Dr. Hamid Ghazali - Motivation, Confidence, and Assurances

Opening and Introduction

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. الحمد لله رب العالمين. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Dear brothers and sisters, I pray to Allah to grant you peace and security, grant our brothers and sisters in different parts in the world this peace and security, especially in Gaza, in Palestine, in Sudan, and other places of the Muslim world. Last time I was here, I started lessons that we learn from the Qur'an, Tarbiyyah, as illustrated in the Qur'an.

I explored with you what we learn from Surah Al-Baqarah, and major lessons of Tarbiyyah for us, and we explored that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put us for a reason, purpose of life for us. We are the khalifas of Allah on earth, and hence we take care of everybody on the face of the earth, including animals, humans, plants, and so on. And we went into that, into details of that.

And we said the attitude is very important, and you got to have a positive attitude in order to carry out the mission that Allah put for us. And today I want to take you on a journey, so that we learn Tarbiyyah lessons from the next surah that comes in the Qur'an, which is Surah Al-Imran. And I focus on the major lessons that we have, rather than the details that we have.

The Heart of Surah Al-Imran: Confidence and Assurance

And if I look into what is, just if you take out from this khutbah, what I'm going to say now, that's good enough. You will see there focus, emphasis on building confidence in Islam, and providing you with assurances that you are on the right track. That is absolutely important.

So that confidence that we have in Islam, is very much illustrated in Surah Al-Imran. These assurances that you are on the right track, also provided in Surah Al-Imran. And if you examine the Qur'an and the practice of the Prophet in Mecca, you will see this assurance, this confidence.

Lessons from Surah Al-Zukhruf

Allah told the Prophet, when all the people in Mecca, those who were not Muslims, were proud of themselves, and how they have the luxury of life, and how the followers of Prophet Muhammad did not have this luxury, though some of them did, but the majority did not. Allah sent Surah Al-Zukhruf. Zukhruf means there, like you have fireworks, and then just suddenly you blow them out, and then suddenly they disappear.

That is kind of Zukhruf. Just entertain you for just a few seconds, or maybe a minute, but it just disappears after that. That is the heart of Surah Al-Zukhruf.

This is Zukhruf, this is clear. And Allah told the Prophet after that, the hereafter is better for the righteous. Much better than that.

And Allah told the Prophet, if it's worth anything, Allah would have given it to those who do not believe in Him, and have given them all the castles, and all the luxury, and the silver, and the gold, and all these things. But it's worth nothing. It's only a glare.

And then you skip a few words, and Allah told the Prophet, so, hold strongly to what has been revealed to you. إِنَّكَ with the noon here for the emphasis, that's an assurance. You are on the right track.

Messages from Surah Al-Fajr

And Allah told the Prophet in Surah Al-Fajr, for example, they were so proud of the money and the wealth:

As the kafirs of Mecca were saying to the Prophet, Allah honored us, gave us the wealth, gave us the money, and did not give it to you. As those opponents of the Prophet were saying in Mecca. And Allah told them, كَلَّا No, this is not the case.

كَلَّا The matter is, you do not honor the yateem, you do not honor the miskeen. In other words, you don't understand the philosophy of life that we talked about last time here. Your job is to make everybody happy, to provide for everybody, to provide for the humans, the animals, the environment as I explained last time.

Motivation Through Trials: The Battle of Uhud

Now in Al-Imran, we see these assurances. We see building the confidence. Especially after, when the Muslims were in a low morale, when they were not motivated.

So you can say, add to the title that we have confidence and assurances, add motivation. Then Al-Imran is about motivation. So if you feel down, or you go through difficulty, strongly recommend Al-Imran.

And that happened when the Muslims lost the battle of Uhud. And they were coming so weak and so sorry, and very much down because they failed the Prophet. They did not obey the Prophet. And 70 of the companions lost their lives in the battle of Uhud. In the surah, that talks about motivation, that talks about building confidence, that talks about assurances, Allah inserts the battle of Uhud.

Does not insert the battle of Badr in which the Muslims won. Inserts there the battle the Muslims lost. Why? To tell you, you are on the right track.

Yes, you lost. Yes, you disobeyed. But with your Islam, you are the best.

You repent to Allah, you ask Allah forgiveness, you go back to where you started. That's what we learned in the philosophy. In surah Al-Baqarah, you are the Khalifa of Allah, and you will fall short.

But when this happens, you wake up, you ask forgiveness, you continue your mission. That is emphasized in Al-Imran. You really need to understand that.

And understand why Allah put it at the beginning of the Qur'an. Not at the end, not in the middle. After Allah explained to us, your vision, your mission, how you build your community.

Allah provided us this assurance. You are on the right track. And told the Prophet, You are the best.

You are the best nation created from mankind. Enjoying the good, forbidding the evil. Where is this verse? In the surah that builds confidence.

That builds assurance for you. You are the best. And when the Muslims felt that they betrayed the Prophet, and as a result, Muslims lost their lives, Allah told the Prophet, told us in the Qur'an, and the Prophet and the companions, Do not feel weak. Do not feel sad. You are the highest with your iman, if you truly believe. What an assurance.

What a way to build confidence in Islam. Yes, you lost the battle. Yes, you disobeyed. Yes, you sinned. You're still the best. Provided that, you make dua to Allah, ask forgiveness, and make dua.

That's how the surah is concluded. Our Lord, we heard the call of iman. Believe and we believe. So forgive us our sins. Number one. We heard the call of iman. And we believe. So forgive us our sins. And expiate our evil deeds, and take our souls in the company of the righteous. Our Lord, and grant us what You promised us through Your messengers and do not disgrace us on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed, You do not fail in Your promise.

The Ultimate Assurance: Islam as the True Religion

Assurances is also important. Allah told them:

Deen to Allah is Islam. There is no deen that will be accepted from Allah except Islam.

Whosoever seeks other religions other than Islam will not be accepted from him or her. And in the hereafter, he or she will be a loser. Are we talking about Islam that was with the Prophet? Yes. Are we talking about Islam at the time of Ibrahim? Yes.

Islam is a generic term that applies to all the people, all humanity. And that's why Allah told the Prophet in Surah Al-Imran:

Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor a Christian. He was a Hanif, Muslim Hanif, straight. Very much inclined to doing the best. That's the Hanif. And he was not associating any partners with Allah.

إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ What an assurance for all of us. What an assurance for us to tell us whosoever wants a religion other than Islam will not be accepted. These assurances were provided to us since time started during the time of the Prophet and after until we get to the Day of Judgment.

The rule is the same. What an assurance. What a confidence.

And that what made the Prophet so confident. So confident in Islam and transferred that confidence to us. We will explore that inshallah in the second khutbah.

Second Khutbah: Living with Confidence

Dear brothers and sisters, we really need to go back and understand these jewels, these beautiful lessons that we learn from the Qur'an. Change the way we study the Qur'an. Change the way we learn the Qur'an so that we get these assurances and build that confidence and get motivated and have our children and our family members motivated.

See the wisdom, why Allah put the Qur'an in the order. At the outset, Allah builds that confidence for you. And the Prophet was very confident when they were negotiating with him at the beginning of the Dawah.

If you want to be the king, we'll make you the king. If you want to be the richest, we'll make you the richest and on and on. And he refused.

And he told his uncle, By Allah:

(Narrated in Seerah Ibn Hisham)

O my uncle, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand to leave this matter, I will not leave it.

Hold fast what we have revealed you. You are on the straight path.

What an assurance for all of us. Regardless of the difficulties that we pass through. Regardless of the circumstances that come to every single one of us.

Rest assured. Allah is with you. If you truly believe.

May Allah throw the confidence in our hearts and bring us the victory inshallah.

Closing Du'as