Assalamu Alaykum Quran Weekly, I actually wanted to share this one ayah with
you, ayah 165 of Surah Al-Imran for a very particular purpose. A lot of people ask questions about why Allah
(SWT) put them through difficulty and it's a difficult question. You know what did they do to deserve the difficulty. And also people ask sometimes, you know, when
something bad happens, is it because "I did something bad, is because it's my fault, or
is it because it was just decreed, Allah (SWT) is just putting me through a test. How do I know which one it is?" Then there are other people who whenever something
bad happens, they blame themselves. They just say, "Allah (SWT) is just... I must have done something bad, I must have
been bad to my parents, I must have missed a prayer or something, and that's why I got
into a car accident or whatever." They correlate things from the unseen to the
seen realm. Now these are some of the ayahs that help
understand because on the one hand Allah (SWT) says, like in this ayah, أَوَلَمَّا أَصَابَتْكُم
مُّصِيبَةٌ قَدْ أَصَبْتُم مِّثْلَيْهَا
(Awa lamma asabatkum museebatunqad asabtum mithlayha) When at the battle of Uhud, Muslims had difficulty,
Allah (SWT) says, "When a calamity hit you, the likes of which you had already dished
out to the enemy before" قَدْ أَصَبْتُم مِّثْلَيْهَا
(Qad asabtum mithlayha) "Twice that, you did the damage to the enemy
the year before." قُلْتُمْ أَنَّىٰ هَٰذَا
(Qultum anna hatha) You said, "How could this happen? How could Allah let this happen?" قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنفُسِكُمْ
(Qul huwa min AAindi anfusikum) Tell them, "This is because what is within
yourselves." This came specifically from you. This is your fault exclusively. إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ
شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (Inna Allaha AAalakulli shay-in qadeer) Allah (SWT) in fact is capable of all things. In other words, had Allah (SWT) wanted, this
wouldn't have happened. Allah (SWT) is capable of stopping the calamity
from happening but He let it happen. And it is actually precisely because of you. Other places in the Qur'an, Allah (SWT) will
say, مَا أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ
إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ (Ma asaba min museebatinilla bi-ithni Allahi)
(64:11) No calamity hits you, nothing strikes you,
except by Allah's (SWT) permission. So how do you reconcile, on the one hand its
your fault and on the other hand its is by Allah's (SWT) permission? In very brief, I want to share this concept
with you so it becomes clear inshallah. When you drive a car over the speed limit,
and you are going between three lanes, you know swerving this way, that way, the other
way, and then you get into a car accident, you don't get to say, "Allah wanted me to
be in an accident. It's not my fault. It's the Qadr of Allah (SWT). What can you do? إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ
شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (Inna Allaha AAalakulli shay-in qadeer). Calamities come, whenever calamities come
they are from Allah (SWT)." You don't get to say that. You don't get to say what is clearly the result
of your own deeds, your own shortcomings, and your own irresponsibility. Something happens, you don't get to blame
the decree of Allah (SWT). On the other hand, there are things that are
entirely out of your control. Issues related to your health may be entirely
out of your control. Issues related to a death in the family may
be entirely out of your control. Even a car accident may not be because of
your negligence, it may be because of somebody else's, right. You losing your job may not be entirely your
fault. It may not be your fault at all. Your business going up or failing may not
be your fault at all. A disaster, a natural disaster, that you got
stuck in or a loved one got stuck in, or something like that, there is no one to blame here. Those people are not sinful or your not sinful
for that. Those things you have to believe, "This is
from Allah (SWT) and this is a test. It not a punishment." This world, when Allah (SWT) gives punishments
in this world, He gives them when Prophets come, and He destroys nations when they don't
listen to the warnings. For people other than that, everything that
you and I go through in this life is a test. And now when difficulty does come to you and
it's clearly from your own doing, like you can directly draw a line between, "yes I did
this and therefore this happened," you can draw a line between those two things, then
you cannot turn back to Allah (SWT), "Yeah Allah (SWT) this is from you, its not from
me." Actually, هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنفُسِكُمْ
(Huwa min AAindi anfusikum) So clearly in other places in the Qur'an,
when big calamities come to you, Allah (SWT) says, Allah (SWT) is letting it happen. Like you know Muslims went through trouble
in Makkah, didn't they? They got tortured in Makkah. And at that point it is as though Allah (SWT)
is saying, "This is from Allah (SWT). You have to just be patient." But in Uhud, when the archers left their position
and because of them leaving their position they were told to keep, all kinds of terrible
things happened in the Muslim army and so many people lost their lives. Even the Prophet (SAW) is deeply injured and
he falls unconscious and they have to retrieve back up the mountain. إِذْ تُصْعِدُونَ وَلَا
تَلْوُونَ عَلَىٰ أَحَدٍ (Ith tusAAidoona walatalwoona AAala ahadin)
(3:154) You are climbing up the mountain. You are not even turning around to look at
anybody. When all of that happens, you don't get to
say, "This is because Allah (SWT) wanted it to happen." No, No, No. This is because of you. هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنفُسِكُمْ
(Huwa min AAindi anfusikum) You and I, we are learning in these ayats,
personal responsibility. Part of our Iman, part of our personal relationship
with Allah (SWT) is we don't blame Allah (SWT) for things He doesn't deserve to be blamed
for and we learn to blame ourselves only for things, we should take responsibility for
things. And the opposite is also true. You don't blame yourself for everything. Some things are just in Allah's (SWT) hands. He does them and we have to learn to draw
the line between those two if we are going to have a healthy, sustained relationship
with Allah (SWT). Final comments on this. There are people who don't understand this
balance. What happens to them? On the one hand they become completely complacent,
"Allah (SWT) does everything, I do nothing." It's all Allah (SWT) doing, and they actually
become angry with Allah (SWT) because, "Allah put me through all this trouble." And on the other extreme you get people who
become angry with themselves and hopeless with themselves. "I am so bad, I am so messed up that Allah
(SWT) let me lose my job, and after that I had a flat tire, and after that I started
balding, and after that my eyesight went bad, and after that I got a divorce... all the
stuff that happened, it happened because I am a bad person or I deserve it." And they start loathing themselves. Allah (SWT) does not want us to loath ourselves
and He doesn't want us to loath Him. There is a love you have to have, not only
for yourself, but only through the love of Allah (SWT) you find love for yourself and
esteem for yourself. This is what these ayat teach. The calamities that come, you have to learn
to distinguish which ones are as a result of your own actions and which ones come directly
from Allah (SWT) as a test so you can rise to the occasion. BarakAllahu li Walakum, Wa-Salaamu Alaikum
Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh As-Salaamu Alaikum everyone. If you've benefitted from these reminders
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