How To Know if Allah Is Pleased With Us (Attaining Ridha Allah)

Wa as-salam 'ala asharaf al-Anbiya'i wa al-Mursalin, Sayyidina, wa Nabiyyina, wa habibi qulubina, wa tabibi nufusina, wa shafi'i dhunubina, Abi il-Qasim Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. Thumma as-salatu wa as-salamu 'ala Ahli baytihi, at-tayyibin, at-taharin al-madhlomin. Wa la'anatu Allahi al-a'da'ihim ajma'in min yawmi 'adawatihim ila yawm id-deen. Amma ba'd, faqad qala Allahu Tabaraka wa Ta'ala fi kitabih, wa Huwa asdaq ul-qa’ilin. Bismillahi, al-Rahman, al-Rahim. "Jaza'ahum 'inda Rabbihim jannatu 'adin tajri min tahtiha al-anhar khalideena feeha abada radhiyya Allahu 'anhum wa radhu 'anh dhalika liman khashiya Rabbah"(98:8). Salawat ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad. [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

The verse of the Qur'an that I have had the sharaf and honor of reciting before you is from Surat ul-Bayyina, chapter 98 of the Qur'an, verse seven [eight], in which Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, describes the righteous and the faithful on the Day of Judgment. "Jaza'ahum 'inda Rabbihim"(98:8), their reward lies with their Lord, "jannatu 'adin"(98:8), they shall enter the gardens of Adn, "tajri min tahtiha al-anhar"(98:8), in which with rivers flow, "khalideena feeha abada"(98:8), and they shall remain in this abode, in this final abode or garden forever, for all eternity, never ending. "Radhiyya Allahu 'anhum"(98:8), Allah is pleased with them, "wa radhu 'anh"(98:8), and they are pleased with Allah, "dhalika liman khashiya Rabbah"(98:8), and this is the reward of one who fears or stands in awe of his Lord.

The verse is very inspiring, but there is a part to this verse that needs to be looked at more closely and reflected upon. Allah is pleased with them, "radhiyya Allahu 'anhum"(98:8), this we understand, "wa radhu 'anh"(98:8), and they are pleased with Allah. This is the part that needs reflection.

In Islam when we speak of contentment, we use a term called al-Ridha. Al-Ridha bima qaddar Allahu lak, to be pleased with whatever Allah has decreed for you. This is one of the titles of our Imams as well. Our eight Imam is known as Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha, salawatu Allahi wa as-salamu 'alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. And in the coming days, we will be marking his shahadat as well.

A lot of times when we want to elevate ourselves spiritually, a simple way to do this is to look at these titles for the different Imams and say, how do I become more Sadiq? How do I become more Jawad? [Subhana Allah] How do I become more one who is Kadhim ul-ghaydh? And in this manner, how do I become one who is Radhi with Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

What is strange and as I said, requires some reflection is the fact that we would generally assume that those who have faith are pleased with Allah. We do not know if Allah is pleased with us, but we would assume that we are pleased with Allah. What then does Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala mean when He says "Radhiyya Allahu 'anhum"(98:8), Allah is pleased with them, "wa radhu 'anh"(98:8), and they are pleased with Allah.

What it means is that every time I question the quality of my life, every time I am displeased with something in my life that I cannot change, that I have no control over that Allah has decreed for me, such as my health or such as the health of my loved one, or such as my social status or such as my financial status, despite all my trying and all my efforts, Allah has decreed a certain level for me, when I am displeased with that, because that is something that I have no control over and only Allah has control over it, that means without me saying it, I am displeased with Allah. I am questioning that why Oh Allah, do I have to endure this suffering or this trial or this calamity in life that others do not have to endure.

So I can control whether I go out to earn a living or not. I can control how hard I am going to work, but I cannot guarantee how much I am going to earn that day or what kind of a job I will gain. I can exercise, I can eat healthy, I can look after myself, but I cannot guarantee that I will not fall sick or that I will not be able to maintain the quality of health and life that I wish to maintain or how long I will live. I can look after my child, I can protect my child, but I cannot guarantee that my child will not die in my lifetime.

And every time a calamity befalls me or something unfortunate happens or in a relationship, there is a misunderstanding or unpleasantness, whether it be with my spouse or whether it be with my parents or whether it be with my siblings. There is this question, why am I in the situation I am in? There is a sense of dissatisfaction. There is a sense of, if I was free of these relationships or if I was not in the circumstances that I am in, if I was free to do as I please, I would have been happier. I would have accomplished more in life.

No, you would not have accomplished more in life. You are exactly where you need to be right now, provided you are trying your best in working towards the Akhira. If your focus is on the Akhira, if your focus is on Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, you are exactly where you need to be right now to learn and to better yourself. The problem is that sense of dissatisfaction, that constant complaining, that constant unhappiness, why me or why this or why that?

And this is tied to that issue of Ridha, of learning to be grateful for what you have and being contented with where you are in your life at this point in time. I should go aside for a moment and mention a point related to this, because someone asked me very recently in an email question to say, what is the purpose of life? Why could Allah not have created us in Jannah perfect human beings? And the questioner said, I understand that the purpose of this life is to learn and the purpose of this life is to go through trials so that it is a means of improving ourselves. But why? Why couldn't Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala have created me in happiness directly in Jannah with all these qualities?

Now there is a lengthy answer to this and there is an explanation to this. But the part from it that I wish to mention is that, because we are driven by material comfort and we live in a materialistic society, we very quickly forget that we are souls and spirits encapsulated in a physical body. We constantly forget that and imagine we are physical beings. And so we question why we suffer.

In fact, part of that question was, what is the purpose of something that appears to be meaningless suffering? As an example, a lady carries a child for six months, seven months, eight months, and then has a miscarriage. The question is, if Allah did not want to create this child, then what was the purpose of her conceiving first and carrying that child with so much hopes and so much expectations and so much dreams and desires of what the child will be and how she will name the child and raise the child and then to lose that child? What was the purpose of that? Or a child is born and then the child dies at the age of two or three or four or five, an unfulfilled life. It begs the question, if Allah did not intend for that soul to live in this world, then why create it in the first place?

These questions are tied because we look at things from a physical perspective only. We look at things in terms of the body and say life, living child coming to this world, living. What we do not see is the opportunity to develop the spirit because of those physical experiences.

If you turn around that question and come to this realization that the Duniya was never meant to be a place to live and enjoy, the Duniya is a place of transit, that you are created for Akhira, that your abode is Jannah, that the purpose of this life is only to train and nurture the soul, then none of these questions become meaningful anymore. Why?

Because now every physical experience is not meant for a physical reason. Every physical experience is meant to teach something spiritual. It is meant to teach us, for example, to become more patient. It is meant to teach us, for example, to be more content and more Radhi with Allah. It is meant to teach us to surrender to a higher degree.

So that physical experience, the child was carried for nine months and then miscarried was not meaningless and purposeless. Its purpose was to teach the mother the meaning of patience and surrender to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. It was a test, but it was also a nurturing of the soul.

Let us turn this question around another way. A child's physical body forms in its completeness in the womb of its mother, its fingers are formed in the womb, but it does not need the fingers in the womb. Its eyes are formed in the womb, but it does not need the eyes in the womb. Its tongue and its stomach and its intestines are formed in the womb, but it does not need it in the womb. Its lungs are formed in the womb, but it does not need it in those nine months that it lives in the womb. When does it need it? It needs it when it comes out of the mother's womb into this world.

Now, supposing this child did not develop fully while it was in the womb of the mother. Supposing this child's fingers were not formed or supposing this child's lungs were not formed, or supposing wal 'iyadhu billah, this child's eyes were not formed, for the duration that it lives in the womb for nine months, it will not see any problem. It will not cause any difficulty. It will not cause it any harm because it does not need these faculties while it is in the womb.

When it comes into this world and realizes that it now has some deficiencies, that it now has some disabilities, that it now has some limitations, then those disabilities, those faculties that failed to perform in the womb become a disadvantage when it comes to this world.

In that exact same manner, when we are in this world and we fail to develop our souls, when we fail to develop courage, when we fail to develop surrender to Allah, when we fail to develop patience, when we fail to develop generosity, when we fail to develop humility, we do not see the problem with that. We forget that if the womb was nine months, this is not more than 90 years. This is also a womb. In this world you are a physical body, your body is the womb and it is pregnant with the soul. Death is nothing but the giving birth of the soul into the real world and the final world.

Now, if in this world we fail to complete our souls, if in this world we fail to develop that soul to its perfection, we will not see a problem in these 90 years when we are in this world, we will not see a problem that we are not patient or we are not courageous or we have no surrender to Allah. We will not see a problem that we are addicted to this and that, and that we are driven by our physical desires. Where will we feel this problem and this limitation and this disability? In the next world.

When we come to the next world and Allah says now go into Jannah, we will not be able to enter because we lack those qualities that are required for one who has to live in Jannah.

And therefore, just as the womb is only a temporary place where the main focus is to complete the development of the fetus so that it can live a healthy life in this world, the purpose of this life is not to eat and drink and sleep and enjoy and indulge in distractions and enjoy materialism. The purpose of this life is to let the soul develop to its completion. So anything that teaches the soul and helps it develop is good for the soul, even if at a physical level, it appears to be meaningless.

So now every question we ask, why do young children die of cancer? Why was there an earthquake? Why was there a volcano? Why is there famine? Why is there drought? Why is there this and why is there that? You are looking at all this at a physical level. Why is there old age? Why is there suffering? Why is there conflict in relationships? These are all circumstantial. These are all physical.

But these are all opportunities. Opportunities for what? Opportunities to help the soul develop to completion so that it is ready for Jannah. And a big part of all this is ridha, is to learn to be grateful to Allah, to be content with what we have, because this is the door that opens towards tasleem, towards submission, towards surrender to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, towards that highest rank to which Ibrahim 'alayhi as-salam reached, towards which the teachers were Muhammad wa aali Muhammad, 'alayhim afdhalu as-salat wa as-salam [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

Now I share with you a few ahadeeth from these teachers on ridha and look at the perspective of the Prophet and his family on the issue of ridha. Many of these are actually from our second Imam. We have one hadith from Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba, salawat Allahi wa as-salamu alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. He says: if a person believes in Allah, and a person believes that whatever Allah does for him is good for him, then it is impossible for such a person to be displeased with what Allah has given him. And then he asks a question. He says: Do you not believe that Allah has a choice in what He does?

There are things that you can control in your life, but there are things that you have no control over. As I said, you can control your career, you can control your job, but you cannot guarantee how much you are going to earn. You can work for a good health, but you can not control how you live. The question is, can Allah control that? Does Allah have a say on that? If I am displeased with something but I believe that there is a God and I believe He is wise and just and I believe He is always watching over me and is aware of my circumstance and I still am unhappy with my situation in my circumstance, what does that mean about my belief in Allah?

It means that I either believe that Allah is majboor, that He has no ikhtiyar, that He has no choice, that He would love to help me but He cannot help me. Or I believe, na'udhubi-Llah, that Allah is a dhalim, that He takes pleasure in causing me suffering. But if I believe that He is loving, and He is compassionate, and He has ikhtiyar, that for Him everything is kun fa yakoon, then I would naturally come to this conclusion that I need not be unhappy about my circumstance, that I need not be dissatisfied and discontent with the situation that I am in. The moment I am displeased with it, it explains that.

And in this line as well, Imam Hasan 'alayhi as-salam, says, he says, "Kayfa yakoonu mu'minun mu'minan wa huwa sakhitun bi qismih", how does a mu'min become a mu'min when he is so displeased with what Allah has given him as his share in life?

Everything is just the way it is, your ethnicity, your culture, the family you were born in, the kind of parents you have, the country you have migrated to, your social status, your financial status, your level of IQ, your intelligence, your emotional intelligence, the spouse and children you have or you do not have, everything is to help your soul reach its completion. If it was slightly changed and different, if Allah has not given you a disability, it is because if he had given you a disability, you would not have succeeded. If Allah has given you a disability, it is because you need that to succeed in the Akhira. If Allah has placed you in a certain path in life, it is because that is exactly what you need.

The issue is to learn to surrender and to accept it.

"Kayfa yakoonu mu'minin mu'minan", the Imam asks: "wa huwa sakhitun bi qismih", when you are so displeased and upset and angry at what Allah has decreed for you, how then do you claim to Iman?

Imam Ja'far Al-Sadiq, salawat Allahi wa as-salamu alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. He says "Ra'su ta'at Allah", the fountain head, the foundation, the most important thing with obedience to Allah is "ar-Ridha fi ma yuhibb wa ma yabghudh", is to be pleased and content with whatever Allah loves for you, whatever Allah is pleased with. Your pleasure and displeasure should come from this surrender, that whatever Allah is pleased with, that is what I am pleased with.

I want to show you that this level of ridha is not easy. It is not a matter of me speaking about it and you listening to it and we go home and say, from today onwards, I am going to be Radhi with whatever Allah has decreed for me.

Look at how Imam Zainul Abideen salawat Allahi wa as-salamu alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad], how he describes it. He says, "A'la darajat uz-zuhud adna darajat ul-wara'", the highest level of zuhud, of asceticism, of forsaking this world is the lowest level of wara', of piety, of being God-wary. The lowest level. It starts when zuhud reaches its maximum. "Wa a'la darajat ul-wara' adna darajat ul-yaqeen", and wara', when it reaches its climax, when it reaches its peak, then yaqeen has just begun. It is the starting point of yaqeen. It is the lowest level of yaqeen.

"Wa a'la darajat ul-yaqeen adna darajat ul-ridha" and when yaqeen has reached its climax, when yaqeen has reached its maximum, when you have reached the highest levels of yaqeen, that is when you have entered now the field of ridha. That is when you have learned the meaning of "radhiyatun mardhiya"(89:27). "Ya ayyatuha an-nafs ul-mutma'inna"(89:27), oh soul that is in complete itmi'nan, complete tranquility. "Irji'i ila rabbiki" (89:28), now return to your Lord, "radhiyatun mardhiya" (89:28), He is pleased with you, you are pleased with Him.

This is the same as Surat ul-Bayyina, that those who shall enter Jannah and live in there forever, "radhiyya Allahu 'anhum"(98:8), Allah is pleased with them, "wa radhu 'anh"(98:8), and they are pleased with Him. What does this tell us, why is ridha such a high level? What it tells us is that it is one thing to do sabr during suffering and affliction, it is another thing to be radhi during affliction. These are two very different things. Allah tries me with a problem in life, Allah tries me with a calamity in life. I do not complain.

But I do sabr, meaning I try to resist it. Not that I tried to remove that, yes, we should try and remove that because in that as well, there is a learning and there is a test, but I am unhappy with it, but I bear patience. I do not complain. That is sabr. But there is a higher level where not only do I bear patience, but I am actually pleased with it, that this is exactly what I need at this point, that I use it as a point of surrender to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. So we note from this that even after I have born patience, there is a higher level to aspire to, which is the path of surrender.

If you think about this for a moment, living in this world is not important to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. We said this is only a place of training, a place of development of the soul, and that Akhira is of more importance to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. If Allah only wanted us to be happy, which is really what He wants, then as I mentioned earlier, the easiest thing for Him to do to us right now was to give us death. The moment any affliction or suffering comes our way, if He takes our souls away, then we go to Jannah.

But He allows us to stay in this suffering, He allows us to endure it for a while. Why? Because there is something to be learned. There is a point at which we are still at the level of sabr, at the level of wara', at the level of zuhud, at the level of yaqeen. But we have not yet gotten to the level of a ridha.

There is a beautiful point of reflection in a hadith from Amir al-Mu'minin Ali ibn Abi Talib salawat Allahi wa as-salamu alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. He says: how strange is insan, how strange is this human being. He gets so excited and so happy when he acquires something that was not going to escape him, that Allah had already decreed for him. And he gets so upset, he gets so depressed, he gets so despondent, he laments and complains so much when he loses something that was never meant to be his share. How strange is insaan.

What is Amir al-Mu'minin pointing to? He is pointing to the same thing that Allah has set certain things for you in life that you will only acquire when you struggle for them. Because people ask this question, that if Allah has decreed everything for me, then why should I try? Why should I go to work? Why should I make any effort? I can sit home and whatever Allah has decreed for me is my rizq will come to me. No, the reason you have to go out and earn is because some of your rizq Allah has placed for you on the condition that you go looking for it. If you do not go looking for it, it will not come to you. Some people ask, well, if that is the case, then what is the point of du'a. I can simply work for that rizq. Why should I ask Allah and pray for it? The reason is because some of your rizq also Allah has kept for you on the condition that you ask for it, that if the du'a is not there, it will not come to you. It hovers over you. It is waiting for you to ask. When you ask, then it comes to you. As long as you do not ask, it will not come to you.

As in the example of Zakaria,'alayhi as-salam, Allah had decreed for Zakaria that he will have a son in his old age. But Zakaria never asked for it. When he never had a child until he grew old, he gave up on that hope for a child. But when he saw Maryam, 'alayha as-salam, with food in front of her that was out of season, that was in a room that was locked from which she was not able to get out, and he asked her, "Ya Maryam anna laki hadha?"(3:37), oh Maryam, where are you getting this food from? Where does this platter of fruits come to you that are out of season from a place that is unknown?

She said: it is from Allah. "Inna Allaha yarzuqu man yashaa' bi ghayri hisaab"(3:37). Oh Zakaria, do you not know that Allah gives rizq to whoever he wants without hisab. It was at that point that Zakaria realized the reason I do not have a child is I never asked Allah. "Hunalika da'a Zakaria Rabbahu" (3:38). Then Zakaria raised his hands and said, oh Allah give me a child. "Yarithuni wa yarithu min aali Ya'qoob" (19:6). And Allah gave him that child.

So everything is set in place just the way it is. Some of what is decreed for you will come to you when you work for it. Some of it will come to you when you ask for it. Some of it will not come to you even when you ask for it, because it is not good for you in this world, but you will still be answered in the prayer and rewarded for it in the hereafter.

There is one final hadith I want to share, but before I share that, I want to share something that many of you have probably heard of in the last few days and that you can go back and look at yourself. The Globe and Mail newspaper published an article just two days ago. The article was called 'How Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity'. Some of you may have already seen this, if you have not go home and just Google this. Globe and Mail, How complaining rewires your brain for negativity. It is a very fascinating article. And I have it here with me. And I do not, of course, want to read the whole article.

But what they are saying, this is just two days ago, that research has shown that just like smoking is addictive and a habit and food is addictive and a habit and Internet is addictive and a habit, complaining is also an addiction. When you make it a habit, you become addicted to complaining. And when you make a habit of complaining and most people who complain, they typically complain once every minute in a conversation. When you complain constantly about something or the other, the weather, your health, someone else, this problem, that problem, it rewires your brain. Why does it rewire your brain?

It says the brain, human brain loves efficiency and it does not like to work harder than necessary. So just like if you constantly wanted to cross a bridge, it would not make sense to constantly build a temporary bridge, cross it once, demolish it and then build a temporary bridge, cross it and demolish it, at some point you will build a permanent bridge because you are doing it constantly. When you are constantly touching those parts of your brain that light up when you complain, the synapses in your brain rewire themselves and the bridge directly to that because the brain assumes that you get some sort of pleasure through complaining, through being negative. So it rewires your brain and sets it in such a way that complaining becomes easy, that complaining becomes a habit, that it becomes addictive because it assumes that you get pleasure out of this.

Look at how Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala has created the human mind. It is fascinating. And I know some of you will probably not get around to reading this. And that is why I am taking a few minutes to share this with you. The scientists have a phrase for this therefore. They say neurons that fire together wire together. The neurons in your brain that fire together all the time, they wire together, they become solid.

Not only that, they say complaining constantly shrinks your brain as well. It causes brain damage as well. Beyond that, not only does it change your behavior, it says that recent research has shown that the hippocampus part of your brain shrinks. This is an area of your brain that is critical to problem solving and to intelligent thought. So when you constantly complain in life, you lose the ability to do critical thinking because it shrinks that part of your brain that is responsible for that.

What is even more frightening is that it destroys that part of your brain that is first destroyed through Alzheimer's. So people who get Alzheimer's and illness in which they slowly begin to lose their memory, there is a part of the brain that is damaged and destroyed first. That same part is what is damaged through constant complaining when the brain shrinks.

Over and beyond that as well, just like second hand smoking will harm you, hanging around people who complain also harms your brain. And just like you will not sit in a room that is full of secondhand smoke all day and all night, being with people who are constantly negative and constantly complaining also affects your health and your mind.

You can see why Allah has created a system where anything that is harmful for the soul connects to the body and harms the body as well. And therefore, if for no other reason, even if we are motivated to stop complaining and be negative for our health, for our brain, for our mind, that itself also helps us and guides us towards higher spirituality.

And then the article goes on that you can read about on how, you know, it affects your blood pressure, your sugar levels and causes other forms of harm and damage. It goes on to talk about cholesterol and diabetes and heart disease and obesity.

But the point that I want to share as part of this article that I thought was very interesting and related to the subject we are discussing is when it now starts giving solutions, when the experts begin asking, how do you change that habit of constantly complaining and constantly being negative. They said the first and foremost thing you need to do is build and cultivate an attitude of being grateful, of ridha, of being grateful, of being content with what you have in life. Take the time, this is what the article says, taking the time to contemplate what you are grateful for will reduce your stress hormones, the stress hormone that is called cortisol, by 23 percent.

And research conducted at the University of California found that people who make a habit every single day of taking the time to reflect what they have been blessed with in life and to be grateful for it and just have a sense of appreciation and gratitude have experienced improved moods and energy levels and have substantially reduced their cholesterol levels, their anxiety and their cortisol level that causes this unhappiness and stress in our life.

Only reflecting, that is all. Now, these are individuals who might be atheistic. These are individuals who might not even believe in God. These might be individuals who do not care about the hereafter or about spirituality. So they only sit and reflect about, you know, I have a beautiful wife or I have a good home or I have a good job or I have children or I have this or I have a good car.

But look at what we have to be grateful for. We have so much else to be radhi for. We can be grateful for not only the benefits of this world, but we can be grateful for the hereafter. We can be grateful for Iman. We can be grateful for our attachment and our love for Muhammad and Aali Muhammad 'alayhum as-salam [Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. And we can be grateful for a lot more and I will come back to this in a minute.

But I want to share that final hadith that I wanted to share with you on ridha. We have this beautiful hadith that is called Hadith ul-Qudsi. Hadith ul-Qudsi is essentially Hadith in which Allah speaks in the first person Himself. In other words, it is not a part of the Qur'an, it is Hadith from the Prophet or the Imams. But in the hadith Allah speaks in the first person, just the way He speaks to us in the Qur'an.

And in this Hadithul Qudsi, Allah talks to the Prophet Dawud 'alayha nabiyyina wa 'alayh as-salam, and He says to him, "Ya Dawud tureed wa ureed", oh Dawud tell the people you want and I want, "wa la yakoonu illa ma ureed". In the end, nothing is going to happen except what I want. "Fa in aslamta lima ureed kaffaytuka fi ma tureed", if you surrender and submit to what I want, I will suffice for you in what you want [Subhana Allah]. "wa in lam tussalim lima ureed at'abtuka fima tureed", but if you refuse to surrender to what I want, I will exhaust you and tire you in trying to get what you want and you will not get it, "thumma la yakoonu illa ma ureed", and in the end nothing is going to happen except what I want.

[Subhana Allah. Naare-takbeer, Allahu Akbar. Naare-risalat, Ya Rasul Allah. Naare-Haideri, ya Ali. Allahuma salli 'ala Muhammad al-afdhal Salawat. Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

What a beautiful hadith. What a thought provoking hadith. What is Allah saying to us? He is saying to us that there is free will in this world, in which I have allowed you to work hard so that you can be proud on the Day of Judgment that if you went to Jannah, it is not because I just put you there as a perfect being, but you worked for it yourself, so I give you free will. But I have put certain things in place that are pre-decreed by Me so that you succeed. I have decided that I will get to you to Jannah. Therefore you can struggle as hard as you want and fight and resist.

In fact, there are ahadith to say there are people who Allah takes to Jannah like a man who is tied in chains and is dragged against his will and taken to a place. Every time we show dissatisfaction, we are resisting and fighting and refusing to go to Jannah. And Allah is not changing our circumstance despite our prayers and our struggle, because He wants us to get to Jannah. But what He wants from us is that sense of surrender, that sense of being radhi, that sense of tasleem to say, I am pleased with whatever you have decreed for me oh Allah.

I said earlier that we have a lot to be grateful for. We can be Radhi and pleased and grateful on a day to day basis for all the blessings that Allah has given us in the physical realm and in the material realm. We can be Radhi for the love and brotherhood that we have amongst ourselves. We can be Radhi, as I said, for having the love of Muhammad and Aali Muhammad in our lives and in our children's lives, that this is the greatest na'ama of Allah that we have iman in our hearts, that we look forward to Jannah. But one of the greatest blessings that we can be grateful for as well are the tears that we shed for Husayn 'alayhi as-salam. Is that any na'amah that is greater than this that you should be Radhi for?

I will put it to you this way. Supposing I ask and offer you to trade anything you want in life that is troubling you greatly at this point in your life in exchange for the tears for Husayn, will you give it up in exchange? What is the value of crying for Husayn to you? Are you sick? Is that what is bothering you? If I were to offer you Allah takes away your sickness, but you will no longer be able to cry for Husayn, will you give that up for your sickness? If you are poor and I offer this to you, Allah will give you wealth but in exchange, you will never know the ghamm of Husayn. Will you give up the ghamm of Husayn for more wealth? Is there any na'ama and any blessing greater than this?

So every time we are dissatisfied, we only need to turn our hearts to Karbala and say to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala for what good did I do that you have blessed me with this great blessing, that Allah has not given me any gham greater than the gham of Muhammad and Aali Muhammad. That there are no beings closer to you than these, and these are the beings that I see as my role models. These are the beings that I aspire to be close to in this world and in the hereafter. These are the beings whose Ziyara I crave for in this world and whose shafa'a I crave for in the hereafter.

Thusa, I have come towards masa'ib. In these days that we are passing as well, we are remembering the shahadat of Rasul Allah, Salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aali Muhammad. I wish to recite some words of his masa'ib as well, because his masa'ib marks and denotes the start of the masa'ib of the rest of the Ahl ul-Bayt 'alayhim as-salam.

It is not just the Ahl ul-Bayt who were madhloom, Rasul Allah himself was madhloom. And you can see that towards the end of his life, historians have records of all events that happened in the last years of his life. You will see that there was an intent and a group that was seeking to remove the Prophet and to cause harm to him and in fear that after him, his family will be appointed in his place.

We have accounts that when the Prophet went for Tabuk and Amir al-Mu'minin was not with him, there was an attempt to assassinate him. There was a pass on the mountain that was extremely narrow where the Prophet was on his camel. There was an attempt to push him off that camel down that cliff or the mountain pass. And there is a whole history to that as well.

There are attempts to have poisoned him as well. We are told that towards the end of his life, Rasul Allah's illness began well before he passed away. It is not conceivable to say that the Prophet passed away suddenly and did not have time to appoint a successor. Even if we deny the events of Ghadeer and other events, we know that the Muslims all knew the Prophet was passing away.

One of the things Rasul Allah did before he left is he appointed a young man by the name of Osama to head out of Medina on an expedition towards foreign lands. Then he commanded all the Muslims and said, I command all the men to leave Medina and to go out and join the army of Osama in preparation for this expedition. He asked all the prominent members and sahaba to go out with Osama. He said the only person that does not go is Amir al-Mu'minin, to stay behind with me in Madina.

The prominent among the Sahaba began to refuse to do that, some on the pretext that they were concerned that the Prophet was ill, some on the pretext that Osama was young. The Prophet then issued a statement which is also recorded by Muslims. He said, "La'ana Allahu man takhallafa 'an jayshi Osama", may Allah curse the one who stays back and does not join the army of Osama. The Muslims still did not go to the army of Osama.

When Rasul Allah realized that this is not going to happen, on the Thursday before he passed away, and the Muslims surrounded him in his house, he said to them, Now give me a paper and a pen, let me write something for you, you will never go astray after me. I will write something for you. It will stay with you.

The Muslims begin to scream and shout. They began to say "inna al-rajulun la yahjur", the man has lost his mind, wa al-a'iyadhu bi-Llah. Some of them began saying, "hasbuna kitab Allah". Ibn Abbas narrates, and Bukhari mentions this from Ibn Abbas in five places, that Ibn Abbas used to sit after the wafat of Rasul Allah outside the mosque of Medina. He would cry and cry until the pebbles would be covered with his tears. And he would say, "al-raziyyatu kullu al-raziyya, raziyyatu yawm al-khamees", the greatest disaster to this ummah was the disaster of the Thursday night when Rasul Allah kept begging for a paper and pen and the Muslims would not let him write.

And the Qur'an kept saying, Oh you who have faith, "la tarfa'u aswaatakum fawqa sawt an-Nabi" (49:2). Oh you who claim to have faith, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet. But the Muslims kept shouting until the Prophet said to them, "qumu 'anni", all of you get out of my house and leave me now. Everyone else left the house. Now Rasul Allah is left alone on his bed, with him is Ali and Fatimah, and Hasan, and Husayn, the arbab of aza say, Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn were young children. They ran to their jadd Rasul Allah. Hasan put his head on the chest of Rasul Allah on one side. Husayn put his head on the chest on the other side. Rasul Allah put his hands around his grandsons. Amir al-Mu'minin tried to move the children back from Rasul Allah.

Rasul Allah, said to him, "Aba al-Hasan, da'hum ashummuhuma wa yashummani", Aba al-Hasan, leave my Hasan and Husayn, let me smell their fragrance for the last time and let them smell my fragrance for the last time. This is the last time the Ahl ul-Kisa will be together. But Amir al-Mu'minin, he sat at the head of Rasul Allah. He placed the head of Rasul Allah on his lap. Fatimah sat besides Rasul Allah. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Fatimah went to the door and said, Who is at the door? The person at the door said, "Ana rajulun ghareeb". Fatimah said, Rasul Allah can not see you right now. After a little while, the man knocked again and said, "Ana rajulun ghareeb" Fatimah said, You cannot see Rasul Allah right now. She went back to Rasul Allah and sat besides him. Suddenly Rasul Allah opened his eyes. He saw Fatimah is crying. The door knocked the third time. A voice called out "Rajulun ghareeb yasta'dhinu 'an Rasul Allah". I am a stranger, I have come, I need to speak to Rasul Allah. Fatimah said "Ya abatah", there is a person at the door, I keep telling him you are not able to see him, but he keeps knocking on the door and saying, "Ana rajulun ghareeb".

Rasul Allah said, Oh Fatimah, this is not an ordinary man. Oh Fatimah, this is Malak al-Mawt. Oh Fatima, this is the sharaf of your house. This is the only time that Malak al-Mawt asks permission before he enters. This is he that does not need permission to enter in any home. I would say Ya Rasul Allah, come to the house of Fatimah a few days later. This very same house that Malak al-Mawt will not enter without permission, the Muslims will set it on fire. Ajrakum 'ala Allah.

Thus Fatimah says, we sensed something come into the house. It felt like a breeze that came into the house and said, "Assalamu alaykum ya ahla bayt an-Nabi." Oh Malak al mawt, you do salam to the Ahl ul-Bayt. In a few days from now, there will be no one to even reply the salam of Amir al-Mu'minin. Malak al-Mawt stands before Rasul Allah. Ya Rasul Allah, Allah gives you the option to live in this world or to return to Him. Rasul Allah's last words "Bal ila rafeeqi al-A'ala". No, I choose to return to my highest friend.

He takes a last breath. Amir al-Mu'minin takes the last breath of Rasul Allah and wipes it on his face and announces, "A'dham Allahu ujoorakum bi Nabbiyikum", oh Ahl ul-Bayt, Rasul Allah has now left us. From this day onwards the Ahl ul-Bayt saw nothing but museeba. Rasul Allah's body stayed for three days. There were no people to wash him and bury him except for five or six. After he went, Fatimah 'alayha as-salam passed, she was buried in the night and no one knows where her grave is. Amir al-Mu'minin was also buried in the night.

Hasan 'alayhi as-salam wanted to be buried beside the Prophet, arrows were shot on his grave. Husayn 'alayhi as-salam, there was no kafan and no ghusl. The Muslims trampled the body of Husayn. But every time there was a museeba, the Ahl ul-Bayt turned to Rasul Allah. When Fatimah's museeba was unbearable, she would come to the qabr of her father Rasul Allah and say, "Ya Abatah, subbat 'alaya masa'ibun, law subbat 'ala al-ayyami sirna layaliya". Baba, such misfortunes have befallen me now, if they would fall on a bright day it would turn into a dark night.

After Fatima, Amir al-Mu'minin would cry at the grave of Rasul Allah. Hasan 'alayhi as-salam would come to the grave of the Prophet. His last wassiyya to be buried beside the Prophet was not answered. Aba Abdillah al-Husayn, when he had to leave Medina, one of his greatest museeba was to leave the qabr of Rasul Allah. He came to Rasul Allah and said Ya Jaddah, why do not you pray to Allah to take me before I leave Medina? Rasul Allah said to Husayn, oh Husayn, "inna laka darajatan fi 'l-Jannah la tanaluh illa bi 'sh-shahada", oh Husayn, Allah wants to see you shaheed. Go Husayn, I am with you in spirit.

These are the days of 'aza coming to an end. When the Ahl ul-Bayt were released from the prisons of Kufa and Sham, Zainab 'alayha salam went back from Karbala to Sham. First she came to the qabr of Rasul Allah. She cried at the grave of Rasul Allah and she cried to Rasul Allah. In the words of Mir Anees, she said ''Husayn bhai ko hum karbala mein chod aaye, Ali ke laal ko dashte bala mein chod aaye, yateeme Fatima ko Nainawa mein chod aaye, tumhare chaand ko khake shifa mein chod aaye''.

Then Zainab took out a shirt from her 'aba. The shirt was torn and covered in blood. She placed it on the qabr of Rasul Allah. The qabr of Rasul Allah began to tremble. Oh Zainab, move the of Husayn, I cannot bear it. I would say, Ya Rasul Allah, Say ''Shabash'' to Zainab, she carried the shirt of Husayn from Sham to Karbala and Karbala to Medina. When Zainab had cried at the qabr of Rasul Allah, Zainab went to the qabr of her mother, Fatimah. "Amma, I have come back without Husayn." I do not know what Zainab said at the qabr of her mother. But again, the arbab of 'aza say, a voice came from the qabr of Fatima calling out to Zainab, "Oh Zainab, tera Yusuf mera Shabbir kahan hai, Zainab mere bachon ko kahan chod ke aayi, O Zainab mere pardesi se ki tune judaai, Zainab mere mazloom ko Yasrab mein na laayi, Zainab tu luta aayi ghareebon ki kamai, nikli thi tu sab kunbe ko aulaad ko lekar, aayi hai faqat aabide naushaad ko lekar''.

Ala la'natu Allahi 'ala al-qawmi adh-dhalimeen. Wa sa ya'lamu al-ladheena dhalamu ayyam unqalabin ya anqaliboon. Inna li Allahi, wa inna ilayh raja'oon. Ilahi bi haqqi Muhammad wa anta al-mahmood, wa bi haqqi Aliyin wa anta al-A'la, wa bi haqqi Fatimah wa anta fatir us-samawati wa al-ardh, wa bi haqq il-Hasani wa anta al-muhsin wa bi haqq il-Husayn, wa anta qadeemu al-ihsan.

Ilahi wa bi haqq it-tis'ati il-ma'soomeen min dhuriyyat al-Hasani wa al-Husayn, ya Allahu ya Allahu ya Allahu ya Allah. Oh Allah, we ask You bi haqqi Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad that You accept our majlis tonight. Oh Allah, bi haqqi Muhammed wa Aali Muhammad we ask You to bless this home with baraka, Ilahi bi haqqi Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad, we ask You for the maghfirah of our sins. Ilahi, bi haqqi Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad, we ask You for the shifa' for those who are ill. Ilahi, bi haqqi Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad, we ask You for the maghfirah of those who have passed away. Ilahi bi haqqi Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad, we ask You to hasten the appearance of our Imam. "Rabbana taqqabal minna. Innaka Anta as-Samee'u al 'Aleem" (2:127).