Ali Albarghouthi – Friday Khutbah- We All Need to Be Stronger
AI: Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of acceptance and strength in Islam to regain their strength and avoid confusion and distraction. They emphasize the need for knowledge and commitment to achieving spirituality, avoiding confusion and distraction, and protecting one's health and mental health. The importance of not denying one's own beliefs and not doing things too early is emphasized, as it is crucial for protecting one's health and mental health. The speakers also emphasize the importance of educating people about their beliefs and offering reward for those who contribute.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
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, every new 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, تَتَدَاعَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْأُمَمِ The nations will attack
you, invite each other to attack you.
He pointed ﷺ to something essential when he
said, وَيُلْقَى 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 وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْت He says,
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 بِقُوَّةً Take what we have revealed to
you with strength.
That is a command that was even given
to the prophets of Allah عليهم الصلاة والسلام,
where Allah said to Yahya, يَا يَحْيَا خُذِ
الْكِتَابَ بِقُوَّةً Yahya, 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 عليه
الصلاة والسلام.
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.
Hudayf ibn al-Yaman رضي الله عنه He
said something about being an imma'ah.
Like a yes man.
One who goes along with the crowd.
He says, لا يكونن أحدكم إمماعا إِن أَحْسَنَ
النَّاسُ أَحْسَنْتُمْ وَإِن ظَلَمُوا ظَلَمْتُمْ وَلَكِنْ وَطِّنُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ
إِن أَحْسَنَ النَّاسُ أَن تُحْسِنُوا وَإِن أَسَاءُوا أَلَّا
تَظْلِمُوا 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, اِخْدُ عَالِمًا أَوْ
مُتَعَلِّمًا وَلَا تَكُنْ اِمْمَعَةً بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكٍ 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'ah outside of
the two.
So you wanna follow the truth, you have
to know what the truth is.
You must have the sound belief, صحة المعتقد
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 wanna
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
wanna 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 wanna 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, Khudu ma aataynakum
bi quwwati wasma'u.
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,
samina wa asayna.
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, intansuro Allaha yansurkum.
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 Rasulullah A.S. first.
You see it sometimes in ideologies that 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 A.S. 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's a conflict, who are you gonna
put first?
So Rasulullah A.S. gave the best example
when he gave, أَلَا إِنَّ آلَىٰ بَنِي فُلَانَ
لَيْسُوا لِي بِأَوْلِيَٓا 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 is no pride in this.
There is no pride in being white or
black.
There is 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.
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.
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 فاستغفروه
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
you want to be strong to understand that
and it's part of surrendering and submitting to
Allah عز و جل 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 عز و
جل 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 عز و
جل loves this, I'll do it.
Even if I don't want it.
Allah عز و جل 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 عز و جل.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا لَقِيْتُمْ فِيَةً فَاثْبُتُوا
وَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ He says, ya
Allah عز و جل, O you 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 عز و جل 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 wants 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 عز و
جل versus this life.
How much you sacrifice for this life versus
Allah عز و جل.
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 عز و جل the leftovers.
Let's be honest, right?
We give Allah عز و جل 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 عز و جل 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 عز و جل says,
وَأَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَلَا تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلُوا وَتَذْهَبَ
رِيحُكُمْ 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 وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ 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 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
says, 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 ﷺ if you are strong.
So ask Allah rabbil alameen arham al rahmeen
to make us among the strong of the
face of this earth, who hold firmly to
his book and the sunnah of his prophet
ﷺ.
Ya Allah, remind us and do not make
us of those who are neglectful and unaware
of you.
Ya Allah rabbil 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 arham al rahmeen.
We ask you, ya rabbil alameen, to give
quick and haste relief to the people of
Gaza, and to the people of Palestine, and
to the people of Asham, and to the
people of Sudan, and to all and rest
of all of Islam, ya rabbil alameen, wherever
a Muslim may be suffering and under duress.
We ask you, ya rabbil alameen, that you
would clothe them and feed them and defend
them, and plot for them and not plot
against them, ya arham al rahmeen.
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 mukallibal quloobi thabbit quloobanaa ala deenik.
Allahumma yaa musarrifal quloobi sarrif quloobanaa ala taatik.
Allahumma innaa ala dhikrika wa shukrika wa husni
ibadatik.
And before I leave inshaAllah for the salah,
just two things I want to mention.
First of all, they wanted me to tell
you, zaakumullah khair, the expenses that the masjid
needed to complete the renovations for the wudu
area had been fulfilled.
So may Allah azzawajal reward you and reward
anyone and everyone who had contributed and anyone
who had made dua.
And also HCI inshaAllah, they want to 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.