Ali Albarghouthi – Friday Khutba 13-09-2024
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AI: Transcript ©
I was talking to someone recently,
and he remarked
that he no longer
desires
or can tolerate watching the news
because of how
horrible it is
repeatedly and daily,
especially
when you consider what is happening
to children,
and what future
will they have? Those who survive, what future
will they have?
And he said that the most upsetting thing,
the most frustrating thing is how
helpless
you feel.
And that prompted
a question about what does it mean to
be helpless?
And if our helplessness
is imposed on us from outside,
or if part of it is chosen.
Now we must ground all of our standing
in the Quran and in the sunnah.
If you go back to the sunnah,
you'll find that Rasulullah alaihis salatu was salam
sought Allah's protection from helplessness, from inability,
from his dua.
I seek your protection, you Allah, from helplessness
and laziness.
And these two things are companions
because you either wanna do something but you're
unable
so this
is inability.
You have the desire
but you simply can't,
and that's heartbreaking, that's devastating.
Laziness, you don't even have the desire.
You may be able to but you can't
you don't want to do it.
Both of them
lead to the same
outcome.
There is no
concrete things,
ineffectual
life
because you don't even want it or even
if you want it, you cannot do it.
So the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam salallahu alaihi
wasalam salallahu
alaihi
wasalam
salallahu
alaihi wasalam,
He says, hold on to
seek
what benefits you. Go after what benefits you
and seek Allah's assistance and don't be helpless.
And here that prohibition
means that this helplessness
is chosen.
Otherwise, there is no meaning to prohibit something
that is out of your control.
So he's saying here, alaihis salatu wa sallam,
he says, you know what benefits you? Hold
on to it, run after it,
favor it,
and
ask Allah to assist you and don't act
like the helpless. Don't be like the helpless.
And that means that this is chosen.
That you live like a helpless person because
you've chosen to be a helpless person.
Now if you go also to the sunnah
and to the Quran, you'll understand that the
shaitan is trying to make you helpless.
Whatever you wanna do to bring you close
to Allah, a zawdul, he's gonna stand in
your way.
I will sit
between
the straight path
between them and you. That's his promise. That's
his declaration.
And in interpreting this ayah, the scholars bring
the hadith of the prophet alayhi salaam to
He said
that the shaitan sits
in any righteous path that you wanna follow,
to discourage you,
to make it heavy,
to frighten you. So in the path of
Islam, he sits and he says, are you
gonna leave the religion of your fathers and
forefathers and embrace something new? So he disobeys
him and he accepts Islam. Then when he
wants to migrate, he says, are you gonna
leave your land and your sky, everything that
you know and go to a new land?
He disobeys him and he goes and he
migrates. Then when he wants to fight for
Allah's sake, he says, you're gonna fight for
Allah's sake and be killed and your money
will be taken away. Somebody else will marry
your wife, he disobeys him and he goes
for jihad. And then rasulullah he salallahu alaihi
wasallam said, one who does that, Allah promises
him Jannah.
So whatever thing you wanna do, whatever righteous
good thing that you wanna do, you must
understand that the shaitan is sitting right there
to frighten you, to make
it improbable,
impossible
in your eyes. Why would you do this?
It's too difficult. Sit and be relaxed and
have fun and enjoy your life. Why strive?
Why struggle? It's gonna end up in failure
anyway, and he's gonna keep up with these
whispers until you stop.
And in another hadith, alaihis salatu wa salam,
he said,
he says when you sleep,
the shaitan will tie 3 knots at the
back of your neck.
But if you wake up and you remember
Allah, one of those knots will be loosened.
If you make wudu, the second knot will
be loosened. If you pray salah, the third
knot will be loosened and you will wake
up energetic, in a good mood.
But if not
If not, you will wake up
sluggish,
lazy, in a bad mood.
So this is the plot of the shaitan,
to make you
lazy,
tired,
unable.
So there are ways to fight that,
but you have to be aware of that
external plot to make you helpless.
And if not,
we would be complicit
in our own helplessness.
Because you know
the disease,
you know the plot but you know the
remedy
and we choose not to
medicate ourselves.
There are couple of stories in the Quran
to illustrate
and they are very instructive
and how we make ourselves helpless.
Allah subhanahu
wa
ta'ala
said,
So have you not seen and heard about
the people, the Israelites
after Musa,
when they've asked a prophet of theirs,
send us a king so that we would
fight in Allah's cause?
And I want you to see the similarities
between their condition and ours
To understand that these stories are not just
simply stories.
They're way out.
They're lessons.
They are predictive.
They're analytical.
So the prophet
told them,
perhaps when fighting will be prescribed for you,
you will not fight.
Meaning you're saying something,
but your actions are gonna be different.
He says, why would we not fight for
Allah's cause, and we've been driven out of
our land and our children were taken away
from us? You see the incentive?
We lost our land, we lost our children.
We wanna fight.
Send us someone.
That's the energy.
That's the bravado.
We wanna do this.
Allah said,
When fighting was prescribed for them, they turned
away except for a few among them, and
Allah knows
the unjust.
He knows them very well.
Not everybody who says something are gonna do
it.
Not everybody who expresses a sentiment is gonna
do it.
There's a difference.
And Allah when he continues that story to
understand
that there is no way out except with
taqwa,
And it's sometimes surprising
that when we find the ummah in the
situation that it is, or someone is simply
facing
personal ordeals and problems,
And the suggestion is go back to Allah
a zawajal. Be alright with Allah so that
Allah could assist you so you could find
a way out. Some people are surprised and
they think that this is irrelevant.
How is it irrelevant? Because if you are
not ready,
if Allah does not assist you,
if Allah does not champion you,
how would you be able to survive, to
travail, to be able to be successful,
to win over the shaitan and everybody else
who's assisting him. If you and I, on
in ourselves are weak, how could we be
able to win? So see the remainder of
the story.
He says,
separated with the rest of the soldiers.
He said that Allah is gonna test you
with the river.
Whoever is gonna drink from it, He's not
one of us. He's not gonna join us.
And the one who does not drink from
it will join us except if you take
few sips.
They all drank from it except very few.
That's where patience and taqwa matter.
Then when he separated or
moved beyond that river, he and those who
believe are believers with him,
they said,
today we have no power against Goliath and
his soldiers.
We're helpless. We don't have energy. We don't
have power. It's not possible to win against
them.
Now you see the value of iman.
Those who have who don't know that they're
gonna meet Allah
said, how many times did it happen that
a small group won against a larger army
with the help of Allah
is with those who are patient.
And then when they faced Goliath and his
soldiers, they said,
When they face them, they say, you Allah,
pour patience upon us
and make our feet strong and steadfast
and help us to win against those who
disbelieve.
They defeated them with the will of Allah.
So those who listened to Allah
and they had iman,
they weren't helpless.
And those who disobeyed Allah azza wa jal,
they were helpless.
To understand that the choice that you and
I make results in helplessness
or in power and ability.
We have a role that we play in
that.
Take another
incident
that comes before that with Musa alaihis salam.
When he speaks to the Israelites
and he said,
It says, oh my people enter the sacred
holy land that is written for you and
don't turn away then then you'll be among
the losers. Hallelujah. Musa
He say, oh Musa, there was a mighty
people inhabiting the land and we will not
enter until they leave so if they leave
we will go in.
That's helplessness.
Why?
Because you disobey Allah.
You close that door.
You think it's impossible but nothing is impossible
with Allah
So their own weakness makes them helpless.
Allah
says,
It says 2
among those whom Allah blessed who fear Allah
Azarajal
told them,
just enter the gate.
Meaning as Allah commanded you. What did he
want from you? Believe in him and enter
the gate.
If you enter, you will be victorious.
You will defeat
them. Meaning.
And rely upon Allah if you are believers.
Meaning do as Allah wants from you.
Don't put impediments, false impediments
in front of you. Don't listen to your
own weakness or to the whispers of the
shaytan. Allah said this, just do as Allah
is saying, you will win.
Believe in him.
What do they say?
They say, oh Musa, we will never go
in as long as they are there.
So if you wanna fight you and your
lord, you go and fight, we're just gonna
be sitting right here.
And in the face of this insolence,
what does Allah
say?
What does he do to them?
It says it is then forbidden for them
40 years they will wander the land lost.
Lost.
Meaning the land that is supposed to be
theirs and there's a promise from Allah
Now for 40 years, they will not be
gained entry to it. They will not be
permitted to enter it, plus they're lost.
They can't find their way out.
And imagine
if you can't find your way out of
the masjid.
I know where the door is, I just
simply can't find it.
Where is it?
For 40 years they cannot find the way
out.
That's helplessness,
but was it imposed on them from outside
or did they choose it?
Think.
It was chosen,
and then Allah punished them with it. And
so the scholars say, he says whenever you
find yourself
as an ummah or even as an individual,
lost and confused, you don't know what the
truth is,
you can't find your way out,
go back to your previous choices when you
disregarded Allah's command because the confusion like the
Israelites
today
comes from disobeying Allah azza wa Jal. That's
the confusion of the ummah of Muhammad alaihis
salatu wa sallam today. And that is its
helplessness.
That each individual believes that he's helpless. They
don't push themselves, they don't know, and they
don't want to do what Allah wants from
them.
And accumulatively,
we become collectively
helpless.
So even as an individual,
if it's hard sometimes to
fathom how this works for an ummah.
Sometimes when you are presented with haram choices,
you think that the haram gives you options.
Right?
Oh, I have this and this and this
and this and this, these options because of
the haram.
You don't understand, you don't really realize that
once you choose the haram, you've chosen restrictions.
And the paths that were available before will
be taken away from you.
And you will be lost not guided.
Weaken not empowered.
So don't believe the whispers of the shaitan
when he says, follow the haram and you
will prosper. If you follow the haram, you'll
be lost.
Escaping helplessness
comes
when we
desire what Allah
wants us to do. We embrace it, we
want it because we believe that it's the
best for us,
and we strive,
we push ourselves
to do it,
to embrace it, to fulfill it.
And only when we cannot,
then we say,
Meaning I cannot do this
and I'm seeking Allah's assistance.
So
in the beginning, in the middle, and in
the end tells you that
you're not doing it because of your own
power.
We have no power.
You're doing it because Allah is assisting and
will assist and promises to assist. So don't
look at your own limitations.
Look at the possibility that Allah
has for you.
And then embark
and embrace
what Allah
wants.
It comes
with an aspiration, with an ambition
to be better and to do better, not
to be content with the world as it
is,
or with yourself as it is.
Once
the story is about
that ambition.
Once the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam, he was
hosted
in one of his travels by a Bedouin.
And then he told him, he said, alaihi
salallahu alaihi wasallam to him, once you are
in Madinah, come to us so that we
would honor you in return. So when that
bedouin came to the prophet alaihi salatu wa
sallam, he asked him, what is it you
want?
He says, I want a camel and few
goats to milk.
So
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
said,
He says, are you unable, are you helpless
to be like
the elderly Israelite
woman?
They say, oh prophet of Allah, who is
this elderly Israelite woman?
It says when Musa alaihi salaam wanted to
lead the Israelites out of Egypt,
he was lost.
He couldn't find his way out of the
city.
He kept
trying but he couldn't find his way out.
So he turned to the Israelites and he
says, what is this? Why is this happening?
It says because Yusuf alaihis salaam made us
promise before his death that when we are
gonna leave Egypt,
we take his body with us and we
bury it in Hashem.
So we cannot leave until we get his
body. Where is his body? He asked. He
says, no one knows
except an elderly woman.
She's the only one who still remembers where
he's buried. He goes to her and he
said,
where is he buried? He says, I know
where he is buried but I will not
tell you until you give me a promise.
Is what is it? He said that I'll
be your companion in Jannah.
Musa did not wanna give her that. Just
for this information,
yet Allah
revealed to him, give her her request.
She's gonna get it.
Then where is he? She said, here, drain
this lake. They drained it, extracted his body,
he says, as soon as they extracted the
body, the path was lit like the day.
Exactly, they knew where to go.
When something is missing,
the exit is missing.
And you want the exit to be clear?
Go back to Allah azza wa jal and
push yourself,
and don't be helpless, and seek what benefits
you,
and rely on Him,
and don't say it's too difficult.
Another story that tells you about religious ambition.
How you should seek the hereafter more than
the duniya.
The ansar, may Allah be pleased with them.
They once said to themselves,
he says, we got tired
of transporting water from the wells to our
farms on camels.
Why don't we go to the messenger alayhi
salatu wasalam and ask him
that he would ask Allah for the madinah
to flow with rivers so that the water
would come to our farms?
Why don't we go and ask him this?
So they got ready and they went to
the prophet alaihi salaahu alaihi wa sallam, and
the prophet when he saw them he says,
welcome.
He greeted them and he said, something must
have brought you here. They said, yes, oh
messenger of Allah.
He said, whatever you ask me, I will
give you, and whatever I ask, Allah He
will give me.
So meaning,
ask whatever you want,
it's given.
And he asked him what it is.
Whatever you want is gonna be given.
Now what did you what do you think
they asked him?
They turned to each other and they asked
themselves.
He says, you want the now?
No.
Haruya Rasulullah
Messenger of Allah.
He says, O Messenger of Allah, ask Allah
to forgive us.
He say, You Allah forgive the Ansar, and
the children of the Ansar, and the children
of the children of the Ansar.
They could have had the dunya
and be just content with it, rivers,
farms, crops,
but now that they have this unparalleled
opportunity,
you could ask whatever
and the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam will
give that to you and Allah will give
that to you. What is it that you
want?
Their iman said their next lie the next
life.
And so
they
and their children, and the children or their
children, receive the best supplication from the prophet
alayhi salatu wasalam.
Don't mind rivers,
and farms, and money, and wealth, and all
of this. The next life is a thing
that is gonna last.
So are we
helpless?
To a degree, there is
some helplessness that is imposed on us.
And to another degree, there is selected,
willful, chosen helplessness that we choose to be
engaged
in. We are not restricted to only du'a.
There's much more that we can do than
du'a.
But even du'a, we're not doing enough of.
But then beyond dua there is money.
Beyond that there is or your own
righteousness
that helps you and your family and the
Ummah Muhammad alayhi salatu wa sallam.
There are opportunities
that remain closed because we did not knock
on the door, because we did not push.
So before we surrender to helplessness, let's ask
ourselves
why are we?
And rely on
Allah so that we are not
And then you will find that our situation
will change by the will of Allah
So let's start
simply complaining
and ask yourself, what is it that I
can do, and I can do better and
more?
And lastly, insha Allah, as you know there
are brothers here who are asking
for your donations for their masjid.
So Allah Allah,
please Allah
and give from your heart, and give what
you can, and make du'a for them, and
spread the word around it. And again, don't
be helpless
if you have an opportunity to build and
maintain a house of Allah azza wa jal.
Don't sit back and say, no, somebody else
is gonna do it. No. It is you
who is being asked, it is you who
is being requested, and yours is your and
my responsibility
to do this every time. Hold yourself personally
responsible for what is happening around you to
the ummah Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam. It's
not somebody else, it is me, it is
I, it is you. Let's do something about
this. So I ask you Allah
to help them,
establish a house of Allah
and to help us be partners in that
establishment.
We ask him not to make us among
the helpless or lazy. We ask him
to help us make the right choices. We
ask him
to instill in our hearts
to instill our hearts love for him
more than any other love and love for
Muhammad
more than any other human, and love for
the believers, and love for what Allah loves,
and hate for what Allah hates. We ask
him
to forgive us all of our sins, to
give us power against our addictions, against our
weaknesses,
to give
us the best in the life this life
and the best in the hereafter. We ask
him
to send his help to the people of
Gaza, to the people of Palestine, and to
the rest of Muslims throughout the world. You
Allah, we ask you that you would assist
them and be on their side, that you
would clothe them and feed them. You Allah,
that you would cure them and accept the
dead
as martyrs, and you would take care of
the orphans
and take care of the widows. You
are the best protector and you are the
best provider.