The Obligation of Knowledge: Pondering Allah's Creation

Jumu'ah Khutbah — August 4, 2017

Imam, Darussalam Islamic Center

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, and sufficient is the prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. Allah, the Exalted, said in the Glorious Qur'an, after I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

Allah has testified that there is no god but He, and the angels and the possessors of knowledge are established in justice. There is no god but He, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

Are those who know and those who do not know equal? Only those who have understanding will remember.

Recite in the name of your Lord, Who created — created man from a clinging substance. Recite, and your Lord is the Most Generous — Who taught by the pen, taught man that which he did not know. Sadaqallahul Azeem.

Respected friends, elders and brothers, mothers and sisters, students, Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

The Obligation of Knowledge

Allah, the Exalted, has given the responsibility upon all of us to educate ourselves and learn about our surroundings, and most importantly, learn about Him. Allah, the Exalted, has created so many signs in the heavens and the earth, and He repeatedly says in the Quran, Indeed, there are signs in this for those who ponder.

Allah, the Exalted, asks us in multiple places: Do they not look at the camel, how beautifully it has been created? Do they not look at the beautiful sky, how it has been lifted up without any type of support? Allah, the Exalted, says: Do they not look at the birds that are beautifully flying and gliding in the sky? Do they not look at the mountains, how powerfully they have been laid as pegs — that they are pegs holding down the earth? Otherwise, without that, we wouldn't be able to sit calmly and build beautifully as we do. Allah, the Exalted, asks us to look at the changing of the day and the night:

These are signs. Allah, the Exalted, says that if He were to bring about the night and keep it like that — make it sarmad, make it eternal — who can bring the day for you? And if He were to make the day sarmad, forever, who would be able to bring the night for you? These are things that Allah, the Exalted, asks us. Again and again, the Quran is filled with these questions: Ponder. Think.

So a person is not going to be able to answer these questions until and unless he interacts with his environment, interacts with nature. One third of the Quran speaks about this greatness of Allah, the Exalted. So education and learning is part of who we are. It is part of our responsibility. It is part of our very existence. Without that, we won't be able to feed ourselves. We won't be able to lead any type of meaningful life. And most definitely we won't be able to understand our purpose in life, our Creator, our Nourisher.

My brothers and sisters, Allah has given us so many methods of learning — the senses that He has given us: the eyes, the ears, the hands, the feet, the heart, the mind. He has given us these to utilize in order to educate ourselves. And those who do not use them for this purpose, He says, it is as though you do not have them. For example, He says:

They have hearts, but they don't use them to ponder and to think. They have eyes, but they don't use them to see. They have ears, but they don't use them to listen. So although they have ears and eyes, and they have hearts that are beating, they have minds that are working perfectly — but the desired result is that a person uses these eyes, these ears, this mind, this heart, to think and to ponder about Allah. To think and ponder: why am I here? Where am I headed? Where have I come from? And what will this all come to in the end?

The Innate Desire for Justice and the Proof of the Hereafter

Some may say: I don't even know if the life in the Hereafter exists. What's the proof for that? And there are so many ways to explain that, and the Quran speaks about that as well. The Quran says:

The disbelievers would say: this is the one life we have to enjoy. One life — we live and we die, and we will not be raised.

But if you look at a child — a four-year-old, a five-year-old, even younger, a two-year-old — you'll see that each one of them has this one desire: this appeal, this desire to ensure that there is equality, there is justice. Two children — you give one something and deprive the other, they'll get upset. If you give one child something smaller and the other something greater, they'll get upset. There is a natural fitrah, something within that child that says: we are supposed to be treated equally.

And at times we see that a child does something wrong and another child does not. When you don't punish the child who has done something wrong and treat them the same, the child who didn't do anything wrong will speak up. Maybe the one who did wrong won't speak up, because it's in his best interest to keep quiet. But when the sides switch and he's the one doing good while the other is doing bad, then surely he'll speak up as well. We've been hearing "it's not fair, it's not fair" since we were all young — we said it ourselves, and we hear younger children saying it now. Where is that coming from? There is an innate desire within every human being to see justice.

We want to see people being treated in the manner they deserve. Someone does wrong — they should be punished for that. And that is why children can't see their parents doing things inconsistent with what they preach. They get upset. They say: you told us not to do this, but you're doing it yourself. You're telling us to get up for salah, but you're not getting up yourself. You're telling us to read Quran, but you're not doing it yourself. They might not use the words "two-faced" or "hypocrisy" — they may not know these words. But the theme is the same: why is there one rule for yourself and one rule for us?

So the fact that all children — from all backgrounds, all ethnicities, all religious backgrounds — have this desire within them that there should be justice, there should be adl. And then we look at this world and we see that justice is really a bygone thing — it's not there. The people who ought to be in prison are running around ruling the place. And the people who are supposed to be leading a life of enjoyment and freedom and happiness are the ones rotting in jails. The people who should be getting raises don't. And the people who don't deserve raises are getting all sorts of packages and upgrades. We see, subhanAllah, that the stronger are getting stronger and the weaker are getting weaker. Justice is not being fulfilled by any means.

The ulama say: the fact that every single human being wants something means there has to be a place for the fulfillment of that. Just like all human beings want to breathe — they have a need for breathing — Allah has provided an avenue for that. All human beings have a biological need to drink water — Allah has created the fulfillment of that need. There is an attraction to the opposite gender, a desire for reproduction that comes within a human being — Allah created that desire and then created a place to fulfill it. That is how the world runs.

So the fact that human beings have this desire to see justice — and when we see it's not taking place, not just in today's era, but all the way from Habil and Qabil, from the first murder that took place on earth, from the very beginning we are seeing injustice — that tells us there has to be a place where this justice will be meted out. People will get what they deserve. And it is obviously not this world, because that is not happening. So there must be another place. And that place is called Al-Akhirah — the Hereafter — where that will happen.

Whoever does an iota of good will see the reward. Whoever does an iota of sin and evil will see the punishment for that.

Whoever does any good deed, he or she stands to benefit from that. And whoever wrongs someone or wrongs himself, he or she will have to face the repercussions for that.

What I was saying is that if someone does not use his mind properly, he won't come to this conclusion — the conclusion that the Day of Judgment is a reality, that we have to face Allah, that we have to face the rewards and the repercussions of our deeds. This education makes us different from the rest — from the rest of the animals, from the rest of the makhluq of Allah. And the very same sources of knowledge — the hands, the feet, the mind, the eyes and the ears — when they are not used, Allah says:

They have actually now become like livestock — rather, even more astray and more lost than livestock. So a person falls below the level of the average creation of Allah when he or she does not use the God-given senses and abilities to seek knowledge. And when a person utilizes them properly, seeks knowledge, and understands most importantly who Allah is, and then his life becomes subservient to Allah's commands — most definitely a time can come when a person refines himself or herself to reach levels and even beyond the levels of the angels.

What Knowledge Are We Instructed to Gain?

So what types of knowledge are we instructed to gain? The obvious one that we understand is: enough knowledge for me to be able to earn a living. Enough know-how to utilize my hands to earn a living, pay for my expenses, bring food to the table, etc. This is an obligatory aspect of our faith — that one must seek halal income. And in order to seek it, most of the time we have to go learn a trade — whether through schooling, through hands-on internship, through someone, etc. That is just part of how the system works.

And now, as the school year is about to begin, and parents are preparing to send their children off to colleges, and youth sitting here are making preparations to travel to different parts of the country or settle in parts of Chicago to attend university and high school — it is all about education now. We are going to be hearing about education reform, education budgets, cuts, and all those types of things related to education nowadays.

The Danger: Education Without Faith

But my brothers and sisters, what I want to draw your attention toward is the fact that as we focus ourselves and our children on education, we have to ensure that this education does not take us to a place where we begin to forget Allah — or, Allah forbid, begin to deny Allah. This is unfortunately the irony of our system right now. The more educated a person usually becomes, the less faith they have in Allah. Not always, but it definitely happens. The more time, the more exposure to the system.

Because part and parcel of the system — just like you want to look at a cell phone, there are some beneficial things and there are a lot of harmful things as well. Now people are slowly beginning to speak about the actual harms of excessive use of the cell phone to people's health. There are places in the country where it is part of the law that you have to write on the handset that this device may actually cause cancer — some lawsuit someone won, obviously, and they are forced to put that in small fine print on the handset. No one looks at it, no one cares about it. Only time will tell what the fallout of the excessive use of cell phones will really be. But we realize there are physical harms, besides the moral ones.

The educational system that we have — the benefits are there, we know about them. But the harms are something we cannot deny. And the harms are such that it is ingrained into the system to create doubt, to question everything, and to become skeptical about everything. So you take a kid — a five-year-old, an innocent child — you speak to him about Allah, he understands it, he believes it, he has full conviction in God. Whether he is coming from a Christian home, a Jewish home, or a Muslim home, there are morals, ethics, and values that you can ingrain in that child and he will take them in like a sponge. Then you send him into an environment that consistently promotes challenging the morals, ethics, and values passed down to them by their elders, their communities, and their families, and asks them to start thinking outside the box.

Certain aspects of that are good, definitely. When you want to solve a difficult math problem, maybe you need to think outside the box. But when it comes to our deen, my brothers and sisters, we all know that there is only one path — and that path is called revelation. As soon as you go outside of that, you go astray. That is why the Quran uses the singular word nur for light — light is one — and uses the plural dhulumāt for darkness. Because all other ways besides the deen of Islam are many — there are hundreds, there are thousands — and they all lead to darkness. They all lead to deviation. They all lead to the anger of Allah. And the path toward the forgiveness of Allah, the happiness of Allah, the pleasure of Allah, and Paradise — ultimate bliss — is one. Allah is guiding people out from the dhulumāt toward nur. The Book Allah says He revealed, O Muhammad ﷺ, so that you can utilize this Book to push people out of the multitudes of darkness into the one light.

So when we do not supplement the education at school with — if I may call it — an antibiotic, or a vaccine at home, to say: son, daughter, I am sending you out there to learn math and science and English and what not because I want you to get an education and get a job. But at the same time, there are very harmful influences out there — not just to your actions, but more importantly to your beliefs. The core beliefs are shaken up. If we do not supply that antibiotic, if we do not supply that vaccine, then we have a huge fallout. That child who goes in saying Allahu Akbar, excited about the deen, excited about Islam — by the time he comes out of the system at 12th grade, unfortunately, he is in denial. Denial that Allah exists. Denial that the Quran is true.

And this is beyond one or two cases. We are at an epidemic right now — and it is spreading within the community. Not just the Muslim community — the entire population. Recently, just this week, someone shared with me a poll, a research paper, regarding what is the fastest growing religion. And we would always proudly say, of course, Islam. But this paper was presenting the idea that Islam is no longer the fastest growing religion. And it is not Christianity or Buddhism either. It is the absence of religion — atheism, agnosticism, whatever you want to call it. The idea of disbelief is the widest and fastest-spreading belief, all over Europe and of course in America now as well.

When we see churches being put up for sale in Chicago in the past year or two — so many communities have purchased a church for a masjid, of course at a very cheap price. We get excited about that, and there is reason to be. But it is also a moment of reflection. Would you really think that someone would have gathered the money and effort a hundred years ago to build this massive place of worship, only for it to be sold out for pennies? Something happened, obviously. What happened? Membership decreased. People stopped coming. What are you going to do with this big massive place? It is a huge liability. Go ahead and sell it.

Allah forbid, Allah forbid, Allah forbid — it should not be that our time comes in the next hundred years where you see huge masajid, Islamic centers, and Islamic schools being sold, la qaddarAllah, simply because attendance and enrollment have decreased. Why? Because the new religion is to lead a life of hedonism, where you do what you wish — كَذَٰلِكَ سَوَّلَتْ لِي نَفْسِي — I felt like it. That is my lifestyle. And that is becoming super common.

A Call to Action for Parents and Youth

My brothers and sisters, as fathers and mothers sitting here, and as young men and women sitting here — as the school year comes to a start, let us ask ourselves: do we really want to come out like that at the end? This is not one in a million. I don't know the exact numbers, but I can tell you it is far too many. In our little population, and among the people I interact with at a personal level, the amount of cases I have come across in just one year are far too many for anyone to come across in their entire life. Far too many cases of people saying: I don't believe. And they are coming out from the other end — whether that is any type of education, high school, college, and unfortunately I must say, even coming through an Islamic school, or even at times having a background in a Hifz school. Regardless of that, that is a problem we are noticing.

So where is the solution? We have to have a multi-pronged approach to it. Not one solution can be given for every single family. Every single family, every single community has to look within themselves and try to find solutions that are best suited for them. But one thing I can say: it starts from home. It has to start from home. It has to be reinforced.

Our teachings of deen — you cannot bank on a madrasa, you cannot bank on an Islamic program, you cannot bank on an Islamic school to train your children and make them, along with being a doctor, into a jannati. That just does not happen. That does not work like that. There is no school that can give you that guarantee — you can barely give it to yourself, much less to your own children, much less a school giving that guarantee to your kids. But what is our job? To work. To pray. To make an effort.

Practical Steps for the New School Year

So we have to start ensuring that as our students and children leave for school, let us see what type of changes we can make. Summer comes to an end very quickly — before we know it, it is already over. We have to ensure that their companionship, their friendship, is with people who are afraid of Allah, who have taqwa within them. Their relationship with the masjid, their relationship with scholars and students of knowledge — that needs to be something ingrained within our youth. Because there is only so much that they are going to take from their parents. When they are young, they are very receptive to that. But as they grow older, a lot of it is the influence of their peers. If their peers are not practicing Muslims, God-fearing Muslims who give preference to the Hereafter and truly lead a life governed by the deen of Allah, then my brothers and sisters, the consequences can become very, very severe.

And the worst part is that most of the time, parents do not realize it until it is way too late in the game. It is like someone who gets diagnosed at stage 4 — it is too late. If only the diagnosis had come at stage 1, something could have been done about it. We hear that all the time. Well, the same thing applies to our children. We have to start young, and we have to be consistent. We cannot let go and say: you're a young man, young woman, you can handle yourself. Absolutely not.

Our parents did not do that with us, alhamdulillah, for the most part. All of us sitting here, practicing the deen — they guided us till the very end. Even after marriage, they were there for us. We have to do the same thing for our children.

Supplement it with education. For example, for the younger boys and girls: find your local masjid that has an evening program, a Quranic program, an Islamic studies program. It is very important to attach them to the masjid. You say, well, I have someone who teaches over Skype — that is great. I have someone who comes to my home and teaches — that is great. But they are missing the environment. They need to have a heart-to-heart connection with the house of Allah. And a heart-to-heart connection with a teacher they can look up to and refer back to. And to have good Muslim friends — that is what the masjid provides.

So whether it is here at this institution, where we have an evening program, or any other masjid close to your house — look for a good after-school evening program for your children and enroll them in it. You say: my child already knows how to read Quran. My brothers and sisters, this is much more than reading Quran. It is about the adab. It is about the etiquette. It is about the tarbiyah. It is about simply being able to ask the crazy questions that have been fed into your mind in elementary school and junior high. You do not know where to ask. Your parents may not know the answers either. So now at least you have an avenue — you have what you call an evening maktab, an evening school, where you can share with your teacher those type of questions.

And on top of that, when it comes to weekends — enrolling our children, and ourselves, in the weekend school, Saturday school, Sunday school. And we have our Tafheem program here for college students, working adults, and professionals. Alhamdulillah, that is going to be starting a new semester — a brand new, revamped four-year program starting next weekend. That is a great opportunity to bring our college-age youth. Most Saturday and Sunday schools go up to 12th grade at most — and honestly, by 6th, 7th, 8th grade, enrollment pretty much drops off. What is there for our college-age boys and girls? Alhamdulillah, this is a great opportunity right here — the Tafheem program on the weekends — where they can be taught at their level. They do not want to be babied. They do not want things dumbed down in a manner that is insulting to their intelligence. We want them to be able to interact with the deen, love the deen, and feel: subhanAllah, as I am becoming an expert in math or finance or whatever it may be, I am also at the same time balancing it with some knowledge of the deen.

Beyond that, connection to the house of Allah. A Friday night program, a Saturday night program in your local masjid — once a week as a family, coming together to the house of Allah, attending a lecture, attending a program and whatever activity they have. Social activities are great and necessary. But beyond that, they must be coupled with an academic and spiritual gathering as well. If it is merely socialization — eating together — although that has some benefit, it is not going to help when doubts start creeping into the minds of the children regarding their faith. That socialization will not help to that level. It needs to be coupled with an academic environment where people are able to freely ask questions about their faith, about Allah, about the Prophet ﷺ. So I would recommend that we choose a day of the week to bring them to a program.

And for the boys and their fathers as well: the one salah a day in the masjid. Not for a program — just one salah a day, whether it is Isha or Fajr. Even with school starting, make a commitment that we are going to attend the house of Allah. Just this small act of sitting in the car and taking a ten-minute drive to the house of Allah — like all of you are coming here for Jumu'ah right now. You could have decided not to come, but you made a decision. You are taking time off work to come here. I know it is not easy, but you make that decision week after week. It is just a decision. If you make a decision that I am going to pray one salah in the masjid because I need it and my children need it, Allah will make it easy for you. Once you get into the rhythm, it will be a no-brainer. It will just flow.

Make it a habit in our home that we will come for Salatul Isha, come for Fajr — whether you have a musalla, a masjid, or what not. Staying connected to the house of Allah is of utmost importance.

When you notice changes in your children's behavior — "I don't want to pray" — people message all the time: my child now says he does not pray. Instead of just coming down hard with a stick or yelling at them, realize that this is a symptom you are seeing. There is a sickness and a disease behind the symptom. By hitting at the symptom, you are not going to get rid of the sickness. Get to the bottom of it. Why are you asking this? Why are you arguing with me on this? Why do you not want to pray? Let us sit down and have a discussion. Of course, at a five-year-old, you can have that discussion. But at 8, 9, 10 — definitely. At 10, 12 — for sure. We cannot simply force them. We have to have an open dialogue, an open discussion. When they start resisting things of the deen, figure out quickly what the reason is. And if we are not able to solve it, connect them with scholars. Connect them with students of knowledge. Even not necessarily imams at times — sometimes they just need good company. Students of their age who are practicing the deen can easily answer the questions. This is both for the boys and the girls.

So these are some tips that come to mind, and I wanted to share them with you as the school year begins. If we do not make this a priority, my brothers and sisters, then the school year will come and go — insha'Allah — and there will be boys and girls who do very well. They will be on the honor roll. They will be doing APs, achieving perfect GPAs, and so on. But not at the cost of losing our faith. Not at the cost of joining the fastest growing religion of atheism, agnosticism, hedonism, and whatnot.

I pray to Allah that He protects us, our youth, and our generations from having doubts in our faith. And that He allows us as parents to not neglect our children when it comes to educating them Islamically. Just as we are taking care of their other needs, I pray and hope to Allah that He grants us the understanding of the importance of giving them a proper Islamic upbringing and providing for them a proper Islamic environment where they can thrive in every sense.

Announcements

Kindly fill up the rows before you begin the sunnah. Please kindly pass the donation boxes before the khutbah begins and donate generously to the expenses of the masjid. May Allah reward you in full in this world and the next for your participation. There are also kiosks in the lobby if you would like to pay via credit card.

Tafheem Weekend Islamic Studies Program: Insha'Allah, the fall semester is set to begin next week. Class timings are 10:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. The Saturday track this semester will cover the history and development of fiqh (jurisprudence) and an introduction to hadith science and aqidah (Islamic theology), Part 1. The Sunday track will cover the fiqh of salah Part 1, the surahs of salah, and purification of the heart. This is open to brothers and sisters of all ages and is starting insha'Allah next week.

Weekend Maktab Program for Children: We will also be starting a weekend maktab program for children — an excellent opportunity for parents coming on the Sunday track to have their kids enrolled. For girls ages 8 to 12 and boys ages 7 to 9. Registration for the Sunday program for young children is also on our website.

Annual Hajj Seminar: Our annual Hajj seminar will take place next Saturday, August 12th, after Dhuhr. Those of us upon whom Hajj is fard and who have not yet made an intention — there is still some time, insha'Allah. I hope and pray that those for whom it is obligatory may Allah accept them to go this year, and for whoever is going, may Allah accept their Hajj and their du'as.

Annual Ping Pong Tournament: Darussalam will be having our second annual ping pong tournament on Sunday, August 20th, after Dhuhr salah. You can visit our Facebook page or text the masjid number for more information.

Weekly Saturday Fajr Program: As usual, we will be having our weekly Saturday Fajr program tomorrow — with a talk, morning du'as, breakfast, and some sports for the community, insha'Allah. Fajr is at approximately 5:00–5:15 a.m. tomorrow.

Young Muslims Annual Summer Retreat: The Young Muslims youth group will have their annual summer retreat this week, from August 10th to August 14th, for brothers ages 13 and up. The retreat will include lectures, sports, and team-building exercises. Please visit youngmuslims.org for more information.