Mohammed Faqih – Friday Khutbah 20-12-2024
AI: Summary ©
The umirals are committed to being part of a larger community and not caring about others. They need to learn to accept their unique culture and identity and find their own success. The history of the umirals is discussed, including the deification of Syria and the loss of pride from Muslims. The importance of responding to needs and challenges, particularly in the face of persecution, is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Not only do you belong to your family
and your local community, but you also belong
to this bigger body, this global community that
we refer to as the ummah.
And every small community that you're a part
of is nothing but a small unit within
that big body.
And we have an obligation.
In Islam, as a Muslim, you have an
obligation towards yourself, you have an obligation towards
your family, obligations.
You have an obligation towards your community.
And you have an obligation towards your global
community, your ummah.
And no one obligation should be fulfilled at
the expense of the other.
Or no one obligation should be neglected for
the sake of another.
That's if you're even focusing on your obligation.
But in many situations, we find ourselves preoccupied
with ourselves, with our desires, with our comfort,
with our convenience, with our reward, with our
pleasure, at the expense of our obligations towards
our family, and our communities, and our global
ummah.
We think individually.
What is good for me?
What is best for me?
And this is a very dangerous way of
thinking.
As a matter of fact, if someone is
not concerned with anything or anyone except themselves,
then that person doesn't actually belong to that
body.
Just like if you were to have a
family member, you have a child, you have
a sibling, you have a member of any
household that does not fulfill his or her
obligation towards that household, that does not keep
the interests of that household collectively in mind,
that does not contribute to that household.
They're just there like guests, they just want
to be served and taken care of, and
they want all of their wishes and their
needs to be fulfilled, but they're not willing
to do anything in return.
They're not even willing to do anything to
begin with, and sometimes they don't even reciprocate,
they don't even give back, contribute back.
That person, sooner or later, will be ostracized,
will be rejected, and there will be a
lot of resentment.
You belong to a particular body, you need
to contribute to it.
You belong to a particular community, you need
to be part of it.
Now, when it comes to this global body
that we call ummah, we are told, the
motto is, whoever is not concerned with whoever
is not concerned, whoever is not worried, whoever
is not preoccupied, whoever does not have it
on his or her list of priorities, that
I belong to this body, this ummah is
my ummah, I represent this ummah, I'm part
of this ummah, I need to work for
this ummah, I need to advance the cause
of this ummah, I need to protect this
ummah, I need to serve this ummah, whoever
doesn't have that kind of mindset, whoever does
not concern himself with affairs of the Muslims,
then he is, in reality, even if he
claims to be part of them, he's not
truly of them.
But however, one of the biggest challenges that
we have as an ummah are causes of
division within our ummah.
How did we end up here?
How did we end up from a small,
close-knit community of dedicated members who came
and dedicated and devoted everything that they had,
those men and women, the early Muslims, our
founding fathers, our guides, our inspirations, our role
models, radiyallahu anhum, that every time we mention
any one of them or any group of
them, we say radiyallahu anhum, may Allah be
pleased with them.
How did we end up from that model
to what we have today?
You see, the Prophet ﷺ warned the sahaba
of division.
Allah عز و جل in the Qur'an
warned us of division.
And today, I want to address maybe two
or three of the causes of division amongst
us as an ummah.
How did we end up here?
It is the nature of this creation we
call humans.
Allah عز و جل created us and made
us into...
Allah عز و جل says it's of His
signs ومن آياته.
It is of His signs that He made
you into different colors and different languages and
different tongues.
Of His signs also is the fact that
He created us from a single pair.
We all belong to that pair.
We're all actually globally, including by the way,
our fellow non-Muslim brothers and sisters in
humanity.
We're all one species.
We're all one big family.
Some of us, as Allah says, فَمِنْكُمْ مُؤْمِنٌ
وَمِنْكُمْ كَافِرٌ Some of you believe and some
of you reject.
Some respond and some don't.
And by the way, everyone that came after
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is potentially part of his
ummah.
Those of us who responded to his call
and follow him and try our best to
fulfill his mission ﷺ, we are ummah al
-ijabah.
We are the ummah that responded.
And the other others, the people that we
call the others, ummah al-da'wah.
They're the people that we're supposed to be
inviting and engaging actively.
We're supposed to.
But how are we supposed to engage others
if we're not engaged and if we're not
united?
If we don't have healthy relationships amongst ourselves,
if we have divisions?
So one of the causes of divisions that
we need to address, and each and every
single one of us, myself and every single
one of you, my dear brothers and every
single one of you, my dear sisters up
there, every single one of us has to
ask himself this question.
What comes first?
My tribe?
My national identity?
My citizenship?
My race?
My culture?
Or this deen?
And this ummah?
That Allah ﷻ calls, وَإِنَّ أُمَّتَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدًا
That your ummah is one.
You're one community.
At the end of the day, you're one
community.
How do I identify myself?
Because one of the greatest, one of the
most common causes of division in the Muslim
ummah is tribalism and nationalism.
And the modern day, the 20th and 21st
century version of it is different.
It's something that we had not had before.
You see, this is something new.
In the history of our ummah, this is
something new.
We never had these countries, those nation states
that each one of us belongs to.
And some people just belong to it just
because they were born there.
And some people were even born in nations
that they don't carry the citizenship of.
Some people come from nations where their ancestors
were born.
The person was born there.
The father was born there.
The grandfather was born there.
The great grandfather was born there.
And they don't have the right to carry
the citizenship of that land or that country.
They're out of status.
Imagine.
Just try to wrap your head around this
concept.
Something that many of us who are used
to or born here in America cannot relate
to.
Automatically, we think if someone was born somewhere,
then they have the citizenship of that place.
This is new.
Our ummah didn't, we weren't like this.
It wasn't like this.
Even in my father's day, my father's child,
it wasn't like that.
You didn't have to.
You could go from any place in the
Muslim I don't even know what to call
it.
Empire.
You can go from any corner to another.
You can go from any village to another.
You can relocate from the west to the
east and no one will ask you a
question.
You were called based on the area you
came from.
If you were someone who was living in
modern day Morocco and you wanted to back
in the days, 50 years ago or 100
years ago, and you wanted to actually go
and settle in what was known as Sham
or in Jerusalem, you just pack and you
go and you will be welcomed.
Muslims will welcome you and then you can
settle there, take your family with you or
get married and just settle there.
And you will belong to that place.
You go to any Muslim majority Muslim country,
you will find people there who have been
there, either their fathers or their grandfathers settled
there and they came from another region.
And nobody had any issues with that.
It's not the same anymore.
We somehow, somehow developed this nationalism within us.
And it was injected.
It was something that we were breastfed in
some cases.
It was injected.
It's actually injected into many curriculums in many
countries.
Under the disguise of good citizenship.
And then you basically identify based on a
border that was actually that you won't even,
if you go physically visit those places, you
won't find any borders.
It's all imaginary.
Someone actually drew lines and said this is
where your country ends.
This is where your obligation ends.
You can't cross over to that side nor
can you welcome anyone from that side to
your side except based on certain conditions and
criteria.
Not only that.
They actually gave us flags as well.
Flags.
With different colors.
Sometimes the same color but just different order.
And some people get upset if you get
the order wrong.
Or if you get the colors wrong.
That's not the flag of my country.
We don't have a country.
What happened to us?
We need to ask ourselves.
Because I will tell you, future generations who
do not acknowledge or recognize any of these
identities or any of these ideologies that divided
us will come and look back at this
period of time and study us.
They will study us.
What happened to these people?
How did they go from that to this?
How?
And what was the price of that division?
For those of you who are waking up
to the nightmare that the Palestinian people have
been living for decades.
Or those of us who are waking up
to the nightmare that the Syrian people have
been living for decades.
Or those who maybe soon will wake up
to the realities and the nightmare that many
people in other countries are living now.
We all knew these things or heard of
them.
We just didn't bother to investigate.
This has been the reality of many people.
Who thought of themselves to be part of
a bigger ummah.
So one of the things that we can
start with my dear brothers and sisters, ask
yourself.
When you die, when you are pronounced dead
who is going to carry your body and
make salat and janazah on you and pray
for you and bury you and ask Allah
to have mercy on you?
It will be the Muslims.
People who identify as Muslims.
Because they see you as one of you.
As part of them.
On the Day of Judgment, before the Day
of Judgment, in your grave, what is the
question that you are going to be asked?
Wallahi no one is going to ask you
about your nationality.
They are not going to ask you about
your madhab.
Your school of fiqh.
Let alone about your nationality or your degree
or your tribe.
Nobody is going to ask you that.
There are three questions.
Man rabbuk?
Who is your lord?
Man nabiyuk?
Who is your prophet?
Madinuk?
What is your religion?
And you better say Islam.
You better identify with Islam as your religion.
No other identity no other orientation is going
to be accepted or admissible.
That's it.
That's where it ends.
So these are the three questions that we
are going to be asked in the grave.
And on the Day of Judgment, these are
the three questions that we have to have
answers for.
Why are we preoccupying ourselves fighting over or
dividing our communities over any other element or
concept?
Why?
Does it make sense?
Before we are able to erase these borders
that you know who drew.
And I don't feel like dignifying them by
mentioning their names.
Before we erase them we must start by
erasing them from our hearts.
...
...
...
My dear brothers and sisters, I just want
you to reflect.
This is food for thought for you to
discuss it.
Ask yourselves, why was Mecca chosen to be
the birthplace of this religion?
The place that received Wahi.
...
And what was the fabric or the racial
makeup or the cultural makeup of Mecca?
You know people say well Islam was born
in Mecca.
Mecca was one of the centers.
Yeah it was predominantly Arabs.
But it wasn't only Arabs.
Ask yourself.
Look at the tribal and the racial makeup
of the first group of Muslims that came
together and accepted Islam.
Look at the influences in the lifetime of
the Prophet ﷺ from his early childhood.
Look at the very first place the Prophet
ﷺ told his companions the Arabs and the
non-Arabs to go and seek refuge in
and live and practice their religion and grow
spiritually together.
It wasn't an Arab country.
Where did the Muslims go?
Where did Islam first enter?
Where was Islam first practiced collectively?
Where was the first jama'ah openly prayed?
Where did the Muslims openly proclaim their religion
and live their faith and lived as Muslims
openly?
Before Medina.
Before Mecca.
Ask yourself.
This is in our seerah, in our authentic
seerah.
There is a reason why.
There is a reason why.
So we have to choose my dear brothers
and sisters.
We either identify as Muslims and nothing else
really matters except that it's a matter of
cultural diversity that should be celebrated and that
should be appreciated.
But we find no pride in it.
Or we're anything else.
Because Umar ﷺ made a very clear declaration.
نحن قوم.
أعزنا الله بالإسلام.
We are a people.
And when he said we are a people,
he wasn't talking about he was talking about
the whole community.
نحن قوم.
We are a people.
أعزنا الله بالإسلام.
Allah has dignified us and glorified us through
or with or by the cause of Islam.
فمهما ابتغينا العزة في غيره.
If we seek glory.
If we seek victory.
If we seek dignity in anything other than
Islam.
Guess what the result will be.
أذلنا الله.
Allah will debase us.
Allah will degrade us.
Allah will disgrace us.
And this is what this Ummah has lived
over the past 100 years.
In disgrace.
And those of you who are so impressed
just like me of what happened, what unfolded
in what we call Syria.
It was at the hands of those who
say لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله.
People who identified as Muslims.
People whose chanting was الله أكبر.
People who are unapologetically Muslims.
That was their first identity.
Who happened to be Syrian.
And among some probably were Muslims from other
countries as well.
And Allah عز و جل gave them victory.
Because Allah عز و جل made it very
clear.
إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنَا
وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُوا الْأَشْهَدُ And Allah سبحانه وتعالى made
it very clear.
Whoever fights for the cause of Allah sooner
or later Allah عز و جل will give
them victory.
If you think otherwise and you think oh
it's more complicated.
This is a very simplistic way of looking
at it.
We can have that debate over coffee Inshallah
وتعالى.
We have some nice places that opened up.
We can have those conversations Inshallah.
But for now I will tell you this
was clear decisive victory from Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
Only Allah سبحانه وتعالى can give or grant
victory.
وَمَن نَصُرُ إِلَّا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ And Allah
عز و جل made it very clear.
إِن تَنْصُرُوا اللَّهَ يَنصُرْكُمْ If you support the
cause of Allah and you identify with Allah
if you are an ally of Allah عز
و جل and you only seek Allah, Allah
will grant you victory.
Otherwise you are on your own.
So choose.
Choose your identity.
Choose your affiliation.
Choose your alliance.
Choose your ideology.
It's all your choice.
I'm here standing on this today to let
you know that I identify as nothing except
as Muslim.
Nothing else matters to me.
الحمد لله I come from a very culturally
diverse background and I have appreciation and I
have deep respect for all cultures.
الحمد لله.
And I thank Allah سبحانه و تعالى for
that.
Anything else, Wallahi, makes no sense to me
whatsoever.
As a matter of fact now I'll conclude
with this.
Our khatib last week we were having a
side conversation.
Brother Tayyib, may Allah سبحانه و تعالى bless
him.
I said, you know, it puzzles me how
people find pride in something that they don't
earn.
It's not of your earning.
He said, what do you mean?
So I said because whenever I say to
people, you should not be proud of your
culture.
You should not be proud of anything really
that was given to you.
You're not supposed to be proud of anything
other than something that you have earned.
Something that you deserve credit for.
And I elaborated further and I said, your
place of birth, your language, your culture, your
nationality, your race, if there is such a
thing as race, your tribe, these are things
that were given to you.
You did not earn them.
You didn't choose them.
You didn't apply for them.
Your parents, your height, your skin color, your
beauty, or the lack of it, it's not
something that you earned.
You cannot be proud of it.
Nor should you be ashamed of it.
You should simply appreciate it and thank Allah.
You should be only proud of your deeds,
your actions.
That which Allah examines.
Allah does not look at or examine or
judge you based on your physiques, your looks,
your skin color, or your bodies.
Allah examines the hearts, your hearts, the state
of your heart, the purity of your heart,
and the quality of your deeds.
That's what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la looks at.
And I told you before and I'll just
repeat it and finish with this.
When Abu Darda invited Salman Al-Farisi to
Jerusalem, one of the best places, a place
that I would love to retire and maybe
die in or die for.
Jerusalem.
He said, come to the holy land.
Come to the sacred land.
He said to him, what makes a man
holy is not the land upon which he
resides.
What makes a man holy is his deeds,
his actions.
So may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la make us pay attention to that.
And whenever we are called, my dear brothers
and sisters, to respond to any part of
this Muslim world.
Any part that is in need of our
support, our help, our dua, our concern, our
advocacy work, we need to show up.
And we need to be there.
And we need to respond.
To the best of our abilities.
So again, anytime you have an opportunity to
respond, respond.
And keep in mind that there are certain
places that carry special significance.
Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem belong to every Muslim.
And every Muslim belongs to Mecca, Medina, and
Jerusalem.
And you don't need anyone's approval or anyone's
acceptance for that.
If you can't access them, work to one
day you or your children have the right
to access them.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
restore the glorious days of this Ummah.
And may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la bring our hearts together.
And may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la grant us victory.
May Allah Azawajal bless our brothers and sisters
in Gaza and give them decisive victory.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
bestow His mercy upon the Palestinian people who
have been struggling for a long time.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
bless the people of Syria.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
bless their efforts.
And may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la bring their hearts together.
May they become a role model for the
rest of the Ummah.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
bless the people of Bangladesh.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
make them a role model for the rest
of the Ummah.
May Allah bless each and every country in
which Muslims reside.
May Allah bring our hearts together as one
Ummah.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, I bear witness that Muhammad is
the Messenger of Allah.
Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest,
Allah is the Greatest, Allah
is the Greatest.
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the
Compassionate.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
all the worlds.
The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
Master of the Day of Judgment.
It is You we worship and You we
ask for help.
Guide us to the straight path.
The path of those on whom You have
bestowed Your Grace, not of those who have
evoked Your Wrath, not of those who have
evoked Your Wrath.
Ameen.
Peace be upon you.
Inshallah, just an invitation for everybody.
Alhamdulillah, about two years ago, MIC started the
MIC Endowment Fund, and Alhamdulillah, it's reached $300
,000 with everybody's generous contributions.
Inshallah, the goal is to continue giving into
this endowment fund and for it to continue
to grow over the next 20 years.
So we're just inviting everybody before the year
is up, before 2024 is up, to make
your contributions, whether by check or online, inshallah,
towards the MIC Endowment Fund to help the
community grow and the masjid grow, inshallah.
There was a link that was sent out,
as far as the link directly for the
endowment fund, but you can also write checks
to the endowment fund, just put it in
the memo, inshallah, and if you can do
that by December 31st, it will also go
towards your 2024 tax deduction, inshallah.
But jazakallah khair again for your generosity, and
may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you
and your family abundantly for your support.
Jazakallah khair.