“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
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