EPIC Masjid, Imam Nadeem Bashir, Foot Steps of Shaytaan(Shaytaan Series)

Opening — Khutbah Al-Hajah

الحمد لله، الحمد لله رب العالمين، الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا، وما كنا لنهتدي لولا أن هدانا الله. أما بعد، فقد قال الله تبارك وتعالى في القرآن المجيد والقرآن الحميد، بعد أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم، بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم:

"O you who have believed, do not follow the footsteps of Satan, and whoever follows the footsteps of Satan, then he is committed to immorality and disobedience."

"And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits. And give good tidings to the patient — who, when a calamity befalls them, say: 'Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.'"

(Sahih Muslim, Book 7, Hadith 2042; also Sunan an-Nasa'i, Hadith 1578)

Respected brothers and sisters, as you know, there are two parts to the khutbah today, insha'Allah. In the very first part, I will be continuing the series which we have been discussing for the past few weeks — we have been talking about Shaytaan. What are the tricks of Shaytaan? What is the strategy of Shaytaan?

In my first khutbah, we talked about who is the common enemy. In my second khutbah, we talked about the story of Adam (alayhis salaam) and Iblis, and the important points we can take from that story. Today, I will be continuing along the same lines. However, in the second part of the khutbah, I will be shedding some light on the developments and events we have been hearing about since this morning.

Part One: The Footsteps of Shaytaan

Shaytaan Is Your Enemy — Take Him as an Enemy

Shaytaan, as we know, is a common enemy to all of us. Allah says:

"Surely Shaytaan is an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy."

The reason Allah tells us this is because we can say verbally, as much as we want — "Shaytaan is our enemy, Shaytaan is our enemy" — but if we follow the footsteps and the path laid down by Shaytaan, then we don't actually take him as an enemy. Allah says: he is your enemy, take him as your enemy.

Footsteps — Plural — A Gradual Process

There is something I want to point out, something I would like to stress upon. Allah says:

Note here that Allah did not say لَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطْوَةَ الشَّيْطَانِ — a single footstep. He says خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ — the footsteps (plural) of Shaytaan. Implying what? That when Shaytaan deceives man, he takes him and deceives him slowly and gradually. His way of misguiding people is not something that happens overnight. There is a gradual process.

How Shirk Was Introduced — A Gradual Deception

When we study the stories of the Anbiya (alayhimus salaam) — the stories of Nuh (alayhis salaam), Hud (alayhis salaam) — we see that these nations would commit shirk. They would associate partners with Allah. But the question is: where did idol worship come from?

Many people believe that Ibrahim (alayhis salaam) was the very first person to bring the concept of tawheed. I remember sitting with a non-Muslim who said: "Would it be fair to say that Ibrahim was the very first person to bring tawheed?" Yes, Ibrahim (alayhis salaam) did establish tawheed greatly. But I said to that person: No, the very first person who introduced the concept of tawheed, and who brought it to the face of this earth, was Adam (alayhis salaam). From day one, from the very first person who set foot on the face of the earth, they were believers in the Oneness of Allah.

So the question is: where did idol worship come from? The answer is — it came from Shaytaan. And once again, Shaytaan did not introduce the concept of shirk overnight. He did it in a very gradual process.

First, what Shaytaan did was put an idea in the minds of the people. He said: "Listen, there are people of the past who have passed away. You have nothing tangible to remember them by. So what you do is — create an idol, just keep it in your home, and just remember them. When you see it, you remember these people — your forefathers, your grandparents."

Then, slowly and gradually, Shaytaan put into the minds of the people: "This is not just sufficient. You must go and stand next to them. Reminisce about the good times. Remember them." And this slowly and gradually turned into: "Go to these idols and pray to them. Seek protection and God's help through them." And slowly, as time went on, Shaytaan continued to deceive man until people began to worship these idols. This is how idol worship was initially introduced to people.

The Story of the 'Abid — A Warning from the Quran

Not only that, but in the Qur'an, in Surah Al-Hashr, Allah talks about Shaytaan. Based on those ayaat, Ibn Mas'ud (radiyAllahu anhu) mentions a story from Bani Israel that gives us a vivid picture of how Shaytaan deceives man step by step.

There was a person in Bani Israel who was considered a great amir — a worshipper. This person devoted himself from the beginning of the day until he slept at night, constantly engaged in the worship of Allah. He was a very pious person who never left his monastery.

Living across from him was a family of three or four brothers who lived with their sister. They had to travel out of town for the sake of Allah. Before leaving, they said to this abid: "We have our sister who lives with us and there is no one to look after her. We are requesting you that whenever you cook food for yourself, just cook some extra and leave it right in front of your house. That's all we are asking — just give her something to eat every day."

Now watch how Shaytaan deceives this man. Remember — this is an abid, a person who would not leave his monastery, a person dedicated to the worship of Allah from morning until night.

Step one: Shaytaan comes to this person and says: "This is not right. You are putting food right in front of your door — it would be better if you took this food and placed it on her doorstep. It will be difficult for her to come all the way here."

Step two: Then Shaytaan says: "You should go and leave the food inside her room. Don't just leave it at the doorstep."

Step three: Then Shaytaan says: "How unethical is it that you leave food but don't even ask how she is doing? Find out if she needs anything. This is what Islam teaches — this is the right of a human being. Converse with her, talk to her."

One thing led to another. Slowly and gradually, as Shaytaan continued to deceive this man, an emotional relationship was created. And eventually, that relationship led the man and the woman to commit zina. She became pregnant and gave birth to a boy.

Now, when this abid found out that the brothers were returning from their journey, Shaytaan came to him and said: "Listen, you have put yourself in a situation you cannot get out of. You will be disgraced in the community — people will criticize you, they will talk ill about you. The best way to get rid of this is to get rid of the evidence. Kill the mother, kill the child, bury them. And when the brothers ask about their sister, simply say: 'Allah had destined for her to leave this world. Her time came, she passed away, I buried her.'"

And he did exactly as he was told. He killed the woman, killed the child, and buried them. When the brothers returned and asked about their sister, he said what he was told — she passed away, the order of Allah came, I buried her. They believed him and went to sleep.

That night, each one of the brothers saw in his dream that their sister had been murdered and was buried at a particular location along with her baby. When they compared their dreams in the morning — one brother saw it, the second saw the same, the third saw the same. They went and dug up the grave and found exactly what the dream had shown. They brought this abid to the court, and the king passed a verdict that he should be executed for the crime he had committed.

Now — and here is the most chilling part — imagine once again: we are talking about an abid. Right before he was to be executed, Shaytaan came to him and said:

"Listen, I am the one who put you in this situation, and I can simply take you out of it also. There is only one thing you have to do."

He said: "What is it? If you are promising to take me out of this situation, what is that one thing?"

Shaytaan said: "Just make sujood right in front of me, right now. Bow down to me and everything will be taken care of."

He made sujood to Iblis — and then he was executed. A person who was an abid who never left his monastery. Shaytaan led him to a point where he committed kufr right before he passed away.

This is what Shaytaan is. This is what Shaytaan does.

Shaytaan Knows Our Weaknesses

Shaytaan knows each one of us. He knows our weaknesses. We may say that no one knows our weaknesses — but guess what? Shaytaan does know our weakness. He knows how to attack each person.

That is why, in the Qur'an, when Allah talks about staying away from sins, when He told Adam (alayhis salaam), He did not say: "Do not eat from this tree." He said:

"Do not even come close to this tree." Why? Because if you come even close to it, there is a very big possibility that you will eat from it also.

Similarly, when we see in the Qur'an, Allah did not say "don't commit zina." He said:

"Do not even come close to zina." Meaning: anything that can lead you to that step — do not even do that. Do not even go there.

The Domino Effect of Sin

What Shaytaan does is this: he will tell us that we don't have to commit the sin, but he will put us on the path that leads to sin. He encourages us to take just that first step. We take that one step — and then we have fallen into the trap of Shaytaan.

Now one sin leads to another sin. It is a domino effect. When you commit one sin, eventually you will commit the second sin, the third sin. The ball keeps rolling, and this person cannot get out of that cycle until they have committed the major sin.

How does Shaytaan lead a man to kufr? He does not encourage man to commit kufr overnight. The first thing he does is encourage man to commit a minor sin. Excessive minor sins will lead a person to committing major sins. Once a person begins committing major sins, he will commit bid'ah. And bid'ah will lead to dalalah — misguidance — and then to kufr. This is how a person becomes completely misguided. It starts off with a minor sin.

That is why Allah tells us: stay away from sins. If we are ever invited to a sin, we must stay away from it. And insha'Allah, in a coming khutbah, I will dedicate a full discussion to what we can do to protect ourselves from Shaytaan and his tricks. But right now, what we have to understand is: always do what we have been taught in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

That is why we have to always remember — Shaytaan does not have just one trick. He has many tricks in his arsenal. He will use anything and everything to deviate man from the straight path. Anything that can lead us to haram, we must stay away from it. Anything that can lead us to a major sin — even if it seems small — we must stay away from it.

May Allah give us the ability to stay away from sins. May Allah give us the ability to act upon what has been said and heard. Ameen.

Part Two: Our Responsibility as a Community in Times of Trial

Now I would like to address the situation that we have been hearing about since this morning. Things can be difficult, and there are times that make things feel even more difficult. But at a time like this — you know, when something similar happened in 2011, people in our Muslim community responded in different ways. Some brothers and sisters became proactive: they held open houses, they became active in their community. And there were others who went into their cocoon — they closed themselves in their homes, they never left, they isolated themselves entirely from the community.

You know, Muhammad went to become Mo, Abdurrahman went to become Raymond, Khalid went to become Kelly — and so it goes.

But there are two realities here. First, Allah in the Qur'an does remind us that one form of test is Al-Khawf — fearing for our lives, fearing for the safety of our Muslim brothers and sisters, not only in our own community but throughout the entire nation and beyond — in European countries, North America, Canada. Muslims may be under pressure and attack. And keeping in mind what Allah says:

The very first word Allah mentions in this verse of trial is Al-Khawf — fear, fear of safety. This is a time where, as Muslims, we are going to go through some difficulty. This is a time where Allah is going to put our iman to the test. Which people fold, and which people do not fold? Our iman will be tested here.

I want to share with you that during the time of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), when he and the Sahaba would face distress, their level of distress was far greater than ours. They were physically tortured. The stories of the Sahaba and the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) regarding this are well known. But I want to share with you a du'a of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) that each one of us can continue to recite, insha'Allah:

"O Ever-Living, O Sustainer of all, by Your mercy I seek relief."

So that is number one — we should be focused on Allah, ask Allah for iman, ask Allah to protect us and protect everyone in our community. I pray to Allah that He protect every single Muslim — brother, sister, child, young, middle-aged, elderly. May Allah protect our masajid, may Allah protect our Islamic schools, from any kind of bigotry, hatred, and animosity.

Becoming Proactive — Not Going Back Into Our Cocoon

I was not here in America when 9/11 happened — I was in England, studying at that time. My parents, my siblings, they tell me about how tense the situation was in America then, and I can imagine it was even more tense at that moment. But after that, there were people in our community who became very proactive. Before 9/11, Muslims were very relaxed in this country — focused on jobs, money, bank balances, cars. Then 9/11 came, and people became proactive. They began to hold open houses in the masajid, they attended interfaith programs, and they tried to tell people: listen, Islam and violence do not go hand in hand. Islam and evil are completely two opposite things.

But once again, there were people who went into their cocoon. We are facing a similar crossroads right now. There are two things we can do. Either we can go back into our cocoon and say, "I don't want to go outside, I don't want to do anything" — and we have to be careful, Islam is not saying to carelessly put yourself in harm's way. But it also does not mean that we stop being proactive.

Alhamdulillah, to some extent we have been proactive — but because of these kinds of incidents, we need to become even more proactive. I can say this: the last time we had an outreach committee meeting here at the masjid, we had approximately only six men and three to four sisters from the community. That's it. In an outreach committee meeting — where the entire purpose is to figure out how we can conduct more programs, how we can reach out to the people in our community, how we can coordinate with other religious organizations — we had fewer than ten people.

And why do we do this? First, because giving da'wah is our responsibility. And number two, it is our responsibility to let people know what Islam truly is. That is why, with humbleness, I am requesting the community: we need to become more proactive now. Whatever we have been doing, we need to increase the tempo. We need to become more dedicated, more focused. When we have outreach committee meetings here at the masjid, I expect everyone to participate — as many brothers, as many sisters, as many youngsters as possible.

I know there are some people who have said to me: "What is the purpose of holding outreach activities when one incident can ruin all the hard work we have done?" And I understand that. But consider: how many of us, when we don't have a job, simply sit down and say, "The economy is bad, there's nothing I can do"? No — we stand up, we submit our resumes to as many places as we can. You become proactive rather than sitting down and giving up hope.

So that is the same principle here. Please, we need to step up. We are looking for volunteers. Wallahi, we have a shortage of volunteers. We have outreach committee meetings every second and fourth Friday, after Maghrib and after Isha. We are requesting the community to step forward.

Closing Du'a

May Allah give all of us the ability to act on what has been said and heard. And finally, I will conclude by saying: may Allah protect all of us. May Allah protect all the Muslims on the face of this earth from any kind of zulm. May Allah protect our masajid. May Allah protect our Islamic schools. May Allah protect every Muslim — brother, sister, child — from bigotry, hatred, and animosity. Ameen.