Ali Albarghouthi – Friday Khutba 10-11-2024
AI: Summary ©
The importance of strong spiritual faith and acceptance in Islam in regaining strength and avoiding suffering is emphasized. It is also emphasized the need for acceptance and faith in Islam to combat challenges and avoid suffering, as well as the importance of knowing the truth and following Moore's Law. Consent to change is also emphasized, along with protecting individual privacy and avoiding domestic violence. The importance of balance in managing a situation, respecting others, and maintaining Muslim integrity is emphasized, along with the need for everyone to be strong and contribute to the um row. A suggestion is made to teach others to be humble and humble.
AI: Summary ©
I seek refuge in Allah from the evil
of our souls and from the evil of
our actions.
Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and
whom He misguides, none can guide him.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant
and Messenger.
May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him
and his family and companions.
As it is clear to all of us,
that we are witnessing one of the greatest
states of Muslim weakness.
What we are witnessing is perhaps something that
is unprecedented.
Where we lack strength, the ability to save
ourselves, the ability to determine what is happening
to us.
And we must ponder how we can regain
our strength beyond simple emotional appeals.
How can we actually regain that strength?
And why is it that we need it
today perhaps more than ever or in a
very long time.
On the individual level, on the communal level,
on the family level, as an ummah, we
need that strength.
We need it because as you approach the
day of judgment, the Prophet ﷺ said that
the fitan will increase, will be prominent.
Fitan, afflictions, temptations.
And you can see the confirmation of this
in what is happening globally, but also what
is happening to each one of us.
What is happening inside our homes.
How each year brings new challenges, every new
decade brings increased pressure that was not there
before.
And so to be able to withstand that
pressure, the stamina and the power of a
Muslim must also increase.
And as an ummah, you note how weak
we are.
That we are waiting for somebody else to
help us.
What happens in another nation with other people
determines what happens to us, not what is
happening within.
So we can't dictate, we can't lead, we
can't decide.
And Rasulullah ﷺ when he mentioned in the
hadith that the nations will attack you, invite
each other to attack you.
He pointed ﷺ to something essential when he
said, وَيُلْقَ فِي قُلُوبِكُمُ الْوَهْنِ There will be
wahn in your hearts.
And wahn is weakness.
And they said, oh messenger of Allah, what
is this wahn?
He said حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ It is
loving the dunya and hating death.
He said you will be weak on the
inside, that is the essence of your weakness.
You love the dunya and you are afraid
of death.
And you may wonder, will all of us
love the dunya?
And you may wonder, all of us are
worried about death.
But the Prophet ﷺ did not talk about
the natural love for the dunya and the
natural fear of death.
He is talking ﷺ about a love of
the dunya that is so dominant that you
don't want to leave it.
And you put it before Allah عز و
جل.
That is the type of love.
It becomes what you live for and think
about and die for.
And being afraid of death is natural.
But when you are so afraid of it
that you would compromise Allah and His messenger
and what they have revealed because you are
afraid of death, then that cowardice is your
detriment, that cowardice is your end.
Because there has to be something that you
are willing to die for, that you are
willing to sacrifice for.
Everybody in this world understands this.
Otherwise, you don't have no morals.
There has to be something important in your
life.
And you will see in the Qur'an
that Allah عز و جل said, خُذُوا مَا
أَتَيْنَاكُمْ بِقُوَّةٍ Take what we have revealed to
you with strength.
That is a command that was even given
to the Prophets of Allah ﷺ.
Where Allah said to Yahya, يَا يَحْيَا خُذِ
الْكِتَابَ بِقُوَّةٍ Hold on firmly to the book.
And when you think about what does it
mean to hold firmly to what Allah عز
و جل has revealed.
And how is this tied to strength?
It is to believe that what Allah has
revealed is the best of the best.
To hold on to it without qualifications.
To submit to it without reservation.
To implement it without obstacles.
To surrender to Allah عز و جل more
than you surrender to anything or anyone else.
Not to hesitate in following it.
He says, this is strength when you hold
on to the book of Allah.
And you hold on to the sunnah of
Rasulullah ﷺ.
And that is the essence of strength if
we want strength.
If you wanna dissect it a little bit.
To begin with, strength means knowledge.
And we will not be strong in Islam
and strong afterwards because of it.
If we do not know what Islam is.
And when you look at us today, except
for few among us, may Allah bless them.
We're not interested in learning Islam.
We know superficially what Islam is.
But ask yourself, is this sufficient for you
to combat the challenges of today?
To combat the frequent fitan one after the
other.
To combat the temptations that will visit you
and visit your family and visit your children.
To know what is right and what is
wrong.
To have a moral fiber that tells you
right from wrong.
A compass.
Hudhaifah ibn al-Yaman, he said something about
being an imma'ah.
Like a yes man.
One who goes along with the crowd.
He says, He
says, do not be an imma'ah.
What does that mean?
He said that when people do good, then
you do good.
And then if they are unjust, then you
are unjust.
But get yourself used to something better.
That if they do good, you do good.
And if they are evil, if they do
something bad, you're not unjust.
Meaning the crowd does not determine how you
behave.
If people follow the law, you follow.
If they break the law, you don't break
it because they broke it.
If they are moral, you are moral.
If they are immoral, you don't say because
immorality has spread, I'll be immoral again.
How will you know this?
He says, it's with knowledge.
With ilm.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud r.a used the
same word when he said, He says, you
either be a scholar, a person of knowledge.
If not, then a student who's learning.
And don't be an imma outside of the
two.
So you want to follow the truth, you
have to know what the truth is.
You must have the sound belief.
To be able to distinguish between tawhid and
shirk, sunnah and bid'ah.
What is halal and what is haram.
So that you can implement this.
How could you implement something that we do
not know?
And we are living in an era of
competing ideologies.
You have to understand that we are gonna
accept some of them.
Naturally or consciously or subconsciously.
But you have to be aware of their
influence so you can ask yourself, Well, what
is wrong then with liberalism?
Or neo-liberalism?
What is wrong with gender politics?
What is wrong with identity politics?
What could be the right but also the
wrong things about them?
What is wrong about right-wing ideologies?
What is wrong about left-wing ideologies?
What is distinctive about Islam that we want
to offer to people?
Which will save them from this chaotic world
that we're living in.
Which is a product of those confused ideologies.
How are we different?
How are we distinct?
So knowledge is essential.
So we need to commit ourselves.
We really want to be strong to learning
Islam.
And this has to be consistent, regular.
Salatul Jum'ah is not enough.
You have to frequent the masjid.
You have to read books.
You have to learn your Qur'an.
You have to learn your sunnah.
You have to commit yourself.
It doesn't matter how old and how young
you are.
At least you'll meet Allah Azza wa Jal
with increased knowledge.
Some of the salaf on his deathbed.
He was discussing with someone a hadith.
He says, narrate this hadith to me.
Give me this hadith.
Then he was criticized by some family members.
He says, you want to do this now?
He says, if I were to meet Allah
Azza wa Jal with this hadith, I'll be
better off than meeting him ignorant of it.
Just before death, if I just learn this
ayah, this hadith, this halal and that haram,
I'll be better with Allah Azza wa Jal.
So that should be the motivation.
All of us should be learning our Islam
because you are living in a time and
you are living in a place where your
Islam will be compromised if you don't understand
it.
Add to this the commitment that should follow.
That Allah Azza wa Jal, خُذُوا مَا آتَيْنَاكُمْ
بِقُوَّةٍ وَاسْمَعُوا Take firmly, hold on firmly to
what we have revealed to you and listen
to it.
Meaning follow it.
And the people of the book, they said,
سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا The people of the book said,
we hear and we disobey.
So what are we gonna say?
And if you take this and you implement
it, and you champion Allah Azza wa Jal,
Allah says, إِن تَنْصُرُوا اللَّهَ يَنْصُرْكُمْ If you
elevate Allah and you esteem Him, Allah Azza
wa Jal will elevate you.
Allah will esteem you.
Allah will champion you.
But you need that strength of knowledge and
commitment and surrender to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
How are we gonna fight among the many
challenges, mental health issues?
We are increasingly vulnerable to them.
And I'm not saying that mental health issues
are caused or all of them are caused
by a weakness of iman.
But when you strengthen your iman, you'll be
able to fight it.
When you strengthen and elevate your iman, you'll
be able to combat that.
But if you leave yourself defenseless, then you're
open to all of the bad influences in
society.
And I believe that all of us are
vulnerable.
No one is safe unless Allah Azza wa
Jal saves you.
So are you gonna wait till you're infected?
Are you gonna wait till your family is
suffering and your kids are suffering?
Or will you inoculate them with iman and
with practice and surrender to Allah Azza wa
Jal?
And when we speak about surrendering to Allah
Azza wa Jal, it's important to understand what
that means.
That Allah's revelation is above any human manufacturing
of ideas.
Any human proposal that Allah Azza wa Jal
knows the best and He has revealed the
best.
So if there is a contradiction, we put
Allah Azza wa Jal first and we put
the sunnah of Rasulallah alayhi salatu wassalam first.
You see it sometimes in ideologies, this kind
of sneak into us, into our minds and
into our hearts.
You see us how we divide sometimes based
on tribes and nations, based on ethnicities and
race.
The Prophet alayhi salatu wassalam when he came
to Medina, they had tribes.
All the Arabs belong to different tribes.
He did not eradicate tribal affiliation.
He didn't say disregard your tribes.
But when there is a conflict, which comes
first?
When there is an affiliation, which comes first?
When there is a conflict, who are you
gonna put first?
So Rasulallah alayhi salatu wassalam gave the best
example when he gave, أَلَا إِنَّ آلَى بَنِي
فُلَانَ لَيْسُوا لِي بِأَوْلِيَا إِنَّ وَلِيِّيَ اللَّهُ وَصَالِحُ
الْمُؤْمِنِينَ He says the family of so and
so are not my allies.
And he was referring to people in Quraysh,
his tribe, his people.
So and so are not my allies.
My ally is Allah and the righteous among
the believers.
So who is your ally?
Sometimes you see us reverting back into our
national origins or identification.
I am this and you're that.
Or our tribal affiliation, I am this and
you're that.
And we take pride in this over other
people.
And we must understand that this not only
divides Muslims and weakens the Muslim body, but
this is also jahiliyyah.
And Rasulullah a.s. said, دَعُوهَ فَإِنَّهَا مُنْتِنَا
Let go of this, it is rotten.
When you take pride into your group at
the expense of the other, he says, this
is rotten, leave this.
There is no sense being proud because you
belong to a particular tribe.
You just belong to them.
There is no sense being proud because you're
male or female.
There's no pride in this.
There's no pride in being white or black.
There's absolutely no pride in it.
And you should not categorize yourself based on
those colors, or based on those genders, or
based on those tribes, or based on those
nations.
And you must understand here that yes, there
is a reality to nationalism today in terms
of a nation, how it exists, etc, etc.
And the laws that it imposes upon the
land.
But then ask yourself, and especially when it
is about Muslim lands, are these borders natural?
Who drew these borders?
Who else other than colonial powers who really
wanted to do what with those borders?
Fragment and divide.
And yet we subscribe to them thinking that
yes, this is something real.
And it isn't.
I should love my brother across the border
if he's righteous more than I love someone
who is a citizen who is unrighteous.
My greater affiliation is not to get angry
when my country is attacked.
Should be angry when Allah and His Prophets
are attacked.
Country is a country that comes and goes.
A border changes in 10, 15, 20 years,
the borders may not stay the same.
Then what is gonna happen to your affiliation,
race, ethnicity, nationalism?
If they supersede Islam, we have weakened the
Islamic body.
So we have to go back and submit
to Allah Azza wa Jalla, I'm a slave
of Allah, and I'm a servant of Allah.
I'm not a slave of a border.
And I don't identify myself based on any
other affiliation.
They can be, but they are secondary to
me being a Muslim.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم تستغفروا
الحمد لله رب العالمين حمدا كثيرا طيبا مباركا
فيه وأصلي وأسلم على رسوله محمد وعلى آله
وصحبه وسلم أما بعد It's important also if
we want to be strong to understand that
and it's part of surrendering and submitting to
Allah Azza wa Jalla is that we don't
and are not controlled by our emotions.
We are controlled by what Allah loves and
hates.
So I'm not gonna respond to someone or
to something based on what I feel.
But based on how does Allah want me
to do?
What does Allah want me to do with
this?
And how does He want me to act?
He said, عليه الصلاة والسلام ليس الشديد بالسرعة
The strong person is not the one who
overwhelms others physically, but the one who controls
himself when he's angry.
And that control comes because Allah Azza wa
Jalla is above our emotions.
So before I react to someone or to
react to something, before I say, before I
speak, I must ask myself, Allah Azza wa
Jalla loves this, I'll do it, even if
I don't want it.
Allah Azza wa Jalla hates this, I'm not
gonna do it even though I'm inclined towards
it.
And that is true strength, not emotionalism.
But to restrain yourself when restraint is needed,
and that cannot happen unless one is close
to Allah Azza wa Jalla.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا لَقِيْتُمْ فِئَةً فَاثْبُتُوا
وَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ It says, Allah
Azza wa Jalla, who have iman, if you
meet a party in conflict, in fighting, in
jihad, be firm, be steadfast, and remember Allah
often so that you may be successful.
And that remembrance of Allah, that is continuous.
You don't forget, that is continuous.
That's the thing that gives you strength, because
you'll always remember that Allah should come first.
If you think about how much we give
to Allah versus other things in our lives,
you'll understand the essence of that weakness.
Consider Allah Azza wa Jalla as an employer,
just for the purposes of this comparison.
He has employed you.
But you have other employers as well.
You have that physical employer who hours from
you X number of hours a day.
You also have your responsibility as a father,
responsibility as a husband, your responsibility.
Consider how much you give Allah Azza wa
Jalla versus this life.
How much you sacrifice for this life versus
Allah Azza wa Jalla.
And then compare and consider your strength in
this life and your strength in iman.
And you'll understand where the weakness may lie.
We give Allah Azza wa Jalla the leftovers.
Let's be honest, right?
We give Allah Azza wa Jalla the leftover
of our money, the leftover of our attention,
the leftover of our time, the leftover of
our life.
This is why when we're young, we run
after the dunya.
And then when the dunya tells us, we
don't want you anymore because you're old, you
say, I'm gonna be religious.
The leftover.
The thing that no one needs.
How can a person prosper like this?
How can they be strong like that?
How can an ummah be strong like that
when they put Allah Azza wa Jalla last?
And lastly, the last thing I wanna say
about strength is how we deal with each
other.
And I mentioned that we should do that
absence the consideration of race and ethnicity and
nationalism.
Subhanallah, sometimes you find that people are fine,
but once they start having a problem with
another person, they revert back to their nationalism
and then generalization about the other person.
Or those people are X, Y, and Z.
That people, that nation, this country, X, Y,
and Z.
And that is jahiliyyah.
But here when Allah Azza wa Jalla says,
وَأَطِعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَلَا تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلُوا
وَتَذْهَبَرِهُكُمْ It says obey Allah and His messenger
and do not dispute, do not quarrel.
For then if that happens, you will be
weak on the inside.
فَتَفْشَلُوا وَتَذْهَبَرِهُكُمْ You'll be weak on the outside.
How we dialogue with each other, how we
talk to each other, and the purpose of
that discussion matters.
So when Allah said obey Allah and His
messenger and do not dispute, it means two
things.
One, do not dispute with Allah and the
messenger.
If they say something, follow it.
It is better for you.
ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًا It is better for
you and it will bring the best result.
But also when you're talking to each other,
disputing with each other because you naturally will
disagree with each other.
That's natural.
What is your aim and what is your
goal and what tools are you using when
you're talking to someone else?
Do you simply want to defeat them?
Do you simply want to humiliate them?
Do you just simply want to be right?
Or do you want to reach the truth?
Will you say whatever in order to win?
Or will you say, I do not know
when you do not know.
Do you want to humiliate the other or
you want to elevate him by him acceptance
of the truth?
Ash-Shafi'i r.a said famously, he
said, I've never debated, argued, disputed with a
person except that I would wanted him to
reach the truth without me pointing it to
him.
I want him to reach the truth on
his own.
And he says, whenever I find someone who
is wrong, and then he admits that he
was wrong, he increases in value in my
eyes.
I respect him because he admitted that he
was wrong.
And whenever I see someone stubbornly clinging to
falsehood, he's demoted in my eyes because I
know, I know that that's weakness in character.
So we have to balance two things.
On the one hand, being vocal about the
truth.
We can't compromise it.
On the other hand, maintaining Muslim integrity, the
integrity of the ummah.
And this is a tricky balance.
And not everybody is able to achieve it.
And if we know, let's try our best
to maintain that balance.
And if we don't, let's refer this back
to those of knowledge and say, how do
I talk about these things?
How do we solve these issues?
Because I don't want in the process of
proclaiming the truth to alienate a lot of
Muslims.
And I also want also in the name
of grabbing a lot of Muslims and bringing
them to Islam to compromise the truth.
It doesn't work unless you maintain both.
And we need to ask Allah Azza wa
Jal for wisdom and also we need to
be humble enough.
So, to summarize, may Allah Azza wa Jal
give us the wisdom to be strong.
We have to realize that this is an
individual responsibility.
Don't wait for your neighbor or somebody else
to do it on your behalf.
We need every one of us to be
strong.
For your own sake, first of all.
And then for the sake of your family,
for the sake of your children, for the
sake of your neighborhood, for the sake of
this masjid and community.
And then you will contribute to the ummah
of Muhammad a.s. if you are strong.
So, ask Allah Rabbal Alameen Arhamar Rahimeen to
make us among the strong of the face
of this earth.
Who hold firmly to His book and the
sunnah of His Prophet a.s. Ya Allah,
remind us and do not make us of
those who are neglectful and unaware of You.
Ya Allah Rabbal Alameen, teach us our religion.
Make us of those who are committed to
it.
Make us of those who are sincere in
their life towards You, Ya Arhamar Rahimeen.
We ask You, Ya Rabbal Alameen, to give
quick and haste relief to the people of
Gaza, and to the people of Palestine, and
to the people of Sham, and to the
people of Sudan, and to all and rest
of all of Islam, Ya Rabbal Alameen, wherever
a Muslim may be suffering and under duress.
We ask You, Ya Rabbal Alameen, that You
would clothe them and feed them and defend
them, and plot for them and not plot
against them, Ya Arhamar Rahimeen.
Ya Allah, forgive us all of our sins
and the sins of the rest of the
Muslims.
Allahumma aatinaa fid dunyaa hasanaa wafil aakhirati hasanaa
wakhinaa athabal naar.
Allahumma yaa muqallibal quloobi thabbit quloobanaa ala deenik.
Allahumma yaa musarrifal quloobi sarrif quloobanaa ala taatik.
Allahumma a'innaa ala dhikrikaa wa shukrikaa wa
husni ibadatik.
And before I leave inshaAllah for the salah,
just two things I wanna mention.
First of all, they wanted me to tell
you, zaakumullah khair, the expenses that the masjid
needed to complete the renovations for the area
had been fulfilled.
So may Allah Azza reward you and reward
anyone, and everyone who had contributed, and anyone
who had made dua.
And also, HCI inshaAllah, they wanna talk to
you right after the salah inshaAllah, about the
situation in Gaza and donations that are gonna
go there.
So if you have time inshaAllah, give them
a little bit of your attention.
BarakAllahu feekum.