Haitham al-Haddad – Jumuah Khutbah 30 August 2024
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That you are walking in the street,
and then
maybe the BBC,
radio, or TV,
presenter
asked you, are you Muslim? And then you
said proudly, yes, I am Muslim.
And then he said, listen,
we have
1 minute, 60 seconds exactly,
to tell us about your religion,
and the whole world is watching you or
listening to you.
Just one minute.
And then you started to scratch your head.
What am I going to say in 1
minute to explain my religion, this great religion
in 1 minute?
This is
By the time you scratch your head, 1
minute is gone. And you lost the opportunity.
What am I going to say about about
Islam in 1 minute? Islam, you submit to
Allah and Allah
is the creator, and you do 5 salawat
and you go for help. Or Islam
is,
is defending women's because we have inferiority,
regarding this issue. Islam is,
seeking for equality between men and women. Islam
is a religion of peace. What are you
going to say in one
minute? And by the way, my dear brothers,
my dear sisters, this is a good exercise.
This is a good exercise for all of
us. Are we able to express ourselves in
a very concise way?
Are we able to express or explain our
religion
in
a very precise
way if we have the opportunity?
Imagine the whole world is watching you.
If that were to happen to me,
I would say the following, and please listen.
I would say that
Islam
is the only way of life
that secures
success to individuals,
societies
and to the entire humanity.
Success in this life
and success after
in the second life.
Through
submission to the supreme being
and following the final messenger,
messenger, Muhammad
It didn't take 60 seconds.
Again,
Islam
is the only way of life.
It's the only way of life
that secures
success
for individuals,
societies,
and for
the entire humanity,
both in this life
and in the hereafter,
through submission to the supreme being, Allah
and by following the final messenger, Muhammad
My dear brothers, my dear sisters,
many people are questioning
themselves and questioning
the imams, the and we receive these questions
these days, especially
watching what is happening to our brothers and
sisters in Gaza. Is is
Islam
a way of life? Or is it a
deen of success?
Is Islam a deen of success?
And many of them, they said, yes, we
agree
that in akhirah, we will go to Jannah.
But in this dunya, we will live in
misery.
We will live a miserable life.
And,
yes, we agree that Islam is a deen
of success, but not in this life. Look
at
the situation of the Muslim Ummah now.
Everywhere the Muslim Ummah is
living in a miserable situation,
is failing
even some of the,
Arab countries or Gulf countries maybe who are
very wealthy and not not living in a
miserable situation. But they are they have dictatorship,
and they are not that developed technically, etcetera.
And,
technically, etcetera.
And
in response to that and this is a
very valid question,
my dear brothers, my dear sisters. And we
need to be able to address it to
our youngsters.
In fact, as one brother one brother one
time, he said,
we need to address it to ourselves before
we address our children.
Because we started to lose confidence
in our religion as it is a way
of success,
witnessing what is happening to our ummah now.
And my dear brothers, my dear sisters,
very quick point.
First of all, when someone is asking this
question,
apart from giving
on can be defined in 2 ways.
Dunia
based success.
Dunia based success.
And
or you can say materialistic
success.
And non materialistic success.
In the minds of so many people now,
especially our youngsters,
because of the hegemony
of non divine systems,
we define success as what? As power and
wealth.
We define success as what?
Power and wealth.
So
in our minds,
America and the West
in particular,
because they have power, they have wealth, they
are the most successful nations.
And
in the minds of our of many of
our youngsters,
those who are famous,
they have wealth, YouTubers,
also,
they are the most successful people.
Or footballers, they are the most successful people.
That's why their aim is to be like
one of them.
And we have to, my dear brothers and
sisters, we have to redefine what success is.
Is it true that
wealth power,
yeah, both of them make you a
successful person?
In fact, do they make you a happy
person?
And
brothers, brothers, sisters, look around you. You will
see so many people who are not happy.
They cannot smile. I know so many wealthy
people, they cannot smile. In fact, brothers and
sisters, just take it in a very simple
way without make it so sophisticated, so intellectual.
If we look at non Muslim Western countries,
compare the number of people who commit suicide
in those countries
compared to
Muslim countries. Although
most of our Muslim countries, they don't represent
a true Islam.
For example, in the UK, you will be
shocked to know that the number of people
who commit suicide on average, on a yearly
basis,
sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down.
4,000
people.
What does that mean? It means
around 10 people
commit suicide
on a daily basis.
And we all know that in 2:30,
of course, different,
numbers is given different statistics
that
mental illness
or mental illnesses
will be
the biggest
illness after maybe heart attack. Some people say
we have doctor Salim. He can correct us.
Okay. Or
after
cancer,
it is 1 it is going to be
one of the main illnesses.
But
they are wealthy. They have power. They have
5 g. Maybe in the future, they will
have 6 g. They have bombs. They are
killing people. They are
But why? Why? They are not happy.
Are you telling me that they are not
successful?
Who we really need to define what success
is? I will leave it to you.
What success is.
A very key question.
All of us we need to ask ourselves,
what does success mean?
And even many Western philosophers now
are questioning
or are posing this question, what does success
mean? Does wealth, power or fame,
do they bring success
to humanity?
This is one question.
Now, the second question, my dear brothers, my
dear sisters, or the other part of
the question.
Even from a materialistic
perspective,
Islam makes us the most successful
people as a society,
as an.
And that might come as a shock to
so many people.
Even from what? A materialistic
duniya perspective,
Islam makes us as what?
As the most successful people.
My dear brothers, my dear sisters,
in the Quran,
in
a very
Whoever does good deeds,
whether male or female,
provided that they are believers, we will
grant them
a a good life, a successful life.
And our prophet
then dunya
came to his hand, but he throw it
away. It doesn't mean that he did not
have the dunya in his hand.
And his
within 20
years after the demise of the prophet
within 20 years, they managed to destroy the
main two superpowers
in the world at that time, the Persians
and the Romans. And the Persians and the
Romans, as many historians said, they were fighting
for decades,
and they could not finish
themselves.
And Islam came within 20 years and managed
to finish them all.
And
my dear brothers, my dear sisters,
let us zoom out and look at the
Islamic history.
Please, young people,
yeah, listen to this carefully because you are
always
asking this question.
And everyone has to listen to this, my
dear brothers, my dear sisters. Unfortunately,
because we don't study our history, we think
that we are weak. We think that it
is our decree to live a miserable life
all of our time, and that is not
true.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
came, and he managed to
open most of the peninsula
within a very short period of time. In
fact, he is the only prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, who established a state. None of
the previous prophets, maybe Ibrahim alaihi salam, managed
to establish a state,
if the word state is the correct word.
And then
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam died year
11 Hajira. And then the we have the.
We have the Umayyen period. We have the
Abbasi period,
and
that continued until 656
years after hijrah. Islam was either the main
superpower in the world or one of the
main superpowers of the world
for over 650
years.
When Islam
when
the the Mongols
destroyed the Abbasi caliphate in 656 years,
on 656 years,
Muslims
managed to build themselves. Islam managed to them
again.
And we have the Ottoman Empire or the
Ottoman Caliphate
within
50 years as well.
And the Ottoman Caliphate
continued for call it whatever you like to
call it. Some people are over sensitive.
Call it caliphate. Call it empire. Call it
whatever. It was either the main superpower
in the world or one of the main
superpowers
for over 600 years.
Now the prophet
was sent
1,446
years.
Among those 1,446
years,
Islam was a superpower for
1,002
200 years.
85 of its existence,
we were the main superpower in the world
or one of the main superpowers in the
world.
Allah says,
The Quran was not revealed to make us
living in a miserable life.
Quran was revealed
We have sent you a book that will
elevate you.
The Quran was not sent to make us
a failing nation.
If we abandon the Quran, Allah will abandon
us, and then we will become a failing
nation. The prophet who
sent him as a mercy to the whole
mankind,
and he is the one on the day
of resurrection
will say,
I am the best of mankind.
Do you think that he was
living as a fair person? That is impossible.
Be proud of who you are, my dear
brothers, my dear sisters.
My dear brothers, my dear sisters, some people
might say, why are you saying this?
Just for what? Just to cry over history?
No.
My dear brothers, my dear sisters, the first
step towards success is to know who you
are.
We need to know who we are.
And
once we know who we are, we will
get rid of any inferiority
complex
that is the main reason for our,
our I don't like to say miserable situation,
but it is one of the main reasons
for failure.
And the first step towards success is to
gain confidence and to get into any
challenge
with that spirit,
that you have a legacy,
and that you are a successful person, that
you are a winning,
that you are a winning society.
That's why my dear brothers, my dear sisters,
in the Quran,
when the Sahaba came to the prophet in
the in the of the prophet, when
the Sahaba
came to the prophet,
in Mecca,
and they were prosecuted, they were tortured, etcetera.
He were he was tortured in a very
savage way.
They came to the prophet
and the prophet
was sitting next to Kaaba. And they said,
look what is happening to us.
They used to bring him and put hot
coal on his
back until
they smell the barbecue.
That his meat is being being cooked by
the hot coal.
The prophet
did not use
the language
of sympathizers
with
weak
inferiority people. He didn't say he never said
this.
People. He didn't say he never said this.
Oh, I feel sorry for you.
Yeah. Don't worry. Allah will reward you. No.
That is not the language to be addressed
to leaders.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is developing
leaders.
We are the best of nations.
We have to live by that spirit. The
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, so
what? The people before you used to be
tortured more than you used to be, more
than you are tortured.
And they were firm on their religion.
And then the prophet
gave us the vision,
gave the the vision. By Allah, he said.
Allah will establish this matter, this deen for
you
until a lady travels
lonely from San'a to Hadhramot, Mot, very long
distance, she will travel by herself.
She will fear none
except for the wolf because of her sheep
and goat and
She will fear nothing,
subhanallah. And then the prophet
said, you are so hasty.
Which means that Allah will establish your religion.
My dear brothers, my dear sisters,
this spirit
is so crucial
to live by it.
Because this spirit, that makes us.
This what makes the fabric of Muslims,
who they are.
They were chosen by
Allah not because of their color, not because
of their background, because they say
Look at yourselves.
There are Arabs, black, revert,
from all backgrounds.
You are the best nation ever raised to
mankind in joining the good and forbidding the
evil. And we need to live by that.
We need to live by that standard.
We need to work for that standard.
We need to think out of
this inferiority
box that we boxed ourselves in it.
And as a community, as a society, we
need to think from that perspective, my dear
brothers, my dear sisters.
The area, for example, where Muslims live should
be the best areas
because of the existence of Islam. And, of
course, that needs
further explanation. We don't have time to do
that. But at least
this is the start.
This is the starting point. We ask
to make us
among those who will listen and benefited from
what they listen to. We ask Allah
to make us,
as he wanted, the most successful.
And we ask Allah to help our brothers
and sisters in Gaza, and to grant them
success
soon and not later.
We ask Allah to forgive us for our
mistakes and our shortcomings.
My dear brothers, my dear sisters, don't forget
that that this is the day of Jum'ah.
And the prophet
said it is the best of your days,
so increase sending salah and salam upon me.
And says
and don't forget to give sadaqa in particular
because the reward of sadaqa is multiplied the
number of times on this day.