Shakiel Humayun – Rise. 1st Eid ulAdha Sermon 2022
AI: Summary ©
The importance of Islam's use of words and phrases to elevate one's level is discussed, along with the deeds of different prophet's lineages, including Islam's use of words to raise people and suggest individual deeds. The challenges and tests required to be resilient and uplifted, including the deeds of different people. The speaker emphasizes the importance of giving, being givers, giving to institutions, and being humble and destroy racism. The speaker uses the hadith of the prophet sallali alaihi wa sallam to stress the importance of actions and words, and the hadith of the prophet sallali alaihi wa sallam to stress the importance of actions and words.
AI: Summary ©
Of the pathways,
of ascent.
That he is the Lord
of the cosmic highways
that go through the heavens.
And
such good deeds rise up to him.
Angels
rise up through these highways and go up
to Allah subhanahu.
When it came to legislating
salah,
Allah Subhanahu raised the prophet Muhammad
through these pathways
and legislated the salah
to the prophet
as if to say that this salah
is going to be legislated
up high
because the salah is something
that will elevate you.
And this is the case with everything in
Islam.
Every element of Islam
elevates you.
The word
that word
for charity in Arabic,
its linguistic meaning
is It means enrichment
and increase
because it raises and increases.
The prophet Muhammad
said
that Allah subhanahu
will raise people through this book.
And in the hereafter the prophet Muhammad said,
Quran.
It will be said to the companion of
the Quran.
Where the prophet
said,
it will be said to the companion of
the Quran in the hereafter.
Recite
and rise.
And recite the Quran
slowly
as you used to recite it slowly in
this world.
Because
as you rise through the levels of Jannah,
of paradise,
your level will be determined
when you finish reciting the last ayah.
And so the Quran elevates us in this
world and in the hereafter.
And when it came
to legislating wudu,
out of all the possible
contexts,
out of all the possible
phrases where wudu could be legislated,
Allah subhanahu chose
words
that were consistent
with this theme
of raising the Ummah
where Allah subhanahu
wa'ala
said,
When you rise for salah,
rise
the context,
the words
that Allah has chosen.
When you rise for salah, then wash your
faces
and your hands up to your elbows
and your feet up to the ankles.
When you rise from salah,
rise to salah. Rise from what? What is
the context here?
What is the person rising
from?
The context here is that a person is
rising from sleep
to make salah.
And we know sleep is the sister of
death.
So a person is rising to that which
gives him life
because salah and wudu
invigorates
the soul.
So Allah
captioned
and legislated
wudu
with the theme of how it
enlivens the soul and how
it uplifts
our iman.
The whole thing is uplifting.
This is why in the Quran
whenever Allah subhanahu talks about guidance,
he uses a preposition Allah.
Allah which means on or above.
Those are on
guidance from their Lord. It's never mentioned that
they're under guidance
because Allah means on or above
as to indicate
that this guidance
will raise you above your limitations,
raise you above our weaknesses.
But when it came to talk about misguidance,
Allah subhanahu said, that
they are in misguidance
as if they are submerged in misguidance because
when you're lost,
you're submerged, you can't find your way.
So the whole deen
elevates us,
raises us,
uplifts us
even
if we face tests
and challenges
in our lives,
the deen allows us that when we face
these challenges and tests, that we are able
to be uplifted
even further.
That these challenges and tests
do not inhibit
a person.
Look at Ibrahim alaihis salam.
The test and the challenge was sacrificed his
son. He was uplifted to be called now,
the father of the prophets.
Can you imagine
every single prophet from his lineage? Muhammad salallahu
alayhi wasalam.
Musa alayhi salam. Ismael ishak Yaqub. Every single
prophet from his lineage.
Every act of worship they did, the reward
goes to Ibrahim alayhis salaam.
And so he's uplifted to the status of
the Khalilullah,
the closest
beloved friend of Allah subhanahu
because
he went through these tests
and these sacrifices.
Look at Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
I'm Al Khuzun,
the year of grief tested and tried with
the fierce persecution of the polytheists.
And at the same year,
the 10th year,
his most top his top supporters
both died.
His top supporter from amongst the non Muslims,
Abu Talib, passes away.
His top supporter amongst the Muslims, Khateja, his
wife,
passes away.
But the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam faced these
tests and trials with resilience.
And so Allah subhanahu
elevated him with Mi'raj.
Allah
subhanahu raised him up to the heavens
in body form
as if to say
that even if your top supporters on the
face of this earth have died,
I
am your top supporter.
And I
will give
your message
the rise that it deserves
so it can spread across the world.
So even through faith, through tests and challenges,
my dear brothers and sisters,
we are resilient.
We are
an Ummah
that doesn't run
from challenges.
We do not cave in
under pressure
because pressure creates diamonds.
We are Ummah, my dear brothers and sisters,
who are instructed
to be resilient
during challenges
and trials
and tests and difficulties
because that is how we are elevated further.
Look at Ismail alaihis salam who was told
to be sacrificed, a child.
Was not whining,
was not complaining.
But he said, yeah.
Oh, my dear father, if you are commanded
to sacrifice me, then do what you are
commanded.
God willing,
you will find me amongst the resilient.
So this is the character. And today I
want to share with you
3
important
challenges. Sometimes we run from these challenges.
But sometimes we face them with great
re resilience and Allah then
increases and elevates our ranks.
These three challenges are so important
that if you want to build a community
here that will protect our next generations,
these three challenges
must be dealt with.
And a community cannot be built
at all
without these three challenges being met. And guess
what? The prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
mentioned all these three challenges in one hadith.
The first
one, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, man,
that charity,
donations,
do not decrease
wealth in the least
bit.
Our challenge
is
to fight our tendency
to withhold.
That if I give, I will lose money.
There ain't no community being built
without this because it wasn't built
in the time of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, which means it can never
be built without donations
after the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
So our challenge is to give, to be
givers,
to give to the poor,
to give to institutions
that will build the infrastructure
for our next generation.
Then the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
That there's no person
who pardons
a wrongdoing
except
that Allah subhanahu
raises him,
increases him.
Accept that Allah increases him in
respect and power.
Who doesn't want more respect
and power?
But this simple challenge that if someone wrongs
you,
the desire for revenge,
the tendency to get angry and upset,
the tendency to lash out.
This is the test and challenge we must
face.
Otherwise, no community is being built.
As the prophet
said that if we pardon and forgive,
Allah will increase us in respect
and power.
The third,
That there is no slave of Allah who
humbles himself,
except
that Allah subhanahu elevates
him.
The challenge to be humble.
Because it is with humility
that we destroy
racism.
It is with humility
that we stop thinking that we are better
than others.
It is with humility
where we start caring about other people and
thus we become elevated.
My dear brothers and sisters, we have to
be honest
with ourselves.
Without these three things,
a generous community who constantly donates big, not
just $1 in the mercy box, but for
our home,
we buy the latest furniture,
the best
decor that we can find. We're for the
house of Allah, which doesn't belong to any
individual.
The house of Allah, we can only pull
out a dollar bill, and we'll reward those
who do a lot more.
But no community is being built without that.
And number 2, without us being able to
pardon,
to have big hearts
so we can build a solid foundation for
our next generations.
And number 3,
to destroy racism
amongst ourselves, which exist.
My country is better than yours. My race
is better than yours. My skin is better
than yours.
There ain't no community being built until we
understand that our identity is.
And so my dear brothers and sisters,
this hadith teaches us to increase
our emotional intelligence.
It tells us to have empathy
because to
enable these three things, we must think about
the other brother, the other sister.
What are my words?
What are
my actions
doing to the people around me?
What kind of energy am I emanating?
And my dear brothers and sisters,
this thought
will make us say good words, good things.
And Allah said,
That to him to Allah, rises
the good word.
But the good words that we say get
suspended.
Because
we are not to be
an ummah
of talkers.
Talking is cheap.
Yes, you're my brother.
I love you for the sake of Allah.
But what does that mean?
Does that mean that I will burst in
your face the first time you make a
mistake?
Does that mean that I will not be
able to be patient?
What does that mean?
So my dear brothers and sisters,
the good word is suspended.
Until
our speech
is matched with actions
and is that is the reason why Allah
subhanahu said to him rises the good words
and the good actions and good deeds
elevate and raise them. So, just talk our
without actions, it's not going to raise our
words and our actions will not be there
to help these deeds go up to Allah.
My dear brothers and sisters,
it is for this reason that when
the hypocrites,
the say,
we testify to you, oh Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
sallam,
that you are the messenger of Allah.
The hypocrites used to say,
They used to say, Muhammad Ar Rasoolallah.
But Allah says, He bears witness that they
are lying. Because their speech was not matched
by actions.
And so for our
speech to mean anything,
it has backed
by actions.
Look at Ibrahim alayhi sala when he was
told to sacrifice his son.
He could have said to Allah, you Allah
have niyah, and that's it. I'm good. That
was not enough.
He spoke to his son, speech.
I will sacrifice you. His son said, sure.
Let's do it.
That's talk, speech. That was not enough.
Until Ibrahim Alaihi Wasallam
until he took Ishmael, his son and laid
his forehead down and was about to sacrifice.
Now there is
there is action
that backs up the speech,
that backs up the intention.
And that is because there is no iman
without without action. And so when Ibrahim
brought that action, it is then and only
then did Allah say
say,
that you have now fulfilled the vision. I
ask Allah
to elevate our ranks in this world and
in the hereafter
to enable us to do great good deeds
that are pleasing to him.
May Allah bless our day and bless your
families and give us all prosperity and happiness.