Bismillaah irrahman ir Raheem 

Alhamdulillaah hallazi arsala rasuluhu bil huda wa Deenul Haqq wa yadhira alaa Deenu Kulla wakafa billaahi shaheedaah. Wa'ash hadu anlaailaaha illallaah wahdahu laa sharikala waqara rabbihi wa tawheed wa Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Abduhu wa rasuluh. 

 Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) has informed us in His Book the meaning of the statement is: Alif, Laam, Meem. Do people presume, do people think they will be left alone upon their saying 'we believe'? In this particular ayah Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) informs us the wisdom why he is going to test every single individual that say that they believe in Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala). He says because verily, We tested those individuals who preceded you so that We can know those individuals who are truthful in their Imaan from those individuals who are not truthful.  Allaah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) already knows the individuals that are truthful and the individuals that are not truthful.

But for us, He informs us why He tests us so that amongst us it can become apparent, so that He tests one another, so that He can know the one who is khabeef, wicked, evil, a wrong doer from the one that is Tayyib. 

 Allaah  (Subhana wa ta'ala) informs us : Indeed We have sent down this remembrance so that We can inform the people or clarify to the people (meaning the Prophet alaihis salaatu wassalaam) that which has been sent down to him and they can reflect. So, therefore we want to share some statements on the works of Sheikh Saalih Al-Fawzan ---from the works of 'Al Fiqul-Fid-Deen – Amana min al Fitn.' Have an understanding of the Deen and secure and protecting yourself from all forms of tribulations. 

 Also he has another work which is called 'Tahdir min-al-Fitn' – Warnings against the Trials and Tribulations. And another of his works 'Mawkif  al-Muslim min al-Fitn' -- the Position of the Muslim as to how they should stand or how they should react to the trials & tribulations that one must go through. 

As he says : the life of man, he's going to reside or live in trials and tribulations. But how do we secure ourselves from that? The first thing is that he must have the understanding of this Deen i.e. understanding the legislation from the Kitaab and the Sunnaah and this is one of the ways that he is going to have it.  As Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) says in Suratut-Tawbah : Let there be amongst the people, the individuals who stay while the others go out and fight Jihaadh, let them stay and teach the people the Deen. Perchance when those individuals return back from fighting, they can warn them.  

And Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) reminds us about the trials and the tribulations that we are going to go through. He says : 'Verily your wealth and your children are a trial and tribulation for you. But with Allaah there is the mighty reward.' And Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) says in Surah Munaafiqun : 'Don't let your wealth and your children prevent you from the remembrance of Allaah. But whoever does that, these are the individuals that are the losers.' 

 What is the meaning of this? The meaning of this is either you are going to be trialed with 'shubahaat' – doubts in your belief or 'shahawaat' – or with your desires. As it relates to your desires, when you love your wealth and your children more than Allaah, then Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) has admonished us in Surah Tawbah saying : 'say if your fathers, and your sons, and your brothers and your wives and your money and your commerce that you feel is declining and the houses that you are pleased with --- if these are more beloved to you than Allaah and His Messenger and Jihaadh in His cause and in His way – then wait until Allaah brings His Amr or His command – meaning : wait until Allaah punishes you.  

And Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) does not guard those people who split from His obedience. 

Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) says as it relates to the trials and tribulations  : one may have as it relates to one's desires – meaning : You are going to love those things more than you love Allaah and His Messenger. He says : 'O you who believe, verily your wives and your children are enemies for you.' What is the meaning of this? Meaning : Should you oppress them? Should you kill them? NO.  It means they become an enemy to you when you love them more than Allaah and His Messenger. 

 When you want to be intimate with your wife and you command her to be intimate with you and she is in a state that is not permissible for her to pray or to be intimate with you,  and she starts obeying you and saying that 'it is okay, there is no harm' – and she starts obeying you and disobeying Allaah, now she becomes an enemy to you.  Now she becomes an enemy to you.  

So, take precaution and if you pardon and if you forgive them, then surely Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) is the oft Forgiving, the Most Merciful. Verily your wealth and your children are a trial and tribulation for you.  But with Allaah is the ultimate, mighty reward. 

 We see in another hadeeth that the Prophet (alaihis salaatu wassalaam) commanded us to command our children to make the salaah when they reach the age of seven. And you beat them when they reach the age of ten and you separate their beds. In this particular hadith that they can become a trial and a tribulation for you when you are scared to teach them how to be obedient to Allaah. You are scared that it is going to be hard on them.

That is why Sheikh Saalih al-Fawzaan says from this particular hadith where it says : and you separate their beds – meaning you protect them from the trial and the tribulations and this is from within the house. So, what about outside the house when your children go outside the house. What about that?

 And he mentions the ayah : O you who believe, save yourselves and your families from the Hellfire.  In this particular ayath it didn't say : save yourselves ONLY. It also says save your family as well from the Hellfire. So it is upon us to command them to be obedient to Allaah and to stay away from the disobedience to Allaah.

That is why the Sheikh, he says that Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) has made some of us a trial & tribulation for one another, when we meet one another, when we are in the gathering of one another. Some people can get along with some people, other people cannot get along with certain  individuals.

So He has made you a trial and a tribulation for one another.  He says : He has made a trial and tribulation for you as it relates to good and evil. Meaning : Being obedient to Allaah is a trial for us. Sometimes you are tired, you don't want to be obedient to Allaah. You don't want to make your salaah because you are tired. But this is a trial for you. Are you going to be obedient to Allaah or are you going to be disobedient to Allaah?  He made evil as a trial for us. Is it going to be pleasing to us or is it something that we are going to dislike because Allaah dislikes it. As Allaah says : He has made us a trial to one another.

He says in surah Furqaan, 'We have made some of you to others as a trial and a tribulation.' Are you going to be patient with one another?  Allaah (Subhana wa ta'ala) also says in Surah An-Aam stressing this point & getting us to reflect on us that He made the poor a trial for the rich and the rich a trial for the poor.  And the people & their family who come from a good status a trial to those who don't come from a good status; And the one's that accept the guidance from the one's that don't accept their guidance.  And like that We have made some of you a trial for one another.

So when you go to the rich and you are Muslim and they are not a Muslim and you call them to Islaam and you want them to accept Islaam, they are going to say : 'why should we accept Islaam?' And you are in this state where you are poor, you don't have any education, you have no wealth in your community, why should they accept Islaam? He made one of you to the other 'a trial'.  He made the poor a trial for the rich and the rich a trial for the poor. And the one that has belief in Allaah a trial for the one who does not have belief in Allaah.

You go to those people and they think what? They think that they have the power and they are the mighty and they have the upper hand .As Allaah informs us (20:131) :  that you are looking and striving for those individuals who are disbelievers and Allaah has given them the good of this world but those individuals when you are calling them to Islaam, they don't want to accept it because they feel as if they have the power.

 But the Sheikh he says to clarify to us, he made mention of the hadith of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) : the meaning of the statement which is that 'Allaah gives the Dunya to the ones that He loves and to the ones that He does not love. But He doesn't give the understanding of this Deen to anyone except to those whom He loves.'

So therefore when you are calling people to Islaam, you have to reflect on that.  But if you start thinking that they have the upper hand because Allaah has given them the good of this world from their fancy cars and their fancy houses, their fancy offices and their fancy businesses and everything that you may see and you feel as if they have the upper hand and you are below them, then it is going to be a trial and a tribulation for you.

Because Allaah has given honour to the Muslims and He has made them distinguished over all the other type of people.  The Muslims they stick out. They are the ones who believe in Allaah. Just reflect the scenario when a Muslim starts doing something that is bad, a Kaafir may say to him in the street : 'You are a Muslim and you are performing that action.' They are saying that because they know that a Muslim must be righteous. They know that a Muslim has a set of morals, a set of beliefs, a belief that they have in their heart that reflects in their speech and action.

And if you don't implement that command the way you have to implement it and say the things that you are commanded to say, speak out against the things that you are commanded to speak out, and you start acting like them, then they are going to put you on their level. They are going to lose respect for you.

So therefore reflect on that statement and that is : Allaah gives the dunya to the ones He loves and the ones He doesn't love. But He only gives the ones that have the understanding of this Deen or gives the understanding to the individuals that He loves. They become knowledgeable of this Deen. They become the true individuals that are positive in society.  

That's why from the meaning of the statement of the Prophet that he says : Allaah does not look at your body nor your structure but Allaah looks at your heart and your deeds. That is the concern of Allaah. Not because you are rich and the business that you have, your sin that Allaah has given you the dunya and the people they are not stingy and they are trying to set up business for other people to the end. He is not concerned about that. Allaah is not concerned about that. Allaah is not concerned about that. He is concerned about the belief in your chest and how it reflects in your speech and action.

That's why He says : 'Isn't Allaah the knower of the ones that are grateful? Allaah knows the ones who are truly grateful to Him in the same ayah He informs us. Another trial and tribulation that we must go through and that we must reflect on, because when we reflect on these things  we are going to maximize the benefit in our community and we are going to minimize the sins that we have from amongst ourselves.

And we are going to start loving one another and aiding one another and implementing the ayah 'wal muminoon, wal mu'minaath …. the believing men and the believing women, they are what? They are protectors and friends of one another. Because they command what is good and forbid what is evil. They establish the salaat and give the zakaath, and they obey Allaah and His Messenger. Those individuals that have those characteristics, Allaah is going to be merciful only to those individuals.  Another trial and tribulation that Allaah is going to test us with i.e with division amongst ourselves.

Allaah says 'I command all of you collectively to hold onto the rope of Allaah collectively and I prohibit you from making division amongst yourselves.'

And then in the hadith (the meaning of it) : the Prophet (alaihissalaatu wassalam), he advises us to have 'taqwa' meaning to shield and protect ourselves from the punishment of Allaah by warding off evil, by divorcing evil, by abandoning evil, by disowning evil, by detaching ourselves from evil and performing good deeds.  He informs us also to listen and obey the Muslim leaders and the Ulama and the commanders, to obey even if he is a slave. Highlighted point : From those individuals that is going to be living (the highlighted point) ash-Shaahid, you are going to see much or abundance of difference from amongst yourselves.

So he gave us the remedy, he gave us the cure, he gave us the solution to the problem that will save us from the trials and tribulations of this division.  What did he say? He said : 'Then it is upon you to hear to my guidance and to the guidance of my rightly guided khulafa and to abide it with your molar teeth and he also said every innovation is going astray.'So you are going to be tried, me and everyone else with this fitnah and that is 'of division.'

Because in the next hadith he says: 'The best speech is the Book of Allaah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) and those evils of affairs is the newly invented matters and every innovation is going astray and he says (alaihissalaatu wassalam) that the hand of Allaah is with the Jam'aa. Jam'aa here is just like it is described in the hadith where the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) said : 'My community is going to divide into 73 sects, all of them deserve and is going to be placed in the Hellfire except one group of individuals.'

The companions immediately asked "What is this group that is going to be saved?" Muhammad (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) said :  'The ones that adhere to what I am upon and my companions.' This is similar or this means that even if it is in a smaller amount because most of us are smaller in number.

The majority of the people in this country are kuffaar. That is where we go to. That is where our children go to. When they reach the age of puberty, they want to abandon Islaam -- may be because of their desire or may be because of some doubt that they have in their belief – meaning : they are the majority. So that must mean that they are right or because if they can' get married, they want to abandon Islaam and they want to go with their relatives.

And they want to indulge in the haraam and they don't want to be patient like the Sheikh says :  'In this era we have to be patient to the utmost.'  Because only a smaller group of people will adhere to the truth. As Abdullaah Ibn Masud (radiallaahu anhu) said explaining al-Jamaat :  'The ones that adhere to the truth or the Jam'aath is the one that adheres to the truth, even if you consist of your own self.' 

And Allaah says : 'for those people that have doubt in their belief' --- because the scholars say the trials and tribulations are two :  

1)  Trials and tribulations in your belief;

 2) Trials and tribulations in your desire.  He says if you obey the majority on the people of the earth, if you follow them, obey them and go with them and if you think or deem that they are the ones that are the righteous, they are the ones who are closer to Allaah, they are going to divert you and misguide you and destruct you from the path of Allaah. Because the only thing that they follow is nothing but their desire or just thoughts. 

Or the meaning of ayah that comes in Surah an-Aam, 116 and He says that it relates to this : that we have to be patient upon adhering to the Jam'aah. There will never stop or there will always continue to be from amongst my community, a people that adhere to the truth. Those individuals who split from them is not going to divert them from the truth, they are going to remain patient upon the truth until Allaah's command comes.  Meaning until Yawm-al-Qiyamah. They are going to die upon the Haqq.

But this requires patience as the Sheikh says :  There's going to be people in the latter generation who are going to be patient upon their Deen so much that nothing can divert them even if they have to hold onto the hot coal. The coal is hot but they are going to remain patient and steadfast upon this deen. Or the meaning of the hadith (Baihaqi) :  'The one that adheres to my Sunnah when there is corruption amongst my community, for them is a 'miyyah' -- a hundred witness.' 

But Sheikh Saalih al-Fawzaan mentioned the hadith :  'The ones that adhere to the guidance and the Sunnah of the Messenger when its community have been affected with corruption, they have the reward of fifty good.' 

The Prophet (alaihissalaatu wassalaam) says, 'Islaam started as something strange and it will definitely return in a strange state so the tree in paradise is for the ones who die upon the strange.' So the companions say, 'Ya Rasulullaah, who are these strange individuals?'  He replied :  'They are the individuals that correct themselves and others when the people have become corrupt.' 

Another trial and tribulation that we need to reflect on is the trials and tribulations of ones stomach. By obeying your stomach, and not being concerned of what you place in your stomach and what you eat, it is going to put you in a state where Allaah is displeased with you. Because you are going to be eating the haraam. Drinking intoxication and messing with drugs and these are the things that are destroying our youth and destroying our community.  You may see an individual that Allaah allows him to breathe and he uses that to sing. So much that we have a famous individual in our environment or in our community and he is famous for singing haram songs.

And I like to say a footnote that one of the scholars said : When you listen to music, you either gonna become a fagged (exhausted) or you're gonna fornicate. And this individual he sings and he is being tested with singing and he has been tested with women approaching him and all types of drugs that we know and that we don't know; with all types of money, so much that walhamdulillaah he is Muslim but when he came to our Masjid, we saw all of the women when he came outside, they were racing to see this individual. Is that not a trial, trying to be pleased with someone that if he continues to do that he is going to make himself eligible for the punishment of Allaah. I can't say that Allaah is going to punish him but I can say that if Allaah wants to He can punish him and if He wants to he can forgive him. But one thing about it, Music corrupts the soul.

The Ulema have spoken out against it.  So likewise as it relates to your stomach, then these drugs and stuff --– remember the individual that was traveling, and he has supplied himself with haraam means so much that he is in dire need of Allaah. He stretches out his hands and he calls on Allaah but his clothing is haraam, his drinking is haraam, his food is haraam and he calls on his Lord 'O my Lord, ya Rabb, ya Rabb!' So how do you expect Allaah to respond to your invocation, how do you?

Do you expect Allaah to respond when everything you are concerned about filling your stomach is by haraam means, you don't care if it is haraam or not but rather you chase the haraam like some of the Muslims who say that they are going to the Hispanic community and they say, 'brother we must sell pork, so we can draw the Hispanic people in our community. They are selling marijuana (drugs), they are selling cigarettes, liquor all of the haraam. They are not concerned whether this is displeasing to Allaah and we are giving these people a bad impression of Islaam. 

Another thing that we are going to be tried with is the Fitnah of Furooj – the trials and tribulation that one must go through as it relates to ones private parts. As the Prophet (alaihissalaatu wassalam) informed us that 'when you are intimate with your wife, it is sadaqa, it is charity.' The companions then wanted to know how, how it is a sadaqa? He (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) replied :  'If you place that in the wrong place i.e if you are intimate with the wrong person who is not your wife, won't you be held accountable for that?' They said, 'Yeah.' 

 He said : 'Likewise, if you use it in the lawful means meaning if you use your private parts for your wife only, then you are going to get a reward from Allaah.' Allaah informs us in the Qur'aan (the meaning of which is) : 'Do not approach adultery and fornication.' He subhanahu wa ta'ala says : 'because it is a wicked and evil deed and it diverts you from the path of Allaah.' In this particular verse, Allaah didn't say 'abandon fornication and adultery' but rather He said 'close all doors that lead you to adultery and fornication. Don't come close. Don't even try to smell it, don't even try to examine it. Leave it.' He has given us different stages of adultery and fornication. Like when He says : 'Az-Zaaniyah' --- waz Zaani (the female fornicator / the male fornicator) then whip them, give them each a hundred lashes meaning if he is a virgin or she is a virgin. If they are both virgins then He commanded that 100 lashes be given to each of the fornicators – only if both of them are virgins.

 So He has given the prescribed punishments for the virgins that fall into this act and are tried by their private parts -- i.e a hundred lashes and do not have any pity in your heart and allow a group of the believers to witness their punishment. Sheikh Saalih al-Fawzaan said : 'and take them away from their environment. From that town, from that city, from that country. Take them from their wicked and evil environment where they committed that crime, take them to another environment so that they can forget that crime and place them in a righteous environment.' He said that in this was wisdom. 

From amongst us the only thing that we are concerned about is: Can these two people get married? So, He has made the male and female fornicator if both of them are virgins to give them lashes. Another wisdom from this ayah is that He started off with the women. Why? Because the Ulema say that some of them, it is the woman, it is the woman that causes man to fornicate and lead him to commit adultery. It is the woman.  

Then he informs us of another level of fornication and adultery that we have seen in abundance amongst our community so much that when I was here years ago, I was nice to an individual not even knowing his state. Later the brothers informed me that this individual has fallen into the crum, that is the worst form of fornication i.e men having lust for men – homosexuality. The man said that when he saw all of the believers making ruku, he started getting excited and started to say that this was the thing that he liked. (Wicked and evil) !! This is the worst form of fornication, the worst form.

As Sheikh Saalih Fawzan informs us and as Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Uthaimeen informs us, he say that the Ulama they have a consensus amongst the companions that if you find them, then you are commanded to kill them in an Islaamic society.  Based on the hadith, the meaning is : If you find them (the two of them) then kill them. If both of them are pleased, then you are commanded to kill them

 So both Sheikh Uthaimeen and Sheikh Fawzaan said that the companions agreed that all of them should be killed --- whether both of them are virgins, of if one is a virgin or the other is not a virgin, you are commanded to kill them. We are tested with this trial and tribulation as it relates to the desires in our community. But he said that the Ulema, they differ in how you should kill them. How? Some of the Ulema say that you should kill them with the sword in an Islaamic society, some say that you should burn them and this is from the statement of Abu Bakr that he said: 'If you find them, then I command you to burn them.' Sheikh ul-Islaam Ibn Taimiyyah says this as well. And another way that you should kill them is that you should take them from the high ……est (highest) place in your locality and throw them down and Allaah wants to follow them . Based on the ayah in Surah Hud : Angel Jibreel had taken them with his wing from below and raised them high and turned the town upside down and stones of baked clay (like hail) came following them. So these are the things that everyone in a Muslim community or some of the things that we should be aware of so that we can minimize the sins in our community and maximize the benefit that we have in our community.  

With that I ask Allaah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive all of the Muslims that are sitting here and standing here and to increase us in knowledge and protect our children and let our children become from amongst the righteous, the ones that constantly fast, the ones that command good and forbid evil, the ones that obey Allaah and obey His Messenger and also command us to do likewise. O Allaah give us the strength to love one another and to hate for your sake and to realize that you have only given us Dunya to the kuffar for a test, some you have given it to the ones you love and some that you don't love, from the ones you have given the good of this world and make us amongst the ones that you love so that we can have the understanding of the deen.