Zia Sheikh – Unity of the Community Jumuah 3242017
AI: Summary ©
The importance of unity as an um reportability is discussed, including its benefits in various situations such as praying in a Bible-led church, reducing mistakes, and becoming recognized. The success of praying in a church for its success is also highlighted, with the potential for blessings and the potential for mistakes. The importance of praying in a church for its success is emphasized, along with the need for unity and love between individuals. The speaker also emphasizes the need to focus on unity and strengthen love and affection between brothers and sisters, while protecting the religion of Islam and being a good listener to the Prophet's words.
AI: Summary ©
I bear witness that there is none
worthy of worship except Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger
of Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah.
Come to Prayer My
dear respected elders, brothers and sisters, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, he made us into an
ummah which is supposed to be united.
And one of the key factors of this
ummah, its uniqueness of this ummah, and its
difference to other nations is the unity that
this ummah has above other nations.
And there are so many classic examples of
this that we can focus on and try
to understand that unity from the things that
we experience as an ummah, as Muslims, on
a day-to-day basis, on a month
-to-month basis, on a year-to-year
basis.
For example, one of the unique things about
this ummah is the month of Ramadan.
And the month of Ramadan is practiced worldwide
by all Muslims, regardless of wherever we are
in the globe, and it is done in
a united fashion.
Yes, give or take a day because of
the differences of opinion on the moon sighting,
local or global and so on.
And we even have an issue with that
and we complain about that.
But for the most part, the Muslims are
unanimously and unitedly fasting in the month of
Ramadan globally.
Globally they are doing it.
And at the same time you have the
month of Hajj, Dhul Hijjah, in which collectively
people come from all different parts of the
world and millions of them collectively are doing
the actions of Hajj and thereby are pleasing
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by doing those
things in unison, in unity and doing them
together.
So these are big examples of how the
ummah, it is united in so many different
ways.
And at the same time, on the day
of Arafah, when all the hujjaj are standing
and beseeching Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, making
dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
asking for forgiveness and asking for good for
the ummah and asking for good of the
family, people worldwide are fasting, fasting on the
day of Arafah, the Nafl fast, to remind
themselves of what the hujjaj are doing and
to basically be at one, to unite their
hearts with the hujjaj that are standing on
the plains of Arafah and making dua to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So again this is another example of the
unity of the ummah and how close we
are as an ummah.
And then on a local level, in a
masjid level, the best things that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala likes are those things which
are done in unity and together.
Like the congregational prayer, we've all heard from
childhood that when a person prays in congregation,
he prays with the jama'ah, the reward
is multiplied 25 to 27 times more than
if a person is praying individually at home.
And on top of that, it can even
vary and increase depending on different situations and
different scenarios.
There are hadith which talk about the jama
'ah, the congregation of two people being better
than four people individually.
And then the congregation jama'ah of four
people being better than eight people individually and
so on.
Also there are hadith that talk about the
importance of collectively eating because that becomes a
source of barakah.
The more people eat in one plate, it
increases the barakah to such a degree that
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the
food of two people is sufficient for four
people.
And the food of four people is sufficient
for eight people.
So collectively doing these things, it increases the
barakah and increases the blessing within that action
that is being done.
One of the side benefits of praying in
congregation is that individually a person may be
making mistakes in his salat.
And when he makes those mistakes in the
salat and he's praying individually, not realizing the
mistakes that he's making, there's a high possibility
or probability that that salat is not being
accepted by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because
it is lacking the very basic arkaan of
the salat that a person is supposed to
be implementing.
Or he's making such a grave mistake in
his salat that because of that the salat
is being nullified and being voided.
But when a person prays in congregation, his
mistakes that he makes behind the imam are
overlooked.
And because of the barakah and the blessing
of being in that united jamaah and the
congregation, his salat will become accepted because of
the mere reason, because of the fact that
he chose to pray the salat in jamaah.
So we can give so many different examples
of the blessing of unity and the blessing
of doing things together.
And basically today's khutbah is about the importance
of the unity itself.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he tells us
in the Quran, Hold fast to the rope
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala together and
do not differentiate.
And the Prophet a.s. he said, The
hand of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
upon the jamaah, meaning the assistance of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is with the jamaah,
with the congregation and things which are done
collectively.
This help and assistance is with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
According to another hadith of the Prophet a
.s. he said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is pleased with three things for you and
he dislikes three things for you.
What are the three things?
That you should worship him and you should
not commit any kind of shirk with him.
And you should hold fast to the rope
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you
should not differentiate.
And he dislikes for you, And he dislikes
for you, He dislikes for you, Basically means
that getting involved in pointless discussions.
Pointless discussions that have no head or toe
and they are basically going nowhere.
They have no worldly benefit or benefit of
the hereafter.
These pointless discussions rather like what you see
on the news organizations nowadays.
They are basically taking one subject and spinning
it and going round and round and round
that same subject without any kind of end
to that subject.
The other thing that the Prophet a.s.
he said that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
dislikes is Increasing and asking questions which are
pointless.
As the Bani Israel used to do to
Musa a.s. And because of that they
got into trouble.
We all know the story of the cow
which is mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah.
I won't go into that.
But is again forbidden in Islam.
And the point is that as Muslims when
we are told that a certain thing is
Halal, We should accept it.
Obviously when that information is coming from a
scholar and a person who is an authority.
And if a person is saying that something
is Haram, we should accept it.
Especially when that ruling is coming from an
authority.
And when we are told that there is
a grey area and there is Garaha or
it is permissible.
Then we should accept that also when it
is coming from an authority.
But to question these rulings especially when they
are coming from authorities is disliked by Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And again it leads to divisions and it
leads to disunity within the community when these
kinds of questions are put.
And finally the last thing that is mentioned
in this hadith that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala dislikes is Ida'atul Mal.
Which means to waste the wealth which we
are seeing unfortunately mainly in our Muslim countries.
We see so much wealth being wasted on
pointless pursuits on firework displays in the new
year.
And trying to appease non-Muslims which are
living around in that particular area.
So Ida'atul Mal, the waste of wealth
is something that is disliked by Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
What is the rope of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala that is mentioned in the ayah
which I recited?
hold fast to the rope of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and do not differentiate.
What is that rope?
It is mentioned that Ibn Masud r.a,
he said that while giving khutbah, he said
hold fast to the obedience of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and hold fast to the
jama'ah meaning the community that is the
rope of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
he is ordering you about.
The thing that he is ordering you is
number one to be obedient to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and number two to hold
fast to the community, to hold fast to
the people around you and to maintain unity.
That is what you should try to maintain.
One of the biggest things that has occurred
in the last few years is what has
become known as the Arab Spring in which
many people they decided to topple their dictators
and of course the dictators doing what they've
done for years and decades they have always
done wrong and oppressed.
But Islamically to prevent this kind of discord
and to prevent things like what happened in
Syria the Prophet a.s. even used to
discourage people from revolting against their rulers.
It is mentioned that Ibn Abbas r.a
said when he was asked by a person
named Samak ibn Walid al-Hanafi What
do you think about those kings and those
rulers that are oppressing us?
They curse us and they transgress against us
and they transgress against us especially in our
Sadaqat, in our charities.
Should we not prevent them?
So he said La, do not prevent them.
Ati'hum, al-jama'a, al-jama'a.
Obey them, hold fast to the jama'a,
hold fast to the jama'a, hold fast
to unity.
He says that those nations that came before
you, they were destroyed because of their tafarruq,
because of their descent, because of their separation.
He said, do you not hear the saying
of Allah s.w.t Hold fast to
the rope of Allah s.w.t and
do not differentiate.
So there are many many hadith that talk
about this type of unity.
So what kind of things are the things
that make a person differentiate with somebody else?
There are many things and on top of
them is the thing which is most prominent
in this day and age and always comes
to the forefront even amongst non-Muslim circles.
It is the issue of race.
If anybody would have had any kind of
superiority over anybody else, it would have been
the Arabs over the non-Arabs.
But the Prophet s.w.t, he closed
the door to that kind of thinking in
his khutbah al-wada'.
When he gave his khutbah, what did he
say?
A very beautiful statement which echoes in khutbahs
throughout the world ever since the Prophet s
.w.t said it.
He said, There
is no superiority of an Arab over a
non-Arab except through taqwa.
And there is no superiority for a non
-Arab over an Arab except through taqwa.
So simply the fact that you speak a
language, even if it is the language of
the Quran, even if it is the language
of the hadith, even if it is the
language of the Prophet s.w.t, does
not make a person superior to somebody else
except through taqwa.
And then in that same khutbah, the Prophet
s.w.t mentioned the issue of the
color of the skin and making sure, especially
the slaves.
He said, guard your salat, guard your salat
and what your right hands possess.
Meaning, take care of what your right hands
possess.
Take care of the slaves that are under
your control.
Do not basically do dhulm upon them.
And in most cases, most of these people
were from African countries, from Ethiopia and so
on.
So the Prophet s.w.t emphasized this
point and he focused upon the issue of
color.
The issue of what is the next thing
that people have that differentiates and creates divisions
between people is financial status.
And unfortunately in this country we have that
more than in other places.
Even our localities and our school districts are
divided according to that division of financial status.
So the status quo and the level of
education for a certain segment of society remains
the same.
Those people remain backward.
They remain uneducated.
Why?
Because schools in certain districts in which poor
people are living, they do not get the
same assistance or funding as schools which are
in so-called rich districts.
And unfortunately you cannot take a person who
lives in a so-called poor district into
a school which is in a rich district
because all of these rules are determined by
zip codes.
So Islam does away with this issue of
financial status because Allah gives to whom He
wants and He takes away and tightens to
whom He wants.
Allah can take away the wealth at any
time.
We have seen that in so many situations,
so many occasions that the wealth of the
rich can be taken away.
Billionaires that used to hold many stocks, they
became penniless overnight because of the crash of
stock markets.
And we have seen that time and again.
And other reasons that take place because of
revolutions, because of wars, because of the deflation
of currencies and so on.
A person can lose his wealth overnight so
a person should never feel arrogant because of
wealth that Allah has given him.
People create divisions because of the Madhab that
they follow.
Because of the Madhab meaning the Fiqh Madhab
or the school of thought, people make differences
because of that.
And again we need to understand that the
differences that occur between the Madhab are not
differences of halal and haram and right and
wrong.
The majority of the differences are related to
better versus not better.
For example, the issue of Raful Yadain which
is the raising of the hands between the
Arkaan.
In Hanafi Fiqh, the Raful Yadain is not
done.
But other Madhab, the other three Madhab, they
do Raful Yadain between all of the Arkaan.
And each one has its proof.
But none of the Madhabs will say to
the other one that you are wrong and
this is right.
Rather they will say that this is better
because of such and such a proof.
And the Hanafis will say that this is
better because of such and such a proof.
So the majority of the things that are
differences or regarded as differences between the Madhab
are not actual differences.
They are simply differences of opinion based upon
or related to the issues of better versus
not better.
So we should each respect that difference.
And we need to understand and remember that
all of those four Imams or even more,
there are actually more schools of thought than
four.
They actually go back to the Quran and
the Sunnah and they derive the religion from
the Quran and the Sunnah.
Nobody takes the religion out of their pocket
and fabricates it.
It is actually from the Quran and the
Sunnah.
So the summary is my dear brothers and
sisters that unity within the community is a
very important thing.
And without unity, we cannot move forward.
There is a beautiful story that took place
in the time of the Prophet ﷺ and
I will finish with this.
The Prophet ﷺ used to make I'tikaf in
the Masjid during the month of Ramadan.
And the purpose of making I'tikaf was to
find Laylatul Qadr.
One day he emerged from the tent and
in front of him, two people were arguing
amongst each other.
And he said, he told the people that
I was informed by Allah that Laylatul Qadr
will take place on such and such a
night.
But when I saw these two people arguing,
that knowledge of when Laylatul Qadr occurs, it
was taken away from me.
I was made to forget it.
Now because of these two people that were
arguing in front of the Prophet ﷺ, the
whole Ummah has been deprived of knowing exactly
when Laylatul Qadr is until the Day of
Judgment.
You can imagine.
Okay, so we know or most people assume
that it's on the 27th night of Ramadan.
But this is not the case.
It could be on any one of the
last 10 nights of Ramadan.
And we need to search for it.
And that's the whole purpose of I'tikaf.
But going back to the point, if you
can imagine that just two people arguing have
deprived the Ummah of Khair until the Day
of Judgment and deprived us of the knowledge
of Laylatul Qadr until the Day of Judgment,
then what can we say about those communities
in which there is constant arguing and fighting
and bickering and court cases and police being
called to the Masajid.
What can we say about that?
Alhamdulillah, we don't have that in our community.
But this is something that we need to
be careful of and avoid for the future
because of the fact that Khair will be
removed from communities because of this kind of
dispute and these kinds of arguments.
So we need to focus on unity.
We need to focus on love and affection
between the brothers and sisters, regardless of where
we come from and what language we speak
and what financial status we have or what
Madhhab we follow.
We need to unite and we need to
increase the blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala by increasing our unity and love and
affection and brotherhood for each other.
I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gives us Tawfiq to understand and practice what
has been said and heard.
I say this and I ask Allah to
forgive me and you and the rest of
the Muslims.
So ask Him to forgive you.
He is the Most Forgiving and Merciful.
Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask His help,
we ask His forgiveness, we believe in Him
and we trust in Him.
And we seek refuge in Allah from the
evil of our souls and from the evil
of our deeds.
Whoever Allah guides, no one can misguide him,
and whoever He misguides, no one can guide
him.
And we bear witness that there is no
god but Allah, and there is no partner
for Him.
And we bear witness that our Master and
Master is Muhammad, His servant and Messenger.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Verily, Allah
and His angels pray to the Prophet.
O you who have believed, pray to him
and submit to him.
O Allah, pray to Muhammad and to the
family of Muhammad according to the number of
those who pray and fast.
O Allah, pray to Muhammad and to the
family of Muhammad according to the number of
those who sit and stand.
And pray to all the Prophets and Messengers.
And to the angels of nearness.
And to the righteous servants of Allah.
By Your mercy, O Most Merciful.
O Allah, honor Islam and Muslims.
O Allah, humiliate polytheists and polytheists.
O Allah, help Islam and Muslims.
O Allah, help those who helped the religion
of Muhammad, peace be upon him, and make
us from them.
And take away those who have forsaken the
religion of Muhammad, peace be upon him, and
do not make us with them.
O Allah, help us and do not help
us.
O Allah, cheat us and do not cheat
us.
O Allah, increase us and do not decrease
us.
O Allah, give us and do not deny
us.
O Allah, our Lord, give us a good
life, and a good hereafter.
And protect us from the punishment of the
Fire.
And admit us into Paradise with the righteous.
Ya Aziz, Ya Ghaffar, Ameen Ya Rabbil Alameen,
Ameen Ya Rabbil Alameen Inna Allah Ya'muru Bil
Adli Wa Al Ihsan Wa Eta Ithi Al
Qurba Wa Inha Ani Al Fahsha'i Wa
Al Munkari Wa Al Baaghi Ya'idhukum La
'allakum Tadhakkaroon Udhkuru Allaha La'Aliya Al Jaleeli
Yadhkurukum Wa Ad'uhu Yastajib Lakum Wa La
Dhikru Allahi Ta'ala A'ala Wa Aula
Wa Akbar Wa Allah Ya'Alamu Ma Tasna
'oon Wa Aqeemu As Salaam