Are You a Mediocre Muslim? | Jumu'ah Khutbah | Dr. Omar Suleiman

Indeed, all praise belongs to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help, and we seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. Whomsoever He misguides, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. He is alone and has no partner. To Him belongs the kingdom and all praise. He gives life and causes death. And He is the Living, the Ever-Living. In His Hand is all that is good, and He has power over all things. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, and His chosen one and His companion. He fulfilled the trust, and conveyed the message, and advised the Ummah, and left it on the clear path — its night like its day, and none can deviate from it except the one who has perished. So upon him is the best prayer and the perfect submission, and upon his family and companions, and those who follow his Sunnah until the Day of Judgment.

O Allah, make us of them, and of those who believe and do righteous deeds, and associate with the truth, and associate with patience. Ameen, O Lord of the worlds.

And I advise you, O my soul, to fear Allah, for He has commanded us with the truth. And He said, Exalted is He:

O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who believe, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it a wife, and spread from it many men and women. And fear Allah with whom you ask, and the most Merciful. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who believe, fear Allah and say a firm word. He will correct your deeds, and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has won a great triumph.

We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is His final Messenger. We ask Allah to send His peace and blessings upon him, the Prophets and Messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in his blessed path until the Day of Judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen.

Are You a Mediocre Muslim?

Dear brothers and sisters, there is a term that I want you to remember bi'idhnillahi ta'ala — and I will quote the exact passage, but so that you at least have the term insha'Allah ta'ala, and you can see the khutbah in light of it. There is a term in our books of tazkiyah, known as da'af al-azm, which refers to the weakness of aspiration. A person who aims low, a person who has weak aspiration, a person who has small dreams, a person that is very individualistic, as opposed to being about the community. And so it refers to limited domains, and particularly limited pursuits, in regards to what you are seeking from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And it's an interesting topic, because typically we talk about choosing jannah or choosing jahannam. And this isn't about choosing paradise or choosing hellfire. This isn't about choosing halal or choosing haram. It's more about how much of jannah you actually pursue, and choosing what's virtuous over what's idle, what's meaningless, and choosing what's better over what's just okay.

It's an interesting field that you find in tazkiyah, and subhanAllah, it has never been more relevant perhaps to us than what we're seeing with the people of Gaza, who demonstrate to us — with the meaning that they have, the purpose that sustains them — that they are able to be steadfast upon something that is so great, and face a monster that is so vicious, because they believe in a purpose that's that much higher.

And so the title for today's khutbah is: Are You a Mediocre Muslim? And the word that I want you to focus on is mediocre. Mediocrity as it relates to your azzam, as it relates to your pursuits. And the beauty of this subject is that there are tangible ways to measure your azzam, tangible ways to measure the level of your determination, and the sincerity of your pursuits.

Dunya vs. Akhirah: What Are You Really Pursuing?

And what you'll find in these chapters is that there are plenty of examples given to us about how motivated people are when it comes to the dunya versus the akhirah. SubhanAllah, you meet people, and very few people don't have ambitions as a whole. Very few people don't have goals as a whole. But it's what those goals are about and what they're willing to do with those goals.

And so it's one of those chapters — if you open up Imam al-Ghazali rahimahullah talking about it, or Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah talking about it — there is worldly example after worldly example after worldly example. This is how you act with things that you want in this world. This is how you act with the goals that you set for yourself in this world. Now compare that to the goals that you set with the deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it's more about striving with your iman rather than merely surviving as a Muslim — like, I'm okay with just being that Muslim that prays five times a day, that does what he has to do, and moves on. And taking it to something greater.

Abdullah ibn Abbas radiyallahu 'anhu frames this discussion in the ayah from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala:

Verily, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives in their entirety and their wealth in its entirety, in exchange for Jannah. And he says: if you look at this ayah, Allah azza wa jal is giving us a rule — the loftier the price, the loftier the aspiration has to be. The loftier the price, the loftier the aspiration has to be. There has to be something that matches it in proportion.

And subhanAllah, there is a very powerful hadith from the Prophet ﷺ that shows you the opposite of this. This is Allah talking about Jannah — what about dunya? Which actually comes from the word dhani — it's lower, it's something that Allah doesn't care about. Therefore Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: go ahead and take it. If this is what you want, take it. And listen to what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ says, and frame it with what you see every day:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2320 — graded Sahih)

That if this dunya was worth to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the wing of a mosquito, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would not allow a disbeliever to even have a sip of water from it.

It's actually an incredible hadith, especially when you look at it side by side with that ayah from the Quran. What does this mean? You see people that curse Allah day and night, you see people that oppress, you see people that live lives that are entirely unholy and ungodly, yet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: go ahead and take the dunya. If this is what you want — a parable, and to Allah belongs the highest example — is someone coming in front of your house and drinking out of the sewer or eating out of your trash can. That's trash. That's sewage. The dunya to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not worth the wing of a mosquito. This is what you want? Fine. Go ahead and take it. 80 years, 90 years, you want palaces, you want cars, you want good clothes? Fine.

And for us, we watch this all play out in front of us and we're like: how is Allah still letting this person have this? Despite the way that they are. Whereas that other person is paying with the price of their lives, their homes, their entire existence —

Because Allah azza wa jal has written for them Jannah. What they are pursuing and what they're sacrificing matches the value of the goal. And so if you see the dunya as mattering so much, then you're not going to be able to come to terms with what you're witnessing outside. How is it that these people live such great lives, and they're such terrible people? And so you get back to the core of purpose.

The Path of the Prophets — Ibn al-Qayyim's Powerful Passage

I chose this khutbah based upon one of my favorite passages from Al-Fawa'id. And I have to read it in its entirety in Arabic and then I'll do the translation, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala. Imam Ibn al-Qayyim says in his Fawa'id:

(Ibn al-Qayyim, Al-Fawa'id)

He says: O you who is weak in your resolve — where are you on this path? The path of the Prophets, the path of the Righteous. A path upon which Adam 'alayhi al-salam exhausted himself. A path upon which Nuh 'alayhi al-salam cried for almost a thousand years. A path that led to Ibrahim 'alayhi al-salam being thrown into a fire, and then his son Ismail 'alayhi al-salam being laid down for sacrifice. A path that led to Yusuf 'alayhi al-salam being enslaved, sold cheaply, and imprisoned. A path that led to Zakariya 'alayhi al-salam being sawn into two, and his son Yahya 'alayhi al-salam beheaded. A path by which Ayyub 'alayhi al-salam cried and endured all sorts of afflictions. And Dawud 'alayhi al-salam wept beyond measure. And a path with which Muhammad ﷺ struggled with all of its poverty and with all of its harm. So how can we expect to claim to be on this path by play and by amusement?

Reframing the Message

I want to say something about this text and actually how we look at texts like this usually. Usually, if you found this on your social media feed or if someone sent it to you, the primary takeaway, the primary message is: you're going to be okay. Be patient. Because other people have gone through this. Don't worry — Ayyub 'alayhi al-salam went through this, other people have been through difficulty. So don't worry, be patient.

With hardship comes ease. Actually, subhanAllah, I want to reframe the message altogether, and ask you to be a little bit more critical when you see messages like this being sent to you. This is actually not a "be patient" message. This passage is not a "be patient" message. This is: there are people who came before you who were patient and who endured sacrifice because they lived for Allah's mission and not themselves. This is not a "be patient" message.

It's sort of like the multiple Rumi messages — and now Ghazali is getting into that territory too — taking messages that are meant to be messages of ulul azm, messages of alooul himmah, aspiring for something greater, and turning them into: "you're gonna be okay, it's okay that your car just broke down, it's okay that you just went through this hardship." This is not a sabr message. This is a live for something greater than yourself message — and then endure whatever comes for that mission. This is what Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah ta'ala is saying.

What are you willing to do and what are you willing to endure for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Pushing yourself beyond mediocrity.

Two Buckets of Mediocrity: Undisciplined or Unwilling

And as you start to read what Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah gives in terms of examples, they're all worldly examples — but they're almost all outdated or they don't fit our context. He talks about how you would be patient in raising your camel, how you would be patient in tending to your sheep, how you would be patient with milking. Let's give it, insha'Allah ta'ala, your modern context while still maintaining the message.

He talks about when you ask a child: what do you want to be when you grow up? SubhanAllah, it's very powerful. Back then, there were worldly professions and there were professions that were generally considered within the domain of the spiritual. Now worldly professions can also be professions for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But if a person says, "I want to be a doctor, I want to be an engineer, I want to be this, I want to be that" — there is an entire pathway put forward. The resources you spend toward becoming that thing. The entire house has to think about how we're going to put so-and-so through this so that they could reach that goal. This is going to require this many years of work, this much money being put forward. It becomes an entire family effort.

And if a child answers only in a worldly context and has no goals for themselves beyond simply a certain career and making a certain amount of money — that's not an indictment of the child. He says that's an indictment of the culture around that child. Because the community raises what is like it in its next generation. The Tabi'een were the tarbiyah of the Sahabah. They were molded in the same spirit as their parents — you die for what we died for, you live for what we lived for.

And then he talks about the way that you train your body. You wake up at a certain time. You put yourself through a certain amount of physical reps and exercise. Strict dieting, all of that, so that you can get your body to a particular point. And he talks about the hustle of this world and the tiredness of this world and the pursuing of this world. And if you were to compare that with your pursuit of Jannah...

All of this is to say, dear brothers and sisters — so that we don't go into the abstract and leave off the practical — this is talking about what you want and what you do for what you want. And so being a mediocre Muslim falls under two buckets: being undisciplined or being unwilling.

The Four Signs of Da'af al-Azm

The 'ulema mentioned that of the signs of da'af al-azm is:

First: A person who is satisfied only with the fard — the bare minimum of worship. "Alhamdulillah I do this, alhamdulillah I do that." And as religiosity wears off generation by generation, to find a Muslim who prays five times a day is like finding a sheikh now, right? You talk about matching people for marriage — someone says, "Sheikh, he prays five times a day and he fasts Ramadan," as if you just met Hasan al-Basri or something. Like it's not that big of a deal — alhamdulillah, that just means he's a Muslim. That's an indictment of culture, that's an indictment of the generation. But the first sign of da'af al-azm is to be satisfied with the fard.

Second: To be inconsistent with the 'ibadat — worship in the broader sense: Quran and things of that sort.

Third: To be obsessed with the goals of this world and nonchalant about the goals of the akhirah. Meaning: when someone asks you about your worldly pursuits and your goals, you've got it down. "In the next few years, I want to earn this much, I want to have this, I want to own this, and I've got a whole pathway to get there." Someone asks you about your deen — "Yeah, insha'Allah, I want to read more Quran. Insha'Allah, I want to go to the masjid more often." Those aren't real goals when you say them that way. "I want to give more sadaqa, insha'Allah." You ask about dunya goals, you've got a game plan. You have a time factor attached to it — in this many years, in this many months, this is where I want to be, this is what I want it to look like. When you talk about your deen goals, they're unstructured, they're abstract, they're ambiguous. And so someone asks you today and they ask you three years later — "You know, insha'Allah, I want to read more Quran. Insha'Allah, I want to start going to the masjid more often." Something is wrong with this picture. It's mediocrity. And there's a problem in the pursuit.

Fourth: And this is very relevant to the time — avoiding inconvenience or ridicule for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Why is this so important? If you cannot tolerate minor inconveniences and minor ridicule or mockery for being a Muslim — or being a dedicated Muslim — how are you going to tolerate one day major sacrifices for the sake of Allah, or oppression for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? How? These are daily exercises in what drives you and what you're willing to endure for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So when the inconvenience shows itself, or the minor mockery, the minor ridicule shows itself with being a Muslim — or being a dedicated Muslim amongst Muslims perhaps that don't practice certain things — you endure that, because you know that there might come a day that you'll have to make a major sacrifice for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Someone might oppress you because of your deen.

How to Rise Above Mediocrity: Six Practical Steps

So how do you rise above this?

Number one: You upgrade your intentions with your daily lives. Find the pursuit of Allah in every single thing that you do, even your work. Find the pursuit of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and insert it there.

Number two: When you make du'a to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, ask Allah for the highest and the best. The Prophet ﷺ said: when you ask Allah for Jannah, don't just ask Him for Jannah — ask Him for al-Firdaus. Ask Him for the highest level, not just anywhere in Jannah. And there's a work that has to match that du'a as well.

Number three: When it comes to your 'ibadat — how do you improve its quality and its quantity? How do I lengthen my sujood but also add a sunnah prayer? How do I lengthen the amount of Quran that I'm reading on a daily basis but add baked-in time for tadabbur and tafakkur — contemplation and remembrance? The point is: how do I add regularly to its quality and to its quantity?

Number four: Set high long-term goals for your deen and have measurable, small, disciplined ways to get there — and revisit it frequently. The same way that you do with your worldly goals. You want to get to this place in three or four years — what does that look like for the next month? What does that look like for the six months ahead? And make yourself accountable to those goals.

Number five: Choose strong company. SubhanAllah, you don't just surround yourself with people that don't cause you to sin — you surround yourself with people of a lofty himmah, people of lofty ambitions. And this is when Allah azza wa jal says:

Let those who are competitors compete over Jannah. Let those who like to compete — we move towards things, we compete over things — let them compete over that. Look at the people around you and ask yourself not just: "do they not make me sin?" But: "do they motivate me towards something that's greater?"

And in that, subhanAllah, you find that those that compete over the palaces of Jannah instead of the crumbs of this dunya — Allah azza wa jal arranges all of their affairs. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4105 — graded Sahih)

The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever is focused only on this world, Allah azza wa jal will confound his affairs — فَرَّقَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ أَمْرَهُ — everything will be all over the place. And by the way, don't read this hadith only in terms of money. It's actually a problem with this hadith. Whoever makes the dunya — the life of this world — their greatest concern, Allah azza wa jal will put it all over the place, will scatter it for them. So they constantly feel like: "I can't catch up with this or this or that." It's not just money — it's everything that is worldly in its nature. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will cause that person to fear poverty constantly. He'll put poverty right between their eyes so that they only see poverty, they only see that they're not getting to where they need to get.

And the Prophet ﷺ said: whoever pursues the hereafter, whoever pursues the akhirah, Allah azza wa jal will gather their affairs for them. وَأَتَتْهُ الدُّنْيَا وَهِيَ رَاغِمَةٌ — and he has richness in his heart, and it's like the world is chasing after that person. Allah azza wa jal is arranging their affairs for them. To tell you that when you dedicate your affairs to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you entrust Allah azza wa jal with the things that you're naturally having to sacrifice for His sake. Like: "I don't have as much time to do this because I'm doing this now. I don't have as much to spend on this because I'm spending on this now." Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will do your books for you. Allah azza wa jal will put those affairs in order for you. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will gather it for you in your heart.

Your Ummah Goal

Number six — the last thing in this regard: SubhanAllah, you talk to a kid and you say, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" "Oh, I want to be this, I want to be that." "What do you want to do later on in your life?" "Oh, I want to do this, I want to do that." There's something about the people of Gaza and the people of Palestine that are there right now and holding it down in ribat — that that young child who walks around knows in his mind or in her mind: one day I'm going to free Masjid al-Aqsa. That your purpose is beyond simply growing up to reach your graduation. That you have a responsibility, that there is something greater than your individual pursuit as it relates to your community on this earth.

And so I'm going to ask you all a very serious question that insha'Allah ta'ala you'll take with you: What is your ummah goal? Every single person should have an ummah goal — at least one, a big goal. If I was to ask you, what is your ummah goal? What is it? What are you giving back to the ummah? What do you want to put into this ummah? What is your ummah goal? And then you write all the details under that.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us a people that are pleasing to Him. May Allah azza wa jal arrange our affairs for us in a way that's pleasing to Him. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala set us on that path. Ameen, ya Rahman, ya Raheem.