Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 1 & 2
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That the same Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
that sent your Prophets, Isa a.s, Musa
a.s, and the rest of the Prophets,
this Prophet is from that same batch of
Prophets.
It's not that he is bringing anything different,
but he is bringing exactly the same message
that those Prophets a.s brought.
So this was one thing.
And then after that, when the Tahweel-ul
-Qiblah took place, and it turned to the
Kaaba, the indication for these previous nations was
that now the Qiblah has changed from Bayt
-ul-Muqaddas to Kaaba.
And the message that is being given, the
subliminal message if you will, is that the
Anbiya a.s and the Prophethood that used
to be in Jerusalem, that has now changed
and Prophethood has emerged from the area of
the Kaaba, which was obviously the birth of
our beloved Prophet s.a.w. So this
issue of changing the Qiblah, this was something
that the Prophet a.s wanted.
It was something that he was inclined towards,
he wanted to face the Kaaba.
And that's why in Ayat that come later
on, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes, قَدْ
نَرَى تَقَلُّقَ وَجْهِكَ فِي السَّمَاءِ We see your
face changing, facing the sky and turning to
the sky again and again, waiting for the
Wahi, the revelation to come down, the command
to come down, that when is the Qiblah
going to change.
So ultimately it was changed and we now,
from that point on, we face the Kaaba.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this
verse says, سَيَقُولُ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَ النَّاسِ مَا وَلَّاهُمْ
عَنْ قِبْلَتِهُمُ الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا The foolish people
are going to say that what made them
change the Qiblah from the Qiblah that they
were facing.
So this objection was found at the time
of the Prophet s.a.w. and this
objection is found to this day.
So what made them change the Qiblah from
Baytul Muqaddas to the Kaaba?
So the accusation is, doesn't Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala make up his mind?
How come he is chopping and changing and
flip-flopping?
Why not just one thing and stick with
it?
So this is the question, this is the
accusation and this answer is being given in
this verse.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, قُلْ
لِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ Tell them that the Mashriq
and Maghrib, the East and the West, it
belongs to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It is whatever He wants you to do,
whatever He commands you to do, this is
up to Him.
And if He commands you to face the
North or the South, that's up to Him.
If He tells you to face East or
West, that's up to Him.
This is entirely the will of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not fixed
to a location.
Wherever you face, اَيْنَ مَا تَوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ
اللَّهِ Wherever you face, you will be facing
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the direction of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So the fact that He has told you
to face in one direction, this is simply
to see who would follow the command.
And this is also mentioned in the next
ayah.
وَمَا جَعَلْنَا الْقِبْلَةَ الَّتِي كُنْتَ عَلَيْهَا إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ
مَن يَتَّبِي الرَّسُولِ مِمَّن يَنقَلِهُ عَلَىٰ قِبَيْهِ We
didn't change the Qibla except for one reason.
To see those people who would follow the
Prophet and those people that would turn their
heels and just run away and not obey
the Prophet a.s. And we can actually
take this same principle in every single thing
that we do.
Many people they have objections to things that
we do.
Like for example, why do we pray a
certain way?
Why do we make two sajdahs?
Why not three sajdahs?
Why not two rukus?
Why not four rakahs in Fajr?
Why not eight rakahs in Fajr?
Why not six rakahs in Zuhr?
Why specific things that Allah s.w.t.
has highlighted for us?
Why do we have to make wudu the
certain way that we do?
If we have basically gone to the bathroom
and done istinja properly, we've cleaned ourselves.
Why do we need to now wash our
face and our feet and our hands?
Why do we need to do that in
a certain way?
The answer to that question is basically this
is a command of Allah s.w.t.
and we accept it.
There is no other reasoning behind it.
So the same way that Allah s.w
.t. told us to change the Qibla from
Baitul Muqaddas to the Kaaba, He has given
us all of these commands and the abd,
the slave of Allah s.w.t., the
one who obeys Him, is the one who
accepts these things.
If He tells us to face the Qibla,
it's His command.
If He tells us to perform two sajdahs
in every rakah, it's His command.
If He tells us to perform wudu a
certain way, it's His command.
So we take, we accept and we obey.
This is the first thing.
Now the objections that many people have about
why we face a cubical building which is
in a certain direction.
Well firstly, we do not face the exact
direction if we are far away from it.
We are facing the general direction of the
Kaaba.
This is scientifically impossible to be in such
a direction that our face is completely and
100% towards the actual building of the
Kaaba.
It's scientifically impossible.
We have the curvature of the earth and
we have the distance between us and the
Kaaba.
So the Fiqh ruling is actually that we
face in the general direction.
So from this country, the general direction or
the closest direction of the Kaaba is the
northeast.
So that's why we face in that direction.
Only when you are in the Haram itself
is when you would face the actual Kaaba.
If you are going for Hajj or Umrah,
remember this very important rule.
That when you are in the Haram and
you can see the Kaaba, you have to
face the exact Kaaba.
And it's very easy to be kind of,
you know, face a different direction if you
are not very careful.
And if you do not face the correct
direction, your Salat could be invalid.
So you have to make sure that you
are facing the exact direction of the Kaaba
while you are in the Haram.
Outside of the Haram, the rule is that
you face the general direction of the area
and that is sufficient for you.
So the question is, why then are you
facing this building and praying towards it?
It looks just like idolatry or paganism.
The answer to that question is, this is
not idolatry, it's not paganism.
It's not facing, it's not worshipping the building
itself.
In fact, the rule is that if you
are facing the building, there are two things
you can say.
That if we are facing the building, God
forbid, last time of our life, the Kaaba
fell down or it was destroyed for some
reason.
Do we stop facing that direction?
No, we don't.
We still face the direction even if the
Kaaba was not there.
And in the case of idolatry, if the
idol is moved, then you would face in
the direction of the idol.
So if the Kaaba was moved to a
different direction, would we turn our direction and
face the Kaaba?
We would not.
We would still face in the same direction
and whatever place that the Kaaba is put,
that becomes irrelevant.
It's not an issue anymore.
You still face the Qibla.
So this is one thing.
So then why is it that everybody faces
in that direction?
It is for the sake of unity, unifying
ourselves.
We all come from different backgrounds, different colours,
different languages, different financial statuses.
So there are things that we cannot help
when it comes to the things that we
are born with or the things that Allah
SWT has decreed for us in terms of
our Rizq.
So these things are out of our hands.
We cannot help them.
So we cannot unify on the basis of
colour, skin colour.
We cannot unify on the basis of language.
We cannot unify on the basis of culture.
Because the Ummah, it comes from all different
backgrounds.
So Allah SWT wanted to unify us on
this very important principle of facing in one
direction.
This is the reason that we are facing
the Kaaba, to unify us in this very
particular way, in this very unique way.
All the rest of the things that I
mentioned, the colour, the language, the different methods
of dress, there is no Shari'i ruling
on basically unifying ourselves in such a way
that we wear certain clothes or we must
speak a certain language to be a Muslim
or we must eat a certain type of
cuisine to be a Muslim.
In fact, the fact that we have so
much variety in Ummah is something that is
beautiful.
It is one of the unique things of
this Ummah that we have these different backgrounds
and these different cultures that Islam didn't stamp
out unless and until it went against the
principles, the core principles of Islam.
So what Allah SWT did unify us with
was this very important principle of facing in
one direction, the direction of the Qibla.
The next Ayah, it actually talks about this
Ummah.
And remember the Tahweel al-Qibla took place
from Bayt al-Muqaddas which was held in
high esteem by the previous nations, the Jews
and the Christians.
Allah SWT says in this verse, وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ
أُمَّةً وَسَطًى We have made you into a
medium nation, a nation that treads the middle
path.
It doesn't go to extremes.
So the previous nations, they were guilty of
Ifrat and Tafrit, going to extremes either way.
The Jews were guilty of disrespecting and dishonoring
the Anbiya a.s. And the Christians, they
revered and elevated Isa a.s. all the
way to being the son of God and
even Na'udhu Billah, God himself.
So Allah SWT takes us away from that
Ifrat and Tafrit and tells us that you
are the middle nation.
You don't go to these extremes.
You love and respect the Prophet in a
way that does not take him into being
divine.
But you do not disrespect him just like
the Jews did.
And in all aspects of life, we have
to adopt the middle path.
In our finances, in our dealings with people,
in our practicing of the religion.
There are no extremes that we should be
adopting.
And then on top of that Allah SWT
tells us about the honor that we are
going to get on the Day of Judgment.
لِتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِدًا
So that on the Day of Judgment, you
are going to be witnesses against the people.
And the Prophet SAW is going to testify
on your behalf.
So Allah SWT is going to question, for
example, the people of Nuh AS, the people
of Hud AS, the people of Salih AS.
Did the Prophet come to you or not?
Were you given the message or not?
And they will say, no, we didn't get
a message.
The Prophet didn't come to us.
We didn't know what to do.
So Allah SWT is going to call us.
And we are going to be the witnesses
on the Day of Judgment against those people.
No, a Prophet did come to these people.
The message was given.
How do we know?
Because Allah SWT, you told us in our
Quran.
And then the Prophet SAW is going to
testify on our behalf that yes, my Ummah
is telling the truth.
My Ummah, whom you Allah SWT has called
as a witness, they are telling the truth.
You gave them the message.
And they are saying exactly what happened in
terms of the Prophet coming.
And this testimony is valid.
So this is an honor that will be
given to this Ummah.
Among the many different and unique things that
are specific to this Ummah.
That inshallah that will come up from time
to time in various portions of the Quran.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what has been said
and heard.
Ameen.