They Hate, We Elevate | Jumuah Khutbah | Imam Nadim Bashir | EPIC Masjid

Opening Du'a

I ask Allah that just as he has gathered us here today on this day of Jummah, may Allah gather us along with our families in جَنَّةِ الفِرْدَوْسِ الأَعْلَى in the companionship of Rasulullah ﷺ and his Sahaba. Ameen Ya Rabbil Alameen.

The Recurring Challenges

Brothers and sisters, it is so common that every four years, with every new administration that comes into the White House, that administration poses a certain type of challenges for the Muslim community. We saw, going back eight years, when people were detained at airports. Why? Because simply of their faith, because simply of the countries that they were coming from. And before that, there were claims being made that ID cards are gonna be given to certain people simply based on their religious affiliation.

And then after those four years, came another four years. While we as Muslims, we thought, that now this administration is about inclusivity, it is not about exclusivity. Then we saw the rise, and the pushing, and the promotion, and this enforcement upon everyone about accepting ideologies such as the LGBTQ movement and so forth. Whether it was a rise of feminism and so many other ideologies and movements in societies, that they were making their ways and they were becoming rampant.

As if that was not enough, we then found and we saw ourselves in a difficult position where we began to see the events unfold in Gaza. This all happened in the last administration. And then now we have the current administration. And we see that now our civil liberties, that you and I, we all thought that we had over here, rights that this country would boast and beat their chest about for so many centuries, that we are always about human rights. A country that would go to other countries around the world, telling other people about and teaching other people about human rights. And we see this idea of human rights being slaughtered in Gaza.

Then not only that, a country that boasted about themselves, that we provide freedom of speech. Now we see very openly with our own eyes that this country that would boast about freedom of speech, now those liberties and those rights are also being taken away.

The Return of Islamophobia

Brothers and sisters, we also are now finding ourselves in a situation where you and I, we thought that for those of us sitting over here, and you were alive, and you were thinking, and you were observant of the society, of the community after 9-11 and the year 2001. And we saw ourselves and where we were as a Muslim community, where Islamophobia was rampant, ignorance was rampant. And not only that, but when you have ignorance, and then politicians are infusing fear into that ignorance, and merging fear with ignorance, it was developing hate into the minds, and in the nature, and in the attitude of normal Americans.

People who had no clue, they were generating hate, they hated Islam everywhere. With so many of us, so many Muslims had to conceal their faith. So many women took off their hijab. So many men, they had Muslim names, they were changing those names. Muhammad became Mo, Khalid became Kelly, and the list goes on and on.

And then so many years went by, and you and I, we thought that now Islamophobia has come to an end. People have a good understanding about Islam, but now this administration, and the governor of Texas shows and brings out the ugliness in everyone once again. He does not understand that his tweets have an impact. A leader brings people together, but this leader is in the business of dividing people. And this is exactly what he has done.

Current Attacks on Muslims

And we see the situations unfolding in the last few weeks. And it's not only about our masjid, it's about Muslims in general. Just yesterday we found out that three Afghani girls in Houston were beaten. They were beaten that they were hospitalized. Why? Simply because they were wearing hijab. Simply because they were Muslim women, they were Muslim young girls, and they were beaten by 20 other students. May Allah help those families, and may Allah give those young girls strength, and may Allah make those three girls firm.

As if that's not enough, we are hearing stories every single day. On social media, people, the way they are sending emails, emails of hate, there are threats that are taking place on a daily basis.

Lessons from the Seerah

So question is, to my Muslim brothers and sisters over here, to my community members, that in light of all this, what do we learn from this, and what can we find in the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ?

First of all is, if you and I are thinking, and you and I are under this impression, that we are living in hostile times, we are living in times where there is so much hostility in the atmosphere, then remember that the Prophet ﷺ, he also went through these kind of times. It was not as if Makkah was a place where everyone could just worship Allah. But there was times where in the beginning till the Islam of Umar ibn Khattab and Hamza, the Muslims could not pray in public. They had to hide away, they had to pray somewhere else, even Rasulullah ﷺ, when he would conduct his halaqat, he would gather at the house of Al-Arqam. He would gather there to conduct his halaqat. But the point is brothers and sisters, that he also faced much hostility.

Examples of Hostility Against the Prophet ﷺ

Hostility to the extent that there are so many examples. The Prophet ﷺ is praying, he's doing his own thing. But they know, the Quraysh knew, that his salah has such an impact, that they were trying to find ways to prevent Rasulullah ﷺ from praying in the public. So when the Prophet ﷺ is now praying, they came and they put the intestines of the camel on the Prophet ﷺ, that the Prophet ﷺ was unable to get up until his daughter Fatima, she came and she removed those intestines. And then the Prophet ﷺ was able to get up.

False Claims and Propaganda

Whether it is the verbal attacks, the claims that they were making. Just like today, so many Islamophobes, wallahi, they are so oblivious, wallahi, they are so ignorant. They have absolutely no clue about our deen. They believe in everything that they are being told. It is daytime outside, but these kind of people, if you told them that it is night outside, and the governor told them it is night outside, they will believe that too. This is how ignorant they are.

Just like that in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, they were ignorant people like that. People who are coming inside Makkah, people coming inside Makkah, they were being told, go everywhere you want. This man, Muhammad ﷺ, just stay away from him. He is a lunatic, he is a majnun, he is a crazy man, he is a mad man. He has no idea who he is.

The Story of Dhimad al-Azdi

There was one person by the name of Dhimad al-Azdi. Dhimad al-Azdi came inside Makkah, he was told, stay away from this man. He is a lunatic, he is a crazy man, نعوذ بالله. But he, on the flip side, what he did not disclose to the Quraysh, was that his occupation, his profession, was that he was a psychologist.

So he went to the Prophet ﷺ and he says, that I have been told that you are a crazy person. So can you please say something to me? Talk to me. The Prophet ﷺ said, I will say something to you. And he began to recite the khutbatul haja.

From beginning all the way to the end, Dhimad al-Azdi is blown away. He is left in a state of shock, that such eloquent words from a man, that they claim that he is crazy. And then he says that, you know what, perhaps he probably just said this by fluke. You know, it was probably just by chance. Repeat the same exact thing as you said. And again the Prophet ﷺ said:

All the way to the end. And then that is when he says, that are you truly crazy as they say? He says, no, I'm not crazy. But just because I preach لا إله إلا الله, this is why they call me crazy. And at that time Dhimad al-Azdi, he accepted Islam on the hands of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Concept of Taqiyyah - A False Narrative

But the point is brothers and sisters, that just like today there are so many people who are making false claims about our deen, making up things in our deen, taqiyyah. Oh my God, I have never studied this concept. Seven years I studied in Islamic school, Islamic seminary, I did not hear this word until I came back to America. And now just yesterday night we're sitting down with some people from different churches. And the first thing, one of the first questions they had is, what is taqiyyah?

And so what they're doing is, that not only are they allowing, they're not even allowing us to defend ourselves. They are creating the narrative about what Islam is. And when a Muslim wants to come forward and say that this is what my deen is, they have a sinister plan in place, that they are saying that now you cannot even believe a Muslim, because he is lying. Whereas our hadith has said, our Prophet ﷺ has taught us on numerous occasions, that it is haram to lie. It is forbidden to lie. It is forbidden to deceive others. But yet, because the idea is, you cannot negate a negative. So when a Muslim even wants to defend themselves, now they are trying to even shut that door, brothers and sisters.

This is the same thing that happened in the time of the Prophet ﷺ. Whether it was against him, whether it was against the children, whether it was against the women. Just like we find that Sumayyah, the very first woman who lost her life for the cause of Islam, that not only was she killed by Abu Jahl, but she was killed in the most inhumane way possible.

Media and Misinformation

When you look at all these stories of the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ, just like today, there's Fox News, and so many other news outlets, they are preaching hate about Islam. They had their own Fox News at that time too. They were called Abu Jahl, they were called Abu Lahab, they were called all these other people, these leaders of the Quraysh. This is who they were at that time, spreading hate about Islam, spreading misinformation about Islam.

The Prophet's Response to Adversity

But what did the Prophet ﷺ do during these times? When he was spied upon, when he was boycotted, economically boycotted, socially boycotted, not for one year, but three years, three long years. Not once did Rasulullah ﷺ, did he waver in his faith. Not once did the Prophet ﷺ say, Ya Allah, why are you putting me through this? Not once did he say, that why are we still going through this?

I know many of us are saying, that again the same thing is as if we have not moved forward. The same Islamophobia, the same rhetoric, we thought we were past all that. Rasulullah ﷺ could have said the same thing, because if you say the entire life of the Prophet ﷺ, from the time that he took his da'wah public, all the way to the very end of his life, there was just challenges and ups and downs.

You will see people coming into the fold of deen, in multi folds, in many folds. This happened not at the early days of Makkah, or the early days of Madinah, but this happened after many sacrifices. Whether it was dealing with the Quraysh in Makkah, or whether it was dealing with the munafiqoon, or the Jewish community in Madinah. But the Prophet ﷺ had to deal with ups and downs. How many family members did he lose? How many sahaba did he lose? He lost so many. But this help of Allah came at the very end. It came much later on.

What We Must Do

And once again, what we learn from all these brothers and sisters is that there are few things that you and I, we need to do during these times. Number one is, we need to educate ourselves about our deen. And then we need to educate others about our deen. And that means that you do whatever you can to do in your own capacity. If you are a doctor, you become a da'i to Islam. You don't have to be a shaykh. You don't have to be an imam to give da'wah to Islam.

Being Representatives of Islam

You don't have to be a shaykh or an imam to be a representation of Islam and Muslims. You are a representation of Islam and Muslims. Whether you are a student at the university, whether you are a doctor in the medical field, whether you're an engineer, or you're an IT worker, wherever you may be, you are a representation of Islam. And if you know what your deen is, then you can preach it to others.

I am sure, I'm 100% confident, that while there are so many people who might be sympathetic to Islam and Muslims, but they have questions in their mind. Wallahi, they have questions in their mind, that if they could, they would ask those kind of questions, not to object, simply to learn. Just simply to learn.

So that is why the very first thing that you and I, we need to do is, we need to educate ourselves about our deen. And if I don't know enough, then I will take your number, I will make sure that you have your answers to your questions. Or you bring someone to work. This is something that would happen many times, where there were so many Muslims working in one company, in one place. And there were so many other people who had questions about Islam. And they were bringing a scholar or a shaykh and someone to answer all those kind of questions. Those are things that are very possible. But the most important thing is, making sure that they are educated, and you don't leave them in the state of ignorance.

When They Hate, We Elevate

Number two that is extremely important during these times is, that while they hate, while they may show their hate, these are the times that we elevate. These are the times that we come closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. These are not the times that we build fear in our hearts, and we back away from our deen. But these are times that we remain grounded.

And wallahi, this is not only within our religion. In every religion, they preach the same thing. By the way, if you don't know this, in every other religion, when there is religious persecution that takes place, when there is religious hate that takes place, they teach their own congregation to become firm in their own religion. These are religions that don't believe in Allah. We on the other hand, we believe in the oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He is Al-Hafidh. He is the ultimate protector at the end of the day. He is Al-Hakim. Why are we going through this? It is only in the hikmah, in the wisdom of Allah jalla wa ala.

So that is why we are in a time that we are not supposed to be afraid, but rather we come closer to Allah. As Ibn Qayyim says, that when any challenge comes in life, either two things are gonna happen. Either a person is gonna come closer to Allah, or a person is gonna distance themselves from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If a person comes closer to Allah the Almighty, then this shows that that challenge, that ibtila, that difficulty was a rahma from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And if that challenge, that ibtila, takes you away from Allah, then that ibtila and challenge was a punishment from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So let these times be a moment for us that we reconnect with Allah azza wa jal. Let's wake up at night and pray salat. Let's read our du'as. Let's do everything that we can because ultimately the victory comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They have plans, but Allah is the greatest planner of all.

Allah's plans is what happens. They can make all their plans, but Allah's plans is what happens. If we connect with Allah, then Allah will take care of us. But in times like these, if we back away, then I ask myself and I ask all of you, and everyone watching this video, that if we in these kind of times, we back away, then who are we gonna turn to in these kind of times? We have no one.

There's only one that we come close to, and that is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that means that we will not be afraid.

Showing Courage in Difficult Times

Which brings me to point number three, is that in times like these, we need to show courage. We need to show that we are strong. Wallahi, you think that, especially for the brothers, you think you can go outside, and probably people may be able to tell, you are a Muslim or may not be a Muslim. But think about our sisters, may Allah protect our sisters, and protect our brothers, and our children. But think about our sisters, they have to go outside with their hijab. And when they go out with hijab, immediately people will know that they are a Muslim, and they may come under attack and so forth.

So that is why brothers and sisters, in times like these, we have to remain courageous. We have to remain strong. No matter what, I'm gonna stick to my deen. Because ultimately, the reward will come from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The nusrah will come from Allah. And that is where, this is what is called iman. This is what is called iman. Iman means to have faith in Allah, and that you believe in Allah. That no matter what, I will always put my trust in Allah azza wa jal.

Three Essential Du'as for These Times

And the last thing is, which is very important. As I said, this is something part of elevating our faith, is that there are three du'as. I'll finish on this inshallah. There are three du'as that I'm gonna recommend everyone here today to recite on a daily basis. See as a community, we all, some of us might feel the struggle, some of us may not feel the struggle. But as a community, if all of us take it upon ourselves, don't leave it for others. We do this individually.

Of course, it goes without saying, we all should be praying our five times daily salat. There's no question about that. If we want the help of Allah, we have to be praying our five times daily prayers. There is no question about that. But in addition to that, three du'as I'm gonna leave you with today. Three du'as, I read this at least on a bare minimum. There is no hadith. If you're gonna come to me after this khutbah and say, show me a hadith that I have to recite this this many times a day. There is no hadith. I'm just saying just recite this. Just recite this a hundred times every day if you can. If you cannot do a hundred times, do it fifty times. But nonetheless, these du'as are very powerful.

First Du'a: Hasbunallahu wa Ni'mal Wakeel

Make it a point that every single day, try to recite this du'a as many times. Why? Because it is mentioned that the munafiqoon, they came, they tried to instill fear in the hearts of these Muslims. What did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say?

Munafiqoon are trying to come and put fear in the hearts of the Muslims that they are gathering against you. At that time they were gathering against the Muslims. Today they're gathering against us in city halls. Doesn't matter. Instead of becoming afraid that people are gathering, they were not afraid. Only their iman increased. And what did they say? حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ - Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of our affairs. Yes, we might say, we have an attorney now, but the best person to represent us, the best person who will look after our affairs, is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ

Second Du'a: The Du'a of Yunus (AS)

Why am I saying this? Because Allah says in the Qur'an:

Allah, not only did He save Yunus alayhi salaam, but He says, وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُنجِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ - Allah will save the believers. This is Allah saying in the Qur'an. So, لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ There's also a hadith of Prophet ﷺ that this is the best du'a in the state of distress.

Third Practice: Sending Salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ

And the third thing, I'm going to implore upon all of you to read on a daily basis or do is send your peace and blessings upon Rasulullah ﷺ as many times as you can.

Even if you cannot do the whole thing, like كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَعَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ No, but اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ at least at the bare minimum and try to do this as many times as you can every single day. Why? Because Rasulullah ﷺ, he said to Ubayy ibn Ka'b radiyallahu anhu that the more you send your peace and blessings upon me, the more you send salawat and salaam upon me. Meaning Rasulullah ﷺ, Allah will forgive your sins and Allah will remove the worries from your heart.

Summary and Conclusion

These are three things at the bare minimum. Of course, there are many other things that you can recite if you want. But if you do not know what to recite in these kind of difficult times when we're coming under so much pressure and when we are becoming victims of all this hate online and so forth, these are three du'as that we can recite. Once again:

Number one: حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ

Number two: لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

And number three: send as many peace and blessings as you can upon Rasulullah ﷺ.

May Allah protect us. May Allah grant understanding to the people who are showing us hate. We ask Allah to protect our brothers, our sisters, our children, our seniors. May Allah protect our masajid. May Allah protect our Islamic institutions. And we ask Allah that any organization that is doing good work, may Allah regardless if they are Muslim or they may not be Muslim, may Allah protect all of them. Ameen ya Rabbil alameen.