Saif Morad – The March of Honor

AI: Summary ©
The importance of Islam is highlighted, including the need for truthful partnerships and avoiding associate partners with the prophet. The speaker describes his actions and strategy, including giving keys to the holy land to Muslims and walking with his partner to lead his stylistic appearance. He emphasizes the importance of honoring Islam through other means, including sharing property and seeking respect, and the need for proactive and innovative leaders. The speakers also mention upcoming events and unified recognizes events for the upcoming year.
AI: Summary ©
Indeed, all praise belongs to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. We praise him and we thank him
and we seek his forgiveness
and we rely upon him and we put
our trust in him.
And we seek refuge in him from the
evil of ourselves and the negative consequences of
our actions.
For whomsoever Allah
guides, none can misguide. And whomsoever Allah misguides,
none can bring them back.
And I bear witness with full conviction that
there is no one worthy of worship except
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and that the prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam is his last and
final messenger.
Oh you who believe have the right taqwa
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the way that
he is meant to receive from us,
and do not die except in the state
of submission as Muslims.
O people have that mindfulness, that taqwa of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, the one who has
created you from a single soul. And from
Him He has created His spouse, and from
them both he has created many men and
women. And have that taqwad and mindfulness of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the one from whom
you demand your mutual rights and those of
kin.
For indeed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is ever
watching over everything that we do.
Oh you who believe,
oh the one who has iman in their
heart,
have that fear and then mindfulness of Allah
and say that which is true and just.
For Allah will rectify your affairs and will
forgive your sins, and whomsoever obeys Allah and
his messenger,
then they are the ones who have achieved
the great victory.
The best of speech is the speech of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and the best guidance
is the guidance of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
And the worst of matters within the deen
are those newly invented matters that has no
basis. For every
newly invented bad matter that has no basis
leads to misguidance, and every misguidance eventually leads
to the * fire.
My dear brothers and sisters,
after the Treaty of Hudaydiyyah,
the prophet
entered into a phase of peace with him
and the Maqams,
which allowed him now to focus his efforts
towards the other nations.
He was able to send letters to call
them to Islam
because there's a truce for 10 years between
him and the Maqans.
And from the letters he sends, is he
sends a letter to the Byzantines.
Their emperor
Caesar or Heraclius.
And he happened to receive this letter
when he was in Ilia.
Ilia is the name for Jerusalem at that
time.
He decided because God had given him victory
over the Persian, that he would go to
Jerusalem to thank him.
And as he gets this letter, there happened
to be Abu Sufyan and a bunch of
Maquians that were in the Syrian area,
because they were known to go there for
trade
during the seasons.
So Heraclius wanted to
learn about who this person is that is
sending me this letter and calling me to
Islam.
Is there anyone there who knows him, who
can tell me about him?
And his messenger goes and he finds Abu
Sufyan and his friends, and he tells him,
Come. The Caesar wants to have a meeting
with you.
And a conversation takes place between them.
In Heraclius he asked him multiple questions about
who the prophet is.
He asked him about his lineage.
And Abu Sufian, because of his friends being
there,
and if he lied, they would label him
a liar. So he decided he was going
to be truthful. And at this time, Abu
Sufyan is not a Muslim yet.
So from the questions that Heraclius Caesar asked
Abu Sufyan was about his lineage,
Was anyone in his family a king?
Who are the people that follow him?
When they follow him,
do they end up leaving the religion or
do they stay within it?
Is this person known to tell a lie?
He asked him a whole bunch of questions
to understand the character of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. Then he asked Abu Sufyan, okay,
what does he call you towards?
And Abu Sufyan tells him that he tells
us to worship Allah alone and not to
associate partners with him, to leave off that
which our forefathers used to do, to pray,
to establish the ties of kinship, to give
the zakat, so on and so forth.
And after this interview, Caesar responds and he
says
that the qualities that you are describing
is of a man, of a prophet,
that has been told to us in our
scriptures.
But I didn't think he was going to
be from amongst you.
And if you say that which is true,
if what you're saying is true, then he
is going to occupy the lands under my
feet.
Where is he standing right now?
In Ilia, in Jerusalem.
If you say,
if your speech is truthful,
he is going to be taking over these
lands that is under my feet.
And if I was able to go to
him, I will go to him, I will
wash his feet.
But he now had this internal conflict that
do I accept this
or do I stick with my people and
my kingdom?
Because shaytaan will come and play with us,
and he will make people think that if
you accept this religion,
it's as if you're going to lose out
on something else.
And he ended up choosing his way of
life, his kingdom,
over submitting to Allah thinking
that that's going to bring him the glory
and honor in his life, but then the
end result was that not only was he
humiliated in this world, but also in the
akhirah,
because of dying upon that state of
disbelief.
Now fast forward.
This is taking place during the time of
the Prophet
when Umar
now becomes the Khalifa.
And after the battle of Yarmouk, this open
the
pathway for the Muslims to start expanding across
the Levant.
They take over Syria, they take over Hyms,
Fihl, so on and so forth.
They get to Ajnadayn which is close to
Jerusalem. Amr ibn Aas and Abu Ubayd ibn
Jabrah take over, and
they achieve victory there. And now they go
and they start marching towards Jerusalem.
And they lay siege to the fortresses around
Jerusalem.
And if we go back in history, cities
were not like how you and I see
it today.
There's big walls,
thick, high.
Their weapons
are swords, shields, spears,
maybe catapults and rocks.
You're not really gonna penetrate that very easily.
So they laid siege to those fortresses for
about 4 months.
And these are people from the Arabian desert.
They're not used to that climate.
The cold winter.
Mecca is very hot.
Medina has some type of winter.
But compared to where they are, but nonetheless
they are patient, they rely upon Allah
And then,
Sophronius who is a patriarch of Jerusalem, he
decides he's going to surrender. And Abu Ubaydah
gives him 3 choices. Either you accept Islam
willfully,
or we fight,
or you pay the jizyah,
which is the tax of protection,
that they pay a small amount which excludes
them from enlisting in the Muslim army, and
they are protected, and this is less than
zakat to begin with.
So Abu Ubayda, he they agreed to give
the jizyah. But there is a condition
that we're not going to give the keys
of the city except that we give it
to the leader of the Muslims.
So he has to come from Medina, Umar
radhiyallahu anhu has to come from Medina to
accept the keys from us. So they write
him a letter and they send it to
Umar. And Umar radiAllahu, part of his strategy,
this is a prophetic model, is that he
would consult with his companions.
Okay. What do you guys think is the
best strategy for us to implement?
Mainly, he spoke with Uthman and Ali. And
Uthman told him, you stay here, this is
the safest place for you, maybe they're going
to try to do something to you, and
why should we listen to their request?
There's no need for you to go out.
Ali says, no, you should go out. It
makes sense for you to go out because
it will make it easier for the Muslims.
It will ease the process for them, so
you should go out. So he agreed with
Ali
appoints him as a deputy in Medina, and
he heads out. Now there's many narrations in
terms of how this journey played out. And
Umar
he gets to a location close to Jerusalem
called Al Jabia. And over there he gives
a khutba, a sermon,
and he tells the companions
that
rectify your inner actions first.
Rectify the inner aspect of yourselves,
then through that your outer actions will be
rectified automatically.
It starts with the inside.
That iman has to penetrate our hearts. We
have to cleanse our hearts from the characteristics
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not pleased
with, and adorn
our inner selves with those actions that he
is pleased with.
And through that, naturally the response is gonna
come from the limbs. So Umar is telling
he's not just telling anyone.
He's telling the cream of the crop.
Khadid.
Amr ibn A'as and the other Muslims who
are there in front of him.
And he's telling them to focus your efforts
on the akhir. Everything you do have the
intention for the akhirah, and Allah
through that will rectify your dunya as well.
That will naturally come when your intention,
your motivation is for the sake of Allah
And he also tells them that be with
the be with the Muslim community. Don't be
that lone sheep because the lone sheep, the
wolf can easily go and prey on. So,
be part of the community.
And as he's making his way to Jerusalem,
the accounts, they depict the Umar
We have to look at who he is
at this time. He's the most important person
on the face of the earth. Not only
that, he's also the most powerful individual on
the face of the earth. And he is
going towards Jerusalem to receive the keys to
the holy land, not only holy to the
Muslims, but to the Christians and to the
Jews as well.
And he's going
bareheaded.
The sun is shining on his bald head.
Humble appearance
on a camel. He gets to a pond
where it's muddy. He gets off his camel.
He removes his shoes, puts it in his
hand, and starts leading his camel across that
water bed.
And Abu Baydah radiAllahu anhu goes to him
and he tells him that this is really
surprising, like you gotta take care of yourself.
You go to people who are expecting something
from you. And Umar
turns to him and he smacks him in
the chest and he says, Oh, Abu Ubaydah,
only if somebody else has said this.
And he made the famous statement,
That we are a nation that Allah has
given honor to us through Islam.
And if we try, no matter how hard
we try to seek respect,
honor, dignity,
through other than Islam,
Allah
will humiliate us.
Context is key.
Who is he saying this to?
He is saying to Abu Ubaydah ibn al
Jarrah,
one of the 10 that has promised Jannah.
The one who Umar Radiallahu
Anhu appointed when he became the Khalifa to
replace Khalid ibn Warid. This is an individual
that his whole focus and his dedication is
to attain the pleasure of Allah
to begin with. And when Umar
had visited
Abu Ubaydah in Syria,
he's the governor there.
Now, when you think of a governor, today's
day and age,
how do you imagine their homes to be?
How do you imagine the inside of their
houses to be?
Do they utilize the wealth of the public
to serve the interests of the public?
Or is it to also adorn their lives
as well?
So Umar tells Abu Ubaydah that invite me
to your house. I wanna I wanna visit
your home. And Abu Ubaydah
says that if you come to my house,
you're gonna cry.
You're gonna cry if you come to my
house.
Amr says, I wanna go anyway.
So when he goes into his house and
he looks around,
and he says, where's your belongings?
All I see is a saddle,
a plate, and a water skin.
Where's the food?
And Abu Ubaidah goes and he brings from
the corner pieces of bread.
And Umar
he starts weeping.
The governor of Syria
has nothing in his house.
And Abu Waideh told him, I told you.
I told you this was gonna happen. If
you're gonna come, you're gonna cry. He says,
whatever gets you to your destination.
Whatever gets you to your destination, meaning whatever
gets you to Jannah. Whatever you have to
do, do it.
And we all know the famous story of
how Umar
comes to Jerusalem with his servant. They take
turns going back and forth, who's going to
ride. And as he's approaching
Jerusalem, it's the servant's turn.
And Umar
is bringing the camel in, and the people
are waiting, and they see this humble man,
and there's somebody else sitting on the camel,
and they realize that Umar the Khalifa is
dragging the camel, and the servant is sitting
on top of the camel.
When they see this, they're taken aback.
And Abu Ubaid also goes to him, and
he repeats the same thing to him, that
we are a nation that Allah has given
honor through Islam, through the teachings of Islam.
These were individuals.
26 years ago before this,
there were nobody.
None of the countries even paid attention to
them.
These people have nothing that we want. We
don't need to waste our time with them.
But within that time frame, the prophet
comes.
23 years his prophethood.
Now we are in the 16th year after
the prophet
comes into Medina,
and they are taking over
the world.
And Sophronius comes and he takes Umar and
they form the famous covenant, which is known
as the Umaria covenant.
The treaty of Umar, in which Umar
and mind you, before this, the Persians took
over this. When the Byzantines entered,
you think they just let people be like,
hey, go do what you want.
There's no blood that was spilled. They didn't
slaughter.
But when Umar made the covenant,
based upon their conditions, and also what he
stipulated,
he gave them protection of wealth,
of life,
of their churches, of their crosses, that nothing
would be broken down, nothing would be taken,
their property would be safe, nobody would be
forced to accept accept the religion of Islam,
because nobody enters into the religion except by
choice.
There is no compulsion within the deen. And
not only that, he let their places of
worship be intact.
And this was the historic covenant.
My dear brothers and sisters,
I want us
to take some time
and reflect over the statement of Umar
in which he says,
That we are a nation that Allah
Allah the Almighty has honored through Islam,
through the teachings and implementation of this religion,
of this beautiful way of life,
which is the teachings of the Quran and
the sunnah of the Prophet
Through the implementation
and living that message, Allah has
honored us.
And just look at how much growth they
experienced in that short amount of time.
And if we try to gain that honor
and respect through other means, by compromising our
principles,
by thinking that there's another way of life
that is better than ours, There are so
many isms that is out there today, and
if we want to bring that into our
life, thinking that is superior to Islam,
Umar
said,
Then Allah
is going to humiliate us.
Because through that, they rectified not only their
inner world
and secured their akhirah, their afterlife,
but also through that, they built their dunya
as well.
Allah opened the doors of the dunya for
them,
and they benefited from it as well.
So when we look at ourselves,
and we see our level of practice of
this deen,
then where is it?
Do we think that in a different way
we're going to receive
that change that we're looking for?
And all the principles are there in the
Quran,
for both this world and the next as
well. Allah says,
Be with those be with the truthful individuals.
If you and I don't know who they
are, how do we expect to be there?
And prepare
whatever you can.
As Muslims, we have to be proactive.
We have to be innovative.
We have to be the leaders in industries.
If you look at majority of the Muslim
world, we're consumers.
We're not the producers.
But our faith teaches us we're a religion
of iqara.
It started with read, learn, educate, be those
people who are the ones who are leading
the field,
and are doing it in a way that
is pleasing to Allah
not in a way that is going to
be displeasing to Allah
And Imam Malik
had a famous statement.
Remember, this is early generation,
where he said,
That never will the latter part of this
ummah be rectified,
except with that which rectified the earlier part.
The guidelines are there.
The teachings are there. The sunnah is there,
the Quran is there.
We need to implement it into our lives.
And Allah
tells us in the Quran,
That whoever wants izzah, wants that honor, wants
that dignity, wants that respect,
then it comes from Allah
All of that belongs to Allah
And if we want it, we have to
seek it from Allah
As the prophet
said,
That whoever wants the honor of both worlds,
not just the akhirah, but even in this
world, then let them be obedient to Allah
And when we see the situation of our
brothers and sisters across the world, you know,
we heard.
We see that. We see that which is
in the Quran. But we have to also
look at history, that things take time. Sometimes
we see something,
but Allah
has the bigger picture. He has the entire
picture. And the change that He is planning
for,
maybe we're not aware of
it. And as we heard, I want to
remind you of a statement of Abu Bakr
radhiallahu anhu,
when he became the khalifa. One of his
first sermons that he gave, he mentioned at
the end of this,
That there is no good in something that
is good, which leads to eventually to the
jahannam.
That no matter how people prosper, and how
much they're enjoying and relaxing, but if the
end result is going to be in entry
into jahannam, then there's no good in that.
But the evil, the difficulties that is there,
within the difficulties that's there,
There is no evil if the end result
is Jannah.
So if people are going through the struggle,
and they're getting their ticket stamped into Jannah,
then isn't that what you and I want?
That the end result that you and I
say, la ilaha illallah on our tongues when
we leave this world. May Allah, azzawajal, rectify
the affairs of our ummah. May Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala, guide us to the truth and
keep us firm upon that path and make
us die upon that path. May Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala, shower this ummah with honor and
respect and dignity. May Allah
be there for our brothers and sisters all
across the world.
The Triangle area Masajid are working together for
a unified Eid fest this Saturday
at 2 PM at the NC State Fairgrounds,
Jim Graham building. So there'll be a lot
of things to do, so please come and
bring your children as well.
Please straighten the lines. Close the gaps.
Please make sure you fill up the rows
in front before starting 1 in the back.
Assalamu
alaikum.
Welcome to your Masjid today, 21st.
Join us tonight for dribbling down barriers
where renowned Muslim athlete, sister Bilqis Abdulqadr,
will be speaking about her fight to wear
hijab
tonight after Maghrib.
For the first time ever, 11 Triangle Masajid
and Muslim organizations
will hold a unified Eid festival.
Make plans today to attend the Eid Fest
at the NC State Fairgrounds
inside the Jim Graham building tomorrow 22nd
from 2 to 7:30 PM.
Visit
ncaed.org
to buy your tickets today.
We hope you had a wonderful Eid celebration
with your loved ones. We'd love to hear
your feedback on how we can better serve
you in the future.
We'd appreciate if you could take a few
minutes to complete this survey
found at raleymasjid.org.
Your responses will help us improve your experience
in the future.
Girls Basketball Skills Camp
led by famous Muslim athlete and legend, Sister
Bilqis Abdul Fader,
open to sisters ages 8 and up from
9 AM to 2 PM
tomorrow Sunday.
Light refreshments will also be available.
Register via railymasjid.org.
Pray, recite, play
Quran circles and activities for children of all
ages,
Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays
from Maghrib to Isha starting this Monday.
More info can be found on raily masjid.org.
IAR is excited to announce the upcoming launch
of the Thrive program with Imam Saif Murad.
This program aims to engage Muslim adults aged
30 plus through spiritual enrichment,
community engagement,
and networking opportunities.
We'd love your input to ensure the program
caters to your interests and schedules.
Please take a few minutes to answer some
questions so that we can serve you better.
The survey can be found in the newsletter.
Enjoy this wonderful week.