Ali Ataie – Rabi’ alAwwal Sermon God is Merciful to Those Who Reflect That Mercy
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AI: Transcript ©
In,
recognition of the month of Rabi rahwad,
I've been asked by the Masjid administration
to speak on the topic of
the mercy of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and the mercy of his messenger, our master
Muhammad salallahu alayhi alaihi wasalam.
So obviously very, very important topic.
A topic that can never be overemphasized.
In our times, the very ethos
of our tradition
oftentimes is misrepresented or distorted, obviously, by non
Muslims, but even people that claim
to be Muslim.
And obviously, this is problematic, and sometimes we
have to get back to the basics.
There is a
hadith,
recorded by Imam al Beyhafil,
which he says of the prophet Muhammad, salallahu
alaihi wasallam.
He
said,
He said that there's gonna come a time
upon the people where nothing will remain from
Islam except
its name.
That people will identify
as a Muslim, but won't actually know what
that actually means.
And so it becomes a name without a
reality.
People will claim to be
Muslim but have no knowledge of the sunnah,
the prophetic precedent
or the agreed upon ethos of the prophet
Muhammad
There's a hadith in Jannidhi in which the
prophet
is recorded as I've said.
Indeed, this religion began as something strange.
So in the Hejaz at the time, this
type of monotheism
was very strange for the Jahadi Arabs. It's
wahidaliyah,
then you have halal and haram. This is
very strange for them.
And then he said, and
then this religion will be turned to be
very strange.
Lad tidings to the strangers.
So a Muslim doesn't drink alcohol. A Muslim
doesn't fornicate.
A Muslim dress modestly.
A Muslim believes in God. For a lot
of modern people, this is very very strange.
You believe in God, a Muslim believes in
objective
right and wrong. There are things that are
right from a moral standpoint and there are
things that are wrong objectively, always.
It's not just up to your sort of
whims and fancies.
This type of critical theory
that people are taught at the universities and
the academia.
Muslims believe Muslims believe in theological truth and
theological
falsehood. This is very strange. Muslims believe that
they're eidamulullah,
slaves of God. And for a lot of
modern people, this is very very strange. I'm
not a slave to anyone.
I I made my own rules.
And marched to the beat of my own
drummer.
I'm not a slave. Very very strange ideas.
So then the prophet,
he describes
who are these people? Who are these guraba?
These are people who have,
who make make islah.
You know, I hesitate to use the word
reform, but they repair
they repair
what people have corrupted after me from my
sunnah.
From my sunnah.
And that came to the prophet in
Sahih Muslim, and he said,
Oh, messenger of God, tell me something about
Islam that I can ask nobody else except
for you. Give me something that only you
can tell me. I wanted some sort
of prophetic secret from the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he
said,
He said, say, I believe in Allah
and be upright upon that. Be steadfast.
Don't be wishy washy.
Be upright.
That's it. That's that's that was his entire
answer.
Nothing will remain from the Quran
except,
it's
a script.
These are just words on a page that
don't have meaning for people. Because people don't
study Aloha. They don't study linguistics and philology.
They don't study tafasir,
our vast exegetical tradition.
Imam Jafar Asadah, he says every eye of
the Quran has four levels of meaning. The
love, the expression that are known to the
awan, the laity, the subtleties,
the, or sorry, the the illusions, the isharah,
which are known by the mufasid and the
ulama. Then the subtleties,
the lata'if,
which are known to al Anbiya, and then
the hafa'if, the realities of every ayah that
are known to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
the haditha is quoted by imam Tabari, imam
Musayuti, to the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
He said every ayah of the Quran has
a vaher and a vaatin.
Every ayah of the Quran has an exoteric
meaning and an esoteric meaning. And every half
of the Quran has a had, a parameter,
and a mountla, a point of ascent.
The highest meaning of the Quran. The Quran
is polyvalent.
The Quran has multiple levels of meaning.
Imam Al Khazali says in Jawadir Quran, why
are you satisfied by standing on the shore
and just collecting
wood and,
and, wax?
So he likens the Quran to a bahar,
to an ocean. He says the Quran is
like an ocean.
Imagine the analogy, you're standing on the shore
and you just have outward plain meanings. This
is, no, you have to negotiate the waves.
The waves are the Arabic ayaat of the
Quran.
And people, they learn, they get in boats
and they come back and they crash on
the shore. You have to keep trying. Eventually,
you get past the coastline. And then you
go and he says you find islands, where
you find musk meanings.
There's still outward meanings, but they're more sophisticated.
And then he says you dive into the
bahar, dive into the ocean, and you find
rubies and pearls.
Theological verses.
Verses of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And verses
that describe the Sirat al Mustaqim. He called
these rubies and pearls.
So we have to dive into this ocean
of the Quran.
And then you have, the modern Nizami school,
which is really interesting
and something that we need to get into.
You have, confessional scholars
like Islahi and Farahi who who,
engage the Quran on the level of its
structure
and and point out these amazingly sophisticated things
about the Quran.
And you have non confessional scholars, and I'm
taking the lead on this. Non Muslim scholars,
many that were catholic, like Tiber and Farib
and Neil Robinson.
Farib, remember the book on Surah of Baqarah,
where he says the entire Surah is one
big chiasmus.
The entire Surah has concentric
composition
around the central pivot. Meaning, the beginning of
the Surah mirrors the end of the Surah.
The second the second part of the Surah
mirrors the second to last part. The third
part of the Surah mirrors the 3rd and
the last part. Until all it all sort
of comes in together and the pivot of
the surah in the middle of the surah.
This is incredible sophisticated work. You have to
imagine the prophet
is reciting these ayats along with the ayats
of other sua, and he's not writing anything
down. How is he keeping track of this?
This is Hawaii.
2 of the greatest names of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, Ar Rahman and Ar Rahim.
Ar Rahman both of these are on
emphatic nominal forms.
Arrahman means something like indiscriminately
compassionate,
universally loving.
And the Quraysh before the prophet,
the Meccans, they did not refer to Allah
as al Rahman.
In Suratul Furman, Allah
commands the prophet,
tell them to make suj that's Al Rahman.
And they say, not Al Rahman. Who is
Rahman?
And the tree of who they be are,
they were Bismid Al Rahman, Al Raheem, and
the Mushnikim. They said, we don't know these
names. Strike them out. Say Bismika Allahumma. They
thought Ar Rahman was some human teacher in
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. Ar Rahman is
written of in rebill of the literature. This
is a name that was known by Ahl
al Khitab.
The indiscriminately
compassionate. A
a a name that denotes a type of
Mahaba that is Am, that is universal, cosmopolitan.
And then you have Ar Raheem, which is
more
focused. The infinite the the intimately nothing.
You have a name that is that is
Am and a name that is more Has,
that is more focused. And of course, this
formula, the best myla, it prefaces 113
of a 114
sur of the Quran.
These names are etymologically
related to the word Rahma,
which means compassion
or mercy or love.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran,
Surah Al Anam, ayah 54,
When you come into contact with those who
believe in our signs,
say peace be upon you. This is what
a Muslim does.
I've been to academic conferences and I meet
other Muslims and they all say, Salam Alaikum.
Alaikum. You can't put me into a box.
Subhanallah.
This is what a Muslim does. Salamu alaybarab
al Rahim.
Allah
says in the Quran
that this is a this is a word
that's given by a loving Lord.
This is a greeting of the people in
paradise, but apparently it's not so in vogue
amongst a lot of people. It's not fashionable.
But after he says,
Your lord has inscribed upon his own self
mercy.
In the next surah, surah Al A'raf, Allah
says,
that I cause my punishment to afflict whomever
I will.
But my mercy
encompasses everything.
That Rahma is his
dominant, if you can say, personality
trait of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is Rahma.
One of my favorite hadith and Sahih Muslim
reported by innocent Pewdsic.
He says the prophet
says, Allah
That's how he begins the hadith. He says,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is more extreme in
his joy.
More extreme in his joy when a slave
makes tawba to him, then one of you
was traveling in the desert and loses his
conveyance and all of his food and his
drink is gone.
And then he says,
until he reaches a point of losing all
hope.
Yes. All hope is lost. Enters into a
state of total despair. Is going to die
a painful horrible death
all
alone. And then the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
he said he sees some shame and he
goes there and he sees his conveyance and
he grabs the halter of his conveyance and
he says,
He says in his rapturous joy,
Afta'a, in his rapturous joy, he says, oh,
Allah,
you are my slave, and I am your
lord,
Akhtar.
He made a mistake
because of the severity of the joy overcome
with joy. The prophet, salam alayhi, said Allah,
is
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is more overjoyed
when a sinner makes tawba to him than
this man is when he grabs the whole
turkeys of his conveyance.
This is our lord, Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
In Hadith al Bukhari,
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
He says that,
he says that
there was there was there was a battle
of some sort, and a woman was running
around. She had lost her dumb son. She
was absolutely hysterical,
and then she sees her son and picks
him up and begins to kiss and hug
and breastfeed him.
And then the prophet, salallahu alaihi salam, he
says to the sahaba that are in the
vicinity. He said, do you see that, Ruma?
He said, yes. He said, can you imagine
her throwing her son on fire?
La wallahi. They said, no, by Allah we
can't. Allahu arhamu beinqabadiin
haadiwala bihi.
Allah is more merciful through disturbance
than this woman is to her child.
These terms,
you know, his father son children of God.
These terms are abrogated
because they were literalized by Christians.
The figurative meanings are still there. These analogies
are still there. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
more merciful to her servants than this mother
is to her child. Think about that one.
The hadith
and Ahmad,
The most compassionate shows compassion to those who
show compassion.
Show compassion to those on the earth, and
the one in heaven will show you compassion.
You have Muslim youth that study philosophy in
the university,
and they study people like Nietzsche,
who talked about a transvaluation
of all values. That's how he put it.
He believed that Christian values
were detrimental to society,
and the most detrimental virtue or value was
compassion.
This is what he believed. He used to
sign his letter as the antichrist.
There was a Muslim doctor who told me
a Muslim woman came in one time and
she had a tattoo on her arm. They
said in Arabic, what doesn't kill you makes
you stronger.
From Nietzsche.
You know this man's final sane act when
he was living in Turin, Italy? He was
walking around. A man was beaming his horse.
He ran with tears in his eyes and
started hugging the horse. How ironic.
His final act was an act of compassion
towards a horse. Then he lost his mind
and never recovered.
Trust Allah and his messenger.
Their words are true. Don't listen to these
deranged philosophers.
In Buhari,
famous hadith.
The prophet
So he says,
that Allah
divided his mercy to 100 parts, and he
said one part out of a 100 into
the world. And this through this one part
that all of creation displays mutual affection, love,
and mercy. What about the other 99
that's reserved to show up to his ibad
on the yom al Qiyamah?
And the hadith puts it.
The prophet
says
that Allah
says, listen.
Oh child of Adam,
as long as you call on me and
have hope on me,
As long as you call on me and
have rajah, have hope in me, I will
forgive you, walahubali,
and I do not mind.
In the Quran,
say to my servants,
who have who have completely transgressed against their
own souls.
Allah forgives all sins.
He is constantly forgiving. He intimately loving. The
urhamma say,
This is the most hopeful ayah in the
entire Quran
for the people of major or mortal sin.
Just have istivamah.
Do the best you can.
That when you slip, we make Toba.
We make Toba. To Toba means to turn
to reorient yourself
towards and tol well,
the one who's constantly reorienting himself towards you
in no anthropomorphic way. And then we have
hope. We have Raja. 1 of my teachers
told me, Allah went to Adam. He called
2 men out of the hellfire,
and he said to them, okay. Go back
to * now.
1 of them turned around very reluctantly and
started walking back slowly while looking over his
shoulder.
And so Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said to
this man, and Allah knows best. Why do
you keep looking back at me as it
were?
And he said, yo, you called me out
of *. I had hope I didn't have
to go back.
He said, you're in. Go to Jahannam.
And then the other man, he turned around
quickly and sprinted towards Jannah.
Sprint.
And Allah said to him, why do you
sprint towards the hellfire?
And that man said, you know, I lived
my entire life disobeying you and disobedience
of you.
This time, I really wanted to make sure
I obey you.
And I I hope eventually I'll come out
of Jahannam.
I lost you. Right? Don't get a genuine
is Allah
is alhammar Rahmih.
He is the most merciful of those who
showed mercy.
The prophet
is a reflection of his lord.
We did not send you except as a
mercy.
This statement is is bad.
It is an affirmation after negation in in
grammar. It's a very very strong statement to
make. Imamatan Tawhid says to your Rashmatan
is an
accusative
of purpose, revealing intentionality
or internal reason.
That we did not send you except out
of an incredible mercy
to all the worlds.
That the prophet
is the means, the Sabbath, the wasina of
our guidance,
which will land us in paradise, inshallah
ta'ala. Allah
says in the Quran.
Say for the sake of Allah's grace and
His mercy, his rahma, in the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, is called rahma. They should
be overjoyed. Let them have fara. Let them
have a great joy.
I am a gifted mercy.
Now you might read
in secular history source historical sources and confessional
sources
As the
prophet he fought in battles,
he conquered Mecca.
That's true.
That's what he did.
We have to get the whole picture,
get the full
story. Imam Izzavine
has written a very short treatise
called Bidayat al Surfi Tafthir al Rasool.
And this was taught here by our esteemed
colleague, Imam Tahir Anwar. May Allah preserve him.
And so he he he mentions here, Imam
Isoodine,
40 distinctive virtues
and characteristics
that belong only to the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
Number 30 he says, another distinction
is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent him
as a mercy to all beings. So that
he gave him so that so that he
gave respite to the rebels of his community
and did not hasten their punishment even though
they asked the punishment to be Hassan. So
they were preserved
contrary to the prophets before him.
That the other prophets, while their prophets were
still alive, their communities were destroyed. But
Allah says in the Quran,
That Allah
is not going to punish them while you
were amongst them. For example,
on the day of Uhud, the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam,
And this is a day when he lost
many many of his companions, beloved companions, this
Abid bin Umayyah. His uncle Hamza was murdered.
His body was mutilated.
They cannibalized
his body.
And the prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, he suffered
injuries to his face and blood pouring down
his face. They see him with his hands
raised
to Allah
and the Sahaba said, ah, this is this
game over now. He's making du'a to Allah
with a * face.
The malaiqar want to descend. These police are
done. So now listen. What does he say?
Oh, God, guide my people
so they don't know.
Guide my people in such an occasion
when beloved ones, his
are falling down beside them, dying and mutilated.
Blood worn down his face. He prefers the
guidance of his enemies
over their destruction.
The conquest of Mecca, all of the leaders
on the day of Arj from the mushrike,
they became Muslim
eventually. Because the prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
he did not give up on them. And
as he was coming into Mecca with his
army, Sa'ad ibn Ubaydah,
He was shouting at Abu Sufyan, who was
standing by the gate of the haram, Al
Yawma Yawmul Malhamma.
Abamalallahu
Qurayshan, today is the day of slaughter.
The debasement of the Quraysh.
That Musa Islam is full of fear and
then that Musharqina wondering. He's well within his
rights to punish everybody. Well within his rights.
Today is a day of slaughter,
the debasement of the Quraysh.
The prophet
was further back, and he was told this
is what Sa'ed is saying.
And he said he he he sent a
rider up to Sa'ed. He said, don't say
that.
And and and he's he so he went
to Saudi, and he said the prophet is
saying don't say that. Somebody said I don't
believe you. I'm going to keep saying it.
So he came back to the prophet, sallallahu
alaihi said. He said he said he doesn't
believe me. The prophet, said, said, blessed is
Imam Ahmed.
He said, give this aside.
Tell him to stop saying that.
But take the diwa, take the standard he's
holding and give it to his son.
Right? So the genius of the prophet, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, honoring his son, the son
of Sa'ib.
So the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
passes by the haram,
then the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
said, that's tathriba alaihi
wa
sallam had said to his brother
to his brother. In in exegetical study, this
is called a typology.
You have someone in the past,
a historical figure who does some sort of
action, and then you have someone in the
future mirroring or foreshadowing that event. The prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was cast out of
Mecca, like Yusuf was cast out of Mecca
Because they were jealous of him. They tried
to kill him. He was he was physically
and eternally beautiful, gorgeous.
He goes to a different city. He becomes
head of state. He comes back. He has
power over his brother and magnanimously
forgives them.
There is no blemish on you. Allah has
forgiven
you. Do not displace the centrality
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
in our
And as said, we've managed reported.
He said when the prophet
arrived in Mecca, everything in the city was
illuminated.
And when he had passed away, so mercy
of his lord, everything became dim and dark.
We have not yet even dusted off the
dust from our heads
after bearing the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
when we began to feel a change in
our hearts.
Abu Bakr al Sadiq, he lasted barely 1
year. A smell of burning liver was coming
from his breath. This one is the smell.
He says I have shirk for the for
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. I am
longing for the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
It's consuming me. And he was sincere. And
the hadith and timbani, we're told the prophet
went out of his house one night.
At a time very late in the night
when he never got out before.
Abu Bakr Siddiq, he noticed that the prophet
sallallahu alaihi sallam had left his house. That
the prophet was outside. So he goes outside
as well.
And so the prophet sees him, and he
says, Maja Abi, You Adbaqinin, who has brought
you out for him this
very late hour?
Abu Bakrjikharaj to Adabakar Rasulullah.
I have left in order to see the
prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam. To look into his
blessed face.
And they give salams to him.
Imagine you have a son or daughter who's
studied overseas for 5 years or something.
You haven't seen them for 5 years. You're
sitting on your porch and a car drives
up.
You're looking to say, who's in this car?
And, sir, you see your child, your beloved
child. What would your body do? Immediately, it
would rise up and rush towards your beloved.
This is what happens to Abu Bakr al
Sadib. He's been sitting in his house in
the middle of the night. He glancing out
the window or something, looks into his courtyard.
He sees his beloved walking by, immediately bolts
from his house. Why did you come? I
just came to see you, look at your
face, give you salaam.
This type of love.
Last hadith in Tiberi.
Imamat Tiberi reports the prophet
He said,
A person who loses 2 children
who loses 2 children,
Allah on
account of that will enter this person into
He said, even if they lose 1 child.
Then
she said,
what about if they lose no children?
Then the loss of me
is devastating
enough
for my own mind.
So yes,
even if you lose no children,
but we have to feel a sense of
loss that we lost our hadith, sallallahu alaihi
wasallam.
We have to feel that sense of loss.
We just have to appreciate
the tremendous
value
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Inshallah
ta'ala,
it will be a means for us to
enter into Jannah.