Ibrahim's Challenge To Idols And Allah's Divine Protection

Opening Supplication & Quranic Recitation

Praise of Allah and Salawat upon the Prophet

My dear respected brothers, elders, guests of Allah. We start with the praise of Allah. That eyes are not able to see Him. Thoughts are not able to comprehend Him. Anyone wanting to describe Him is unable to do so. He knows the weights of the weightiest mountains and the depths of the deepest oceans. Nothing is hidden from His sight. He is all-seeing, all-hearing.

And then we also send salawat and salutations upon Nabi ﷺ. The best of all creation, the final of all messengers. Nabi ﷺ said: certainly from the most virtuous of your days are the day of Jumu'ah. So be abundant in salawat upon me on that day. So we should aim to spend some time today — either after Jumu'ah, after Asr, whatever time we can — and spend it solely doing salawat upon Nabi ﷺ.

The Story of Ibrahim and the Fire

We find in the life of Ibrahim عليه السلام that in the beginning he began to call his people towards the worship of Allah. And naturally when a group is doing something, they don't like being told to do something else. So when Ibrahim عليه السلام started to call his people, he told them: stop worshipping these idols, they're just stones — you can see they don't move, you can see they don't talk, they don't eat, they don't drink, they don't do anything, they're just pieces of rock.

But his people, they didn't listen. They were not happy with him calling towards Allah. And eventually it became to such a point where Ibrahim عليه السلام called them again and again and again.

So the people were going to their festival and they told Ibrahim عليه السلام, come join us, we're going to go celebrate. But Ibrahim عليه السلام, he was done with their worship of idols. So he told them he was sick — not physically, but he was sick of them worshipping idols. So they all went and as soon as they left, Ibrahim عليه السلام immediately took an axe and one by one he destroyed their idols. But he took the axe and put it in the hand of their biggest idol — the one idol that he did not destroy.

So the people came back and naturally they were very surprised. All of a sudden all of their idols, the things that they used to worship, were in crumbles — except for the largest one. So immediately they thought it had to be Ibrahim عليه السلام. Who else could it be? Everyone else was at the festival.

So they called Ibrahim عليه السلام and he said: why don't you ask your largest idol? He's holding the axe, I'm not holding the axe. So they looked at him and told him: you know our idol cannot speak. So Ibrahim عليه السلام told them: if your idol cannot speak, maybe he can move — he's holding the axe. They said: you know he cannot move. He allowed them to come to the conclusion that their idols are useless, that their idols are just pieces of stone.

And eventually they went back and forth and they said it had to be Ibrahim عليه السلام. So they plotted and plotted and they decided: burn him, and to avenge our gods, if we are to do the right thing.

So they began to prepare a fire. For an entire month they gathered firewood, put it into a huge pile, and then they ignited it. But that wasn't it — it took a whole seven days of them fanning the fire for the fire to become the size it was. The flames reached into the sky, and all of a sudden when it was time to put Ibrahim عليه السلام in, they realized it was too hot. No one even wanted to come near the fire. So Shaytan told them: let us catapult him into it, so none of us will get hurt but he will go straight into the fire.

So they put him into the catapult and as they were about to throw him, Jibreel عليه السلام came and offered his help. He said: O Prophet of Allah, how can I be of assistance to you? But Ibrahim عليه السلام said: yes, I need help, you're right, I need help — but I don't need your help. I need the help of Allah. That even when he was being thrown into the fire, he knew that it was Allah who would help him.

So as he was about to be thrown, Allah said:

O fire, become cold and peaceful for Ibrahim.

And all of this — Ibrahim عليه السلام wasn't doing it for his own good. There was no benefit for him in calling his people. Rather it was his own heart, his own love for his people, that he wanted them to be successful. He wanted them to worship Allah. He wanted them to follow the command and the decree of Allah.

The Story of Musa and the Parting of the Sea

Nabi ﷺ once told Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه: uphold the decree and rights of Allah, and Allah will take care of you. Uphold the rights and decree of Allah, and He will be by your side no matter what you are going through.

There's also the story of Musa عليه السلام. Musa عليه السلام called the people of Fir'aun for so many years. So many years he called and called and called. There are so many stories, so many miracles that occurred, but yet they still didn't listen. So eventually Allah told his people to go — you can run away from these people, they are not going to listen.

So the order came at night and immediately the Bani Israel gathered and began to run away, but Fir'aun found out. He started to gather his army. He said: we're not going to let these Bani Israel run away, how can they escape from my command? So his army began to chase the people of Musa عليه السلام.

Throughout the night the people of Musa عليه السلام were running further and further, but the army of Fir'aun was large and getting closer bit by bit. Eventually the sunrise was about to happen, and the people of Musa عليه السلام on one side saw the army of Fir'aun, and right in front of them was the entire sea. So what did they say?

So the two groups, the two armies, they saw each other. The people of Musa عليه السلام said: we are overtaken, there's nowhere we can go, we can't swim, and the people of Fir'aun are right behind us.

And Musa عليه السلام at that point remembered: احْفَظِ اللَّهَ يَحْفَظْكَ — when you uphold the decree of Allah, Allah will protect you. So what did he say?

He said: never! Certainly with me is my Lord and He will guide me. The people of Fir'aun cannot do anything because with me is my Lord.

So all of a sudden he struck his staff and the sea split in half and he went through.

Allah Gives and Takes the Kingdom as He Wills

Allah says in Surah Ali Imran:

Say: O Allah, You are the King of all kingdoms. From it You give to whoever You will, however You will. From the fire of Ibrahim عليه السلام, He Himself cooled it. He gave the coolness of the fire to Ibrahim عليه السلام. He split the sea for Musa عليه السلام. He gave the control of the birds to Sulaiman عليه السلام for his army. And so many more examples.

But the ayah doesn't end there. Allah can also take the kingdom from whoever He wills. That if in one occasion we see someone being given the kingdom, there is not much in between before the kingdom could be taken away.

It is that same fire that was cool for Ibrahim عليه السلام — we see it destroy towns, we see it harm anyone who even comes near it. You don't even have to touch it and fire could harm you. We see it take thousands of lives every single year.

It is that same water that split in half for Musa عليه السلام — that same water drowned Fir'aun when he followed Musa عليه السلام. That same water was the demise of Fir'aun. And it is that same water that, when Nuh عليه السلام called his people for 900 years, drowned his people when they didn't listen after all those years of him calling.

It is those same birds that Sulaiman عليه السلام had in his army, those same birds that assisted him — and it is those same birds that were the demise of Abraha when he came to Mecca and wanted to destroy the Ka'bah. It is those same birds that came with the pebbles, dropping them on the army of Abraha.

So Allah says: you give from the kingdom to whoever You will, and you take it away from whoever You will. There are so many cases nowadays, so many things that we see, so many people being harmed, so many cities being destroyed. And we may think: why is Allah doing this? Why is the kingdom being taken away from these people? Why are these people given this and not that? But the ayah continues:

And You honor whoever You will. And You bestow disgrace upon whoever You will. With You is all good. With Allah is all good. That if today we see someone being given the kingdom, tomorrow it can be taken away. But at the end of the day, بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ — with Allah is all good. That if someone is being harmed today, and it may seem like something bad, we need to realize that with Allah is all good. If we don't see it today, we'll definitely see the results of it tomorrow. If we don't see the results tomorrow, maybe the day after that, if we don't see it in our lifetime. But definitely at the end, whoever is with Allah, whoever is upholding the decree of Allah, that person will always be successful no matter what he is doing.

The Advice of the Prophet to Ibn Abbas

Nabi ﷺ, when Ibn Abbas was about 10 years old, advised him. And this is an advice that all of us can take into our lives. Nabi ﷺ said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2516 — graded Sahih)

O boy, I am going to teach you a few words of advice. Follow the decree of Allah and He will protect you. Follow the decree of Allah and you will find Him next to you. And when you ask, ask Allah — do not ask anyone else. Many a time we're making du'a, we're praying salah, and yet we're still thinking: who are we going to ask for this? Who are we going to ask for that? We're sitting in the masjid, we're in the house of Allah, yet our thoughts are still far away. We're thinking: oh, I have this need, I have that need, maybe I can ask my friend, maybe I can ask my parents, maybe I can ask this person. While we are in our salah we are thinking who should we ask.

So when you ask, ask Allah. And when you seek assistance, when you seek help, seek help from Allah. And know that if the entire nation gathers and they want to benefit someone, they will not be able to do anything except that which Allah has already written for you. They would not be able to raise a finger in your aid unless Allah wrote it for that person. And the same goes for the opposite — if the entire nation gathers and they want to harm someone, they would not be able to raise a finger or do anything except that which Allah has decreed. The pens have been raised and the ink has dried.

The Islamic New Year and Building a Relationship with Allah

Yesterday marked the beginning of the Islamic New Year. Yesterday was the first day of Muharram. And what better advice, what better words can we take into account and implement into our lives, than the words of Nabi ﷺ to Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه? That if we uphold the commands and decree of Allah, there is so much that we can do, and we will always be under His protection.

The hadith is jawami' al-kalim — such small words but they mean so much. They have so much impact on our lives, encouraging us that if we are conscious of Allah in every single moment, in every single thing that we do, then we will find that nothing can harm us, nothing can come in our way. And no matter what we do, Allah will always be with us.

But this doesn't mean that we go today and say, Allah will protect me, and start touching fire or jumping in lakes without knowing how to swim. We need to start creating a connection with Allah. If someone has a conversation with you, and three months later he shows up at your door in the middle of the night, knocking and banging, saying let's go travel across the country — you would think he's crazy. We talked once, why are you at my door at 2 AM? So just like that, how can we show up to Allah making du'a, wanting our calls to be answered, if we don't have ta'alluq ma'Allah — if we don't have a relationship with Allah?

Three Steps to Draw Closer to Allah

So we must all work towards creating this relationship. We must slowly become closer to Allah.

First, we need to devote time every single day solely to worshipping Allah. That this time after Asr, this time after Maghrib, this time before Fajr — every single day I'm going to spend doing du'a, doing dhikr, worshipping Allah.

Second, we need to go to lectures. We need to find places where we learn how to worship Allah, because we can worship as much as we want, and if we're doing it wrong, then what is it worth?

Third, we need to spend time with those who are worshipping Allah. They say you are a result of the five people who are closest to you. So if the five people closest to us are not close to Allah, then how do we expect ourselves to be close to Allah?

Invitation to the World Ijtema

This weekend is the largest Ijtema, one of the largest gatherings of the year. The World Ijtema is taking place just 20 minutes from here at the Rosemont Convention Center. There are people of ilm, people who are worshipping Allah, for all three days. It started this morning and the final du'a will be Sunday, right before Zuhr.

So I ask that we all take some time — maybe if we can go for an hour, we can go for two hours. If we can go the whole weekend, we can spend the night there. I ask that we can all take some time and go, take part in this Ijtema, take part in history. We are expecting thousands and thousands of people coming from all across the country — not even just the country, they are coming from all across the world. So if people are flying hours and hours just to be there, then who are we that it is just 20 minutes away from us, and we are not able to go?

So I ask that Allah allows us to put Him before anything in our life. And I ask that Allah puts us under His protection. And I ask that Allah allows us all to join this weekend at the Ijtema.

Announcements

All brothers are requested to pray the Sunnahs.

We will be having our sisters' bi-weekly program, the Seerah, Salawat and Sohbah with Alimah Khadijah. The next session will be June 15th from 12:00 PM to 1:45 PM.

There will also be the sisters' weekly Urdu Tafsir with Alimah Nikhat Muqeem. Currently it will be on pause and they will continue at a later time to be announced.

As announced earlier, the World Ijtema will be taking place this weekend, June 27th, 28th, and 29th at the Rosemont Convention Center for brothers 16 and older. All brothers are requested to join, even if it's for an hour or two.

We make du'a for those who are in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and all Muslims who are suffering throughout the world.

JazakAllah khair. If we can take a moment and pass the donation boxes from the right to the left, inshallah.