The Family of 'Imran

A man came to Imam Al-Hassan Al-Basri and complained about the lack of rain.

The imam told him to ask Allah for forgiveness.

Another man came and complained about poverty, and the imam told him to ask Allah for forgiveness.

A third man came and complained that he had no children.

Again, the imam told him to ask Allah for forgiveness.

Someone asked the imam, 'These 3 people came to complain about 3 different things.

How come you advised all of them to ask Allah for forgiveness?

' The imam replied, 'This advice is not from me; it's from Allah, as He said in Surah Nuh (10-12): Ask your Lord for forgiveness; He is truly

Most Forgiving.

He will shower you with a lot of rain and supply you with wealth and children.

' (Imam Tantawi)

The Quran always talks about the importance of asking Allah for forgiveness.

Even though the Prophet (PBUH) was perfect and had no sins, he prayed for Allah's forgiveness more than 70 times every day, as reported by Imam Al-Bukhari.

We sin all the time, so we are strongly in need of asking Allah to forgive our sins.

Verses 133-136 talk about the faithful believers who are promised Jannah.

Even though they may do bad things every now and then, they quickly remember Allah and pray for His forgiveness, knowing that no one can forgive sins except

Him.

They try to avoid sinning to the best of their ability.

They also do good deeds, such as donating, controlling their anger, and forgiving others.

Allah promises to forgive them and reward them with Jannah.

The Prophet (PBUH) said, "The best way to ask for forgiveness is to say: 'O Allah!

You are my Lord.

There is no god (that deserves worship) except You.

You created me, and I am Your servant.

I stick to Your pledge and promise to the best of my ability.

I seek protection in You from the evil of what I have done.

I admit Your favors upon me.

And I confess my sins to You.

So, forgive me; no one can forgive sins except You'" He added, "Whoever says this during the day—with sure faith in it—then dies before nighttime will be from

the people of Jannah.

And whoever says it at night—with sure faith in it—then dies before daytime will be from the people of Jannah" (Imam Al-Bukhari)

He (PBUH) reported that Allah said, "O children of Adam!

As long as you call upon Me and hope for My mercy, I don't mind forgiving what you have done.

O children of Adam!

If your sins reached the clouds of the sky and you asked for My forgiveness, I still wouldn't mind forgiving you.

O children of Adam!

If you came to Me with sins filling up the whole world, but without making others equal to Me, I would certainly match your sins with forgiveness.

" (Imam Ahmad & Imam At-Tirmidhi)

A little boy was complaining to his mom about how everything was going wrong for him with school, homework, toys, and friends.

His mom was in the kitchen preparing the ingredients for his favorite cake.

She asked if he wanted to eat something yummy, and of course he said yes.

When she offered him some flour, he said it was yucky.

Then she offered him cooking oil, raw eggs, and baking soda, but again he said they were all yucky.

She explained, 'Each of these items may taste bad by itself.

However, if we mix all the ingredients and put them in the oven, together they will make a delicious cake.

In the same way, we may experience some bad things in life.

But if we see the whole picture, we realize that in-sha-Allah something good will come out in the end.

'

This surah talks about many of the challenges and difficulties the Prophet (PBUH) and the companions had to go through, including the defeat at Uhud, secret plans by

hypocrites, threats from different enemies, and lack of resources.

Verse 139 instructs the believers to never give up because eventually things are going to work in their favour.

All they have to do is to put their trust in Allah, have patience, and do their best.

When the idol-worshippers spread the rumor that the Prophet (PBUH) had been killed in the Battle of Uhud, many Muslims were shocked and quickly gave up fighting.

Some of the hypocrites argued, 'If he was really a prophet, he wouldn't have been killed.

'

In Surah 24, we spoke about the great Islamic concept of 'husnu az-zann', which means to think well of others.

For example, we should think highly of Allah.

If we go through a difficult time, we trust that He will make things easy for us.

When we feel disappointed, we trust that He will not let us down.

When we pray, we trust that He will answer our du'a when the right time comes.

If we ask for forgiveness, we trust that He will forgive us.

When we leave this world, we trust that He will shower us with mercy and give us Jannah.

We should also think well of people and give them the benefit of the doubt.

We should try to find excuses and not jump to conclusions, even if we think they made a mistake or fell short of our expectations.

Remember: when you point a finger to blame someone, you have 3 fingers already pointing back at you.

In 2019, I visited a local masjid in Canada to give a Friday khutbah.

As I came in, I put my shoes on the big shoe rack at the entrance.

Those shoes were very special to me because I had recently bought them from Makkah during hajj.

After Jum'ah salah when most people had left, I went to pick up my shoes.

Even though I kept looking for them, they were nowhere to be found.

To be honest, I was very frustrated.

A clip started playing in my head with me having a boxing match with that masjid's imam and the entire board for failing to defend my beloved shoes!

Suddenly, a taller brother noticed my frustration, then simply took the shoes from the top shelf and put them in my hands.

It turned out that I had placed them all the way up but kept looking for them at the bottom.

Hamzah had to take his mother to the hospital for one day, but he didn't have enough money to pay her bill.

On the way to work, he called his best friend 'Ali and explained the situation to him.

'Ali told him, 'Don't worry.

In-sha-Allah, I'll do my best today after 'Asr.

' Before 'Asr, Hamzah kept calling 'Ali to see if he was able to secure the money, but he got no response.

Hamzah was very frustrated and started having bad thoughts about him.

He said to himself, 'What a traitor!

He doesn't even want to answer the phone.

My best friend has let me down when I needed him the most.

He's not my friend anymore.

'

Then Hamzah went to the hospital after work and was surprised when his mother told him that the money had been paid by his friend 'Ali after 'Asr'.

Hamzah tried to call his friend, but again there was no answer.

Later, he went to 'Ali's house and asked why he was not picking up.

'Ali told him that he too didn't have enough money to pay the hospital bill, so he had to sell his smartphone.

The following passage talks about hypocrites like Ibn Saloul, who was against fighting outside Madinah.

On the way to Uhud, Ibn Saloul decided to return to Madinah with around one-third of the army, arguing that there would be no fighting.

This put the small Muslim army in a difficult situation.

However, the Prophet (PBUH) continued to Uhud as planned.

Later, when the Muslims were defeated and many of them were killed, those hypocrites argued, 'If they had listened to us, they wouldn't have lost their lives.

' Verses 154 and 168 teach the hypocrites that no one can escape death when their time comes.

(Imam Ibn Kathir & Imam Al-Qurtubi)

The Prophet (PBUH) realized that the city of Madinah became exposed after the Muslims' defeat at Uhud.

So, on the next day after the battle, he decided to lead a small force of his companions to chase away the Makkan army, which was camping at

a place called Hamra' Al-Asad (around 12 km from Madinah).

The Muslims followed the Prophet (PBUH), even though many of them had been wounded at Uhud.

Abu Sufyan (the commander of the Makkan army) was thinking about returning to Madinah to finish off the Muslims.

However, he got the news that the Prophet (PBUH) was coming after them, so he sent him a message with some travelers.

The message said that the Makkans were ready to wipe out the Muslim army.

The Muslims had faith that Allah would support them.

The Prophet (PBUH) also sent a warning to Abu Sufyan that the Muslims were coming for revenge.

By the time the Prophet (PBUH) arrived at Hamra' Al-Asad, Abu Sufyan had already run away to Makkah with his army.

(Imam Ibn Kathir & Imam Al-Qurtubi)

According to verse 173, when the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions got the news that the Makkans were going to attack Madinah after the Battle of Uhud, they

declared: 'Hasbuna Allahu wa ni'ma al-wakil.

' This means: 'Allah 'alone' is enough 'as a helper' for us, and 'He' is the best to take care of everything.

'

In other words, they said, 'If Allah is on our side, we don't care who is against us.

' This is very powerful, given the fact that the Muslims had just been defeated, with many of them killed or wounded.

When they put their trust in Allah, He protected them and made them successful.

According to a hadith reported by Imam Al-Bukhari, the same thing was said by Prophet Ibrahim (AS) when his enemies threw him in the fire.

This is why Allah protected him and made him successful.

Remember to say this du'a when you feel helpless and all doors seem closed.

Allah will always be there for you.

This is a true story that happened with me personally.

Back in February 2022, I was trying to book a flight from Canada to Türkiye in the summer.

After several days of searching, I found a good deal with Ukrainian Airlines with one stop in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

So, I paid through a booking website using my card.

However, a few days later, I got a phone call from the website saying that my payment didn't go through.

I asked if I could re-book the same flight, and they said that the price had doubled.

In frustration, I said to myself, 'Hasbuna Allahu wa ni'ma al-wakil.

'

I asked a friend for advice, and he recommended booking through a particular travel agency in Toronto.

When I called them, they gave me a direct flight with Turkish Airlines.

It was such a good deal that I was very happy my payment with the first airline hadn't gone through.

A week later, Ukraine was invaded by Russian troops, and all future Ukrainian flights were cancelled.

In 1565, there was a lack of rain for a long time and people were starving in Tihamah (a large area in Arabia by the Red Sea).

One scholar named Ibn 'Omar Ad-Damadi gathered the people and prayed for rain.

After the prayer, he recited an emotional poem to beg Allah for rain, saying that He was their only hope.