Muhammadan Mercy ﷺ | Jumu'ah Khutbah | Dr. AbdulRazzak Junaid

On his revelation, his Lord sent him as a mercy to the worlds and as a proof for all the servants. So Allah guided him out of misguidance, and made him see out of ignorance, and multiplied him after the few, and gathered him after the many, and ensured him after the fear, and enriched him after the burden. So blessings and peace be upon him and upon his pure, good family, and all the companions, and whoever follows them with good till the Day of Judgment.

All praise is due to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, our Creator, the originator and designer of the heavens and the earth. And upon the best of creation, Muhammad ﷺ, we send our salutations upon him, his family, his companions, and all those that follow them in goodness till the end of times, Allahumma ja'ala minhum.

The Foundation of Islamic Knowledge: A Hadith of Mercy

The first hadith that is taught by scholars to their students, the first hadith that is ever taught to the student of knowledge, is a hadith that is titled مُسَلسَل بِالْأَوَّلِيَةِ or مُسَلسَل بِالرَّحْمَةِ where the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4943)

Those that show mercy, the merciful, الرَّحْمَنَ, the most merciful, shows them mercy. Show mercy to those on earth. And the one above the heavens will show you mercy. This is the first hadith that is taught by scholars to students of knowledge.

And it's the first hadith that I've heard from dozens of my teachers who heard it from their teachers, from their teachers all the way until we get to Rasulullah ﷺ. And a person may ask, why is this the first hadith that is taught to students? Why this one? It's as though they're laying out the foundation of your path to Allah. That the more you learn about Islam, every page of Qur'an you read, every hadith you learn, should make you more merciful. Not more prideful, not more arrogant, not more harsh, but your journey towards Allah should be one that is full of mercy.

The Prophet ﷺ: A Mercy to All Worlds

And who best to show us this except Rasulullah ﷺ, where Allah says about him:

And we have not sent you except, except for what, ya Allah? Except as a great mercy for the worlds. Rasulullah ﷺ, he was a mercy for the worlds. What does this mean? Mercy just for mankind, for believers, for who? For everything.

For mankind, for jinkind, for the angels, for the animals, for the plants, for everything. لِلْعَالَمِينَ For the worlds. The Prophet ﷺ was a rahmat to you and I, to the believers, was a mercy to us.

How? Because he wants us to be successful in this life and the next. He wants us to be successful and happy and have sa'ada in this life and the next. Allah says about Rasulullah ﷺ, بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ With the believers, رَؤُوف He wants to push away all harm from us ﷺ. رَحِيم He wants to bring about all benefit towards us, everything that benefits us, Rasulullah ﷺ, he wants it.

He cares about you and I more than you and I can care about ourselves. النَّبِيُّ أَوْلَىٰ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ The Prophet ﷺ many times he would stand and he would tell the people, if there is any believer that passes away and he leaves behind wealth, then it is for his inheritors, whoever they may be. But if he leaves behind a debt or dependence, then I am their guardian.

I will take care of it. He loves you and I more than we can love ourselves. He wants good for you more than you and I could ever want good for ourselves and wish good for ourselves.

Mercy to All Categories of People

The Prophet ﷺ was also rahma, was also a mercy for the hypocrites. How? In his lifetime ﷺ with all of their secretive treason and all that they said against him and he knew, he never exposed them, never executed them, never persecuted them, never. This was from his mercy ﷺ.

The Prophet ﷺ was rahma, was a mercy for the disbelievers because he wanted hidayah for them. And because of him ﷺ and you look at all of the prophets of the nations before, they were encompassing azaab, the people of Nuh, the people of Lut, the people of Ad and Thamud and the list goes on. But the Prophet ﷺ because of him and because we are from his ummah there will never be an encompassing azaab. There will never be an encompassing punishment.

And Allah is not to encompass them in an azaab and you are from them ya Rasulullah ﷺ.

Mercy Beginning at Home

The Prophet ﷺ was rahma, was a mercy for all of mankind and he started with those closest to him. He ﷺ was the best to his family and he would teach the companions:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1977)

The best of you, he sets the standard. The best of you are those that are best to their family and I am the best to my family.

The Prophet ﷺ with all of his responsibilities, with the weight of wahi on his shoulders ﷺ, with the weight of being the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, كَانَ فِي مِهْنَةِ أَهْلِهِ He used to help around the house ﷺ. He would milk the sheep. He would fix his and mend his own sandals and sew up his own clothes ﷺ. He would sit with his wife Aisha ﷺ and listen to long conversations. He was Rahmah first and foremost with those closest to him.

And he ﷺ, whenever he would go and he would see his children, he would bring them close and kiss them. And in one incident, the Prophet ﷺ was seen by one of the Bedouin Sahaba kissing Hassan and Hussain. It's that Rahmah, it's that mercy in the heart.

And he said with pride, I have so many children and I've never kissed any of them. He's a man. The Prophet ﷺ, he corrects this.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5997)

The one who does not show mercy will not be shown mercy. And another narration, he said, what can I do for you if Allah has taken the mercy out of your heart?

The Prophet ﷺ, when he would be amongst children, he would put his hand over them and be loving towards them ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ was a mercy to those weakest in society, the weak members of society. He ﷺ would give them importance.

He would attend their janazahs. He would visit them. He would sit with them. He would eat with them ﷺ. He ﷺ, a young girl would go, a servant girl would take him by his hand to the marketplace or to wherever she had her need. And the Prophet ﷺ with his love and his mercy and his humility, he would go and fulfill that need of that servant girl ﷺ.

Special Care for Orphans

The Prophet ﷺ was a mercy to orphans. And he himself knew the life of an orphan. The Prophet ﷺ, he would say:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5304)

He said, myself and the one who takes care of an orphan in Jannah are like this, like this. And the Prophet ﷺ, he said, the best house from the houses of believers is a house in which there is an orphan being taken care of. And they show excellency towards him or her. And the worst house from the houses of believers in which there is an orphan that is being wronged and harmed.

The Prophet ﷺ, one companion came to him and said, Ya Rasulullah, I feel hardness in my heart. I don't feel that love and mercy. And the Prophet ﷺ gave him the cure. He said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 7576)

He said, put your hand over the head of an orphan. And feed a poor person. When you live with them and you're with them, that rahmah comes out, that mercy comes out.

Mercy Extended to All of Creation

The Prophet ﷺ, he was not only a rahmah for mankind, but he was also a rahmah to animals. In one incident, the Prophet ﷺ, he entered a garden and he saw a camel. And when the camel saw Rasulullah ﷺ and the Prophet ﷺ had a connection to animals as well, the camel began to cry. And the Prophet ﷺ came to it, put his hand on it and began to comfort it. And he said, مَن رَبُّ هَذَا الْجَمَل Who is the owner? To who belongs this camel? And a young man from the Ansar came.

And the Prophet ﷺ, he said, أَفَلَا تَتَّقِ اللَّهَ فِي هَذِهِ الْبَهِيمَةِ Will you not fear Allah in this animal? Will you not have taqwa of Allah in this animal? It complained to me. Yes, the camel complained to Rasulullah ﷺ. It complained to me that you don't feed it, that you overwork it. The Prophet ﷺ was a rahmah and a mercy towards animals.

He would see the companions at times resting on the animals and camels for long periods of time having conversations. The Prophet ﷺ, he said, لا تَتَّخِذُوهَا كَرَاسِينَ Don't take them as chairs for you to have long conversations on. Ride it properly and leave it properly.

The Prophet ﷺ forbade from killing the frog. Why? نَقِيقُهَا تَسْبِيحُ It's croak, the croak of the frog. It's doing tasbih of Allah.

When we talk about animal rights and all of this, where are the Muslims? This is our religion. The Prophet ﷺ was a mercy towards birds. The Prophet ﷺ mentioned for the usfur, for the small bird that was killed for no reason, it will come on the day of judgment crying to Allah, crying to Allah, saying, يَا رَبُّ Imagine a little bird on the day of judgment.

(Sunan an-Nasa'i, Hadith 4446)

Imagine the little bird complaining to Allah. My Lord, You created me and He killed me for no reason. He didn't kill me to eat me. He didn't kill me to benefit from me. This is the rahma of Rasulullah ﷺ and the rahma of our religion.

The Prophet ﷺ one time the companions, there was a bird with its hatchlings and the companions they took the hatchlings. And the mother bird was distressed, circling around them, circling around them. And the Prophet ﷺ he sees this mother bird and he said, مَنْ فَجْعَ هَذِهِ بِوَلَدِهَا Who caused this mother bird distress with its hatchlings? Give the hatchlings back.

The Prophet ﷺ was the rahma and mercy for everything and everyone, for plants, for animals, for human beings, for believers, even jinn. The Prophet ﷺ as he was sent with a risalah and with a message to us, he ﷺ also gave da'wah to the jinn kind. He was also a mercy to the angels ﷺ. How? Because of him ﷺ they also had the honor of bestowing the Qur'an down to us. They became honored through Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Quranic Foundation of Mercy

The Prophet ﷺ my dear brothers and sisters, was a mercy to believers, to everything around him ﷺ and that is how we must be in this earth.

My dear beloved brothers and sisters, the Prophet ﷺ is our guide in every aspect of our lives ﷺ. He came as a walking tafsir of the Qur'an. لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ He ﷺ embodied the Qur'an. Where Allah in every surah of the Qur'an in the way we begin even our recitation, we always invoke two of his beautiful names and both of them remind us of his mercy.

Throughout the Qur'an except one surah. Why? Because that surah, surat Tawbah, it exposes the hypocrites and even in that surah the title is Tawbah because the goal is not to punish them, but to call them and to invite them to turn and change their ways, to do Tawbah and to repent to Allah.

Our Responsibility to Show Islamic Mercy

When you see all of the billions of dollars being funneled into Islamophobia, they're trying to poison the minds of people that Islam is a bad religion, these people are harsh and barbaric. We have a responsibility to show the world the beauty of our religion, the mercy of our religion, the rahmah of Rasulullah ﷺ. And they try, they put billions of dollars, فَسَيُنفِقُونَهَا They'll spend, they'll spend.

But how many people have accepted Islam despite their agendas? How many people have accepted Islam despite all of their efforts? ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً And it will be a means of regret. And then after some time, and we've already seen that part, ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ Allah says, then they will be overcome, then the believers will be victorious, then the people of Gaza will be victorious. We know the divine promise is true.

We know the Qur'an is true. It's just a matter of time. But we as Muslims have a responsibility that wherever we go, we show them the rahmah of Rasulullah ﷺ. We don't let them speak about our Prophet.

You don't get to tell us who our Prophet is. We know who our Prophet is ﷺ. You don't get to poison our minds about our beloved Messenger ﷺ. We know his mercy. We know his love. We know his kindness. We know even what he did to his enemies ﷺ.

To those that persecuted him, made him do hijrah, and made him leave his lands, and killed his companions, even to them ﷺ. Finally, at the end at Fath Makkah, where the Prophet ﷺ, he looks at Abu Sufyan, who was his cousin, and he says to him, أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لَكَ أَن تَشْهَدَ أَن لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ Isn't it finally time that you say لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ

And Abu Sufyan, after so many years of persecution, after so many years of going against Rasulullah ﷺ and his companions, he says to him, بِأَبِي أَنْتَ وَأُمِّي يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهُ مَا أَحْلَمَكَ وَمَا أَلْطَفَكَ وَمَا أَجْمَلَكَ How can you find character like the character of Rasulullah ﷺ?

A Call to Embody Prophetic Mercy

It's our duty that we embody it to our neighbors, to the people around us, starting with our families and to everyone. We must be people of mercy. We must be people of mercy. Despite everything that is happening in the world around us, let us not make that a reason for not to be people of mercy.

We ask Allah to make us merciful to our family members, Ya Rabb. To make us merciful to our children, Ya Rabb. To make us merciful to our communities. To make us merciful to our neighbors. We ask Allah that He, through the means of our mercy, guide many people to Islam, Ya Rabb al-'Alamin.

We ask Allah to grant عزة to Islam and المسلمين.

عباد الله

We ask Allah to aid our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We ask Allah to aid our brothers and sisters in Palestine. To aid our brothers and sisters in Sudan. And all over the world where Muslims are suffering.