Do 3, Don’t do 3 | Jumuah Khutbah | Imam Nadim Bashir | EPIC Masjid

Community Du'a Requests

The founders of the Obot Helpers organization. He's currently very sick. He's suffering from pneumonia complications. We ask Allah to grant him shifa. We ask Allah to grant brother Anwar Khan aafiyah. Next is from brother Rana, another member of our community. He's requesting du'a for his brother who has been suffering from cancer and he has a very important surgery coming up. We ask Allah to make that surgery a successful one. We ask Allah to grant him shifa. And we ask Allah that all those who are sick in our community, may Allah give all of them shifa.

And all those who may have passed away, may Allah have mercy on all of them.

Ameen, Rabbil alameen.

The Comprehensive Ayah of Surah An-Nahl

That you and I, we often hear. This ayah is in Surah An-Nahl, and it is ayah number 90. Now if you open this surah to ayah number 90, and if you look before this ayah, what does Allah talk about? Allah very clearly in this surah talks about His qudrah. Allah talks about His powers. Allah talks about His creation. Allah goes into great details. For example, in the same surah, Allah, He tells us, that where does milk come from, for example. And there is, in this example, in this description has not been given anywhere else in the Qur'an, but here in this surah, where He says:

Allah says, that between the waste and the blood of a cow, Allah provides pure clean milk. If you and I were to slaughter a cow, you will not find gallons of milk inside. Where does that milk come from? It comes from Allah, and it is the qudur of Allah that He creates something like this. Allah after that, He talks about the bee, and what it produces in honey. And He says:

That Allah from the stomach of the bee, He produces honey of different flavors, and different tastes, and they have shifa, it contains cure for people who are sick. So Allah in this surah, He talks about some amazing things when it comes to His creation. But the purpose is what? That we appreciate these things that Allah has created for us. And that is why after Allah mentions all these things with great detail, He says:

There are people who recognize these things, they see these things, they see these blessings of Allah, but yet they continue to reject the ayat of Allah. They reject Allah completely. But when it comes to a Muslim, there are people who don't believe in Allah, and there are people who believe in Allah. As for those who don't believe in Allah, Allah says that these are people who are gonna suffer the punishment of the akhirah. But what about those who believe in Allah? Allah right before this ayah, He says:

That this book, this Qur'an, it provides details for every single thing in our life. And then Allah mentions this ayah that we hear at the conclusion of every single Jummah khutbah, which is:

The Significance of This Comprehensive Verse

Now, a lot of times, it is very common with many of us that when you hear something over and over again, you become sort of desensitized. You basically lose value for something. And so many times we hear this ayah, so many times, but has it ever occurred to us that what is the meaning behind this ayah? What does this ayah actually stand for? First of all is that the reason why this ayah is often recited at the end of the Jummah khutbahs, or the conclusion of the Friday sermons, is because this was a practice that was put in place by Umar ibn Abdul Aziz. Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, he would tell all his people that when you conclude the khutbah, conclude the khutbah on this ayah. Why? Because some sahabah, they say that this is probably the most comprehensive verse in the entire Qur'an.

The Interconnected Nature of Our Faith

Now the question is that why is it a comprehensive verse in the Qur'an? Because see, a lot of times when it comes to you and I, we talk about so many different aspects of our life. But really ultimately, we talk about the most important thing of our life, it comes down to our spirituality. It comes down to our connection with Allah. But everything is interlocked and interconnected with each other. There is no part of our deen that is disconnected from each other. Everything leads to one thing, and one thing leads to the next. For example, imagine having a bunch of dominoes, you push the first one, the rest of them are gonna fall. Likewise, when one is done properly, it affects the next thing. And if it's done properly, it affects, and it brings into existence the third thing. If one is neglected, it leads to something different.

For example, Allah says, for those people who waste their salat, and I talked about this in one of my previous khutbahs also, you find SubhanAllah on social media, lately you find a lot of people who left Islam. But the reason why they left Islam is not because they were devout Muslims. They never used to pray. And that is why Allah says in the Qur'an that one of the greatest punishments of leaving salat is that you become a slave to your desires. It is very common. That's why Allah says:

They wasted their salat, and as a result of wasting their salat, they lost all spirituality, and that spirituality led them to becoming enslaved to their desires. So Allah shows us again and again in the Qur'an that everything has a domino effect. And you cannot jump to number three if you don't do number one. For example, if a person goes to school and says, you know what, I don't want to understand, I don't want to even start learning the alphabet, I don't want to learn what is A, B, C, D, I want to start just reading big books. You understand? It does not work like that. You have to start from the alphabet, A, B, C. Then from there it goes into two different words, on, in, at. It goes to two words, then after that three words, four letter words, five letter words, and then you're talking about more greater words.

Likewise, when it comes to our deen, you cannot jump to step number three, if you're gonna be skipping out step number one and step number two. In fact, one of the greatest problems that today we have in our Muslim community is that we feel like I can pick and choose within my deen. And this is one of the greatest problems that Bani Israel had. They had the Torah, but they picked and choose whatever they wanted, according to their nature. And that is why Allah says in the Qur'an:

Allah is telling us, they do not become like those nations, they just picked and choose whatever they want. You understand? For them deen was like a big buffet table, pick and choose whatever you wanted. That is not how our deen is. Allah says:

You enter into the deen completely. Your loyalties cannot be to different places. Your loyalty cannot be to your shahwat, and to your desires, while saying that my loyalty is to Allah and Rasulullah ﷺ. It doesn't work like that. So when it comes to our deen, we have to understand that everything affects something else.

The First Command: Al-Adl (Justice)

Now, coming to this ayah, Allah says, He mentions three things. He mentions three things that we must do, and three things that we should refrain from. And what we don't realize is that all of them are connected to each other. So the very first thing is that Allah begins this ayah by saying, إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ He starts out by saying that Allah verily commands you. Which means what? First of all is Allah, if He just said that, وَاللَّهُ يَأْمُرُ That Allah orders you to do such and such. Allah could have done that. But the fact that Allah brings the word, إِنَّ, and if you know anything about the Arabic language, the word, إِنَّ يُسْتَعْمَلُ لِلتَّأْكِيدِ It is used for emphasis purposes that indeed, without a doubt, Allah is telling us to do such and such.

So the very first thing that Allah instructs us to do is, الْعَدْلِ. Now you and I, when we hear the word, الْعَدْلِ, the only word that comes to our mind is justice. But it means more than justice. First of all is it does have the meaning of justice. Meaning that we have to have a balance in our life. We have to do justice in our life. We have to do justice with our family members. As a husband, I have to do justice with my wife, with my children. As a mother, I have to do justice with my husband, with my children. As a child, I have to do justice with my parents. So there is justice across the board. And the Prophet ﷺ, he was very clear about this, that when it comes to right and wrong, the right and wrong cannot be compromised for anyone.

That is why if you look at any society, a society that goes far away, that becomes a very corrupt and chaotic society, if you look at the very first thing that this society lost, it was الْعَدْلِ. There was no justice in society. There was absolutely no justice in society. And that leads to corruption, that leads to chaos. So that is why when there was a crime that was committed, one person or some people, they came to Usama ibn Zaid. Usama ibn Zaid was the son of Zaid ibn Haritha, someone who was very beloved to Rasulullah ﷺ. And so he came to Prophet ﷺ because they thought that if Usama went to the Prophet ﷺ and sort of pleaded to the Prophet ﷺ, perhaps the Prophet ﷺ will not apply the hadd, or he will not exercise the punishment upon these people, or upon this individual. When the Prophet ﷺ was approached by Usama ibn Zaid, he got upset. And he says that even if the daughter of Muhammad ﷺ which is Fatima رضي الله عنها, if she were to commit theft, then the hadd will be exercised against her. You understand?

But the problem is that today we live in a society, and forget about the non-Muslim community, even within our own Muslim countries, within our own Muslim families, there is no justice. And that's why we have problems. When Allah, by the way, when He talks about those who are in the state of loss, you know what He says? He says in Surah Al-Baqarah:

Allah is telling us that the definition of those who are in the state of loss is, number one, they broke their promise, their covenant with Allah, that's number one. But number two is, they cut and they severed relationships, meaning that they abused other people, there was no justice in their life. And Allah tells us that as a result of these injustices that take place in our families and our societies, you know what it leads to? وَيُفْسِدُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ It leads to fasad, to chaos and corruption. When you look at people, all the drug abuse and all the things that you see happening today, so many children being born out of wedlock, so many children born and they don't even know who their fathers are, for example.

And this leads to chaos, this leads to drug abuse, and this leads to drinking, and so many other problems. And eventually these kind of people, they are in prison because of the crimes that they eventually commit and so forth. With all this, if you think about it, where did it all start from? There was a lack of justice. So Allah tells us that justice is important. But on top of that, what does عدل also mean? It means to straighten things out. If my relationship with Allah is not straight, I gotta make my relationship with Allah straight. That is where everything starts from. If I don't have any relationship with Allah, if I don't have Allah in my heart, I don't have the love of the Prophet in my heart, then it leads to what? The first thing that Allah says, don't do.

Because Allah says what? He said three things, right?

And the first thing that Allah says, don't do, what did He say? وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ What is فحشاء? It's immorality. When a person has no Allah in his heart, he has no Prophet in his heart, no love of the Prophet, then that is where فحشاء comes into the picture. And that is where these kind of people, they feel like I need to do something and they start committing illicit things, illicit sins, you understand? Sins that are considered as immoral. Whether it is something that they're seeing that is considered as immoral, whether it is something that they're hearing that is considered as immoral, or something that they're saying that is considered as immoral, or things that they're doing with their hands are considered as immoral. Or if you don't know what the word immoral means, it means where you do something where you have absolutely no shame.

And that is why SubhanAllah, what did the Prophet say?

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3484)

When you don't have anything in your heart, then do whatever you want. That is where a person becomes a slave to their desires. And they start doing all these things which we would say that things that are considered as shamelessness. You understand? This is where a person reaches. When they don't have any justice, when their relationship with Allah is not straight, then eventually they lead to a person committing al-fahsha. So that is why the very first thing that we need to do in order for us to become better is that we have to have a relationship with Allah.

The Second Command: Excellence (Ihsan)

The second thing that Allah mentions is, إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ Now again, if you have عدل, if your relationship with Allah is straight, then it's gonna lead you to إحسان. You cannot say that I'm gonna apply إحسان in my life and my relationship with Allah is not really good. You understand? My relationship with Allah is corrupt. You cannot go to إحسان without doing first عدل in your life.

But you know what إحسان is? إحسان is, I know many people they have translated as excellence, but really there is no word in the English language that can really translate what إحسان is. إحسان is going above and beyond and doing things that you're not even required to do. You understand? Going the extra mile. Your daily salawat is something that we all have to do, five times daily prayers. And a person says, you know what, I'm not gonna do anything extra. I'm not gonna do the sunnah before fajr, I'm not gonna do the sunnah before dhuhr, or the sunnah after dhuhr, or the sunnah after maghrib, or after isha, no witr, no nothing. I'm not gonna fast on Mondays and Thursdays, I'm not gonna fast, I'm gonna fast only in Ramadan. I'll do hajj once in my lifetime. That is the basic bare minimum. But a person will never reach the level of إحسان. إحسان is going above and beyond. I don't have to wake up for قيام الليل, but I'm gonna wake up for قيام الليل. I don't have to go and help that guy out, because I have my own things going on. I have my own issues going on. But going above and beyond, and doing things extra that we don't have to do, for the sake of Allah, to please Allah, that is called إحسان.

Now here's what happens. Imagine if a person says that, okay, you know what, my relationship with Allah is straight, so I have al-adl in my life. But I don't wanna go the extra mile. I'm content with what I have, where I am today spiritually. I don't want to excel, I'm okay with where I am. What happens is that, it leads to the second thing. So the second thing that Allah mentions that to do is al-ihsan. The second thing that Allah mentions to stay away from is what? المنكر. It's connected. They both are connected. How so? Because a person who says that, you know what, I'm okay with mediocrity, then they may not be doing things that are considered as immoral and shameless things. But it doesn't mean that sins will not overtake their life. It doesn't mean that sins do not exist in their life. Because when you have mediocrity, there's still a place in your heart that is empty. And that is where sins come and they fill up that space in your heart.

So that is why, in order to keep sins out of our life, and we think that, okay, you know what, it might be one sin or two sins. But it never remains one sin or two sins. Sins lead to sins. It's simple as that. It's simple math. Sins lead to other sins. If you push the sins away, you will stay away from it. But if you just have this nature, that it's only one sin, two sins, no problem. Then guess what? You're gonna fall into this perpetual state of sins, more and more sins. That is why when we talk about our deen, one is to have a relationship with Allah, but one is to go the extra mile. Always try to do extra.

When it comes to Ramadan, okay, when it comes to Ramadan, and by the way, we're not very far from Ramadan again. Ramadan is probably mid-February, we're already in mid-November. You understand? So, you're talking about just three more months and we're into Ramadan. But even when Ramadan comes, how many times we feel like that, you know what? I don't need to read the Qur'an. I'll just hear the Qur'an in Taraweeh. Or I'll just sit down in khatira after khatira after khatira, and I'll just fulfill my spiritual needs. You understand? That is not what Ramadan is for. You understand? Going the extra mile. I'm so tired, but yet I'm gonna sit down and read the Qur'an. You understand? So when you do that, you push yourself to the extra mile, then eventually, your heart is filled with so much nur of iman that sins are not gonna be... the sins are not gonna find a place in the heart of a believer.

The Third Command: Giving to Those Close to You

The next thing, the last thing that Allah mentions in this ayah is, وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ إِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ though it means that to give to those who are your relatives. Okay? Give it to those who are close to you. But what this actually means is that when you give, you have a place in your heart for them. You just don't go to any person and just give them. When you give to someone, it means that they have a place in your heart. Likewise, it means that when the Qur'an says, وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ Give it to those who are close to you. It doesn't only mean your relatives. It means that every single person that you have a relationship with, you have to maintain that relationship. What is the relationship? I mean this is something that you and I we need to ask ourselves. What is my relationship with my wife? What is my relationship with my husband? What is my relationship with my children? What is my relationship with my parents? What is my relationship with our family members? And I know every single family, we have some issues. There is that one shaytan in every single family. Okay, it happens. And you have to deal with it. And the Prophet has taught us how to deal with it and so forth.

But think about this. Why did Allah mention, الْعَدَلِ then إِحْسَانِ then إِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ Because الْعَدَلِ is your inner spirituality. It leads to excellence. It leads to you doing extra. And when you do extra, then you're not gonna be okay with seeing what goes on outside. And that is why on the opposite side, the third thing that Allah says to stay away from is what? البغي البغي means transgression. When a person wants to give, and he wants to stop the transgression, that means that Allah doesn't exist, they're going the extra mile, they're staying away from fahsha, there is no sin, it does not take a strong place in their heart, but then at the same time they're looking at everything that happens outside and they're like, you know what? This ain't right. You understand? All these transgression that's happening against other people. And not only that, but they have an awareness that I need to keep my relationship straight.

Because at the end of the day, you and I, we all are gonna stand before Allah and Allah will ask us, how did you treat your family? How did you treat your family? And guess what? If you can't treat your family well, okay? I know there are a lot, and some of you may disagree with me on this, but hear me out. If you can't treat the people in front of you well, you cannot treat people who are not there in front of you. You understand? We sometimes focus so much on our relationship with our friends. You understand? That our relationship with our family is so terrible. Whereas, having good relationship with our friends is fine. But fixing our family relationships is even more important. You understand? And that is where a lot of times our priorities are not in the right place. So that is why this all has a... One has an effect on the other.

The Chain Effect of Good Deeds

Spirituality leads to more, and then you're talking about a bigger... On a bigger level, you're affecting the entire community, you're affecting the entire society, and now you have a productive society. A productive society can only start when you have إحسان. إحسان can only come when you have عدل in your life. It's a chain. It's a chain. One affects the other.

Now if a person says, I'm gonna do what's... I'm gonna help the masjid out, I'm gonna do what's good in the community, in the society, but I have no relationship with Allah. I have no إحسان in my life. I have no salat in my life. Then guess what? That what you're doing good also, after a while, is gonna go away. It's gonna disappear. Why? Because your foundation, your عدل, your relationship with Allah has to be straight. That is not in its place.

The Three Things We Must Do

So that is why three things that we must do in our life. Number one is Al-Adl, our spirituality. Number two is Al-Ihsan. You grow in that spirituality. Do not be content with mediocrity. Do not be content with where you are. Grow every single day. Your akhlaq is not there where it needs to be. Grow in your akhlaq. In your knowledge, you grow in your knowledge. In your iman, you grow in your iman. In terms of your relationship with the Qur'an, you grow every single day. In terms of your love for the Prophet, you grow every single day. That is إحسان. And then after that, you fulfill the rights of everyone around you.

And not only that, but then Allah says, stay away from three things. If we do these three things, automatically we'll stay away from those three things. This is how easy it is. A person will eventually stay away from doing things are considered as shameful things. Then after that, Allah will protect us from falling into sin, general sin. And eventually Allah will also protect us from transgressing the limits of Allah, especially when it comes to the rights of other people.

And so that is why this ayah really portrays for us the path from spirituality to the community. This is what Allah mentions. And so at the end, what did Allah say?

This is a reminder for all of us. And we have to remind ourselves of this ayah over and over again. And we ask ourselves, we're not in a position, often we are so quick in judging others that they don't do this and they don't do that. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror first. You understand? We have to look at ourselves. And when I look at myself, I know that I have flaws. And each one of us, we have flaws in our life. And the greatest problem is that when we know we have flaws, and we're trying to ignore the flaws, but we're focused on other people's flaws, this is where we have a problem in our community and our society.

May Allah make us from amongst those who will apply عدل (justice) in their life, who will apply إحسان (excellence) in their life, who will apply the rights and the ability to fulfill other people's rights. And may Allah make us from amongst those who will stay from الفحشاء (indecency), who will stay from المنكر (evil), and who will stay from transgressing the limits of Allah and transgressing the rights of other people.

Stand for prayer.