Suhaib Webb – Friday Sermon How To Get Started With Islam
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AI: Transcript ©
Praise Allah
We seek
Allah
blessings and peace upon
our beloved Messenger, Muhammad
upon his family, his community, and those who
followed them until the end of time. This
short,
Fokbat that I started with in Arabic actually
is the standard introduction of the prophet for
every Friday prayer. It's also the same thing
that we say upon marriage. It's a marriage
for but,
and within it, we find
the
the emphasis on being Muslim.
And so I wanted to talk today briefly
in this book is about being Muslim, and
then how do we start. Like, a lot
of people ask, like, where do I start
in this process?
We know that people embrace Islam, and that's
a macro
acceptance of Islam, but every day people tell
me we are born with some of the
history and sort of like this micro,
rebirth, if you will, or acceptance of Islam.
That's why
many of our great scholars used to say,
And they would say, like, every day I
embrace Islam. Like, every day I find myself
revitalizing
and and and and resuscitating
my in gun. And the prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wa'alehi was suddenly encouraged this when he said,
as related by Imam Wilson, whoever improves his
ever Islam.
From that, we'll live forward, then
their deeds will be multiplied
in an infinite way,
a way which is impossible really to to
to,
to proctify.
And so that is an encouragement for people
even born
into Islam or those of us who embraced
Islam some years ago to every day, right,
every week, every so often, where do you
interrogate our Islam and try to improve our
Islam?
First of all, the word Islam means to
submit. As we all
know,
Allah
commands
Ibrahim submit. He says, I send it to
you. But at the sport level, it means
when there is the choice between
evil and good, I choose what with Allah.
As Allah says,
I submit to Allah's decree.
The second word that we need to be
aware of is the iman,
and iman is from a word that she
needs to be secure.
Allah says
in
We secured an an an an an
an from fear. So the word iman is
to find comfort in something to the point
that I trust, I rely on it, and
I affirm it, and I believe in it.
And that's why the prophet
in the famous Hadith, he said when he
was asked what's the best action, he said,
Like the best action, the best thing is
to have faith.
We know that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam taught us the foundations of Islam and
the famous hadith
of Abdullah
when he said that the prophet said
Islam is built on 5 things, on 5
pillars.
1 of the great scrubbers, Ibrahim Rajiv, said,
what happens to a building without pillars? So
what happens to the light from the person
who's trying to swim upstream in a world
where faithlessness
is sort of
kind of what's going viral. If I don't
have those foundations in order, it'll be very
difficult. That's why Allah locates these foundations as
a blessing
and as a means to protect ourselves.
That prayer
prohibits evil sin and also oppression.
As far as drastic,
fasting is meant to bring about a sense
of awareness,
a sense of mindfulness, a sense of obedience.
About Hajj, Allah
says Hajj, that you shouldn't argue, you shouldn't
fight, you shouldn't engage in, like, quarrels while
you're on Hajj, so there's an immediate
training, a benefit. There's a value to each
of these and to these covers of his
son.
And Allah
says about zakat
Take from them zakat
as a means to purify themselves
and to grow in their spiritual capacity.
So here we see just briefly, I mentioned
4 of the major pillars of Islam, that
there is an immediate benefit to Albaas perform
and be better Muslims.
On the issues of iman, the famous hadith
of Gabriel, the prophet
to believe. And I wanna note something here.
The Prophet doesn't say
This translation is wrong,
to believe in Allah. It
actually, you know, sort of
means that I've accepted it as doctrine,
but it's
and this is called ba ammaiyah
or ba ammosahadah,
like the word sahadah,
because my faith is my companion. So it's
not that I believe in Allah, I believe
with Allah.
That's the meaning of
I came with Ar. So I meant to
be that I believe with Allah. That implies
the choice of Islam
nestled beautifully
and and in harmony with the idea of
faith. I can't separate it to 2. So
I believe with Allat is with this kind
of bread, I assume it's what's with Allat,
a bread.
When I have the opportunity to do something
wrong, I'm with Allah.
Meaning that Allah sees me, it is aware
of everything that I do.
So my iman is it's very different than
other even theologians
that we say faith is about
responsibility and companionship.
And that's why the prophet, peace be upon
him, in the same hadith I'm quoting from,
he said the highest level of the amount
is to worship a lot as though you
see in this the height of witness.
So I see
not Allah physically, of course, but I see
what Allah has commanded as the value I
need to choose.
So I say, I believe with Allah,
and choose to heed over everything else. I
believe with the messengers of Allah. I don't
take guidance from anywhere except
when it comes to religious affairs, the Prophet
said
in the morality.
I believe with the angels, I'm never alone.
The angels are with me wherever I go.
I believe with the books I choose the
guidance that is in those books that I
can
I believe
with the messengers that I feel loyal to
the prophets that Allah has sent? I believe
with the hereafter, the choices I make indicate
that I live a life that has perspective,
that sees beyond the shallowness
of the age and locates itself.
That the final stop is with Allah
and I believe with that
either I'm in a state of resilience
or in a state of gratitude
gratitude. And that's why Allah
including the prophet in the Quran.
I'm the first to be insul.
So the first part of this brief footbat
is just a recap of what is amis
to submit
to Allah
What does imam mean to develop enough comfort
with Allah that I give myself to Allah.
I submit to Allah. I believe in Allah.
I live with Allah. It didn't finally expand.
It's sort of the often mistranslated
idea of I believe in God. No. I
believe with God. I believe in the prophets.
I believe with the prophets. I believe in
the Year After. I believe with the Year
After. So that it impacts not only
a sense of dogma
and theology,
but actions that are now being driven by
right decisions.
So we ask Allah
to help us in Kuber
We ask Allah to increase our imani.
We sing peace and blessings upon our beloved
messenger, Muhammad
How to then start this process? Because as
we said earlier, there are macro
conversions and there are micro daily conversions that
happen. Maybe we see something
in the stars, and maybe we see something
outside. Maybe something moves us emotionally, and it
drives us back to Allah
as one of the blessings of test or
blessings of blessings.
The first is that we should start with
repentance
because we learned from saint Adam the
importance of locating
repentance
into our daily practice. And this was the
way of the prophet
who said, you know, by the one that
who abodes my life, I turn to Allah
and repent to Allah every day 70 times,
every day a 100 times. This, of course,
probably just means that the prophet
he had the habit of seeking forgiveness.
And that's why at the end of his
greatest professional
success what does it say?
Like, at this moment, after you've succeeded in
your message,
seek Allah's forgiveness. Turn to Allah. That's why
after salah You would think after salah, we
should be like high fiving one another, physical
*. MashAllah, bro. Create great hamdulillah.
We say what? A stealth in me. To
immediately put us back on track and to
understand that a life of repentance is crucial.
That's why with our father Adam, we find
in the Quran
from the 7 from Ibintafir is very different
than the one we made in even
have. The Brammer changes because he can appreciate
the other beauty because of Quira. They they
help bring up broader meaning because Anna is
Anim Hakim. So his book will always contain
wonders for people. So the blessing of different
kira is that it animates and brings sort
of the cadence that will be lost if
it was only 1. Now what does it
mean here?
As we read it, Adam approached repentance, but
this reading of says
what that repentance came to Adam.
The meaning changes. Adam is the object. Repentance
is the subject. Allah commanded the words of
Tawba to deliver themselves to sayna Adam
and to teach him, if you want to
come back, this is the way. And
the prophet, peace be upon him, said whoever
repents is like someone led them but who
has no sins. How do we repent? You
don't need to make it overly difficult. And
this is something I know that sometimes with
people that their imagination of Islam is actually
much more difficult and harsh than what Islam
is asking. So that becomes immediately a counter
influence
which impedes their ability to move to Allah.
This is one of the goals of shaitan.
Umakdi Mir'ayim said that for every command in
the Quran, in the hadith, there is 2
shaitan,
one which calls you to excessive ease, and
the other, they cause a person to as
it's impossible.
It will be very difficult so the person
will surrender.
So the first is to be balanced. The
best way to turn to Allah is is
turn to Allah. Allah, forgive me. Take advantage
of those moments where you feel in your
heart and need to turn to Allah. Ask
Allah to forgive me. Ask Allah to accept
me. Oh Allah, I've made mistakes.
Allah is the best to give, and Allah
is the most
The Qur'an says, if you come back to
Me, you will find Me forgiving, and I'm
praising all.
The second is to have initiatives.
And also this tends to be undermined by
overinflated
notions of impossibility,
that religion is somehow located as something that's
beyond me. I'm here. Islam is here. I'm
here. My faith is here. I'm not good
enough
to be in a relationship with Allah. Well,
if you weren't good enough to be in
a relationship with Allah, well, wouldn't advise you
during the first months. So the first is
to trust the process.
The second is that the Quran identifies Wilson
just being saintly,
being somewhere in the middle, and being sinners.
And on a par all of them, the
Sahabas, that they are from the people of
Jannah.
And to appreciate the fact that each and
every one of us has our own form
of trying to come back to God. So
for the person steeped in difficulty and evil,
it's it's to repent from that. For the
person between good and evil is to choose
good. For a person who's living a very
righteous life is to be careful of their
ethics, not to get intoxicated with their religious
fervor, and, psychally, not to think that they
are not independent of Allah's guidance.
Everyone has a responsibility to go back to
Allah.
But we find it beautiful hadith of the
Prophet
that should encourage all of us. We all
know this hadith very well.
To the prophet,
if my servant walks to me, I run
to him. If
they come to me with a with a
hand's distance, I come for them in arms
distance. The point is that Allah
doesn't require a lot from us, but he
gives back because he's coming.
So that should be something that motivates each
and every one of us after repenting. Now
let me come back to Allah. What does
it mean to come back to Allah?
Two very simple things. This is not overly
complicated. I always tell people religious should be
meaningful and sustainable.
If it's meaningful and not sustainable, it won't
last.
If it's sustainable and not meaningful, this means
there's you're gonna get bored. So I need
to have both. It needs to impact me.
It needs to motivate me. It needs to
touch me. But then, also, I need to
be able to practice this throughout the rest
of my life.
As Allah says,
read the verse. Don't die except to the
state of this time.
We find a beautiful narration of the prophet,
peace be upon him, from Sayyidina Abu Ghurratiyaallahu
anking.
In. Wallah says,
That nobody will come closer to me except
it that will make me love them except
with what I've obligated upon. So the first
is to establish obligations.
It's through the door of establishing the obligations
that we find Allah's
and that is the essence of Islam,
and that is the meaning of Islam. I
submit, and I submit in the way You've
commanded. And that hadith beautifully says, this is
where you will find My love for you.
This is what you'll find, and it's beautiful
because the word love in Arabic is the
same word as hat is a seed.
Because you grow in Allah's life, SubhanAllah. You
will be sprouted, Masha'Allah. I will be sprouted,
will be cultivated, and we'll bring our fruits
to different parts of the world and different
areas where you work and and and and
and, sir.
Then the adith continues,
and my servant
will continue to draw near me with extra
good. So I try to establish the obligations
as a habit, then I move on to
doing extra good deeds, teaching people, volunteering in
the community, helping in areas they have a
burden in the back. Masha'Allah. So many things
I can do until I love them.
And when I love them, I'll be the
eyes on which they see, the ears on
which they hear, the hand on which they
reach, and the feet with which they walk.
What does this mean? This is Gassen. It
doesn't mean, literally,
the metaphor to that person will be living
a life that employs their limbs in the
submission of Allah as though they worship Allah
as though they can see him. This explanation
of the Hadim Tabiassan.
We briefly talked about the meaning of Islam,
the meaning of the Yemen, then we talked
about where to get started, the micro conversions
and the macro conversions.
And we said the first is repentance. As
the prophet said, whoever repents, come and let
them bada be it's like sownas, no sin.
And then to slowly ease into practice,
to slowly begin to develop the capacity
to be someone who observes the Farahint.
And so he mentioned the famous hadith of
Sayna Abu Dha,
that someone will establish the farad, thus far,
the obligations,
prayer, being good to people, zarat, Hajj fasting,
staying away from injustice. All of these are
obligations.
Hambri Ida. I stay away from those.
And then I add to that secondary good
deeds, and that this brings about the love
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We also noted
that we should think about the hadith that
says, if he walked to me, I ran
to you. And that should encourage each and
every one of us to take that step,
to crawl
if we need to crawl.
But whatever step we take to Allah,
you will find him forgiving. You will find
him important. We ask Allah
Ask us to help us improve our Islam.
As we ask to
strengthen our
human. But
not a phrase. We ask Allah to give
us good in this life and the And
pray for our brothers and sisters in Niger.
I'm not sure people are following what's going
on in there as well as impacting the
surrounding countries. We ask Allah
to bring prayer and peace and justice to
people there. We pray for all of the
people who are struggling across the globe. We
pray for people in this country who continue
to struggle against tremendous odds and ask Allah
to allow us to translate our Islam and
our iman to bettering the world around us.
Us.
To bless our parents, to bless our relationships,
to bless our children.
To help us if we're having trouble at
work, anyone that may be struggling with any
mental illness, some emotional challenges,
or is courty. You guys the lions. To
give you a 100%