Omar Suleiman – Moving Past Baby Steps To Allah – Eid ul-Fitr Khutbah 2024
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of fast action and not rushing to achieve spiritual success. He emphasizes the need for a strong relationship with Allah Subhanahu wa wa, which allows for a speedy and rewarding process. He also warns against taking small steps and emphasizes the importance of facing challenges and not letting them hold on.
AI: Summary ©
We begin as always by praising Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
By declaring his greatness and by declaring that
none has the right to be worshiped or
unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear
witness that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is his final prophet and 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 on his blessed
path until the day of judgment. And we
ask Allah to make amongst them, allhum a
ameen.
We ask Allah to accept our Ramadan. We
ask Allah to accept our fasting. We ask
Allah to accept our tiyam. We ask Allah
to accept our charity.
We ask Allah to accept every moment in
which we worshiped him. Forgive us for every
moment in which we slipped, and we ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us amongst
those who caught Laylatul Qadr and have its
full reward written for them. Allahumma ameen. Dear
brothers and sisters,
as I mentioned a few nights ago, I
wanted to dedicate this Eid Khutba just for
a few moments to this concept of stop
being a baby.
And I know that that means certain things
to certain people,
and it's not what you think it means.
What I want you to think about
is your spiritual age.
Your spiritual age. How old are you spiritually?
If you were to talk about spiritual
infancy,
being a spiritual toddler, being a spiritual teenager,
being a spiritual adult.
How old are you spiritually?
Now the beauty of our religion is that
a person can start fresh as we had
2 people,
join the tens of people that embrace Islam
here. You can start fresh and you can
be a spiritual adult on the very first
day because your good deeds are preserved and
only your sins
are wiped away as you become Muslim.
But if you're talking about how you grow
towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and how you
take that next step towards Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, you have a spiritual age.
And we always talk about baby steps towards
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Take the baby step.
Start doing a little bit more here, a
little bit more there. And we approach our
religion
without that sense of urgency that is necessary.
And I wanna emphasize here that, yes, while
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam stressed the
importance of being gradual,
and warned us from burnout,
and from being overzealous.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came with a
religion
that woke people out of their slumber,
and that moved them with a sense of
urgency
to where in 2 decades, they became the
best generation
that ever walked the face of the earth.
How does that even happen?
The hadith Qudsi that I want you to
contemplate on with both Allah's reward,
as well as how we actually find that
journey to be 1 in which we arrive
at a destination quicker
than anything else that we do in life.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says,
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that
the Lord has said, Allah has said, whoever
brings forth one good deed, I will reward
him or her with 10 times that good
deed, or
more.
Up to however much I want.
But the minimum that you get
is 10. That's outside of Ramadan. What done
of these seasons of blessing in which things
are multiplied
by so much more? And he said that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then said,
And whoever puts forth a sin,
then that sin will only
be punished
to the extent that it was committed. Meaning,
one sin for one punishment
or I choose to forgive. May Allah
forgive us as he loves to forgive.
Then he continues.
Whoever comes to me with a hand span,
then I go to him with the length
of his arm.
And whoever comes to me with an arm,
I go to him with the length of
both of his arms spread out. Meaning the
pace that you're moving at Allah, Allah is
moving
twice as fast towards you as you are
moving to him or more.
And then he said,
whoever comes to me walking, I go to
him running.
And he said, and
whoever comes to me with an earth full
of sins
with an earth full of sins,
but without associating a partner with me, meaning
still bearing witness to my oneness, And that
is the beauty of this word of tohid,
the shahada, just starting off with that monotheism,
the acknowledgement. Whoever comes comes to me with
an earth full of sins, not associating a
partner with me,
then I will meet them with an earth
full of forgiveness equal to that.
They will always find forgiveness with me so
long as they proceed towards me. Of the
beauty of this relationship with Allah that we
taste especially in Ramadan
is that you will not take a step
except that Allah
will reward you with the destination,
as well as compensating you and thanking you
for the effort itself.
As Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
That this Jannah, this paradise is a reward
for you for all that you used to
do, and your efforts have surely been thanked.
Because Allah
knows the steps that you are taking towards
him. Now here's the thing, you can walk
away from these verses. You can walk away
from these ahadith, and you can say baby
steps because Allah is gonna keep proceeding to
me at a pace that is greater than
the pace that I'm proceeding towards him. And
it's true, But
why treat your religion with such mediocrity?
Why go Ramadan after Ramadan and not have
any traceable progress in your life
that has manifested? Why not have a build
up? Why not have a portfolio
that represents that you are moving towards Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala,
and you're taking steps of graduation towards a
graduation into ihsan, towards a graduation
into a relationship of excellence with your lord,
rather than constantly
baby step, baby step, baby step.
Dear brothers and sisters,
once you know the value of the one
that you're running towards, you'll run faster.
Once you feel
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala coming closer to you,
you'll want to get closer and closer and
closer towards him. And just like any other
pursuit in life, you can't stay
in the same place
constantly and expect meaningful change.
And so I'm calling upon each and every
single one of us to stop being a
baby,
stop being a spiritual baby. At what point
do you grow to that next level? How
do the Ramadan after Ramadan after Ramadan, and
laylatul Qadr after laylatul Qadr after laylatul Qadr
represent
a buildup in your relationship with Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And this is where you find
in the Quran.
Rush to the forgiveness of your lord. Fulfirruirullah.
Flee to your lord.
Has the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
rush to do good deeds. If you know
the value of the currency of Allah, which
is his paradise,
and you know the value of closeness to
him, then nothing could get in the way
of you taking bigger steps. So my only
call to you, dear brothers and sisters,
is don't just think in terms of baby
steps, think in terms of significant strides.
And especially in a world of urgency, the
people of Gaza have always been a people
of sacrifice, but now they have added sacrifice
to their sacrifice.
We also have to grow to where our
sacrifices
become bigger, our steps become bigger, our strides
become longer, and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, will
always meet us faster.
And I wanna end with this.
There is an urgency
that is in the air.
When there is fitna in the air, when
there is tribulation in the air, there is
a sense of urgency
that comes with that recognition.
And it's not just that we need to
be careful
in regards to our journey to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. It's also that we need to
escalate
our pursuit
of a free Palestine,
our pursuit of freeing the oppressed people
by standing by their side, which means that
when we look at the current situation that
we are in today, we escalate
escalate our protest to where we're looking towards
the weapons manufacturers, and these corrupt politicians, and
everyone that is involved in this genocide that
is in front of us. And we don't
take a break
from what is in front of us at
any point. Because you know what? Today of
Eid,
this day of Eid,
today is a day of happiness. It's not
a day of heedlessness.
Today is a day of happiness. It is
not a day of heedlessness.
Israel could not take one day off from
its murderous ways,
and we can't look away for a single
day. And subhanAllah, the first video that I
saw today was from Mukaiyam Nusayrat,
a Nusayrat refugee camp where a family was
killed today, where they bombed a refugee camp
on the day of Eid.
There's a sense of urgency in the air,
dear brothers and sisters, and it's important for
us to move forward and not keep doing
things as usual.
Not baby steps in our journey to Allah,
nor baby steps in the actions that we
are taking as we make du'a with a
sense of urgency towards Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And so I actually wanna leave with a
call that on April 15th, insha'Allah ta'ala, I
want to lend my voice to those that
are calling for a nationwide strike. No spending,
no school, no work. We put forth a
nationwide strike No business as usual, no Eid
as usual, nothing as usual as long as
the genocide continues in front of our eyes.
Enough baby steps.
It's important that we take the next step
in regards to our sacrifice,
in regards to ourselves and in regards to
our brothers and sisters, and we teach our
children as well that our next
will be in a free Masjid Al Aqsa.
We have that sense of urgency in our
minds, that sense of urgency in our hearts.
Dear brothers and sisters,
let what is happening around you inspire you
to do more.
Inspire you to treat Ramadan differently, read differently,
and every single day in front of you
differently. No more baby steps,
significant strides.
May
Allah guide us to the best version of
ourselves for ourselves
and the best version of ourselves for our
brothers and sisters in Palestine and all over
the world.
May your Eid be blessed. May your Ramadan
be accepted. And may every day ahead of
you be a day in which you come
closer to Allah.