact that he made it all the way to the water, and the fact that he found a place to sit which is under a shade, which Allah mentions--thumma tawallā ilā al- zill; the fact that he found that much and on top of all of this the fact that he found an opportunity to do a good eed is enough for him to be grateful. Instead of thinking about what he doesn't have, he turns to Allah and says, basically, I'Il put it in easy language for you: Yā Alläh, I really needed that, thanks! I really needed that; I was so desperate, I would have died without this help of yours-RabbīT innī limă anzlta ilaya min khayrin fagîr. Subhān Alah! What a different attitude -he is constantly thinking about what he has to be grateful for. Now there is more meaning to this du 'ā'; the other piece of this du'ā' that's remarkable is that Müsā ('alayhi al-salām), not too long ago, accidentally killed somebody. He punched someone while he was defending another man, and the Coptic soldier of Fir 'awn (Pharaoh) die, And so he's run from this and, by the way. he felt guilty about what happened. He made du 'ả' to Allah to forgive him for what happened, but he still feels guilt inside lesson about making mistakes, all of us have made mistakes in our lives; all of him. When you feel guilty inside of you, what should you do? This of us pretty much have done things that aren't exactly what Allah expected u to do. What do you do after you make a mistake? And by the way, Some our mistakes are small and some of our mistakes are very big. The mistake that Müsā (alayhi al-salām) made is to take another person's life: that is no a small mistake. If you or I made that kind of a mistake, we would have a hard time sleeping for the rest of our lives. If you have any conscience, would be the kind of thing that could haunt you for the rest of your life, you would not be able to get over it. It's not something you would just forge about. Say you spoke ill of someone, or you lost your temper, or maybe yOu forgot at the time and you did some backbiting or whatever, these are mistakes; but you forget about them. You don't remember what you did two years ago, you forget. Buu if you accidentally killed someone, that's serious business. So what I am trying to tell you is that we, you andL, have made mistakes in our past; but for some of us those mistakes are so big in Our mnd we are never able to move on with life. We are never able to think past that mistake we're constantly thinking about that mistake. This d'5 : teaching us that if you have a mistake in your past, if you've done something really bad in your past--and I'm pretty confident that it's not the same as the mistake of Müsā ( alayhi al-salãm); I'm pretty sure that the police aren't ou looking for you for murder-anything short of that you should be coverel Allah gave us this extreme example, so that we could understand, if Allah will cover that one; then I'm covered, I'm okay, mine is not as bad. So noy. what is the lesson here? The lesson here is that if you have made a mistalke then you should be desperate to find opportunities to do good things for people. Müsã ( 'alayhi al-salām) is almost dead from dehydration and starvation he's barely surviving, and he sees two women in need of help. What does he do? He gets up and helps them. Why in the world would he get up and -they didn't ask for help; he just sees this opportunity. He didn't say: "Okay, let me just get a little bit of a rest and then maybe I will figure out what is going on over there'; or he could have just assumed on his own: they are watting o these men to finish. He's a smart man, he could figure all of this out himself. But the fact that he felt the urge to go and help them is because he is desperate to help. .If you have any mistakes in your past there should be a fire inside of you to want to do good things. Every time there is an opportunity, no matter how tired you are, no matter how exhausted you are, no matter how you are, you motivate yourself. And what should motivate you? The mistake of your past. unmotivated So one of the meanings of this du 'a' is: Yā Allāh, I've made a pretty bad mistake in my past sO wh whatever opportunity you give me to make up for it, I take it. I could desperately use that. So thank you so much for giving me will che chance, the honour of helping these women'. Please listen to that again, Thank you for giving me the honour of helping these women'. When you help someone, you are not honouring them; they are honouring you. In our din when you give şadaqah, for example to someone begging outside, you oive charity; you have not helped them, the fact of the matter is they have helped you. They become testimony for you on Judgement Day. They become a forgiveness of your sins. You've helped them only in the dunyā, which is nothing to Allah, but they have helped you in ākhirah, which is everything. This is the change of attitude. This is: Rabbi innī limã anzalta ilayya min khayrin faqir. But also in this du 'ā', the final and equally important piece is that when he makes this du 'ã', Mūsā ( alayhi al-salām) is acknowledging that whatever he has, he has to be grateful for. But at the same time, Müsā (alayhi al- salãm) knows better than any of us because we're not in the middle of the desert dying-that he is in need of food, he is in need of shelter, he is in need of protection, he is in need of a job, he is in need of these things, but the interesting thing is he doesn't ask Allah for any of them. We should ask Allah for everything. Why doesn't he ask Allab?, 'Yā Alläh feed me, yã Alläh give me more, yã Allãh provide me a house, yã Allah fix my life up; I've got a problem'. Why doesn't he ask for any of it? You see, in saying to Allah that Whatever you have given me, I desperately needed it; he has actually asked Allah. Please try to understand the subtlety of this statement. Tl give you this exanmple to help you understand this concept, because t's a very profound concept in our religion. Our children sometimes they are picky and fussy about what they want to eat, you put vegetables on the dinner table and say to your son sitting there: 'eat your carrots'. He responds: No, I don't want to eat carrots, ,I want chocolate'. So he doesn't want the carots, hewants chocolate; he doesn't want to drink the water, he wants juice, le doesn't want to finish the food, he wants ice-cream first. In other words what you give him, he doesn't want and what he doesn't have, he wants. And do you get upset or not? You get a bit: Why don't you appreciate what I have done? You need this food. You're going to get sick, you need this medicin You need this dinner. Finish your food, that's not g00d for you', but he Want. what's not good for him and he doesn't care for what is in front of him. The believer recognizes that whatever Allah gives you, whatever food Ha put on the table, whatever job you found, whatever business your doing-ho only is it good enough; you desperately needed it. You don't get to be fuss with Allah and tell him, Yā Allãh, I don't know ifI want this one'. You don get to tell Allah, I know You provided me this rock or this tree to sit unde: but if You could provide me some kind of bedding, it would be better' know You gave me this water over here but maybe some coconuts might help'. No, no, no. Whatever You have given me, is exactly what I needed and I desperately needed it. I desperately needed it. What word does he use to describe himself? He uses the word faqīrinnī limã anzalta ilayya min khayrin fagir. Do you know the difference between faqīr and miskān Another word in the Qur'an for someone who is bankrupt, someone who can't help themselves is miskīn. Allah says: bo The alms are meant only for the po0r and the needy.. (A1-Tawbah 9: 60) Allah put those two together, meaning you're supposed to give şadaqah to the one who is fagir and to the one who iS miskīn, and when you put two vords together like that, it means, they mean two different things. According o lbn Manzũr in Lisān al- Arab, the fagūr is in the worst possible situation; ae miskīn might even own some things. That's why in the Qur'an, in Sürat -Kahf, the masākin own a ship: hat ne, nts t As for the boat it belonged to some poor people who worked on the river... Even if someone e is miskīn, they might still own a boat, they might still be still have a job; but a faqir: He's got nothing! He's got fishermen, they might nothing. He says to Allah that I have absolutely nothing absolutely (Al-Kahf 18:79) They say in Arabic: 'the one wh0 1S walking is happy with whatever ride he can get'. You know what they mean by that? If there is a guy walking in ike middle of the desert and somebody offers him a donkey, or somebody ffers him a horse, or somebody offers him a turtle to sit on, he won't mind. He's not going to say, "I don t know if this is my kind of ride. I need a more lovuury class vehicle'. He's not going to say that. Hell say: Give me that hicvcle, I'll take it!" Because he has nothing. He is turning to Allah and saying, Yã Allāh, I acknowledge that I have absolutely nothing. And I don't even havea means to earn anything. You are the only one who sent this down my way; I am not going to complain'. The point I am trying to make is just coming. When he made this du 'ã' to Allah, when he turned to Allah and said, Yā Alläh my back is broken'. A fagir, by the way, is also someone whose back is broken. When your back is broken it means you cannot lift anything; things have to be given to you because you cannot even go and get them. That's why he said, 'Yã Alläh, whatever you sent towards me is because I'm faqir, I can't go and get it. You are bringing it to me!' Subhān Alläh, this is the acknowledgment of Müsā ('alayhi al-salām). When he makes this du 'ā, the next āyah of Sürat al-Qaşaş is: (Te:TA Jail) Soon thereafter one of the two women came to him, walking bashfully, and said: "My father invites you that he may reward you for your having watered our flocks for us.." (AI-Qaşaş 28: 25) Therefore', listen carefully now, "therefore one of those two girls came back and said, "mny father wants to pay you"." The word therefore' important. Did he ask for money? No. Did he ask for a job? No. Did he ask he invited to their house? No. None of this, he only turned to Allah and saia whatever you have given me, I was desperately in need of it, I appreciate i You turn to Allah in appreciation and as a result, there's a formula, there'. ule. You know how we call them the laws of nature; there are laws ot Qur'an and they are more powerful than the laws of nature. The laws nature change: fire is supposed to burn but it will stop burning when Tbrahi ('alayhi al-salãm) is thrown inside; water is supposed to retain its shape but'i will change when Müsā ('alayhi al-salām) strikes his staff and Allah make. the water not keep its shape. The laws of nature can bend when Allah wam them to but the laws of Allah in His book, the laws of guidance, they don' bend. The laws of du'ā , they don't bend. And what is this law? That whe you appreciate what Alah has given you, then Allah will take care of vou! What happens? She comes to him and says, 'My dad wants to pay you' He doesn't turn to her and say, No thank you sister, I did that fi sabil Allah1 don't want any money'. He understood immediately that this is Alla responding to his duā. He did not have what we call back home, wherel come from, takallyf: No, no, no, thank you. I don't need anything, I dont need it'. When people are offering you help, that might be from Allah, tha might be the answer to your du'ā'. So if somebody is offering you a job and you say, No, no, no, I can't accept this favour', why are you turning awa the favour of Allah? Müsā ('alayhi al-salām) has far more integrity than you he didn't shy away and say, 'No, no, no, that was a voluntary task, I expet nothing". He expected nothing; he expected from whom? From Allah. B: when Allah brings people his way, he doesn't turn it down. As I conclude, let me tell you what happens. This one du 'ã' that he mat: with that sincerity: not only did he get invited, not only did he get paid, as matter of fact in the middle of that conversation he got offered the daughter'shand in marriage; so he got married and on top of that he got a job for eight to ten years. So he got housing, employment, marriage, immigration status, all of it in one shot, because of this one du'ã'! Did he ask for any of these He started his entire family--a new life began for Müsā (alayhi al-saläm) all because he appreciated him, even in the middle of the desert, even in the middle of nothing. We have to become a people of shukr, a people of gratitude. Which is why you must appreciate that when Müsā ( alayhi al-salām) is in a desert again. Müsā ( 'alayhi al-salām) ends up in a desert twice: once when he ran away as an individual from the army and a second time when he ran away from the armies of Fir awn as the leader of an entire nation. So in the life of Misã ('alayhi al-salām) he ends up escaping from Egypt twice: once, personally; once, with an entire nation. When he left with his entire nation, you know what he said l to them? He said to them: things? No. He echieoleve (v:1éa) what Allah ('azza wa-jall) had given Also call to mind when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks, I will certainly grant you more..." (Tbrahim 14: 7) He tums to the Israelites who are in the middle of the desert, complainin about the heat, complaining about the lack of food, complaining about th lack of water. He turns to them and says, Your Master had already declare that, "if you can become grateful, I will absolutely increase you"' 1 will giv Vou more and more and more. Mūsã ('alayhi al-salām) is not just teachir them a theory; he is teaching them this du 'ā' based on his life experienc- He's already done this before. When he was grateful to Allah, Allah gave hỉ more and more and more and more. This is the life lesson he is teaching th Bani Isrā l, and that du'a la'in shakartum la'azidannakum-is powerful; it was a khuțbah given by Müsã ('alayhi al-salām) to Bani Isrā and even that got recorded in the Qur'an. So you and I have to learn and this is something we easily forget--to grateful for what we do have. and not to focus our attention so much on what we don't have. To learn to acknowledge that whatever we do have, we could not have survived without it, we are faqir for it. When we really, internaly develop that attitude, as a result of that Allah will provide us the whole dunus and whatever is in it. Allah will give without restriction. (1•:r) dunyā Verily those who persevere shall be granted their reward beyond all reckoning. (A-Zumar 39: 10) The people of şabr are going to be paid without any restrictions. May Allah ( azza wa-jall) help us to internalize this beautiful, remarkable du'ã'.