20160401- 1st Khutba- Imam Mukhtar

Opening Praise and Testimony

In the name of Allah, we praise Him, we ask for His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we ask for His guidance. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, no one is misguided, and whom He misguides, no one is guided.

And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is our master, his servant, and his messenger.

O people, indeed the truest speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, our master.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 6, Hadith 1435)

Allah calls upon us when He says, what means: O you who have attained faith, be Allah-conscious, be reverent of Allah in a way that is worthy of who He is — worthy indeed of His beauty, of His majesty, of His perfection in His beauty and in His majesty. Worthy indeed of His favours and bounties and grace upon us and all existence.

And make sure we do not die except in a state of Islam, in a state of loving, willing, loving surrender — of our spirits and souls, of our hearts and minds, of our thoughts and feelings, of our emotions and drives, of our words and deeds — all in loving, not resisting, loving surrender to Allah.

The Most Incapacitated and the Most Miserly

Sayyiduna Mawlana, the Prophet, said in one text:

(Reported by al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; also referenced in Musnad Ahmad)

أَعْجَزُ النَّاسِ — the most incapacitated and disabled of all disabled people — is the person who does not turn to Allah in du'a, who feels unable and does not regularly turn to Allah in prayer, in du'a. This is the truly incapacitated person, indeed the most incapacitated of all people.

If I am unable to plead to Allah, to implore Allah for all the good things that He loves me to be and to do and to have — that He loves me, not only that I love — that He loves me to be and to do and to say, then I am truly an incapacitated person, a very handicapped person.

Second, وَأَبْخَلُ النَّاسِ مَنْ بَخِلَ بِالسَّلَامِ — and the most miserly of the miserly is the person who does not greet his fellow Muslims and others with Salaam. And some of us who are greeted with Salaam — and I have witnessed it in many masajid, and amongst Muslims in some cultures — السلام عليكم is said, but they do not respond. Not out of maliciousness, but simply out of carelessness.

And that is being disabled. That is a rahmah from Allah that one is deprived from. This I begin with to remind myself anew — may we not be of those who are truly disabled, may we not truly be of those who are unable. May we spread the word of Salaam and the act of Salaam amongst us. And may we always be fearful. We pray and we call upon Allah and we do not feel unable to do so.

Allah Knows What is Within You

Allah tells us in the Qur'an in so many ways, and this is one way He says — again, something very fundamental and very axiomatic, which I think often as human beings and as Muslims we disregard. Intelligent, educated, scholarly students throughout the spectrum — it is, I think, missed and not taken as part of the regular diet of our lives. Namely, as Allah says, for example, when He says in Surat al-Baqarah:

اعْلَمُوا is a verb of command — you must know. We must know that Allah knows what you harbour inside of you: what you think, what you hide, what you feel, what you like, what you dislike, what you plan. Allah knows it. Allah knows those drives and those moods, positive or negative, Allah knows them.

So this is where it begins. He says: be cautious, be prudent — He knows. In other words, do not allow to be in your hearts, inside of you, feelings, emotions, drives, thoughts, plans, or attitudes that He does not love. فَاحْذَرُوهُ — for He knows. And this is where it begins, my beloved brothers — our thoughts, our feelings, is where the process of life begins.

As one said: watch your thoughts, for they will become words. And then watch your words, for they will become actions. And watch your actions, for they will become habits. And watch your habits, for they will become character — خُلُق. And watch your character, for it will be your destiny.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 39, Hadith 6878)

And everyone shall be resurrected the way he or she died. That destiny started with a thought.

The Way to Allah: Al-Imam al-Junaid

Al-Imam al-Junaid, may Allah have mercy on him — that great scholar and Wali of the Awliya' of Allah, the hidden ones brought close — when he was asked:

What is the way to Allah? To be brief, I mention two of the four things he mentioned — the first one and the last one, for the second and third can, in my opinion, be part of the first and the fourth. So he answers, may Allah have mercy on him:

Number one: تَوْبَةٌ تَحُلُّ الْإِصْرَارَ — A repentance, a tawbah, that will undo, that will open and break that israr, that persistence and insistence inside of us to continue to do something wrong. A tawbah that will remove that, that will undo that. And tawbah starts inside — it is an act inside. It is a feeling, it is a thought, it is a burst of longing and pain and remorse inside of us.

And the last: وَمُرَاقَبَةُ اللهِ تَعَالَى فِي خَوَاطِرِ الْقُلُوبِ — And to be always watchful of the moods inside of us, inside of our hearts, how they relate to Allah. In other words, to watch the fact that Allah is watching the moods inside of us — the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions, the drives inside of us.

This is the way to Allah. This is the path of happiness. This is the summary of the quest of happiness for a sincere human being. The rest are details and commentaries.

The Counsel to Sayyiduna Mu'adh

As I remind you and myself of this, in the same context, I would like to share with myself and then you another word of the Messenger of Allah, may prayers and peace be upon him and his family and companions always. And may Allah help us.

He said, advising Sayyiduna Mu'adh, may Allah be pleased with him, among what he said to him:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22016; also referenced in al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Kabir)

First: Worship Allah Alone

اعْبُدِ اللهَ وَلَا تُشْرِكْ بِهِ شَيْئًا — Worship Allah. Serve Allah. Be devout to Allah. Have this relationship of ubudiyyah, of servitude — loving, willing, voluntary servitude to Allah — without associating anything with Him in that.

وَلَا تُشْرِكْ بِهِ شَيْئًا — not a thing. Not only not a person — not a thing. That anything I feel, I think of, or I do, it must not be stained with the desire and the attitude of worship, of aggrandizement, of reverence to other than Allah — along with Allah. And that includes my own nafs — my self is a thing. My drives, my feelings, my thoughts are things also, are ashya'. I must not take any of that which would stain and blemish my ubudiyyah in Tawhid Allah — in prosperity and in adversity.

Second: Act for Allah as Though You See Him

وَاعْمَلْ لِلَّهِ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ — And do what you do for Allah. In other words, do the things that He loves that you do. Say the things that He loves that you say. But do that in action or in reaction — we sometimes initiate things, or we sometimes respond to things. Al-'amal comprises both action and reaction. In all of that, do that which you do lillah — not for the nafs, not for my ego, not for my personal choices and preferences and whims. For Allah — those who seek the divine beauty and majesty. For Allah.

And do that in a way as though you see Him. You see eternal, infinite beauty. You see eternal, infinite majesty — al-Jamal wal-Jalal lillahi 'azza wa jall. Do that as though you are aware of that.

And subhanAllah, of course, my beloved brothers and sisters — if one is aware of infinity, what happens to everything else? He or she is not aware of it, because the finite is subsumed by the infinite. So if the qalb is aware of Allah and sees spiritually Allah through His attributes — His sifat — and His acts, His af'al, the person who truly is in that maqam cannot see — not in the physical sense, but cannot see — any effect or any influence other than the infinite, subhanAllah.

So when you are in dhikr, be in dhikr as though you see His infinite beauty. When you are in salah, when you are in qiyam, when you are in du'a, when you are in hajj, in umrah, when you are in business, when you are in trade, when you are in argument, when you are in agreement, when you are in disagreement, when you are at home, when you are in a masjid —

Third: Count Yourself Among the Dead

وَعُدَّ نَفْسَكَ فِي الْمَوْتَى — And consider yourself, in this spiritual sense, among those who have died already. Spiritually, statistically, He says, consider yourself of the mawta. And why is that? Because the person who has considered himself in that condition — if he or she does that intellectually, mentally, and spiritually — that person is already in akhirah, and already is witnessing the truth of the hereafter, and has yaqeen, certitude, of accountability with Allah. Because once we enter the world of the barzakh, we are able — in the divine ways as He allows — to see and to be convinced and to have the certitude of what we know intellectually about akhirah. Now you see it.

وَعُدَّ نَفْسَكَ فِي الْمَوْتَى — number one. Number two: that helps me not to do the wrong things. I am dead, and I see the malak, and I see the meezan — the scale — and I see the accountability and the reckoning with Allah. I am not going to say a word or hold a feeling or do an action that would be detrimental to me in the scale which I now see.

Because remembering death gives better quality of life. Remembering death in the tawhidi sense makes my life of a greater quality.

Fourth: Be in Dhikr at Every Stone and Every Tree

And then he says: what else can you do, as if you are among the mawta? One thing that never ceases, even in akhirah — Allah will inspire His creatures, He will create in the believing men and women in akhirah something, an action, that is of dunya. And what is that? Dhikr Allah. For He says:

And the advice to Sayyiduna Mu'adh and to all of us, therefore, is: be in dhikr of Allah — even inda kulli hajar, at every stone and at every tree. At every stone, at every tree, be in dhikr of Allah.

Because we usually imagine trees and stones as inanimate, lifeless. And maybe we are in dhikr when we are with those whom we perceive as living. But when we are with that which we perceive as lifeless, we might not be in dhikr. No — He says: be in dhikr of Allah with the living and with the non-living.

And why? Because al-hajar wal-shajar yadhkuranillah — the stone is in dhikr of Allah, the tree is in dhikr of Allah. As you know:

The stone is in dhikr of Allah. Shame on you, human being. Shame on you, believing man and woman. The stone is in dhikr and you are not in dhikr. The tree is in dhikr and you are not in dhikr. Be in dhikr. They are in dhikr — be in dhikr. When you go and you are alone, do not be in abnormality, do not be a shudhdh. For they are in dhikr — be in dhikr. Space and time is in dhikr — be in dhikr. Wherever you are, that is what it is. Be in dhikr of Allah — alone and in public, in the desert and in the forest, on the ground and in the air, at home and outside of home — always be in dhikr of Allah.

And may the dhikr become the habit, that habit becomes character, that character becomes your destiny. And then you will be resurrected in dhikr of Allah.

Fifth: Follow a Sin with a Good Deed

And then finally he says:

And with all of this — لَا قَدَّرَ اللهُ, and all children of Adam are sinners — if you, may Allah protect all of us, commit a sin somewhere, somehow, in some way, then besides that sinful action do a rightful one, do a good one, do a hasanah next to it. In other words, while you perform the sin, rectify it by performing a goodness, a hasanah.

And if you did that in secret, do that in secret. And if you did that publicly, do that publicly — rectify that publicly. If you did a wrong thing publicly in front of the public who have seen you, and you truly repented, then rectify it publicly by saying a good thing and doing a good thing publicly that shows one has repented to Allah.

Love for Others What You Love for Yourself

With this, I will add something that he says in a different hadith. And with this, my beloved brothers and sisters:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Book 1, Hadith 66; also Musnad Ahmad)

Make sure we love for others that which we love for ourselves, and we despise for others that which we despise for ourselves. And how does it affect us? Let me not treat people in any way — in privacy or in public, in agreement or in disagreement, in all matters — except in a way that I love that they treat me.

Closing Du'a

قُولُوا قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ الْعَظِيمَ لِي وَلَكُمْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ، طُوبَى لِلْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ

اذكروا الله يذكركم، قوموا إلى صلاتكم.