Abdul Wahab Saleem – 2024-10-18 – Friday Khutbah
AI: Summary ©
The importance of valuing things within one's mind and creating a hierarchy of value is crucial to addressing one's values. The Prophet is teaching us to value things in our minds and create value in our lives, and to search for something that is worth. The importance of finding the right person for one's life is also discussed, and the distressed and lowly life lifespans are highlighted as examples of distressed and lowly life experiences. The importance of finding one's own values and values in life is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
All praise is due to Allah, Rabbul Izzati
wal Jalal.
We praise Him.
We thank Him.
We seek refuge in Him from the evils
of ourselves.
And we bear witness that there is no
God worthy of worship except for Allah, Rabbul
Izzati wal Jalal.
And that Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is His
servant and messenger.
As for what is to proceed, I enjoin
upon you the taqwa of Allah Azzawajal.
For He is the one who says in
the Qur'an, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا
اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
Believers have the consciousness and taqwa of Allah
the way He is deserving.
And don't die except in the state of
al-Islam.
I want to tell you about value.
Rather, instead of me saying I want to
tell you, I want you to think about
value.
I want you to start thinking about how
you associate value to things.
Look around you.
Think of everything that you've seen within this
world.
Whether it be people, whether it be things,
whether it be objects of possession, whether it
be ideas that you've discovered.
And how you associate value to these things.
We all have different metrics that we use
to associate value to different things.
If you walk into a store, and you
look at something, and you see that there's
a price tag that says $100 on it.
And then you see another thing right next
to it, which is a bootleg, and that's
just $10.
There's a reason why you are associating $100
to one and $10 to the other.
Because there's a way that we associate value
to different things in this world.
And it's not always that the same things
remain equally valuable.
If you look at fiat currencies for instance,
you'll see currencies going up and currencies going
down.
Inflation, and then hyperinflation, and then ultra hyperinflation.
So you'll see things moving around.
So value changes as well within the minds
of people for different things.
That's the reality of it.
One day one hairstyle is the thing to
do.
The next day something else becomes.
One day one attire is the way to
dress, but the next day something else becomes.
So we associate value to different things in
different ways.
One day one word is the hip thing
to say, but the next day there's something
else that people like to say.
So the way we associate value in our
social culture, it changes over time.
But we have metrics, even if they're changing,
that we use to decide what is valuable
within this world.
Why did you choose to be with this
person for the rest of your life?
You have a reason why you made that
choice, because you've decided to put value in
beauty, or you've decided to put value in
politeness and kindness, or you've decided to put
value in education, or you've decided to put
value in something else.
That's the reality.
Or family, familial ties, or closeness, or whatever
it may be.
You have decided to place value in something.
The Prophet saw this, and that's why he
said that a woman is married off, and
he mentions a number of reasons.
She's married off because of her beauty, she's
married off because of money, she's married off
because of social status, and sometimes even her
lineage.
But then the Prophet said, فَظْفَرْ بِذَاتِ الدِّينِ
تَرِبَتْ يَدَاكَ But what he wants you to
do is, he wants you to fight for
the one who's got the deen.
So the Prophet is creating a shift in
our minds of what is valuable.
He's teaching us how you actually create the
hierarchy of value in your mind.
What should be at the top of the
value chart within your life?
Because in our metrics we have different ways.
I want you to start thinking about whether
you're valuing things within this world the correct
way.
The way Allah wants you to value.
The way that's actually going to matter in
the end of it all when you're six
feet under.
When you change how you see value in
this world, a lot of things within this
world will change.
The Prophet recognized that people have different ways
of valuing a woman.
The Prophet ﷺ even recognized that people have
different ways of valuing a man.
There was a man who was sitting right
next to the Prophet ﷺ.
And a woman came to the Prophet and
she said, Oh Prophet of Allah, I have
gifted myself to you in marriage.
And the Prophet looked and he decided not
to accept.
And so there was a man who was
sitting there and he said, Oh Prophet of
Allah, marry me off to this woman or
marry her off to me.
So the Prophet, he looked at this man
and he said, What do you have?
Is there something you can give?
That you can give as sadaq, as dowry.
So the man said, I have nothing.
He said, Go out there and look for
a ring even if it happens to be
of iron.
Even if it's valueless basically in the sights
of people.
So the man said, I couldn't find it.
He searched around, he had nothing to his
name for him to even acquire something that's
made of iron.
He couldn't.
So he came back to the Prophet ﷺ
and he said, Do you have anything of
the Qur'an in your heart?
هل عندك شيء من القرآن?
So the man said, yes, سورة كذا وكذا.
I have this surah and that surah memorized.
So the Prophet ﷺ he said, زوجتك إياها
بما معك من القرآن.
I have married her off to you because
of the Qur'an that happens to be
in your heart.
What is the Prophet teaching us over here?
The Prophet is teaching us that the Qur
'an is valuable.
It's valuable.
What is he teaching to us in the
hadith where he told us to go for
the woman with the deen?
He's saying that deen is valuable.
In our minds we have associated value to
things that are temporary.
I'll give you another example.
When you walk in with a realtor to
a home and you want to purchase this
home.
All of us and every one of us
when we look at the home, what do
we look at?
We start thinking what type of tabletops, what
type of cabinets, what type of this, that,
the other, the flooring.
These are the things that we're looking at.
Who walks into a home that's completely distressed
except for a flipper and buys that?
People don't do that because people don't associate
value in homes that are distressed.
And the Prophet ﷺ he said in a
hadith, He said, الَّذِي لَيْسَ فِي جَوْفِهِ شَيْءٌ
مِّنَ الْقُرْآنِ كَالْبَيْتِ الْخَرِبِ The person who has
nothing of the Qur'an in his heart,
that person is like the haunted and distressed
home.
Because you don't see any value in a
home that is distressed and the Prophet doesn't
see any value in the body of a
person who hasn't committed the Qur'an in
his heart.
Or at least some of it.
So the Prophet is now teaching us how
to shift our vision of value.
You need to start seeing value in things
that are actually valuable.
This is how you have to look.
Because what will matter in the end of
it all is not going to be the
car that you drive.
And it's not going to be the home
that you reside in.
It's not going to be the brands that
you chose to wear.
It's not going to be the woman that
you had, or the man that you had,
or the family that you had.
None of this matters.
Even your lineage, it doesn't matter.
أَبُو لَهَبٍ فِي النَّارِ وَهُوَ بْنُ حَاشِمِ وَسَلْمَانُ
فِي الْفِرْدَوْسِ مِنْ خُرَسَانِ أَبُو لَهَبٍ is going
to be in hellfire.
And he is from Banu Hashim.
And Salman Al-Farisi, despite the fact that
he is from Persia, he will be in
Jannah.
Because the Arabs, they used to boast of
their lineage, and they would assume themselves to
be greater than everybody else.
A man, he came to Salman himself, and
he said, I am X, Y, Z.
Tell me your lineage.
Tell me your lineage.
Oh Salman, who are you?
You're a Persian man.
You're a Persian man.
So Umar Ibn Khattab, he realized that this
man has violated Salman.
By assuming that real value is in his
lineage.
So he came to that man, who had
violated Salman with that question, and he said,
اِنْ تَسِبْ And, سُقَطَ فِي يَدَيْهِ He decided,
he felt as if he has lost the
plot at this moment.
And he looked at Umar, and he said,
I apologize.
He said, no, اِنْ تَسِبْ Tell me your
lineage.
He said again, I've lost the plot.
And then Umar, he said, I am X,
Y, Z.
And he gave his lineage.
But I am Umar, the son of Al
-Islam, the brother of Salman, the son of
Al-Islam.
So he switched how to value things.
That's the reality.
The value that Allah is teaching us is
in the Quran, in the deen, in the
religion.
And that's why even to the Prophet ﷺ.
By the way, this is a message for
you and I, and even the Prophet.
The Prophet ﷺ, what did Allah say to
him?
He said to him, وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَاكَ سَبْعًا مِنَ
الْمَثَانِ وَالْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيمِ I have given to you
the seven oft-repeated verses along with the
Quran.
The ulama of at-Tafsir, they said these
seven oft-repeated verses are Surah Al-Fatiha.
And Al-Qur'an Al-'Azim is also been
explained as Surah Al-Fatiha.
The great Qur'an, the glorious Qur'an,
all of it is summarized within Surah Al
-Fatiha.
So what did Allah say after that?
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَاكَ سَبْعًا مِنَ الْمَثَانِ وَالْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيمِ لَا
تَمُدَّنَّ عَيْنَيكَ إِلَى مَا مَتَّعْنَا بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا مِّنْهُمْ
Do not extend your gaze to the things
that I've given to other people within the
world.
You have the Qur'an.
Why do you care what other people have?
It shouldn't matter.
When you begin to see that true value
is in the words of Allah, nothing else
will matter anymore.
Because you've got the Qur'an, O Prophet
of Allah.
So Allah is even teaching the Prophet ﷺ
that nothing really matters except for this Qur
'an.
This is where I place the value.
The religion, this is where I place the
value.
The pious woman, that's where I place the
value.
The man who has the Qur'an in
his heart, that's where I place the value.
Start looking at things around you in that
way.
I swear by God that we don't do
this.
How do you feel when you see a
teacher at the back of the masjid sitting
there teaching the Qur'an?
Many of us don't actually see the value
in that man.
But the Prophet ﷺ, he believes him to
be better than you and I.
He ﷺ in the Hadith of Uthman, he
said, خَيْرُكُمْ مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ وَحَلَّمَهُ The best
of you is the one who learns the
Qur'an and teaches it as well.
So the Prophet ﷺ is saying, that man
in the back of the masjid with a
small halaqa around him of people learning Qur
'an from him, he's better than you, I
and everybody else.
He's better.
This is the value the Prophet is associating
to this man.
So who are you then in your heart
to assume that you might be better because
you've got a nicer car, nicer home, a
nicer life, more savings, some retirement account, some
investments here and there.
Those are not valuable things.
Not according to the Prophet ﷺ.
These are things that you use to get
through this life.
They're not useless things.
They're obviously useless because they are the type
of things that we use to build these
sort of centers.
That's what it is, the money.
So the money has its use and the
Prophet ﷺ he said, نعم المال الصالح في
يد الرجل الصالح.
How great is good wealth, amounts of wealth
in the hands of a person who knows
how to use it.
A pious person.
So good wealth in the hands of a
good man is great.
But again, that's if it's used in the
right way.
But the true value is in the deen,
in the hereafter, in your Qur'an.
Ask Allah ﷻ to make the Qur'an
the light of our hearts.
وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه
أجمعين.
الحمد لله حمدا يوافع نعمه ويكافع مزيده.
وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه
أجمعين.
People want to live life.
Everybody that you talk to at some point
within their lives, especially young people, they use
this phrase of, I want to live life.
I'm just trying to live some life.
I'm trying to live it up.
I just want to live my life.
Right?
You've heard that.
That you just want to live your life.
And what's intended by that word is that
I want to enjoy my time.
I want to relax and go out and
go to beaches and head down to the
Maldives and Mexico and here and there.
That's what I want to do because this
is fun.
Now again, I'm not telling you to not
have the fun, but I'm saying this is
what happens.
This is what people are looking for.
They're looking to go out and live life.
So long as you're keeping it halal, have
some fun, no problem.
But I want you to start thinking even
about life in another way.
This life throughout the Quran, Allah describes it
as, الحياة الدنيا.
This life that is a lowly life.
That is a distressed life.
That is not the heightened life.
You see, these are all words that we
use within our language as well.
And the Quran is revealed by Allah Azza
wa Jalla and He uses the same words,
but we fail to see it.
There's the high life.
That's what everybody wants to live.
But Allah talks about this dunya and He
calls it the low life.
Right?
You know, He's a high roller.
He's living the high life, etc.
There is no high life within this world.
That's the reality of it.
Because no matter what you have, there's always
going to be a problem.
You go out to a nice beach, great
tropical environment, but you're now bit by a
dengue mosquito.
What are you gonna do?
The high life is all messed up now
because now you're in the hospital.
So no matter what enjoyment you have, that
enjoyment will always be tainted with a problem
that you didn't anticipate.
And perhaps you even anticipated, but you overlooked
it in your dreams and in your hopes
that you're going to be able to live
the high life.
But Allah is giving you a news flash.
He's saying, this hayat is a dunya.
It's the lowly life.
It can't be high.
No matter how much you try, there's always
going to be something that will taint the
fun of this life and it will no
longer be high anymore.
You end up drinking, what happens?
After that you get a nice buzz, but
in the morning, what happens?
Right?
You don't get to live the high life
because this is how Allah has created this
life.
You go out and you have other types
of fun and you walk home with diseases
and other problems because you don't get to
live an untainted, desirable life within this world.
But if you want to have that high
life, you want to be able to live,
Allah says, وَإِنَّ الْآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ That the
hereafter is the hayawan.
You know what the hayawan is?
It's the life, but it's not just any
life.
Al-hayawan is on the verb form or
the word form of fa'alan.
And the scholars of morphology, they say any
word that comes on this form of fa
'alan, it has the concept of movement.
It has the concept of things happening, fayadan.
You've got a flood coming, things are happening.
That's why they call it a fayadan.
So this hayawan is a type of life
that is actually happening.
You wanted to have that experience of you're
in and you're out, and this is happening,
and then there's parties, and there's this, and
all of these things that you want, the
excitement, the adrenaline rush that you were looking
for.
Well, Allah is saying, this life will always
be the low life.
But the hereafter will have all of those
excitements that you so dreamt of and desired.
So if you want to live that high
life, you're not gonna find it within this
life.
Allah hasn't created this life like that.
No matter how much you live, you'll still
have problems.
The people that are living highest up have
the highest floors and the access to the
highest floors for them to be able to
jump off, and they have millions of dollars
of bank accounts, and they still end up
committing suicide.
We see this happening again and again.
People that are living that high life, they're
still in hospitals, and they still go psycho,
and they still have depression, and they still
have anxieties, and they still have pains, and
they don't get to live the high life.
Because there is no living the high life
within this world.
Allah throughout the Quran calls this life the
lowly life.
This is what it is.
So if you want to assume that Allah
doesn't know which life is the high one
and which life is a low one, then
that's an assumption.
You can go out there and try and
test.
As you grow in life, you begin to
realize people that have more experience than you,
they know more than you.
So you try one thing and you're like,
yeah, actually, you know what?
I thought I had it figured out, but
dad knew exactly what he was talking about.
Right?
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, هُوَ
أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنْشَأَكُمْ He knows you better
because He's the one who created you.
He created this life, so He knows the
ins and the outs of this life.
He knows it's not gonna be high.
You're gonna have some highs, but after that
it's all tainted, and it's all low after
that.
If you want to live the high life,
then here's a piece of advice.
Try to live for the hereafter.
Live this life to develop your hereafter.
That's what's going to allow you to live
that experience of enjoyment and adrenaline and fun,
just fun without anything else tainting that fun.
That's what's gonna allow you to do that.
So when you begin to recognize that the
value is in the hereafter, then the next
step that you have to do is you
have to work towards the hereafter.
That's why Allah says, وَمَنْ أَرَادَ الْآخِرَةَ وَسَعَالَهَا
سَعِيَهَا وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌۢ فَأُولَئِكَ كَانَ سَعِيُهُمْ مَشْكُورًۭا That
whoever wishes for the hereafter, and then he
works towards it as well.
It's not just a matter of dreaming, right?
Dreaming and praying doesn't work.
You have to sit and do some work
as well.
And that's why Allah says, سَعَالَهَا سَعِيَهَا There's
a type of work you have to do.
And you have to work hard, سَارِعُ, race.
Because this is a race.
In this world, you're racing.
سَابِقُ, go and become the winner.
Allah wants you to win.
So get out there and do stuff.
The Quran, I'll tell you one thing before
I leave you off, has a very central
idea.
You have to believe, and you have to
do righteous deeds.
Almost every page of the Quran will have
these two ideas.
You have to believe, and you have to
do righteous deeds.
This is a simple theory.
It's a duality.
You follow these two, you're good.
You have Iman, which is your belief.
And then you have Islam, your actions.
That's it.
You've won now.
This is how you win.
You have to have a sincere intention towards
Allah, that all of my actions are for
His sake alone, and my life is dedicated
to Him.
مِنَّ صَلَاتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
And then after that you act.
That's it.
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
allow us to purify our intentions.
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
allow us to purify our actions solely for
His sake.
I ask Allah rabbul Izzati wal Jalal to
give us the tawfiq to act by the
Qur'an, live by the Qur'an, die
by the Qur'an, to learn the Qur
'an, and that Allah azza wa jal makes
the Qur'an the light of our hearts,
and the fountain of our hearts.
اللهم اجعل القرآن ربيع قلوبنا ونور صدورنا وجلاء
همومنا وأحزاننا رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي
الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ وَأَدْخِلْنَا الْجَنَّةَ مَعَ
الْأَبْرَارِ يَا عَزِيزُ يَا غَفَّارُ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ إِنَّ
الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ
وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ