Zia Sheikh – Jumuah Islamic Perspective in Welcoming Refugee 232017
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Allah is the
Greatest, Allah is the Greatest
I bear witness that there is none worthy
of worship except Allah I bear witness
that there is none worthy
of worship except Allah I
bear witness that Muhammad is
the Messenger of Allah Come
to Prayer Come
to success There is none worthy of worship
except Allah I
don't know if this is my imagination, but
it seems like the crowd today is very
less.
Is it because of any kind of fear
or some fear of violence or some fear
of any kind of attack on us?
I don't know.
But this is not the attitude that we're
supposed to have.
We're supposed to be optimistic, confident, and whenever
death is written for us, it is written
for us.
We cannot run from it.
So when we see these kinds of situations
and tension in the air, we should not
regard this as a means for us running
or hiding or escaping.
We should be facing everything with confidence and
optimism and not running away.
So in any case, the thing that is
being discussed in the news nowadays is this
issue of immigration and the welcoming or not
welcoming of refugees.
So today's khutbah will be, inshallah, about the
history of refugees in Islam and what Islam
says about them, and in addition to that,
the American history of refugees and what has
been going on over the past couple of
centuries regarding the issue of refugees.
So I recited a couple of verses for
you right at the beginning, in which Allah
SWT, He first of all declares that Arabic
Allah SWT declares about the Arabic meaning the
people that were before us and they were
our predecessors and they were basically gathered into
two groups, the Muhajireen and Ansar.
The habit of people has always been that
the thing that people excelled at and the
thing that people were good at and they
were famous for that particular action, they continue
to be remembered for that particular action.
So for example, a famous soccer player, he
may have done a lot of good deeds
in his life and a lot of good
things in his life, charitable work and so
on, but he will always be known as
the famous soccer player.
The same thing with any basketball player.
Now when it comes to the Muhajireen and
Ansar, they were given this label and that
label stuck with them until the end of
time.
Allah SWT gave them the label of Muhajireen
and the label of the Ansar.
Why?
Because Allah SWT appreciated the action of Hijrah
and also appreciated the action of Nusrah that
took place.
The Hijrah basically, the people migrated, leaving their
homes, their wealth, their families and going to
a new place, starting a new life simply
to preserve their Deen.
Simply to preserve their Deen, they did the
Hijrah.
And in doing so, they got the appreciation
of Allah SWT.
The Ansar, they welcomed these Muhajireen, these people
that had left their homes and their wealth
and their families for the sake of Allah
SWT.
They welcomed them and Allah SWT was pleased
with them.
And not only that, Allah SWT says that
that Allah SWT left the door open until
the Day of Judgment, not simply for the
Muhajireen and Ansar, but anybody who follows in
the footsteps of the Muhajireen and Ansar and
does what they did.
Meaning, taking actions to preserve their Deen.
And even if needed to migrate for the
sake of the Deen.
And people who are migrating and leaving war
-torn lands and asking for refuge, to give
them the refuge, Allah SWT, He says that
you people will also be included amongst those
Muhajireen and Ansar that took the steps 1400
years ago.
This is an amazing thing that we should
never lose sight of.
And unfortunately what happens is also, even in
Muslim countries, when people see an influx of
refugees, there is some kind of resistance.
There is some kind of feeling that these
people are going to come, they're going to
come with crime, they're going to take away
our jobs and so on.
So, this is also found in Muslim countries,
that kind of attitude.
If only we could reflect upon this verse,
that Allah SWT has mentioned and told us,
that we can also be counted amongst the
Sahaba, amongst the people that did Hijrah from
Makkah to Medina and amongst the Ansar that
were welcoming and receiving the Muhajireen in Madinatul
Manawrah.
This is something that we should really reflect
upon and think about.
Allah SWT declares about both groups, Allah SWT
was pleased with them and they will be
pleased with Him.
Allah SWT has prepared for them Jannat, gardens,
underneath which rivers are flowing and they're going
to stay in those rivers forever and ever.
This is the biggest success.
So again, the Muhajireen that did Hijrah, the
Ansar that received them and welcomed them and
anyone that follows in their footsteps, Allah is
pleased with them and they will be pleased
with Allah SWT.
So, that is one aspect of what Islam
teaches about receiving refugees and welcoming them and
doing our best to make sure that they
are settled and they have no needs that
they could be yearning for.
In another verse of the Quran, Allah SWT
praises the Ansar.
In Surah Al-Hashr, Allah SWT says that
وَالَّذِينَ تَبَوَّأُوا الْدَارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ
هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِيدُونَ فِي سُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا
أُوتُوا وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمُ خَصَاصَةً
وَمَنْ يُوقَى شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala describes the Ansar and
says that those people that made their abode
in Medina Before them meaning before the Muhajireen
came to them يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ They
love the people that do hijra towards them.
They love the refugees They love the people
that come to them.
They show love and express love to them
and this love was expressed in so many
ways First and foremost the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
He did what's known as a very unique
thing, which was Muakhat Muakhat بين المهاجرين والانصار
A Muhajir came and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam made him the brother of One
of the Ansar and this Ansari was supposed
to take care of him So much so
that it got to a point where many
people they had businesses or houses A person
who had two houses.
He said I'm going to empty out and
vacate a house for you.
You can take that house I have a
business.
You can have half of the share of
the business and So on and so forth.
So this was the level of sacrifices the
Ansar made So يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ They
truly loved those people that did hijra towards
them وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِى صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا
And they have no No feeling in their
heart.
They have no ulterior motive in giving the
refugees Any kind of assistance?
They don't want anything from the Baytul Mal
because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he
distributed spoils and he distributed wealth and Sometimes
he deprived the Ansar because they were already
well off and they had the need things
that they needed Whereas the Muhajireen they sometimes
used to come empty-handed So when this
distribution used to take place the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam gave to those that were
the Muhajireen and not the Ansar and the
Ansar did not have any kind of resistance
towards it or Any kind of intolerance towards
this attitude of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam They said that whatever the Muhajireen are
getting they are deserving of it and they
should get it and we have no need
for this this distribution of wealth وَيُؤْفِرُونَ عَلَىٰ
أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةً And they gave
priority to others over themselves Even though they
themselves were in dire need sometimes and there's
a story actually behind this.
It's a narrated by Abu Huraira r.a
جاء رجل إلى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم
يضيفه فلم يكن عنده ما يضيفه ما يضيفه
فقال ألا رجل يضيف هذا رحمه الله A
man came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam So that he could be his guest
for the night The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam had nothing to give him and he
announced amongst the community That is there any
man who can become the host of this
person?
So a person فقام رجل من الأنصار يقال
له أبو طلحة A person whose name was
Abu Talha He stood up and he said
that I will be the person that will
take him in فانطلق به إلى رحلي He
took him to his abode فقال لمرأته أكرم
ضيف رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم He
said to his wife take care of the
guest of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
And what did the wife say that we
have nothing in the house except for food
for the kids so He told her that
No, we mean a Sabiha that you should
put the kids to sleep.
Well, I'll feel miss Bach and Turn off
the lamp, you know fiddle with the lamp
pretending to adjust it and turn it off
Well, I really be and make a taquilina
ma'a and Make him think that you
are eating with him put the food in
front of him Let him eat and you
make the action as if you are eating
with him.
Whereas you are not eating anything What will
be he leave a few Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam and leave the food for the
guest of the Prophet The pilot she did
that for Nazareth for you If you run
out of pussy him well I'll kind of
even closer this portion of the verse was
revealed because of the action of this man
I will tell her and his wife When
the man came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam the next morning The Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam said that Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala appreciated your action from last night And
he revealed this verse where you feel runa
Allah and pussy him Well, I've got a
behemoth awesome Well, man, you've got your honesty
for all I go home I'm on my
phone the person who is saved from the
shock of his nuts The shock shock in
Arabic refers to a combination of stinginess and
greed so if a person is Saved from
this kind of attitude of stinginess and greed
the Prophet Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says that
those people are successful So this is again
and then an attitude of a person who
has nothing to eat for himself Only enough
food for his kids and yet he even
sacrificed that so that he could treat his
guests properly so where do we stand when
it comes to taking care of the people
that are coming to us and We see
also in the seerah of the Sahaba That
when they went to Medina they contributed positively
to the society They contributed positively to society.
For example, most of them were made with
Allah Ta'ala and who he was sent
by the Prophet alayhi salatu salam early on
before the actual Hijrah took place and most
of them a mayor Was a young man
who?
Learned how to read the Quran and he
taught the people how to read the Quran
and salat and all of these things Before
the people made hijrah So people these people
are refugees when they come to countries They
can make positive contributions to the society and
we saw that during the time of the
Prophet alayhi salatu salam so we should not
feel any kind of Hesitation in receiving and
welcoming such people and we also see in
the seerah of the Prophet alayhi salatu salam
That the only people that had any problem
with the muhajireen was the munafiqeen The hypocrites
of the time they had the biggest problem
with the muhajireen and particularly with the Prophet
alayhi salatu salam because these people they held
leadership positions in Medina before the hijrah of
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and when
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam migrated they
became they pushed to the side and When
they were pushed to the side then their
leadership was gone and now the Prophet alayhi
salatu salam was the leader so they had
a lot of resentment against the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam for For for that position
that he had so these were the only
people that had a problem with the muhajireen
and again We do not want to be
categorized amongst those people amongst the munafiqeen.
May Allah protect us from that Now going
on to the issue of the history of
refugees in this country This country has always
received refugees and there has always been resistance
to the refugees too if we look in
the 19th century 1848 Europe saw a lot
of turmoil taking place there were uprisings and
revolutions taking place in addition to that in
Ireland Plague sort of Resulted in the whole
of the potato crop being destroyed which became
known as the potato famine And when that
happened a lot of these people from Europe
and Ireland came to this country but both
of these events they They Resulted in persecution
for the refugees when they came and it
only and not only that it resulted in
a group a political group that advanced that
were known as know-nothing the know-nothing
group and their their motto their slogan was
America first and They resisted this migration of
people coming in from Europe and Ireland in
1845 it is mentioned that more than three
million people came to the American shores Three
million people came to the American shores in
1845 and again they exerted an immediate impact
on American life Institutions and they transformed cities
across the Northeast bringing a new wave of
You know nationalism, which like I said was
the Anti-immigration movement called the know-nothing
movement which later on died out But again
in the late 1930s when the Nazism was
rising and people Were polled as to whether
the Jewish people should be allowed into this
country or not amazingly 67% 67%
of people opposed taking in 10,000 refugee
children from Germany 67 people opposed Refugee children
coming to this country from Germany that were
the victim the victims of Nazis So again,
we see again and again history speaks for
itself that there was always resistance in 1975
when there was a crisis in Vietnam and
Vietnamese people were coming across in boats.
They were known then as the boat people
62% said that they feared that the
Vietnamese refugees would take their jobs and Four
years later just as many people they said
that they didn't want to admit that boat
people into the country from Vietnam The same
thing happened in the 1980s against the Cubans
the same thing happens to the Haitians in
the 1990s And again, the same thing applies
to what is going on in this day
and age But if we look at it
those same people that came the Irish came
and they made a place for themselves in
American history And they are an accepted part
of American society.
You have st.
Patrick's Day's parades going on every single year
and Many people are very proud of themselves
that they are Irish Americans amongst them the
speaker of the house Paul Ryan he comes
from an Irish American background and Then the
Jewish people despite the initial resistance they made
a place for them in society so much
so that they have a lot of pull
in the government and they have a lot
of positions in government lobbying and Many of
the politicians are actually Jewish people So again,
we see that we should not take this
resistance to refugees as something that we cannot
overcome People overcame it they became part and
parcel of the fabric of this society and
we should also understand that if we Resist
these difficulties and we are optimistic and we
work hard.
Inshallah.
Inshallah we will see that the Muslim refugees
will become and be understood as being part
of the fabric of American society and Inshallah,
there's nothing to be negative or pessimistic about
I pray that Allah SWT gives us the
feet to understand and practice Just a few
announcements firstly, please contribute as much as you
can to the expenses the increased security to
the masjid and Increased police presence outside has
resulted in more bills for the masjid So,
please try your best to give at least
$20.
Inshallah the daily cost of the security is
approximately $250 per day For two security guards
that are there every single night and In
addition, we've doubled up the police presence on
Friday We usually give them $450 and because
of doubling up the present presence We have
to give $900 just for the police presence
today So we really want the community to
step up and and be part of inshallah
these costs that are Incurred because of the
increased security and obviously the day-to-day
bills need to be paid.
So please do Contribute generously the welcome refugees
compassion day is tomorrow from 11 a.m.
To 7 p.m Okay in the masjid
tomorrow the refugees are going to be welcomed
and you are requested to come and be
part of that welcoming try to bring food
and Anything that you can assist with inshallah
try to do that see no redeem if
you can assist with anything tonight we have
Know-your-rights session, which is going to
be held by Sister Aaliyah Salim and an
immigration attorney, which is going to be today
after Salatul Isha basically a lot of immigration
issues taking place everybody is kind of confused
as to what should be done and Whether
we should be afraid to travel or not.
So inshallah if you need to know anything,
please come tonight after Salatul Isha Also, there's
going to be an annual prison volunteer training
Tomorrow at 930 a.m. To 4 p
.m basically, if you want to be part
of giving dawah in prisons teaching in prisons
the Dawah committee has openings for that and
inshallah you need to get training for it
Because there's a lot of ins and outs
that people are unaware of security issues and
so on So 930 a.m. To 4
p.m. Tomorrow inshallah at ICI, please try
to come it's going to be in room
210 I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness
for me and for you and for the
rest of the muslims So ask Allah's forgiveness
for me and for you and for the
rest of the muslims I say
this and ask Allah's forgiveness for me and
for you and for the rest of the
muslims