Sunday, April 8, 2012

"Hope in Allah, always." - Shaykh Prof. Dr. Faruq Hamadah

Bismillah.

Shaykh Prof. Dr. Faruq Hamadah, who is Abu Dhabi's Royal Advisor, was one of many honorable guests at the Grand Mawlid ar-Rasul event held at Masjid Tuanku Mizan in Malaysia tonight. He spoke on the importance to pin one's hopes on Allah. 

As translated by Habib Ali Zainal Abidin al-Hamid, and as I have summarized below, the shaykh said:

Praise be to Allah and God's blessings are to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. As I was sitting and listening to the qasidah [sang by Abu Sya'ar group of Syria], I remembered a sirah of Rasulullah s.a.w. He who taught us to always keep our hopes in Allah, to stand at His door and hope in Allah. Hope is a principle of Muslims. But not of mere hopes. It must be coupled with efforts. Your action will be in the form of righteous deeds for Allah.

The Prophet was subjected to much torture while in Makkah. On one occasion a kaffir Quraysh had cruelly slapped goat's excrement on his head while he was prostrating in prayer. This, Siti Fatimah cleaned while in tears. Siti Fatimah also witnessed the Prophet getting exhausted and in tears on account of the pain inflicted by the Quraysh. But no amount of torment could deter the Prophet's resolve. He said to Fatimah: "I shall spread the teachings of this religion to every corner of the world."

At one point in time, the Prophet was overcome with grief due to the departure of Saydatina Khadijah and Abu Mutalib. So he left for Taif with high hopes. Unfortunately, the outcome was not as positive as he had been expecting. Zaid al-Harithah was in the Prophet's company during the migration. He cried at seeing the bad treatment given to the Prophet. Rasulullah s.a.w comforted him saying: "O Zaid, why are you crying? We are in Allah's care (inayah). Don't be afraid, because Allah is always with us."

Such is a good example from the Prophet on why we must always keep our hopes up high. The afflictions he faced were severe enough to receive the attention of Jibril who offered to destroy Taif. The Prophet said: 'Do not lose hope,' while referring to a verse in the Qur'an where Allah forbids us from feeling despair because hopelessness is a trait of the disbelievers. Instead of wishing evil for the people of Taif, the Prophet prayed so that the unborn children of Taif would someday become his followers.

When the Prophet was ousted in the company of Saidina Abu Bakar, he said to the latter, "O Abu Bakar, know that while there are the two of us together, the third among us is Allah. Do not feel hopeless. Keep hoping that Allah will open the door of His mercy."

The sahabah had risked their lives for the sake of upholding Islam. Istislam means surrendering to Allah. And when one is faced with hardships, the door of ease shall fling open.

Prophet Muhammad was once ready in his ihram on the way to perform umrah but the enemies stopped him. When he chose to enter into a peace treaty and forego the umrah plans, Saidina Umar remarked: "O Rasulullah, did you not promise to take us for umrah?" He answered as a matter of fact, "I did, but I did not promise to do it this year." Prophet Muhammad, after having gone through many ordeals, eventually succeeded in entering Makkah, as narrated in the Quran: Inna fatahna laka fathan mubeena. "Verily We have granted Thee a manifest Victory!"
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Allahu a'alam. May I be forgiven for any errors and omissions. Special credit goes to Sister Mastura for giving this car-less blogger a lift to the masjidThe event was hosted by Yayasan Sofa in conjunction with the establishment of Universiti As-Sofa on 7th April 2012. I shall continue posting notes from other speakers later, InshaAllah.


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