Abdal Hakim Murad – Ibrahim (as), the Archetypal Imam

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim. Salam aleikum, everyone from the prayer

room here at the Cambridge Muslim college. So in the Adel Aadhaar,

we tend to think of things Abrahamic. It's the festival,

which reminds us of that ancient patriarch and his importance in

our deen and the Hajj itself is an enactment of some of the key

iconic moments in his career and that of Warner Hajj and hazrat

Ismail Ali, he was silent. And Allah subhanaw taala.

Test Ibrahim, in ways that we can learn from, after all, he is

rejected by his own father, his ruler, Nimrod, throws him out,

tries to kill him persecutes him, the city fathers of his town,

chuck him out is really the archetype of the refugee and the

asylum seeker out in the desert. Rather like those who are now

struggling to cross the channel or to cross the various tripwires in

an unfriendly Europe, he is out there with really no allies at

all, except Robin Alameen. Allah subhanho wa Taala after the

greatest test of all, when it must have seen that even heaven had

turned against him, and he was really alone when he was told to

sacrifice his own son.

And he succeeded in fulfilling the words that attend Mohan. Allah

subhanaw taala then tell us in in Niger a locally Nursey mama

appointing you to be an imam leader is one of the few times

where the word Imam actually appears in the Quran is only about

half a dozen times. And here, Ibrahim alayhis salaam is the

parodic Matic archetypal imam in the original Arabic sense of the

word which is not just a leader, but a model and an exemplar, that

original Arabic the word meant somebody who is followed rather

like the Imam of the mosque is followed by others is a prayer

leader, but basically he is there to coordinate the movement to the

prayer so Sydney Ibrahim alayhis salam who's gigantic sacrifices

for the one true God, we recall and celebrate and humbly

internalize at this time of the year with our various symbolic

sacrifices, whether it be on the Hajj, or with our core banni. Here

at home, reminds us that the life of faith for Abrahamic believers

is not supposed to be an easy ride. There has always been Osama

phobia he faced it. There has always been regimes who smack you

around, he faced that there has always been problems with parental

incomprehension. There have always been tests that heaven sends to

us. That sometimes seemed to make no sense. Lucia Allah, why did you

do this? Why did you take my baby? Why have I got toothache? Why is

this happening to those people and we tend to interrogate heaven,

which is ignorance because heavens wisdom is absolute and our

perception of things is radically limited. But still, we protest but

the way of Abrahamic religion is surrender, submit for lemma, s

lemma, Ibrahim and Ismail, Allah He must allow together because his

man knew what was coming. He saw the knife being sharpened, they

surrendered as lemma. That is the victory, a base yourself in

scheduled and complete unhesitating loving embrace of the

decree of heaven. And the most extraordinary outcomes can take

place. And this is the test that Abrahamic tests for Muslims in

northern Britain, modern Europe and around the world, we protest

too much. We shout too much. We interrogate heaven, we say we have

been abandoned. They're all ganging up on us. But we've missed

this founding story of our tradition, which is that things in

history and in the soul don't follow the usual material, logic

of cause and effect. Everything is determined by the Hand of the

Divine. So if we surrender, we accept the Divine Decree, we

continue to be Imam. In other words, righteous role models and

leaders for our communities, people others can look up to

people who they can lean on and rely on and not let them down.

Then we can see the doors of Allah's Grace opening and

miraculous new things happening with this Alma and you see it on a

small scale. You see it in some places on a larger community

scale. But it's about time that the OMA returned to the way of

stating that Ibrahim alayhis salam that this is all mapped up for it

out for us in the beautiful symbolism of the hygiene which we

swept and we run and we stop and we stand and all these really

exhausting things in order to slap us around a little bit so that we

recognize the meaning and the value and the beauty, the unique

beauty of submission and accepting the commands of Allah after that

There is the buyer and there is the age there is the feasting

there is the community spirit and a new year begins. So may Allah

subhanaw taala make this spirit dominant in our hearts, that we

accept his wisdom and not rely on our wisdom that we hand things

over to him that we do not fear any other than Him. And that will

be people of hope, knowing that the gates have an extraordinary

progeny. Look at what Sedna Ibrahim alayhis salaam was given

his Alma not just his Doria, his physical descendants, but all

those who say alayhis salam after his name more numerous than the

stars of the sky, this extraordinary fat opening. This

too can come to each and every one of us if only we step in his

blessed footsteps and accept Allah's wisdom or not our wisdom

and inshallah this will be our takeaway from this aid.

And it will be the spirit with which we embrace family and loved

ones and inshallah face with confidence and trust. The

challenge is that the new year will bring so many blessings to

all of you from our little team here at the little college here in

Cambridge. We will be praying for you and we look forward to your

prayers and to your visit insha Allah and any contributions that

you might be able to make to this small but we think very important

little new shoot that one day will grow into a mighty sheltering oak.

So may Allah accept everything that you have done and all of the

Hajj of those who are on the Hajj and inshallah open the doors of

plenty and blessing and acceptance and fit victory for all of the

Muslims insha Allah in the who Allah Delica Kadir will bill each

other teacher dear BarakAllahu li Walakum wa salam o aleikum wa

rahmatullah Cambridge Muslim College, training the next

generation of Muslim thinkers