Sikander Hashmi – Rise Humility KMA Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
We begin by praising Allah
our lord, our creator,
creator of the universe and everything that exists,
our nourisher, our sustainer, our protector,
And we begin by sending peace and salutations
upon his beloved
and final messenger, Mohammed, the son of Abdullah
As you know,
The federal election was on Monday
and on election night.
After the results have come in.
There is a lot of attention that is
paid.
To the leaders' speeches.
For the winner, it's the victory speech,
and for the others, it's the concession speech.
And there's a certain tone
that the leaders
try to strike.
You know, they want to be positive.
They want to be optimistic.
They wanna sound grateful,
but also confident.
Now one of the traits
that many of us, many people,
look for in their leaders
is humility.
What is it? It's humility.
And in Islam,
humility
is
not a trait that should only be found
in leaders,
though it is emphasized
for leadership.
Now the reality is, my brothers and sisters,
that we are all leaders
in our own way.
And if we are not now, then at
some point,
we will be
finding ourselves in a position
of leadership, most likely, as the prophet
has told us that
that. Right? That each of you
is the shepherd of a flock and is
going to be asked
and be questioned
about
their flock.
So this is very relevant for all of
us.
This is a trait
that
we need to introduce ourselves to,
remind ourselves about,
and try to work on to make it
grow inside of us.
My brothers and sisters, we find humility,
especially in the beautiful example of the messenger
of Allah
because Allah
said to Rasulullah
And lower your wing.
Right? Lower your wing. What does that mean?
To lower one's wing.
Meaning,
be humble
and show kindness.
Right? Because when we have wings,
right? We have something that makes us feel
like or may make us feel like
we can fly, we can go above, we
can rise.
So we lower that wing. Right? So to
be humble and show kindness. So Allah
said to the Prophet
and lower your wing to those who follow
you from the believers.
So show
extra humbleness and kindness towards them.
Allah
also said,
And turn not turn not your face away
from people with pride,
and
do not turn away your face from people
with pride,
nor walk
in insolence
through the earth.
Verily Allah likes not
each arrogant boaster. Allah
dislikes
those who are arrogant and
boastful. So my brothers and sisters, this this
trait
of humility is a very important quality
because it is the opposite of
conceitful pride and arrogance.
It is the opposite of conceitful conceitful
pride and arrogance because they are opposites. They
don't go together. And this
conceitful pride and arrogance, the has
been repeatedly
been described as one of the traits
of the stubborn rejecters of the truth.
The stubborn
rejecters of the truth, the stubborn disbelievers,
many times they know or they knew in
the examples that we find in the Quran,
in the seerah of the Prophet
They knew the truth,
but their pride
What was it? It was their pride and
their arrogance
which acted like a wall
between them, a barrier between them and the
truth.
They recognized it. They knew
rationally, logically, they knew
that the truth was facing them.
They realized it,
but they did not want to believe. Why?
Because
of their arrogance and their pride.
A person who is stuck
in pride and arrogance
is not willing to understand
that there is more to learn and that
there are many ways in which they can
improve themselves.
A person that is stuck in arrogance and
pride, who doesn't have humility,
they don't want to learn because they feel
like they already know everything. They're already the
best.
They are better than everyone else.
Right? So they have this ego
and have this attitude
that prevents them from learning
and prevents them from improving themselves in good
ways.
They're stuck in the now, so there's no
desire
to continue to seek the truth, to learn
more, to work on improving themselves, which are,
by the way, major impediments
to worldly and spiritual success.
Major impediment to worldly success as well as,
of course, spiritual success as well. Now one
of the clearest examples of humility
is that the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, I mean, practically,
visibly, would sit in the masjid with his
companions.
And if a stranger walked in, a visitor
came to the masjid,
he wouldn't know who the Prophet
was
until he asked, Which one of you is
Muhammad
Right? So the Prophet was sitting in a
gathering,
people wouldn't know.
Right? Stranger came, Bedouin came,
somebody came who hadn't met and seen the
Prophet
So they would actually have to ask
like, which one of you is
Mohammed, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? There's another incident where
the prophet was traveling, and he comes across
another group of Muslims.
And they they cross each other each other's
paths.
And, yes, who are you? And they also
ask him, who are you? Right? So they
actually were not able to tell that he
was actually the messenger of Allah
And this is because he would not sit,
he would not dress, or be treated
in a way that would distinguish him from
the people.
Right? Like in a in a boastful or
like a special way.
Unlike the way the leaders and famous people
are often treated
or as they behave when they're with people.
Amr said that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
entered upon me, so
I gave him a pillow to sit on
made out of skin
and filled with date palm fiber.
The prophet
refused to sit on it.
Right? So out of, you know, out of
courtesy, out of respect, he gave him a
pillow, a cushion to sit on. But the
prophet
refused to sit on it and chose to
sit on the bare ground instead, and he
left the cushion between me and or between
him and myself.
Right? So it's not something that the Prophet
craved
or wanted.
And even when someone offered it to him
You know, one is okay, you don't want
it, but you sort of hope that someone
offers it to you. You know, this You
know, they show some honor and some respect,
so you would enjoy that. But the Prophet
had nothing like that in his personality.
Right? Even when he was offered, he put
it aside.
Aisha
was asked, What did the Prophet
used to do when he was in the
privacy of his home?
Right? Because what was happening in the in
public that was apparent to all of the
companions, right, who were around?
But they wanted to know
Right? This questioner wanted to know from Aisha
that when the prophet
was in his home,
right, what did he do then?
So she replied, he used to be in
the service of his family.
He used to be in the service of
his family. He used to repair his sandals,
and he would sew and patch his home
clothes,
and he would milk the sheep. Right? So
that was
the the how the prophet
was like at home. So this is genuine
humility. This is not for show.
Right? So that, okay, when I'm outside, I
have to act a certain way. I have
a certain persona
in front of my team, in front of
my class, in front of
my community, in front of my people. But
then when, you know, when I go away,
then Or when I'm in private,
then I act differently. Right? But no, the
Prophet
was the same in private and in public
as well. So this was genuine humility, it
was not for show. Now my brothers and
sisters,
the first benefit
of exercising humility
is the ability
to recognize
our true worth in the world, and especially
in front of Allah
Because you know, a lot of times what
happens is in our minds,
we think
that
Or we might think that we are very
important.
You might think that we are very important,
right? Because of
a role that we have, because of a
position that we have,
perhaps because of the degrees that we have,
or the amount of money or influence that
we have, or the fame that we have,
right? Different things
that may make us feel
like we are very important,
right? But
when we have humility,
right, and we start reflecting from that perspective,
it helps us realize that we're just a
tiny miniscule part
of this universe.
And in front of Allah
we are even more so, more miniscule, and
more insignificant in front of Allah
Right? And by understanding this, we can truly
get on the path
of true submission to Allah, turning to Allah
with utmost humility and dependence on Him.
Right? Sometimes,
you know,
people start talking as if they are equal
to Allah
Right?
It happens. People ask questions, and there's nothing
wrong with asking genuine, sincere questions.
Right? People would come to the
Prophet There's many stories of how Bedouin walks
in. And, you know, there were known to
be people who perhaps didn't have the best
of manners. It's not a generalization, but, you
know, at that time that was something that
was noted.
And, you know, sometimes they would act in
ways which were inappropriate. They would ask questions
perhaps that were inappropriate, but they were sincere
and they were genuine. Right? So there's nothing
wrong with sincere and genuine questions.
But when a person
is trying to,
you know, is asking a question
without sincerity
or with arrogance,
And sometimes people do that, and they start
like I said, they start talking as if
they are they're
equal to Allah
questioning
the wisdom, questioning
the decisions,
the commands, the guidance of Allah and His
Messenger
Right? So could truly get to understand
and truly get to be on the path
of submission to Allah
turning to Allah with utmost humility and dependence
upon him, so that we feel it when
we worship.
So that we feel something when we worship.
Right? And a lot of times, we get
detached
from this idea,
right? Or from this
reality
of feeling
our worship,
right? It becomes routine,
it becomes movements, it becomes things that we
recite, and we say, which, alhamdulillah, is better
than not doing it, of course. So we
should still do it if we are at
that level.
But it becomes detached
from the notion that there should be some
feeling attached
to
our presence in front of Allah
especially especially in specific acts of worship like
salah.
Now, among the key benefits of humility, the
prophet
said, And no one humbles themselves
seeking the pleasure of Allah
except that Allah the Exalted will raise their
rank.
Right? And we see this with certain things,
right? Actually it's a longer hadith, but for
example,
and part of the hadith also
is,
Right? That charity
will not diminish a person's wealth, right? Will
not take away from
a person's wealth. So we find this that,
you know, it's things that conventional
wisdom would tell us
that
they
are reality. So for example, when someone spends
in charity, your bank account goes lower.
Right? It's a debit, it's not a credit.
Right? It goes down. Right? You see it,
go away. But the Prophet
told us that, No. It's not actually gonna
take away from your wealth. So he challenges
conventional wisdom.
And here as
well, no one humbles themselves seeking the pleasure
of Allah except that Allah
will raise their rank. You think that a
person who humbles themselves,
they would be seen as lowly in people's
eyes,
that they will not be respected.
Right? They will be not cared about.
People will trample upon them. People will
disregard them because they're humbling themselves. But no,
the Prophet
tells us,
except that Allah
will raise their rank. And we understand this
in 2 ways. The scholars explain this in
2 ways. The first is that, He
will raise that person in status in this
world,
in this world,
and give them status in people's hearts
because of their humility for Allah
not for show. And we gotta be careful,
right? That we're not be trying to act
humble,
just to show to people so that, Oh,
it's a great trade, and then people are
gonna start loving me if I'm acting humble.
But no. If we are truly humble for
Allah
then Allah
will give
that person a high status in people's eyes
in this life, in this world. And second,
understanding explanation from the scholars
is that the person's reward is in the
hereafter where their status will be raised because
of their humility in this world.
Right? So that person
that is, you know, sort of like an
afterthought a lot of times,
who, you know, maybe isn't around the masjid,
is maybe picking up stuff, is just sort
of a humble, sort of miskeen person,
whether in the masjid or anywhere else in
the community. Right? And you think, Okay. Well,
that's just someone
Alhamdulillah.
But like, okay, nobody really
gives much thought to what they say, what
they think, or to their presence, it's not
really noticed. It's sort of like an afterthought.
Perhaps that person will be higher than everyone
else
in jannah on the day of judgment because
of their humility, because Allah
will raise them
in the hereafter, if not in this world.
The Prophet
also said that, Allah has revealed to me
that you should humble yourselves to one another.
You should humble yourselves to one another. 1
should neither hold himself above another nor transgress
against
another.
And we learn a lesson from Sayyidina Umar
radiAllahu anhu.
Said, I saw
Umar carrying a large
leather water canteen on his shoulder.
And I said to him, O Amirul Mumineen,
O leader of the faithful of the believers,
you shouldn't be carrying that. You know, he's
the head of state. He's carrying a large
leather water canteen on his shoulders. It's heavy.
You know, it's something that, you know, a
servant would do or or, you know, a
worker would do.
So Umar
replies by saying, A delegation came to Madinah.
Listen to this. A delegation
came to Madinah,
and I saw their obedience to me because
they were obedient to Amirul Mu'minin. Say, Umar
So he says, A delegation came to Madinah,
and I saw their obedience to me, and
some conceit entered into my heart.
Some conceit entered into my heart. Meaning, it's
a little bit of, you know, a thought,
a feeling of arrogance, or of being, you
know, a little bit conceitfully pride entered my
heart, and I wanted to destroy it.
And I wanted to
destroy it. So every You know, everyone knows
the strong personality of Sayyidina Umar
Yet when a small and minute amount
of pride entered into his heart, he hurried.
He hurried in an attempt to destroy it
before
it actually ended up destroying
him.
So what we learn, my brothers and sisters,
is that Allah
loves humility
because it is conducive
to submitting to Allah
and it is the opposite of arrogance and
pride which are the trait of those who
are the enemies of Allah
The Prophet
was filled with humility,
and this was evident in all of his
actions.
It is an essential trait of true success,
worldly success,
and specially spiritual success. And
the Prophet
has told us that humility
will raise a person's rank either in this
world, or in the hereafter,
or both. So my brothers and sisters, let
us be conscious of our behavior.
Right? Sometimes you may not be intending it,
but it may be coming across in a
different way. So think about how we let
us think about how we behave, and how
it comes across because perception does matter, and
perception is important. Let us actively work towards
increasing
our humility for the pleasure of Allah
by serving others, especially when we may get
feelings of being
conceitfully prideful
or being arrogant.
And,
you know, according to the Harvard Business Review,
Right? The best leaders
are humble leaders. And like I said, we
are all leaders in our own ways. It
is not a trait that should only be
found in leaders, but so let us take
an opportunity to reflect and check our feelings
and our actions in this regard.
You Allah, grant me sincere humility. You Allah,
please purify our hearts. Protect us all from
arrogance and conceitful pride. Make us among those
who rise in this world and the hereafter
because of their sincere humility.
Please
cure all of our brothers and sisters who
are ill, whether physically ill, or mentally ill,
or emotionally ill. O Allah, grant them relief
and a complete and speedy recovery.
You Allah, please grant ease to all of
those who are in difficulty,
who are facing stress and anxiety, and other
troubles.
So we're really pleased to, welcome,
our new member of parliament,
who is no stranger to us,
Jenna says for a few words. Excellent.
Thank you. Aslam Malakam,
thank you so much for having me. Such
a pleasure to be here with you today
again.
I've really enjoyed the opportunity
to speak with so many of you over
the last,
few weeks, but in the last few years
as well in my past capacity.
I wanna thank you for your support.
If you supported me in the election or
not, I am really excited to have the
opportunity to serve you.
I know throughout the campaign, I heard the
issues that are important and that are top
of mind,
particularly in your community.
And I have committed. I know when we
did our zoom meeting that I look forward
to being able to host a forum
where we can talk about those issues and
more detail
and working on your behalf.
I'm also excited to have the opportunity to
speak with the National Council of Canadian Muslims
and get more involved there to learn deeper.
What the issues are.
I know Islamophobia
is top of mine.
I know Bill C. 21, of course, is
top of mine.
Immigration issues top of mind, so I look
forward to working on these issues.
I look forward to hearing from you and
working on your behalf.
In the coming months years.
And I appreciate your support.
So please never hesitate to reach out.
I'll be a few more weeks before I
get established, but I do look forward to
hearing from you to helping you and to
working with you.
Into the future. So my sincere thanks.
Thank you.
On behalf of all of us. Congratulations.
And we look forward to seeing you,
many times, or through your through your time
in parliament. That makes sense. Thank you. Thank
you.