Transcription
Hello, Yusuf. Where are you? Can you hear me?
Yes, I hear you, sister. How is Adam? Is he okay? Reassure me, tell me everything.
Adam is fine; he's sleeping on a proper bed. He had a good meal and had dessert, and he's happy.
Well, thank God. Why weren't you answering, brother? I was so worried about you.
Well, the car broke down halfway, and it's a long story I'll tell you later, but we found some good people who are hosting us.
How is Adam? Is he still mad at me?
Mad? He's dying to talk to you. If he's mad at anyone, it would be me.
Please, Youssef, when will you let him call me? I need your word now. Promise me.
I promise, don't worry. I need you to do something else.
What?
Glory be to God, praise be to God, God is greatest. Glory be to God, praise be to God, God is greatest. Allah speaks about everything in cycles, because nothing here really moves in a straight line. Everything loops until it comes to an end. Think about the alternation of night and day, the alternation of night and day. The sun goes down, everything goes dark, and then it's daytime again. And that's either comforting because you need to know that the bright day will come with relief after a really dark night, or frustrating because you lost another day and don't feel like you're moving anywhere closer to where you want to get to. It's Monday, and then the next thing you know, it's Monday again. And the week keeps looping until it becomes months and then years. And then the next thing you know, it's all over.
Allah says: "If a wound should touch you, these days We alternate among people." If you feel pain today, then know that they felt pain like you yesterday. And we alternate these days among the people. Every power and pain rotates amongst the people to remind you that neither your wins nor your wounds define you. They felt that sting at the loss of Badr, and now you felt it at Uhud. So the good and bad days rotate until you no longer have any days left. But what's the difference? "And you hope from Allah what they do not hope." You want something different than what they want. Otherwise, you're just stuck in the cycle like them.
Which brings us to the next cycle, the cycle of material possession. "Know that the life of this world is play, diversion, and adornment, boasting, and competition in wealth." And children. Know that the life of this world is nothing but play, then amusement, then vanity, then competition amongst the people, and then the accumulation of wealth and children. Like the rain whose plant growth pleases the tillers, then it withers and you see it turning yellow. And just like when the rain falls on the soil, suddenly the crops bloom and everything looks alive and new and full of promise, and so it turns green or maybe gold, but then it loses its color and it fades. It fades into yellow until it eventually dies. And then you're left with dirt in your hand just like you started, and you only have what you harvested for the hereafter of good or evil.
And then Allah turns the mirror towards you yourself. And this one stings the most. Allah is the one who created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength, then made after strength weakness and white hair. Allah created you in weakness, and then out of that weakness, He gave you strength. And then He returned you to weakness again, but this time with gray hair and withering bones. You begin dependent, then you grow independent, and if you live long enough, you end up being dependent once again. And this is not to humiliate you, but to remind you of who gave you that strength in the first place and what it was supposed to be for.
And so all of these things are like spinning mirrors of realities that you can't control. But sometimes you get stuck inside one or more of those loops, and the worst one is sin. When it's the same sin you keep coming back to even after you said you never would. Or it's the same goals you're setting for yourself every Ramadan only to have another year pass and realize you're still promising the same thing. Or it's the same du'a that you're making, and somehow the same condition keeps plaguing you. It's like you keep refreshing the same broken page, hoping the next time will load differently, and the heart knows there has to be a door somewhere, but your eyes can't seem to find it. What if you're staring at a wall that doesn't have the door you're waiting for?
Only Allah can reboot you and reroute your life according to what He knows you need. But you have to delete some things that are clogging your spiritual processor first and pay closer attention to what you already have.
Allah says in a Hadith Qudsi: "O son of Adam, devote yourself to My worship. I will fill your heart with wealth and end poverty. I will fill your hands with work and not close your poverty." "O child of Adam, devote yourself to My worship, and I will fill your heart with richness, and I will remove your poverty. But if you don't, then I will fill your hands with problems, and I will not alleviate your poverty." So notice how He promises you that both your heart and your hands will be full, not just with money in the account, but with a sense of contentment that comes with it. It's sustenance that actually satisfies. And the word is richness, contentment, during the cycle, until the cycle itself actually changes.
And this is where His name Al-Ghani, the Self-Sufficient, comes into focus. Al-Ghani is the one who is entirely free of need. You know, a lot of times people hear "rich" and they think wealthy, but Ghani means free of need in every sense because Allah is not in need of your worship, your obedience, your thanks, or even your existence. "O mankind, you are those in need of Allah, while Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy." "O mankind, you are those in need of Allah, and Allah is Al-Ghani Al-Hamid." He will not guide you because He needs you, but because He wants you. And that changes everything. Because love that needs nothing from you is the purest kind of love.
And when you need something from people, you get treated differently. Humans will hide their wealth behind closed doors and polite excuses not to give you. They'll say, "Business is slow right now. Expenses are really high." But Allah opens His door constantly and says, "I have it, and I want you to ask Me for it." And that's why Wahb ibn Munabbih once said to a scholar who was going around courting kings for money, "Woe to you! You go to one who shuts his door to you, shows you his poverty, and hides his wealth?" "Woe to you. You go to the one who shuts his door in your face, who shows you his poverty and who hides his wealth. And all along you leave the one who opens His door day and night." "He shows you His wealth, and says: 'Call upon Me, I will answer you.'" "He shows you His wealth. He shows you His richness. And He says, 'Call upon Me, and I will answer you.'" So what do you say about such a Lord? "All praise is due to Allah." "All praise is due to Him, who doesn't treat us like a creature would," which brings us to the name Al-Hamid, the Praiseworthy.
Al-Hamid means the because anyone adds to Him, but because His perfection demands it. And He pairs the Rich with the Praiseworthy because when He tells you, "I don't need you," He's not dismissing you. As Ibn al-Qayyim said, "He is praiseworthy by His very essence," by His very essence, whether or not anyone praises Him. And the difference between praise and thanks matters here. Thanks is to say thanks for a particular favor. Praise is praise for who the giver is Himself along with that thanks. So Allah is teaching you to love the Bestower, the one bestowing the blessing, not only the blessing, the blessing itself.
And here's one way the names the Rich and the Praiseworthy come together. The more you praise a blessing, the more fulfilling it becomes. So you have greater perspective on what you already have, which gives wealth, contentment in your heart, and praise, praise for your circumstances. That allows you to not worry about what isn't, but to be pleased with what is. And then you focus your heart on pleasing Allah with whatever your circumstances are.
And Allah says in a Sacred Hadith: "When I put one of My faithful servants to trial and he praises Me despite his trial, he will rise from his bed free of sin as the day his mother bore him." Allah says, "I have confined My servant and tested him." So reward him as you did when he was healthy. One way to transcend the cycle of pain is to praise Allah despite your situation. But the Prophet taught us to also praise Allah when He gives you more blessings. This connects us to what we spoke of last time. When buried in hardship, "Subhan Allah" is how you rise above like Yunus. But when you're blessed by ease, "Alhamdulillah" is how you stay grounded like Sulaiman. In the same way that "Subhan Allah" protects you from pain, "Alhamdulillah" protects you from being trapped by pleasure.
But there is one more amazing name that fits this pattern. Al-Ghani and Al-Hamid remind you of what you have and can use with gratitude. But how do you open new doors and escape those cycles? That is Allah Al-Fattah, the Opener. You may be stuck in a sin and cannot find the way out, or you fear that leaving that sin will also leave behind something or someone you need to survive. "And whoever." "Whoever is mindful of Allah, He makes a way out." "And provides for him from where he does not expect." Whoever is mindful of Allah, He will make a way out for him, and then He will provide for him from where he could not imagine. So before Allah shows you the new entrance, He shows you the current exit.
Or you could be stuck in trying to understand something that's just not clicking. But as Ibn Taymiyyah would say when he got stuck, "O teacher of Ibrahim, teach me, and O giver of understanding to Sulaiman, grant me." "O teacher of Ibrahim, teach me. O giver of understanding to Sulaiman, grant me." Allah opens a door of comprehension for you that you never knew was there. You could be stuck in trying to get out of a bad financial situation or trying to get something, but you feel like someone is standing in the way. And Allah says, "Whatever mercy Allah grants to people - none can withhold it; and what He withholds - none can release." Whatever mercy Allah opens for a people, none can withhold. And whatever He withholds, none can release after Him.
Remember when Nuh said, "My Lord, I am overpowered, so help." "My Lord, I am overpowered, so help me." Allah says, "So We opened the gates of the heaven with rain pouring down and We caused the earth to burst with springs," so We opened the gates of the sky with pouring water, and We split the earth with springs. Those who mocked Him were swept away by the flood, opened by Al-Fattah. You might feel stuck in defeat, and we might feel stuck in defeat as an Ummah. But remember how the Companions felt at Hudaybiyyah when they were turned away from the Ka'bah, bound by terms they didn't want and unable to see what Allah was preparing until Allah the Almighty said, "Indeed, We have given you a clear conquest." What looked like a setback was actually a door to victory.
And this is so crucial because sometimes Al-Fattah doesn't open a new door to a new reality, but an inner door to the same reality. And suddenly you can walk where you once felt walled in. Al-Ghani and Al-Hamid let you see what you already have. Al-Fattah lets you see what it can become. So when do you call upon Al-Fattah? When your mind can't solve it, or your heart, or someone else's heart is locked, or your sustenance feels stuck, feels foggy. Sometimes He opens the very door you're knocking on. And then sometimes He shows you a side door of good that you never noticed. Sometimes He lengthens the hallway so that your steps can earn their reward. But He guarantees tawfiq to the sincere if you keep looking to Him. And He promises you that He will open.
And Al-Fattah is also the one who will open the final chapter with justice. Say, "Our Lord will bring us together; then He will judge between us in truth. And He is the Knowing Judge." Say that our Lord will gather us once again, and then He will open between us with truth. And He is the opener, the all-knowing. So if justice felt elusive here in this dunya, know that no file goes missing on the day of judgment. The seals will be broken. The records will be opened. And every wrong will be met with His perfect fath, the opening that no hand can close.
Ya Ghani, You are free of all need while I am always in need of You. Let me never beg from those as poor as me. Make me rich through contentment and fill my heart with gratitude instead of greed. Ya Hamid, You are praised whether or not I remember to say it. Teach me to love You not just for what You give, but for who You are. Let my praise echo in hardship as it does in ease, and let every breath I take be a quiet thank you.
O Opener, "Open doors I cannot find and hearts that I cannot reach. Open paths to good where I only see walls, and open my chest to trust whatever You've decreed. Let every opening You grant me lead me back to You."
"To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them."