Ali Hammuda – Our Marks on Life – Friday Sermon in Zanzibar
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, and that there is no partner
for Him, and I bear witness that Muhammad
is His servant and His Messenger.
O you who have believed, fear Allah as
He should be feared, and do not die
except as Muslims.
O you who have believed, fear your Lord,
Who created you from one soul, and created
from it its mate, and spread among them
many men and women.
O you who have believed, fear Allah as
He should be feared, and do not die
except as Muslims.
O you who have believed, fear Allah as
He should be feared, and do not die
except as Muslims.
Your deeds will be corrected, and your sins
will be forgiven, and whoever obeys Allah and
His Messenger has indeed attained a great success.
I stand this afternoon honored before you, my
brothers and sisters, blessed people of Zanjiba, despite
you being a population of 1.9 million
or so, relatively small community yet large in
the global scene with the world, Alhamdulillah, praising
or singing in your praise.
I stand also honored to be in this
blessed Masjid of Jami'ah established by the
late Sultan of Oman, Sultan Qaboos, rahimahullah ta
'ala, Our Prophet ﷺ said in praise of
the people of Oman, he said, Had you
gone to the people of Oman, he said
to a companion who was abused, he said,
Had you gone to the people of Oman,
they would not have insulted you, and they
would not have hit you, la ilaha illallah.
And we stand also honored to be in
the presence of President Dr. Hussain Ali, hafidhahullah
ta'ala, who has flown in and blessed
us with his presence.
We ask Allah ﷻ to allow unity and
khair and barakah to descend upon him and
his family and his team and the entire
population of Zanjibar, Allahumma ameen.
Happiness is one of the most sought-after
goals in the human endeavor.
During the pandemic, the word happiness trended as
the most popular word that people were googling.
People wanted to know how to be happy
during that difficult time.
Yet during the exact same time of the
pandemic, we also saw some of the most
selfish and self-centered behavior, perhaps more so
in the West than here.
Alhamdulillah, may Allah protect you.
Where people storing and were hoarding more goods
and supplies that they needed at the expense
of their family at times and at the
expense of their neighbors.
And this was a predictable outcome of years
of societal conditioning that was programming us and
telling us that happiness is found in self
-centeredness, in being selfish, in being individualistic, and
apparently just doing you.
In a recent book that was published by
a Harvard researcher by the name of Robert
Putnam, he has a book called Bowling Alone.
And he said that this gradual decline in
communal interest and communal engagement has been the
history of the West.
He said a long time ago, organizations that
used to give us meaning, like churches, he
said, labor unions, fraternity organizations, there has been
a steady decline in membership.
And in its place, people have turned to
social media, he said, video gaming, mobile phoning,
and every other solitary individual pursuit.
When you look at the names of the
devices and the applications that you and I
use today, you see the same theme and
emphasis on the individual and the rejection of
the collective.
We talk about the iPhone, and the iPad,
and the iMac, and the Facebook, and the
YouTube, and the MySpace.
Today, they speak about self-actualization, self-optimization,
discovering your individuality, celebrating your specialness, they say.
There has been a decline in the interest
of the communal and a rise in the
individual.
Now, no longer is man defined by happiness
when looking for the benefit of others, rather
he looks inwardly to see what is good
for himself, his career, and his personal family.
What is scary about all of this is
that this goes against everything we know about
where happiness is to be found.
Whether by way of revelation, or ancient philosophy
and wisdom, or advice from our elders, or
even contemporary research.
This goes against what we have always known
that happiness is found in being part of
the collective, part of something that is bigger
than yourself, and adding value to other people's
lives.
And allow me to demonstrate this.
Allah Jalla Jalaluhu, He said, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا O you who believe!
إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمْ تَفَسَّحُوا فِي الْمَجَالِسِ فَفْسَحُوا يَفْسَحِ
اللَّهُ لَكُمْ When you are told to make
space in the gatherings, make space, Allah Almighty
will make space for you.
Something as small as making space for your
brother in a busy gathering, and you say
to him, تَفَضَّلْ Come next to me.
Allah notices this, and He promises to give
you space as you gave space to your
brother.
You will say to me, space where?
Where will I see this space from Allah
Almighty?
The ayah doesn't mention it.
Why?
To include every type of space that you
need in your life.
Space in poor health.
Space in your limited finance.
Space in deteriorating mental health.
Space with family who have abandoned you.
Space in your grave.
Space on يوم القيامة.
Space in Jannah before Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala.
Allah said make space for people, I Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will make space for
you.
This is how happiness is to be found.
Making space for others.
These were the words given by our mother
Khadija to her husband, the Prophet ﷺ.
Even before she knew any Qur'an and
any prophetic tradition.
He came back to her home shaking, terrified
for his life.
He feared for his death.
When he saw Angel Jibril for the first
time, he said, لَقَدْ خَشِيتُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ Ya
Khadija o Khadija, I feared for my life.
What did she say to him?
كَلَّا وَاللَّهِ مَا يُخْزِيكَ اللَّهُ أَبَدًا She said,
no, I swear by Allah, Allah will never
disgrace a man like you.
Why?
Listen to the characteristics she identified.
إِنَّكَ لَتَصِلُ الرَّحْمِ Because you stay in touch
with your family.
وَتَحْمِلُ الْكَلِّ And you carry the burdens of
people.
وَتَكْسِبُ الْمَعْدُومِ And you provide for the poor.
وَتَقْرِضْ ضَيْفٍ And you honor your guests.
وَتُعَيْنُ عَلَى نَوَائِبِ الْحَقِّ And you take care
of the calamities of those burdened with affliction.
Every one of the characteristics that she identified
in her husband as per why Allah will
make him happy, why Allah will make space
for him, why Allah will protect him had
nothing to do with his individual pursuit, Salah
and Siyam or anything like that.
She said, you are good with the people.
You are adding value to the life of
others.
So Allah will make space for you and
He will make you happy.
He will not disgrace you.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, Abdullah ibn Abbas, رضي
الله تعالى عنهما, He said, listen to these
beautiful words.
صَاحِبُ الْمَعْرُوفِ لَا يَقَعْ وَإِنْ عَثَرَ وَجَدَ مُتَّكَآءً
He said, the one who does good to
people can never fall.
But if he slips, he will always find
something to lean on.
Make space for people.
يَفْسَحِ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ Allah will make space for
you.
This is where happiness is found.
Iman in Allah Jalla Jalaluhu.
Al-Hasanat, doing good deeds and then looking
at the needs of your citizens, your friends,
your neighbors, your family and asking, what can
I do for them?
Watch how Allah will allow happiness and satisfaction
with life to flourish in your heart.
They have a Chinese proverb that says, If
you want happiness for an hour, take a
nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go
fishing.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit
a fortune.
But if you want happiness for a lifetime,
go and help someone.
Everything we have known, whether by way of
revelation, Quran, Hadith, whether by way of research,
ancient sayings, philosophies of the past, they all
suggest the same thing.
Much of happiness is found in looking outwardly
to the needs of people, attending to their
burdens and being part of something that is
bigger than yourself.
Before I sit down, I share with you
a research that was done in the Frontiers
of Psychology, a paper, and I quote, they
said that we have found that pro-social
behavior, pro-social behavior, which is the opposite
of anti-social behavior, pro-social behavior, meaning
the behavior that attends to the welfare of
other people, they have found that pro-social
behavior is linked to, and I quote, happiness,
well-being, psychological flourishing, and SWL, satisfaction with
life.
La ilaha illallah.
Make space for people.
I, Allah SWT, will make space for you,
he said.
In another research that was published by the
Journal of Positive Psychology, two researchers by the
name of Sheldon and Titova, they said, and
I quote, whilst Americans are guaranteed the right
to pursue happiness for themselves, they said, but
might they be better off if they pursued
happiness for others?
They said, we have tested both strategies, meaning,
looking for happiness for yourself, pursuing it for
others, we have tested both strategies, and we
have come to the conclusion that the second
pursuit is better in bringing happiness for people
than the first.
What I have just shared with you, my
brother, my sister, is by design.
Allah, Jalla Jalaluhu, has put it in the
heart of every human being that happiness is
found in iman, belief in Him, al-amal
as-salih, doing good, and then attending to
the needs of others.
And Allah Almighty has made it our fitrah,
our birthright, that misery, grief, in the darkness,
sadness, hopelessness, is found in rejecting Allah Almighty,
in disobeying Him, and then being selfish in
your life, only looking for what is good
for you and your immediate family.
This is by design.
This is our DNA.
We are always looking for meaning.
If I was to take a photo of
this beautiful congregation here before me, and then
I was to show you the image here
on a projector, what would you look for
in that image?
I imagine that you would be looking for
the same thing that I would be looking
for, myself, in that image.
I want to know how I look in
that picture.
This is more than just vanity and showing
off.
No, there's something deeper going on here.
This speaks of a need in the human
being to find out where he or she
sits in the broader context of life.
How do I look in this image?
Do I add value to this image?
Would it be better if I was not
in this picture?
Do I look shorter or taller than others?
Have I added anything extra to it?
Everywhere in life, you and I are doing
this.
We are asking ourselves the same question.
You are looking for the evidence that you
have left a mark on someone's life.
You and I are looking for proof that
we have changed something for the better.
And when we send out that message and
it comes back with a positive response, you've
changed something.
You've done khair.
You feel happy.
And when you send out that message and
you discover you haven't done anything for anyone,
you feel down.
This is by design.
This is how Allah Almighty made us.
We want to be part of something that
is bigger than ourselves.
To define ourselves by a project in our
lives that is 20 or 30 or 40
years old and longer than us.
I have reached a moment in my life
where I am convinced of the healing and
the transformative nature of this advice that being
part of a project of khair for your
community makes you a very wholesome and happy
person.
So convinced I have become that I have
woven this advice into almost all of my
counseling sessions.
Therapy today concentrates on inward forms.
Medication you take, tablet you swallow, an injection
you take, a counseling session you attend, psychotherapy,
meditation for you.
Know what I am suggesting this afternoon is
an outward form of therapy to search for
happiness and well-being and contentment.
Al-hayat al-tayyibah, the good life by
looking at the needs of others.
And whether my clients or my people who
I speak to are people struggling with marital
strife or OCD or depression or bereavement, I
say to them, have you considered being part
of a charity?
Are you part of an organization, a movement
that you believe in?
Have you added value to someone's life?
And see what that will do for you.
And almost every time the results are phenomenal.
And I encourage you, my brother, my sister,
to do the same.
I conclude by giving you a case study.
Evidence in action of the theory I have
shared with you.
Proof that this is a reality.
Make space for people.
Allah Almighty will make space for you in
your life.
A name that I believe a lot of
you here will be familiar with, Dr. Abdurrahman
As-Sumayt, rahimahullah ta'ala wa barakah fihi.
Who passed away a few years ago.
A Kuwaiti doctor who dedicated over three decades
of his life to your place here, to
your continent, to be in Africa, and to
serve and to make space for people.
Look what Allah Almighty did for him.
Dr. Abdurrahman achieved things by Allah's permission, what
nations with multi-billion dollar budgets would fail
to achieve.
And he speaks of a very emotional incident
once with him and his wife, Umm Suhaib
in Madagascar.
Dr. Abdurrahman, for those who are unaware, is
he who distributed over 30 or so years,
over 7 million copies of the Quran, and
built 5,500 mosques across Africa, and sponsored
over 50,000 orphans, many of whom became
lawyers, doctors, and engineers.
And built over 840 academic institutions from nurseries
to universities, and built over 90 hospitals, and
dug over 12,000 wells.
And by Allah's permission, by the time he
had passed away, around 10 million people had
found their way to Islam through him and
his team.
Dr. Abdurrahman, he said, I was once sat
with my wife, Umm Suhaib, in a small,
battered, weathered cottage in Madagascar.
And I looked at her face.
She was exhausted.
She was weary.
And I thought to myself, perhaps she had
reached the end of her tether.
This was maybe a breaking point for Umm
Suhaib, my wife.
I said to her, and he was anxious
and nervous, Umm Suhaib, how are you?
She said to him, Abu Suhaib, you know
what I was just thinking?
He said to her, what were you just
thinking?
She said, I was just thinking, if Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la allows us
to enter Paradise, will we be as happy
there as we are today?
La ilaha illa Allah, the promise of him.
Ifsahu yafsahillahu lakum.
Make space for people.
Allah will make space for you.
Look at the space Allah Almighty gave him
and his wife because of their righteous endeavors.
Brothers and sisters, in conclusion, everything I have
just shared with you this afternoon relates only
to the worldly returns, the worldly benefits of
being a person defined by a communal benefit.
The dunya we return.
Nothing about the hereafter.
Stronger relationships, better mental health, stronger spiritual health,
an energizing resolve to live, a desire to
wake up in the morning, to serve with
energy and to sacrifice sleep because you are
motivated.
All of this Allah gives us when we
make space for people and we connect our
lives to something larger than our personal endeavors.
What then therefore I ask, what then does
Allah Almighty offer he or she who connects
this amal, this deed to Allah and the
home of the hereafter?
What awaits him?
The answer is found in one beautiful hadith
and I leave you with this.
Muslim narrates on the authority of Abu Huraira
that the Prophet ﷺ he said, مَنْ نَفَسَ
عَنْ مُؤْمِنٍ كُرْبَةً مِنْ كُرَبِ الدُّنْيَا نَفَسَ اللَّهُ
عَنْهُ كُرْبَةً مِنْ كُرَبِ الْقِيَامَةِ Whoever removes the
difficulty from a Muslim in the life of
this world, Allah will remove one of his
difficulties on the day of judgment.
وَمَنْ يَسَّرَ عَلَى مُعْسِرٍ يَسَّرَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ فِي
الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ And whoever removes the financial burden
of a Muslim today, Allah will remove from
him one of his stresses in this world
and in the hereafter.
وَمَنْ سَتَرَ مُسْلِمًا سَتَرَهُ اللَّهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ
And whoever covers the fault of another Muslim,
Allah will cover his fault in this world
and in the hereafter.
And then the fourth and final sentence, the
grand finale of the hadith, he said, وَاللَّهُ
فِي عَوْنِ الْعَبْدِ مَا كَانَ الْعَبْدُ فِي عَوْنِ
أَخِيهِ And Allah will continue to serve the
Muslim as long as that Muslim is at
the service of his brother.
Is there something in your life that you
feel you can do with some intervention from
Allah Almighty?
Find somebody who needs something in his life
and add value to it.
Define your life by 20, 30, 40 year
project so that when you stand before Allah
Almighty and He asked you, why do you
deserve Jannah?
You say, Ya Rabb, here is my project
of service to my Ummah.
Ya Rabbi, through this project, allow me to
enter Jannah.
I ask Allah Jalla Jalaluhu to allow us
all to present Allah Almighty with this project
and to allow us all to enter Al
-Fitr house.
اللهم اغفر للمسلمين والمسلمات والمؤمنين والمؤمنات الأحياء منهم
والأموات إنك قريب مجيب سميع الدعوات ربنا هب
لنا من أزواجنا وذرياتنا قرة أعين واجعلنا للمتقين
إماما ربنا أوزعنا أن نشكر نعمتك التي أنعمت
علينا وعلى والدينا وأن نعمل صالحا ترضاه وأصلح
لنا في ذرياتنا إنا أتوبنا إليك وإنا من
المسلمين اللهم إنا نعوذ بك من زوال نعمتك
وتحول عافيتك وفجاءة نخمتك وجميع سخطك وأقل الصلاة