Mirza Yawar Baig – Brotherhood Of Faith
AI: Summary ©
The importance of showing one's true identity and history in order to be recognized as a Muslim is emphasized in a series of narratives and statements. The speakers stress the need to hold fast to Islam, avoiding confusion between opinion and reality, and not be divided. The importance of active listening, objectivity, and building a brotherhood is emphasized, along with the importance of forgive others and not just one person to forgive. The speakers provide examples of actions that cannot be answered in a prize fight and emphasize the importance of building a brotherhood to forgive one another.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillāhi r-Rahmāni r-Rahīm, alhamdulillāhi rabbil-'ālamīn, wa
salātu wa s-salāmu ʿalá sharafi l-anbiyā
'i wa l-mursalīn, Muḥammadun Rasūlu Llāh ﷺ,
taslīman kathīran kathīran.
Humble brothers and sisters, my…
the topic of my khutbah today is Brotherhood
of Faith.
Rasūla ﷺ was…
one day he asked the Sahabah to name
the biggest sign of Islam.
So, somebody said Salah, somebody said Zakah, somebody
said Hajj.
Rasūla ﷺ negated all of them.
He said, no.
Then they asked him, he said, please, ya
Rasūla Llāh, tell us what is the biggest
sign of Islam, of being Muslim?
And he said, muḥabbah, muḥabbah, muḥabbat, āpaz ki
muḥabbat, the love and affection between people, mutual
brotherly love for one another.
I ask you and I ask myself, where
should we place ourselves in terms of this
criterion of being Muslim, of displaying the sign
of Islam in our lives, displaying this sign
of Islam, of muḥabbah.
In our lives, our words, our actions and
society.
I want to remind myself and you to
correct our position with respect to Allah ﷻ,
His Messenger ﷺ and our own brothers and
sisters and all other people who inhabit and
share this earth with us.
Allah ﷻ said about this brotherhood of faith,
Inna hāzihi ummatukum ummata wāḥidatan wa ana rabbukum
fa'budūn.
In Surah An-Biyā', Allah ﷻ said, truly
this, your ummah, your brotherhood is one ummah
and I am your Rabb and therefore worship
Me alone.
And in the surah, one surah after that,
Surah An-Mu'minūn, Allah ﷻ said, wa inna
hāzihi ummatukum ummata wāḥidatan wa ana rabbukum fattaqun.
He said, and verily and surely, this ummah
of yours is one ummah and I am
your Rabb, so have my taqwa.
Now in these two ayahs, Allah ﷻ told
us that we Muslims are one people, we
are one brotherhood, we are one ummah.
And He defined the basis of our unity.
Why are we called one ummah?
Why are we one ummah?
And that basis is that we worship only
Allah and that we have His taqwa.
That is, we live our lives in obedience
to Allah ﷻ alone.
This is the basis of our being one.
Allah ﷻ honoured us by saying, ana rabbukum,
I am your Rabb.
We have one Rabb, one Nabi, one book
and one faith.
That is the basis of our brotherhood of
faith called Islam.
Allah ﷻ mentioned differences of opinion and He
warned us about that.
And He said, Allah
ﷻ said, which means, and hold fast.
All of you, Allah ﷻ said, hold fast
to the rope of Allah ﷻ.
And this is, means the Qur'an.
Hold fast to the rope of Allah, which
is the Qur'an al-Kareem.
And Allah ﷻ said, and do not be
divided amongst yourselves.
And remember, Allah ﷻ's favour on you, for
you were enemies to one another, but He
ﷻ joined your hearts together, so that by
His grace, you became brother, you became brothers
and sisters in Islam, in faith.
And you are on the brink of a
pit of fire and He saved you from
it.
Thus, Allah ﷻ makes His ayat, His signs,
His revelation clear to you that you may
be guided.
Allah ﷻ warned us against converting differences of
opinion into opposition.
Opposition of one another and forming into clans
and groups and cults and sects.
Allah ﷻ reminded the Sahaba of the time
when they used to oppose one another and
harboured enmity over small things, over trivial things.
Enmity that divided them and made their own
life miserable.
What is the value of life if one
must constantly look over one's shoulder, fearing an
enemy all the time?
Allah ﷻ told them that they had been
on the brink of a pit of fire
and that it was Islam which came with
its message of the brotherhood of faith which
saved them.
Islam joined them together and made erstwhile enemies
into beloved brothers.
Please understand, Allah ﷻ did not say la
taqtalif.
He did not tell them not to differ
in opinion but not to differ in such
a way that hearts are broken, feelings are
hurt and people are insulted.
He said la tafarraqu, meaning la tuqassam, do
not make divisions.
A difference of opinion means that more than
one mind is engaged in thinking about the
matter.
Very welcome that several intelligent people are interested
in finding a solution and this is all
for the good.
But when intelligence leaves the arena and egos
take over, when solving the problem is not
the objective anymore but dominating the discussion, that
takes precedence.
Then an intelligent difference of opinion turns into
ignorant, egoistic posturing and opposition.
Intelligent difference of opinion is welcome, desirable and
results in bringing people together.
Opposition, on the other hand, draws them apart,
raises walls, breaks hearts and kindles hatred instead
of love.
That is what Allah ﷻ warned us against.
Allah ﷻ said, wa atiullaha warasoolahu wala tanaza
'u fatafshalu watadhaba reehukum wasbiru innallaha ma'as
sabireen.
Allah said in Surah Al-Anfal, Obey Allah
and His Messenger ﷺ and do not dispute
with one another, lest you lose courage and
your strength departs and be patient.
Surely Allah ﷻ is with those who are
as-sabireen, those who are patient, who do
their best and rely upon Allah.
Allah ﷻ told us to make up with
each other and resolve our differences.
Allah said, fatahullaha wa aslihu zata bayneekum wa
atiullaha warasoolahu in kuntum mu'mineen.
In Surah Al-Anfal, again, Allah said, So
fear the displeasure of Allah and reconcile all
matters of differences among you and obey Allah
ﷻ and His Messenger ﷺ if you are
believers.
Rasulullah ﷺ told us that reconciling between people
is better than voluntary fasts and voluntary prayers
and giving voluntary charity.
It is narrated in a hadith in Abu
Dawood and At-Tirmidhi, narrated that Abu Dhaliqah
R.A. said, Rasulullah ﷺ said, Shall I
not tell you something that is better than
the status of voluntary fasting, prayer and charity?
They said, Yes, Ya Rasulullah.
He said, Reconciling in a case of discord,
reconciling between people when there is a conflict.
For the evil of discord is the shaver.
In At-Tirmidhi, it is narrated that Rasulullah
ﷺ said, It is the shaver.
I do not say that it shaves hair,
but that it shaves, that it destroys religious
commitment.
In another hadith in Bukhari and Muslim, it
was narrated that Abu Huraira R.A. said
that Rasulullah ﷺ said, Do not hate one
another, do not envy one another, do not
turn away from one another.
Be, O slaves of Allah, brothers to one
another.
It is not permissible for a Muslim to
forsake his brother for more than three days.
In another hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ said, If a
person forsakes his brother for more than three
days and dies, he will go to Jahannam.
It was narrated in another hadith in again
Bukhari and Muslim that Abu Ayyub al-Ansari
R.A. said, Rasulullah ﷺ said, It is
not permissible for a Muslim to forsake his
brother for more than three days and each
of them turning away when they meet, the
better of them is the one who gives
the greeting of Salam first.
It was narrated by Abu Huraira R.A.
in a hadith recorded in Muslim Sharif that
Rasulullah ﷺ said, The gates of Jannah are
opened on Monday and Thursday and everyone who
does not associate anything with Allah is forgiven
except a man who has had an argument
with his brother.
It is said, Wait for these two until
they reconcile and wait for these two until
they reconcile and wait for these two until
they reconcile.
Finally, Abu Qarash As-Sulam R.A. said
that he heard Rasulullah ﷺ saying, Whoever forsakes
his brother for a year, it is as
if he has shed his blood.
It is as good as he has murdered
him and this is a hadith in Abu
Dawood.
Allah SWT has witnessed, He is the witness
that this is the cancer that is eating
us from within.
The cancer that we know the cure for
but we do not apply.
What is that cure?
Forgiveness.
Returning evil with good.
Responding and not reacting.
Acting intelligently, not reflexively.
Allah SWT said, La tastawil hasanatu wala sayyah,
idhfa' billatihi ahsan.
Fa idha allathee baynaka wa baynahu adawatun ka
annahu waliyun hamim.
Wa ma yulaqqaha illa allatheena sabaru wa ma
yulaqqaha illa dhu hazzin azeem.
Allah said the good deed and the evil
deed cannot be equal.
Repel evil with one which is better.
Repel the evil deed with one which is
better.
That is Allah SWT ordered us to be
patient at the time of anger and to
excuse those who treat them badly.
Then verily He said, He between whom you
and between whom and you, between you and
the other person, there was enmity, they will
become as if they were close friends.
But none is granted this above quality except
those who are patient.
And none is granted it except the owner
of the great portion of happiness in the
hereafter.
The great portion is the tasbih or the
meaning of that is happiness in the hereafter
jannah.
It is essential therefore to develop four qualities
in ourselves.
If you want to do all this, we
need to have four very important qualities.
First one is humility.
Humility.
Remember that you are not receiving Wahi.
Nobody is receiving Wahi, nobody has an absolute
hold on the truth.
So apply the principle of the Shariah, the
principle of all the Imams of the Ummah,
that is I am right with the possibility
of being mistaken, my brother is mistaken with
the possibility of being right.
So we listen with an open mind to
whatever argument our brother may offer while remaining
firm on our own position.
If however the other person gives us evidence
to change our position, then we must be
prepared to do that.
Number two, listening.
Be an active listener.
First seek to understand, then seek to answer.
Don't listen to answer, listen to understand.
Without understanding your answers cannot be relevant anyway.
But all too often we are so caught
up with answering, scoring points, being one up
on the other that we lose sight of
what the substance of the argument is.
Active listening consists of first telling the speaker
what you understood him to be saying, then
and only when the speaker is satisfied that
you understood him correctly, should you put forward
your argument.
This is a very powerful conversation technique that
I have used in very hostile negotiations with
great success.
Number three is objectivity.
Separate the argument from the person.
Remember that you are trying to solve a
problem or understand a matter or come to
a common understanding.
You are not in a prize fight trying
to put the other person down and win
over that person and so on.
It's not you versus him, but you and
him versus the issue.
So always maintain decorum, good manners, adab and
consideration for others.
Always remind yourself and the others of the
objective of the dialogue.
To arrive at a solution, to find an
answer, not to win over another person.
At no time must you allow your emotions
to get into the act and cause offence.
Anger has no place in dialogue.
If you find yourself getting angry, get up
and leave.
Come back again when you have pulled up.
Forgiveness, number four.
Finally and most importantly, it is essential in
building a brotherhood or building brotherhood to forgive
one another.
We need forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala and the best way to ensure that
we get it is to forgive each other
in this life.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned this and
he said, wa laa ya'tali ulul fadli minkum,
wa sa'ati an yu'tu ulil qurba wal
masakina wal muhajireena fi sabili Allahi, wal ya
'fu wal yasfahu, ala tuhibbuna an yakfirallahu lakum,
wallahu ghafoorun raheem.
In surat an-Nur Allah said, do not
let the people of virtue and affluence among
you swear to suspend donations to their relatives,
the needy and the emigrants in the cause
of Allah.
Let them pardon them and forgive them.
Do you not love Allah to forgive you?
Do you not love to be forgiven by
Allah?
And Allah is all forgiving, most merciful.
This ayah came when Abu Bakr as-Siddiq
r.a discovered that one of those who
slandered, who had slandered his daughter, our mother,
Sayyida Aisha Siddiqa r.a, was his relative,
Mistah bin Uthasa, who Abu Bakr r.a
used to support financially.
When he found out about Mistah, Abu Bakr
r.a decided to stop his donation.
That is when Allah subhana wa ta'ala
revealed Quran.
He revealed this ayah where he referred to
Abu Bakr as-Siddiq r.a as a
person of virtue and affluence.
This is one of the many honours and
fadail of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq r.a.
The amazing thing is that Allah subhana wa
ta'ala is commanding Abu Bakr r.a
and us to forgive someone who has clearly
wronged us and not punish him apart from
the punishment that he is liable for in
the shariah.
And Allah says, let them pardon and forgive.
Do you not love to be forgiven by
Allah?
The lesson from this is that if we
want to be forgiven by Allah, then let
us forgive others.
Another lesson is that someone may make a
mistake once, but that does not negate all
the good that he may have done.
Mistah was a muhajir, Allah is saying what
he did, that remains with him.
That must not be forgotten either.
Carrying grudges, especially over imaginary injuries to our
inflated egos, which is the main cause of
our hatred of one another, is something that
is injurious only to our own health.
It ensures that we give our good deeds
to the other person who we hate because
we end up slandering and backbiting him and
we carry that hatred in our hearts.
A fire that cannot be quenched except by
ourselves.
It is like carrying a live coal in
your hand.
It burns only you.
The person you hate doesn't even know that
you hate him and certainly doesn't care.
So forgive each other.
Don't carry grudges.
Say to Allah, Ya Rabb, I forgive him,
you please forgive me.
There can be no brotherhood without forgiveness.
I ask Allah to heal our hearts and
to fill them with his love and his
glory and his mercy and his majesty to
free us from the shackles of hatred, discrimination,
distance and arrogance.
May Allah bless all of you and bless
the Ummah of Rasulallah, sallallahu alayhi wa ala
alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, wa sallallahu ala
nabiyyil kareem, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma
'in, bi rahmatil kiram wa barakatuh.