Yasir Khan – Jummah Khutbah Good Company in Troubling Time
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For the blessing of Islam.
Allah
has given us such a blessing
that teaches us from a very childhood
age
values that affect much later on in our
life our decisions.
From a very young age, we are taught
about who we should befriend.
And that is supposed to make
the decisions
for us for the rest of our life
and even the hereafter.
We're told
that your deen
your deen does not come
from
random places.
It comes from who you befriend.
The reason why choose the topic of good
company today.
Although we have everything going on,
we're in the midst of a turmoil.
We see the encampments all around the US
and now around the world.
We see people pushing for
the justice and Gaza.
What does good company have to do with
that?
Sometimes
I think back
and I'm like, how heartless must you be
to make some of the decisions that are
killing thousands of children?
To make such decisions
that are oppressing so many people.
But then
I came to a point
that it's not somebody
who just becomes that overnight
that they become heartless,
But it's from childhood
all the way onwards
that this person,
his heart
his heart is hardening and hardening
to the point that he does not care
about human life anymore.
Today, if we were to see
even a little child if he was to
see an animal in pain, the little child
will scream out and say, no. The animal
is in pain. We need to do something
about it.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam tells us,
Every single child, every single human, every single
child of Adam alaihi wa sallam
is born with a natural disposition to know
what is right and what is wrong.
To have this in their heart
of what is justice
and what is unjust.
But what happens is the society,
what happens is our friends, what happens is
our close circles,
it influences us, influences us to the point
that we forget.
And unfortunately,
we forget sometimes to the point
that not only do we forget about humanity,
we begin to forget about ourselves as well.
So we see today,
when we see the situation
that
how
can
leaders
on the
international
level,
why can't they stand up for justice?
Is it because of their close friends?
What about on national level?
Is it because of the people that they're
associated with?
What about on state level? What about on
local level?
It all starts off
from we being children who we befriend.
So today, if we are careful about who
we befriend,
who we are in the company with, who
we associate
ourselves with, then inshallah, that is going to
make the decisions
much later in our lives that are going
to benefit us.
My dear respected brothers and sisters and especially
youngsters,
this khutba is really geared towards the youngsters.
In our life,
we have limited years, limited days to live.
And those limited days are influenced by so
many different factors.
And one of the most important factor is
who is our close associates.
Who are the close people that we have?
Our friends that we hold on to.
If those friends are pious,
we will become pious one day even if
we're not pious today.
If those friends are corrupt,
we will become corrupt
even if we are not corrupt today.
It is extremely crucial for us to understand
the value and the importance
of who we befriend,
who we are friends with.
It might be something very small to us
today,
but it's making a much greater impact later
in our lives.
Something as simple as you might have a
friend who is cursing.
You might have a friend who is lying.
But
eventually that is going to catch up to
you as well.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the
Quran.
Oh those those who believe. He's not addressing
the
Ittaqullah.
The first is be fearful, be
be conscious of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
the second command is
Be with the truthful ones.
Be with those who are truthful.
So today we have to ask ourselves,
let's think within our friends' circles.
Who are the truthful ones? Who are not
the truthful ones? There are friends who are
gonna push us to come to the masjid
and pray. And there are friends that are
gonna push us away from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
When it comes to our deen,
we need to value friendship
Who will bring us to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And at the same time, we need to
become aware and cognizant of the fact that
we live in tough times.
And today, anybody can take us away to
a wrong path.
Just recently,
one of the parents called me and they
were crying.
My son is in a very difficult situation.
My son has gotten in with the wrong
groups. Please help me.
So before we get calls like these,
before we have to control the damage,
now is the time that we look
at who the friends of our children are.
And it's upon the younger generation to think.
Yes. In this dunya, you might be like,
I wanna be the cool kid. I wanna
be the kid who hangs around with the
tough guys. But trust me,
it's those friends that one day they're gonna
be gone from your life. They're gonna be
gone from your life and if you're gone
away
without getting any damage, you're actually lucky. Because
I personally know so many people
who are in jail not because of the
wrong doings that they did, but something that
their friends did.
I know people who have gotten suspended from
schools not because of something that they did
but because they were in the wrong place
with the wrong group of people.
So today is our day to reflect.
When we think about our deen, we look
at the Sahaba who on whom. Who is
a Sahabi?
We say Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
about the Sahaba.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is pleased with them
and they're pleased with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Who are these people? What is the qualification?
Is it that they prayed for so long
and every single one of them became an
Islamic scholar or what was this great virtue
that they had?
The greatest virtue that they had was the
suhbah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
The company of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. Just being in the company and believing
in the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam gave
them the best title that they could possibly
have.
Gave them the best virtue that they could
possibly have.
So when we look at our deen,
suhbah,
association,
company. It's a big factor in who we
become and who we are. So today, when
we are asked the question,
who are we associated with?
If today,
would you be proud to come and tell
me exactly who your friends are? Because as
they say, you tell me who your friends
are and I will tell you who you
are.
So we all need to look within our
circles.
Who are we associated with on a daily
basis? Is it people that remind me of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Is it people that
tells us about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Or
is it not? The prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam
when he was asked, Who should we hang
out with? Who are the good people? The
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam spoke about the
company of those people. He said,
The real people that you want to be
with. And I want all of you today
to think, do you have people like these
in your life? Because if you have people
like these in your life, you are lucky.
And if you don't have people like these
in your life, you need to start to
look for these type of people. A person
that you wanna be associated with is that
when you look at them, you're reminded
of Allah.
Which one of you today have a friend?
That you look at them and they are
reminded of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And when they speak,
they speak,
you are increased.
You are increased in your knowledge.
When they speak, you gain something about this
this deen of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And similarly,
when
you
when you say when you when you see
them doing anything in their life, you're reminded
about the hereafter.
So when you look at him, you're reminded
of Allah. When he speaks, you increase in
your knowledge. And when you see him doing
his actions, you're reminded about the hereafter.
Unfortunately, today, it's flipped.
The friends we are with, the association that
we have, whenever we are with them, we
forget about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because we're
busy and playing. We're busy and laughing. We're
busy in joking.
And when they talk, we completely even forget
whatever we might even have on our mind
when it comes to deen.
And when they act, we are not reminded
about deen. We are not reminded about akhirah.
We are reminded about this world.
We have to become aware. We have to
become awake
that when it comes to this deen, if
we want success,
we must always keep Allah. We must always
keep the knowledge of this deen and we
must always keep the at
our priority.
And if somebody is helping us with our
priority,
then great.
We are successful.
But if they're not helping us with this
priority,
then this company for us is evil.
And it is this type of company, the
evil company that leads to the decision that
we see today in Gaza.
It's these evil companies that we see. It's
not like these come these decisions that we
sit see today on international level that they
came into being from nowhere.
It's because
the people
were associated with wrong groups and wrong groups
and wrong groups until a time comes. Allah
hardens their heart to the point that 1,000
will be killed. Blood will be shed. They
will not care whatsoever.
So if we want decisions like that to
be affected,
we have to look today at who our
friends are today. We have to look at
the friends of our children and see who
they are today. And it does not matter
how great
of the company that you experience outside become.
Trust me. The company that you find in
these four walls, in this masjid, will be
the greatest company that you will ever find.
Why? Because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam tells
us that whoever you see coming to the
masjid,
you give testimony of this person's faith, of
this person's iman.
One believer,
one person of iman
is far better for you than this whole
world and whatever it contains.
So our friendships need to start from over
here. Unfortunately, we have made the masjid a
place where we just come fulfill our fara'id,
display our jummah quickly. Let's see who's gonna
be the first one to beat the traffic
out the parking lot.
The masjid is supposed to be a place
where our children become friends with the children
of other people who are coming to the
masjid.
Where our children
are finding places because if they don't find
friends over here, you cannot expect them to
be friends somewhere else.
We are humans.
We are social beings. We are definitely gonna
be looking for friends. And if it's not
the right company, it's gonna be the wrong
company. So today we need to change our
attitude a little bit to our masajid.
That we are not just gonna come to
the masjid to pray, and as soon as
salam is done, I need to think of
an exit strategy. How do I leave?
We should come to the masjid,
sit over here, meet the person next to
us, and hope that our child will also
meet someone who will become the means of
his guidance.
I remember when I was going when I
was in high school, I wasn't such a
great kid. But it was one student, one
friend of mine from Palestine Muhammad. He kept
on pushing me to deen. Kept on We
would go in a school bus and everyday
he would make me memorize 1 dua or
1 hadith. To the point I became so
frustrated with him that I screamed at him
in front of everyone. But he kept on
pushing me, kept on pushing me. Today, mashallah,
he went on to become a pharmacist.
Whatever little I am doing, he is getting
the reward.
Why? Because it was the right company.
He kept an eye on me. Made sure
that if it's Jumaa a day, Yasser, you're
gonna be coming for Jumaa?
That friendship started in the masjid.
That friendship started in the masjid. So today,
when we make everything a priority in our
life, we make a priority that we need
to have a big house. We need we
make a priority that we need to have
a beautiful car. We make a priority of
all of these things. One of the greatest
priority you can make is who your child
is going to become friends with.
Who is your child being influenced by? Who
is your child taking as a role model?
And it is the masajid
where the people of iman are coming. It
is here that they can look up to
somebody
leading salah. A young kid leading salah and
say, Wow. He has such a beautiful recitation.
I want to be like him. We have
a visiting scholar. He gives a lecture. Wow.
He gave such a beautiful lecture. I wanna
be like him. We see a youth involved
in the masjid and he looks at him
and say, Wow. This youth is extremely involved
in, you know, the masjid. I want to
be like him.
If our children do not find
the right
place right here in the masjid, then trust
me. There used to be a scholar from
Virginia, he used to come to New Jersey,
and he used to tell my father
that you put your child in fire and
you tell him, Don't get burnt.
How is that possible?
Today, we put our children
in these regular schools. We put our children
in these tough environments. We put our children
in the company that is not appropriate
and then we want them to become like
Alir Radi Allah 1.
We want them to become like Sahaba Radi
Allah 1 home. So today is a day
that we reflect. First of all, over our
own company,
over our own association.
Who are we associated with? Because whoever we're
associated with, we are going to see that
in the hereafter.
We are going to definitely see that in
the hereafter.
The day when the anxiety will be such
that the hearts will be reaching to the
throat.
People will not know what to do. On
that day, every decision in your life is
going to come to you and you're going
to be like, I wish I made the
right decision.
On that day, where even an ayah like
this, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in
the Quran.
That day a person will be biting on
his hands out of the anxiety,
out of the grief, out of the regret.
The day of is known as the day
of regret.
The day of regret on that day, he
will be biting onto his hands, and he
will say that, yeah, I wish that I
took the prophet as
as a companion.
I wish I took the way of the
prophet.
I wish I wish I did not take
so and so as my friend.
I wish I did not take so and
so as my friend.
He made me forget the way. He made
me astray away from the from the true
path. When it came to me, when the
message came to me, when Islam came to
me, and shaitan
for insan, what is he? He is a
deceiver.
On that day,
when you are going to be like,
what happened? And he's gonna be like, I
don't know you.
I don't know you. I don't know where
you're coming from. So on that day, when
a person is going to be biting on
his hands
out of this regret
that what did I do in this life?
Who did I take as my friend
before that day comes?
Today, we have time to amend things. We
have time to fix things.
We have time to rectify things. And more
important indeed than the older generation
is the younger generation.
Because the older generation you have been raised
for majority of you in a Muslim country,
in a Muslim and Islamic environment
where your friends were Muslim, where they recited
Where
they were not questioned about the existence of
Allah, where they did not have to face
the questions of LGBTQ.
You did not face that. But I tell
you, wallahi, your children are facing that today.
Your children are facing that today and if
you do not put them in the right
environment,
tomorrow they're gonna come to you and they're
gonna tell you, Baba, where is Allah? Baba,
why can't we follow these tendencies and these
inclinations?
Baba, why can't we do that?
And if your child comes to you and
tells you that you're actually lucky because the
cases we get is not baba were this
and baba that. The cases we get is
that baba, you don't know what the heck
you're doing and I don't know what religion
you're following but logic tells me that I
have to do this and logic tells me
I have to do that. Where did all
this start stem from? Where did all this
start from? This started from the company that
we put them in. We put them in
a regular school. We put them with the
environment in which they're continuously being taught about
this stuff, where their friends are acting upon
these. One day,
that is going to go into their own
hearts.
That is going to go into their own
hearts. My dear respected brothers and sisters, understand
one thing, that we
are who we are by our association.
The Sahaba radiallahu anhu.
They became valuable because of their association and
their company
with the prophet
Today, if I was to grab a random
brick and I was to give you a
brick, it would be like, okay, it's valuable,
not valuable, no big deal.
But if I was to bring a brick
from the Kaaba and say that this is
the brick of the Kaaba, every single person
will be fighting me to take that brick.
Why? Because of its association with that.
Is coming. Eid al Adha is coming. We
see we're slaughtering
goats and cows every single week or month
or whatever. But the Qurbani that we slaughter,
the that
we slaughter for
for every single hair you're being rewarded.
Why? Because of its association with the cause.
So today, it's important for us to realize
that we hold importance
based on the association
that we have. Based on the association we
have, we hold importance. We see in the
Quran an example of a dog.
An example of a
dog, Allah
preserves the mention of that dog till the
last day in the story of
Allah
mentions that why? Because the dog accompany righteous
men.
Today, if we want to be preserved,
we need to be associated with the right
group. We need to be associated
with the right group and that is what's
going to give us value. And if we
do not do that, then we have no
one to blame but ourselves.
Again,
this is an extremely important concept for us
to understand
because when we look at the situation in
Gaza,
don't think that it started from the international
level like that. It was because those people
who are making the decisions today,
their hearts have become hard.
And because of that they cannot feel any
sympathy.
They have been turned away from their fitra.
Our association,
our suhbah, our environment
affects our fitra.
And if we want the chilled our children's
fitra, our own fitra to be righteous, then
we need to turn to that. We know
that even the uncle of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam Abu Talib.
The uncle of the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam,
when he was approached by the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam to accept Islam. The only thing
that stopped him was his association
with the people around him. That what are
they going to say after me?
Today, we make decisions like that in our
life again and again. We make decisions
of what people are going to say because
of the close circle around us. But if
our close circle is that of religious people,
if our close circle is that of Deeni
people, then whenever comes to matters of deen,
we will never have to worry about what
will this person say and what will that
person say. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala to guide us to the right company.
Because the best blessing that you can have
is to have righteous company,
virtuous company, good friends, friends
whose image,
whose face, whose
will remind you of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Friends whose talk will increase your knowledge. And
friends whose action will remind you of the
hereafter.
For that wonderful.
As the Sheikh was saying about good company
in the masjid,
we do have youth programs here for middle
school and high school boys for the time
being.
Tomorrow, we actually have a middle school boys
soccer tournament from.
A middle school boys soccer tournament tomorrow.
Lohr to Aisha. Registration only. I have a
table set up in the lobby insha'Allah
for registration. So if you like to sign
up your son, please meet me there in
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There is a halaqa
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There's kids storytelling
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these university protests and encampments,
personally, 2 of my friends were actually arrested
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the jail 2 days ago to protest and
they eventually got arrest got released.
If college students can go and get arrested
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Tomorrow insha'Allah is voting day from 7 AM
to 7 PM. So please go out and
vote.
And if you wanna go with the community,
there's actually a community breakfast tomorrow after Fajr,
Taste of Pakistan that they called it with
naan and Nahari and choleh and all this
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