Why Every Muslim Needs To Take Muharram Seriously

Recalibrating to the Islamic Calendar

As we enter the new year, and many people make new year's resolutions, they reflect on the last year, on their laziness, on their shortcomings, on their mistakes, on their flaws. The action point for every Muslim should be to take this as a moment of reflection. Before the month of Muharram dawns on us, and we are into a new year, each one of us should spend half an hour today and think about myself, my mistakes, my flaws — what are the things I can improve on? What are the things that I can do more for the sake of Allah? Whether it's my personal spirituality, whether it's the service of my family, whether it's helping the needy, in service of the institutions of Islam — what can I do to improve myself in the next year?

Oftentimes, when we reach the end of the Gregorian year, December 31st, people are reflecting on their life, people are throwing firecrackers into the air, they are making new year resolutions. But for us as Muslims, our minds and hearts need to recalibrate to this year, this calendar — the calendar that synchronizes with the life of Rasulullah ﷺ. And what was happening in the life of the Prophet ﷺ in the beginning of the Islamic year? A new beginning took place, a change, a transformation — a change that was never expected or planned or seen or thought as possible by the believers in Mecca. It was the migration of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his companions from Mecca to Medina. This journey — a monumental journey, a journey full of challenges.

The Hijrah: A Journey of Sacrifice

There were assassins who were sent to kill and find the Prophet ﷺ. There were people who had to leave behind their families, their wealth, their loved ones, their properties, their tribes, their neighbors. They had to leave everything behind in order to make this new change and go to this unknown land where they had never lived. They knew nobody.

Why? Because there was a promise of a future where Islam can flourish. The Prophet ﷺ begins planning for this migration long in advance. He hires somebody to be his guide in the desert. He purchases the best of camels and feeds them the best of food. And as he purchased the camels and fed them and planned how to leave and where to depart and which route to take — despite all of that — the most important decision the Prophet ﷺ makes is which companion to take with him on his journey. And that man is none other than Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.

The Cave of Thawr: When History Hung in the Balance

As the Prophet ﷺ journeys in the darkness of the night, in the mounds of the desert, the silence of the night envelops him. He finds a cave in the middle of the desert between Mecca and Medina — the Cave of Thawr — and stays there with Abu Bakr for a few days. During this stay, there is one moment where the entire history of Islam could have changed.

As the Prophet ﷺ is in this cave and Abu Bakr is by his side, a search party from Mecca — coming to take the head of Rasulullah ﷺ back to Mecca as a prize — comes upon this cave following the footsteps. They climb to the top of the cave. And in this moment, the whole history of Islam and the future of Islam hangs in the balance. If they look down, it's finished.

And it is at this point, even the Prophet's closest companion Abu Bakr looks at him and says: "O Messenger of Allah, if these men look down for one second, we are finished." And the Prophet ﷺ responds:

"O Abu Bakr, what do you think of two, when Allah is their third?" (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3653; Sahih Muslim, Book 44, Hadith 2381)

"Abu Bakr, you seem to have forgotten that we are two, but Allah is with us — He is the third. Allah is with us with His strength, with His power, with His protection, with His forgiveness, with His knowledge, with His sight. He will never leave us be even for a moment. Don't worry."

In this moment of reassurance, Abu Bakr was stressed, he was anxious, he was worried, he was in despair. He was thinking the whole thing was over. And in this moment, Allah sends him a strange sense of calmness, a strange sense of contentment and peace, as Allah says in the Qur'an:

O Muslims, if you do not stand up to support the service of Allah, Allah is going to look after His people anyway. Remember the day when the disbelievers kicked the Prophet ﷺ out of Makkah. Remember when there were only two lonely men in a dark cave. In that moment of fear, that moment of trepidation, that moment of giving up, the Prophet ﷺ turned to his companion and said: "Don't worry, Allah is always with us."

There may have been two lonely men in a cave with no army, no help, no support — but Allah sent them invisible supporters. A spider who would draw a web at the front of the cave. An angel who would be there in protective custody over the Prophet. Allah has soldiers nobody can see. He has ways of protecting us in ways we can never imagine.

And then Allah says: He made the word of the disbelievers the lowest, and the Word of Allah — it is the highest. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.

If somebody was taking a bet, they would have bet that these two men hiding in this dark cave — there's no future for them. They're never going to build a Madinah. They're never going to build any institutions. Islam will never flourish. Islam is going to die in this moment. But Allah taught Abu Bakr as-Siddiq — the future leader and the future caliph of the ummah — never ever feel the stress, and the despair, and the anxiety. Never think everything is over, everything is finished. Because it is not you who is going to be serving Allah. It is Allah who is going to be protecting and supporting and giving you internal peace and external support. And you will see things come together in a way you could never imagine. You just need to do one thing:

If you support Allah, He will support you.

Two Types of Believers

One of the fascinating things about the believers is that Allah divides the believers into two categories. There are only two types of people — no third. There are people who stand up to do something for the sake of Allah, to serve Allah, to build institutions, to help the needy, to build the masajid, to build the schools, to support in every which way possible — they want to do something for Allah's sake. And there is another category — the couch potatoes, the people who are sleeping, who are lazy, who are sitting, who want nothing to do, nothing to serve.

Allah has a message in the hijrah, in this migration from Mecca to Medina. Did you know there were many people that refused to migrate to Medina because they were too comfortable, they were too cozy? "How am I going to leave my postcode, my boys, my people? I grew up here, I know these people, life is comfy — why would I leave all this to go to an unknown land and start from scratch? Makes no sense." There were people who did not migrate with the Prophet ﷺ because they were not willing to sacrifice, they were not willing to sweat, they were not willing to give up for the sake of Allah.

So Allah says:

Are you just happy with this — the comforts of this life more than the afterlife? Remember that the comforts of this life are only temporary.

A Moment of Reflection for the New Year

As we enter the new year, and many people make new year's resolutions, they reflect on the last year — on their laziness, on their shortcomings, on their mistakes, on their flaws. The action point for every Muslim should be to take this as a moment of reflection. Before the month of Muharram dawns on us, and we are into a new year, each one of us should spend half an hour today and think about myself, my mistakes, my flaws — what are the things I can improve on? What are the things that I can do more for the sake of Allah? Whether it's my personal spirituality, whether it's the service of my family, whether it's helping the needy, in service of the institutions of Islam — what can I do to improve myself in the next year?

Why? If you look at the world around us today, if you look at the uncertainty in the economy, and you look at the strife, and the war and the conflict happening in many parts of the world, many people feel the stress, the fear, the anxiety. Many people ask a very strange question: are we on the verge of World War 3? And all sorts of conspiracy theories and worries and fears that people have.

I want you to imagine yourself in this cave, in this moment which could have changed the course of history. Abu Bakr was overcome with stress, with fear, he was overwhelmed. But in this moment the Prophet ﷺ taught him: when you set out to sacrifice for the sake of Allah, never think for a moment that Allah is going to abandon you.

The Medina Model: Building for the Future

Fast forward a few days — the Prophet ﷺ arrives in the city of Medina. A new dawn, a new beginning is created for the future of Islam. I want you to imagine that you were there that day in Medina, that you left your belongings behind, your postcode, your house that you'd purchased, and all your everything that you knew and was familiar to you — you left it behind to arrive in Medina.

What is the first thing that the Prophet ﷺ does as he arrives in Medina? He doesn't build his own house. The first thing he does is he builds the institution of the masjid. The second thing that he does is he builds the brotherhood between the refugees — the migrants from Mecca — and the residents of Medina. He says: each of you has a brother; support each other, help each other, finance each other, be one body, one united body. The third thing the Prophet ﷺ does — he creates the first constitution in the history of humanity. A constitution between Jews and Christians and Muslims and pagans in Medina that they will live together in harmony, that they will respect each other, and that they will work together to build a flourishing society. The Prophet ﷺ also established the free market — the suq, the bazaar — so Muslims can do commerce and trade and buy and sell with the right guidelines.

The masjid, the brotherhood, the family, the household — the institutions that were built were what made the future of Islam. The Prophet ﷺ in Medina at this point in time had a small number of companions, not many. But each of these men and women who were with him — there was something unique about them. They were all ready to lift their sleeves and build the future of Islam.

As Muslims, in moments of uncertainty, of anxiety, of stress, often many of us go into survival mode. We work, we come home, we go to bed. We work, we come home, we go to bed. We live like zombies on autopilot. But here — from this moment, as we enter the new year, and as we reflect on the move between Mecca and Medina — I have a call to action and a request from all of you.

I would like to ask from this audience and from those hearing me: who here is ready to be part of the movement — to build the institutions that will allow Islam to flourish in British society? To build youth programs, mental health facilities, masajid, Islamic schools, mobile applications, educational centers. Who is here ready to step up for the sake of Allah?

When Allah talks about this moment — the moment of fear in the Cave of Thawr, in the middle of this migration — in the next ayah, Allah says: O believers, I want you to march forward and get to work for My sake. Whether you have nothing to contribute, or you have lots of skills — it doesn't matter. Work with your wealth, with your time, with your energy. Give up, sacrifice, serve Allah. Build the institutions that will allow Islam to flourish and succeed.

Islam Is Here to Stay

As Muslims, many of us — many of you listening to me here — came to this country as migrants. Many of us have this mindset: we're here temporarily. But we're not here temporarily. Islam is here to stay. No matter how the environment changes, and how Islamophobia changes, and what popular opinion is about Muslims. There are a lot of negative ideas about Muslims circulating in the media — that Muslims are responsible for X and Y and Z. But who amongst us is going to do something about it? Who is going to change the opinion, the perception? Who is going to serve and be kind neighbors, and spread the message of Islam, and build the institutions for the future of Islam to flourish? Who here is ready to build the Medina model — and support and serve, and put brick by brick?

This is the greatest question that the Prophet ﷺ asked his companions when they completed the hijrah. And what we have to realize is that it is not about the number of people willing to serve. It is always going to be a few people that make the biggest difference.

The Story of Mus'ab ibn Umair: One Man, One Year

I'll share one story to end this khutbah. The Prophet ﷺ, when he was in Makkah, when he met the leaders of the tribes of the city of Yathrib — of Medina — he said to them: "I'm going to send you one man to teach Islam to the people of Medina." He sent one man. And in one year, this man converted the entire population to Islam. One year. One man. This was none other than Mus'ab ibn Umair.

"Somebody else will build the masajid. Somebody else will build the schools. Somebody else will change the perception of Muslims. Not me — somebody else." And this is exactly the poisonous mindset that kills us on the inside.