Yasir Qadhi – Trials Of The Ummah
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AI: Transcript ©
Dear Muslims,
every time
we read the news in this era of
ours,
it is as if there is no end
to the negative,
to the trials and tribulations
that we read domestically
and internationally.
People being assassinated,
nations being invaded,
mobs going the streets, harming Muslims and attacking
masjids even in western lands. Our own country
embroiled
in so much internal discord.
And one wonders, what is the solution? What
should we do?
And it is at times like this
that one particular hadith
comes back to me over and over again.
It is a hadith that is relatively long,
but it predicts some of what we are
seeing here today.
And it provides
us some solutions,
not in the way that perhaps we might
be thinking, but solutions that are meant to
solve the actual problems.
And this hadith is reported in the Sahih
of Imam Muslim and in other books. And
it also involves an incident in the Sirah,
when Abdullah ibn Amir ibn al-'aw said that
we were returning from an expedition
and we had set up our camp,
some of us were building our tents, others
were sharpening our arrows.
When a crier came out and said, everybody
stop what you are doing. The prophet salallahu
alaihi wasalam wants to talk to you. So
we stopped what we were doing and we
all gathered. This is not in Madinah. This
is outside of Madinah. It's a very urgent
matter. And the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam gave
them a small talk which is recorded in
the books of history, the books of hadith.
He said, know, oh people,
that every prophet has been sent by Allah
to instruct his nation
of the good so they should do it,
and to warn his nation of evil so
that they should avoid it.
And
this ummah of yours,
Allah has made the earlier parts the blessed
eras.
Allah has made the earlier generations
the ones that will face fewer trials and
tribulations.
And as for the later generations,
as for the further generations,
they're going to face tragedies and trials that
they will reject, they will not be able
to bear.
And every single time a tragedy comes, a
trial comes,
the believer will say, This trial will cause
my destruction. I won't be able to pass
over it, but Allah will lift it up.
And another will come. And then the believer
will say, no, this one, this one is
gonna be my destruction.
Then the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
said,
so whoever wants to meet Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala, having saved himself from Allah's punishment
and entering Allah's paradise in Jannah.
Whoever wants to meet Allah such that they
will enter Jannah,
then let them worship Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
with their hearts,
and let them treat the people the way
that they themselves would like to be treated.
End of hadith. Let me now, in this
short khutba, go over this beautiful, profound hadith
and derive from it benefits that are a
practical value to insha Allahu ta'ala every single
one of us. Our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
highlighted the purpose of wahi and revelation, the
purpose of sending prophets. Why? Prophets have come
to teach you what is good and to
warn you from what is bad. Religion is
here to teach you. Religion is here to
give you nobility, a higher purpose. Religion is
here for the knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, how to live our lives, how to
conduct ourselves.
So the purpose of religion, religion will not
solve the problems of this dunya automatically. No.
Religion will not get rid of every single
evil. That's an in that is a unrealistic
goal. This dunya will always have trials and
tragedies.
Religion is meant to help us navigate the
tragedy.
Religion is meant to give us the courage,
the iman, the sabr, to help us go
through these trials. Nobody should think that if
I'm a religious person, trial is not gonna
happen. No. Trials will happen. Tragedy will happen.
There shall be evil. There shall be pain.
There shall be suffering.
The purpose of religion to tell you how
to live in spite of that pain and
suffering, how to contribute regardless of what is
happening in the ummah. And then the prophet
salallahu alayhi wasallam said, and know that the
earlier parts of my ummah
shall have less stress than the later parts.
Allah azzawajal has made, aafiafiawaliha.
The blessed era will be the earlier eras.
And that is so true.
When was the Muslim Ummah at its pinnacle?
When did we have the most righteous leaders?
After the death of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam. Ubakar Ummah radiAllahu Anhu. When did the
Ummah reach its economic might, its military might,
its political might, its scientific and technological might.
All of this took place in the 1st
3, 4, 500 years. When the Ummah ruled
the world, when the entire world knew that
we were the most powerful nation, we were
the most advanced nation, we contributed
to all of humanity. But when did that
happen? It happened in the first half of
our history. Then our prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam,
said, as for the later half, as for
the akhirah, the later half, then fasayusibuhabalahunwaumurunwafitnatun
kiroonaha.
They're gonna have calamities,
They're gonna have trials, and they're gonna have
tests. That you will find difficult to bear.
We no longer have a united
global land that is called Darul Islam. We
don't have a united leader. We are dis
disunited
in over 50 countries. We do not have
economic clout as 1 ummah.
Technologically, we are the ones having to come
here and study. We are very different than
what it used to be. On top of
this, we are disparate and separated in the
land. Certain parts of our ummah are bleeding
almost to death. Multiple areas of the body
of the ummah have been facing nonstop attack
for 10, 20, 30, 50, 70, 80 years.
Exactly as our prophet said, later portions of
this ummah are gonna be tested with trials
and tragedies the earlier was not tested with,
and they're gonna find it difficult to do
so. But realize, this is not necessarily
a disadvantage in the sense. What do I
mean by this? Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will
bless people contextually.
Therefore,
to be righteous and pious in the time
of Abu Bakr as Siddiq radiAllahu An,
the bar was very high.
And to be righteous and pious in our
times, the bar has been made low for
us. In other words,
Allah will test us based upon our context.
And in this era and in this climate,
if we strive to achieve even a minimal
amount of religiosity,
it is worth even much more than their
religiosity. I'm not saying this. This is what
our prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said. Hadith is
al Sahih Muslim. He said,
a time will come when the one who
is faithful to the religion of Allah,
it will be as if he's picked up
some burning coal and he's holding it in
his hand. It's gonna be so difficult just
to be an average Muslim will be so
difficult. And then the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam
said, and one person amongst them who is
righteous
will get the reward of 50 of you.
They said, You Rasulullah,
50 of us or 50 of them? He
repeated, no, 50 of you.
To be righteous when Abu Bakr as Siddiq
is the khalifa.
To be a good Muslim when everybody around
you is a good Muslim. Well, the bar
has been made very easy. Go ahead and
do it. But to be able to be
a righteous Muslim when nobody around you is
a good Muslim,
to wake up for fajr, you're not the
only person waking up for fajr, to avoid
the major deeds when your friends, your colleagues,
your cousins, everybody is immersed in major sin.
And for you to not commit a major
sin is itself of the greatest forms of
jihad.
So Allah will test us and bless us
based on context.
Therefore, do not think that, hey, it's not
fair. We if we lived in the past,
then would have been different because if you
had lived in the past, the bar will
be much higher and it will be far
more difficult. And so Allah tests everybody in
different ways. He tested them and he's testing
us. And our tests are different. And yes,
they might be in some ways in some
ways more difficult, but in other ways it
has been made easy as well. So our
prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, trials will come
one after the other. Why is he telling
us this? Why is he telling us this?
He's telling us to prepare. You know, like
the father tells his son who's going on
a very difficult path or journey, son, be
careful. The path has these problems in it.
The father does so out of love so
that the son is prepared. The father does
so so that the son is mentally, psychologically
prepared. So too, the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.
He is like a spiritual father to us.
He's warning us. Times are gonna get tough.
He's warning us. Don't let difficult times bug
you down. Don't become disenheartened.
Don't become overcome with grief and tragedy. No,
life is gonna get tough and Allah, azza
wa jah, knows you're trying your best. So
he's warning us and he's telling us those
trials and tragedies,
every time one of them comes, a person
might feel this is too much for me.
But then he says, don't worry. It'll be
lifted up. Thumat and kashr is gonna go
up. Yes, trials will come, but Allah Azawajal
will continue to send his blessings on you
as well. Keep on looking forward. And the
goal is you overcome every trial after another.
And then he told us,
whoever wants to meet Allah having saved himself
from the punishment and entering Jannah, and this
is powerful because we are reminded
the ultimate goal.
The ultimate goal is the pleasure of Allah.
Yes, we would like to have a good
dunya as well. No question about that. We
would like to have political dominance and peace
and security. And if we have it Alhamdulillah,
but if we don't, then the ultimate goal
is eternal happiness with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And there is no comparison between this dunya
and the akhira. And that goal is always
achievable even if we don't have dominance in
this dunya. Even if people die, even if
they attack and invade, even if they do
whatever they do, if we are on the
side of Allah and Allah loves us and
we will enter Jannah, that is the ultimate
goal. So the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
said, whoever wants to meet Allah having saved
himself from jahannam and guaranteed entering Jannah, He's
giving us this because no matter how bad
the situation is in this dunya, when your
heart is attached to the akhirah, when your
heart is attached to Allah, it gives you
optimism and hope. You see, when you don't
believe in God, you don't have religion, when
your whole world is this existence,
then when you don't have this world, you're
in big problem. And it will lead to
depression, and it will lead to potential suicide,
and it will lead to every type of
frustration and exasperation.
But when you attach this dunya to the
next, and when you realize, okay, I would
like this dunya, but in case I don't
get it, I always have the akhirah. When
you have that mentality,
all of a sudden your spirit will soar.
All of a sudden you have nobility, you
have a higher purpose, you have a goal
you can look forward to. I'm gonna try
to make this dunya good. In case I
don't get it, I always have the akhira
and the more important, which is the pleasure
of Allah jallajalaloo.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam reminded
us, whoever wishes to meet Allah on a
clean slate, you wanna enter Jannah and be
safe from Jahannam. He told us 2 things.
He told us 2 things. Number 1, he
said, let death come to him while his
heart is full of iman.
Let death come to him and his heart
is full of iman. Meaning,
do not allow the tragedies, the trials, the
fitan of this world,
do not allow those trials to affect your
faith in Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Do not allow the pain, the suffering, the
anguish to overcome you internally.
Internally, your heart must be attached to Allah.
Internally, iman must always be strong. Let death
come to him when his heart is full
of iman with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Meaning,
no matter what is happening,
you cannot allow your personal relationship with Allah
to be affected. And that's why one of
the things that is being encouraged here is
that during times of difficulty,
during times of stress, during times of trial
and tribulation,
we must increase
our worship of Allah. Hadith and Sahim in
Suran Abu Dawood, our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
said, whoever worships Allah
during a time of unrest,
during a time of trial, a public disorder,
whoever maintains worship of Allah during times of
fitna, it is as if he has done
hijrah to Madinah with me. It is the
same as doing hijrah as if somebody has
left everything and migrated to me. And again,
this is a profound hadith. Why? Because the
people were being persecuted in Makkah. When they
migrated to Madinah, they were in safety. Our
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam is saying, when
the world is difficult, worship Allah and you
will find personal safety. When there's evil around
you, worship Allah and you will find your
personal bubble. You will create a safe space
for yourself and your heart will find safety
and security even if there might not be
physical security.
Even if Allah, azza wa ta'ala, test even
your life and your loved one's life might
be gone. But when you turn to Allah,
it is as if you're doing hijrah to
me spiritually, I e, your iman will be
fortified. And therefore, of the
explicit
recommendations of our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam during
times of great fitan, during times of civil
unrest, we increase our worship of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Our dhikr, our ibadah, our tilahwah,
our salah, our Quran, all of this should
be increased. So this is the first thing
that he said. Whoever wants to meet Allah
on a clean slate, entering Jannah, being safe
from Jahannam,
let death come to him when his heart
is full of iman. Meaning, when is death
gonna come? We don't know. So make sure
your iman is always high. When is death
gonna come? We don't have the appointment schedule.
It's not in our Google calendar, the angel
of death coming. Therefore,
never let your guard down. Always have your
iman strong in Allah. Always your heart should
be full of sabr, tawakkul, yaqeen,
ikhlas, rida.
Always do dhikr of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
at all times. And if that is the
case, even if you don't get this dunya,
you will get the akhira. And then the
second thing that he said, and let him
do unto the people, walyaatielan
nas Let him bring to the people, let
him interact with the people the way that
he himself likes that people interact with him,
I e, do unto others like you would
like to be done unto you. This is
a simple rule, it's called the golden rule,
and every prophet preached it, and every single
religion preaches it because it is divine. It
is from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Do unto
others what you like to be done unto
you. When times get difficult, when there is
stress, when there is civil unrest, how would
you like to be treated? Make sure you
treat the other people that way. Even if
they don't treat you that way, you treat
them that way. You are the one embodying
the prophetic example. Your akhlaq with them has
to be exemplary. And notice, and I've said
this multiple times from this minbar and throughout
my khudbas and rus, the same principle over
and over again. I have said multiple times,
the entire religion of Islam is based upon
2 simple premises.
1st, worship Allah with all of your heart.
And secondly,
be as good as you can to mankind.
I'm not inventing this up. This hadith once
again tells you the exact same two points.
Notice it. What is the prophet salallahu alayhi'm
saying? Whoever wants to meet Allah on a
clean slate, you want to enter Jannah. What
did he say? Let death come to you
when your heart is full of iman, and
make sure you're treating people the way you
wanna be treated.
The entirety of Islam is these two simple
principles. Worship Allah from the depths of your
heart. Worship Allah purely and sincerely.
Always have a strong relationship with Allah. And
then when it comes to mankind,
do good unto them. Be a source of
khayr and happiness. Treat them like you wanna
be treated. And if you do these two
principles, you are the best Muslim. I've said
this multiple times. All of Islam is these
two principles. The rest is simply a commentary.
Everything else is just the footnotes. If you
know this simple principle mentioned in this hadith,
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam is guaranteeing you,
you will get into Jannah. Worship Allah purely
and do unto mankind as you would like
to be done. All Muslims,
all Muslims,
I wish we could say that the future
is gonna be brighter, but we don't know
that. Sometimes
the next year is better than the previous
year, and sometimes future years are worse than
previous years. Our prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam did
say that generally speaking, as a general rule,
later generations are gonna be tested more and
more. However, we learn one thing from this
hadith and other ahadith, that these trials are
manageable.
Allah is not testing us with more than
what we can bear. We might think,
we might be destroyed, but Allah Azawajal will
lift up that trial. That doesn't mean another
trial will not come, yet another will come,
and yet another. And the purpose of these
trials, the purpose of these tribulations
is to cleanse our heart, and to strengthen
our iman, and to remind us of why
we are here. I have said multiple times
before. Why are we tested? Why are we
tried? Why is life so difficult? Of the
greatest wisdoms
is that through tests and trials, we establish
relationships with Allah. Through tragedy,
through grief, we have to fight that back
and to create our safe space that brings
about a relationship with Allah and positive to
mankind. Oh, Muslims, we all have a role
to play. And these trials and tragedies, the
political, the domestic, the personal, Islamophobia,
it might not go away. What is happening
in Palestine, we're almost gonna meet 1 year
to that anniversary of the beginning of this
entire escapade. SubhanAllah, there's still no end in
sight. It doesn't change the fact that we
all have a role to play. It doesn't
change the fact that in spite of all
of this negativity,
we must have a strong relationship with Allah,
and we must continue to be role models
for mankind. If we do these two simple
principles,
worship Allah continuously,
sincerely,
and do good unto people, then regardless of
what happens in this dunya, we are guaranteed
the blessings of Allah and the akhirah, and
that is the ultimate goal. May Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala bless me and you with and
through the Quran, and may He make us
of those who is verses they understand and
applies halal and haram throughout our lifespan. Ask
Allah's forgiveness. You as well ask him for
his Dhighafoor and the Rahman.
Asamat alalilam yalidwalam yuladwalam yukullahu kufuwanahadwabardu.
A part of the trials that we're seeing,
and this is of great concern to all
of us,
is the fact that in a neighboring country,
a country that we have a lot to
do with, and that is England neighboring across
the pond, that the Islamophobic
elements have reached such a level that tens
of thousands of people are marching in over
a dozen cities,
physically harming Muslims,
attacking masjids.
Some of the masjids of my own friends
of the imam community have been attacked. Some
of the people, our sisters have had acid
thrown on them. Hijabs have been pulled off.
And this is happening in the wake of
a very, very malicious
slandering
Islamophobic
campaign, full of lies, full of complete
blatant
hypocrisy,
and it is stirring up and fomenting
a level of hatred that is hardly been
seen,
completely
generating lies. There was a, a, a, a,
a, personal incident that occurred. Some child, unfortunately,
or some children were attacked, and then they
lied and they said a Muslim did this.
Firstly, even if a Muslim does a crime,
as we all know, crime happens from every
community. A white person, a black person, a
Muslim, an Asian, if one of them does
it, doesn't mean everybody is guilty. But it
turns out it wasn't a Muslim. It was
another person, a Christian background, but it was
too late. Slides were said. Slander was said.
And tens of thousands of people simultaneously.
And this is being fomented
by the far right, fomented by elected politicians
who know this is a lie, but they
want to gain their popularity.
And this is the reality of all of
these pseudo nationalistic
far right regimes. And the fact of the
matter is what is happening in England might
be happening other places as well. It's already
begun in France and other places. Don't think
that we are also immune. All of this
goes back to another very
awkward and fundamental question. It is a question
I have raised and answered multiple times, and
I will do it again. All Muslims,
all Muslims,
what exactly is our role in the lands
that we live in? What exactly our role?
How do we view ourselves with broader society?
Do we view ourselves as being simply
isolated,
apolitical,
not getting involved? Do we wanna create false
imaginary bubbles and pretend that we're gonna live
separately from the rest of society?
We have a serious
problem,
most of us. And I say this as
one of you wallahi, I'm not trying to
point fingers. This is We are all guilty
of this. Most of us Muslims in the
western world, we are still struggling to come
to terms with our identity over here. And
we have multiple issues. I'll mention 2 of
them. The first of them is the easier
one to solve, but it is also a
bigger problem, and that is apathy.
Fact of the matter is many Muslims living
in western lands
simply do not care about the broader public.
They just want the dunya, good jobs, career,
housing, good education for kids. They're not interested
in the broader public. They're not
you is only gonna be harmful to you
and your own children. If you don't claim
interest, if you don't claim ownership, if you're
simply living separate
isolated lives, well then, when they attack the
masjids as is happening, what are you gonna
do then? And by the way, the populations
and percentages in England is far higher than
ours. In some of these cities, Muslims are
20, 30%,
and the people are attacking the masjids. What
do you think in America, we are less
than 1%? What do you think is gonna
happen? In these cities in the UK, 1
out of 5 in some of these areas
is Muslims, and still they're attacking hijabis, they're
attacking bus driver I saw yesterday. They literally
attacked a bus driver, bearded bus driver, literally
evil, vulgar thing spitting on him. You don't
think if you live isolated lives, they're gonna
continue
to do this. So for your own sake,
for the sake of your children, you cannot
live isolationist
lives. This apathy is simply not wise. It's
gonna harm you. This is your land and
society. You have to contribute, be visible, show
people who you are so that they don't
fear you, they don't misunderstand you. If you
are visible and proud to be Muslim, this
is If you are visible and proud to
be Muslim, this is the best way to
combat Islamophobia. This is one problem we have,
apathy. The
The second problem, which is the more technical
one, and I don't have time to go
into a lot of detail, but I have
said this multiple times is the religious problem.
The religious problem. What do I mean by
the religious problem? There are interpretations
of Islam.
There are
understandings of the religion
that teach the people,
teach our people
that they should not be a part of
the broader society.
They are taught that Islam teaches them and
then they have various things either to hate
the kuffar, their version of wallah and bara,
which is not the correct version. I've said
this multiple times. Or they are told it
is haram to get involved in politics, or
they were told do not protest, or they
were told you cannot vote for the politicians.
And so the name of religion is used.
The first category is not religion. It's general
apathy. And it's actually easier to solve, but,
of course, general apathy is always laziness. Right?
The second category
requires longer discussion. I don't have time in
the khutba
to attack the misunderstandings
religiously. But I have spoken about these so
many times, especially in the last 10 months
since ghazah has begun. I have spoken about
the religious misunderstanding.
There are trends in Islam, and I'm sorry
to be blunt here. These are pseudo
fundamentalist, ultra conservative trends. They find comfort in
retreating to slogans. They find comfort in retreating
to past issues, and they think forming a
cult and forming their ultra conservative communities and
hating everybody else is the way forward. And
I understand it appeals to some people, but
solutions are not gonna be found in simplistic
slogans. Retreating to the past is not gonna
solve problems of today. And we have to
be blunt here. Any interpretation of Islam that
tells you you should not be involved in
the greater public, it is a harmful interpretation,
salallahu alaihi wasalam was involved. The Sahaba were
involved. This in the end of the day
is your society and land. And I understand
there are questions that need to be raised.
I understand it's not a simple black and
white, but the solution is not to shut
the door and lock it and go back
into your living room. The solution is not
to shut off the world around you. The
solution is to be brave and confront these
challenges, have discussions in public. The solution is
we have to understand if we do not
fight for our rights, nobody's gonna fight for
our rights. If we do not demonstrate visibly,
this is our land, our society, our culture,
if we do not get involved a part
of the process, well then, don't be surprised
when they come trying to burn your masjid
down as is happening right now in multiple
European countries. This is our land, and there's
nothing wrong with claiming this. Any interpretation of
Islam that says it is haram, I'm sorry.
This is not the time to deconstruct theologically.
You're simply incorrect. I'm telling you you're incorrect,
and let's have a dialogue, bring your evidences,
I'll bring mine. And this is a very
minority opinion, but it is unfortunately a loud
one. And because they're so harsh, anybody who
doesn't agree is a kafar or is a
deviant, because they're so loud, people think it's
a majority. No wallahi, the majority of ulama,
the majority of interpretations, the majority
of strands of Islam, they all understand.
Are paying our taxes in this land. In
the end of the day, we take all
the perks that the government gives us. In
the end of the day, if we're in
a foreign land and we are mistreated, we
pull our passport out. I'm an American, you
cannot mistreat me. All of this is fine.
But then all of a sudden, just when
it comes to voting, just when it comes
to being a part of the process, oh,
it is haram brother and sister. No. Why
is it that living here is not haram?
Why is it that you paying your taxes
is not haram? Why is it that you
claiming your identity in everything that you do
is permissible? And in the one aspect where
you have the right to influence, where you
have the right to be a part of
the process, all of a sudden religious misunderstanding
comes. No, it is high time. We call
it out and we say this is incorrect.
I'm not doubting their sincerity. I'm not doubting
their taqwa, but I am doubting their understanding
of the classical tradition and their understanding of
the modern world. Times are difficult. And when
times get difficult,
broader society
likes to choose scapegoats. This is human nature,
and we have been chosen as a scapegoat
in Europe and in America. This is human
nature psychology. We have been chosen as the
scapegoat. It is what it is. If you
let
that continue and you do not stand up
and you do not fight back with every
single fiber of your being, then it will
get from bad to worse. World War 2
and what happened at that time is literally
1 generation away. The the rounding up of
the Japanese Americans, those people are still alive
here. What Hitler did, it's something you can
see historically.
We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. And
unfortunately, the way their rhetoric is going, Europe
now Nazism is banned. But the same rhetoric
when used against Muslims, politicians are doing it.
Please, brothers and sisters, for the love of
God and then the love of your children,
wake up. You have Nazis in Congress in
European lands, literally Nazis, but not against the
Jewish people, against Muslims. You have literally people
that are saying, we should ex we should
expel every single Muslim. And they're literally veiling
their threats and saying, if they're not gonna
toe the party line, well then, tough luck,
we have to fight for survival. They're using
language of genocide. Right now, it's not explicit.
If you don't stop it right now, if
you don't stand up and realize it is
our future at stake, then don't be surprised
if 5, 10, 20 years things might get
from bad to worse. Alhamdulillah, in America it's
not yet that bad. But as I have
said multiple times, one of our issues, our
percentages are too small. We're only 1%. Whereas
in Europe, 10, 15, 20%. If they can
do it in Europe, well then, subhanAllah, we
had better be at the forefront. So brothers
and sisters, please understand the world is a
very difficult place. It's a very
evil place. But our religion teaches us. The
Quran teaches us. The seerah teaches us. We
get involved in the broader public. We speak
the truth. We are visible. Our akhlaq must
be the loudest form of da'wah. You have
to show people the beauty of our faith.
You cannot be ashamed to be Muslim. Everybody
in your circle of friends needs to see
the beauty of Islam in your actions. If
every one of us did this, then all
the propaganda of Fox News would fall on
deaf ears. Every politician who foments hatred, your
friends and colleagues would not even think of
Islam if they know you to be a
loving, peaceful,
a person of good akhlaa. And again, going
back to the Seerah. Why do you think
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam for 40 years?
Why do you think he was called asadaqalalameen?
Why do you think the truthful one, the
honest one? Because when people know you to
be truthful, honest, compassionate,
kind, all of a sudden the whole
demographics changes, the whole reality changes. So I
go back to where I began. Yes, there
are many fitnas and trials. Yes, there's a
lot of evil taking place, but every one
of us has a role to play. And
the primary role that we need to play
in our circle of influence amongst our colleagues
and friends,
the reputation of Islam
needs to be beautiful. How will they be
beautiful? Not by academic argumentation,
not by deconstructing the theology of
sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Go back to this hadith.
If you want to meet Allah on a
clean slate,
worship Allah from the bottom of your heart
and treat people the way you want to
be treated. This is the religion of Islam.
Everything else is commentary. May Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala allow us to live up to these
ideals.
Allahumma lataafhariyomaythembanillagafarta
walahhammanillafarachta
waladaynanillaqadayna
walamareedanillashafayta
walaasearanillayasarta
We've had the request for Dua for sick
and also for those that have passed away.
So we have, brother Khurram, his father,
is sick, brother Abu Yusuf. And we have
brother Ahmed Khaled Neshawi who has an open
heart surgery and others that have requested dua
for their sick. So we make dua for
them.
Oh, Allah, cure all of our sick, oh,
Allah, and grant them a speedy recovery.
We've also had requests for a number of
people whose relatives have passed away.
In particular,
sister Rashida Akhtar,
the wife of brother, Akhtar Hussain has passed
away in India. In Nalillahi wa nayi rajiroon.
Allamu fillahi waarhamha waafiha waafu