- Sermons
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- Friday Sermons
The first khutba:
The distribution of fortunes in this life is a trial:
Dear brother, we know for sure that to Allah man ranks first among His creatures and that it is so because He says:
“We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it.”
When man accepted the Trust offered by Allah, he was given its constituents, which are: reason, soul, method, lust, freedom and many other things –components of this choice. Actually, it is due to a profound wisdom that Allah has created among his servants the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the handsome and the ugly. There is also a profound wisdom in the differences between people’s fortunes in this life, whether good or bad, and this fact is an indication that in this way man is tested. Thus, it is part of Allah's test that He withholds or gives man money, beauty, or strength. Therefore, the earthly life is a seat of trials not of equality, and it is a seat of grief not of joy, and he who knows it will never rejoice over his well-being or grieve over his misery.
Allah made this life a seat of tests while the Hereafter is the seat of rewards, and He made earthly affliction a reason for the Gifts of the Hereafter, which are a substitute for the sorrows of this life. Thus, He gives to take, and tests to reward.
Hence, in our lives we can see that there are strong and weak people, and the strong person is being tested. Did he control his strength? Did he abide Allah’s Path when using it? Did he use it for the sake of doing good whose effects will last forever and ever? Or did he utilize it to satisfy his lusts and desires?
Thus, a strong man is tested for his strength, and if man was given money, he will be tested for it. Did he spend it on the poor and the needy or on his desires and pleasures? Anything, such as high position, knowledge, or any other gift Allah has bestowed on you, will be a matter of test, and anything you have been denied becomes a test for you, thus in some supplications we say:
"O Allah! Just as You have bestowed on me that which I love, make it a source of help to me in fulfilling all that which You love. O Allah! Make whatever You have kept away from me of the things which I love a source of freedom for me, so that I may be able to fulfill all that which You love."
The true and lasting strength is obtained only from Allah:
Dear brother, if we were to talk in this meeting of ours about power, we would say that Allah the Almighty is the only Powerful One and no one else is. Every power on earth, of whichever kind, derives from the Power of Allah only, Who uses it according to His Profound Wisdom either for support at one go or for bringing it about gradually, and he knows it whoever knows it and he ignores it whoever ignores it.
The minute you think you are powerful and that you owe this power to yourself, you fall into a dangerous trap, whereas when you realize you are weak and own nothing, you should know that thanks to Allah you are strong and wise. Thus, we can conclude that he who thinks he is powerful and believes he has all the means of power, may lose them all in a day; and he who thinks he is weak and owns no means of strength, may come to have them in a day. This is because Allah is the Powerful One and every man who wants to be powerful should gain his power from Allah the Almighty. He says:
“Yet there are men who take (for worship) sh3er besides Allah, as equal (with Allah): they love them as they should love Allah, but those of Faith are overflowing in their love for Allah. If only the unrighteous could see, behold, they would see the Punishment: that to Allah belongs all power.”
Power is a multifaceted word. There is power in money, in position, in status and in beauty, “to Allah belongs all power”. Therefore if you want real power, inseparable from you, then seek power that doesn’t need another person, and that would be the Power of Allah the Almighty. If you want to be powerful for the rest of your life, you should seek strength unrelated to any human being who, if one day removed, would make you lose all of it. Thus, if you want true power you should seek it from Allah because His strength is everlasting.
The power of man derives from Allah and the greatness of the deen lies in that:
So cowardice and weakness, resignation and surrender, defeatism and humiliation, and all such entries in the dictionary of weakness should be eliminated from the life of a believer. You weren’t created but to be strong, and thanks to Allah you were meant to be strong, dignified, wise, and knowledgeable, and this is the best of the deen.
If you are weak, then you have no knowledge, no strength, no wisdom, no power, or wealth but if you come with submission to Allah, and because of Him, you will be strong, wise, knowledgeable, and merciful and that is why one of the supplications of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was:
"I seek refuge in You from weakness and laziness; and I seek refuge in You from miserliness and cowardice; and I seek refuge in You from the burden of debts and from being overpowered by men."
Being overpowered by men is the hardest of all afflictions.
“Say: He has power to send calamities on you, from above”
They used to be thunderbolts, and it is rockets nowadays:
“and below”
Earthquakes and mines; pay attention to the third part:
“or to cover you with confusion in party strife, giving you a taste of mutual vengeance, each from the other.”
The civil wars which, because of Allah’s mercy, we have survived and we ask Him for this to last.
“or to cover you with confusion in party strife, giving you a taste of mutual vengeance, each from the other.”
Tawheed frees man from all kinds of slavery except for Allah:
Dear brother, talking about strength that results from weakness is neither an invitation to accept weakness nor turning a blind eye to it, but it is an invitation to perceive strength even in the position of weakness.
If you had followed the events which unfolded before our eyes, you will have found that he who owns all sources of power might lose them in a day, and he who doesn't own them, may gain them in a day, which means that it is Allah Who is the Powerful One and He may give you the power or deprive you of it as part of the test.
Dear brother, what are the means of power?
As believers and Muslims, simple employees, or shopkeepers, what means of power do you have? Scholars say: Tawheed is one of the greatest means of power. It frees man from all kinds of slavery except for the One, the Dayyan (Allah, the Judge). However, if you are a follower of another human being, your power will be related to his, so if he were to be removed from his position, you would lose all your power. However, if you are a follower of the One, the Dayyan, you will be strong for the rest of your life.
Therefore, Allah the Almighty created man and excellently brought him to perfection, dignified and gifted him, then made tawheed a means of liberating his mind from all illusions and myths. Tawheed frees your conscience from surrender and resignation, it liberates your life from aspirants to Godhead and helps build a balanced personality that knows its destiny in life, unifies its purposes, and identifies its path, because it has no god but Allah, the Only One, the One, the Everlasting Sovereign, He who begets not, nor is He begotten, and that is the Perfect Divine Entity. The believer turns to Him privately and publicly, asks him in his sorrow and in his joy, and obeys Him in trivial or serious matters. Allah said:
“Are many lords differing among themselves better, or Allah, the One Supreme and Irresistible?”
You are devoted to Allah! And he who turns all his concerns into one (Allah) will be rid of all his concerns by Allah. Work for the Face of Allah and you will not be in need of anyone else (any other being).
The believer who follows tawheed is firm like a mountain:
Act for the sake of Allah, and He will prevent you from the need for sh3er. Tawheed, dear brother, is not to place anyone else next to Allah, not to say this or that person, not to say this or that party; tawheed is not to see anyone else besides Allah. It fills the soul with faith, security and serenity.
Therefore, the soul which follows tawheed is fearless, unlike the case of mushrikun (polytheistic), because the former draws a veil over the sources of fear to which the latter is subjected, such as the fear for sustenance, fear for life, family, and children, fear of humankind and jinn, and fear of death and what is after death. A true believer in tawheed fears nothing but Allah and no-one but Allah. Thus, you will see him at peace when people get scared; serene when people are anxious; and calm when people are confused. Consider this ayah:
“So call not on any other god with Allah, or you will be among those who will be punished.”
If you think your fate is in the hands of another human being, and if you think he can cause you to be happy or sad, then this is shirk (polytheism); while tawheed is to see no-one else apart from Allah, which is what brings power and fills the soul with hope for Allah, with trust in Him, with reliance on Him, satisfaction with His decree, endurance with His affliction, and content with no one but Him. So the believer in tawheed is firm like a mountain and will never be shaken up by accidents or ordeals.
Allah is with the one who is with Him:
You all know that Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Thakafee was a ruler of Iraq, and also that he was tyrannical and at the same time powerful. Al-Hassan al-Basri was at the time one of the few men who used to talk to people about what is right and what is wrong with no fear of consequences, and who did it openly. What did Hajjaj do when he found out about it?
He stormed, out of himself, into the place where al-Basri used to teach and said to his companions: "Damn you all, for one of Busra slaves stands up and says whatever he wants to say, and finds no one to stop him or show disapproval. By Allah, I will make you drink his blood, you cowards!" Then he ordered for the sword to be fetched and a piece of cloth to be put on the rugs so that they wouldn't get ruined by al-Basri's blood, and he called for the swordsman, and ordered his soldiers to fetch Al-Hassan al-Basri, telling them they were to bring him there, cut his head off and get that over with.
After a while Al-Hassan showed up and all eyes looked at him and all hearts feared for his safety. When he saw the sword, the cloth and the swordsman, his lips started to move and he approached Hajjaj with the loftiness of a believer, the dignity of a Muslim, and the reverence of the one who calls to the truth, and when Al-Hajjaj saw all that, he was awe-struck, and said to him: "Come and sit right here, Abu Said," and he kept clearing the way for him to sit, repeating: "Come over here." People could not believe their eyes as he was supposedly brought to be killed, the cloth was ready, the swordsman was waiting and everything was set up for his head to be cut off. What happened then? And how could have Hajjaj welcomed him, inviting him to sit down, and calling him Abu Said? Eventually, he got seated on his couch, with Hajjaj next to him, inquiring about various aspects of the deen, and Al-Hassan answering fearlessly and concisely.
Al-Hajjaj finally said to him: "You are the master of all scholars, Abu Said." Then he ordered for one of the most expensive perfumes to be fetched and he scented Hassan's beard and showed him to the door, and when Al-Basri stepped out, he was followed by the chief officer, who said to him: "Abu Said, he called for you intending something else. He called for you to have you killed, but instead he seated and honored you, and I saw your lips move when you saw the sword and the cloth. What did you say?"
Al-Hassan responded: "I said: O my Benefactor! My Refuge in anguish and Company in loneliness! Cool his rage and save my soul as you made fire cool and safe for Ibrahim."
Tawheed is power, and if you follow it, you will see Allah and no one else. If you make firm you relation with Allah, if you repent, if you make peace with Him, and submit to Him, if you are honest, faithful, obedient, worshipping, and you fare along the path of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and, finally, reach Allah, and vise versa, who on earth can be against you? Who on earth can get at you? Or humiliate you? If Allah is with you, who will be against you? And if Allah is against you, who will be with you? If Allah is against you, even if you own all means of power, it won’t do you any good. Take the events in North Africa –those three persons with all the means of power at their disposal and their having lost them all in one day. On the other hand, the weak, with no power of any kind, coming to own them in one day. So again, if Allah is with you, who will be against you? And if He is against you, who will be with you?
Heroism is to comprehend the events from the point of view of tawheed
Dear brother, the events broadcasted through the media can be comprehended in the international way, the Arabic way, the Islamic way and the national way. They can be comprehended from many points of view but the right thing to do is to comprehend them from the point of view of tawheed.
“Allah sets forth a Parable: a city enjoying security and quiet, abundantly supplied with sustenance from every place: yet was it ungrateful for the favours of Allah: so Allah made it taste of hunger and terror (in extremes) (closing in on it) like a garment (from every side), because of the (evil) which (its people) wrought.”
There is power in tawheed, and if you follow it, you see no one apart from Allah. If you are with Him, He is with you. And if He is with you, no one on earth can get at you.
Knowledge gives you superiority and high rank:
One more thing, knowledge is power, and a great power at that.
Knowledge gives you power detached from any frame of time or place. It gives you superiority and high rank, and it paves the path to be superior in the earthly life and in the Hereafter, and the proof is here:
“Allah will raise up, to (suitable) ranks (and degrees), those of you who believe and who have been granted Knowledge.”
Suleyman bin Abdul Malik once entered the precincts of Mekka with all his ministers, princes,
entourage, and army commanders. He was bareheaded and barefoot, with only two garments on, called ihram, like any other Muslim hajjee (a Muslim that is performing hajj), and behind him there were two boys, radiant like a full moon and fresh like the petals of a rose. When the Caliph finished circumvallating the Ancient House, he leaned toward one of his closest counsellors and asked about the principal scholar of Mekka. He was the Caliph, the man who ruled over one third of the earth, yet he inquired about the wisest man in Mekka. He was told it was Ataa bin Rabaah and he said he wanted to meet him. To his surprise he found the scholar was a black man, with curly hair and stubby nose. Sitting down, he looked like a black crow, his head was small; and he was paralized from waist down; he owned neither dirham nor dinar in this earthly life. Suleyman asked: "Are you the renowned Ataa bin Rabaah? He answered: "That's what they say." He asked: "How did you gain this honor? He who teaches people and he who seeks knowledge listens to you, how did you manage to achieve such honor?" He answered: "By doing without people's dunia (earthy life) and by their need of my knowledge." If the opposite is the case, if you need people's dunia, people will do without your knowledge and it will diminish.
You should do without their dunia by having a craft, like they do, and by making your own living. Most remarkable Islamic scholars had a profession, and Ataa said: "By doing without people’s dunia and by their need of my knowledge which I sought for 30 years." Suleyman said: "No one should do iftaa (giving an Islamic ruling) on the rituals of hajj, except Ataa."
Later on, Suleyman disagreed with his sons on an issue concerning one of the rites of the hajj, so he requested to be taken to Ataa. Ataa was at the haram (sanctrum), surrounded by people. Being the Caliph, Suleyman wanted to pass through the rows, but he was checked by Ataa who said: "Prince of Believers, take you seat and don’t get ahead of people as they were here before you were." When his turn came, he made his inquiry and got the answer. He said to his sons: "You shoud be pious and should have knowledge of your deen. I swear by Allah I have never been humbled in my life except by this black slave because Allah sublimes the one who obeys Him, even if he is a black slave with neither money nor a well-known background, and He humiliates the one who disobeys Him, even if he is honorable and well-known."
Allah honors the one who obeys Him, and humiliates the one who disobeys Him:
It is all about obedience to Allah.
"Salman is from us, Ahl al-Bayt (Prophet’s family)."
Salman was a poor man.
"What a good servant Suhaib is! If he didn’t fear Allah, he would disobey Him."
Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq was from the Quraish nobility. When he bought Bilal, he called him Sayyidina (our master) Bilal and the man who sold him said: "If you had paid one dirham, I would have sold him to you." To that as-Siddiq said: "I swear that if you had asked 100 thousand, I would have paid it." And after having bought him, he put his own hand under Bilal's armpit and said: "This is my real brother," and the noble Companions used to say when mentioning as-Siddiq: "He is Sayyidina and he freed Sayyidina," so it is not about origin, money, position, or wealth.
“The most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you”
The nation that measures people objectively will reach the highest levels:
Any nation that measures people objectively will reach the highest levels (of civilization) but if people were to be measured by their origins, they will hit the bottom rock, so two words of wisdom: People are measured either objectively or by their origins. If they are measured by their origins the nation falls; if objectively, it prospers. Therefore, dear brother, Suleyman said to one of his two sons: "That man whom you’ve seen and you’ve watched me speaking to humbly is the heir of Abdullah bin Abbas who was one of the Noble Companions, knowledgeable in the Qur'an and all the sciences of Islam." Then he added: "O son! Seek knowledge as it ascends the low and alerts the lazy, and makes slaves ascend to the level of kings." And it was said: "Searching for knowledge is the highest level of search. So if you are masters, you excel even more; if you are average, you progress; and if you are lowly, you will live.'"
Dear brother, the reason why I mentioned these two stories was to elaborate on the following: If you are a follower of tawheed and knowledge seeker, you are one of the powerful people, no matter how weak your social class is because due to Allah you are strong, rich, knowledgeable, and wise.
Dear brother, call yourselves to account before you are called to do so and weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and you should know that the Angel of Death has been reaching sh3er and will reach us soon, so pay heed. The clever one is he who upbraids himself and works for what comes after death; and the weak one is he who follows his desires and lives on wishful thinking, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
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The second khutbah:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds and may He bless and grant peace to Muhammad, the Faithful and the Honest.
The Story of Julaibeeb and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:
Dear brother, there is power in tawheed, knowledge, and worship.
One of the Companions, his name was Julaibeeb, was a poor man, clad in worn-out cloths, with a hungry stomach, bare feet, no origins, glory, money, or tribe; no house to dwell in, no furniture. He used to drink spring water using the palms of his hands, he slept in the mosque, using his arms for a pillow and the ground for his bed. Can you think of anything more wreched than this? His face was ugly, but he never quitted dhikr (remembrance of Allah) or reciting the Qur'an, and he was always seen in the first row in all prayers and ghazawat (battles). He used to accompany the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, whenever possible. The Noble Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, once said to him: "Julaibeeb, why don’t you get married?" He answered: "O Prophet! She who accepted me would be insane!" But the Prophet said: "I will get you wedded." Now this is probably something hard to believe but that was the way the Prophet’s Companions were, and just to let you know who they were indeed.
Julaibeeb answered: "O Prophet! I am so insignificant." To this the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "Although you might be insignificant in people's eyes, you are not so in Allah’s sight." Each one of you, when a young man, could have been a flag in the sky because obeying Allah was easier, and the path to Allah was clearer, so seek knowledge and apply it.
One day, a man from the Ansar, whose son-in-law had died, came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asking him to marry his daughter, so the Prophet said he would, and when he said that, the woman's father was beyond himself with joy as he thought that his daughter was going to be the Prophet’s wife, but the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "Not for me," so the father asked: "For whom then?" The Prophet told him it was for Julaibeeb. Now, imagine a candidate who owns nothing, not even beauty. The man could not help inquiring: "O Prophet! You want to marry her to Julaibeeb? Will you please wait till I consult her mother?" (He wanted to gain time, of course.) He said to his wife: "The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, proposed to your daughter." She said: "How good he is! And of course we can't say no to him." "He deosn’t want her for himself." "For whom then?" "For Julaibeeb." She excalimed: "Julaibeeb! No way! Impossible! We have rejected such and such and so and so!"
So the father was at a loss, and when he was about to go back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, his daughter called to him from her room: "Who was it that proposed?" The father told her it was the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. She said: "And you want to disobey the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace? Is it possible to reject his request?" That was the way of the Companions. She added then: "Take me to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as he won’t treat me unjustely."
So she accepted Julaibeeb, the poorest man in town and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, wedded them. He then raised his noble hands and supplicated: "O Allah! Pour Your blessings on them and don’t make their life hard."
Several days after their marriage, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out with his Companions in a military expedition and Julaibeeb was with him, and when the battle was over, people gathered and they started calling each other. The Noble Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him pece, asked if anyone was missing and they said that such and such was missing, and they entirely forgot Julaibeeb.
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "I miss Julaibeeb, and you haven't mentioned him. Go and look for him." So they searched the battlefield and looked for him among the dead, and they found him eventually, and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stood by his dead body and said: "You are from me and I am from you." Take heed how Islam cancels all differences.
He was from the lowest class, and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "You are from me and I am from you." Then he sat cross-legged beside his body, and held it in his arms, then ordered to dig a grave. Anas said: "We kept digging the grave, while Julaibeeb had no other bed than the arms of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. We returned to Madina, and when Julaibeeb’s wife’s iddat was over, the most honorable Companions were competing in offering her marriage. This is the test, dear brother, and those were the Companins who achieved what they achieved because materialistic values were nothing to them.
Supplication:
We beseech you Allah to show us the way of rightness, together with those to whom You have showed it; and give us good health, together with those whom You have healed; and be our Protector, together with those for whom You have become their Protector; and bless us in what You have bestowed on us and save us from the afflictions that You have decreed, for You rule with justice and You are never judged. He whom You protect shall never be humiliated and he whom You make enemy shall never be exalted. Blessed and dignified are You, and we thank You for what You have decreed. O Allah! Make us do well in the deen which is our dignity and make our lives good. Make us safe on the Day of Judgment for it is our final destination. Make our life the store of all good things and make our death the rest from every evil. O Lord of all the Worlds, please associate me with what You have made lawful and make necessary to me what You have made unlawful, and by Your Mercy make me independent of all sh3er.
O Allah! Guard us against Your trials. Don’t veil us from You or make us forget Your dhikr. O Allah, our Lord! Grant peace and blessings to Sayyidina Muhammad, the illiterate Prophet, upon his Family and his Companions.
