Al-Jabbār and the Sunnah of Jabr al-Khawāṭir | Jumuah Khutbah | Dr. AbdulRazzak Junaid

I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger, and that he is His Best Friend, and that he is the Best of His Creation, and that he is Trustworthy of His Revelation, and that his Lord has sent him as a Mercy to the worlds, and as a Proof for all people. All praise is due to Allah, our Creator, the Creator and Designer of the Heavens and the Earth. And upon the best of creation, Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم — صلّوا على رسول الله — we send our salutations upon him, his family, his companions, and all those that follow them in goodness till the end of times. اللهم اجعلنا منهم — May Allah make us from them, يا ربّ العالمين.

The Name الجبّار — Al-Jabbār

There is one beautiful name of Allah from those beautiful names at the end of Sūrah al-Ḥashr that appears once in the Quran, and this is his name عزّ وجلّ — Al-Jabbār. And so today we are going to unpack the meanings of الجبّار and how to worship Allah عزّ وجلّ through this beautiful name of his.

First Meaning: The Incomprehensibly Exalted

When we say جبّار in the Arabic language, it has three different primary meanings. When you say, for example, رجل طويل، رجل جبّار — you mean a man that is tall. Or نخلة جبّارة — a palm tree that is very جبّارة, meaning its fruits are so high that you cannot reach them. So when you say الجبّار عزّ وجلّ, you are saying: exalted is He that no intellect can fully comprehend Him. And as much as you can think of how amazing He is, He is far, far, far beyond anything you can imagine and far beyond anything you can think of.

There is nothing like Him عزّ وجلّ. That is the first meaning.

Second Meaning: The Compeller

The second meaning is the one that we usually associate الجبّار with — that, يا الله, take care of your enemies; يا جبّار, take care of them. The meaning of المُكْرِه، المُلزِم — أجبره على كذا، ألزمه — Al-Jabbār: the Compeller, the one that if He decrees something it will be done. He says كُن فَيَكُون — He wants something done, it is done. There are no questions asked. And even if we don't like it, we are still under His divine decree. We may have free will, but it exists within the decree and under the جبر of Allah سبحانه وتعالى, because He is الجبّار.

Third Meaning: The Mender of Broken Souls

The third meaning is what I am especially going to talk about today. الجبر in the Arabic language means to mend something, to do إصلاح of something. Like جبر العظم means to mend and fix a broken bone. That is why in the Arabic language, for the cast that is put on a broken bone, they call it الجبيرة — they call it الجبيرة — because it mends the broken bone.

So when you say الجبّار, He is the one that when people come to Him broken, He mends their souls. He is الجبّار — that when Maryam عليها السلام was in such a terrible situation with بنو إسرائيل making accusations against her, and she holds her baby, she holds ʿĪsā عليه السلام — that is الجبّار. When Yūsuf عليه السلام reunites with his family — that is الجبّار. That is الجبّار — the one who mends souls, the one who fixes what is broken, the one عزّ وجلّ who, whenever you are in trouble, He is there for you.

الجبّار on the Day of Judgment — The Hadith of Intercession

There is a beautiful حديث about the شفاعة of Rasūlullāh صلى الله عليه وسلم — where he does the intercession. The narration in Musnad of Imam Aḥmad mentions that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Musnad Imam Aḥmad, Hadith 10748)

"I am the leader of the children of Adam on the Day of Judgment, and I do not say this boasting." And he said صلى الله عليه وسلم: I am the first one to rise from my grave — ولا فخر. I will be the one who carries لواء الحمد — ولا فخر. And I will be the first one to enter into Jannah — ولا فخر.

And Rasūlullāh صلى الله عليه وسلم will come on that day — the Day of Judgment — to the gate of Jannah, and he will take بحلقتها — the ring with which you knock on the door — the حلقة of Jannah — and he will knock on it. The gatekeeper of Jannah, the angel, will ask: "Who is it?" And Rasūlullāh صلى الله عليه وسلم will say: "Muḥammad." And the gate of Jannah will be opened.

And look at what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said — he said:

(Musnad Imam Aḥmad, Hadith 10748)

"It will be الجبّار that will greet me. It will be الجبّار that will be there." He did not say صلى الله عليه وسلم الرحمن. He did not say الرحيم. He did not say القهّار. Why did he use the name الجبّار? Because after this point, when you enter into Jannah, there is no more sorrow, there is no more pain, there is no more grief — there is no more losing Ḥamzah, there is no more sorrow after today. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم will go into سجدة, and Allah will tell him:

(Musnad Imam Aḥmad, Hadith 10748; cf. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 4476)

"Raise your head, ask and you will be given, intercede and your intercession will be accepted." And Allah عزّ وجلّ will do جبر — and heal the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and mend his soul for himself, his family, and his entire Ummah. May Allah grant us the شفاعة of Rasūlullāh صلى الله عليه وسلم.

The Du'ā Between the Two Sajdas

How powerful is this. My dear brothers and sisters, every single time — in the aḥādīth that are mentioned about the du'ās he used to make in ṣalāh — he used to say between the two sajdas:

How many of us make this du'ā between the two sajdas? يا الله, heal me. يا الله, mend my soul. يا الله, fix me — I come to you broken.

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم used to make this powerful du'ā:

يا الله, revive me. When you come and you feel like you are just going through the movements — but your heart is no longer there — the stress is too much, the difficulty of the dunyā is too much, it is bearing too much on your shoulders — and you say: يا الله, I am just going through the movements right now. And you say: اللهم انعشني — يا الله, give me life, يا الله, revive me. اللهم اجبرني — يا الله, heal me, يا الله, mend me.

The Story of Dr. Ḥussām Muwāfī and the Scholar

There is a beautiful story, and I will end the first خطبة with this — of a very well-known and famous doctor in Egypt by the name of Dr. Ḥussām Muwāfī, a very well-known physician, to the point where the politicians and the great people of Egypt all go to his practice, all go to his hospital.

He mentions that there was a great scholar of Egypt — from one of the well-known ʿulamāʾ — and this scholar had called him on his phone and said: "I am going to visit your practice, I need a checkup." And he said: "No, no, no — Mawlānā, you stay there, I am going to come to you. You are one of the great scholars of our country, let me get the ajr." So he came to his home, he treated him, he checked him up. And he said: "يا Mawlānā, I am not going to take any ajr, but the least thing you could do is — I am going to ask you a question, you answer it for me."

He was not going to take payment from the Sheikh — after all, he is one of the great scholars of the country. And so he asked him: "I am nearing the end of my life" — he is almost at his retirement age — "tell me one thing that, if I do it, I will meet Allah and He will be very pleased with me." And so the Sheikh says: "No, you answer first." So the doctor says: صلاة. The Sheikh said: "Of course — there is no munāqasha — obviously the pillars of your dīn, you are going to have to do ṣalāh — but other than that?" And so he kept giving different things and the Sheikh kept saying: "No, no, no." To the point where he said: "I do not have any other answer."

Then the Sheikh said: "That you mend the souls of those that are broken. That you lift up the souls and spirits of those that are feeling low." And he mentioned to him: "Do you not see — do you see the one who denies the Day of Recompense, the Day of Judgment — what kind of person would this be? The one who denies the dīn — what would Allah describe him to be?"

"That is the one who pushes away the orphan." When you should have shown mercy to that gentle, soft little child — that gentle soul — instead of lifting up his spirits, that person broke it.

"And that person is so morally corrupt, so vile, so lost — that not only does he not give to the miskīn, but he himself does not encourage others — and when others give to the one who is poor and miskīn, it bothers them."

And then Allah said: "Woe to those who pray — those who are heedless of their prayers." He placed before ṣalāh — أن تجبر الخواطر وأن لا تكسرها — that you mend the souls of those that are broken, and that you do not break them further.

The Miracle of جبر الخواطر

Dr. Ḥussām — the next morning he woke up and he got a phone call from his neighbor. This is the morning after. His neighbor said: "My wife's aunt is in the hospital — in your practice — she is over 90 years old, can you pay her a visit and do جبر الخواطر?" سبحان الله — that word clicked for him, that word clicked for him.

It was his day off from the hospital, his day off from the practice, so he had no intention of going there. And his wife had sent him out to get the groceries and take care of the household items. So he was out and about, and he kept thinking: "How can I be someone who hears about جبر الخواطر yesterday and today, and then not pay that woman a visit?" He said to himself: "I am not too far from my practice — let me go to the hospital."

And so he goes to pay her a visit. And he goes inside the hospital — and he immediately feels in his heart a جلطة قلبية, a great deal of chest pain. And الحمد لله, he was in the hospital — they gave him the medicine that he needed, they gave him the care that he needed. He was about to have a heart attack. He was about to have a heart attack. And you know — when it comes to a heart attack, every minute matters. Every minute matters. That is why when ambulances are passing by, جماعة — move to the side so that you can let them go, because one minute for them could be life or death.

And so he mentions that it was as though Allah عزّ وجلّ was telling him: "You did جبر الخواطر — you were trying to uplift the soul of that elderly woman — and so here I will do جبر الخواطر for you. I will do جبر الخواطر for you."

A Personal Story of جبر الخواطر

And I will end with one personal story that I know actually happened. I know of a woman who could not have children — a woman whose husband was not able to have children with her for many, many years. And there was a single mother who had three children that she had to take care of by herself and work at the same time. And so that woman went and she used to babysit those children في سبيل الله — just because she knew that the single mother had nowhere else to go. And because she took care of that woman's children, literally immediately after, Allah سبحانه وتعالى made her pregnant. When you do جبر الخواطر — when you lift and help people — know that Allah will help you.

(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 2699)

"And Allah is in the aid of His servant as long as His servant is in the aid of his brother."

We ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to make us those that mend the spirits of others, يا ربّ العالمين. I say what you have heard, and I seek forgiveness from Allah for myself and for you and for all the Muslims — so seek His forgiveness, for He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Second Khuṭbah — Worshipping Allah through الجبّار

الحمد لله ربّ العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا ونبينا وحبيبنا محمد، وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين. صلّوا على رسول الله — اللهم صلِّ وسلِّم وبارك على سيدنا ونبينا وحبيبنا محمد.

My dear brothers and sisters, in the first خطبة we spoke about the beautiful name of Allah عزّ وجلّ — الجبّار. So let us worship Allah عزّ وجلّ, الجبّار, through this beautiful name of His — and through those qualities — that when we see people that are broken, when we see people that are in need, let us do جبر الخواطر: let us uplift their spirits.

When you see someone, smile at their face — that is جبر الخواطر. When you know someone is sick in the hospital, visit them — that is جبر الخواطر. When you know your neighbor is in need and you support them and aid them — that is جبر الخواطر.

And والله والله — if you were to study the sīrah of Rasūlullāh صلى الله عليه وسلم just from the lens of جبر الخواطر, you will see it over and over and over and over again. That with all of the responsibilities and the weight of the Ummah on his shoulders, he صلى الله عليه وسلم still had the time and still had the care to ask about a child — where he saw a child with his bird that had passed away — and he said صلى الله عليه وسلم to that child:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 6129; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 2150)

"O Abā ʿUmayr, what happened to the little nughayr? What happened to your little bird?" Can you imagine how Rasūlullāh صلى الله عليه وسلم was! So, يا أحباب الكرام — do جبر الخواطر. Mend the souls of others, and Allah will mend your soul.

أهلنا في السودان — اللهم أجبر أهلنا في كل بلاد المسلمين، يا ربّ العالمين.

اذكروا الله يذكركم، واشكروه على نعمه يزدكم، واتقوه يجعل لكم من أمركم مخرجاً. Remember Allah and He will remember you. Thank Him for His blessings and He will increase you. And be mindful of Him, and He will make a way out for you in all your affairs.

أقيموا الصلاة.