Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Khutbah The Foundation Of Islam Is Knowledge
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AI: Transcript ©
We discussed last week the eye of the
Quran
Baqarah.
That the likeness,
the likeness of
the person who spends in the path of
Allah
And by extension and by analogy, we say
the likeness of anybody who does any good
deed for the sake of Allah
Is the likeness of
a person who plants a seed, and from
that seed sprouts
7 ears of corn, each ear of corn
has a 100
seeds on it.
And
Allah multiplies for whoever he wills,
and Allah
is most expansive,
and knows everything.
And so we talked about that, that the
mufasirim, the ulama say that the tafsir of
this ayah is what? It's not to say
that every deed will be rewarded
up to 700
times its worth
because Allah says that every deed will be
rewarded up to 10 times its worth in
so many other places in the Quran.
Rather, we talked about the idea that 700
isn't the upper limit, rather it's a metaphor
for something that there's no limit to, a
number so large that there's no limit to
it. And they mentioned what? They mentioned 3
things, 3 factors that will multiply
the amount of reward a person will receive
based on the same deed that they do.
1 man gives $1, another one gives $1,
one person will receive,
$1,000
worth of reward. 1 person will receive $10
worth of reward. A person will receive $50
worth of reward. What is the difference between
them? It's one of these three factors. So
we wanted to take these next couple of
weeks to talk about each of those factors
1 by 1.
So the three factors are what? We'll mention
all of them, quickly, and then we'll focus
on the one that we wanna talk about
today.
1 is the knowledge that the person doing
the good deed has,
Just like the skill that a farmer
has in sowing a crop, and planting a
crop, and then harvesting a crop, it affects
the amount of yield that that person has.
The second is the the purity of the
wealth
or the purity of the means by which
a person commits that good deed and performs
that good deed. Like a farmer who has
a seed which is superior to the seed
of other farmers, it will definitely increase the
yield of the crop that the farmer sows.
And the third is what? The third is
the land. The land that the farmer chooses
to,
sow his crop in. Because certain land, the
earth is salty. Certain land, the earth is
too
wet and too,
damp. And certain land is too dry. Certain
land has minerals in it, certain lands, the
minerals are stripped out of them, certain lands
get the requisite amount of sunlight or the
requisite temperature, certain lands are
damp, certain lands are hot, cold, whatever. They're
ideal, they're not ideal, all of these things,
they,
affect the outcome of what the what what
the yield of that same crop that's sown
will be. And the metaphor of the land
is what? The actual deed that a person
chooses. Do they choose a a good deed
or an even better deed? A inferior deed
or a superior deed? So what we wanna
talk about today is the skill
with which the farmer sows his crop, meaning
the and the knowledge of this deen.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in his book mentioned
so many times the and the the, virtue
of knowledge.
He mentions again and again,
Ask the people of knowledge
if you don't know. Allah
says
that nobody
The statement after this particle is correct to
the exclusion of all other statements.
Nobody fears Allah
Nobody fears Allah
with the exception of the people of knowledge.
A person who is a jahil, that person
doesn't fear Allah ta'ala. How can he fear
Allah? He doesn't know who Allah is. A
person can say, Allah, Allah,
From the day until the night, if they
don't know who Allah is, you ask them,
what is Allah? He says, this this statue
sitting right here. It's gonna be of no
use to them. The knowledge that a person
has is what enables them to have taqwa,
and have the of Allah
in their hearts. Allah says,
verily no one fears Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala
from His
servants, except for the people of knowledge. Allah
Ta'ala says,
Allah
will raise the people amongst you of iman,
of faith, and the people who were given
knowledge,
many ranks, many ranks. The difference
between the people of knowledge and not knowledge
is given the likeness of the difference of
the between the people of faith and the
people of no faith, which is a superlative,
comparison.
It's a comparison the likes of which there
is no other. Allah says in his book,
that whoever's given
Whoever is given knowledge, that person has been
given great treasures. That person has been given
from great good and from the from from
the blessings of Allah ta'ala a great portion.
Allah ta'ala says in his book at the
end of, Surah Al Tawbah that imagine the
person who goes off
risk his,
life and his wealth in order that the
word of Allah can be most high. What
a superlative sacrifice a person like that can
make. Even those people, Allah says, when they
return to their homes, they're obliged to listen
to the people of knowledge. They themselves, because
of their sacrifice,
don't have the right to be people who
of leadership rather the leadership of this is
going to be with whom? With the people
of knowledge.
This is all from the Quran, and you'll
find even more from the Quran if you
look at it. The Nabi
it's narrated from him that he says,
Allah
has not been worshiped by any means that
is greater. Not by salat, not by zakat,
not by siam,
not by,
giving
not by
anything. Allah
has not been worshiped by any means that
is more virtuous, that is greater, that has
a higher rank than understanding of the religion.
And the word
context of
the the the the language of the Arabs
at the time of the Messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam means understanding. It doesn't
mean just the system requires rulings of the
deen, rather it includes everything what we now
call
all of these things. It includes all of
these,
knowledges put together,
in order to form a holistic understanding. So
Allah ta'ala hasn't been worshiped by any means
more noble and more virtuous than this holistic
understanding of the religion.
And one person who has this holistic understanding
of the deen,
that person is harsher against shaitan
than a 1,000 than a 1,000 people who
are spending their time only doing worship.
If a person, when they hear this hadith,
they say, Well, I have a holistic understanding
of the deen, I'm a fati. That's a
good daleel that you're not a fati.
Because the sign of knowledge is the more
a person has, the more they bear witness
to how little knowledge they have. And if
a person listens to this and says, Oh,
wow.
I'm you know, at least I'm worshiping Allah
This is also a sign that you're not
worshiping Allah Because the more a person is
beholden to the the the the the
the holy essence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
the less the less they have, the less
gall they have to,
say something about themselves or to claim a
maqam that they have, much less a maqam
or a station that they don't have. This
is what? 2 high stations Allah to Allah
is messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is saying
what? That the person who is a person
Imagine, you wanna know what the benchmark of
is.
That the Sahaba used to pray salatum, salatul
and they would lose themselves.
Would come over them. Ecstasy and ecstatic state
would come over them come over them. They
would lose themselves in the worship of Allah
until the Fajr rose and they wouldn't even
know, and they would keep one fast without
having had again. If you think this is
an exaggeration, there are literally a hadith of
the prophet
companions
that in in battle, they would have limbs
amputated. They would be hit with arrows. They
would be hit with sword strikes while they're
praying, they'd be ambushed while praying, and they
wouldn't know, they would keep praying, they wouldn't
even understand that there's a battle going on
around them. This is the benchmark for the
worship of Allah ta'ala. When we say that
one person of fit, a person of holistic
understanding of the deen is harsher against shaitan
than a 1,000 people, than a 1,000 people
of worship. Those are the people we're talking
about. We're not talking about you and me.
If there is someone who's at that here,
please make du'a for me because you've given
given a great There's very few people left
that have that There are very few people.
There are some people, but there are very
few people left like that. Generally, you don't
find them in these parts.
Right.
One person of this holistic understanding of the
deen is harsher against shaitan than a 1,000
people whose maqam with Allah ta'ala is the
maqam of worship.
And
everything has a a a a a a
a a
pillar that it's built upon, a a foundation
that it's built upon, a foundation that carries
the load of the building.
And the the the thing that carries the
load of this deen is what?
It's what? It's not the prayer. It's not
the
it's not the it's not the
it's not it's not any of the it's
not any of these things. Even if the
rank of these things with Allah is great.
Even if the rank of all these things
with Allah is great. Even though these are
things by which a great multitude of people
will enter into Jannah. But there's something that
underpins all of these things, that validates all
of these things without this
one thing, all of those things have no
meaning whatsoever.
In front of Allah by the testimony, not
of this you know, not of a person
who's gone to Madrasa, and so he's trying
to pump up his own profession. This is
the testimony of who? Of the Rasul sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
Everything has a foundation.
Where And the foundation of this deen is
what? It's fiqh, it's understanding, it's a holistic
understanding of deen.
Now, this is one of the tahrifaat of
the age that we live in. What does
tahrif mean? Tahrif means somebody take the message
of Islam and change it.
Either from their ignorance,
or from their,
or from their lack of intellect,
or on purpose. Sometimes people do it on
purpose. They change things in order to make
the interpretation
into something that makes them feel better, or
pumps them up, or gives them some sort
of advantage, or makes money for them, or
something like that. This is something that has
a hadith of the Prophet
The ones who will carry this knowledge
from every generation that comes before, are the
most upright of that generation. The most upright
of that generation. Again, this is the testimony
of the Rasul
alaihi wa sallam. It's not something I'm making
up. The ones who will carry the guardians
and the keepers of this knowledge from every
generation,
will be the most upright amongst them as
a group. There may be 1 or 2
bad apples there but as a group, as
a class of society,
it's the best of the society that carries
this knowledge.
They will negate from it. They will negate
from the practice of the deen what?
Right? The the
uh-uh, tahrif, the the spurious changes of the
people of extremism.
And the the the negations of the people
of and
the idle speculation of people of Jahal, of
people of ignorance.
Right? So this is a function of the
ulama. This is a function of the ulama.
One of the that has come into the
understanding of many people regarding the of Islam
in the day and age we live is
what? Is that the first the first revelation
that came down on the heart of Sayna
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was was
read. Right? So therefore, go become a doctor
or an engineer.
This is not what's meant by the itra.
With all due respect to anyone who's a
doctor or an engineer. With all due respect,
you have a great matam. Allah ta'ala uses
you for the service of his creation. Allah
ta'ala reward you for it. This is not
what's meant by iqra. This is not what's
meant all of these ayaat and ahadith regarding
this is not what's meant by that, that
go out and get go out and become
a doctor in engineering. These are all vocational
training. This is not what's meant by You
say, okay. Look. You made a you tore
down the gauntlet. What's your proof? What's your
daleel? Nobody should speak without daleel. What does
the Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam? What is
the hadith of the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam narrated by Sayna Abu Hurair radiAllahu ta'ala
Anhu, and narrated by,
narrated by Sayna Abdullah bin Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala
Anhu, and narrated it by the ashab of
sunan and by imam Ahmad radiAllahu ta'ala
anhu, Rahimuhammadu
Barakua ta'ala. And a long hadith, a very
famous hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, what is narrated? The prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam says,
that that,
this this knowledge Right? Whoever
seeks this knowledge, the angels will lower their
wings for that person in humility for the
one who seeks knowledge. And every everything in
the heavens and the earth, all the angels
in Jannah, all the angels that that are
making tawaf around the arsh from them to
the worms inside of the ground. And the
prophet said,
even the whales that are in the depths
of the ocean. Even the whales that dive
into the depths of the ocean. Right? The
sperm whale can dive so deep, such rich
muscle mass, rich with myoglobin.
It can dive for more than an hour
without taking a breath, and it can kill
a a a giant squid and come up.
Right? Even those whales that are in the
depths of the ocean. This is like this
is a miracle. This is more of the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. That
it's very difficult to find any creature that's
like of a macro scale that a person
can name, that the Arabs were familiar with.
Right? How did he know that that's the
deepest the animal that goes the deepest? Right?
How did he know to say that to
his companions? Even the
even the whales that are in the in
the depth in the hollow depth of the
ocean, all of them will make dua for
the person who, is a person of knowledge,
who learns and teaches knowledge. And at the
end of the hadith, what what does the
prophet say? In the middle of the hadith,
he says, whoever takes a path to learn
knowledge, Allah will take that person on the
path to Jannah. Right? What does the Messenger
of Allah
say at the end of the hadith?
He says, he says,
The people of knowledge are the the the
the heirs of the Prophets.
They're the heirs of the Prophets. So you
haven't brought any Dalil yet. Alright? I'm a
doctor, I'm an engineer,
I'm an heir of the prophet too because
I have great knowledge. Right? I have great
knowledge. I can transplant
a nerve from a a another species
into a human being, and I can give
that human being
medicine so that it's not rejected. I can
literally
transplant the face of 1 person onto another
person, and that person will live. I can
literally build an artificial heart that that person
can live without a without a biological heart
for years on end. If you don't call
it ill,
what are you what are you gonna expect
as and where's the proof? It's, The people
of knowledge are the heirs of the Prophet.
And
the says,
says,
They didn't leave behind gold and silver. What's
meant by gold and silver here is not
only gold and silver.
Rather, gold and silver are a They are
a metaphor for this dunya
because it's fungible, it's cash basically.
Right? It's called in Arabic, the same word
for cash, like for, you know, you don't
wanna buy on credit, you don't wanna trade,
you wanna you don't wanna barter, you wanna
buy something in a fungible,
a currency. Right? So the gold and silver
here is a fungible currency just like money
is the majaz. It's the representative of the
dunya. That money is the thing that if
a person thinks about dunya, it's the first
thing that they think about. And almost everything
from the dunya, you can buy with money.
Almost everything from the dunya you can buy
with money, that's what's meant here.
They didn't leave behind a gold coin or
a silver coin. You say, well, this is
so far, you your your interpretation
is is metaphorical,
so we say it's a possibility that that's
true, but it's also a possibility someone else
is true. What does the Nabi
say next?
They They didn't leave behind nothing except for
knowledge. Okay? Can you tell me a medical
textbook that the prophet
wrote?
Can you tell me a engineering textbook, a
physics textbook that the messenger of Allah
wrote? From the facade, from the
decrepitude, and from the from the the the
the the the the materialism of the age
that we live in, people now look for
scientific miracles in the Quran
in order to validate their faith in the
Quran. Why? Because they have on science, but
they don't have in the book of Allah,
and when they see scientific miracles in the
book of Allah
they say, Oh wow. Maybe this Quran is
true after all.
And the thing is fine, and this is
a mercy of Allah that you put those
things there, in in order to save the
faith of people
like ourselves that are in this situation.
But the book of Allah
isn't a science book. If you wanted it
to be, he would have revealed it. 1st
the first chapter is mathematics, the second chapter
is physics. Instead of,
Surah Al Baqarah Al Imran, Surah Al Nisa,
he would've put in biology, and the next
one would've been biochemistry,
the next one would've been medicine. It would've
had all of these things, and it would've
had detailed schematics on how to build bridges,
and build tall buildings, and it would have
had a schematic in it, how here's how
you make nuclear weapons, and here's how you
make machine guns. None of that stuff was
there because none of it is the matzul
that the knowledge of the Messenger of Allah
Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam or the knowledge of
the deen. What did Nabi
so they sent down nothing but knowledge.
The knowledge that's there is the knowledge that
the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi wa sallam
left behind which is the knowledge of which
is the knowledge
of which is the knowledge of the tafsir
of the Quran, which is the knowledge of
the recitation of the Quran, which is the
knowledge of,
of of of zikr, and of the remembrance
of Allah
which is the knowledge of the interpretation of
dreams, which is the knowledge of all there's
all of these different
sure. All of these different branches from which
that knowledge comes, and that knowledge, if you
go far out enough in the branch, it
will connect with everything. It will connect with
your medicine, it will connect with your mathematics,
it will connect with your philosophy, it will
connect with everything eventually.
But the core of that knowledge to say,
therefore you should become a doctor, this is
this is a dishonesty,
this is a dishonesty.
Anybody who hasn't sat and studied this knowledge
from the people who have this knowledge. Anyone
who learned that he has ijazah from Sheikh
Google, or from Facebook, or from,
from from the Internet, or from my one's
own life experience,
know that that is completely against what the
idea of revelation is in in in Islam.
The idea of revelation is Allah to Allah.
Right?
Allah is the one who's taught by this
wahi, that knowledge to mankind that they didn't
know. Not only that they didn't know, that
they were
never able to know. That if they had
lived for eons,
and only dedicated themselves to study, they would
never be able to know this knowledge. Allah
and His Rasul
know this knowledge, you will not get it
from anyone except for someone who has salanat
Isnaat Mutasil.
Unbroken chain of narration to the Messenger of
Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, except for by
sitting with the people who sat at the
feet of the people, who sat at the
people, feet of the people, and the companion
of the messenger of Allah, who sat at
the feet of the messenger of Allah
This is the way this works. If you
wanna do anything else, be a doctor engineer,
Allah give
you in this world,
and in
the hereafter. But no one when we talk
about knowledge, this is what the knowledge is
that we talk about. This is the knowledge
which will multiply your good deeds. This is
the knowledge that made the
This is the knowledge that made the Messenger
of Allah the Messenger of Allah
Say, Allah commands who? Not you and I,
the messenger of Allah
Say, I'm nothing
except for a man like you. Is the
messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wa sallam just
a man like you and me?
Obviously he's not.
Allah commands and say,
Say I'm nothing but a man like you.
What's the faq? What's the difference? The difference
is that I received this knowledge of wahi.
I received this knowledge from the bayb, that
your lord
is is is one Lord. So, okay. Now
now I know that 2 are equal. No.
Tawhid here is again this is from the
literary style of the Arabs. When Allah says,
he doesn't mean that, you know, you just
establish the prayer and give zakat, and then
do whatever you want to afterward.
It's this literary style of the Arabs that
you refer to something by its most important
part.
That's why this thing is they call it
a phone, it's like everything other than a
phone
Right? If I had an if I had
a cell phone that didn't have internet, I'd
still carry this thing around, and people would
still call it a phone even though I'm
only using it to as a GPS and
to browse the Internet and check my email
or whatever. Right? But he called it a
phone because that's the the the foundational part
of it. Right?
So Allah says that, right,
that this
has been given to me. It's been taught
to me from the from the unseen. And
this is what? It is a metaphor, it's
a for the entire Islam.
Why? Because the is the most it's a
cornerstone, it's the foundation of the entire Islam.
What is the difference between the Rasul
and
us?
The most salient difference, even though his were
better than ours, even though his worship was
better than ours, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, his
sadaqa was better than ours, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. His jihad was harder than ours, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
His his selflessness was greater than ours. His
effacement in front of Allah was more complete
than ours, but that's not what made him
the Rasulullah
alaihi wa sallam. What made him the Rasul
was this that Allah
gave him. Allah
opened our hearts, that we can be behold
into our own ignorance, so that he can
then open our hearts in order to learn
something. Because the day that you think you
know something, that's the day that the doors
of the heart close, and then you're not
gonna be able to learn anything anymore. May
Allah make us beholden to our faults so
that we can perfect ourselves. May Allah make
us beholden to our ignorance so that we
can enrich ourselves with knowledge.