“Having Good Opinion (Husn ad-Dhan) of God and His Creation”Dr.Umar Faruq Abdallah’s Friday Sermon at IMO

Dr.Umar Faruq  Abdallah’s Friday Sermon: “Having Good Opinion (Husn ad-Dhan) of God and His Creation” at International Muslim Organization (IMO),Toronto, Canada – Transcribed from Video  uploaded by SeekersHub,12/17/2011

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Abdullah ibn Masud (May God be pleased with him), a great companion of Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace) and founder of one of the legal schools, said “By Him other than whom there is no god, no believing servant have been given anything better than having a good opinion of God, Great and Majestic is He, because all good is in God’s hand. Abu Hurairah (May God be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace) said “Having a good opinion, having a good expectation about your Lord, Exalted be He is a part of good worship” (Abu Daud, Tirmidhi-Hasan Hadith). Jabir bin Abdullah (May God be pleased with him) transmitted in Muslim “I heard the Messenger of God Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace) say three days before his death that “none of you die but that he has a good opinion of God, Great and Majestic be He”. Having good opinion of God, having good expectations from your Lord, anticipating good in the creation, having a good opinion of the believers, having good opinion of the people in the world in general, having a good opinion about the world and the ultimate destiny of things in it ,is one of the highest form of worship. We must believe always that the world and destiny are in good hands. That does not mean that we don’t oppose evil and it does not mean that we don’t realize that difficult situations are difficult situations. That we understand that every thing that happens in our lives as individuals or as communities is by the Will of God and it has wisdom behind it. The highest form of worship is having good opinion of your Creator. Having good opinion is a sign of a pure soul and of a sound heart. It professes true knowledge of God, His Perfection, His Wisdom, His Justice and it professes the understanding and acceptance, how God rules and directs the creation. Nothing happens without God’s Will whether we like it or not like it, whether it is good or not good, but that God willed it to be. He is our Lord and we have good opinion and good expectations of Him. It protects your heart, tongue and thoughts. It is one of the greatest cure we can have. It fosters harmony among us. We have good opinion of each other. It also is a sign of good end (Husn al Khatimah). Men and women who cultivate in their hearts, good opinion of God and they are content with God will have good end (Husn al Khatimah). It is a path leading to God’s forgiveness and mercy. On the authority of Abu Hurairah (May God be pleased with him) who said that the Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace) said: God Almighty said, “I am Near the opinion ,My servant has for Me. I am near the expectation My servant has. I am with him when he mentions Me. If he mentions to himself, I mention him to Myself. If he mentions Me in a gathering, I mention him in a gathering that is better than them. If he approaches me by hand’s span, I approach by span of forearm. If he approaches me by span of forearm I approach him by span of out stretched arms. If he comes to me walking, I come to him rushing.” Having a good opinion of God fills your whole being with happiness and hope. It radiates in you. Whatever is in your heart appears on your face. We should always be filled with eternal optimism even if situations are bad, even when the world is dark and future is forbidding. Husn ad-Dhan, Good opinion of God radiates from your skin. This is what we call Bashashah (cheerfulness and happiness) and it means that when you are so happy, one can see it on your face and you can see in your skin and of course to give good news which is Tabsheer ,is called that because when a person gives a good news, they light up and you can

see on them, just as when people are sad, they are broken hearted, their face is pale, they don’t show the same light, same luster. Bashasha and Tabsheer are two beautiful qualities of our beloved Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace). He was always filled with Bashashah (happiness). He not only gave good news but he radiated good news. His whole being radiated that and his face was filled with radiance and luster as the Hadith tells us “The Messenger of God (May God honor him and grant him peace) will meet people with joyous face even when these people were his enemies, he will meet them in a beautiful way”. Imams Bukhari and Muslim transmitted “When the Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace) was filled with joy and when he was happy, his face lit up as if it were pieces of full moon.” It radiated that happiness that was in him and this is the way we always should strive to be. We have every reason to be thankful, we have every reason to be happy and we have every reason to be bearers of good news and embody that in us. When Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace) came to Khadija (May God be pleased with her) at the beginning of his prophecy when Gabriel came to him in the cave. This is one of the great example of Husn ad Dhan at work. Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace) came to Khadija (May God be pleased with her) and told her to wrap him up in a blanket and she wrapped him in a blanket until shock is gone, then he turns to Khadija (May God be pleased with her), the mother of believers: “O’ Khadija! What has happened to me and he told her what has happened. He said:” I fear for myself”. This shows truthfulness, humility and beauty of our Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace). Then Khadija turns to him and she answers him with best of good opinion (Husn ad Dhan). This is a classical example of Husn ad Dhan. She is not terrified, she is strong, she is like a mountain. She turns to him with Husn ad Dhan (good opinion), Bashara (good news) and Bashasha (happiness) and her whole being radiates with joy that message has come to him and she says: “No! No! God will never bring harm to you, be happy, receive the good news with happiness. By God, God will never dishonor you in the least. This is Husn ad Dhan. By God you join the kinship, you speak only the truth, you provide to those who cannot take care of themselves, you receive the guest with hospitality and you help people when misfortune occurs to them.” The great scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (May God have mercy on him) notes how Khadija (May God be pleased with her) shows her support by pointing to his good character. This shows Khadija’s brilliance, strength and her understanding that God does not betray or forsake the people of good character. May God give us all, good character. This is a classic and perfect example of having a good opinion (Husn ad Dhan). In Arabic the word Dhan is one of those amazing word that could mean different things. Basic meaning of Dhan is to have a strong opinion, to have opinion that borders on knowledge, that is informed opinion. But also Dhan can become certain knowledge because often Dhan grows as you study the matter more and think about it more until you know this is truth. But as Ibn Hajar points out Dhan is based on Istidlal (inferring from a thing another thing),on studying things, contemplating on things, looking at things and it is inference based on facts. This exactly what Khadija (May God be pleased with her) does, so she knows the Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace), she knows his greatness and she believes in God and she believes in him (May God honor him and grant him peace) .She reassures him: “look at you ,you have these excellent qualities, God will never forsake you. This is a good news that this great thing has happened to you.”

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 Let us take one more example of Husn ad Dhan. This is a beautiful example of Husn ad Dhan and this is about death of second caliph Umar ibn Khattab (May God be pleased with him). Umar was a great human being who ever lived and who will, other than Prophets and messengers, do justice as Umar did. Umar (May God be pleased with him) was person so humble that he never saw himself like that. He feared God and used to say that if everyone goes to garden except one person, I will be that person and no one will go to fire except one person and I will be that person. So Umar was stabbed by an assassin and was in great pain, companions (sahabah) got around him and they loved him. They knew his death will bring great problems. They are praying and showing great mercy and then Imam Ali (May God be pleased with him) pushes through the crowd saying: “Ya Umar! God have mercy on you, Ya Umar! God have mercy on you, Ya Umar! God have mercy on you” Umar is married to his daughter and then he gets close to Umar and says these words to Umar so that he can hear it clearly, so Umar will be filled with joy, filled with Bashara and Bashasha. Again perfect example of Husn ad Dhan because he did Istidlal, because he has inference based on what he knows about Umar. He knows how great this man is and he says, this is in Bukhari and Muslim and absolutely authentic “You have not left behind you a person whose deeds I like to imitate and meet God with more than I like your deeds. By Allah! I always thought Allah would keep you with your two companions, for often I used to hear the Prophet saying” I went, me, Abu Bakr and Umar; I came in, me, Abu Bakr and Umar; I came out, me Abu Bakr and Umar”, then he said you will be with blessed Prophet (May God honor him and grant him peace) and Abu Bakr (May God be pleased with him) and you deserve that status. May God purify our hearts and deeds. Let us live and die with a good opinion of God and His creation, not to be shaken and be strong. May God fill our hearts with joy based on knowledge and practice that radiates from our skin, from our faces and all around us. Amin

Please watch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSbb1o4H6MA