Imam Suhaib Webb on the California Wildfires and Hellfire
Here’s what’s been going on in in Southern California for the past few days for those of us living in caves. Almost 900,000 people have been evacuated out of their homes for massive wildfires that are sweeping So-Cal. Click the pic.
Imam Suhaib Webb in his Purification of the Soul set mentions a reflection about the similar California wildfires of September 2005. He says…
(paraphrased)
Remember about two years ago, the San Diego wildfires? How many human beings did it take to control the fire? In fact, what did they finally say on the news? They said, “Actually, we contained it. And our hope is it will just burn out on its own. We can’t stop it.”Helicopters. Volunteers. Volunteers for the volunteers. More than 12,000 trucks. Millions of gallons of water. And still they couldn’t control it. The Prophet (SAW) said in a sound Hadith:
“The Hellfire is made up of seventy parts; and the fire of this dunya is only one part from the seventy.”
And this includes the sun. So what is the Hellfire, akhi? What is the magnitude of the Hellfire? If it took that many people and that much equipment to put out a fire in this dunya, which is only one part of the seventy parts of the fire of the Akhira, then what’s it gonna take to put out the Hellfire?
That’s the question. And if we answer that question, we can become familiar with Allah’s Mercy. Because the Hellfire is real. One Hadith of the Prophet (SAW) said the heat you feel in the time of Dhuhr is part of the heat of the Hellfire itself.
So how to put out the fire of Hell?
Rasulullah (SAW) said in a sound Hadith narrated by Abu Huraya, “The Hellfire will not touch the man who cries from the fear of Allah until the milk goes back into the udder.”
What does this mean O brother or sister?
They’re spending millions of dollars, millions in equipment, millions in chemicals to put out that fire. The fire of Jahannam is seventy times more than that, but the Muslim who gives one drop to Allah (SWT), min khashiyatihi. One drop out of reverence to Allah (SWT) sincerely for Allah (SWT). One drop, min khashiya tillah can put out the whole Jahannam for the person.
But where are the drops? Where are the tears out of the fear of Allah (SWT)?
Make dua for the people who are suffering as a result of the fire. There’s definitely gonna be Muslims from the 900,000 who are victims of this blaze.
October 24th, 2007 at 6:04 PM
Ironic, looks like someone bombed California. Coincidence? I think not!
October 26th, 2007 at 11:08 AM
I listened to Purification of the Soul CD set. Helped a lot with Khashu, and putting the topic of P of S into perspective
October 29th, 2007 at 1:59 AM
i went back to the states after 4 years to attend an educational conference at the hyatt hotel in anaheim. day 3 a smog hung heavy on the disneyland, of palm groves and end-of-timers. it was a strange feeling to come back to the states, 6 years into two self-emolative wars, fumigating by yearly natural calumnies yet on the surface there were no apologies, no cracks on the wall, no signs of humility. the people were not any more emaciated than the happy buddha, the malls were no less emptier than it used to be, the suvs keeps getting bigger. pax americana came back riotously in the baseball games, as bumper stickers, in the newspaper columns. i wondered if the poor in america ever had time between their graveyard shifts, paying their bills and burying their dead, how the pains of the ‘other’ had been lost on them. in the face of the raging fire still burning, as seen from 30000 feet, i wondered if the horses of the apaches, the cherokies, the black feet who onced roamed proud in these vallies would ever return long after the fire had been put out and the last traces of the giant redwoods gone.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:30 AM
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