20170407- Signs of the Hour-1st Khutba- imam Mokhtar Maghroui

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ 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 مَوْلَانَا مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْكَلَامِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ، وَخَيْرَ الْهُدَى سَيِّدُنَا مَوْلَانَا مُحَمَّدٌ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ النَّارِ.

Taqwa and Loving Surrender to Allah

O you who have attained faith, be reverent of Allah. Be conscious of Allah in a way that should be worthy of who He is. Worthy not only of His bountiful grace and favours and gifts, but also worthy most importantly of who He is. Worthy of His names and attributes, worthy of His essence, worthy of His beauty, worthy of His majesty. And make sure with that we do not die except in a state of Islam — in a state of loving surrender of our souls and spirits, of our minds, thoughts and hearts and emotions, of our drives, of our commissions and omissions, of our words, of our deeds.

No matter what our preoccupation is, no matter what we do, what is our function, where we work, where we are, what we do at any level of hopefully the legitimate aspects of life — that we do that in loving surrender to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that we ultimately prepare for the ultimate encounter with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, as our lives are destined to be brief and short in the realm and in the context of the age of earth and in the context of human civilizations and human history. Each person's life is very brief, is very short. What's an average of 70 years even? What is it compared to thousands, or to infinity? Everyone must remember that. I and you must remember that.

And therefore Allah says: make sure you do not die except in a state of loving surrender — of Islam — of our souls, I repeat, of our spirits, of our thoughts, of our ideas, of our feelings, of our emotions, of our priorities, of our likes, of our dislikes, of our agreements, of our disagreements, of the nature of the solutions that we find to our problems. All of that must be a means by which we are preparing for the ultimate encounter with Allah عز و جل, by learning at least and striving to surrender in that way to Allah سبحانه وتعالى. And hopefully the moment we leave this dunya — and each one has a way to leave this dunya — that we leave this dunya in a way that He loves عز و جل, in a way that بإذن الله عز و جل, by His grace and merciful love, makes us inshallah ta'ala candidates for happiness in the hereafter. بإذن الله عز و جل.

This World Is Filled with Trials

And with that, my dear brothers and sisters, life is filled with challenges. This dunya is filled with calamities. This dunya is filled with tribulations, with هُمُومٌ وَغُمُومٌ وَشَدَائِدُ وَمَصَائِبُ and ظُلْمٌ, and yes, opportunities as well, and good things. It is filled with challenges at the individual level and at the collective level, at the national level, at the world level, at all levels of life — at the political level, at the military level, at the economic levels, at the social levels, at all levels of life. And you keep hearing and seeing and observing. As a human being, you will always be subject to that. Your fathers, your grandfathers, your ancestors were subject to similar challenges, and you are subject to similar challenges.

Every generation — and let me speak of Muslims — every Muslim generation has its own challenges of its own time to prove its worthiness of Allah عز و جل, to prove its worthiness of this being. Every generation has challenges of some sort to challenge that generation, whether it is truly adhering to the values of the divine, or when challenges occur socially or intellectually or philosophically or financially or economically or politically, we are easy to wear a different garb immediately and to change in a negative sense. Each generation has challenges, and you have yours, and we have ours. And in all of that, we need to struggle to be of those who lovingly surrender to Allah عز و جل.

What you witness and what your grandparents witnessed, each one at their level — there were always things incredible and extraordinary and unexpected. Nowadays it is even more of that, and in some ways worse, because things are sometimes very negative.

The Signs of the Hour — What the Prophet ﷺ Told Us

Listen to what Rasulullah ﷺ said, in accordance with texts related by the expert scholars of hadith and hadith criticism like Ibn Ahmad رحمه الله تعالى and others:

(Musnad Ahmad; related by Ibn Ahmad and scholars of hadith criticism)

He said ﷺ: the Hour will not come, the end of the world will not come, until you will see and you will witness momentous, incredible things that you have never seen before, nor even ever entertained in your minds — that you have ever internally conceived of or visualized or thought about.

بِهَذَا الْعُمُومِ ذَكَرَهَا ﷺ وَبِهَذَا الْإِطْلَاقِ تَرَكَهَا فِي هَذَا النَّصِّ ﷺ — in this absolute version and in this unqualified version of the sentence, he left it ﷺ to include everything you could think about, because there would be of course — as we know — so many thousands and millions of things that one text cannot enumerate. So he says it in this general way: things that you did not even conceive of happening, things momentous and incredible that never happened before, that you did not entertain, that you have never heard of.

And in one text he speaks about the coming days ﷺ and says:

He said ﷺ: there would be things to come so incredible, so momentous, that you have never conceived of — to the extent that you would even ask yourselves: did your Nabi, did Rasulullah ﷺ, did he tell us about these things to come? SubhanAllah. Until you even — and I am sure some of us have done that throughout the centuries, and nowadays — did Rasulullah speak of these things? And he said ﷺ to the extent also:

Even things of this magnitude will happen — mountains will be removed from their locations. The power of the technologies that we have are already moving mountains and hills that existed. You come and look at them a year later and they are gone. Just look around — even in Saudi, even in Mecca, even there. The mountains around the Ka'bah are gone. جَبَلُ عُمَرَ — those of you who have seen it 10 years ago or 20 years ago — it is almost nowhere to be found. Gone.

Time Contracts and Distances Fold

He says ﷺ: The Hour will not come until time will be contracted and distances will be folded. As many expert scholars say — even when technology started in the late 19th century and early 20th century — this is telling us about things to be invented technologically that will make the time we spend in one year we spend in one week or one month. In the late 18th and early 19th century, what you travel in one year — going to Hajj from North Africa to Arabia — takes you one year. Now it takes a few hours. تَقَارَبَ الزَّمَانُ.

And distances are folded — he says ﷺ — distances are folded between one country and another, not only between cities, because of the means of transportation invented, as Rasulullah ﷺ spoke about in most general terms, and sometimes even in specific terms in other texts. And he says with that also:

Markets get closer to each other. Worldwide — now on the internet, on your computer — you are in Tokyo and you are in New York and you are in Beijing and you are in Africa and you are anywhere doing business. تَتَقَارَبُ الْأَسْوَاقُ, said he ﷺ.

Moral Decay, Severing of Ties, and Killings

And of the things he mentioned ﷺ also:

There will be promiscuity, there will be excesses — moral excesses that are immoral — فُحْشٌ وَتَفَاحُشٌ, an abusive character, an abusive nature. سُوءُ الْجِوَارِ — lack of kindly and goodly, neighborly relations between neighbors living next to each other, or between nations who are neighbors, and so on. قَطِيعَةُ الْأَرْحَامِ — severing the ties of kinship.

Nowadays, people's interests or the fulfillment of people's interests decide what is close to them and what is distant from them. Being a relative is not necessarily something very important to most, or to many, nowadays — depending on how much I gain from you economically and financially and so on. And these are some of the reasons for the severing of the ties of kinship: the different thoughts and feelings and emotions and ideologies within the same family, and the dispersions that occur on account of the infusion into the families of very alien and strange values, different from one another — and that breaks ties of kinship, in addition to economic pursuits and financial pursuits and selfish pursuits.

And he says ﷺ: also what will be observable is that the person who is trustworthy and honest is distrusted, is mistrusted, is pointed out as unworthy and untrustworthy. The trustworthy becomes untrustworthy in the eyes and words of some. And the opposite occurs — the unworthy and the untrustworthy and the dishonest is elevated to the level of trustworthiness, of honesty, and of leadership. ﷺ

And he said ﷺ:

And there will be plenty of harj. They said: what is harj, ya Rasulullah? He said: al-qatl — killings. Killings, killings within the same ummah, within the same nation. They kill one another. There is no rahmah, there is no mercy. The more one has power, the more one uses power — mercilessly, mercilessly. Bestial — worse than bestial feelings and selves and hearts and minds. Predatory of the worst kind. Predatory of the worst kind. وَالْعِيَاذُ بِاللَّهِ. No rahmah of any kind — to a child, to an old man, to an old woman, let alone to an innocent man of any age or woman of any age. There is no discrimination. There comes a time when humanity and people — and Muslims among themselves also — would be that way.

The Du'a of the Prophet ﷺ When Leaving His Home

Rasulullah ﷺ — who was he, and where are we? Every time, in one narration, he leaves his noble dwelling, his noble house, and goes into the world. He is always dealing with the world but always with the heart, always with Allah عز و جل. He goes out, and as he goes out he prays, he asks Allah سبحانه وتعالى. In one narration he looks into the heavens and says:

He begins his day — he leaves his house — saying: O Allah, I plead to You, I beg of You — I seek refuge in You and beg of You not to let me go astray, or to make anybody go astray, or to lead anybody to go astray. This is Rasulullah ﷺ saying this. Woe on us — when we leave home, what is in our minds? When these leaders leave their homes, what is in their minds? When these criminals leave their homes, what is in their minds? When you leave home and I leave home, what is in our minds?

This is what he says: I seek refuge in Allah — O Allah — that I go astray or lead anyone astray. I seek refuge in You, O Allah, that I commit any aggression, any type of ظُلْمٌ. And if you are spiritually conscious and sensitive, you would realize that when he speaks of ظُلْمٌ at his level, it is like justice at your level. I seek refuge in You that I commit ظُلْمٌ, I transgress, or that ظُلْمٌ is committed against me, or that I am aggressed against. I seek refuge in You that I commit an act of ignorance — ya Rasulullah, Allahu Akbar — or that such an act would be committed against me. I seek refuge in You, O Allah.

This dunya is filled with these challenges. Expect it. Your Rasul said you will see that which you had never, never expected — of any kind — in this world. As I said: scientifically, technologically, economically, financially, politically, militarily, socially, intellectually, ideologically — you will all witness. There will be too many for him ﷺ to list, because they are so numerous.

And with that, as I started:

Make sure — it is your duty and ours — in the midst of these challenges and opportunities, to make sure that I and you do not die except in the state of Islam.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ لِي وَلَكُمْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ. طُوبَى لِلْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ — seek the forgiveness of Allah. What an excellent abode awaits those who sincerely seek forgiveness from Allah.

Second Part of the Khutbah

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَكَفَى، وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَى عِبَادِهِ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَى.

وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ الْعَظِيمِ.

My dear brothers and sisters, may these words be true words, and in that way may they find a space in your minds, in your thoughts, in your hearts, and in your emotions. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى help us internalize them well if they are the truth, and may Allah help us actualize them well.

Dhikr as the Response to the Signs of the Hour

So it is your duty and mine — in your life and in the challenges of your life, daily, daily — keep your thoughts, your minds, your emotions, your drives, your hopes, your aspirations all connected to Allah عز و جل. Learn to do that, until we do that by His grace with every beat of our hearts, with every second of our lives, no matter what you are doing and where you are.

That's what it is. Because also when Rasulullah ﷺ said what I told you earlier about the signs of the Hour, he said once, in one of those texts:

(Musnad Ahmad; from the hadith collections on Signs of the Hour)

And when you witness such things — اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ تَعَالَى. Look what he said versus what you have in mind of your solutions — اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ تَعَالَى. Remember Allah, be in dhikr of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Do that for as long as you witness that, for as long as you are aware of that — and may we be aware of that — for these are the beginning signs of the approach of the Hour.

The Believer in Those Times: Like a Bee and Like Pure Gold

And in another hadith, he was asked — when he spoke of الْفُحْشُ وَالتَّفَاحُشُ and the excesses and the immoralities and the vociferous criminality of killings — what would the believing men and women be like then, ya Rasulullah? What should they be like, what should they do? He said:

(Related in the collections on the Signs of the Hour and the trials of the end of times)

The believing man and woman in accordance with that text would be like the bee. Like the bee. What is it about the bee? As the bee lands on a plant or on a flower, it lands, it oscillates, it vacillates — but it does not cause any harm to the flower and the plant upon which it lands. And it eats — but it does not abuse. SubhanAllah. This is the mu'min he is describing.

The parable of a believing man and woman then — in those times. It eats, the bee eats, but it does not abuse, it does not eat too much. وَتَضَعُ طَيِّبًا — and it discharges something pure. The discharge, the response to all of that, the use of all of that, is طَيِّبٌ, is pure. What is that? Honey. He says — in other words, I would understand from this — that's the state of the believer then: in the midst of all of these perturbations and challenges and calamities and afflictions and trials and tests of all levels, as I mentioned, from the scientific and technological to the individual and personal — all sorts — that's what the mu'min will be like.

And he also said:

(Related in the collections on the Signs of the Hour and the trials of the end of times)

He said: the believing man and woman would be like a piece of pure red gold. It is entered into the fire — I think you all understand the parable, what he means. It is entered into the fire, blown upon to make it even more intense — blown upon — and that piece of gold, pure gold, red gold, does not change at all. And after that they even weigh it and nothing is lost.

I think it is obvious. May Allah make us, ya Rabb, of those mu'minun — in the midst of the world's trials and the local trials at all levels. May Allah cleanse us and purify us and purge us. May He save us from ourselves. May He save us from our iniquities. And may He save us from that which is all around us of the challenges around us. And may He help us be that being, that golden piece.

Closing Du'as

وَاشْفِ مَرْضَانَا. O Allah, grant shifa to the young girl — the neighbor of this masjid. O Allah, the ill young girl — the neighbor of Your house. O Allah, grant her shifa and 'afiyah. O Allah, grant her shifa and 'afiyah.

She is the neighbor of this masjid, of this house of Yours, ya Allah — a child, ten years old. Please give her shifa and grant her parents the patience and the resolve of those whom You love. Ya Allah, the children everywhere in this world, in the midst of us and away from us — ya Allah, You are their only protector. Protect them. Protect our children and give us the ability to accept Your qadha. Give us the ability and the strength to accept Your destiny and Your decree. Give us the strength to do that.

We do not ask You to change Your destiny. We ask You to give us the strength to withstand the challenges in Your destiny. And yet we implore You — for Your destiny is Your creation — change it if You want. And make us of those who are grateful, grateful, grateful.

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.