Attaining Inner Peace in Times of Trial - Dr. Bilal Philips

me neither okay how long was a determiner know why Donna being Mia Tom DeLay salatu was-salam Rasul Allah all praise is due to Allah male as peace and blessings be on the last Messenger of Allah attaining inner peace in times of trial speaks about or addresses how we as individuals as a community can achieve the equilibrium the balance which distinguishes the believers from the disbelievers Allah describes us as omote and wisata the middle nation the nation that has the balance that is in harmony with a laws creation inner peace is an expression of this harmony and there is a particular hadith from rasul allah sallallahu wasallam in which he laid for us the foundation for the equilibrium the foundation for the equilibrium was exemplified in the Islamic Maxim win-win the win-win Maxim was expressed by prophet muhammad sallallahu wasallam in a hadith narrated by Sahib even seen an in which the prophets wasallam said a Japan liam real movement in Nomura who Kuna who Lihue hair the affair of the believer is amazing the whole of his life is beneficial wale sardonically I had in a little movement and that is only in the case of the believer in asaba to sorrow Chikara Ficano fear Allah when good times come to him he is thankful and it is good for him when asaba to the raw Sabra for can hire Allah and when bad times befall him he is patient and it is good for him this is the win-win Maxim as divinely revealed it addresses two essential elements in human life necessary to achieve the harmony harmony within the individual harmony within the family balance within the community within the Nations the two key elements are gratitude and patience gratitude and patience when good times come to the believers they are thankful and as such they are rewarded and when bad times before them when trials before them they are patient and they are rewarded gratitude is praised in the Quran and in the Sunnah in many verses and in many hadiths just to mention one from each from the Quran in surah Ibrahim verse 7 lian-chu Khartoum lazy Dan Newcomb if you give thanks I will give you more the more thanks you give the more you get and from the prophets our solemn he said any servant who is blessed by a law and says alhamdulillah that is thanks to Allah will be given better than what he has just received my animal ah who Allah Abbadon near Martin 4 : hamdulillah l can led our tahu Afflalo Bheema a health and his servant who is blessed by Allah and says alhamdulillah will be given better than what he has just received on the other hand the opposite of gratitude in gratitude is dispraised in the Quran and in the Sun now there are many texts which speak against it which warn against it in the Quran that ingratitude is even referred to as go for disbelief a form of Khufu Khafre nama Allah says in the same chapter that we looked at Ibrahim verse 7 well in kafir tomb inaudible a Shadid but if you disbelieve indeed my punishment will be severe if you give thanks I will give you more and if you don't give thanks that is if you disbelieve you don't recognize what I have given you then my punishment will be severe and from the sunnah prophet muhammad sallallahu wasallam said in a hadith narrated in sooner Tirmidhi authentically man lam yasha Karina's la mía scrilla whoever does not thank people does not thank allah one who doesn't thank people does not thank Allah cannot thank Allah because much of what is given us is given through people Allah chooses people as the means by which his mercy His grace his beneficence is bestowed on us so by not thanking those people were in fact not thanking Allah though some people say a chakra Linda thanks belongs to Allah these people are only means however the Prophet SAW sallam told us we thank those people - yes we have to believe ultimately it's coming from Allah so Allah but we must thank people when Allah gives us things through them because that is a means of encouraging them to continue to do good Allah will give us whether we thank him or we don't thank him human beings will give us if we thank them but if we don't thank them they won't give us that's the nature of human beings so in order to encourage them to continue to do good we are obliged to thank them on the other hand patience also has a number of supporting text in the Quran and the Sunnah praising it we can find in surah Baqarah verse 155 well on a blue and nakooma Shaymin and how he will jury when Apple same mineral I'm Wiley well emphasis what's a marat what is lobbied in and certainly I will test you with something of fear hunger loss of wealth lives and fruit but give glad tidings to the patient give glad tidings to the patient glad tidings of what of paradise and from the Sunnah Prophet Muhammad SAW Solomon said in a hadith which is narrated in sahih al-bukhari minority ha ha Joon Appa and a thorn hiren awesome in a Sabra no one has been given a gift better or vaster than patience no one has been given a gift better or vaster than patience this is why patience is mentioned as one of the keys for success in this world in sewer Lasser in ladina i'm Anwar middle Saleh hot water also been hot what I was always sober all human beings will fail in this life except for those who believe in Allah call each other too and do righteous deeds call each other to the truth and call each other to patience remind each other to be patient and on the other hand impatience its opposite has been dispraised in both the Quran and in the Sun now in the Quran Allah describes the human state as an impatient state saying we utter an insanity Shari dois who bill hader volcano in San wad EULA human being praised for evil in his prayers for good the human being is forever impatient in his impatience he prays for evil in his prayers for good instead of waiting instead of being content his impatience leads him to pray for what he thinks to be good but in fact it is evil Allah didn't give it to him because it wasn't good for him but he is demanding it give me anyway I know what's good for me his impatience is his destruction from the Sun now there is a narration reported in both sahih al-bukhari and Muslim soon return midi abu huraira related that a Lord's messenger said any man who calls on a law or woman who calls on a law in prayer will be answered any man or woman who calls on a law in prayer their prayer will be answered it is either granted to him or her in advance in this life it is either granted to him or her in advance in this life or stored away for him or her in the next life it is either granted in advance in this life or stored for him or her in the next life as long as there's a condition as long as he or she does not pray for something sinful as long as they don't pray for something sinful or for breaking family ties or for breaking family ties mother and dad are upset with son or daughter and they pray to Allah to break those family ties not accepted by Allah and as long as he or she is not impatient as long as he or she is not impatient when the companions of the prophet saw salem asked him how is one impatient with regards to dois how is one impatient he replied by saying I called on my Lord and he did not answer my prayer for me I called on my Lord and he did not answer my prayer for me so one who expresses this will not have their prayer answered impatience in du'a will cancel Allah is accepting that try that is how serious impatience can be we all know as Muslims that gratitude and patience are basic principles which each and every one of us must develop they were exemplified in the life of prophet muhammad sallallahu wasallam when he prayed at night till his ankles were swollen and his wife companions asked him why are you doing this to yourself when Allah has forgiven your sins of the past and the sins of the future and he said what shouldn't I be a thankful servant shouldn't I be a thankful servant this was the way of the prophet sallallaahu was seldom when he went to carry the message to Tov relatives of his there stoned him chased him out of the city and stoned him stoning him until blood clogged his sandals and when he was given the option to have that city destroyed what did he say perhaps they would come believing people from their children he was patient you and I if that happened to us we would have told the angel yes wipe him out but Prophet Muhammad SAW Salim looked positively into the future saying perhaps a believing people would come from among them so gratitude and patience should be a part of our characters as Muslims it should be practically demonstrated in our families it should be practically demonstrated in our communities on the world scale there is so much which could be said about the importance of gratitude Muslims today unfortunately with wealth they have not shown gratitude instead that wealth is used to enjoy so busy enjoying that they have forgotten that this is from Allah Savano to Allah so they squander that wealth in all kinds of corruption instead of using it to spread the word of Allah and to relieve a lot of servants in the earth similarly in times of difficulty when it comes instead of depending on the believers they depend on the disbelievers they make the disbelievers their friends and their allies instead of the believers this is ingratitude and impatience on a international scale but taking it back down to the individual how does one develop gratitude if we are by nature unthankful thankless we have to be reminded even as little children we have to teach our children to be thankful otherwise you give them something they'll take it and they're gone finish they got it that's what's important I got it but we have to teach them train them raise them to be thankful so how do we if we have reached adulthood and we don't display proper gratitude in our lives how do we bring it into our lives because we need to understand practically how we can change ourselves to make a difference well for gratitude fundamentally it involves recognition of Allah's favours as Allah said in surah now allah as allah said in surat al omar become muhammad in from in a law whatever blessings you have are from Allah whatever blessings you have are from allah in surah al-ahzab verse 9 the isle Adina am anew Oscar owner a Mottola alaykum o you who believe remember a lost favor on you remember Allah is favor on you there's a stress on reflecting on the favours of Allah and from the sunnah prophet muhammad sallahu wa sallam it said under uu element as fella minkum well attend threw a lemon who are folk Akuma look at those who are less fortunate than you and not those above you for who add Giroux and lat as Daru near Mottola alaikum it is better for you in order that you do not deny what allah has blessed you with look at those less fortunate than you those below you and not those above you it is better for you in order that you do not deny what Allah has blessed you with in another narration the parcel salam had said if you look at one who is above you then look at one who's below you because we can't help it we stole this generally don't look to those above you but we can't help it somebody drives by with a new car that's nice but the problems are Selim said knowing that this is our nature you see that new car go look in your car and your car you know is in between you know so though our nature will cause us to look at those above us from Jerusalem told us always whenever that happens the remedy for it it doesn't go into our hearts and then drives us to want whatever anybody else wants has this is what the society is promoting look at what we have look at what the rich and the famous have so that we don't feel satisfied we don't feel contented with what we have even though what we have is much more than many people in this world but we are driven to want to have what they have so we get credit cards we live on credit and it's a sickness unfortunately many Muslims are caught up in it on the other hand patients how does one gain patients this is perhaps the more difficult one gratitude we've been trained to be grateful as Muslims or parents reminded us growing up etc but patients this one is most difficult why because it is not just recognizing something you have to do something recognizing a lost favor makes you grateful but what do you do to make yourself patient most of us we say well you know how there are some people you know who are very patient you say they've been blessed by Allah how do I become patient in fact Western thought promoted impatience that we don't be patient when things upset you what do you do control yourself and be patient no fly off the handle explode get it off your chest say because if you keep it inside you know it's boiling around inside there it's going to hurt you so better you let it off let off steam explode recently neurologists studying the effects of explosions of this type on the brain found that it isn't better to get it off your chest because every time you explode small capillaries small blood vessels in the brain burst they burst and you can see an angry person you can see all the veins and everything sticking out in X so you can imagine the very small blood vessels very small ones whose lining is very very thin sure enough bursting in the brain it's not good so what the Prophet SAW Salim said lateral dub don't get angry he was right and if you're angry when you standing sit down and if you're still angry lie down this was the advice of the Prophet SAW Salaam don't let it out so how then does one become patient in a hadith narrated by abu zeid houdry found in sahih al-bukhari the prophet assalam said mine yet assad bar kisaburo law mine yet the suburb yusabbihu law whoever feigns patience he pretends to be patient Allah will give him patience this is a prophetic formula one might say this Krissy you're pretending to be patient and exploding inside this is hypocrisy but the promise our solemn said no you pretend to be patient knowing that patience is what is best with what Allah has commanded struggling with it then eventually you will gain that patience in another narration from Aisha of the laranja she quotes upon Salamis saying in a hobble Amalia Lala he madama who in coal indeed the best most beloved deeds to Allah is the one done consistently or constantly even if it is small the one done constantly consistently even if it is small so practicing patience pretending to be patient done on a continual basis consistently it will create in the individual patients ultimately and this is a general rule for all of the various characteristics that a Muslim should display all of them it is a principle addressed to patients which is among the most difficult of characteristics to develop but it's a general principle for all generosity for example this is difficult our nature is to be stingy to keep for ourselves but if we pretend to be generous we force ourselves to do acts of generosity at first it may feel very contrived very unreal you feel fake phony counterfeit but doing it continually regularly eventually Allah puts it in your heart and so on and so forth so even when we come to prayer when we hear of Prophet Muhammad SAW oil Solomon his companions praying and crying in their prayers and we ask ourselves why don't we cry in our prayers how does one cry in his prayers something missing in our lives we cry over a lot of other things when you get a new car and those jealous people around you see it and they come out and they slash all four of your tyres you come out you break down into tears very easily over material things very easy to cry but to cry for Allah in prayer this one we find so difficult so how we do it by forcing ourselves to cry forcing ourselves to cry artificially not balling it on so it becomes a scene that you're showing off to people you'll be able to hear you in your prayer not like this when you're on your own when you're praying tahajud try to get up for Tahajjud then try to force yourself to cry try to think about some things in our lives which we are ashamed of something we know Allah knows about we really shouldn't have done it we feel bad about it and by pressing ourselves eventually some tears will come and if we do this on a regular basis we try to do it from time to time consistently then our hearts will soften so all of the characteristics which we tend to think that was the Sahaba so we are 2006 UK it how can you expect this from us reality is that Islam is Islam Islam is Islam 1400 years ago 1400 years hence it's the same Islam everything that was possible in those days it's possible now and will be possible in the future it is only for us to follow the guidance and to do it inner peace is what the world seeks we have it if we only take it it's been given to us it is there in Islam but we are living the same search as the non-muslims so we seek the inner peace from the material things around ourselves if I get a big car a big house kids lots of money in the bank I will be happy I will find my inner peace reality is no it will not come from these things inner peace is something it is an affair of the heart a person can find inner peace with nothing having nothing of the material world yet inner peace is there so what we need to come away from or come away with today from this presentation is a practical approach to developing in our lives gratitude and patience gratitude and patience which should be manifest in our families in our workplace in our places of study everywhere that we are it should be there with us but for that to take place we have to make a change that requires change we cannot continue the way we have done up until this point a change has to take place in our lives these points that I've mentioned gratitude and patience is something that I'm sure you have heard a thousand times before maybe not exactly in the same way that I presented it but you've had lectures on patience you've had lectures on gratitude and now I give you a lecture on gratitude and patience so we have to ask ourselves why did we come here today in this conference did we come here for entertainment many people go to conferences for entertainment to be entertained we have a new speaker coming we have a different speaker coming whatever is going to entertain us spiritual entertainment but nonetheless for entertainment some people come to socialize meet people we haven't met for the last few months or whatever good to see them sit around eat meal chat about life and things etc socializing some people come because of peer pressure all my friends are buying I gotta go I don't really feel like going but since everybody is going I may as well go to some people come to conferences for what for romance hmm there are people who come to conferences for romance maybe they might see a sister or meet a brother who has a sister so they're coming to the conference for romance to get married other people come in this case for example to see BP whose BP Bilal Philips we haven't seen him for a year you know let's see what he looks like now a year later come to see the speaker say I saw him heard his lectures and I never sudden seen him before I got a chance to see him there some people come because they know that the conference is a good thing so they've been doing a lot of bad things so let me go do a good thing to erase some of those things and then some people come to boost their Eman Eman is low when they come they hear the speaker etc a man comes up it Rises they're around other people were keen it's a chore to hear them speaking good speaking things about Islam etc that boosts their Eman so people come for a variety of different reasons but reality is if we didn't come prepare to make a change this evening will be a waste of time this evening will be a waste of time time wasted which will be asked about on the day of judgement your time and how you spent it time wasted if we didn't come prepared to make a change without that we practice what the psychologists call obsessive behavior obsessive behavior what is obsessive behavior where you keep doing the same thing while expecting different results you did the thing you didn't get the result you should have gotten you did it again you still didn't get the result you should have gotten you keep doing this thing over and over again expecting a different result but in reality if you keep doing the same thing you will keep getting the same result they also call this banging your head against the wall now this is a syndrome banging your head against the wall the wall is not going to break your head is going to hurt every time you bang it on the wall this is called AB excessive behavior psychological disorder this is what we are displaying we come to conference after conference after conference and we go back unchanged the same way we were before the conference during the conference yes we felt this way and that way and all but after the conference we're back to where we were till the next conference isn't this obsessive behavior the only way out of this is change that is the only way for us to change but what's the problem about changing people say change takes a long time rome wasn't built in a day takes a long time to change you can't teach an old dog new tricks leopard doesn't change its spots the whole kinds of statements basically say you can't change but reality is that we do change we change in other ways and in fact change is instantaneous if you think about it change is actually takes place instantaneously because there is a moment in time when you either started doing something you weren't doing or you stopped doing something you were doing it was a moment a moment in time prior to that moment you used to do this thing after that moment you no longer did it prior to that moment you didn't used to do this thing after that moment you now do it you can remember when you started doing this particular thing so change itself is instantaneous so what is it that takes time what is it that takes a long time if it isn't change what is it tell me preparation yeah getting ready to change making up our minds to actually change getting away from saying I'll think about it insha'Allah sometime one day this is what takes a long time this is what takes a long time the day when we decided to grow our beards it was that day we stopped shaving stop using the razor finish the grip beard started to grow but to decide that we were going to stop shaving that's what took time so many things working against us parents saying you don't look good at your workplace saying no that's not professional the wife's saying it's uncomfortable stubble everything around you saying don't but you reached a point where you said well this is what the prophet sallallaahu Salim said I have to obey Him and I'm going to do it regardless this is what we have to walk away with today we have to walk away with a decision to make a change in our lives to make gratitude and patience reality to find that inner peace whereby our hearts are touched when we hear the Quran whereby our eyes filled with tears when we pray whereby we truly fear Allah taqwa becomes a reality so my brothers to help us on the way and this principle of change applies to all of the things that we have to do it is the same principle we have to look at when we consider Ramadan Ramadan which is around the corner preparing for Ramadan I had a talk which I was supposed to give today on preparing for Ramadan but it's the principle is here it's the same thing same thing I was going to talk about Ramadan to Ramadan have we changed is there any difference we pray more during Ramadan but as soon as we come out of Ramadan it's the same we're back to where we were obsessive behavior oh Allah obsessive behavior we keep banging our heads on the ground and in the end it hasn't changed us though Allah sponsor Allah said in the salat an hand in fashion one girl indeed Saleh regular prayer prevents evil speech and evil deeds but we are cursing swearing telling lies slandering evil speech continues and our evil deeds continue all of this because we have not committed ourselves to change and Islam is about change a lost man Tala said in allah allah o rama be Coleman had tyre a earu maybe unfussy him indeed Allah will not change a people the condition of my people until they change what is in themselves it is about change so we have to change our attitudes we have to change our habits we have to walk away from this conference with a clear commitment to change to change in accordance with the Quran and the Sunnah so we read the Quran pondering over its meanings not reading it ritualistically in a parrot fashion we seek knowledge sincerely we seek to find out about the religion because that knowledge is the foundation of the faith without proper knowledge we will be subject to the tricks and the traps of Satan there are many sincere people in this world but sincerely a straight knowledge seeking knowledge is an obligation the opportunity is here we have this Masjid in our midst there are programs prepared lessons that we can take advantage of for us not to do so is ultimately only to harm ourselves and we need to reflect on death we need to reflect on death from so solemn called it the Destroyers of pleasures the pleasure destroyer when we reflect on death the pleasures of this life lose their allure they're not so beautiful anymore so we need to go to the graveyards we need to follow the dead when we come to the Masjid when somebody's so janazah prayer is being said follow them go to the graveyards get the reward get the spiritual benefit and we need to be in the company of the righteous those who are patient those who display gratitude in their actions who fear Allah so it can rub off on us and we need to do as many righteous deeds as we can not considering any righteous deed too small to do nor considering any sin too small to be considered provenance assalam said yakumo maja karate Danube beware of the scorned sins the little sins where we say it is only a small sin I'm doing so many other good things that small sin Eliza for I'm but what we may consider to be small Allah may consider to be big so my brothers and sisters I ask you this evening I ask you to make a commitment along with me a commitment to change all those and we are here in the house of Allah all those ready to make a change from this evening onwards a real change in their lives in our lives sisters and brothers raise your right hand this is before allah subhanho wa taala I ask Allah to give us the towfish to make it happen barakallahu

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Keywords: allah, quran, islam, islamic, muslim, prophet, messenger, muhammad, mohamed, pbuh, saws, qur'an, sunnah, hadith, hijab, nasheed, jihad, sharia, fiqh, madhhab, sufi, salafi, shia, sunni, haram, halal, lecture, speech, speaker, shaykh, imam, god, ummah, ramadhan, hajj, salah, convert, revert, da'wah, debate, dajjal, niqab, akbar, heaven, hell, religion, religious, preacher, adhan, 'the, deen, show', tafseer, recitation, tawheed, swt, surah, spirituality, worship, pray, prayer, fatwa, soul, purification, salaf, shirk, sins, mosque, masjid, sufism, muslims, song

Id: Womx440pe7I

Length: 53min 56sec (3236 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 24 2011