Abdal Hakim Murad – Ibrahim (as), the Archetypal Imam
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AI: Transcript ©
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