Sikander Hashmi – Divide and Conquer KMA Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
Respected elders, dear brothers and sisters,
my young friends, Assalamu alaikum rahmatullahi
ta'ala.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has taken
a large group of companions
for an expedition.
And
the number of
Muhajirin
immigrants
from Mecca
has become large. A large number of Muhajirin
have joined the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And amongst the group, there are also people
of the Ansar. So there are people from
Mecca and there are also people
from Medina.
Now amongst them
is a companion,
an,
a a,
a companion who used to play
a lot of jokes. He had a sense
of humor.
And this companion is from the.
So he's from the immigrants from Mecca,
and he's a jokester.
So what does he do?
He goes and he pokes
one of the Ansari companions.
Yeah. And some narration says maybe he kicks
him. Another one, he he pokes him with
his, you know,
with his spear.
And this Anssari companion gets really upset.
He gets
really, really upset.
And,
you know, he gets upset so he ends
up calling his people.
And he says he puts out a call
and he says, You Alil Ansar.
And then, you know, when he does that,
the others,
you know, also,
doing start doing the same as well. You
know, So they started calling one another,
calling each other for support because, you know,
it seems like there's a skirmish happening and
there's a, you know,
a a a fight that's about to break
out.
Now the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
hears his commotion.
And
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he comes out
and he says,
You know, what's up with this call?
You know, what's what's going on here? And
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has is told
about, you know, what has happened.
And he says,
or the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam used a
different word,
that it is,
offensive or it is filthy, you know, it
is dirty, leave this. Right? It is disgusting.
Don't make these calls based
on tribalism,
based on these differences between tribes and ethnicity.
Right? This is not a call from the
call of the believers.
Now from amongst the people from amongst the
people who were there,
guess who was there to take advantage of
the situation?
It is the chief of the hypocrites,
Abdullah bin Ubayy ibn Saloon.
And he hears this.
And you see the enemies of Islam and
the enemies of Muslims
are always looking for opportunities
to drive a wedge between the believers,
to drive a wedge between
the Muslims.
Right? Because that's that's one of the easiest
ways to take down your opponent
is to cause dissension and division between them.
So he comes around
and
he says,
have they done so? By Allah, if we
return to Madinah, surely the most honorable will
expel
there from the meaner.
So he, you know, he's taking
advantage of this situation.
You know, try to install instead of trying
to bring people together
and try to patch things up
as the prophet sallallahu alaihi, as, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala tells us.
Make peace, make reconciliation
between your brothers. But instead,
the hypocrites,
the Munafiqur,
the enemies of the Muslims, the enemies of
Islam, what are they gonna do? They're gonna
try to exploit
every opportunity
to cause
divisions,
to exploit
any differences
that may exist
because that is their
way of settling their score against Islam and
against
the Muslims.
You know, we learn
about
what Shaitan wishes to do.
He has the
same mission to try to cause division between
people. So for example, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells us about the prohibition
with regards to,
with regards to, you know, alcohol
and with regards to gambling.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in
Namayuridu
Shaitanu
and you okay Abayinaqumu
lada wata wal Bagda. Shaitan's plan is to
stir up hostility and hatred
between
you with these things, with these intoxicants and
gambling. And of course,
and to prevent you from remembering Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and praying. Right? So part of
the plan
of
the enemies of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
by extension,
those who have animosity against Islam and Muslims
is to try to divide people and try
to cause divisions.
There's also a hadith from Jabir radiAllahu anhu
says that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said
that that rarely shaitan places his throne over
the water.
And then
he sends out his troops.
Shaitan Iblis, he sends out his troops.
And the closest to him in rank,
the closest to him to shaitan in rank
are the greatest at causing tribulations.
So the more trouble
one of the shayateen, one of his army
causes,
right, the more trouble he causes,
the more closest he is to him in
rank.
And one of them says,
So one of them comes and he says
that, you know, I have done I have
done this and I have done that. You
know, so he comes, they all come and
they report to him what they have done,
what they have accomplished in terms of, you
know, causing trials and tribulations, causing trouble for
people.
So one of them comes and he says
that,
I have done such and such. And shaitan
says to him, Fa'akoolma sanata shayyah
that you have not done anything. You have
done nothing. Okay. So he dismisses
what this one shaitan comes and and and
tries to show that, you know, what he
has accomplished.
Then
he says, Then another one comes and says,
That I did not leave this man alone
until I separated him from his wife.
You see once again causing separation and division
between people. And then what does shaitan do?
Fayudni hi minhuayuh,
sorry. Wayakul
namaanta. So shaitan embraces him. He says, you
have done
well. So that is what shaitan
celebrates when people,
especially close relations have been severed and a
man and a woman, husband and wife have
been separated from each other. Right? And the
instigation is caused by the shayateen. Right? They're
looking to find opportunities
to exploit differences,
to exploit, you know, moments of weakness perhaps,
to exploit any opportunity that they can find
to cause division between people.
Now
my brothers and sisters,
you know this unfortunately is something
that
has been employed
time and time again,
right? Between the Muslims, between the believers. Now
as we discussed earlier,
you know, at
the advent or before the advent of Islam,
right, there were a lot of decisions,
a lot of divisions.
Right?
And,
in Medina, there were the 2 main tribes,
the Aus and the Khazraj.
Both were Arabs, but they were, you know,
continuously waging war against each other. Right? This
would go on for generations even.
Right? So they would have grudges. They would
have battles
or differences that would go on, like, back
and forth, you know, tit for tat. It
would keep going on and on.
And this cycle
of violence, of attacks and counter attacks
had continuously weakened them. But when they accepted
Islam,
when
they accepted the deen of Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala
and they accepted
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
as their leader, as the prophet of Allah,
then all their hostilities ended and they became
like brothers. And Allah says,
that he brought their hearts together. Allah
brought their hearts together.
That had you spent all the riches in
the earth, you could not have united their
hearts.
So it's not about spending. It's not about
money. It's not about, you know, spending resources
and trying to bring people together. But rather
it has to do with the hearts and
the hearts are in the control of Allah
subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the
one who united them. Now my brothers and
sisters,
what was it that they united upon?
Did they unite upon
their ancestry? No.
Did they unite upon their skin color? No.
Did they unite upon geography of the land
that they're from? No. They united upon La
ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah.
It is that which brought them together.
That became the means.
Right? The core, the essence
of bringing them together and being able to
overcome
these generations of hostilities and grudges. Right? This
is something
remarkable.
This is something remarkable when you especially when
you look at the the circumstances and the
history
at the time. And thus Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala tells us,
and hold firmly together
to the rope of Allah.
Right? And there's different interpretations. Right? The covenant
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or the book
of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. This is narrated
radiAllahu anhu from the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
The
book of Allah is the cord of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala extended from the heavens to
the earth. Right? So there's different narrations, but
nonetheless,
holding together to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Whether
it is the book of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, whether you consider it the deen of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the covenant of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala,
put it that way. So
and do not be divided. So this instruction
is very very clear. And then again Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala here also,
he reminds the believers, he reminds the prophet
salallahu alayhi wasalam and the believers of his
favor.
If. Says, remember Allah's favor upon you. When
you were enemies, then he united
your hearts. So you by his grace
became
brothers.
Right? So you were enemies before and then
Allah
united your hearts and it's not like you
just became okay with each other, but you
actually became brothers to one with to to
one another. Right?
And,
Jabei ibn Mu'tam radiAllahu anhu, he also relates
from the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
that
that he is not one of us who
calls to tribalism.
He is not one of us who fights
for the sake of tribalism.
And he is not one of us who
dies following the ways of or the way
of tribalism.
And tribalism is very specific to tribes. Right?
But the concept is not limited only to
tribalism.
Right? It includes
any
divisions.
Any divisions
which are celebrated and are seen as a
means of superiority
or of being against others.
Other than La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasoolallah.
Right? And this includes nationalism, my brothers and
sisters. So to have a connection with one's
land, to love one's land or city or
place where one is from, there's nothing wrong
with that. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was
from Makkah and he loved Makkah to Makarama.
And he was deeply saddened when he had
to leave from Makkah and he loved to
return.
Of course, he still didn't live there but
he had deep attachment to Makkah Al Muqramah
even after the opening of Mecca. So there's
nothing wrong
with loving your homeland, loving your city, your
place, having attachment to it. Nothing wrong with
that whatsoever. So that's not what we're talking
about. What we're talking about is to use
that love and that attachment
or that title
as a means of feeling superior over others
or
to gather people against others on the basis
of this. So this is what has been
prohibited by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and
this is what is disliked by Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And guess what? This is what
the opponents of Islam and the Muslims
want to plant and have already planted
in order to divide and conquer.
If you look at the map of the
world,
right, if you look at world events, if
you pay attention to what is happening,
this is precisely what is happening.
Divisions based on nationalism,
based on the land where you are from,
and fighting others based on that.
Yes?
And
sectarianism.
Right? Divisions
and exploiting those divisions. It's natural to have
differences of opinion. We've talked about this before.
Right? You can have a difference of opinion
that is academic.
You can be respectful about it. You can
vehemently disagree without fighting about it. All of
those things are possible. But no. They will
try to exploit every single division whether it's
nationalism, whether it's
based on race, whether it is based on
sectarian differences, whether it's different based on differences
and understanding
in Islam. Right? Every single difference you will
see is happening now and you will continue
to see will be exploited
to try to keep the ummah of Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam divided.
As long as we continue to fall into
that trap,
nothing is gonna change.
As long as we continue to fall in
that trap, nothing is going to change. So
yes, you can have academic discussions, we can
have this disagreements
on the way forward. But remember, remember it.
What unites us is la ilaha illallah Muhammad
rasulullah. Not the country that you're from, not
the blood that you have, not the color
of your skin. Right? And this is what
actually makes the opponents of Islam and Muslims
afraid.
They are afraid that if the Muslims come
together on la ilaha illallah Muhammad rasulullah. And
they disregard
these arbitrary boundaries that have been imposed upon
them through colonialism and imperialism.
And they band together as believers.
And they buy they they they wholeheartedly
believe in the message of Allah and his
and his messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
then they're gonna have a problem.
So therefore, the strategy is keep them divided,
keep them fighting each other,
and clearly that is happening.
Right? It is in front of our eyes.
So how is this gonna change, my brothers
and sisters? We are going to be
we're going to need to be the ones
who drive this change.
We are going to need to be the
ones who drive this change. How do we
drive this change?
We pick up arms and we start fighting.
No. Because it's just gonna make the situation
worse. Right? Whenever you come across such differences,
even if there are deep differences and you
feel like you are upon the truth,
always think about what the consequences of your
actions are going to be. Is it going
to harm? Is it gonna be a net
benefit for the ummah or is it gonna
be a net loss for the ummah and
for the community?
Is it actually worth? So I'm not saying
that you should not say anything or do
anything. Yes, you should oppose it. You should
oppose wrong. If you believe something's wrong, you
should oppose it. You should speak about it.
You should present logical arguments against it. You
can campaign against it. You can advocate. You
can do all of those things.
But don't make the situation worse.
Don't make the situation worse because whenever that
happens,
guess who's ready to exploit that?
All of those who wanna cause harm to
our community, to the ummah, and to the
dean of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
As Allah tells us, Obey Allah and his
messenger, do not dispute with one another
or you would be discouraged
and weakened. So persevere and surely Allah is
about those who persevere. So my brothers and
sisters, as we see world events happening, as
we see differences being exploited,
as we find as we see and witness,
efforts,
to create divisions
and to perpetuate divisions
and to rile
groups of Muslims up against one another, whether
it's, you know, sectarian groups, religious groups,
countries, whatever the case may be. Let us
remember this, my brothers and sisters, that this
is part
of a larger plan. This is by design,
and the way out of this is to
not fall for it and to remember that
our hearts
must be pure towards our brothers and sisters
as much as possible.
And even when we have differences,
we understand
that we are not to become victims of
those
plots by those who want to cause harm
to the deen of Allah
to the and to the community. May Allah
protect us all. May Allah
protect, unite the hearts of the believers.
We ask Allah
to keep us united as he has united
us here.
Different nationalities, different ethnicities,
different backgrounds,
different religious views. We come together for the
sake of Allah.
We want to carry the spirit forward, and
we ask Allah
to make this the reality
around the entire world.
Take a quick break, and we'll continue.