that there's ups and downs in life and um one of the things that IM Al Jun said uh and CED mentions this in the of where he says don't be bewildered or find strange the occurrence of calamities difficult ulties tribulations as long as you're in this Abode as long as you're in this Abode expect tribulation he created death and life to test you to see to to test you the Bal so it's a b if you read the Quran all the prophets had tribulation in fact the prophet wasam said that the people that have the greatest tribulation are the and then those next to them those next to them the prophet Sall alaihi wasallam at the Battle of Al when they came complaining about the the hunger they were suffering some of them showed that they were cuz the Arabs used to have this was uh now they do this uh because people eat too much so they have what's called gastric bypass the Arabs because they went through periods where there was very little food and they would actually feel the pangs of hunger which are not pleasant and so what they would do is put a it's basically an external gastric bypass it's they would put a Flat Rock and tie it very tightly women used to wear girdles for this purpose um to so they didn't eat overeat but the prophet lifted his and he had two rocks just to show them that because he would give all his food to whoever uh needed he always preferred other people over himself s wasam said that the foundation of this Abode is Bal imun said I don't find anything that happens to me in this Abode uh bothersome you know like disgusting or bothersome he said because I have a foundational principle that I understand what he understood was the nature of the abod the nature of this Abode is and that's the nature of the Abode and so he said and that's if you see other than that it's the Bounty of Allah and you should be in a state of immense gratitude because the only reason we lose the the the Gratitude the uh the the the bounties is because of that's all if if you if you uh show gratitude and and the problem is a lot of Muslims think that gratitude is just saying alhamdulillah that's what they think gratitude gratitude IM Muhammed shook is to use what God's given you in obedience that's what gratitude is there is and that's important but is is really the true shukar and and that was the state the prophet Sall alaihi wasallam was in so when when you when you think about this there's there's one other dimension for those of us and most of us I mean if we're honest all of us are still out here we should at least realize that the goal is not to get here it's to get here the maras that's the goal it's not here that's where too many Muslims are focused on here when you're here you can handle being here or here but if you're not here then the next best thing is the following was a great was and he ended up taking the path of with one of the great of Egypt but he was very distraught he was in a bad State and he went to AB abas and he and he told him and and he told him the states of man are only four and women the states of humanity there's only four states that you're in at any given time you're either in which would so that's blessings and that corresponds with regno right or you're in Malia and that corresponds with you're on your way down cuz if you're in you're in a bad state so you're you're headed down you could feel it's a because you're enjoying it at the time but it's not you're headed down or you're in nikma and we get the the word uh from it is the opposite of or you're in and that's a hopeful state to be in so this the we experience Joy the it should put you if you're a Believer into a state of fear and fear is what leads to Toba Joy should lead to shukar nikma should this this is sorrow cuz when bad things happen you become sorrowful should lead to right I mean that that that's basically I mean he's lost his son YF right and and and and he's a prophet what is does he do he doesn't go into a state of Ja he doesn't right and he knows they did it but there's nothing he can do about it cuz he understands this is all from God so what does he do beautiful patience the say beautiful patience is not to complain about the difficulties you're in and some of them say that that complaining doesn't negate the if you're cuz sometimes it's you have to complain right like right who knows is anybody isn't he the one who complained about the yeah but who was he as a sahaba anybody know he was roasted his flesh was yeah yeah good but who was he that's what happened to him who was he nobody you guys have to read s he's one of the first Muslims he's also the first Muslim to openly say that he was Muslim he was a nii from benim but he as a child he'd been kidnapped he was kidnapped and he was sold in Mecca and that happened the Arabs used to do that they the the tribes were marauding tribes they used toomi was stolen when he was a child and sold into Salman he was a free man sold into slavery soab he was a like a Smith that he used to make uh swords for the people of Mecca he was owned by a woman the woman that bought him Anar very sick woman and when he became Muslim what happened was uh because he announced his Islam he couldn't keep it in cuz the prophet s was in the time of kit but he couldn't keep it in and he started telling people what why don't you listen to this man why don't he was in Mecca right he didn't have any power the people that had power and this is important to note because a lot of Muslims don't appreciate this fact the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam had protection in Mecca not all of his sahab had protection not all of them had protection he had protection so this idea that we all have to suffer collectively is a false concept and people should rid their minds of this idea that because some of us are suffering all of us have to suffer or throw ourselves in the line of suffering we should have H and be concerned about those people like the prophet sallallah alaihi was was but we also have to have wisdom hikma soab he the what um Anar did she got some of her Ruffians amongst the qur they went held him down she took his tools and she literally branded him cuz he was a Smith she branded him with hot iron tortur he actually suffered from it later on he became very wealthy he lived in kufa but he suffered so and the andb and uhar andab the the they suffered more than anybody else in in in terms of just also she was killed we know that butab goes to the prophet and it's a very interesting Hadith it's in it's a very interesting Hadith to me because it says says I found him he was reclining he had his bord like a pillow and he was reclining in the shade of the Kaa in other words what it appears in the Hadith is that he was in a very comfortable position he's he's lying down he's in the shade of the not in the in the Heat and what does say won't you give us Victory oh messenger of God won't you imprecate call on God to punish these people in the in he gets up and it says his face was red the differ some say it was from the the and others say it's cuz he was upset at what what uh Kabab said now you have to realize Kabab is really suffering so what does he say Sall he says to the people before you the people before you right they used to dig a pit put him in the pit and then they would come with a and they would literally cut him in half and he said that wouldn't that wouldn't prevent him from his religion and then he said or they would take am and they would rake his flesh and tear it from the skin until it went to the Bone or the nerve imagine I mean he's talking about torture and this is kab's being tortured but not as bad as that so he's and this is an important because one of the things abas said in any tribulation in any there's three the first one it could be worse and that's what the prophet's letting him know I know that you're suffering but it could be worse and that's a so he tells them this is what happened they Rake The Flesh over and he said by Allah Allah is going to complete this affair Allah is going [Applause] to a traveler will go and he chose a place that was known for a bad area a traveler will go from to he won't fear anything except Allah and the Sheep uh the the wolves from devouring sheep and then what did he say but you are trying to Hast in something that's not coming yet in other words be patient be patient if you're not ready for victory if you don't have the tusia it's a blessing that Allah won't give you Victory because it's better to be an oppressed than an oppressor and if you don't think people right now in the Arab world if they were given Victory what do you think they're going to do what did they do to KFI seriously and he was a bad guy undeniably what did they do to him did they take him to a m did they follow the rules of engagement they could have taken him to a m tried for crimes against the people of Libya no they ripped him to pieces and filmed it is is that how our Prophet came into Mecca seriously is that how he came is that how came into is that how he came into Al even when they tried this guy Mubarak you know look look at look at Nelson Mel he's not even a Muslim when he came into power and these are people that imprisoned him for the best years of his life imprisoned him put him in the worst prison tortured him he was tortured did horrible things to him he's not even a Muslim and when he gets into Power he has the prophetic Sunnah and what does that do everybody everywhere except the worst type of people love Nelson Mandela seriously they love him because he practiced the pro prophetic Sunnah which proves that even a m a non-muslim if he practices this prophetic Sunnah it will have the same effect on the hearts of the people but if we're not practicing the Sunnah Allah is not going to give people why should he give us Victory I can't find anywhere in the Quran where it says show me in the Quran where it says where who's Allah with what's the with Allah that's in that's a before Jihad of the sword those who do in other words struggle against themselves Allah is with the the prophet his Dean the Muslims if uh like uh Omar when he wrote to the the the uncle of the prophet he said to him you better be in a state of because Allah if we're the same in our Disobedience he gives them victory over us he gives the those with their kuur he will give them victory over disobedient Muslims why because if they get Victory they're going to disgrace the religion it's better to be oppressed than to be an oppressor if you're not ready for power if you're still in this thing you're not ready to be here cuz when you get there you're going to do what everybody does when they get there you're going to become the Tyrant and Imam madik said never believe anyone this is in's he says never believe anyone don't believe those who say I'm going to rectify things once I get into Power he says you'll see once they get into Power they'll be the same as the one that was in power what does Allah say about the what do they say that's always what the say the they don't say we're because they're too afraid to make that claim in fact in the Quran IM says the first proof that they're Liars is that they claim to be mus that's the first proof so all these people talking about is and we're once we get into Power we're going to set things right that should be a big red flag for you we don't give this person uh we we don't give this is the the word in in in in the prophetic tradition for power state power we don't give this this to people that seek it we don't give this to people that seek it there goes elections gee there goes democracy vote for me or those who are in power and they're clinging to it because all the intelligent people they don't want to be in power medic tried to he tried in in Libya several times he said I don't want this I just want to go and and worship Allah and they wouldn't let him those are type people you want in power not people seeking after it oh but the prophet YF make me if you're the prophet Yousef I'll trust you and then he that was also da strategy because he was showing them he wasn't asking to be the head of the Muslim State he was asking to show the the disbelievers what righteousness is that was his daah so these are the responses if you're in the response is gratitude if you're in it should instill fear in you of the of Allah and that should lead to Toba if you're inik difficulties tribulations then be patient and tell others to be patient by the nature of time you're in loss you're losing that's it tell each other what the truth is and then tell each other to be patient and then if you're in you should have hope but the the the the the chorus responding virtue of is it's to witness the gift of Allah that you had so you don't get arrogant Allah says in that Ayah the say that the first one he begins with for for hope so this is the so you have a Believer who's but he's still he took a portion of the so he's he's a chosen if he is a Believer and so that's to give hope and then the in the middle because he go he inclines to both sometimes he's in sometimes he's in and these are the the last one is the only one that Allah says he doesn't say the other ones because that will say oh the reason I'm sinning is cuz you know Allah no but for the one who's in obedience what does Allah say he's in obedience because Allah permitted him to be in obedience and that's why you should have so as long as we're out here in this Outer Circle these are the these are the that we should uh Encompass so