Suhaib Webb – Virtual Khutbah The Etiquette of Isolation
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of embracing isolation and embracing spiritual transformation for growth and expansion of the Muslim community. They stress the need for fearless isolation and acceptance of the opportunity to grow. The importance of prioritizing one's values and not just being isolated, and the need to focus on one's desire. The segment ends with a holiday message and a reminder of upcoming events and holiday messages. The speakers also discuss the impact of isolation on one's behavior and the importance of rebuilding one's behavior to become more successful.
AI: Summary ©
We're going to just give a short sermon,
just so that we can
so that we can keep at least a
practice of of listening to a sermon at
this time on this day. Inshallah and as
we continue to consult our faith councils, hopefully,
we'll see how things go, and I'm sure
I'm assuming many people are going to start
to move to virtual jummas.
We are in consultation now with some
scholars to talk about, but perhaps a virtual
Tarawee.
But definitely we're going to be having community
iftar together here on the Swiss platform. Inshallah.
So BYOI. Right? Bring your own iftar.
But let's insha'Allah,
quickly just a quick short sermon with my
trusted assistant here. Make dua for all of
your children. May Allah protect all of us
insha'Allah on this important time.
Praise Allah
We send peace and blessings upon
Saydahullahin
wa Akhirin wa Saydahullahalayhi
wa sallam
upon his family, his companions, and those who
follow them until the end of time. Brothers
and sisters,
Just a quick,
short reminder. Of course, tonight, we're going to
be having our nightly Quran. And this time,
we hope inshallah, Sheikh Musa, the party will
make it. We're going to be reading sultan
Sajda, In
And I have my daughter here, my 10th
month old.
Helping me out today Alhamdulillah.
And I think it's very important that we
reflect on a few points.
The first point is that Allah is Al
Aha.
One of the names of Allah is Al
Aha.
And Al Aha is the one who can
really
impose his will on everything and nothing can
stop him.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala. From his irada,
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And we have to be in awe,
truly at the power of Allah, who in
less than just a few months
has allowed something for which
the greatest venture capitalist can't stop,
the most powerful militaries in the world can't
stop,
the most brilliant minds are left spellbound.
And we see that the only place
as is mentioned in Suratul Tawbah,
that the earth began to suffocate them. And
there was no escape except with Allah.
And it's it's interesting
that we haven't seen people call for prayer
in a moment like this. You know, when
Allah talks about even the
idolaters before the time of the prophet when
the boat begin to,
you know, sink and be moved by way
waves, they would even in their fitra.
That will Allah have mukhuyasin Allahu deen in
Jaina
At least in that moment, they knew to
turn to Allah.
So one of the things that I want
to emphasize at this time
is that with the most minute creation,
Allah has brought the most powerful material creation
to its knees.
Subhanallah.
And there is a great lesson in this,
that we should turn to Allah, the one
who controls all things,
and ask him sincerely to protect us, and
ask him to sincerely help us help others,
and ask
Allah as the prophet said, man, that Allah
did not send any or allow any illness
to take place except he sent its remedy.
So we ask
Allah to an Al Qasif, the one who
uncovers things, and al Qahar to ease this
test for us and for people.
As we ask him to uncover for us
the remedy for this incredible challenge, this incredible
virus. But there is something to be said
that
With the most insignificant
creation, which we can't even see, can't even
hold it in our hands.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has brought
the most powerful
to their knees.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to help
us learn and reflect on this and to
also gain a trust in him that he
is Al Kawhi.
The next lesson is the importance of isolation.
You know,
it's definitely very frightening, and it's okay to
be scared. We we need to be careful
of content providers who are telling Muslims that
if you're
fearful of the coronavirus,
then you have weak iman. There's no correlation
between those things.
Saydah Musa, alayhi salatu salaam, when he was
sent to Firaun with his brother Harun,
when Allah said, ithaba
ila firaouna inhu taha,
Allah said go to Firaun, and their response
was Inna Nahaaf. We fear. We're we're we're
fearful of this situation, and so called Taha.
Sayna Ibrahim, when the angels came to
him and he realized that they weren't human,
He pulled away from them in fear.
So fear is something which we do not
state is a sign of someone's weak iman,
unless that fear
compels them to do something which would be
disobedient to Allah.
But fear is something very normal.
That's why the prophet said to
say, don't be sad. He didn't tell him
you're you're wrong for being sad. He said,
don't be sad.
Allah is with us.
The other the the last point of this
short,
sermon that I hope, inshallah, Allah will benefit,
and I I want to extend my sincere
love to each and every one of you.
We are an Ummah, subhanAllah.
Even this virus
hasn't stopped people from wanting to have Surah
Al Jum'ah.
What a beautiful community, man.
The the resilience of the Muslim Ummah, whether
it's in Palestine or Kashmir, whether it's in
the Bronx, whether it's in LA, whether it's
in Texas, whether it's in Pakistan, whether it's
in Africa.
We are a community of istaqamah with subhanAllah.
And this has brought all of us together
in very powerful ways, in meaningful ways.
And one of the things I would like
to talk about is how isolation
in our theology
is always
a pretense
for great growth.
And if you think about it,
Satan and Adam had to be isolated from
Jannah to reach the dunya.
If you think about it, Sayidna Ibrahim,
he found the coolness in the fire alone.
If you think about it, Sayidna Nuh and
his followers were ostracized
and exiled, but it was there that they
found a boat which brought them safety.
It was at the bottom of a well
in complete isolation that Sayedina Yusuf became who
he was. And then once again, as he
suffered under the prison industrial complex
in complete isolation,
it was there that he was able to
manifest himself.
If you look at Sayna, what Imam Alaa
Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam, it was in a
cave
that he became the rahma to everything.
And this is the theme in the Quran,
in isolation
change the world.
So I I want us to think about
how this opportunity for isolation
should not simply be spent on Netflix binging
and playing video games. There is great hiccup
and great wisdom
in why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for us
as Muslims, if we look at this through
a theological lens,
whether we're at the bottom of the well,
whether we're in the cold prison, whether we're
being isolated like say, Nuriyim, because of her
gender, whether we're like say, Naissa, who's isolated
from his people, whether we're like the Sahaba
in Shibi Abi Taarib, who in isolation in
Mecca
became the saviors of the world.
So one of the things that we should
think about is embrace isolation.
As Imam Shafi'i said, if I have no
one to talk to, at least I can
talk to Allah.
If I find myself completely alone, I pass
I found myself found in the names and
attributes of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And that's
why Imam Ibn Alta'ala,
he teaches us the etiquettes
of isolation. We actually have adab, adab al
kilwa.
You know, in our books, our classical text
we have,
you're acting so good, Masha'Allah.
In the the classical books we have was
called, which
means the etiquettes of being alone. We have
a sufi tariqah, one of the tariqahs of
Ahlus Sunnah
in in in Egypt called.
And they their edeb their focus is on
when you're in isolation,
Subhanallah.
Imam
I'm gonna say it again for people who
understand Arabic.
Means bury like Janazah,
bury your dead. Yourself
in a distant fertile land. Meaning, be isolated.
Because what hasn't been isolated and dug deeply
can't grow. So our our tradition,
our spiritual tradition is one that sees moments
of isolation
as an opportunity to be like that seed
to grow. That's why Allah says in the
end of Suratul fact about the Sahaba,
One of the hikm of the Sahaba is
that they lived in the Arabian Peninsula, so
they were isolated from everything.
And from that isolation, Allah says they are
like a seed that grew slowly.
Think about it. Perhaps some of us have
been so busy
with the kind of corporate cult culture, which
is rooted in prophets, not prophethood,
but prophets. We we root ourselves in prophets,
nonprofits,
whose reward is Jannah. But we've been caught
up in a global culture
that causes us to be moved and shape
our value
based on the movements of celebrities,
based based on the movement of those people,
the oligarchs, the rich, the aristocracy.
Maybe this is an opportunity that Allah has
given us to see that in front of
difficulties,
we all the same. And that now I
have a time I have time to step
back as one brother told me who's quarantining
himself. He said,
this is the first time in 6 years
I talked to myself.
This is the first time in 6 years
that I wasn't thinking about what other people
thought about me. I was able to be
really 1 on 1 with myself and Allah.
So Imam Ibn Alta'ala says,
And he uses the word deafen. Those who
understand Arabic deafen is what you do to
a dead body. As though he's saying,
dig yourself, bury yourself
in a deep earth
so that what's resurrected
grows and brings fruit.
Because he says,
Because what's not dug deep won't grow,
and it won't bring fruit.
And then he says something very, very beautiful.
He says,
nothing brings life to the heart like isolation.
And and a better translation is a little
isolation.
That's why he says,
He said that nothing brings
benefit to the heart like a little isolation.
And in that moment of isolation where there
is an opportunity for contemplation.
He said, nothing is better. You know,
sometimes this happens quickly.
I remember when I was, 18, I was
DJing a party at a nightclub, And at
that time, I was searching. You know? But
I was so busy. I was flying to
LA, going to New York, about to sign
a record deal. I was like, man, my
life was moving so fast. That's the challenge
of the dunya
because we believe that the Quran and Sunnah
are called the hitab of Allah. Right? Like,
the communication of God. If we get so
caught up in the dunya, we can't hear
the hitab anymore.
If the heart is so busy, we can't
hear the hitab.
So sometimes Allah blesses us with moments of
isolation, so we can mute the dunya to
hear the akhirah. We can mute the dunya
to hear the infinite reality
of this deen SubhanAllah.
So I remember I went into the restroom.
I had a really bad night. I went
into the restroom, and I was alone. And
it hit me. And I fell. All my
knees in a restroom.
And I said, if you're God, if you're
Buddha, if you're Jesus, if you're Mohammed, if
you're Allah, I didn't know what religion was.
Whoever you are, you gotta save me from
this. And then my friend, he gave me
a copy of the Quran. So moments of
isolation.
Right? They bring benefit to the heart even
if they're a little.
And that's why I said earlier, at the
bottom of a well, in the prison, in
the cave,
being ostracized because of her gender, Saydah Mariam
alaihi salaam. So many of those moments of
of of
an uncompromising
isolation in the Quran,
it's there that Ibrahim finds coolness in the
fire alone.
Then he talks about the etiquette.
There are 4 things we should think about
as we go through this isolation.
He says,
He said number 1 is how is the
heart going to be able to think about
what's beneficial
when the entire dunya is stuck and glued
to its lens?
So if all that's on my mind
is Sephora,
the gym,
lipo,
you know, getting my hair done, coloring my
hair,
getting ready for the party. How do I
look?
What's my 401 k? What's my r r
I r a like? How are the stocks
doing? Bitcoin. And I never think about, man,
why did I misfudge her, man?
When was the last time I visited my
parents?
When was the last time I checked in
on my neighbor?
He's saying if all those kind of things,
man, are stuck to the heart from Sephora
to video games, to this, to that, to
that, all that's glued to the chest,
the heart won't be able to see properly.
Allah says,
that the hearts are blind. So maybe this
opportunity
to be restricted
from the cult of consumption in the world
is meant to blind us from the dunya
to give us insight for the hereafter.
We should think about that. So the first
is to work on
Zuhid doesn't mean to be irresponsible,
but zuhid means to put things in the
right place.
Imam Sadi Ahmad Zorroq said, Takhtim Alhamm Al
Mohim Shet No Sadiq.
To prioritize is the sign of the seekers
in every situation. And really this hit me,
man.
Because sometimes we get so busy, we forget
what's important.
We forget
what really is intrinsic to our being. But
if you think about it, who do you
call now every day? Who do you FaceTime
with every day? Who do you pray for
every day? That's what's intrinsic to you. Ain't
none of us praying for Sephora.
Ain't none of us praying for Adidas. Ain't
none of us praying for Nike. Ain't none
of us we're praying for our parents, our
friends, our imams, the people that we truly
love.
And and this moment
really has clarified what's intrinsic to my my
value.
So let me pull out what's not intrinsic
and focus on what's intrinsic to me. That's
the first thing. Then he says,
And he said, how can someone travel to
God when they're weighed down by their desires?
That's why Allah insur
Allah says we are going to call you
to account you, Saqqal, and you 2 heavy
creatures.
Some ulama said, it means human beings and
jinn were heavy because we have the responsibility
of Islam.
But others said we're heavy because we carry
sin.
Sin has made us heavy. Sin
has burden us. It's like we're at the
airport. We brought too many bags. We're trying
to get into Jannah. You got too many
bags, dude.
Either you gotta pay up. Right? You gotta
pay up or you gotta suffer for it.
You can't get on the boat. You can't
get on the plane.
So the sheikh, he
says,
How can I travel to God?
But I'm weighed down with my desires.
So now is an opportunity as we're in
isolation
to think about
amputating those evil habits that now we can't
go and do anymore. As one brother told
me, he's like, man, I haven't been able
able to smoke weed in, in 6 days.
I was like,
bro.
That's a good thing, man. That's a good
thing. Another brother was like, I haven't been
able to see, you know, he's in a
relationship. They haven't been able to see my
girl in a minute. That's that's a good
thing. Allah has kept you now away from
these things so you can reorganize them and
do them in the right way. You can
do them in the halal.
So now is the opportunity for me to
look at the that's
in my life,
the evil things that I do that now
I've been kept from. If you think about
it, we're being prepped for Ramadan now in
many ways. We're not able to do some
of the things we would normally be doing.
This is an opportunity to discipline myself.
Then he says,
And he said, and how could someone hope
in entering in a real meaningful relationship with
Allah, and they are
imprisoned by their negligence.
So the third thing is now, man, you
know, it's it's interesting. Every day we're living
like we might die. Right? Every day people
living like they might die. Like, how am
I missing Fajr now? How am I missing
salah?
How am I missing being kind to my
daughter, to my family,
to those around me?
How am I being nice to those things
that really matter? Because I don't know.
And now we can appreciate the hadith of
the prophet
as related by Sayna ibn
Live as though you're traveling, man. Live as
though you're moving. And when Abdul ibn Umar
used to say, if you see the morning,
don't expect to see the evening. If you
see the evening, don't expect to see the
morning.
So the third is
being awakened from my negligence.
Then he says, m k fi yarju and
yafham
And how could anyone hope to understanding
the true meanings of life
if he or she has not repented
from sin.
So the last etiquette that we can engage
in this quarantine, and now we're we're gonna
build on this next week. These are individual
etiquettes than there are communal etiquettes, of course.
One of the dangers of spirituality is when
it becomes simply about the person, and that
masks
a subtle form of narcissism.
But my moments alone with God
are simply preparing me for great moments to
serve God's creation.
So the last thing he says, Rahim Muhullah,
is how could anyone hope to understand
the nuances
of the creation,
of God's creation,
and they haven't repented from their sins.
So always being in a state of Tawbah,
always being in a state of repentance.
So,
just a short reminder, we're gonna see you
guys later tonight,
insha'Allah,
for our Quran nightly reading. Yeah. We're gonna
have sheikh Musa reading Surat Al Sajdah insha'allah,
but let's quickly review what we talked about
today. We said number 1 is that Allah
is Al Qahar.
Qahar is the one who dominates,
the one who subjugates
everything.
Allah is the one who subjugates all things.
Instead of falling into the trip of asking
ourselves, why did God do this? What we
should say is Allah is the all powerful.
Let me turn to that all powerful being
to save me and keep me strong and
bless me during this challenge.
Then we talked about how isolation
in our tradition, in our spiritual tradition
is simply a catalyst for greatness
is a catalyst for greatness. Look at nature.
Did you see the water in Venice?
Did you hear about the birds in the
Amazon?
Now that human beings have been forced to,
erode that their tide of constant engagement in
the environment,
immediately, the world has experienced
a growth in nature and the health of
nature in general. SubhanAllah. What does it tell
you, man? What kind of what kind of
impact are we having on the earth around
us?
So we believe that moments of isolation are
actually opportunities for growth.
That's why subhanallah,
as we mentioned numerous stories of the prophets,
the bottom of the whale in jail, hijrah,
shidi, and we thought it, say that Mariam,
Saydah Ibrahim, Saydah Adam, Saydnah Nuh, you name
it, isolation
led to success and greatness.
And then we mentioned that imam, ibn al
Ta'ala,
scanned a yee. He said, number 1,
giving us the etiquettes of isolation is to
look at our bad qualities
and bury them as though we're praying Janazah.
And then what grows from that, burying them
that that that burial is the good qualities,
the fruit.
And he says,
That nothing benefits a person like isolation, a
little isolation in which in the made in
it's beautiful. You understand Arabic uses made in.
Maiden is like a square because is though
like in this the square of your life,
you can think about things.
Like, so you you traverse the square. You
look at this shop, that shop, this shop,
that shop. Well, here, it's like,
I'm thinking about Allah and myself.
And then he mentions 4 etiquettes we should
think about in isolation.
Number 1 is
removing things which are superficial
from our soul and making sure that we
focus on what's intrinsic to our soul.
Number 2 is lightening the weight of our
desires so that we can travel to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Number 3 is repenting from our negligence,
and the 4th is repenting from our sins.
May Allah
bless all of you.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Al Khakim.
Ask Allah Al Khakar.
Ask Allah who is Al Khakar to remove
this virus from us, to accept our forgiveness,
to protect every single one of us. We
ask Allah who subhanahu wa ta'ala al shafi,
the one who heals and yashfi,
to to heal all of the
the sick people. We ask Allah to forgive
us of our sins. Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah.
We know that our sins are great, but
your mercy is greater.
Oh, Allah.
We know sometimes we fear what people will
say about us. Forgive us and help us
to only fear you. Oh, Allah, we ask
that you embrace us. And
you
that you send upon us rahma and sakinah.
We pray for our brothers and sisters who
may be suffering from mental health issues and
anxiety. This is a time it's okay to
be anxious. We ask Allah
to remove your anxiety. We ask Allah to
send Sakinah upon you as he sent Sakina
upon the people after the battle of Uhud.
We ask Allah to protect our brothers and
sisters in Jarash.
If you don't know what a Jarash Jarash
is in Jordan, research it, read about this
camp where Palestinians are left in the middle
of nowhere.
Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to bless them.
We ask Allah's to lift and remove this
burden from them. We pray for our brothers
and sisters in Kashmir who have been quarantined
now for a number of months. We're upset
that we've been
now for a number of months.
We're upset that we've been quarantined for just
a few weeks. Palestine,
people in prisons
across the world unjustly.
Our brothers and sisters in Kashmir,
the Rohingya, they have been living under perpetual
quarantine
for a long time.
Ask Allah and We ask Allah to remove
that difficulty for them. Ask Allah's to bless
our brothers and sisters in this country, United
States. May Allah's to help us be
to make us be a remedy for this
illness that plagues this country.
Ask Allah
to help protect us from this virus.
And for those of us who have been
impacted or sickened, now Allah,
Asirah. Now Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know,
cause the the cure to come quickly. That's
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala Yahshimaanam
Sayyidina will have been a Mohammed in
come and Nabi he will number Rah ask
Allah's punted tonight as we say the Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wasalam
as we believe in him even though we
can't see him.
We have to pray also for the refugees
that are being kept at the borders of
this country,
especially the children that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will protect them
from this illness and the sickness.
We pray for the brothers and sisters in
prison in the Muslim world. I heard today,
one of my teachers, Sheikh Sala Sultan, the
prison that he's in Egypt now, there are
people there developing developing the coronavirus. May Allah
protect
and cure.
Insha'Allah
ta'ala. We ask Allah to bless all of
you, your parents, to give you a sense
of fulfillment in this time of isolation,
to let you be a seed that grows
and blossoms through this difficult time.
You
fell asleep during the Khutba?
SubhanAllah. You fell asleep during the Khutba. You
have to go make.
Yeah. You have
to go make.