Omar Suleiman – Is Religion Making Us Complacent
AI: Summary ©
The importance of religion in inspiring people and creating change is discussed, along with the negative impact of religion on society, including its use as a means of social control and sedation. The need to consider factors like culture and history when discussing religion is emphasized. The importance of fighting for the innocent and building on the past is also emphasized, along with the importance of learning about the cause of the loss of the city and the destruction of Al. The speaker emphasizes the need to teach people about the cause of the loss of the city and the success of victory, and to live in a state of clarity and leave behind a plan for the future.
AI: Summary ©
Are we just trying to make ourselves feel
better?
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان ورزقه بسمه الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله رب العالمين والعذوان إلا على الظالمين
والعاقبة للمتقين اللهم صلي وسلم وبارك على عبدك
ورسولك محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله
وصحبه وسلم تسلم الكثيرا We begin by praising
Allah سبحانه وتعالى and bearing witness that none
has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally
obeyed except for him and we bear witness
that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is his
final messenger We ask Allah to send his
peace and blessings upon him the prophets and
messengers that came before him his family and
companions that served alongside him and those that
follow in his blessed path until the day
of judgment and we ask Allah to make
us amongst them اللهم أمين Dear brothers and
sisters, there is a question that has come
up now in the wake of Gaza quite
a bit which is how do you continue
to teach while at the same time observing
a genocide?
And what should you be teaching?
What should we be lecturing about?
What should we be studying?
In the wake of this genocide and how
much does religion play a role in inspiring
people to continue versus becoming complacent with the
circumstances that are ahead of us?
And subhanAllah, usually when something starts there is
a renewed interest in that cause and so
you'll find that there is almost unanimity where
there is any place where people can speak
about the issue that everyone is talking about
the same thing and then as time goes
on you see that the nature of the
khutbah starts to change you see that the
nature of the lessons start to change and
that is indicative of how the people as
a whole have moved on.
Now when it comes to Gaza where you
have something that has continued for so long
and with no end really in sight when
it comes to the cruelty of the Zionist
occupation against our brothers and sisters there is
a question, you know what are we supposed
to be focusing on at this point?
And are we inspiring people towards contribution?
Or are we making them complacent with the
circumstances ahead?
And by the way, even with the people
of Gaza there is a sentiment at times
that they don't want to continue to be
spoken about as heroes they want your support
against their villains they don't want you to
keep talking about how great they are they
want you to be as great as you
can so that you can uplift them in
these terrible circumstances that they are in.
This factors into a larger question the role
of religion the role of religious teaching this
day and age and how we speak about
these various things.
And it goes back to a statement that
Marx famously said that religion is the opium
of the people that religion is a means
of social control that religion is a means
of sedation that religion is a means of
complacency and it does not cause people to
rise above in the midst of their circumstances
instead it causes them to become complacent with
their circumstances and for everyone to accept this
as the divine will of God without making
their best effort.
And that can be true in regards to
some religious teaching it can be true in
regards to some religions when the foundation of
religion is one that robs you of your
choice that robs you of your efforts that
robs you of your ability to impact and
influence your own circumstances or the circumstances of
someone else then of course it can make
you complacent when you believe that we are
in a puzzle or we are in the
midst of something that is happening without any
control ourselves of course and especially if you
believe that it's divinely sanctioned what makes us
different as Muslims, right?
and subhanAllah you'll find that there is a
common phenomenon that's discussed which is slaveholder religion
versus liberation religion like I want you to
just think about this in terms of the
United States slave trade the slaveholders and the
slave owners were using the Bible to oppress
they were constructing an image of God of
the white Jesus and you are meant to
be this way because of the color of
your skin and this is what God has
ordained for you and even if they don't
call it a caste system it effectively becomes
that that you are like this because of
something that you did or something that you
deserve we are like this because of something
that we are privileged with and something that
God has given to us on the other
hand you have what would be the slaves
theology if they are able to see through
that and to combat that, right?
and if you think about the up to
30% who were Muslims of the slaves,
right?
what were they reading from the Quran?
how were they interpreting the Quran and the
Hadith to fight back and to be inspired
towards the revolts that we lead about today
where they sought to break the chains of
slavery using religion, using religious texts and aspiring
for something greater so it comes up with
something subhanAllah that I've been talking about these
days which is the Fada'il of Al
-Sham the Fada'il of the place the
virtues of the land of Al-Sham the
virtues of Al-Aqsa and all of these
divine implications of this land that we see
right now and there is a question that
is to be asked and I believe it's
a well-meaning question by the way which
is you know how much should we be
talking about this right now?
should we just be talking about every single
Khutbah the importance of fighting for the innocent
and we should be talking about fighting for
the innocent should we be talking about just
the current reality or should we draw from
the past and paint a picture of what
the future is that Allah subhanAllah has promised
for us and how does that factor into
our efforts today it is a well-meaning
and well-grounded concern how do you talk
about these things and here is what I
want to inshaAllah focus on what makes Islam
so perfect and what makes it so balanced
is that it allows us to both be
content with that which is out of our
control and then to rise to the best
potential of that which is in our control
and to trust Allah subhanAllah along the way
meaning to trust Allah subhanAllah that when we
make efforts, those efforts will be blessed they
will not be in vain and when there
is no effort for us to make and
we just have to submit ourselves to something
that is so beyond our control Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah,
Alhamdulillah we trust Allah subhanAllah but I ask
you, the sahaba who used to speak about
Jannah who used to speak about the conditions
of the shuhada that had passed before them,
when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam would speak
to them about that condition when Allah would
reveal verses وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ
اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتَهُ don't think of them as dead
don't say about them that they're dead did
that cause the sahaba to say, well if
that's the case if shahada is what's ahead
if this whole thing about dying for the
sake of Allah subhanAllah is ahead of us,
then why not just go in the battlefield
and submit ourselves to death, if it was
just a matter of being content and becoming
complacent and being sedated then Khalid ibn al
-Walid radiyaAllahu ta'ala would have died in
a battlefield but he kept on winning battle
after battle after battle you see that the
sahaba always had that extra push that extra
zeal to win a battle, and subhanAllah you
find that that extra step came from their
sincerity because as much as they wanted to
die for Allah, they wanted to win for
Allah subhanAllah as well they wanted to do
good for the sake of Allah subhanAllah as
well and so they were content that if
they were to be struck in the midst
of that that what Allah had promised them
was greater but that did not impact their
zeal in the battlefield itself what does this
mean today for us when we talk about
the cause of al-Aqsa when we talk
about the role of religion when we talk
about the past of this blessed land when
we talk about its future what it means
is that this cause is one that will
be alive until the day of judgment and
we need to make sure that every generation
knows exactly what they are fighting for they
know exactly what they are struggling for what
inspired Salah al-Din al-Ayubi rahimahullah ta
'ala beyond the brutality of the crusaders against
this ummah was his knowing the special virtues
of that place and striving and striving so
it's important for us to not be sedated
but to be inspired to not be complacent
but to contribute to light a fire in
our hearts towards something that perhaps we did
not recognize was meant to be the central
focus of our lives at this point and
so I want to take you to something
that happened in the battle of Uhud and
it was the narration of Anas ibn Nadr
that can help us all sort of think
about how the Deen of Islam how this
religion that we have is meant to give
us that extra push meant to give us
that extra zeal even when the circumstances become
overwhelming and this narration about Anas ibn Nadr
is so profound because he was a man
who missed the battle of Badr and because
he missed the battle of Badr, he's the
uncle of Anas ibn Malik he kept telling
the Prophet that if Allah gives me another
chance then Allah will see what I will
do, Allah will see the sincerity in my
strive and here you have Anas ibn Nadr
and he was approaching the battlefield of Uhud
when most people were fleeing the battlefield, why
were they fleeing the battlefield?
Because they thought that it was over, they
thought that they were being killed, they thought
that they were being routed and so they
were running away from the battlefield Anas ibn
Nadr was actually running towards the battlefield and
he said I can smell Jannah ahead of
me, I can smell paradise ahead of me
and so he's going forward, and as he's
going forward, he sees some people that are
sitting in the battlefield, and I want you
to think about it the dust is flying
everywhere the sound of the murder of companions
is all around it's a very harsh scene,
it's a very depressing scene in the middle
of the battlefield but what made it worse?
Anas ibn Nadr says to these people why
are you sitting?
and they responded and they said the Prophet
has been killed they thought that the Messenger
of Allah had been killed and there are
two explanations for this, one of them is
that they killed Mus'ab ibn Umair radiAllahu
ta'ala and Mus'ab radiAllahu ta'ala
looked so much like the Prophet that some
of the enemies actually thought they killed the
Prophet and then others shouted out that we
killed the Prophet as a means of demoralizing
the Muslims, and there's a reason why the
enemy tries to strike your symbols, and there's
no greater symbol than the Prophet now at
that point, what's going to inspire you to
keep going?
what's going to push you to go forward?
where if your leader and the central human
being in your life the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam is dead, what's going to keep
you going?
and so he responds and he says وَيْحَكُمْ
he says woe to you قُومُوا فَمُوتُوا عَلَى
مَا مَاتَ عَلَيْهِ get up and die for
what he died salallahu alayhi wa sallam, now
keep in mind subhanAllah that the end of
Uhud, is the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam finding
the mutilated body of Anas ibn Nadir radiyaAllahu
ta'ala anhu.
He was only recognized by his fingertips.
And he is the man and like him
that Anas ibn Malik says the ayah, مِنَ
الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الْرِجَالُ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ فَمِنْهُم
مَنْ قَضَى نَحْبَ وَمِنْهُم مَنْ يَنْتَظِرُ وَمَا بَدَّلُوا
تَبْدِيلَ That from the believers are those who
are truthful to the covenant that they made
with Allah Some of them have an opportunity
to prove it at the moment and some
of them are made to wait وَمَا بَدَّلُوا
تَبْدِيلَ And they have not changed their resolve
at all.
The end of the battle of Uhud is
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam finding Anas ibn
Nadir radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu in the battlefield
absolutely mutilated.
But at the same time, we take from
what happened with Anas ibn Nadir radiyaAllahu ta
'ala anhu a very important lesson for the
moment that we are in right now.
We have to teach people about the importance
of the cause, especially when the cause feels
like it's being lost.
We have to teach people about virtue, especially
when they can succumb to despair.
We have to teach people about victory, especially
when defeat seems most imminent.
And we have to inspire each other وَتَوَاصَوا
بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوا بِالصَّبْرِ We have to push each
other towards good.
Now, if the type of religion that we
are hearing about right now is one that
is entirely disconnected from the situation, that's a
problem.
That is a problem.
If everything that is being spoken about is
divorced from the reality on the ground, the
occupation of Al-Aqsa, the destruction of Al
-Ghaza, that is a problem.
But if we are talking about our deen
and noting that our deen is meant to
survive, and we are pushing people and inspiring
them to recognize that no matter what effort
they put forth, the outcome will be blessed
either for them in this life or the
next.
وَالْعَقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ That victory is for the believers.
الحمد لله رب العالمين That is not the
opium of the people.
That is the inspiration of the people.
And that inspiration comes from knowing that no
effort will be in vain, that no life
will be lost in vain, that nothing will
be done for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
except that it will remain and everything else
will disappear.
Every effort that is made not for the
sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
do nothing for you in the hereafter.
But every effort that is made for the
sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
uplift this ummah and will lead to your
reward in the hereafter as well.
So we shouldn't just be talking about deen
and talking about some abstract concept or some
theology that is divorced from that reality.
We should be talking about reality and theology
at the same time because they are intertwined
and interconnected.
And the one who has Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will always strive longer and strive
harder because they believe in something that cannot
be captured by any enemy and that cannot
be encompassed by any worldly reward.
They believe in Allah, they believe in Jannah.
And so let's not talk about our religion
as something distant.
Let's not just make ourselves feel better about
the situation and say, oh, well, this is
the way it's meant to be.
Oh, well, this is how it's going to
be.
Instead, let's think like Anas ibn Nadir radiyaAllahu
ta'ala anhum.
Why are we sitting?
Why aren't you doing more?
And let's push ourselves and the believer who
is truly in a state of introspection will
always look for that next step.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to inspire our hearts, to activate us and
to activate through us.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
move us for this ummah and to move
us in a direction that's pleasing to him.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
that we not only strive in a way
to where we have clarity about what we're
striving for, but that we are able to
leave behind us clarity so that the next
generation knows exactly what they are to strive
for as well.
Allahumma ameen.
BarakAllahu feekum.
Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.