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Gaza Is Starving — But Allah’s Promise Has Not Failed | Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy
Witnessing starvation, dehumanization, and atrocity can erode your spirit – or worse, your faith in Allah’s promise to help the believers and hold the oppressors accountable. Shaykh Mohammad Elshinawy shares valuable insight on divine timing, including how to strengthen your faith in the help of Allah.
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
Allow me to begin by saying that all praise be to Allah who is matchless in His mercy
Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And He is flawless in His justice. And He is perfect in His wisdom, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, the glorified and exalted.
He is the one that sometimes grants oppressors, the most heartless human beings, a grace period, enough rope to choke themselves with.
And in the process, in the meantime, He showcases the faith of true believers. And He distinguishes some of them with martyrdom.
And then He comes back at those oppressors, at those tyrants, and He snatches them in a way that only the Almighty can.
Upon that creed, upon that unshakable faith and conviction, we live as Muslims, we die insha'Allah as Muslims, and with it we meet Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Mighty and
Majestic. In fact, it is only possible through the lens of that creed to understand the objective
of this talk, which is what it actually means, that the help of Allah is near. Ala inna nasrAllahi qareeb, certainly, without doubt, the help of Allah is near, the support
of Allah is near, the victory of Allah is near. We often hear this, but what exactly does that mean? If you try to process it through the lens of the ego, the lens of the self-centered
aspects of our personality, through the lens of entitlement, you're going to think it means that help and support and victory and the tables turning are gonna happen any minute.
And it's actually impossible for it to mean that. Do you know why it's impossible for it to mean that? Because this is the examination room, this is not paradise. Paradise is where you get instant gratification, not here, right?
But it also means that you're the God and He serves you. What you want, He gives you. And that's not the case either. We are the servants and the nature of this world is a world that evaluates, assesses and examines.
Therefore, there must be something else to it. And before I mention what, you know, it could mean, the multiple correct ways, not like
we're doubting, multiple correct ways to understand this, I do have to say a personal or a little aside, which is that there's nothing actually more frustrating for people in modern times
than this assumption that they can wield full control and be masters of their own destiny. That's what makes people hopeless in life. You are the master of your own destiny. And then when you get hit with reality, oh, it's actually not true, right?
You feel like it was your failure because it was up to me to make it different. It was up to me to deliver myself to a different destiny, a different outcome. And so you own the failure as well, and it breaks you.
I can do it without saying inshallah, right? I am worth it without qualifiers, right? These words of affirmation need to be replaced for a person of true faith with affirmation in Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Otherwise you become hopeless or at the very least you become hasty. You lose patience. You lose stamina. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in the early years when the Sahaba were going
through difficult persecution and they said to him, like, when's it going to end already? He said, wa lakinnakum tasta'ajiloon It's going to happen. Allah never breaks his promises, but you are being hasty. It's on his clock, not yours.
And likewise in the Quran, Allah Azawajal says similarly about the oppressors and tyrants, fala ta'ajal alayhim innama na'uddu lahum adda
If we don't lose patience about them, how could they be left to do all that they do? Don't get impatient. We are counting down for them.
Ibn Abbas radiallahu anhuma, he says, al anfas. What Allah means is that even the breaths, not just how many days are left, how many minutes are left, the inhales and exhales.
Allah is counting that there's a time. And so this is the meaning. What does it mean that Allah's help is near? It means that Allah can bring it about at any minute.
We must retain unwavering faith in that unshakable certainty in that. That's one meaning. The second meaning is he will, in fact, there's a countdown with him, not with us, his clock, not ours, right?
The second meaning is that he has already decided that it will happen at a preordained time. It's already been decided. It's already been determined. And this helps us mitigate the brunt of these whispers.
And we all get these whispers. Like how could all of this atrocity, this genocide, this hypocrisy in the world, the double standards, the biases, the gaslighting, how can all this be happening? You need to come back to your fountain of faith.
You come back to the Quran and say, wait a minute, did Allah promise me it wouldn't happen? No, he didn't. In fact, he promised me it would happen. You know that verse that ends with, certainly the help of Allah is near.
Do you know how that very, don't go elsewhere. The very same verse, how it begins. Do you really think you're just going to stroll into paradise?
Before there comes to you what was encountered by those before you.
They experienced so much persecution, so much oppression, so much difficulty, so much pain, so much poverty.
Until they were shaken to their core. To the point that the messenger himself and the believers alongside him said, when is the help of Allah coming? We all get the whisper.
The difference is the believer that has unshakable faith recalls as the verse ends by saying, they are sufficed. They are anchored.
They are content with their belief that the help of Allah is near. And there's no doubt in that. And so until it comes and it will come, this is seen as our opportunity to get through
Jannah's doors, to chase our Jannah. We're not going to stroll through this opportunity. Look at the paradigm shift through the proper understanding, our worst days, our worst year.
This could have been the worst year of your life as many have said since last October. Your worst year could in fact be your best year with Allah. It's okay to get anxious.
It's okay to get, feel burnt out at times to go through bouts, right? There are rounds in this fight. It's okay to feel exhausted. That's fine. But remember that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
Our Lord smiles from how his servants are about to lose faith, about, but they fight it. They resist. This is an act of resistance.
Are about to lose faith despite the fact that his change, meaning the change he's about to effect, bring about for the better is so near. How quickly, despite it being so near. The Sahaba, may Allah be pleased with her, said,
Ya Rasulullah, our Lord smiles? He said, yes. They said, In that case, we will never be shortchanged for good coming our way from a Lord who laughs.
This is a Lord of goodwill, a Lord of great wisdom, a Lord of exceptional love and compassion. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And another thought that could be helpful here, in addition to it being our opportunity
to chase our Jannah, an opportunity to please Allah and an opportunity to be the reason for him smiling at us, a smile that we will never, ever go astray after. All of that. Also, we have to ask ourselves a sobering question.
Are we stipulating that things have to go our way for us to believe in Allah? You know, Allah Azawajal cautions against this in the Quran and he says,
Among humanity are those who worship Allah. They devote their lives to Allah on edge, on my terms, right? One foot in, one foot out. They're like on the negotiation table, right? Or think of the edge of the cliff about to plummet, right?
They're footing the line. Worship Allah on edge. When something good happens to them, they're reassured by that.
And when something bad happens to them, they about face. It's like, no, but if that's the case, this is the sobering question now, then you are not a servant of Allah. You are a servant of your comfort.
I'll serve you so long as you make me comfortable, right? So you are reassured, you are content with the blessing, not with the blesser. With the comfort, not the comforter, Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
With your perspective, not his providence, his wisdom. One of the early Muslims used to say about this, abdun ni'mi kathiroon. The servants, like think of a servant.
Servants depend on his master, right? The servants of the blessings are many. amma abdul mun'imi fa qaleeloon. As for the servants of the blesser, they are few.
May Allah Azza wa Jal make us and you of the few. And also, you know, you use that to remedy the question of why is it taking so long? Once you're sure there's a wisdom, you may start being allowed by Allah to notice some
of the wisdom. You'll never see it if you don't believe it's there, right? If you believe in the unseen and that Allah's wisdom will unfold, then he will begin to
give you more access to see some of it, to give you more stamina, to give you more resilience and patience. Why is it taking so long? Wait a minute.
Maybe it's so that we can finally liberate Palestine during our lifetime. May Allah make it a reality. Maybe it can actually happen in this generation.
Maybe we will go back to normal as we often have before if it would have ended early. Maybe only Gaza will find some relief and recuperation and it will not be the entire historical Palestine and beyond.
Maybe this is what it takes. You know, Sufyan, he used to say about this notion that I am certain that him withholding is actually him giving.
If we can just lock in on that. Another one of the early Muslims used to say that when Allah gives me something I want, I praise him for it.
And when he does not give me what I want, I praise him for it 10 times because the first one was my choice for myself. I don't know if I'm picking the right things, preferring the right outcomes.
But when it's not what I want, I know it's what he wants. His choice for me is better than my choice for myself. That's where we're working towards. And it's a jihad.
We have to say that. Like these tests are not there to be a walk in the park, nor are they there to test your muscles. No, they're not. They're there to test, you know, your, the strength of your trust in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And trusting means also that you don't understand. You're not always going to understand because you're trusting. Islam yes, doesn't call you to blind faith. But once you know why you believe what you believe, I can now blindly trust. I know there's water in the pool.
Now I'll jump. That's the leap of faith. I'm not going to jump before I check. Is there water in the pool or not? I have my eyes open, confirmed. Okay. I trust. Because it's a challenge.
What's also very beautiful is that Allah Azza wa Jal acknowledges for us throughout the Quran that the problem of evil and human suffering is a challenge.
The angels were saying, yeah, Allah, and right there in the beginning, Surah Al Baqarah. You're going to sort of place on earth, those that are going to wreak havoc on earth and like spill each other's blood on earth.
Like why the human race exactly? Qala inni a'lamu ma la ta'lamun. He said, I know what you don't know. You know, what's profound about this, that he's showing you that even the intelligence of the angels struggled with this issue. It's fine.
Don't beat yourself up about the struggle to understand. But at the same time, the angels had so much unshakable faith that it was enough of an answer for them that I know, and you don't know. Is that enough of an answer for you? Perhaps I hate something and it's better for me.
Perhaps I love something. It's worse for me. Qala inni a'lamu ma la ta'lamun. And Allah knows, and you don't know. That's another verse Surah Al Baqarah. Not just the angels, even the prophets.
You know that whole long story about Musa Alayhi Salaam and Al Khadir, where he has to go learn from a man who is lesser than him in knowledge, but knows some things he doesn't know. Musa Alayhi Salaam doesn't know.
And so he keeps subjecting him to scenes that are apparently evil. And Musa Alayhi Salaam sense of justice can't just walk away. Even though, and this is deep.
Even though Allah says to him, go learn from that man. Ateynahu rahmatan min indina wa allamnaahu min ladunna ilma. A man that we granted exceptional mercy to.
And what was Musa Alayhi Salaam's objection? You're so cruel. You're so cruel. You're so cruel. He was told him up front. Yeah, we know the story. And so like we just walk, go through the motions when we read it. From the beginning, Allah is telling him, we granted him an exceptional compassion and
mercy from us. Wa allamnaahu min ladunna ilma. And we taught him from our knowledge a great deal. What were the three incidents? He punctures the ship. He kills the young man.
He builds the wall, restores the wall and doesn't accept compensation. The scholars mentioned that it not just in Musa Alayhi Salaam struggled to understand
why those had to happen, but Allah chose for him three events that were not random. How could you object, O Musa, to the ship being punctured? It was for the greater good, right?
It was to defect it so that the pirates would not take it. But how could you object when you yourself were in a basket and you did not drown? Notice the correlation.
And then, he killed the young man. How could you not realize that there's probably more to the story? Because the whole world accused you of murdering the Coptic guy and there was more to the story.
And how could you object to restoring the wall without payment? Yes, the people were a stingy town and they were not hospitable hosts and all that other stuff. But there has to be more to the story. You wanted something bigger.
When you yourself, O Musa, when you were turned into a fugitive and a refugee, you wound up needy at the well of Median and you got water for two young ladies and you stepped away and you didn't take payment.
Notice what Allah chose for him. Part of that is to show us that even if it's right in front of you, you're just not going to always be able to see it. But we know it's near. His wisdom is near.
His power is near. His greatness is near. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know, the great scholar, Ibn al-Jawzi, rahimahullah, he says, people don't understand what the hardest test of being a Muslim is about.
The hardest test of submission is all about Islam, submission, right? He says it's the test that scared the universe. He's referring to Surah Al-Ahzab. In the end of Surah Al-Ahzab, Allah Azza wa Jal said,
Inna aradna al-amana. We offered this responsibility to believe, right? To the skies, the earth, the mountains, and they all declined and they were horrified of it. And the human being took it on. I'll take it.
Because it's the responsibility to have unshakable faith, to live correctly, you know, as an extension or as the fruit of that faith that you've rooted in your heart, you get to go to paradise and be with him forever. But there's also the risk of hell fire.
So they said, no, no, we're not. The risk is too high. We're not down for this kind of challenge. No. And they were horrified and the human being took it on. He said, what made them so scared? Ibn al-Jawzi is saying.
Do you think they were afraid of like two rakahs or $2 or washing some limbs and offering some ritual devotion? He said, that's not it. These are of the lightest of the responsibilities of the submitter, of the Muslim.
He said of the most difficult is when you see the world descending into mayhem around you. He said, thousand years ago, you see children suffering, innocent.
You see animals dying. He said that. And in that moment, you still have to lock yourself in on him being the most merciful of any of those who show mercy.
That's the tough one. He said, and understanding that is what helps you realize the great disparity, the great difference between the submission of the body,
which is far easier and the submission of the intellect, intellectual humility to surrender your mind to him. That's the logical thing to do, by the way. That's the rational thing to do is to understand that since I'm not the most wise,
I cannot know all the wisdom and therefore I cannot make all the decisions. Bringing that to the fore, that's work. It's not like sort of intellectual acrobatics or you're just going to hypnotize yourself.
No, you put in work to invite that into your heart. It's a gift from Allah. You know, Imam Muhammad Al-Ghazali, the contemporary, he says something very beautiful about in his discussion of Surah Al-A'raf.
He says, when we Muslims talk about dhikr, being mindful of Allah, the remembrance of Allah,
don't think that this is about you trying to like strong arm your mind into recalling some distant reality, like God is real and stuff. No.
He said it's about trying to recall yourself back to the actual reality. You're bringing, you're resuscitating yourself. I could borrow a medical term, right? From your coma, because compared to Allah, we're not real.
We're real. We're real. It's not the matrix. You know, we're real. Allah's a real creator. He really created us, right? So we're real as a creation, but relatively compared to Allah, the divine reality, the reality of God is the truest reality.
We're just keep, we keep getting sucked into being absent minded of that. And so to stay awake, fight yourself out of the coma, that is the jihad.
And by the way, as I close here, that is the third meaning of the help of Allah is near. That he can bring it at any moment. We said he has already preordained the moment in which it will materialize.
We said the third one is Allah can bring you to states where you are at peace on the inside, regardless of what's happening on the outside.
It's already near. The help of Allah is already near for those seeking to be near to him.
Allah is not enough for his servants, but some of the prophets were killed, guys, right? Some of the prophets were imprisoned, like Yusuf Alayhi Salaam, and even our prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, right?
During the boycott, those three years, they were sort of in effectively a concentration camp, right? Cut off from everything. So was Allah not with them? Yes.
But Allah being with you is about something in here, right? Unwavering, unshakable. The world around me comes crashing down. I'm fine. Right? I'm at peace. May Allah grant us all that peace.
When we see our brothers and sisters in Gaza going through everything they're going through, and our brothers and sisters in Lebanon going through everything they're going through, and our brothers and sisters in Sudan, and in Yemen, and in Turkmenistan, and the wounds of this Ummah are many.
We have to be able, in order to move forward, take a step back and anchor ourselves in you. To be able to see through it enough to be able to deal with it.
We're reacting to Allah, not just what's happening down here on the ground. Yes, they're being killed by devils. Our children all over the world. But they're also being received by angels.
And their blood is watering the tree of faith for so many people. And turning the wheels and getting it started in a direction that is pleasing to Allah and His Messenger for the betterment of this Ummah. SubhanAllah, you think about the prophets.
Like, their lives come crashing down. It's like they're struck by swords. And the peace they're in. And other people that don't have this nearness to Allah or access to it.
They're pricked by a thorn and their whole lives come crumbling down. Come crumbling. Right? I'll mention to you, just so we bring it full circle and not just say these were the prophets. Even the companions, yes.
And this will be my final share about having an impregnable peace. Being invincible at heart. Right? Imran Hussein was the companion of the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wasalam, who narrated to us the hadith. Pray standing, if you can't, then sitting.
If you can't, then on your side. The reason was that he had that question for the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wasalam. He had that certain question for the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wasalam. And he had that question for the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wasalam.
And the reason was that he had that question for the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wasalam. He had that circumstance that caused the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wasalam, to tell him that. He was bedridden for the last 30 years of his life.
And one of his close companions, one of the early scholars of Islam, his name was Mutarrif. Mutarrif came to him and apologized to him one day. And he says to him,
The only reason I can't visit you is because I cannot bear to see what you're going through. You're on your bed, the sores, they cut a hole in the bottom of the bed, you know, to be able to answer the call of nature. I can't even see you in this condition.
One time he visited him in another narration and he began to cry. He told him, why are you crying? Let me tell you something. Whatever is more beloved to Allah is more beloved to me.
And I'm going to share with you something now that you're not allowed to share with anyone for as long as I live. But perhaps after I've passed, you know, the danger zone of conceit and otherwise, right?
Perhaps after I die, Allah may benefit some people with hearing this. The angels visit me regularly. And I could hear them giving me salams. I'm not dreaming.
I'm not sort of falling in out of consciousness. And I returned their salams to them and they sit by my bed.
And all of that causes me to be further reassured, causes me to realize for certain that this is not a punishment from Allah because so much good is coming out of it.
And at the end of the day, whoever goes through what I'm going through and senses that support, those bursts of help, how can they ever be distressed in their difficulties?
So may Allah Azza wa Jal enlist us in the jihad of fighting for our faith and being able to fight the good fight for the sake of our brothers and sisters.
May Allah bring us closer to the Quran where our worldview comes from and anchor us in it in unwavering ways. And may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la inspire us and move us forward to put in the work,
the spiritual labor that will in fact entitle us to be gifted unshakable faith. Allahumma Ameen.
