Sikander Hashmi – Unified Like a Single Body KMA Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
For the past few weeks,
we have been watching
the journey
and the rise
of
some countries as they go through the FIFA
World Cup. And in particular,
we see,
great,
achievement and accomplishment
by the Moroccan team. And
there is,
wide support
across the world
for the accomplishment
that have been made by the Moroccan team
in the World Cup, and especially
in the Muslim world.
And, you know, there's various reasons that people
will support a team,
or a country, and maybe, you know, their
favorite player plays on the team. Maybe they're
from that place or that country,
and so on. So there's various reasons that
that people will support a team. But in
particular,
the support that we see in the Muslim
world,
for the Moroccan team also has to do
with,
their displaying of Islamic values on this on
the world stage. Right? And one of the
things that has been noticed, for example,
is their love and their respect for their
mothers.
Right? Because it is, quite uncommon
in professional sports
to find athletes,
showing, you know, open reverence and love and
respect to their mothers. Right? Normally, it's,
they they celebrate among themselves,
or maybe, you know, their spouses or significant
others,
will be with them.
But rarely do we see,
mothers being shown that level of love and
respect
on such a a public and and high
state as an example.
Right? We also notice,
you know, the sujdah to, shukr, the prostration
of gratefulness, you know, after each game and
particularly after they have won or even after
they lost, you know, making,
great showing gratefulness to Allah
by prostrating.
And of course, we are noticing support for
Falaslin as well.
So my brothers and sisters,
at the root
of
the love,
and support,
for Morocco across the Muslim world at this
time
is the fact that Allah has
said that
That indeed
the believers
are one brotherhood.
The believers,
whether male or female, are one brotherhood, are
one community,
are one sisterhood.
And when we are one family,
what do we do? We share in joy,
and we also share in grief as well.
And we support each other in times of
need
and
to succeed.
So as families,
as brothers, as sisters,
right? When we have that type of relationship
with someone,
we are looking to support them
in the things that they are doing, which
are good and permissible.
And we look to defend them and protect
them from harm, from trouble, and we share
in their joys, and we share in their
grief. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has told
us as it has been related by Naman
Idu Basheer radiAllahu anhu that
The example the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam gave
of the believers
in their affection and mercy and compassion for
one another is that of a
jessid, of a body.
The prophet
said, when any
limb aches, when any part of the body
aches, the entire body reacts with sleeplessness and
fever. And we see this, that if you
have one part of your body that is
injured, Right? Maybe it's a, you know, let's
say you broke an arm. You got hurt.
You know, you pulled a muscle. You you
know, a nerve. You got hurt in one
part of your body.
The pain is felt
in other parts of the body. Right? The
signal of pain is going through your nervous
system to your brain, and your brain is
reacting and your body, you know, different areas
of your body may hurt, and you may
react in different ways. You know, you may
cry and there's tears that come out of
your, your ears even though the pain may
be on your foot. Right? So the body
is all connected
and one part being hurt, one part that
suffers, the other parts also respond and that
is the example that the prophet
gave. We get another example
and that is related from
that the prophet
said
that
that verily the believers
are like bricks.
They are like bricks, meaning of a wall
of a building.
Each part
strengthening the other. And the prophet
gave a visual representation of that as well.
And he clasped
clasped his fingers together to show that meaning
of strength that comes together
like
bricks supporting and giving strength to one another.
So let us reflect upon this for a
moment, my brothers and sisters, that you see
the body works together as we have discussed,
and each part of the body has a
different function.
Right? All the parts of the body, all
the joints, all all, you know, all the
different elements of our body, they all have
different functions,
but they are all integral
to the well-being and the wholeness of the
body. Right? And, of course, some of them
have similar functions as well, but the point
is that each one has a specific role
in a specific place.
And,
they are all important for the functioning of
the body even though that they are different
and they are, you know, of of many
different types doing different functions. So we get
an example here also with regards to the
role that we have and the importance that
every single one of us has in the
well-being of the in the functioning of this.
Secondly, when we think about a brick wall,
right, when we think about a building or
a wall, we notice that, you know, some
of the bricks are carrying
more than others, but each one is important.
Right? So the ones that are laid at
the bottom, right, that make the foundation of
the wall, they are, of course, carrying the
load of the other bricks that are on
top of them. Right? However, if any one
of them is missing, then it weakens the
wall. So we learned that there is strength
in being together. And, yes, again, you know,
different people will have different roles and will
carry different loads. But at the end of
the day, every single one of them is
important because when one is missing or one
is not, you know, functioning the way it
should, then it causes weakness in the entire
wall.
Now, of course, you know, it's also important
to note that there is nothing wrong
with loving one's homeland.
Right? Or to have a natural affinity towards
those who perhaps share the same language and
the same culture. There's nothing wrong with that.
Right? The prophet
you know, was born in in Mecca, and
he loved Mecca very much.
Right? He was very, very dear to him.
You know? It was very close to his
heart. So, you know, there's nothing wrong. And,
of course, Mecca was a very special place,
but we got the principle that there's nothing
wrong
with
feeling closeness and having, you know, a special
love for the place you're from from, you
know, the people who perhaps, you know, share
the same language and the same culture. Naturally,
you you tend to be inclined towards them.
You spend more time with those, most of
the time, with those who are more similar.
But my brothers and sisters,
these factors
must not
overshadow
the love and the care and compassion that
is associated with iman.
Right? So the love, the care, and compassion
that comes by virtue of having iman,
that should be stronger than any of those
things. Right? So you can have
that, like I said, that love for your
homeland, for the place you're from, and be
close,
practically in terms of spending time with those
who share, you know, similarities in terms of
culture and language and things like that. But
the most powerful bond or the overarching bond
should be the bond of iman.
The prophet
has told us famously
that always struck by,
by this hadith. Right? And the message of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Because he's
essentially linking
something that we,
you know, that we think of very highly
or we think as we believe is very
important
with something that we might actually disregard and
not think of as being very important. But
the reality is that they're actually linked together.
So the prophet
says that
that you will not enter Jannah until you
believe, until you have faith. This is something
that we all know and we believe and
we understand
that entering Jannah to enter Jannah, the prerequisite
is to have iman. Iman is the passport
to enter into Jannah. Just like in this
world, you cannot cross borders, you cannot enter
into a country that you want to go
to. If you do not have a visa,
you do not have a passport. So, Iman
is the visa, is the passport, is what
allows you will will allow a person to
enter into Jannah inshallah. And the prophet then
goes on. And he says something that perhaps,
you know, we we we we we don't
think about too much. He says,
and you will not believe, meaning you will
not have faith or you will not have
complete faith until you love each other.
Okay? So here we have a man and
entering Jannah, which something very high, very important.
We all agree. We all understand.
But then he's talking about loving one another.
And he's saying, you're not gonna believe fully
until you actually love one another.
And and you're like, okay. Well, like, you
know, I didn't perhaps realize that loving one
another is that serious and it's that important
because he's let linking
iman and entry into Jannah with having love
for one another. And then the prophet
tells us,
that shall I not show you or tell
you or shall I show you something that
if you did it, you would love each
other. And the prophet
goes on and says, he concludes the hadith
by saying
spread peace between yourselves or spend, you know,
the salam or greetings of peace amongst yourselves.
This is related by Imam Muslim in Sahid.
So
loving one another, my brothers and sisters, is
an important part of our belief which is
linked with our entry into Jannah. So, therefore,
it should be clear to us that we
should we need to make an extra effort
to inculcate this love for each other as
believers in our hearts and recognize that it
is actually a part of of completing or
or a part of having complete iman to
love each other as believers and that this
love is linked to iman which is linked
to entry into Jannah. May Allah
make us all the dwellers of Jannah and
may Allah
unite us all there. Amin. So my brothers
and sisters, another thing to mention which is
very important
is that the reality is that there are
those
who work very hard to divide the believers.
There are those who work very hard to
divide the believers.
Why?
Because when you have a team that is
divided,
when you have a team that is conflicted
amongst themselves,
they are in dispute and they are in
controversy.
It weakens them.
It weakens them.
Everyone was shocked, right, about Ronaldo.
Right? In Portugal.
Right? There's controversy.
Right? There's controversy.
There's conflicts. There's issues.
Right? There's a lot of distractions.
And you see the consequence.
Right? You see the effect of that. So
there are forces
who are always who have always been and
continue to work
to divide the believers
in order to weaken them. And this is
nothing new.
Right? This is nothing new because the tried
to do that at the time of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Right? And they haven't
really stopped since then. And various tools or
methods are used
to try to promote differences and create wedges.
Whether they are ethnic differences,
whether they are national differences based on nationalism,
whether they are sectarian,
they are
political. Sometimes there are rumors
or planting misgivings
and false accusations.
Various types of plots.
Right? This is nothing new as I mentioned.
Okay? This is something that the believers have
faced since the time of Rasulullah, he salallahu
alayhi wasalam. K. So
those who do who who, detest
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who detest the prophet
salallahu alayhi wasalam, who dislike Islam
and who dislike by extension the believers and
the Muslims
will continue to do that. And they will
continue to try
to cause divisions
and create problems. Just yesterday, my brothers and
sisters,
the Globe and Mail reported
that,
Mac has,
been,
has been sent documents
anonymously
that show that officials of some government agencies
have been plotting to unethically and unlawfully
intimidate
and entrap
the organization or officials,
associated with the organization.
And they also show that there are some
government officials who have been speaking out against
against such methods and and such activities.
Now the official response is that the documents,
that indicate that something like this has been
going on, to try to take down Canada's
largest Muslim charity,
is that the official response is that these
documents are forged.
They are fake.
But either way,
whether they are fake or not, so whether
the accusations or the documents are true or
whether they are forged,
this is troubling and it is, unacceptable.
Right? And
either way,
it is, an attempt
to,
inflict damage to the Muslim community.
Right? To create problems,
to create dissension, to create chaos,
misgivings,
distractions.
And these are things that
we must be aware of, whether it's at
a high level or at a smaller level.
And we should always remember
that our bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood
go beyond and above any such attempts.
Now it is natural to have, you know,
different tastes, different choices,
different opinions, different understandings.
So, you know, with
such a large such a large group of
people,
it's not really practical or practically possible
to have complete uniformity.
So
that is not the objective.
The objective is not uniformity that every single
person becomes like everyone else,
and all the believers become the same in
every way.
But the hearts must not become divided
and devoid of mutual love, mercy, and compassion.
Right? So you can have different taste. You
can have different opinions, different, you know,
understandings.
Right? All of that is fair game.
But the hearts must not become divided and
devoid of mutual love, compassion, and mercy.
If I can ask please the brothers to
come forward and fill in all the gaps,
if you can try to sit the way
you would sit in salah, please, so that
will make it easy to fit everyone inside.
Because clearly, no one's gonna be praying outside
today. So please try to make space.
And the ones
whose hearts are clean,
they do not let that happen.
The ones whose hearts are clean and they
are sincere.
They don't let that happen. They don't let,
you know,
the the hearts become devoid,
and divided. Right? And devoid of mutual love,
mercy, and compassion. So you must be always
conscious of this, my brothers and
So you must be always conscious of this,
my brothers and sisters.
And also note that when we love our
fellow believers,
we are in fact loving them
in honor of
the belief and love that they have for
Allah and his messenger
Right? If you think about another person, you
have nothing in common. Maybe you're from a
completely different culture. You wear completely different clothing.
You get completely different food. Okay. You speak
different languages.
But you're instructed to love them.
What is this love based on? It's in
honor of,
in recognition of the belief and the love
that they have in their hearts for Allah
and his messenger
So what binds us
is this faith and this love for Allah
Now all of this is not to say
that we should not be kind
or we should not help people who do
not share our beliefs.
So let us be clear here, and let
us not misunderstand.
That is not what we are saying.
Of course, we should be kind. We should
be caring, and we should be compassionate towards
all the creation of Allah
All the creation of Allah
Right? We are taught even kindness for animals.
Right? So all the creation of Allah
is deserving of compassion and kindness.
Right? And and and mercy.
And especially our neighbors
and those that we associate with, you know,
at work and at school and so on.
Right? So we're not trying to say so
do not misunderstand.
Right? This is not about not being compassionate
towards those who do not share the same
belief. But it is just to say
that the relationship
between believers
is extra special in a good way.
The bond, the relationship between the believers
is extra special
in a positive way. It is also important
to note that this special relationship between believers
is not to be misused
for causing harm
or for promoting something which is negative or
which is forbidden. Because
Allah says, right? Assist one another in righteousness
and piety and good things but do not
collaborate. Do not assist each other when it
comes to, you know, kind of sins and
things which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala dislikes.
Now, alhamdulillah, my brothers and sisters, when we
look at our jama'ah,
and we will look at our region generally,
the Ottawa Gatineau region. We realize
that we are incredibly blessed
by having a sense
of unity
that is difficult to find in many places.
Right? Especially when you look around North America
and even many parts of the world. Right?
It's it's hard
to find. There are other places, masha'allah, where
Muslims are united, but it's hard to find
those places. They're not that many.
And of course, there is always room for
improvement.
And we must always try to promote
inclusivity
at all levels. Right? With full sincerity. Right?
Practicing on what I am, speaking about. But
we must realize my brothers and sisters that
this is a great blessing of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And it only comes with the
permission of Allah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in Surah
Ani Imran in aya
number 103.
And hold firmly to the rope of Allah
and do not be divided. The rope of
Allah referring to as many commentators say, the
book of Allah
Others, you know, translating as the covenant of
Allah
are explaining it as the the the the
covenant
that we have taken.
When you were enemies and it could, of
course, even apply
now. Remember Allah's favor upon you when you
were enemies, then he united your hearts.
Because they would have long, you know,
grudges, like grudges that have that have been
coming for generations. Right? Sometimes
centuries. But Allah
united their hearts. So he says, then he
united your hearts to you by his grace
became
brothers.
You became brothers even though you had grudges
and you had enmity before.
And you were at the brink of a
fiery pit.
And he saved you from it.
This is how Allah makes his revelations, revelations
clear to you so that you may be
rightly
guided. Right? So this is a special gift,
a mercy from Allah
to be united. Also in Surah Al Anfal,
Surah Al Anfal, aya number 63, Allah
again talking about the believers.
He brought their hearts together.
Addressing the prophet
had you spent all the riches
in the earth, you could not have united
the hearts.
So the unity of the hearts comes from
Allah
No matter how much one tries through resources
and efforts, the hearts cannot be united unless
it is the the decree and the the
permission and comes with the permission of Allah
So my brothers and sisters, a few tips
as we conclude. 1st of all, try to
have a pure heart towards your fellow believers.
You know, put iman
above
any other affiliations.
Share in joy, share in the griefs of
your fellow brothers and sisters in faith. Do
not fall for attempts
to divide and cause dissension and cause weakness.
Try to reconcile because Allah tells us
so try to reconcile and bring people together
when there are times, when there are challenges
and differences.
Work consciously to overcome
subconscious bias
and to reach out to fellow believers. Because,
you know, naturally, we are like I said,
we are inclined to people who are more
similar to us. It's possible that sometimes,
subconsciously, we don't realize it, but we're perhaps
being biased,
or, you know, we're we're being a bit
discriminatory in the way that we are behaving.
We're not being fair with everyone. So we
have to make an extra effort to try
to make sure that we reach out to
fellow believers who might be different than us
in some way. And finally, be grateful to
Allah
for the unity,
which
does not have to be uniformity. So you
can be different. You can have your own,
you know, opinions. You can have your own
culture, your own choices. But the overarching
connection is that of iman,
which should go beyond all of those things.
May Allah
keep our hearts united. We ask Allah
to increase us in love and respect for
each other. We ask Allah
for protection
for us and, all of our fellow brothers
and sisters, the believers, and all of the
people of goodness and institutions and organizations from
all types of evil plots and harms. Ameen.
We'll take a couple of moments.