20170317- 1st Khutba- Imam Abdul Rahman Bashir

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْهِ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْهُ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَنَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَنَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَرْسَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَى كَافَّةِ النَّاسِ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His aid and assistance, we seek His forgiveness, we put our faith in Him, we put our trust and reliance in Him. We seek His protection from the evil of our sins and from the evil that lurks within us. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whoever He leaves astray, none can guide. We bear witness that there is none worthy of our worship — none worthy of our total submission and compliance — except Allah, and we bear witness that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is His last and final messenger, who has been sent till the end of time as a guiding beacon for the universe. Whoever obeys Allah and His Prophet are indeed amongst the righteous, and whoever disobeys Allah and His Prophet only causes harm to themselves.

O you who believe, fear Allah as He should truly be feared, and do not die except in a state of Islam.

Human Beings — Created with Needs

Amma ba'd. My brothers and sisters, Allah has created us as human beings. As I stand here, I am failing to notice anyone with wings, so I am assuming we are all human beings — regardless of how much Red Bull you may consume. As human beings, Allah has created us with certain needs — limitations, if you may. We all eventually get hungry and fulfill that need by eating. We get thirsty and feel the need to hydrate ourselves. And as human beings, all that food and drink must go somewhere. At the end of the day, we look forward to hitting the sack to refresh ourselves and energize ourselves for the next day ahead.

Allah has not only created us with needs, but Allah has created the entire system around us to fulfill those needs. As Allah states in Surah an-Naba:

In Surah an-Naba, Allah counts His blessings and the systems that He has put in place that allow us as human beings to unfold day after day after day. And amongst one of those needs is the need of us as human beings to communicate and interact with one another. We are social beings. Allah has embedded within us — it is in our DNA — that we must and we have to interact with one another, although it may be at different levels. Just like our food and drink, people eat and drink on different levels. Some eat more and some eat less. Some sleep more and some sleep less. Some people are introverts — very reserved and shy — but nonetheless they still need to communicate. Some people are the life of the party and like the spotlight. Regardless of the situation, Allah has created us with this need of interacting with one another.

This is why, as I speak, Facebook has over 1.8 billion subscribers — which is another platform, nonetheless a platform of interacting with one another, of socializing with one another.

Created Different — to Know One Another

Allah created us different. Just as the different levels of interaction are within us, Allah has created all of us differently, and Allah addresses this:

O people, We have created you from one man and woman — our mother and father, Adam and Hawa, alayhimus-salam — and through their union, Allah made us into these endless tribes and nations. لِتَعَارَفُوا — so that we can recognize each other. This is how it is usually translated or heard. But what does تَعَارُف mean in our conversations? If I ask you, "Brother, what's your name?" — alright, your name is so-and-so, my name is Abdurrahman — boom. Is that a تَعَارُف? Is that called an introduction? Just knowing the name or recognizing someone? That's not a تَعَارُف. A تَعَارُف happens when you get to know one another — when there is a conversation that happens. That is when you get to know one another.

Allah has created us in different forms, shapes, and sizes — different colors, different backgrounds, different languages — why? So that we can get to know one another. Imagine each and every single one of you sitting in this room looking like me. Allah has created us with our different looks — and not just the external factor, but even the internal. Allah has created us with different personalities, different temperaments — why? So that we can learn to live with one another. And this is what makes this world a beautiful place. Allah addresses this in the Quran:

The fact that we come in different shapes and sizes and colors and languages and backgrounds — all of this is a reflection of the greatness of Allah, of the creativity of Allah, of the power and might of Allah. SubhanAllah.

The Prophet's Example — A Blueprint for Community

Allah has embedded within us this need of interacting with one another, and just as Allah created us with these needs, Allah also sent to us prophets — and in our case, the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — who guided us and showed us how to go about fulfilling these needs. His sunnah, his legacy, teaches us how to eat, how to drink, how to interact with one another. And not only did he talk the talk, but he walked the walk. He proved himself to be the greatest example that walked the face of this earth of what it is to be an exemplary person. He showed us how a husband should be to their wife, how a son should be to their parents, how a father should be to their children, and how he was a friend and companion to his Sahaba. He also showed us how to lead, how to guide, how to show the way and go the way.

This is who the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was. He taught us how to interact with one another. He left behind a blueprint — and not just a blueprint, but he established a community that pivoted around what we call Masjid an-Nabawi, the city of Madinah, the masjid of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, didn't just come to show us how to connect with Allah, but he taught us how to connect with each other. He didn't only show us how to recognize Allah, but also how to recognize each other — recognize each other's feelings and emotions — and he built his masjid based on that.

The Masjid — A Place of Spiritual and Social Refuge

Indeed the masjid serves as a platform for us to spiritually move forward and connect with Allah, but there is a social aspect, an interactive aspect in that spiritual development. This is why we pray in jama'ah — in a gathering, in a congregation. Many of you have left your businesses or have come from home and gathered here for al-Jumu'ah — the gathering. So there is a social aspect to everything that we do in Islam.

The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, through the example of his masjid, addressed how the masjid should be a platform of not just fulfilling one's spiritual state of mind, but also one's social state of mind — also one's emotional and mental state of mind. The masjid that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, left behind was a place of refuge and safety, a place where the Sahaba and the Sahabiyyat came to seek emotional refuge. A masjid is a place where, when someone comes, they should feel free of being judged, of being criticized, of being looked down upon. The masjid is not a place where someone who walks through those doors should feel afraid of being judged or nudged.

The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, has stated in the hadith that we are well aware of — about seven types of people who will be under the shade of Allah's throne on the Day of Judgment — and one of those people is a person whose heart is attached to the masjid. How can we honestly expect a person to be emotionally attached to the masjid if he or she is being judged or looked down upon, or feels threatened every time they walk through the doors?

The Story of the Bedouin in the Masjid

The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, left an example of tolerance and mercy. Once, a Bedouin — a Bedouin is a phrase used for those people who are not familiar with the formalities or the etiquette of society or a masjid, very simple, plain folk — he came to the masjid of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, while he was sitting with the Sahaba, and he went and started relieving himself. The Sahaba got up in an outrage to reprimand him, and the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, "Leave him, leave him, leave him." The Sahaba stopped, and then when he was done, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, called him and explained to him that these masjids are not a place of filth, but they are the place of recitation, dhikr, and prayer. Then the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, defused the situation by asking the Sahaba to cleanse the area — and that was it.

He did not know any better. Imagine if this person was reprimanded — what type of effect and impact it would have had on him. And now he is leaving, loving the masjid more than ever before.

The Masjid and Our Children

The masjid should serve as a place for a positive experience — not just for us, but for our families as well, for our children as well. The strength of the walls of the masjid will not fortify the faith of our children. The tall minarets will not elevate their character. The soft carpet will not soften their hearts. The open parking lots will not open their hearts and minds. But it is the mercy and tolerance that they learn inside the masjid, the softness that they experience from one another, that will make their hearts soft. The elevated character in the masjid that they experience will elevate their character. The open minds and hearts that they will feel and experience will broaden their mind and their hemisphere.

It is what goes on in a masjid — that emotional refuge that a person feels — that will develop our future generation into the flag bearers of Islam. Today, our children may be running around in the saff, they may be playing, but tomorrow they will be in those sufuf, and the day after, one day they will be leading the sufuf. Children running around and playing is not a sign of a rowdy community — it is a sign of a thriving, hustling, and bustling community.

And subhanAllah, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was so, so particular about these things. Abu Qatada, radiallahu anhu, reports that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 707)

"Sometimes I lead the prayer wanting to lengthen it, then I hear a baby crying, so I start wrapping up that prayer to make it easy on the mother of that child."

This is the example that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, left behind — of how the environment, how the experience of coming to a masjid, of congregating with one's community, should be a positive experience, a welcoming experience, a humbling and heartwarming experience.

Nurturing the Next Generation

At the same time, the masjid should fulfill the educational aspect as well. SubhanAllah, many of us here are adults, but we have another generation that is in the works — a generation that one day will be taking over and representing our religion. And this is the place where they come to grow. The masjid is the place where our children, our families, come to celebrate their identity. This is where they come to increase their knowledge, to educate themselves about what Islam is, who Muslims are and should be.

The knowledge and education, the understanding of religion within our children, should not be restricted to: "Oh, you know what — I can't eat marshmallows," "Sorry, I don't eat Lucky Charms," or "You know what, I don't do pepperoni on my pizza." Their understanding of Islam should not be restricted to just these core elements. But as a community, we should be working very hard on making sure that our seeds are watered in the right way — that they are given the right amount and the correct sunshine and light, that they are protected from the external elements and pesticides — so that they can grow up with deep, strong roots and grow tall into strong, fruit-bearing members of our religion. So they can grow up into those trees that will give shade and comfort to others.

Unity — The Common Denominator

All of these things, my brothers and sisters — the spiritual aspect of a masjid, the emotional aspect, the emotional growth that happens in a masjid, the mental refuge, the educational outlet that a masjid can provide — the common denominator in all of these aspects is for us as a community to be together and to be united. To not allow us to see each other with the lens and with the barriers and lines that Shaytan has drawn in between us.

A community moves forward when they work together — not at each other. In the bigger scheme of things, cities move forward when communities, when we all work together instead of working at each other. There is a saying in English: if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, you go together — together as one unit, as one body, where one person's pain is everyone's pain, where one person's joy is everyone's celebration.

My brothers and sisters, we may not have it all together — but together, we have it all.