Confronting Your Problems – a Khutbah by Sheikh Waleed Basyouni

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I have a friend who had the flu, this guy was one of the most active people I have ever met in my life.  He’d go around, pick somebody from the airport, drop something here. Very active brother. And he got the flu but the virus struck his spine. And that paralyzed him. He was in the hospital, and every one of us was thinking, the person who would not sit in one place for more than a moment would now probably be sitting in one place for the rest of his life.  It was  very difficult news for us, I think more than for him.  So one of the friends of the doctor was going to visit him in his room, and was thinking about it, what to tell the man?  How can you, what do you say in a case like this? But this brother, his heart was always filled with Imaan. Always filled, one of the righteous people you can see.  And when the brother walked into the room to talk to him, he said I saw a big smile on his face.  And he said before I said anything, he said, “Alhamdullilah. Now Allah has given me a chance to settle down and to finish memorizing the Qur’an. I don’t need to be going around and running around all over the place anymore”. In six months he finished hifdh of the Qur’an.  In 2 years,with therapy, he was walking with a cane to the masjid. At that moment he never forgot that Allah is beside him. He never forgot that Allah is there for him. That’s a heart filled with Imaan.  It just reminds me of what Allah has said:  As the Prophet related to us: “Ana inda husne dhani abdi bi, fal ya dhun bi abdi ma aha.  I will be according to your expectations from me. So whatever you expect from me, you will get.”

I want to remind you also of the second point that I want to share with you today, that you know what, with difficulty comes ease.  As Allah said, “Inna ma’al usri yusra. Inna ma’al usri yusra.” Qa’l ibnu abbas, “Alhamdullilahilathee qaal, ma’al usr, wa lam ya qul ba’dal usri yusra.”  Allah said with difficulty comes ease. Ibn Abbas said  I’m so glad that Allah said, WITH it, and He didn’t say AFTER difficulty comes ease.  He didn’t say that, he said WITH it. That’s why I want to let you know, that if you’re going through hardship, I want you to know that your payday is coming.  When you start saying to yourself, you know what, this is not going to work out between me and her, or me and him. It’s just the divorce. When you’re just willing to give up on your son, and you said, this boy is never or this girl is never going to go straight, is not going to change.  When you’re willing to quit, when you are willing to say, you know what, I can’t quit this habit, I can’t change myself. When you’re about to say these words, “that’s not going to work out, I’m just giving up, I’m going back to the bad way I used to be.” Whenever you’re ready to throw in  the towel, I want you to remember that this is the moment not to back down. This is actually the exact moment you should dig your heels in and stand your course, and to push forward.

So many of you, I’ll just give you an example to keep in mind.  So many of us have either children, or witnessed children or maybe heard about the experience of delivering a baby.  You know, I never forget my wife when she delivered the baby. When she’s about to deliver the baby, in the hardest moment of contractions and delivery. At that moment what’s everyone telling that woman? Of the hardest, most difficult and challenging moment of this experience, everyone’s telling her what? Back down? Let’s back off? Let’s just suck that baby in? And hold on? No. Everyone’s telling her, “push, push, push, push forward.”  So you can go over, and overcome that challenge.  And I’m telling you at that moment of difficulty, what you need to do is to push forward, not to back down.  It’s to look for more solutions, it’s to stand your course, and to show your Lord that you trust Him .

Look at the moment of victory in  history, as Al-Qur’an recorded for us.  “Hata idhas tai asa rusul…,”  “When the messengers despaired and were certain that they had been denied, there came to them Our victory.” (Yusuf: 12: 110)

It is the Almighty wisdom. Which leads me to the third point.