Belief in Allah
Sheik Bilal discusses the Six Pillars of Faith in a moral principles perspective.
Jumu’ah Khutbah @ Masjid Bin Zaid (FANAR)
Bilal Philips – Belief In Allah
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Brothers and sisters
today
we continue our series looking at the Pillars of Islam and he man
but from a moral perspective
as we said, when we began the series looking at the Pillars of Islam,
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
summarize the essence of the religion
from its beginning to its end
as a moral message, when he said in my boys to live with them Mima muckety muck o'clock, indeed, I was sent only to perfect for you the highest of moral character traits.
And when I Isha his wife, radi Allahu Allah was asked, what was the prophets character like?
How was his
moral character? She said,
Can hola qu Al Quran
his character was the Quran. All of the map the moral attributes which he displayed, they were manifestations of the message of the Quran. He implemented those messages, the messages of revelation in his day to day life, in the way that he dealt with his existence, the way that he dealt with a loss of 100 with Allah, the way he dealt with his family, with his children, with his neighbors, with his enemies in the court,
on the battlefields
during Hajj,
in his prayers, and how he dealt with the creatures around him in the society.
how he treated the animals that he rode, the animals which he had slaughtered, for food, or for religious rights.
All of this was a display of the moral character
engendered or taught by the Quran itself.
And this was the sooner
the sooner was the translation of the Quran into living practice. So the sooner is a living Sunnah.
It represents a way of life,
fundamentally, a moral way of life. This is what Islam is, it is a moral message. Essentially, it is a moral message to implement that message. It might require weapons. So there is jihad, Jihad as a place. But ultimately, the goal of jihad is not the spilling of blood.
The goal of jihad is not primarily to take the lands of other people.
Though it may come as a part of the jihad, people's lands and their properties may be taken.
But that isn't the goal.
That is just the consequence of military struggle.
The losers have to be dealt with. And they are dealt with in accordance with principles which Islam has set down principles which are fundamentally moral principles. We find them written up now in the Geneva Convention.
It is only
The 20th century that the west of the world decided to put laws for war.
Whereas Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam,
in translating the Quran established the laws for war 1400 years ago,
they established the moral principles which must be upheld, even in the time of battle.
So,
Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam, conveyed to us a moral message. And everything of Islam
is geared towards creating
an ideal moral individual.
That is the individual who can change his world, the world in which he lives, the environment in which he exists. If he himself is changed, he follows that moral message, the guidelines, the blueprint of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam, then he will be able to change his family, his community, his society, his nation, and the world, ultimately, he will be a part of that change, maybe he is not the one who will ultimately make final decisions with regards to government policies, etc, etc. But
he is a part of that change.
And that change begins with the individual. So when we look at the Pillars of Islam, as we did, in the previous hospice, we looked at each pillar, one after the other,
to extract from each one of them, the moral message,
which is in it with regards to our character,
what should be our character with regards to Salah,
fasting,
Hajj zeca, the Shahada time, there was and there is and there will be continued to be a moral message that each and every one of us needs to learn. And whatever we learn of Islam,
whether it is from Islamic history,
it is a statement of the Prophet Mohammed Salim in a hadith.
Or it is from any of the relationships which Islam establishes economic, social, etc.
Each and every instruction, each and every bit or piece of information carries with it a moral message. Meaning there is something in it for us to apply in our daily lives. And that's what we need to know.
Because knowledge, which we don't apply, becomes useless knowledge. And prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to say Allahumma inni, I will do becoming illman lie and fire or Allah I seek refuge in You from knowledge, which is of no benefit.
Now that knowledge which is of no benefit could be useless knowledge in the sense that
it's false knowledge. Or it could be useful knowledge and beneficial knowledge, but we just don't apply it.
It could go either way. So to protect ourselves from falling into that evil category, the evil category, for which last month Allah said,
or taught us in our daily prayers to say, is dinner, sirata Muslim, serrata Latina and I'm talay him ready to be a la mano darlin. Show us the straight path. This is what we asked for 17 times every day, at least, show us the straight path. The most important thing to ask for in this life. Straight passes what that moral path where we do the right thing. We make the right decisions.
We are
For that, and then Allah goes on to clarify who is on that path. sirata Latina and I'm telling him those, the path of those who you have blessed, they live blessed lives. So that's what we are seeking Renato de la mer not the path of those on who is your rough.
Who are they?
There are those who have knowledge which they don't apply.
The prime example is that of the Jews
who received the knowledge.
They know what that knowledge that message was, but they didn't apply it
was Darlene and not the path of those who have gone astray, due to what ignorance, not having knowledge at all.
Following misguidance
and the classical example of them today
are the Christians who follow a religion, not the religion which Prophet Jesus brought, but a religion, which was fabricated after his time.
So the very things that he spoke out against
they promoted and the very things that he did, they didn't do.
He called them to the worship of one God.
And they call people to the worship of him,
calling him the one God.
He worshipped one God.
And it is recorded in their distorted gospel that he did, falling down on his face as we do in sujood. He worship the one God, but today, the mass of Christians worship Jesus.
How father astray could one possibly get.
So we asked a lot to protect us from that and as promised, Solomon said, tolerable Elmi Fareed, Allah Cola, Muslim seeking knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim. And that's why he made it a religious obligation on us that each and every Muslim should know his or her religion. Not enough for us to say I'm Muslim, because my parents are Muslims, is not enough.
Because the law will not reward us for our parents Islam.
He will question us for what we did. They get their reward for what they did. And we will get for what we do.
So moving on, having completed the five pillars of Islam, we now move on to the six pillars of Eamon.
They are
belief in a law, belief in his angels, belief in his books, belief in the messengers, belief in the last day, and belief in destiny.
These six pillars which constitute the pillars of faith,
the foundation of Muslim belief
were identified 1400 years ago, there are not pillars which people agreed upon after Prophet Mohammed Salah asylums death, where there were discussions and people had meetings and eventually they came up with these six Nope.
Like the five
they were taught by prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in his own lifetime.
And that is what unites Muslims throughout the world.
And that is what holds Islam
intact and will continue to hold it until the last day.
So the first of the pillars of faith, belief in Allah
brothers standing.
Either you come in and find a place
or you
Find a place outside.
Don't leave the door open.
And make sure you make two units of prayer before sitting down.
believe in Allah.
What does it mean? First and foremost, it means belief, in a laws existence.
belief, in a laws existence, belief, meaning, having certain belief,
I believe which is free from doubt,
a belief which a person feels confident about.
There are people today who would promote the idea that belief in a law is illogical.
It's blind faith,
that everything actually points to
there being no God.
However,
one should be certain, that belief in a law belief in God's existence is logical.
It is reasonable.
And in fact, it is the disbelief in existence which is illogical.
Which is blamed is brooches based on blind faith.
Belief in God's existence
was held by the founders of logic. The Greeks, ancient Greeks, Plato and Aristotle, leading thinkers amongst the Greeks who are, who are revered,
virtually worshiped by Western civilization. They argued logically, for the existence of God.
Logically,
using pure logic, they argued, there must be a god.
So we asked those who say it is illogical to believe in God, what happened with Aristotle and Plato, the founders of your logic.
So, we should have no doubt
that what is proposed by others, that this existence that we live in, is a pure, pure result of accident.
This is a logic.
It goes against all of our
mental processes, when a person walks on the beach, and he or she sees a footprint in the sand.
What comes to mind logically,
if we think in terms of those who say, belief in God
is illogical.
Belief in accident,
as being the Creator, is more logical, then we have to say that when you see that footprint in the sand, the first thing that should come to the logical mind is that the waves came up onto the sand, sunk into the sand and formed a footprint.
But who thinks that
no one thinks that
whenever whenever we see a footprint in the sand, we say, somebody was walking here.
That footprint indicated that is logical thinking that somebody made that footprint, it didn't happen by accident, though, it is not absolutely impossible, that the seawater could sink into the sand and form something looking like the shape of a footprint. It's not impossible. But that is not what comes to our mind.
So those who claim the whole of this existence is a world is a result of an accident. That is what they're trying to say.
And we say, Okay,
if there is one footprint, a result of an accident, how about all the footprints? No,
even if we accept that one
footprint could be the result of an accident consistently, every time we see a footprint that's going to come to our mind. No.
And that's what they're saying, illogical.
The whole of this existence is a result of an accident,
chance,
no designer,
design was a product of accident.
The second
part of belief
in God, or belief in law
is to believe
that Allah alone
is the
Lord of this world.
The Lord of all that takes place,
he controls he sustains, he maintains
these attributes or his whatever it takes place in this world is
by his permission, nothing takes place without his permission, whether good or evil,
whether good or evil,
it is by a laws permission,
very important, basic concept
related to belief in a law because this aspect of the belief
is what keeps faith firm.
One who doesn't have this aspect of belief in Allah clear, easily falls into this belief, whenever
calamities occur in their lives, which they cannot explain.
This is common. When you sit down you talk to most people who are atheists. Why did you become an atheist? Your parents weren't?
They will tell you something happened in their life, which showed them there couldn't be a god.
What could possibly happen, calamity, calamity. To those who they felt it shouldn't happen to.
They will tell you, my aunt. She was a wonderful woman, always doing good for everybody around her.
Then one day, she was walking across the street and a bus came and just
killed her.
Why? She was a good person.
There are other people around who are evil, my uncle's
other relatives evil, but they live comfortable lives. They didn't suffer what she suffered.
How could there be a god?
Where is the Justice here?
So a person falls into this belief because
and I remember years ago, when there was an outbreak of
hoof and mouth disease in England.
And they had this picture of a little girl
who had a plaque in front of her.
And she had some places which were circled.
And she said the arrows pointing to it saying these are my tears
are tears.
And she had a question. She was standing there with this placard her parents are standing behind her.
She was asking
God
Why did you take my calf?
They were killing because of course hoof and mouth diseases are it was the that was another
Mad Cow mad cow disease, which had spread they were killing the animals right, left and right to get rid of them to stop this disease from spreading. So she had a calf.
She was living on a farm calf was born she became attached to it from it's very small. It grows up with her, you know, she's so attached to it and then they came to get away and killed it.
Something very dear touching that she had this
relationship with killed. So she's asking God, why did you take away my calf?
What was his sin?
What did he do?
I love them so dearly. parents had no answer, just standing behind that is the beginning of disbelief.
Not being able to understand
that
whatever happens in this life,
which a law permits is for good.
Even if we can't see the good in it.
Whatever happens in this life, in our lives in the lives of those around us, is for good. Even if we cannot see the good in it.
Many times we can see the good
and we say Oh,
Mashallah,
that thing which happened and I was upset about
I see some good came from it. So I say, I'm the law was a good thing, after all.
This happens all the time.
But there are times when things happen, where we can't see it. And this is the time when our faith is tested.
And that is part of belief in Allah, to believe that whatever takes place in this world,
is ultimately for good.
Satan.
People asked, Why did God create Satan?
Didn't he know before He created him, that Satan would refuse to bow? And would tempt Adam and Eve to disobey Allah and eat from the tree?
What can you say? If you say no?
Then you're saying, Allah doesn't know all things? Of course he knew.
So why then, would a law create this being who would become evil? He didn't create him evil, he would become evil and cause evil.
Knowing that this is going to take place, why would he do that?
Because
from Satan's evil
came great good.
What was the great good,
the great good was that when Adam and Eve ate from the tree,
in disobedience to God,
and they recognized their sin.
And they turned back to a law based on the words of repentance, which our Lord told them.
That repentance was one of the greatest acts of worship, that we, as human beings can do.
Turning back to a line repentance is among the greatest acts of worship that we can do. Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam said, at our ableman of them be Carmen lathom Bella.
One who repents from sin is like one without sin.
I ask Allah, to forgive myself and yourselves,
to cause our hearts to turn back to you or Allah in repentance, as only you can forgive our sin.
Belief in a law
also involves
believe that he alone deserves our worship,
that Allah alone deserves our worship. He cannot do what he has died.
You alone do we worship and from you alone, do we seek help?
That is
the central
principle of faith
that is required of us in belief in Allah.
And this was the essence of the messages of all
The prophets of Allah, calling people
to the worship of Allah
to dedicating their lives
to Allah, to living, God fearing lives, lives in which we are conscious of a law in each and everything that we do.
Because for a Muslim, all of his or her life is supposed to be worship.
From the time that we get up in the morning,
till the time we go back to sleep at night, playing with our children,
relating with our husbands and wives,
feeding our animals,
working,
interacting socially with our neighbors.
All aspects of our lives is supposed to be worship of Allah.
As I said, Paul in the Salatu, WA new Suki, Rama,
Rama Mattila, Nairobi, Al amin say, indeed, my prayers, my sacrifices, my living and my dying, are for a law, the Lord of all the worlds
that is the life of the believer of a true Muslim, one who has submitted his or her will to Allah.
Meaning that in whatever we do,
we try to understand what it is that the law has required of us in this act.
This thought, this word
what is it that the law wants from us?
If we do that, then we turn our lives into worship. Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam gave us no end of supplications to make from the time we wake up in the morning, to the time we go to sleep at night. Why? All these applications when you look at yourself in the mirror, when you go into the bathroom, when you go to eat, when you leave your house, when you enter your job, when you
and so on and so forth throughout your day. Prophet Mohammed says Allah has given us supplications prayers to make for each and every occasion of our lives. Why?
In order that we be conscious of a law, in the things that we do,
as a law said,
Optimus Sala Lee decree establish a prayer for my remembrance.
The essence,
a life of prayer is a life of remembrance of God.
And that makes the difference
that distinguishes between the righteous and the unrighteous. So in closing,
what are the personality traits? What are the characteristics, which
belief in a law should produce in us what is the fruit of this belief?
The fruit which is seen in the life of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam about whom Allah stated in the Quran in the law of Allah ekata who you saloon Allah, Nabeel, Indeed Allah and the angels
praise the prophet SAW its Allah
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Otis Lima OH you who believe.
seek Allah's peace and blessings for him.
What are the characteristics which he displayed, for which we should ask Allah His blessings from the profits or sell them?
For Prophet Mohammed Al Salam?
First and foremost, it is, as we mentioned, the God conscious
character.
One who is conscious of God
meaning that
when we sit and we talk with this individual
No matter what he's talking about,
whether he's talking about fixing his car,
buying a house, changing jobs,
or as a woman, about the children, the foods that are going to be cooked,
perhaps working, also, whatever they're talking about.
A law is mentioned, a law's name, a lot of power, a lot of attributes, a part and parcel of that conversation.
It's worked in there because we don't forget the law.
That is one characteristic. And the person who does this is a person, of course, you when you speak with them, you can you hear the difference between that type of a person and a person who's unconscious of a lot.
Most of us, unfortunately, are unconscious of Allah. So when we speak, there is no difference between how we speak, and how those who don't even believe in the existence of a law speak. So say
an external observer would say this the same, no difference between this one and that one.
Because that consciousness is not reflected in what we say.
And what we do.
The second characteristic is that of having a stable personality.
Stable personality
is one which is able to handle the ups and the downs of life.
One who handles trials
with patience,
and success, with gratitude.
Not to say that we don't shake Yes, we're human beings.
trials will shake us, success will trick us to some degree, but we're not
taken all the way away.
Where we lose our way.
We are balanced in times of difficulty, and times of ease, balanced personality.
When you read about other people who don't have this consciousness of a law, when trials happen, like some years back in the US, when there was a
crash in the stock market,
you read articles in the papers, so many stockbrokers jumping out of Windows.
suicide.
One particular individual they spoke about, this guy had funds of like $5 million, the market dropped, so he only ended up with $1 million loss $4 million dollars, and he was jumping out the window.
We say this is somebody who hasn't understood life,
no stability, personality.
You blame others.
When you can find others to blame you blame yourself and take your life.
One who hasn't understood Allah character in this regard is weak. Last, I asked her last month Allah to give us
character of God consciousness, to make us aware of the laws of Allah and all of the various acts and thoughts and deeds of our lives. I asked the last one to Allah to make our hearts connected to him, to keep us conscious of him, to make our last words in leaving this life remembrance of him to keep La ilaha illAllah on our tongues and to keep it in our hearts and to keep it in our lives. And ask Allah to give us stability in our individual lives, to help us to handle the difficulties and to help us to be
thankful to him in the times of blessing and ease.