Worship Al-Mutakabbir by Walking in Humility | Jumu'ah Khutbah | Dr. AbdulRazzak Junaid

Worship Al-Mutakabbir by Walking in Humility

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 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 aj'alna minhum.

Allah ta'ala says in His noble book:

The Name Al-Mutakabbir

In Surah al-Hashr, the ninth name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that is mentioned here — appearing once in the Qur'an — is al-Mutakabbir, the one who is supremely great, al-Mutakabbir. And there are names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from His Asma' Allahul Husna — there are asma' ta'alluq and asma' takhalluq. There are names that we worship Him 'azza wa jall through, and names we imitate in character.

When we say Allah is ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim, we try our best to be people of rahma, people of mercy. But there are such names of His 'azza wa jall that it is not allowed, not befitting, or even possible for us to imitate Him 'azza wa jall in — except in worship of Him and through du'a. And that is the asma' ta'alluq. From those names that you and I are not allowed to, or not even possible to, imitate is His name 'azza wa jall: al-Mutakabbir.

It appears in three different ways in al-Qur'an al-Karim. The one I recited to you from Surah al-Hashr, another where Allah 'azza wa jall says of Himself:

He — Allah 'azza wa jall, the Almighty — is al-Kabir. And He says in the third verse:

And to Him and Him alone — taqdeem jar wa majroor — and to Him and Him alone belongs al-kibriya'. Only to Him belongs absolute greatness 'azza wa jall.

That is al-Mutakabbir 'azza wa jall. And the only time you see the quality of takabbur mentioned in the Qur'an towards the creation, towards the people, it comes three times. It comes to tell you how evil is the abode of the people of Jahannam — those people of takabbur — three times.

The only times al-mutakabbir comes in the Qur'an for creation:

As you know, the Prophet ﷺ said: none will enter into Jannah — those that even have an atom's weight of kibr, of arrogance, of pride in their heart.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 265)

I ask Allah to remove arrogance from our hearts, ya Rabbal 'Alamin. To make us people of humility.

Understanding Al-Mutakabbir

When we say Allah 'azza wa jall is al-Mutakabbir, it comes on the pattern of tafa'ul — takabbur, al-Mutakabbir. But when we say it in regards to people, takabbur means the ta' of iktisab and takalluf. There is no real person that is actually supremely great. They have to act it. It's just a facade. They have to act arrogant, they have to act strong. And even those qualities that they may act arrogant with — their status, their power, their strength — it's all from the blessings that Allah 'azza wa jall gave them in the first place.

How can the son of Adam, who was born of a nutfa — a drop — to an 'alaqa, to a mudgha, to the different stages, and then when he is born, he cries, and he eats, and he drinks, uses the restroom, falls sick, and then at the end of his life — that life in which he thought he was so big — he is buried under the ground, dirt thrown on his face, literally as he is being buried, until the body gets swallowed up. This is the state and the hal of the insan, of the human being.

But when we say Allah 'azza wa jall is al-Mutakabbir, this is the ta' of tatharrud, meaning He 'azza wa jall is the only one uniquely that is supremely great. He is the only one that we say and that is deserving of saying Allahu Akbar — that we repeat every single day, Allahu Akbar. He is al-Mutakabbir.

In a hadith qudsi of the Prophet ﷺ, where he narrates of Allah 'azza wa jall, he says:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 40, Hadith 6752; Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4090)

Allah 'azza wa jall in that hadith qudsi says: the kibriya' and 'azama are the garments that He 'azza wa jall is adorned with. These are His qualities and His qualities alone. And whoever tries to have any of His kibriya' or His 'azama — of that greatness of His — Allah 'azza wa jall will take them and throw them in the hellfire.

The Garment of Humility

So my dear brothers, my dear sisters, if al-kibriya' and the garment of al-Mutakabbir only belongs to Him, then what should be my garment and your garment? How should we adorn ourselves? We should adorn ourselves as the Prophet ﷺ did — with the thawb of humility, with the thawb of tawadu'.

When we say al-Mutakabbir, it's not to inflate you and I, but to shrink us — to remind us that we are servants of Him 'azza wa jall. The Prophet ﷺ — his highest praise, when he is taken on the journey of Isra' wal-Mi'raj — Allah 'azza wa jall says of him:

His servant. We should be reminding ourselves that we are servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. To worship al-Mutakabbir by walking humbly on this earth. And as I said, the best example and the best one who ever adorned himself with the thawb of humility was Rasulullah ﷺ. His whole life ﷺ was a life of humility.

The Prophet's Choice: Prophet-King or Servant-Messenger

Once he ﷺ was with Jibril, and an angel had come down that had never come down before — unique. And he came from Allah, sent to the Prophet ﷺ with two choices. He tells the Prophet ﷺ that he is sent by Allah, and he asks him:

"Should I make you — you have the choice, Allah gave you the choice — would you rather be a prophet-king or a servant-messenger?" And Jibril tells the Prophet ﷺ:

"Be humble to your Lord." And so the Prophet ﷺ chose عَبْدًا رَسُولًا — to be a servant-messenger.

The Prophet's Du'a for Humility

And the Prophet ﷺ would frequently make the du'a:

"O Allah, allow me to live and die and to be resurrected amongst those simple, humble people" — those simple people who have no hisab when they go into Jannah.

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4126)

The Prophet's Simple Life

Aisha رضي الله عنها, when describing the lifestyle of Rasulullah ﷺ within his own home, she said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5416; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2970)

The family of the Prophet ﷺ never ate barley bread two days in a row. How do you and I live? They never ate barley bread two days in a row. And he ﷺ would go days and nights without having food.

The Prophet ﷺ — his sarir. Sarir is not just the $1,000 mattresses that you and I purchase. Sarir, linguistically, is anything a person sleeps on. He ﷺ had tan leather that he filled with palm fiber of the nakhlah, of the palm tree. And he ﷺ had a mat — a strong mat — that he ﷺ would sleep on.

And one time Umar رضي الله عنه came, and the Prophet ﷺ was resting there and he got up and he only had the bottom portion of his clothing on — again, he is in his home — and the top half was not on. And Umar رضي الله عنه saw the marks on the back of Rasulullah ﷺ and he started to cry. And the Prophet ﷺ said to him:

"Why are you crying, O son of al-Khattab?" — he says this affectionately, out of love. And Umar رضي الله عنه said: "Ya Rasulullah, the kings of Persia and Rome live in so much luxury. They live so lavishly. And you are the Prophet of Allah." He felt himself a taqseer in the right of Rasulullah ﷺ — like, how is this possible that you are the Prophet of Allah, the most noble creation ever, to be in such a state?

And the Prophet ﷺ — look at the correction he makes of Umar رضي الله عنه. He says to him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4913; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1479)

"O son of al-Khattab, are you not pleased that for them is the dunya and for us is the akhirah?" This was Rasulullah ﷺ.

His Humility with His People

He ﷺ was so humble and so simple amongst his people. When they would stand up for him, he would say:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 5229)

"Don't stand up for me as the a'ajim do for their kings. Don't do that." And when they would exaggerate in praise of him ﷺ, he would say:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3445)

"I am only a servant, so say: servant of Allah and His messenger." Did he deserve more? He did ﷺ. But his life and his akhlaq were all humility ﷺ.

He ﷺ — when servant girls would come and take him by his hand, and take him to the marketplaces or wherever they had a need, he ﷺ would gladly take their hand and go to fulfill their need. Once a woman came to the Prophet ﷺ and she said, "I have a haja, I have a need." And he said to her:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2326)

"Sit wherever — any pathway of al-Madinah you like — I'll sit there." Now when people want to sit and talk to us: appointments, this, that, you have to have certain qualifications even to get into a room with certain people. And yet he ﷺ was humble and down to earth with his people. This is why he was loved by them. And this is how we must be.

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2865)

"Indeed Allah has revealed to me that you must be humble." I ask Allah to make us humble, ya Rabbal 'Alamin.

Second Part of the Khutbah

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our master, our Prophet, and our beloved Muhammad and upon his family and all his companions. The Prophet ﷺ, again — we worship al-Mutakabbir 'azza wa jall through our humility, by being like Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Prophet ﷺ taught us a very beautiful hadith, and let us leave with this:

(Sahih Ibn Hibban, Hadith 5678; also narrated in Shu'ab al-Iman of al-Bayhaqi)

"Whoever is humble for Allah, Allah will raise them. And whoever is arrogant, Allah will lower and debase them." Don't think that by being haughty, prideful, and arrogant it will get you anywhere. It won't. People will not like you and it will not bring you divine tawfiq from Allah 'azza wa jall. But if you are humble — humble in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, humble with the creation of Allah — Allah will elevate you, and elevate you, and elevate you in ways you cannot imagine. This is the promise of Rasulullah ﷺ.

So be people of humility: humble at home, humble at work, humble with your neighbors, humble everywhere you go, as Rasulullah ﷺ was.

Stories of the Humble Scholars

I'll leave you all with a story. One of the great scholars — Sheikh Muhammad al-Salqini رحمة الله عليه, grand scholar of Syria. At the time of Eid, he would have people come as visitors. As you can imagine, in the masjid, coming as zuwar and guests to him in the masjid. And he is sitting with his son — who was also a scholar — and his grandson, about 2–3 years old. The grandson came with a stick and started to beat the sheikh. He started to hit the sheikh.

You can imagine a grand scholar being hit by his grandson in front of all of these guests. And so before they were going to discipline him and take the child away, he said, "Leave him, leave him. He is an innocent, ma'sum creation of Allah. And perhaps he knows — Allah 'azza wa jall sent him because I am mudhnib muqassir, I am sinful, and he is coming to discipline me." This was the humility of our ulema.

Sheikh Adib al-Kallas رحمة الله عليه. One time he came into a gathering in the masjid where there was another sheikh, another scholar giving a talk. And he came, and the only spot he could find was next to the shoe rack. Imagine a scholar of his rank and status — he sits next to the shoes. And they said to him, "Ya Mawlana, how are you sitting here?" And he said, "No, this is my maqam, this is my station." This was the humility of our ulema — that they learned from the humility of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Du'a and Closing

I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us prophetic humility.

I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to remove from our hearts the arrogance, O Lord of the worlds. O Allah, honor Islam and the Muslims. And humiliate the polytheists and the disbelievers. And destroy the enemies of the religion. And protect the sanctuaries of Islam, O Lord of the worlds.

Indeed Allah and His angels pray upon the Prophet. O you who have believed, pray upon him and send peace and blessings upon him. And be the servants of Allah who remember: indeed Allah commands justice, and good, and giving to those near to Him, and forbids immorality, and evil, and transgression. He warns you, that you may remember.