20161216- 2nd Khutba - Imam Mokhtar Maghroui

Opening: The Khutbah of Need

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ، وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَسْتَهْدِيهِ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ سَيِّدَنَا وَمَوْلَانَا مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ. أَمَّا بَعْدُ، أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْكَلَامِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ، وَخَيْرَ الْهُدَى هُدَى سَيِّدِنَا وَمَوْلَانَا مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

O you who have attained faith, O you who believe — be conscious and reverent of Allah in a way that is worthy of who He is, worthy of His majesty, worthy of His beauty, worthy of His infinite perfection in His beauty and in His majesty, in a way worthy of the innumerable, unlimited, uncountable favours that He ever continues to bestow upon His creation and the human being in particular, despite the iniquities and the rebelliousness of the human being.

اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ — in a way that is worthy of who He is. And make sure we do not die — die not except in a state of Islam, in a state of loving surrender: of loving, easy, voluntary surrender of our thoughts, of our emotions, of our drives, of our likes, of our dislikes, of our words, of our deeds — all in loving surrender to Allah. وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ.

What Is Islam?

Says Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ:

(Musnad Ahmad; related narrations in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)

Islam is when your heart — your heart, your emotions, your thoughts, your drives inside of you, your sympathies and antipathies inside of you, your likes and your dislikes inside of you — are all in loving surrender to Allah. That is Islam. And consequently, that people — Muslims in particular — are safe from the harm of your word, the harm of your tongue, the harm of your actions, and the harm of your might and resources. If you do that, then you are the real Muslim. That is what Islam is about.

My dear brothers and sisters, I remind you and myself first of this. For we go to work, we come to the masjid, we go home. We interact with one another and with others. We do business — we sell, we buy, we agree, we disagree, we make mistakes. In all of that — remember — in all of that, our behaviour, our conduct, our emotions are to be consistent with this objective of being that Muslim. We do that always in loving surrender to Allah.

This Life Was Never Meant to Be Without Trials

Second: this life of this world is a life never without challenges, never without difficulties, never without affliction, never without trial, never without pain — whether that be emotional, psychological, intellectual, mental, financial, economic, physical, health-wise — family issues, societal issues, political issues, world issues, global issues, personal issues. That is always peppered and flavoured and mixed — always — with that which is uncomfortable. This is the way Allah intended it.

It is not the home of everlasting, everywhere, all-the-time security and peace. That is why Allah calls Jannah — He calls it the home of peace. That is the ultimate peace: Dar-us-Salam.

And because we are like this in this life — always under these challenging, afflicting, painful circumstances, individually at all levels as I mentioned, and collectively — we experience life in this way. And if you don't understand it, understand this: just look into your life and then look at the life of those around you. Because it is that way, and Allah willed it to be that way.

He is saying to us: therefore, don't hold fast to this low life. Come to the home of peace. I invite you to a home, to an existence, to a world, to a universe, to a dimension in which there is none of that.

These are the days of life — We alternate them between people, between the human beings. We alternate them: a dark day and a light day, a heavy day and a comfortable day, a winning day and a losing day, a healthy day and a sick day, a prosperous day and an adverse day. وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ — no one is always a winner. Nothing is always a winner.

We try you — We afflict you with that which you do not like, that which you do not approve of, that which you do not want, that which sometimes you call in your own assessment evil and unwanted: sharr. وَنَبْلُوكُمْ — it happens, yes, in this life through mechanisms, through cause and effect, through societal changes and phenomena and movements and waves that we sometimes understand as causal relationships. It happens that way. But the haqiqa of it — the underlying, original source of it — is the will and the plan and the volition of Allah.

I am sometimes under affliction because, for example, I missed doing something the right way and I am under bala, and that is the law of Allah in nature. Or because I did something the wrong way and I, as we say, suffer the consequences. Or even I did my best for something to happen in the best possible way — and yet it does not. Someone has a headache, takes medication, and it does not work. And someone has the same headache, takes a placebo, and he is healed. وَنَبْلُوكُمْ — it is from Allah.

بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً — and We also try you with opportunities: al-khayr. With that which you like, with that which you want, with that which you desire, with that which you are comfortable with. You like that — things go easy. I do things this way and the results are the way I want. I pray and my prayers are answered. Khayr. I ask my child to do something right and he does it easily, responds immediately — alhamdulillah. This is khayr. This is also a bala, an affliction from Allah.

So that in either case — in the case of hardship and challenge, or in the case of comfort and opportunity — how do we respond? How do we act or react? Do we do that in ways that are consistent with divine morality, divine ethics, divine beauty of what He loves? Or do we do that in the opposite way — through anger, bad-temperedness, arrogance, stubbornness, delusion, hurt, despair, complaint?

Do you remember Him only when things go well, and when things go bad you do not? Or is it the opposite — for some of us we remember Him only when things don't go well, and when things go well we forget Him? When things go well we ascribe what we are enjoying as a result of our acumen, our intelligence, our hard work, our planning. In which way do we respond?

He says: وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ — and you will come back to Us. You will be brought back to Us, and We will be judged depending on which way we responded to challenges and opportunities.

My dear brothers and sisters, I repeat: whether those challenges and opportunities are grand — at a grand scale, at a grand quality — or they are regular worldly little things that happen at the minor scale, minor quality — individually, at home, in the masjid, at work, in the street, in the mall, in the courtyard, in the playground — little things also. No heartbeat passes of our time in this world that is without daring and assuming responsibility for what we do, for what we say, for what we think, for what we feel.

The Prophet's Example: The Hijrah and the Cave

Rasuluna wa Mawlana صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ was meant to be the most beautiful representation of the divine qualities in a human being — at the level possible for human beings. Al-insanu al-kamil صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ — the most perfect of human beings. In his seerah, in his ways.

And this is the month of his birth. This is Rabi' al-Awwal still — the month during which the world, the universe, creation, humanity were honoured, were celebrated by bringing into them the most beloved creation of Allah, and through that to help man, help humanity, help jinn, help all beings to know how to connect with the divine. To learn, to know how to be truly divine in their own ways as a human being — divine meaning to completely and fully and joyfully connect with Allah and embody the beautiful attributes of Allah in our lives at our human, created level.

You know the incident of when he صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was migrating — and he did everything planning-wise: strategies well-planned, rational considerations, practical considerations. He did all of that in a very composed, ethical, beautiful way. Planning the escape, planning the Hijrah from the hostile environment of the Meccans away towards the friendlier environment of the Medinans. And he prepared all of that — to the extent even that in order to elude the hostile pursuers so that they lose their tracks, he first went south, and Medina is north, and then all the way until the coast, and then he turned back north.

The point is: he and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ — with his leadership — did that intelligently, wisely, morally, ethically. Rational pursuits are never done in our deen and by our Nabi صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ in disregard of the moral dimension, the ethical envelope in which all of that is to be put. We do not act rationally only. We do not act practically only. If we do — and we must, sometimes we must — we do that in an envelope that is moral and ethical and spiritual, not outside of it.

The ends do not justify the means. That is Machiavellianism. The ends do not justify the means. The means must continue to be moral and ethical and spiritual. The means are rational — they must always be in an envelope that is moral and ethical and spiritual.

I would rather lose. I would rather be defeated while preserving my spiritual and moral and ethical values, rather than win and lose my ethical and moral and spiritual values. Please remember that. Many of us live our lives in disregard of this axiom, of this constant in our deen.

So he did all of that صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, and yet the pursuers, the hostiles, got to him — even at the entrance of the cave where he and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ were seeking refuge. And the refuge is only in Allah.

They did everything. Most of us — if not all of us — under those circumstances, and the seriousness and gravity of the event that the Hijrah was about, if we were in a similar — not a similar, but much, much, much less serious and grave — position, we would have lost all our hope and our cool and our composure. But in that ultimate moment, as Sayyiduna Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ — not Rasulullah — he is afraid, he is concerned, he is restless, especially for the reason of the safety of Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ. And astonished, he says — probably whispering — "Are there people in the cave?" Because they could see them from where they were — from the vantage point inside the cave, they could see their feet. And he said, "Ya Rasulallah, if anyone of them simply looked down at their feet, they would see us."

Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ answers, and the Quran records that:

"Do not worry — do not worry. Allah is in our company. Allah is with us." And in this seerah he also told him: "Ya Abu Bakr — what do you think of two, that is he and Abu Bakr — the third of whom is Allah?"

Look: under the direst, the most dire of circumstances — the most hopeless in the rational sense — how the spiritual dimension, how the moral dimension, how the ethical envelope was so preserving that it didn't matter what happened. And because it was in that ocean of peace that he was صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, he brought that to Abu Bakr. That's what counts.

And Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was tried and afflicted in this way, and in so many other harsher ways, and he never lost sight — spiritual sight, in addition to intellectual awareness. He never lost sight in his heart, spiritually, of Allah. And that is what we need to do. That is how we need to face challenges and opportunities — by pleading to Allah to always be this way.

Seek the forgiveness of Allah — what an excellent abode awaits those who sincerely seek forgiveness from Allah.

The Example of Ta'if: Turning to Allah in the Darkest Hour

My dear brothers and sisters, this Nabi — of most authentic rational thinking, this Nabi of most transparent spiritual being — all his life was an example for us to follow, to emulate, and to strive to emulate. For many of us are weak; all of us are weak. And in our weakness, we often — sometimes some of us deliberately — forget the guide in front of us. And sometimes some of us, ignorantly, miss to see the guide in front of us. And some of us, simply out of emotional weakness and stressful circumstances, might miss to continue to lay our focus on our guide. So we implore Allah in all cases to liberate us from that, and to bring our focus — despite us — upon the most beautiful, perfect example to emulate.

And we implore Allah to grant us the steadfastness, the resolve to keep focused, and to do — despite our weakness — to strive to do that which Allah means for us to ultimately be the apparent cause for what is good and what is prosperous and what is well for us.

Remember when Rasulullah ﷺ on another occasion went to Ta'if — seeking support and help after the Meccans, and after the death of his uncle Abu Talib and his wife, our mother Khadija. After she died, the Qurashites were even more cruel, more ugly than before. They unleashed their ruthlessness against him ﷺ. And in Ta'if there was a powerful example of that — as you know — when he went peacefully to seek friendship and help from them, and they responded to him in a way that was so vociferous, so predatory — and "unkind" is a light word.

And yet upon his return ﷺ from Ta'if, he turns to Allah in prayer. Now — prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer. That prayer — that which I believe most of us in this age have given up, because we think we are smart. We rely on our rational faculties only — on our intelligence, on our means, on our action, on our activity, on our efforts. And the problem is that du'a is rare and seldom. And if there is du'a, it is with a heart that is absent — a du'a with a mind that is still only reliant upon the means only. And we always in our du'a complain to Allah about everything else, and we rarely — if at all — complain to Allah about our own selves.

About our own selves. Maybe what befalls me is because of me. And most of us are always those who throw the guilt at the other — in our regular conversations, in our conflicts, in our challenges. We always lay the blame and the burden on the other: on the spouse, on the child, on the neighbour, on the fellow Muslim, on this, on that — which sometimes could be correct — but we rarely lay the blame on our own selves.

Look at this du'a of Rasulullah ﷺ after what happened to him in Ta'if. And he was the most beautiful and the kindest and the most logical and the most spiritual of those who lead — even — and yet in his du'a he begins by saying:

(Ibn Hisham, Sirah al-Nabawiyyah; related in al-Tabarani, al-Mu'jam al-Kabir)

In his du'a he turns to Allah: "Ya Allah, it is to You that I submit the weakness of my strength and the lack of wit on my part and my seeming worthlessness in the sight of people. Ya Arham al-Rahimin, ya Rabb al-'Alamin — to whom do You entrust me? To a foreigner who despises me? Or to one far from me to whom You have given power over me? Therefore, if You are not angry at me, I do not mind."

In other words — if what is happening to me — and this is Rasulullah — if what is happening to me is not on account of Your anger against me — عَجِيبٌ! لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — that is how he first feels things. Not "Ya Allah, they have done that and they have done that." He first — أَكْمَلُ خَلْقِ اللَّهِ, the most perfect of the creation of Allah — first looks into himself and says: "Maybe this is because I have done something wrong that warranted Your anger against me. And if it is, Ya Allah, forgive me. And if it is not — I do not mind what happens to me. لَا أُبَالِي."

"أَعُوذُ بِنُورِ وَجْهِكَ الَّذِي أَشْرَقَتْ لَهُ الظُّلُمَاتُ — I seek refuge in the shining light of Your countenance, to which darknesses turned into light, and in front of which all matters of existence, of life, of this universe have come to balance and existence — I seek refuge in that against Your laying upon me Your anger."

And then — you know — that later on, when Allah sent to him Jibreel, to order the angel who has power over geological laws — Malak al-Jibal — to give Rasulullah ﷺ the authority to do what he wanted: for example, to lay both mountains around Mecca and let them fall against the Meccans and destroy them. He instead said, under those circumstances:

"No — no, my Lord." That was given to him as a choice. He could order the angel. But he said instead:

"I pray instead that Allah brings forth from within themselves those men and women who will worship Allah and only Allah."

Under these circumstances, he teaches us ﷺ — and it was not for teaching, but the way he was also — to make of the worst challenges, opportunities. Never to lose connectedness with Allah. Never — not in prosperity or in adversity, not in challenge or in opportunity.

Closing Supplication

May Allah — my dear brothers and sisters — protect all of us in this sense. May He, as He subjects us — and we are human beings — to different challenges and opportunities, may He give us the awareness and the consciousness of always remembering Him, relying on Him, keeping Him as the ultimate hope, and surrendering lovingly to what happens to us, as long as we strive rationally within a spiritual envelope — we strive rationally to obey Him.

I say this and I ask Allah to forgive me and you. May Allah forgive us and have mercy on us and guide us — and make us guided, not misguided; or misguided, not changing; or changing.

O Merciful, O Lord of the worlds — O servants of Allah, Allah is kind to whom He wills. Pray to Allah with His kindness, which includes everything. May He protect us and you and the Muslims everywhere, and make us and you and the Muslims everywhere guided, not misguided; or misguided, not changing, nor changing.

Allah and His angels pray on the Prophet. O you who have believed, pray on him and greet him.

O Allah, pray and greet and bless our master Muhammad and his family and all his companions — for the sake of Your creation and the satisfaction of Your soul and the adornment of Your throne and for the sake of Your words.

O servants of Allah, stand up for your prayer — may Allah have mercy on you.