20161202-1st Khutba- Imam Mokhtar Maghroui

Khutbah Opening

O you who have attained faith — as Allah says in the Qur'an, in the meaning of the text — be Allah-conscious, have awe and reverence in your hearts for Allah as He is worthy — worthy of His infinite beauty and infinite majesty, worthy of His infinite gifts and favours and bounties and goodness and benevolence, worthy of who He is. And we do that in a way of being conscious of all of that, and that we strive not to die except in a state of Islam — in a state of loving, voluntary, loving desire for Allah, and loving submission and surrender and desire for the connectedness with Allah.

No matter what our occupations are, no matter what they are and who we are — this is a constant, this must be the objective and must never change: that we strive to be in Islam and to die in Islam, that we strive to be in loving surrender — intellectually, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and actually, physically, through words and deeds — lovingly surrendered to Allah.

وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ — because at the moment we leave this dunya, what counts is this sentence. Make sure the way we choose to live ends up with aslamna lillah — that we leave this dunya in a state, in a condition of our minds, of our thoughts, of our feelings, of our emotions, of our drives — all lovingly surrendered to Allah.

The Nature of Love (Mahabba)

My dear brothers and sisters, part of that — in this life by which we are tested — is to love, to have hubb for something, to love. And usually it is said by those who know and those who feel that love is this inclination, this attachment to something else, to someone else, usually on account of one, or few, or all of the following concepts:

First: لِإِحْسَانِ ذَلِكَ الْإِنْسَانِ إِلَيْنَا — we tend to lean to love something or someone, a creation that is good to us, that does good to us, that is muhsin to us, that does us favours and does good to us. We lean and tend to have an affinity to them, to love them.

Second: We tend to love something or someone — a makhluq — who, even if not good to us, even if we did not have a relationship that was expressed in their goodness to us, if they are good themselves, if they are benevolent, if they have this characteristic, this trait, this sifah of being muhsinun — a creature that is muhsin in general — even if we had never encountered this creation and they expressed their ihsan, their benevolence and their goodness and magnanimity to us, we tend, if we hear about them, to lean towards loving them.

Thirdly: We love, and we may love, things or creations or creatures for they are, in our perception, beautiful — for beauty, for their inherent beauty. And beauty is not only external. The more we are materialistic, the more we are a person whose inner focus is the external, then when we hear the word beauty, the first and immediate thing that comes to our thoughts and feelings is external, apparent, physical beauty. For that, people have inclinations towards other things that are beautiful — a beautiful rose, a beautiful stream, a beautiful sight, a beautiful creation. We tend to lean towards that. But beauty is also, and more importantly, the characteristics of the heart and the soul — the khuluq of the person. A person is beautiful internally, inwardly — not only, or at all, outwardly, but also and sometimes only, and more importantly, inwardly.

A person whom we know is very patient when we strive to be patient. A person who is very haleem — very forbearing — and we strive to be haleem when we are angered or done harm to, we respond in kind and we don't have that ability to be in control of ourselves, and even to show kindness towards that which or the one who hurts us — and one who does that with ease, when able to reciprocate hurt and pain, and easily responds in khilm, we tend to lean towards that. A person who is so zahid in this dunya, and who has the ability to amass wealth and power in this dunya, but he, or they, or she voluntarily, consciously, deliberately restrains from that and does not do that — yazhadu fid dunya — when we miss an extra luxury, not only when we miss a necessity, we are afraid, we are restless — and a person who is zahid in this dunya voluntarily, deliberately, by choice, when able — for otherwise we are amazed — we celebrate that, we lean towards that, we love that, for their beauty. That's beautiful to be like that. It's an inner beauty.

Fourthly: Sometimes there is that relationship of mahabba between two creations of Allah — for something that some of our great ulama, intelligent ones and beautiful emotional ones, they say — for a سِرٌّ فِي عَلَاقَةٍ مَا بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَ — there is an indescribable, unidentifiable affinity between two persons, not on account of anything mentioned so far. There is something in the soul of this person and in the soul of that person that somehow attracts one another. There are those whose soul is attracted to earth, and there are those whose soul is attracted to lofty beautiful spiritual meanings. They have an affinity for that — it's in them — and they love that which happens to be like that without realizing what is going on inside of them. Allah يَقْضِي مَا يَشَاء.

Loving Allah — and the One Who Deserves Our Greatest Love

That's why we must understand this. And if we understand this — love Allah — for Allah is the perfection of all of the above, except the last one. Some people may have in their arwah the affinity with the Divine, and some do not. But the four elements before that, Allah has them in an infinite scope. And the more we know Allah, the more we understand His attributes and His names and how they manifest themselves in our lives every day, every instant, and in the lives of everything and everyone — surely that مَيْلُ بِقُلُوبِنَا إِلَيْهِ — that leaning of our emotions, of our hearts towards Him — will take place. But when we don't know, when we don't ponder, when we are ignorant of that, when we are too busy looking the other way, when we are too busy being immersed in that which is not of these things, we miss the greatest and the noblest and the loftiest of all opportunities of our existence — to love the Divine.

But my point today is not this one. My point today is this: if we apply it to human beings, we will find — and ponder them with me, even when you go home — these elements. You will find that there is one, someone else, others — but one who deserves this inclination in our hearts with the greatest of momentum: Sayyiduna wa Mawlana Muhammadun Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

For in brief, we must have that love for him — and we will, if we realize, after what I said, that he is the most beautiful and the most perfect representation of the Divine as a human being in existence — as a living being in existence — khalifatullah, al-insanul kamil, the representative of Allah, the perfect human, in his inward beauty, in his outward manifestation صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ — in all the attributes of Allah of beauty and of perfection and of majesty. Sayyiduna wa Mawlana Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ had the share — I wouldn't say the lion's share, it's not a good metaphor for Rasulullah ﷺ — he had the divine share صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

The Month of Rabi' al-Awwal — The First Spring

And this month — we have started the month of Rabi' al-Awwal, the first spring. He was born in the first spring — not the second spring, but the first spring صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ. What a beautiful fa'al — what a beautiful symbol it is. Mawlana Sayyiduna Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ was born in the first spring, denoting and connoting and symbolizing that he is the spring — he is the life, the spiritual life of all human beings. He brings them life. The spring of life for those who truly desire to truly, nobly live صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

And this month is the month during which — out of that love that we have for him, and if we do and we seek to develop it and to have it — we celebrate this month, meaning we celebrate him صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ in a way even more special than the regular other days. In this world, for centuries, and in this world nowadays especially, it is a world culture — it is a world culture that nations and societies and groups celebrate those whom they respect and they love and they remember them. This has become urf — a practiced custom worldwide to do that. And yet the most beautiful and the most worthy of being celebrated — Muhammadun Mawlana wa Sayyiduna Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ — is sometimes during this month even left without being remembered the right way.

The Fatwa of Standing for the Mushaf

The fuqaha, our jurists, say — rahimahullah ta'ala — that if something becomes a custom, a good practice, and that if we don't do that, it would mean on our part, or it would indicate or give the semblance of disrespect or lack of reverence, then we must ourselves also do that. One scholar of seven centuries ago — a great scholar in his time — when he was asked: imagine the culture at that time, we are in a majlis, and somebody comes in carrying the mushaf — carrying it beautifully — and enters the majlis. The question asked in the fatwa is: is it viable, is it favorable, is it good for us to stand up when that person comes carrying the mushaf — standing up for the mushaf to show reverence for the mushaf?

Very interestingly, this scholar — whom in my opinion I did not expect this fatwa from — rahimahullah ta'ala — answered in the following way. He says: nowadays in this culture, we stand up for people whom we respect. We stand up for our parents, we stand up for our leaders, we stand up for the judge, we stand up for the king when they enter — and we all do it out of respect — and if we don't, it is frowned upon and seen as very rude and very disrespectful. It has become that way. So he said: the mushaf is grander than all of those. If we come in with the mushaf, we should show reverence to the mushaf and stand up — yes — since this is the practice.

The practice is we celebrate grand names of history in our nations, and it is done regularly, constantly — almost every month of the year in the world, or every day — there is someone celebrated, to be happy that they were, and to show commitment to that person, their love for that person, and commitment to that person's ideals. Rasulullah ﷺ, by this analogical reasoning, is even worthier and loftier to be celebrated and loved and remembered, and for us to recommit ourselves to his teachings, his seerah, his sunnah, his spirituality, his attributes ﷺ.

He is not just a human being — meaning an average human being. He is a human being, but like a pearl amongst stones. The ulama relate, as they teach through the text — the Qur'an and the Sunnah and whatever the wisdom of knowledge — to learn about who he was, and to learn more about his attributes, by which we seek to develop that leaning, that hubb, love, in our hearts for him ﷺ. And if we have hubb for him, the more that hubb is there, the easier it becomes and the more delightful it becomes to follow him and to emulate him and to obey him ﷺ — for that is the objective practically speaking. But if we don't have that hubb, if we don't have that leaning, if it is weak, then our following will be weak, our obedience will be weak, our reverence for him will be weak, the way we celebrate him will be weak — the less hubb we have for him ﷺ.

The Prophet ﷺ Before Adam — The Hadith of His Prophethood

One day, a companion asked daringly this question:

"When were you a Nabi, O Messenger of Allah?" The answer — if some of you do not know — is:

(Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad and others; a well-authenticated narration verified by hadith scholars)

"I was a Nabi — I have been a Nabi — even when Adam عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام was still between soul and body, not yet fashioned." A hadith sahih, an authentic text, attested to by all the critics: وَآدَمُ بَيْنَ الرُّوحِ وَالْجَسَدِ.

Other texts, as some scholars say, explain this further. He said صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, in accordance with other longer variants of this text:

(Cited by scholars of the Seerah and Tafsir; related traditions recorded in al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim and other sources)

When were you a Nabi, O Messenger of Allah? He answered صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — and I approximate the translation:

When Allah created the earth and turned towards the heavens and fashioned them — seven heavens — and He created the Throne, and inscribed — wrote — on the leg of the Throne. And the Throne is beyond description and beyond imagination, for it is a creation of Allah in the realm of the beyond — don't imagine anything four-dimensional in your experience. When He created the Throne, He wrote on the Throne: Muhammadun Rasulullah — Muhammad, the messenger of Allah — Khatamul Anbiya', the seal of all the prophets. And He created al-Jannah, paradise, in which He allowed Adam and Hawa to dwell, and on the gates of Jannah, on the leaves of Jannah, on the domes of Jannah, on the tents of Jannah — on all of those — He wrote my name. And while Adam was still between soul and body, and when Allah breathed life into him — Sayyiduna Adam — in that dimension, in the way it pleases Allah and Allah wills — he looked at the Throne. Allah made him have that ability to do so, in the way Allah wills. He saw my name. He asked Allah. Allah said to him: that is the Sayyid — the master — of all your offspring. And when Shaytan deluded him and he repented to Allah, he pleaded to Allah by me to forgive him. End of quote.

Sayyiduna wa Mawlana — who was he? A human being, yes. But what a human being. How Allah, who creates, has selected him — the elect, the selected one — out of pure, pure fadl from Allah.

I say this and I ask Allah to forgive me and you, so forgive him — good, for the forgivers.

Second Part of the Khutbah — The Rahma of Allah

Allah says in the Qur'an — tell them, you and me and all the believing men and women — you should be happy and rejoice. In other words, not in what you possess — your children, your wealth, your power — it's all halal as long as it is halal, but that's not what should make you really be elated and feel exhilarated and raised loftily, happily. What should do that to you is: فَضْلِ اللَّهِ وَرَحْمَتُهُ — that you should have that joy and that happiness for the bounty and the favour of Allah and His rahma. فَبِذَلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا هُوَ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ — that should be the reason for you to rejoice, to celebrate, to be happy.

And what is the rahma of Allah? What is the best and the most beautiful expression of the rahma of Allah on earth — nay, in the universe? Who? صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

Allah calls His Nabi His rahma. The rahma of Allah in this existence. So in this ayah, the Qur'an explains itself — Allah says that which makes you happy, you should celebrate, is His rahma and His favour. And:

(Al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, Hadith 100; also cited in al-Bayhaqi, Shu'ab al-Iman)

Said صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ: "I am no more but a rahma — gifted." Allah created him to be that way. Allah is infinite — remember — in His beauty and in His majesty. He creates beauty and gives it to us as a present.

Closing Du'a

May this month, and every day of this month, and every instant of this month — may it be in our hearts, in our minds, in our emotions, in our words, in our activities, in our homes, in our masajid — may they all be moments in which Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ has been remembered, and that we are those who love him, those who dearly and lovingly commit to his values, those who will protect his values with our souls, with our minds, with the best we are — not only the best we have.

Ya Allah, give us a life so filled and so rich with the love of Your Nabi, by which You make us elect of Yours and select of Yours — those who love the one You love most, those at least who strive to love in the most sincere and in the most honest and in the purest of ways Your most beloved one, the one who represented You in the most beautiful way in human existence.

Ya Allah, don't deprive us of this special relationship with him صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. Ya Allah, grant us the love of You. Grant us the love of Your Nabi. Grant us the love of the family of Your Nabi. Grant us the love of the companions of Your Nabi. Grant us the love of those who love You and love Your Nabi. Grant us the love of Your prophets and messengers. Grant us the love of Your angels. Grant us the love of Your saints. Grant us the love of the righteous of Your servants.

Ya Allah, grant us the love of what we love, and make it a strength for us in what You love. And don't take away what we love and make it a vacuum for us for what You love. Ya Allah, ya Allah — command justice and benevolence and respecting one's neighbours, and forbid from the indecent and the disgusting.