Suleiman Hani – Justice in Islam – Session 10 – The Revival of the Ummah Series
AI: Summary ©
The segment discusses the history and importance of the um Supporting Humanity movement, including its aftermath and the need for justice in protecting people's rights. The segment also touches on the use of WhatsApp and its use by its founder, as well as the importance of justice in society and the need for everyone to be involved in the political process. The segment also highlights the negative consequences of sharia and the importance of addressing systemic racism and protecting people's rights. The speakers emphasize the need for everyone to be mindful of others' actions and offer suggestions for improving one's own behavior.
AI: Summary ©
It was authentically reported that at the time
of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz rahimahullah, he's considered
so righteous some scholar said he's like the
fifth of the rightly guided Khulafa right after
he passed away it was mentioned that a
righteous man by the name of Ata asked
Fatima the wife of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz
asked her after he passed away, tell me
about Amirul Mu'min, tell me about the leader
of the believers.
She said I will, but if he were
alive if he were alive I would not
do so, meaning I know how much he
wants to hide his good deeds and hide
his righteousness obviously that's a lesson for us
to be very cautious with what's publicized and
what's hidden, so she said Umar was a
man who was dedicated to his body and
his soul for the sake of the people,
helping the people he would spend the day
dealing with the affairs of the Ummah as
the Khalifa and then by night if there
was any work left he would carry on
until late at night and then he would
finish, one time he asked for a candle
that was brought from his personal wealth, so
it's not the treasury of the Ummah, and
then he stood to pray and he placed
his head in his hands and he started
to cry she said he started to cry
in a way that was so severe I
thought he was going to take his last
breath or that basically his body would not
handle it he stayed in that state crying
and crying and crying until the morning time
and then he fasted that day, so she
came to him and she said Ya Ameer
Al Mu'mineen Oh leader of the believers, what
happened to you last night?
He said leave me to my worries and
you to your worries, what's he trying to
do?
He's trying to hide again the act of
worship that he was going through, he was
trying to hide what moved him to cry
so much and then he fasted the day
she said maybe what you went through will
benefit me share it, maybe it will benefit
me so he told her he said I
thought about myself I reflected on myself and
I found that now that I was in
charge of the affairs of the Ummah the
old and the young, the light and the
dark, I then thought about the lost stranger
I thought about the one who was needy,
the miskeen I thought about the forgotten prisoner,
I thought about other people in the furthest
parts of the land the region that he
was in charge of and I realized that
Allah is going to ask me about every
single one of them and the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam would argue on their behalf and
I feared that I would have no excuse
in front of Allah and no argument in
front of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and
I became so afraid that I started to
cry and my heart started to tremble and
the more I thought about it the more
I became afraid.
Umar bin Abd Al-Aziz was a Khalifa,
who can tell us for how long, how
many years approximately just two years just two
years and then he was assassinated and the
reason he was assassinated according to many historians
was because he actually repealed, he got rid
of and reversed some of the policies of
the Umayyad dynasty he was an Umayyad ruler
and he was so just and so fair,
some other people who are also politically connected
did not like that about Umar did not
like what he was doing so he was
poisoned and he was killed Rahimahullah, he was
a prime example of justice found in a
ruler after the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, meaning
someone who was not there with the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to learn in an older
age like the other Khudafa he was a
prime example of justice Adil in Islam he
was a prime example of what it meant
to protect the rights of people even if
it means losing your job, even if it
means people will hurt you, even if it
means in his case being assassinated he was
so afraid about the rights of people and
what Allah will ask him about on the
day of judgement and this is the topic
that we are going to cover very briefly
InshaAllah Ta'ala with an introduction here the
topic of justice when we say there are
traits for the Ummah to be revived at
a societal and organizational level, we are talking
about foundations first and foremost, frameworks because sometimes
people jump to secondary things, they jump to
behavioral things and they don't start with a
foundation the foundation of everything Allah told us
about in the Qur'an, so if somebody
comes up to you and asks why did
God create the heavens and the earth, what
was the purpose, what are some of the
ayat and ahadith that inform us of this
Allahu alladhi anzala alkitaba bil haqqi wal mizan,
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is
the one who brought down the book in
truth and the balance too, wama yudreekal alla
sa'ata qareeb, the word mizan implies and
signifies that Allah is all just and administers
the balance of the universe and that there
is nothing missing, al mizan is a clear
explicit word that means there is nothing missing
in terms of the purpose of this universe
there is nothing that is missing in terms
of the balance that is needed the guidance
that people need the morality, the laws of
the universe that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la created so this requires us to
be people of justice, of adil between ourselves
and our souls, between us and other people,
between us and the environment, between us and
the animals, and of course we're talking about
justice in terms of the rights of Allah
was samaa rafa'aha wa wada'a al
mizan the sky He raised up and set
up the balance, alla tatghaw fil mizan, so
that you may not transgress, cross lines, violate
the rights of others so when we talk
about justice Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la told us very clearly, if we are
to ponder you know sometimes people look at
those videos where you start on earth let's
say like you start with the room that
you're in, and then it zooms out with
the bird's eye view, it zooms out and
now you see the neighborhood, then you see
like the satellite picture, and then you see
earth, and you're zooming out and zooming out
and zooming out, and as this video continues,
you're seeing how tiny earth is, how tiny
the solar system is, how tiny the sun
is and you keep zooming out until what?
you're looking at the universe, you're looking at
the Milky Way galaxy, you're looking at the
universe at least the things we imagine are
the universe, obviously it's beyond current discovery and
you think what?
we're so tiny now an atheist will say
we're so tiny we're insignificant, there's no point
to anything, and a believer will say obviously,
with all that's been created, there has to
be a purpose, there has to be a
designer, there has to be a creator, obviously
the universe that's so fine-tuned that scientists
of all backgrounds and experts of all fields
look at it and say you can't have
all of this by accident, you can't assume
there's no creator, so the believer looks for
that purpose, why did Allah create all of
that, that video that you saw zoomed out,
why does this all exist?
and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says وَخَلَقَ
اللَّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ وَلِتُجِزَىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا
كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُضْضَمُونَ and Allah made the
heavens and the earth in truth so that
every soul will be rewarded for what it
earned, وَلِتُجِزَىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا
يُضْضَمُونَ no one will be treated with injustice,
no one will be wrong the point of
the heavens and the earth the point of
the universe that we're in that speck, yes,
that is earth that we are living upon
with all that we have the point is
justice the point is that nobody will be
given anything other than what they earned so,
justice in Islam we know the Prophet ﷺ
reformed society in 23 years we know the
Prophet ﷺ taught justice and practiced it we
know that there are no hierarchies in Islam,
there's no caste system there's no confession in
Islam there's no intermediary between you and God
you don't need an imam or somebody to
confess to you need someone to make dua
for you make dua, you reach Allah directly
and of course the best of you are
not those who come from a certain lineage
or have a certain amount of money or
are raised in a certain country إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ
عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ we know this, the most
honorable of you in the sight of Allah
the best amongst you in other words are
those who have taqwa now there are structures
in every society and these structures are there
because of the previous political systems and the
cultural norms of individuals, and so when you
look at Quraysh, you had structures where people
worshipped idols, but also you had structures where
there was slavery, and not just slavery when
Islam came to reform society and free as
many slaves as possible, like the Prophet ﷺ
exemplified like the Sahaba did and so on
and so forth the people who had power
after decades of being so accustomed to getting
away with whatever they want of having advantages
over others of avoiding paying taxes of avoiding
dealing with justice when they do things that
are wrong, they look at other people the
masses and they say, you think we're the
same you think you're part of our circles
you think we're going to be held accountable
so what do they do, they continue using
with arrogance their structures of injustice to facilitate
whatever they want and Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala when he tells us about adil in
the Quran he tells us about the opposite
so that we are warned the concept of
adil as a structure, as a lifestyle it
changes everything, it changes the way you interact
with family, the way you go to school
the way you go to work, the way
you think about life because justice is the
foundation of everything, the opposite of it is
what?
in Arabic, injustice in English, yes dhulm, so
the word that's used in the Quran frequently
is dhulm which has many meanings there are
at least three types mentioned in the Quran
three types of dhulm, the first is dhulm,
wrongdoing or injustice between you and God between
a human being and their creator so anyone
who rejects the message that came to them
is considered a dhulm and Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala uses different examples in the Quran
those who disbelieve they rejected the truth, they
covered it this is talking about people who
die in the state they rejected and covered
the truth they rejected the messenger and the
message that came to them they oppress, they
oppress their souls they oppress the truth the
second is injustice between human beings if you
were to wrong someone else those who
unjustly eat up the property of the orphans
so you're supposed to take care of the
orphans someone who violates their rights and steals
their money it's as though they are eating
fire into their own bodies and they will
be punished as Allah says, the third is
dhulm between you and yourself and this is
mentioned in the Quran numerous times if someone
cannot be just to himself or herself they
will start to take the rights of others
they will start to insult they will steal
wealth, they will steal something from their companies,
from individuals someone who has political power or
organizational power will want to hold on to
it and they may wrong people in their
organization in their company even in an Islamic
organization even in a masjid, it's possible so
when somebody has power and they're power hungry
or they're arrogant or there's dhulm, they use
their power in a manner that is unjust
stinginess as well could be the reason that
some people will steal wealth from other people
or they will hoard a lot of wealth,
we live in a society in a time
that has proven that the type of capitalism
that is rampant and the type of neoliberalism
that is rampant in the United States especially
as an example, as a case study is
one of the greatest examples of economic injustice
that some people can literally have so much
money that the entire world will be relieved
of starvation, the entire world can be taken
care of, they have so much money it's
hoarded, it's gathered and it's not being used
for society it's not helping other people and
the very people who help them make that
money working for those companies are barely getting
by, this type of structure is not allowed
in Islam so in an ideal Islamic economy,
for example, if Umar bin Abdul Aziz, Rahim
Allah was the Khalifa now here this type
of hoarding of wealth would not be allowed
in Islam, you are allowed to keep some
wealth beyond the Zakah that you give you
are allowed, you are allowed to have an
emergency fund you are allowed to have expenses
that you take care of you are allowed
to even have some extra money you just
want to keep it in your account but
there is an amount, there is a threshold
and there are circumstances where in a society
where there is a lot of poverty and
a lot of death and a lot of
needs, regardless of the types of needs, where
now hoarding a certain amount of wealth becomes
excessive and so billions upon billions you have
people racing to become the first trillionaires what
a sad and honestly sick society, that some
people have so much money that they don't
know how to spend it, they are burning
their wealth and they will buy the most
useless things and if they can't buy the
most useless things, what do they do?
They will find ways to make useless experiences
this is the world that we are in
and unfortunately it's seen in a glamorous way
it's documented in reality TV shows and people
watch this, people follow this people enjoy this
all over social media and Netflix and all
these other streaming apps so when you talk
about Dhuln between people, we talk about a
system that is unjust and there is a
philosophy behind it, an economic and political philosophy,
for us we are talking about reviving the
Ummah today so reviving the Ummah when it
comes to justice has to be done in
public and in private whether people know and
there is transparency and accountability or people don't
know, we talked already about justice at the
family level and the reason we already started
with that at the family level is because
you can't have an ideal flourishing healthy Islamic
marriage or Muslim marriage we should say, unless
there is a foundation of justice, what are
the rights of the family members, we spoke
about that in detail what we are focusing
on now is the societal understanding of justice
and the organizational as well, this is the
type of topic, when we hear it we
should find ourselves with Dhuln all over the
news, we should find it to be alarming
unacceptable, we shouldn't find that we are talking
to people and trying to convince them that
genocide is a problem we shouldn't be living
in a time where around the world people
claim human rights people claim that we are
all the same people claim that they will
do whatever they have to do and they
will lie, speaking from one end and doing
something different we are living in that time,
and unfortunately the reality is it doesn't sound
optimistic but the reality is there will always
be people like that in the world there
will always be structures like this in the
world it doesn't mean we become passive we
give up and we say there is no
point rather that should make us work harder
rather that should make us work smarter as
well so we resist injustice until it's gone
or diminished it is possible for governments to
be unjust and the politicians to be unjust
because the entire system is unjust, because it's
possible in some countries for someone with money
to just buy a politician figuratively speaking so
politicians sometimes are part of these systems and
can't change them from the outside and so
they will become part of the system either
hoping to reform it as many do idealistically
or they will become corrupted by it after
some time because that is the inevitable path
forward, we have so many examples I don't
need to give too many, one obvious example
is like APAC, it's an organization in the
United States of America that is literally lobbying
for a foreign entity to the extent that
you have over 200 current American politicians who
have been given briberies basically who have been
bought out in the last 3 months, just
the last 3 months, you have the possibility
of another president in this country someone who's
already been president as he is now, who's
been given in his lifetime, political career over
5 million dollars by again, APAC that is
literally for a foreign entity and so they
claim from one side, we feel so bad
about the loss of life and the injustice
in Gaza and then from the other side,
literally just today passing a bill with billions
of dollars in funding to a government, to
an army that literally has committed every type
of human rights violation that's been documented not
just by the individuals who are live streaming
their genocide it's been stated by every human
rights organization in the world including in that
very land, including in their own country, in
their own region so when we talk about
injustice, we always have to look, when we're
thinking how do we reform society, sometimes we
want to start at the grassroots level and
that's necessary but it's a multi-faceted strategy,
and so when you look at the grassroots
it's necessary, the amount of people still advocating
and protesting all over this country and around
the world is remarkable, and that stamina that
persistence is an act of worship because you
don't give up when there's injustice but also,
we're seeing people work behind the scenes in
different ways politically, every country runs with a
political structure and system, so siyasa, this is
why siyasa is a part of the sharia
and sometimes, I will try to be cautious
with my words, sometimes if someone is raised
in a country where you can't talk about
politics or the ruler, and it's led to
an amount of fear and imprisonment and torture,
sometimes people start to think, really, don't talk
about anything political, don't ever bring up anything
problematic, don't criticize the structure that is unjust
so they might then move to another land,
like the United States, where it's the norm
for everyone to be part of the political
process, but still, they may say, please don't
bring up politics, please don't talk about siyasa
and so I remember, maybe like 15 years
ago, 20 years ago I remember so many
times where a Friday khutbah would be given
about a topic that's very relevant, something was
happening, a calamity, a genocide ethnic cleansing, and
someone afterwards would say, I wish they didn't
bring up anything political, let's just focus on
the sharia and keep the politics for the
politicians which is a very odd statement because
it implies that Islam has nothing to do
with the lives of people, that we have
nothing to do with a system that's literally
facilitating policies policy making is all about lives,
and politics really should be about taking resources
and distributing them the right way so when
you say, keep the siyasa the politics away
from ibadah it's as though you are saying
helping people, facilitating justice is not literally one
of the most important types of ibadah and
in fact we all know that when you
have a good, just country or government or
administration like we have many non-Muslim examples
where some rules are actually in alignment with
the sharia more than some Muslim majority countries,
when you look at that you see what?
this is a good thing this is something
people should be a part of why?
because you see a decrease in crime you
see a decrease in economic inequality and injustice
you see healthcare where people are not literally
dying because they can't go to the doctor
access medication, you don't see in some countries
in Europe, Scandinavia and others you don't see
people owning the right to a medication and
then the price skyrockets so nobody can afford
it unless you go through a corrupt system
so my point is that when you think
of politics, you have to think of structures
that affect all people in that country, and
the foreign policy as well so if we're
not involved in politics it's like we're saying,
our sharia has nothing to do with huqooq
with rights, which is not the case and
in fact justice is the foundation so that
requires just an ongoing multi-faceted approach in
terms of the philosophy, I want to fast
forward to the day of judgment we are
all going to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala and experience mercy and justice in different
ways, and the believers are hopeful that what
they experience of rahmah is unimaginable, the mercy
that's distributed to the believers on that day
is beyond our imagination but if we had
to think about it in terms of numbers,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us through
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam if you could
imagine a hundred parts of mercy one part
is brought down in ad-dunya mercy from
the beginning to the end of times amongst
all of the creation mothers and their children,
even animals with their newborns every type of
compassion and mercy in this universe is one
part one example of the manifestation of mercy,
and Allah has saved 99 parts of mercy
to be distributed for His servants on the
day of judgment, so nobody can hear this
and say, I'm going to lose hope but
on that day, there will be people who
are facing more adil, justice than mercy because
of the sinfulness that they had in this
world, so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala may
overlook for His servants and forgive, ...
...
if you decide to punish as is mentioned
in Surah Al-Ma'idah on the tongue
of Isa a.s if you decide to
punish them, they are your servants O Allah
...
...
...
and if you decide to forgive, you are
the one of authority you are Al-Aziz,
Al-Hakeem, the all wise you know who
deserves it, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
told us, that amongst the first people to
be held accountable on the day of judgment
is the one who committed murder, bloodshed in
another hadith, it's the salah that's questioned first,
your prayer and we mentioned in a recent
Friday khutbah the way this is reconciled is
that the one who has violations against others
like murder, that will be the first thing
they're held accountable for.
As for the first thing you're held accountable
for between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, it is your salah, it is your
prayer.
And of course the famous hadith, he asked
them salallahu alayhi wa sallam, do you know
who the bankrupt person is?
They said the person who has no money,
to paraphrase, no possessions.
He said no, it's the person amongst my
ummah who has prayer, they prayed, they fasted,
they gave zakah, but on the day of
judgment this person starts to lose their hasanat,
their good deeds, because they backbit, they abused,
they hurt, they lied to.
Long story short, to paraphrase the hadith, this
person hurt so many people, they become bankrupt,
because everyone starts to take their good deeds,
that's your right on the day of judgment.
And then some people be waiting for their
rights and this person has no more money,
no more hasanat.
And so now they start to throw their
sins, take the sins of these people and
then this person is punished.
May Allah protect us all.
This is a powerful reminder for us that
justice is an everyday experience.
Justice is an everyday experience.
Every text you send, every social media post
you write, everything you share, everything you say
to your family, the people around you, the
way you interact with society, everything you do
has some relationship with justice in some way.
And of course between you and Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us, and
I will wrap up in five minutes inshallah,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us about
justice on the day of judgment.
So when he talks about the people who
are evil, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives
us some good news and he gives us
some warnings.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is highly exalted
in rank.
Lord of the throne.
He sends down his revelation by his command
to whomever he wills amongst his servants.
Why?
To warn people.
Here is the day of mutual meeting.
So some scholars said it's the day you
will meet your deeds.
You will see all of your deeds.
Right now we forget.
We might have forgotten so many of our
deeds, good and bad unfortunately.
We might have forgotten a lot of things
we've done.
But on that day there's a mutual meeting.
You will meet your deeds and your deeds
will meet you in the sense that they
are they are now very important.
Now there's accountability.
But also the meeting between Adam and the
final human beings.
Also the meetings between family members and loved
ones.
Also the meeting between the Prophets and their
nations.
And of course the meeting between the creation
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
On that day people will appear before Allah.
Nothing about them will be hidden from Allah.
Everything will be presented.
To whom does authority belong to?
The kingdom belong to on this day belongs
to Allah the one, the subduer, the supreme.
On this day every soul will be rewarded
for what it has done.
And then Allah says this is the good
news for us.
There's no injustice on this day.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is fast in
reckoning.
What's interesting about this the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam said that Allah will seize up
the earth and roll up the heavens in
his right hand and he will say I
am the sovereign.
Where are the kings, the rulers of the
earth?
When all creatures die it was mentioned by
Ibn Mas'ud radiallahu anhu.
Allah will gather all of the creation on
the day of judgment in a plain white
land as if it were silver.
As if it was shining.
In which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
never disobeyed.
The first word spoken will be when a
caller calls out To whom does the kingdom,
the authority, the dominion belong to on this
day?
And people will all respond This is reported
authentically and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows
best.
The point is that this could be a
phrase that some people are saying on the
day of judgment.
That some people are responding to this question.
In this world when a crime is committed
and you hear or see some interviews of
the family members who survived, you will find
often times like a court case in the
US where there was some justice like the
person who committed the crime went to jail
and they were charged, they were guilty and
everyone is celebrating and they went to the
family, you should be celebrating, why are you
not celebrating on this day?
And the family said, you know our loved
one is not coming back.
It doesn't matter if that person is going
to jail.
Our loved one is gone.
Our loved one was taken away.
Our loved one was murdered.
That's not going to be restored in this
world.
What's amazing about the concept of justice on
the day of judgment is that Allah will
restore everything.
So everything that's taken away in this world,
justice is putting things where they belong.
Injustice is putting things where they don't belong.
That's what zulm is.
That you're doing the wrong thing.
So your soul, where does it belong?
It belongs in ta'a, in ibadah, away
from sinfulness.
Your family, they have rights.
Society, they have rights.
Your colleagues, your co-workers, your classmates, your
teachers, your students.
People have rights.
So anytime you decide to be the reason
that right is not put in the right
place, it has to be restored.
And many times, most times, it's not restored
in the dunya.
So one of the aspects of good news,
la zulm al yawm.
Allah is saying, nobody will be wronged.
Nobody is going to be punished without deserving
it.
And everyone who lost their rights in the
dunya, you're going to be given what you
deserve.
And for the believers, that means an eternal
reward.
For the believers, it means an eternal reward.
Even if the situation in Gaza stops tonight,
it's not going to bring back what's happened.
It's not going to reverse genocide.
Even if the entirety of the White House
administration today says, this is not okay, this
is a genocide, and they use the G
word, genocide, ethnic cleansing, they used all the
terrible words they're not allowed to say.
It's not going to reverse what they facilitated
and what they've already proven.
You can't redeem something like this.
You can't just reverse it and say, okay,
now we care.
Obviously, politics is at play.
Obviously, your votes matter.
And so now they've reduced it to a
political thing.
That Palestinian lives are all about what?
They're all about the votes that people are
getting in countries that facilitate this genocide.
May Allah bring down His justice, swift relief,
and mercy to our brothers and sisters in
Gaza and Palestine and every land and every
place His name is being mentioned.
On that day, the people of Gaza and
the people of every land and place will
be standing and they will actually be given
their rights and their rewards from Allah.
For holding on to their faith, they will
be given what they deserve.
And those who committed genocide and those who
hurt others and those who stayed silent when
they could have done something and those who
facilitated with their donations, evil and injustice in
this world, everyone will be standing on that
day and given exactly what they deserve.
These three words, are so liberating for us,
for the believers.
They're good news.
And they are going to be the most
frightening thing for people of evil on that
day because they will be terrified as they
committed terror and terrorism and evil and violence
and injustice in this world.
They will be standing terrified on that day.
إِنَّمَا يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ لِيَوْمٍ تَشْخَصُ فِيهِ الْأَبْصَارِ We remember
even the recent events in Syria.
We remember the situation in Yemen.
People moved from one cycle of violence to
the next.
People haven't recovered.
I remember, SubhanAllah, just a year ago, in
this very month of February, when I was
visiting Turkey after the earthquakes, we visited many
Syrian families on the border who were in
Turkey.
And they had gone through what they went
through and they told us about some of
their experiences and the torture some of their
families went through and all of the other
violence.
And now they're living in a place where
they had nothing.
They had very little in terms of resources.
And SubhanAllah, some of them also lost family
members in the earthquake, may Allah accept them
as shuhada.
We remember.
We move on, the new cycle moves on.
But we remember because they're our brothers and
sisters.
We remember because we care about Adil.
We care about justice in all of its
forms.
And SubhanAllah, Bosnia in the 1990s, we still
have so many brothers and sisters who are
dealing with what they saw and witnessed of
their family members at that time.
You think of Sudan today and many people
don't even know there are millions of people
who are displaced.
The concentration camps in East Turkestan amongst the
Uyghurs at the hands of the atheist Chinese
government.
It's not disappeared just because we're talking about
Palestine.
And this doesn't mean when we say there's
something happening that everyone should say what about
this and that.
Sometimes you need to address different things, different
times, different people, different platforms.
But all of the oppressors will be standing
on the day of judgment and the loved
ones will be reunited, the believers will be
rewarded and some of them will even say
if I could go back to a dunya
and go through physical pain for my entire
life so that I can have this reward,
I would do it.
In other words, the reward that Allah gives
the believers is so great.
It's unimaginable to us in the dimensions of
a dunya that some people will see it
and wish they could have come back to
this world just to go through that pain
so they can have that reward.
That the experiences of injustice are okay?
Absolutely not.
This is not to say we should seek
hardship in this world.
We should not.
The Prophet asked for well-being.
He asked for forgiveness, pardoning of sins and
for well-being in his health, his wealth,
his family.
So this is what we should seek.
We heard the recitation in salah about justice
as well.
وَإِذَا حَكَمْتُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ يَنْ تَحْكُمُوا بِالْعَدْلِ If
you are to judge between two people that
you judge with justice.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ Allah commands justice
and fair dealings amongst people.
And the Prophet ﷺ mentioned that a nation,
an ummah is not going to be given
any divine blessings from Allah if there are
underprivileged people.
If there are people that are not protected
from those who have more political power.
And the example that was given was an
elderly woman in Abyssinia when she was shoved,
when she was hurt physically.
The Prophet ﷺ heard about this incident and
he said how is Allah going to sanctify
an ummah that does not protect and is
not strong.
It's weak here, means underprivileged.
They don't have political connections.
They don't have a tribe.
They don't have family.
They don't have a wasta depending on the
context.
How are you going to find divine blessings
from Allah, Nasr, if you don't have justice
in your society and community?
I remember, SubhanAllah, there was a very, very,
very tragic situation in southeast Michigan where a
woman who had, unfortunately in her marriage to
rehab, so many organizations and masajids, so many
people tried to help her.
It was seemingly irreversible.
I don't know much about the details but
she was always seen walking around and begging.
She wore her hijab and so on and
so forth.
She was always in this state and she
was different.
She was always going through rehab and then
relapsing, unfortunately.
And SubhanAllah, I remember in the last few
days of her life she would be standing
at the doors of the masjid just saying
salam to people and people felt like she
was, what?
To be ignored, to be avoided.
They would avoid her.
I remember one time walking up she would
say salam to random people they wouldn't say
the salam to her.
They looked at her like she was disgusting,
like she didn't belong, like she's not human.
Now, of course, I understand some parents like,
oh my child, I'm afraid for my child.
What if this person, you don't know the
person?
Okay, that's understandable.
When the person has never laid a hand
on anyone, they've never hurt anyone.
Yes, they have a problem and she was
giving a lecture in that masjid and in
the back of the hall like here, there
was coffee and tea.
She was homeless, by the way.
She had nothing.
She just walked everywhere.
So she came to the back of the
hall and she took coffee and water and
then she went to the masjid and it
was time for Salatul Isha.
And during Salatul Isha, I remember some of
the sisters said she was crying in sujood.
This person who had been introduced to and
addicted severely to drugs was crying in her
sujood in Salatul Isha.
SubhanAllah, the very next day they told us
they found her, she passed away.
She had passed away and I remember at
that time so many people felt bad for
looking down on her.
How do I know this?
It's not an assumption because when we heard
about the news and we mentioned her in
the Friday khutbah that same week, there was
a long line of brothers and sisters standing
at the office and they started talking about
how bad they felt and how they treated
her and how they looked down on her
and how they talked about her.
It's one thing to be cautious if you
don't know a person.
It's another to insult and to verbally say
things to them and in front of your
children, in front of the community.
This is something that is not allowed in
Islam.
May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us,
protect us and grant relief to those who
are addicted to many different things.
May Allah grant them relief and allow them
to overcome their addictions.
Allahuma Ameen.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ بِالْقِصْطِ شُهَدَاءَ
لِلَّهِ وَنَوْ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ الْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ This
verse is so appealing and powerful in justice
that non-Muslims non-Muslims look up to
this passage and they put it on their
walls and they talk about it when they're
trying to be friendly with Muslims at least
and at the Harvard Law School and the
faculty library for some time they had expressions
of justice a demonstration of statements of justice
from history they had this ayah from Surah
An-Nisa because of how powerful it is
Oh you who believe stand firm as witnesses
for Allah even if it's against yourself be
just even if you're testifying against yourself or
your parents or your relatives don't worry about
rich and poor Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is telling you in other words be on
the side of justice regardless of who's on
the other side and this is a principle
we must follow sometimes we have to have
awkward conversations where a Muslim or groups of
Muslims or a movement is doing something wrong
so whether it's private in the academic setting
or public because it's a global issue we
have to address and say what they're doing
is not right according to Islam and this
is not just and sometimes that means we
have to criticize and advise other Muslims but
of course this also means that if you're
doing something wrong that you admit you're wrong
if you are wrong in a case if
you are wrong in your family if you're
wrong in an argument if you're wrong in
your organization da'wah or not, masjid or
not corporate or secular whatever it may be
that you admit when you're wrong that you
are a person of principles and subhanAllah there's
so many cases where people in this country
and other countries get away with their crimes
in ad-dunya because of their political connections
and they know they're wrong and everyone knows
they're wrong but nothing happens in this world
that justice is saved for the day of
judgment and it is more severe the Prophet
ﷺ said that even if his daughter stole
even if Fatima stole that there would be
what?
a punishment for her to paraphrase finally here
we will say this if you are part
of any organization you are all supposed to
be types of servitude where you serve an
organization you serve a company you serve a
non-profit department head, leader, manager, supervisor all
team members, employees, entry level it doesn't matter
the justice has to be embedded in the
fabric of that company and wallahi even from
a secular lens we see companies that do
really good they're really good with justice in
terms of the leadership that it trickles down
to the rest of the company and organization
and you see the opposite as well when
there's a lot of corruption and a lot
of personal connections a lot of injustice at
the top it trickles down and it's very
cut throat and you'll find people trying to
do whatever it takes to climb a ladder
in a way that is immoral in those
types of settings and scenarios justice, I'll just
say this justice is required for every Islamic
organization for every organization for at least two
reasons the first is to maximize its growth
and efficiency, its impact and the second is
for the barakah the divine blessings that come
from Allah and we ask Allah to make
us in our organizations, environments and people of
justice the command is do not wrong one
another do not oppress and yet people will
oppress there is a day in which all
of this will be restored until then what
can you do?
hold on, persevere the promise of Allah is
true the afterlife is true justice will be
restored you will be rewarded but hold on
you can't look for any other alternative than
to hold on giving up is not an
option it's not an option if you're in
Gaza it's not an option if you're in
Syria it's not an option if you're in
Yemen it's not an option in Sudan what
do you do?
how do you persevere?
and remember the final ayah to be revealed
the final revelation of all of the ayat
of the Quran nine nights before the Prophet
passed away what ayah was it?
وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا تُرْجَعُونَ فِيهِ إِلَى اللَّهِ be mindful,
prepare for the day in which you shall
return to Allah think about your relationship privately
between you and Allah do not wrong your
soul by committing sins number two, between you
and other people your family, friends your organizations,
your volunteerism your local community, your masjid online
as well don't wrong other people in the
comments don't wrong other people by trolling that's
not allowed in Islam don't wrong other people
don't wrong other people and then third is
the structures around us what can we do
to improve any structure that in our lives
we are a part of or can contribute
to whether it's political, federal, state or city
or it's organizational you are part of a
specific environment or organization always think about the
multi-faceted approach of justice and how necessary
it is for people to be a part
of that reformation process may Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta-A'la make us a people
of justice and bring down His justice to
our brothers and sisters and may Allah Subh
'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la protect us from
injustice and from committing injustice may Allah Subh
'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la allow us to
facilitate justice wherever we are in this world
and to have and to leave behind a
powerful sadaqa jariya Allahumma ameen Wa sallillahi ala
nabiyyina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma
'een Wa sallamu alaikum wa rahmatullah