Mohammed Faqih – Jummah Khutbah 05-09-2024
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of embracing one's dream and learning to be content with it, rather than just achieving it. They stress the importance of pursuing one's dream and embracing it, rather than just achieving it, and stress the importance of learning and embracing one's dream rather than just achieving it. They also discuss the success of individuals by the Lord and the need for everyone to be happy with them. They mention upcoming events and events for the upcoming weekend.
AI: Summary ©
Raḍī Allāhu ʿanhum wa-raḍū ʿanh zālika liman
khashī Rabbah My dear brothers and sisters, most
of people's suffering, most of what many of
us including the believers, many human beings including
the believers, suffer from, stems from the lack
of a very essential attitude towards Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla.
Scholars refer to it as rida.
And it's what fuels or what sustains everything
else, every good quality that you can think
of, every virtue that you can think of,
cannot be sustained without this particular attitude.
And that attitude is that of rida.
What does rida mean?
Rida means to be pleased with something or
to be content.
To be content.
Because no matter how much you have, no
matter what you have and how much of
it you have, if you do not have
rida, then it's not good enough.
You don't have enough of it.
Or you don't have it the way you
want it.
And people who don't have this quality, and
all of us suffer from deficiency to a
certain point, from deficiency when it comes to
this particular attitude.
Or most of us suffer from it.
Some don't have it at all.
And may Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla help
them.
A person who suffers from the lack of
or from a severe deficiency of rida, of
the attitude of rida, again which means contentment,
and being pleased with Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta
'āla, being pleased with Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta
'āla's will, we'll elaborate on that.
That person is going to suffer and be
miserable.
And no matter what they have, it's not
going to be enough.
It's not going to be good enough.
As a matter of fact that will eventually
lead them to the type of behavior that
is going to mess up everything, and potentially
deprive them from the plenty that Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla has given them.
And many people unfortunately, only then, then and
only then, they realize how good things were
in their lives.
They realize that they were well.
They realize that their marriage wasn't so bad.
They realize that their children weren't so bad.
They realize that their parents weren't that bad.
They realize that the job that they had
wasn't that bad.
They realize many things.
They get to appreciate it once it's gone.
But a person who is self-aware, who
is looking for growth, who's really looking or
following the prophetic teachings, will save himself or
herself from having to go to learn the
hard way.
And will be able to change themselves by
changing their attitude.
And a very important component of the overall
attitude of a believer is to have this,
to master this, to be content with Allāh
Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla.
It goes back to the ḥadīth of the
Prophet ﷺ.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, he
taught us to be pleased with Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla and to make that declaration
every day.
You have to remind yourself.
There is a beautiful du'ā' the Prophet
taught us that we should start our day
with and end our day with.
رضيت بالله ربا I'm pleased with Allāh.
I'm content with Allāh as my Lord.
وبالإسلام دينا And with Islam as my religion,
my deen.
وبمحمد نبيا And with Muhammad ﷺ as my
Prophet.
Each and every single one of these by
the way requires or deserves its own khutbah,
its own conference.
Because many people say, Oh رضيت بالله ربا
I'm pleased with Allāh.
I'm content with Allāh as my Lord.
But when you look at the attitude, when
you look at the behavior, when you look
at the lifestyle, it does not reflect that.
There are failures when it comes to.
Because when we say, I am pleased with
Allāh as my Lord.
And if I was to ask myself or
ask any one of you, we will all
say, Yes of course, I am pleased with
Allāh as my Lord.
What does that mean?
What does being pleased with Allāh Subḥānahu wa
-ta'āla as our Lord mean?
If we do not understand what Rabb is,
who Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla is as
a Lord Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla, then we
will suffer.
See the term Rabb in the Arabic language
is rich.
And it's a multifaceted term.
It encompasses various meanings.
Usually we just say Lord or Sustainer.
But it means much more than that.
Lord and Sustainer, meaning that I am, when
you say, I am pleased with Allāh as
my Lord or as my Rabb, you are
saying that I am pleased with Allāh as
my Sustainer.
Allāh has given me enough.
Allāh has blessed me with enough.
Allāh has enough for me to sustain myself
and to continue to progress in this life.
That's what you are saying.
And someone might say, well does that mean
that I shouldn't pursue anything?
No.
Whatever you are using to pursue Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla, whatever Allāh has written for
you, that in and of itself is a
rizq from Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla to
begin with.
So if you are pleased with Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla, then you are going to
be pleased with all these potentials and skills
and talents Allāh Azzawajal has blessed you with
and you will put them to use.
So if anything, it will actually make you
very efficient and it will make you better
in the pursuit of the potentials Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla has endowed you with.
It's not the other way around.
When you say, I am pleased with Allāh
Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla as my Sustainer, it
doesn't mean that, okay, khalas, I am just
going to sit and wait.
No.
You are going to use.
Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla sustains you through
various elements, one of which is whatever Allāh
Azzawajal has given you.
So you appreciate that and you put it
to good use and you pursue Allāh's rizq
or Allāh's pleasure or Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta
'āla's forgiveness, whatever it is that you are
pursuing in a fashion that is pleasing to
Allāh Azzawajal.
When we say, Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla
is our Rabb, then we are saying, Allāh
Azzawajal is our Creator and that we belong
to Allāh.
Allāh is our Owner, Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla.
We belong to Allāh, He is our Creator.
So you are going to be pleased and
content with the way Allāh Azzawajal made you,
with what Allāh Azzawajal created you into, be
it your gender or your physical appearance or
your ethnicity or your stature or your skin
tone or the texture of your hair or
the color of your eyes, whatever it is
that Allāh Azzawajal made you into, you'll be
pleased with it.
You're not going to be at war internally
or externally with Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla
or with the way Allāh made you.
And at the same time, you're going to
be grateful for it, you're going to appreciate
it, you're not going to think that somehow
it's something that you deserve credit for, and
somehow it's something that makes you better than
everyone else.
No, it doesn't.
Because everyone else is equally the creation of
Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla.
Everyone else is equally a masterpiece made by
Allāh Azzawajal Himself.
It's not like you were made by one
god and that other person was made by
a lesser god.
It's the same creator.
So I am pleased with Allāh.
With the way Allāh made me and with
the way Allāh Azzawajal made everyone else, I
accept myself and I accept everyone else as
the creation of Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla,
as is.
When you're pleased with Allāh as your Rabb,
you are pleased with Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta
'āla as your master and as the one
that has sovereignty over you, أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ
وَالْأَمْرُ He is the master.
You submit to Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla,
so you have to be pleased with the
will of Allāh Azzawajal, with the commandments of
Allāh Azzawajal.
If you're struggling, then you have not been
pleased with Allāh.
You're not content with Allāh as your Lord.
If you're struggling, if you know that Allāh
Azzawajal told you to do something and you're
struggling with it, you're struggling to accept it
and embrace it and practice it, then you
have not been pleased with Allāh.
You're not content with Allāh as your Lord.
You still need to say it.
You still need to discipline yourself.
You still need to bring yourself to the
realization that it's all from Allāh Subḥānahu wa
-ta'āla.
You still need to work on your ego,
on your arrogance, whatever it is, or laziness,
whatever it is that is getting in the
way of fulfilling the commandments of Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla.
But there is a deficiency there in accepting
Allāh as our Lord.
Some people, many Muslims, they say, yeah, of
course Allāh is our Lord, He is our
Creator.
And then when you tell them what Allāh
has commanded us with, they're like, well, I
don't think I'm ready to really accept that.
I'm not ready to practice that.
And they argue.
They argue with Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla.
Banū Isra'īl, Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla
destroyed them because they talked back to Allāh
Azzawajal.
That is the very attitude that caused Iblīs
to be cursed.
It was one commandment from Allāh.
He actually referred to Allāh as his Rabb.
He said, Qala Rabbī.
He said to Allāh, Iblīs did not deny
the Lordship of Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla.
But in defiance, he would not make sujūd
to Ādam in spite of the fact that
he knew it was a direct command from
Allāh Azzawajal.
You see, Iblīs wasn't wondering whether, well, I
don't know if Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla
really wanted me to do that.
Iblīs heard it directly from Allāh.
If you wonder, because some people, they're like,
well, I'm not questioning that this is from
Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla or from the
Prophet ﷺ.
I just don't know if it's really what
Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla commanded us to
do.
Sometimes, well, I understand, sometimes there may be
some ambiguity when it comes to certain rulings.
You really don't know.
You want the evidence.
You want the evidence that it's Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla, it's Allāh's will, or it's
Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla's intent.
But a person who has deficiency and contentment
with Allāh as their Lord, usually that is
not where it comes from.
It comes from a place of, why should
I?
Why should I?
Why should I listen to what you're telling
me, Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla is telling
us?
It comes from a place, it comes from
an injured or an ego that was offended.
So be careful.
Because if you are invited to Allāh's ḥukm,
to Allāh's ruling, and you defy that, then
you have not been pleased with Allāh as
your Lord, and you will suffer the consequences.
I ask Allāh Azzawajal to make you and
I, of those who listen and follow the
best of what they listen to, I promise
to keep this khutbah short.
And so I ask Allāh Azzawajal to make
us again, of those who listen and follow
the best of what they listen to, and
I ask Allāh for His forgiveness, and I
ask Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla to pardon
us.
اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَعَافِنَا وَأَعْفُ عَنَّا وَأَكْرِمْنَا
وَلَا تُهِنَّا وَأَعْطِنَا وَلَا تَحْرِمْنَا وَأَثِرْنَا وَلَا تُؤْثِرْ
عَلَيْنَا أَقُولُوا هَذَا الْقَوْلُ أَسْتَغْفِرُوا اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ
فَاسْتَغْفِرُوا وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ الحمد
لله وكفى والصلاة والسلام على عباده الذين صفى
وبعد Being pleased with Allāh, and content with
Him as our Lord, again necessitates that we
submit to Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla's rulings.
We submit to Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla's
decree, that we accept Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta
'āla's will.
So we talked about Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta
'āla's commandments, but we also accept Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla's will and decree.
There are certain things that Allāh Subḥānahu wa
-ta'āla expects us to or wants us
to embrace and be content with and accept
and actively engage in.
And there are certain things that Allāh Subḥānahu
wa-ta'āla expects us to be at
the least, at least, to be passively accepting
of it and live with it and be
patient.
So when Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla afflicts
us with calamities or puts us through some
sort of hardship that we have nothing to
do with, like we did not ourselves inflict
upon ourselves.
Because my dear brothers and sisters, I just
remind you of what our brother Tariq Abdul
Wahid, may Allāh Subḥānahu wa-ta'āla bless
him, when he was here about few weeks
ago, what he said that night, in that
beautiful short speech that he gave.
I'm still looking for the recording, in shā
'a Llāh, hopefully it will be made available.
One of the things that he said was
that, we have no agency, we have very
little agency.
We think we're in control.
Most of us, we want to be in
control of everything.
But in reality, my dear brothers and sisters,
we can only control our actions and our
attitudes.
We cannot control many of the other variables.
We cannot control many of these other external
factors.
Nor can we control the outcome.
So if you do your best, in whatever
Allāh gave you control over, to do or
not to do, if you do your best,
if you do it for the right reason,
at the right time, in the right fashion,
then you should be content with the outcome
no matter what it is.
Whether it is what you desired for it
to be, or it's something that you didn't
really desire.
You should be content.
And this is exactly what the Prophet ﷺ
teaches us.
So sometimes things don't go the way we
want.
Not sometimes, most of the time.
And we know that you cannot get everything
you want in this life.
And you know that not everyone...
We have absolutely by the way, subḥāna Allāh,
very often we get in disputes, we have
issues with this person, that person, this relationship,
that relationship, and there are people, many people
unfortunately, they go around blaming everyone else except
themselves.
Where if you were to look and analyze
all these cases, one, two, three, four, the
common denominator is that individual.
But that individual never takes responsibility for his
or her actions.
It's always the boss, it's always the parent,
it's always the spouse, it's always the children,
and the neighbors, and the police officer, and
the judge, and the lawyer, and the doctor,
but never them.
A person like that, is destined to fail.
In everything and in every relationship.
So we can control ourselves and we can
learn to control our attitudes and regulate our
emotions.
And that's what we're responsible for, before Allāh
subḥānaHu wa ta'ālá.
And the last one that you want to
blame is Allāh azzawajal.
So if you believe in Allāh as your
Lord, you will turn to Allāh subḥānaHu wa
ta'ālá, submit yourself to Allāh azzawajal, and
do whatever you can.
Last point that I would like to make,
my dear brothers and sisters.
Allāh azzawajal invites us to His ruling and
to His judgment.
And many people turn away.
And they rather go to something else or
some other source that they can manipulate.
And instead of coming to Allāh subḥānaHu wa
ta'ālá, knowing what they owe and what
is owed to them.
And sometimes you will be tempted.
You will be tempted.
Someone is gonna come and convince you that
if you come to Allāh and His Messenger
and seek their ruling, that you are not
gonna get your ḥaqq.
And if you believe in that, then you're
doing exactly what the hypocrites during the time
of the Prophet ﷺ used to do.
When Allāh and His Messenger invited them.
إِذَا دُعُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ When they were
invited to Allāh and His Messenger, come seek
your ruling.
Seek your judgment.
Seek the resolution of your disputes.
Seek the resolution of your conflicts in what
Allāh and His Messenger have for you.
They will hesitate.
And some of them will completely refuse.
And Allāh azzawajal exposes this.
Are you afraid that Allāh azzawajal will wrong
you?
أَمْ يَخَافُونَ أَن يَحِيفَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَرَسُولُهُ You
think Allāh will wrong you?
You think the shari'ah will fail you?
If that is your attitude, and you rather
go to seek some other means, if that's
your attitude, and only Allāh azzawajal knows what
is in the hearts of people, then you
have failed.
And then you're lying.
You have failed in your claim that you
are pleased with Allāh azzawajal as your Lord.
Ask Allāh azzawajal to protect you and I
from our own deficiencies and shortcomings.
Ask Allāh subḥāna wa ta'ālā to make
us of those who are pleased with Him
and those whom Allāh azzawajal is pleased with.
اللَّهُمَّ رَضَعَنَّا وَرَضِّنَا يَرَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّ
نِسْأَلُكَ رِضَاكَ وَالْجَنَّ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ سَخَطِكَ وَالنَّارِ
اللَّهُمَّ أَبْرِي مِنْ أُمَتِ الْإِسْلَامِ أَمْرَ رُشْدٍ يُعَزُّ
فِيهِ أَهْلُ الطَّاعَةِ وَيُهْدَى فِيهِ أَهْلُ الْمَعْصِيَةِ وَيُؤْمَرُ
فِيهِ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيُنْهَى فِيهِ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ My dear
brothers and sisters, I just want to make
a quick comment.
One of our mentors, subḥāna wa ta'ālā,
the other day, he said, Wallāhi, if you
want to learn practical lessons, don't
go too far.
Look at the people, at the sincere, steadfast,
resilient people who are fighting in Gaza, fighting
for the whole ummah, who are standing their
ground.
The whole world is conspiring against them and
wronging them.
Yet they are standing and they are content
with Allāh Azzawajal, in spite of the death
and the destruction.
Whatever happens to them, doesn't break their will.
Why?
Because they are content with Allāh Azzawajal.
They are pleased with Allāh Azzawajal.
If this is what Allāh Azzawajal has placed
upon us, we'll take it and we'll embrace
it.
That's the kind of attitude that we should
all have.
May Allāh subḥāna wa ta'ālā bless them
and make them victorious.
May Allāh subḥāna wa ta'ālā may Allāh
subḥāna wa ta'ālā forgive the sins of
their dead.
May Allāh subḥāna wa ta'ālā heal their
wounded.
May Allāh subḥāna wa ta'ālā hasten His
relief and His victory for them.
I say this and ask forgiveness of Allāh
for me and for you.
So ask His forgiveness and He will forgive
you.
Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.
There is none worthy of worship
except
Allāh.
A
'ūdhu
biLlāhi mina sh-shayṭāni r-rajīm.
Biḥurmati l-Fātiḥah.
Amīn.
As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-rahmatullāhi.
As-salāmu ʿalaykum.
In shā'a Llāh, just got a message.
If you can all make a du'ā
for Hilal who's in the hospital.
His brother's father is in the hospital.
So make sure to keep him in your
du'ās.
For this weekend, in shā'a Llāh, there's
a lot of new events happening in October
but we'll focus on this weekend first.
Tonight, AMAC is holding a program called Your
Voice Matters, Your Vote Matters.
It'll be 7 p.m. tonight to engage
the community with others within our Muslim American
community on key issues on the 2024 elections.
You can learn more about the candidate positions,
why you should vote, and hear from others
within the community.
Tea and snacks will be provided for that.
Also tonight, in shā'a Llāh, there will
be badminton.
Badminton will continue.
On Sunday, MIC has a new class called
No Doubt and the Miracles of the Qur
'ān.
This is going to be Sunday, October 6th
from 12 to 1 p.m. It's going
to be an ongoing class until December.
So make sure that you register for it.
There's a link that's been circulating within the
newsletter and our text messages.
And you can bring your family out, bring
your kids out.
Its focus is to build confidence and conviction
in our children about Islam.
Also within the community this weekend, there is
a march for Palestine.
That will be tomorrow, Saturday, October 5th at
2 p.m. as we reach a year
of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The march will start at City Hall and
will end at the Civil Rights Museum.
So those are the events for this weekend
as well as other events going on within
the month of October.
This one is a big one, al-ḥamdu
liLlāh.
An organization called A Continuous Charity is bringing
a partnership to M.I.C. with Shaykh
Yasir Qadhi.
So Shaykh Yasir Qadhi will be coming back
to Memphis on October 20th.
On Sunday, October 20th.
So join for an empowering benefit this evening
discussing how A Continuous Charity provides community-funded,
interest-free educational loans to Muslim students in
America.
This will also be a fall picnic in
combination of the fall picnic.
So you can come out during the day,
enjoy the bounce houses, games, face painting, balloon
artists, and more.
There will be food available for purchase, food
trucks, and registration is $5 per person for
the picnic.
That's for the picnic only.
And for the night event with Shaykh Yasir
Qadhi in the evening, that is RSVP.
The Memphis Muslim Clinic will also be giving
out free flu vaccines on that day.
And lastly, there will be a care event
workshop, half-day workshop, on Saturday, October 28th.
And CARE USA will be coming to Memphis
to discuss how to deal with harassment and
bullying in our schools, workplace, public spaces in
light of the recent election cycle and global
events, inshallah.
So a lot going on.
And also, last one, for next Sunday, there's
going to be a car rally at what
time?
October 13th at 2 o'clock, inshallah.
So there's going to be a car rally
for Fullerstein.
It's going to start here at MIC and
end at Overton Park.
Okay, so it's going to end at Overton
Park, inshallah.
Jazakallah khair.