Divine Guidance For Oppressed Minorities From Surah Yunus

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Lessons for an Oppressed Minority from Surah Yunus

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And to those who are righteous, and there is no aggression except against the wrongdoers.

And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and there is no partner for Him, the Lord of the worlds. And I bear witness that our Master, our Prophet, our Beloved, Muhammad is His servant and Messenger — the one who was sent as a mercy to the worlds.

May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him and upon his family and his companions — the purest of the purest — and whoever follows them with goodness, calls for their call, upholds their Sunnah, and is guided to the right path.

Divine Guidance for Every Condition

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has provided guidance for us — for all different times and all different conditions. There are guidelines for us: for children, at the time of marriage, as we are growing older, when we have our own children. There are guidelines with respect to our dealings, our social life, our etiquette, worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, our beliefs, our practices — every element of our life. There are different guidelines given by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And there are also stories in the Quran and lessons where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us guidance for how an Ummah that is being oppressed — who is a minority, who is going through very challenging times — how they should respond to these crises.

One such passage that I would like to share with all of us today is in Surah Yunus — Surah number 10 — beginning from ayah number 83.

Setting the Stage: The Few Who Believed in Musa

First, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sets the stage — what was the condition during that time. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that when Musa alayhi salam came with his message, initially no one believed in what he was bringing, what he was preaching, what he was inviting to — the majority — except for a few children and youth from the progeny of Musa alayhi salam. There were only a few young people who accepted his message.

This was despite the fact that they were very much threatened by Firaun — very much afraid of being caught by Firaun, being punished by him, that he may torture them, that he may capture them. This was the condition: they were afraid. And this fear that they had, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, it was not a paranoia — it was not without cause. Firaun truly had been given authority by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, had been given strength, had been given domination, and he was supreme in the land.

He was Aali — meaning he was in charge. But after being in charge, you could be good or you could behave in an oppressive manner — it is still a neutral description. Like the Khulafa Rashidun, like Sulayman alayhi salam and Dawood alayhi salam — before them, they were also Aali in the land. But what was Firaun's condition? He did not use this supreme power that he was given in righteous manners or righteous causes. Rather, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

He was surely crossing all the limits.

The Pattern of Youth Embracing the Truth

This is setting the stage: there are only a few believers. فَمَا آمَنَ لِمُوسَىٰ إِلَّا ذُرِّيَّةٌ — nobody is believing in Musa alayhi salam in the beginning, except for a few people. And this is the tartib — the pattern — that we see with the other Anbiya as well: when they begin their da'wah, the majority of the people are rejecting it. There are always young individuals selected by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who are ready to take up the call.

Even with respect to Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — we find that the Ashra Mubashara: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, and then Talha, Zubair, Abdulrahman ibn Awf, Sa'id ibn Zayd, and our Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas رضي الله عنهم أجمعين — they were all young. Young Sahaba. Whereas the leaders — Utbah, Shaybah, Abu Jahl, Walid ibn al-Mughirah — all of them were among the elders of the Quraysh.

When Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam migrated to Madinah, one of the secrets behind the success and spread of Islam in Madinah between the Aws and the Khazraj is that they had been having this long blood feud and battle — not only one battle but a whole campaign against one another before the hijrah of Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So the majority of their leadership on both sides had been killed off, and they had finally decided to make a truce and select Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul to be the king and united king of Madinah. They had set the coronation date and ordered a crown from Yemen, custom designed to crown him as the king of Madinah.

But right before he was going to become king, around that same time, Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was given the command to perform hijrah. So when Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came to Madinah, he lost all of his dreams of becoming its king. And that was the foundation — that seed of hypocrisy in his heart. He became a different type of leader. He became the Ra'eesul Munafiqeen — the leader of the hypocrites.

So here, young people are beginning to believe in Musa alayhi salam. But the older individuals who are entrenched in their positions do not like the change in the status quo — the change in their power, the change in their authority. The younger people are more idealistic; they are ready to bring change. They have that himmah — that drive. Provided they have proper guidance, this can be harnessed in a productive manner. And — naʿudhubillah — if it is used in the wrong direction, like this Firaun crossing the limits, then they use the young people for their own objectives to further create corruption on the earth.

So this is the first ayah. مِن فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَئِهِمْ — it was not only Firaun; he also had his leaders, the members of his court. They were afraid of Firaun and his leaders. And this has always been the case where the enemies of Islam gather their allies together — they make coalitions — they are not able to do anything on their own.

Musa's Command: Tawakkul upon Allah

Then, what happened? Musa alayhi salam says in the next ayah — ayah 84 from Surah Yunus:

Musa alayhi salam said: "O my people" — this is a conditional statement — إِن كُنتُمْ آمَنتُم بِاللَّهِ — "If you truly profess that you are a believer in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala." He is saying: I understand that you are a minority, Firaun is in charge, and he is oppressing us on all sides. It is not some minor level of oppression that is tolerable — rather, as we all know, he is enslaving your daughters and fulfilling his desires with them, and he is killing off all your male children. Musa alayhi salam himself was a survivor of that. So it was terrible oppression.

Now what he says is: إِن كُنتُمْ آمَنتُم بِاللَّهِ فَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلُوا — "If you truly believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then it is only upon Him you should rely." إِن كُنتُم مُّسْلِمِينَ — "If you are truly a Muslim."

SubhanAllah. Over here, Musa alayhi salam is not giving an excuse — he is not saying the tyranny is so bad, the zulm is so bad, the oppression is so bad that you can just give up. You can give up your deen. You can become something else. You can profess something else. Rather, he is calling upon them: if you profess to be a mu'min and a Muslim, then you need to rely on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

We have to be careful about this. This reliance on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala means that our heart should always be focused on the dhat and sifat of Allah — the being of Allah, how powerful He is, and what His attributes are. But by no means does this indicate that we do not employ strategy or means. The means we have to use — but Allah has to remain supreme in our hearts.

The Response of the Believers and Their Du'a

So before Musa alayhi salam goes to the strategies — before he goes to how to plan the resistance against Firaun and this domination of the oppressors — he first addresses the condition of their hearts. He says: look, you are professing to be a Muslim and a mu'min, but you need to prove it by not fearing Firaun and his armies, but rather trusting in and relying on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Then their response — in the next ayah. What did they say?

This is when they were in a very difficult time. We notice their condition — because typically we may be used to learning from the different ayahs and stories of Banu Israel that they were giving a hard time to Musa alayhi salam. They kept asking for different favors and all kinds of things. In fact, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses them as an example and says:

"O you who believe, do not become like those who gave a lot of pain and trouble to Musa alayhi salam."

Banu Israel gave him a lot of trouble. They had mann and salwa coming and they said, "No, we don't want this — we don't like this bird meat and this dessert that comes in the night on the leaves." They gave him a lot of trouble. But that was when they were free from the tyranny of Pharaoh, after they had become independent — when Pharaoh and his army were drowned. That's when they started giving a lot of trouble.

Because — as I was also reading over these ayat and preparing — it struck me: when Musa alayhi salam is talking to Banu Israel here, instead of them coming up with excuses, it is a little different. Why? Because they are being oppressed. And when a person is in a difficult condition, it is easier for him to remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala:

When a human being is afflicted by pain and anxiety and loss and suffering, he starts calling out يَا اللَّهُ يَا اللَّهُ — on one side or the other as he's turning around in the hospital bed, in the ICU, in a lot of pain. But then when Allah ta'ala removes his affliction from him, and now he has recovered, and it is a beautiful day and he is out enjoying the weather in the park with his family — Allah ta'ala says this is how those who cross the limits behave.

In any case, over here we see that they said فَقَالُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا — they replied right away: عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا. They didn't just say تَوَكَّلْنَا عَلَى اللَّهِ — they said عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا, emphasizing: "It is only upon Allah that we put our reliance."

The Two-Part Du'a of the Oppressed Believers

Then they made this du'a — which is a wazifah for us as well. This is the du'a found in ayahs 85 and 86 of Surah Yunus, and it has two parts:

We should look up this du'a, memorize it, contemplate over it, and not just recite it — but beg Allah, invoke Allah ta'ala with these words that He has taught us in the Quran. (Quran 10:85–86)

رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِّلْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ — "O our Rabb, O Allah, do not make us a fitna for the qawm al-zalimeen."

The biggest problem we would imagine is that they are being oppressed and they need salvation and najat from this oppression — this oppressive ruler who is killing their children and enslaving their daughters. So what we realize is that they mention وَنَجِّنَا بِرَحْمَتِكَ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ as the second part. They didn't start off with that. They are concerned about something higher — they have a higher purpose in their du'a.

What does it mean — "do not make us a fitna for the qawm al-zalimeen"? There are different meanings of this, but one very beautiful meaning — subhanAllah — is that this is a du'a where, despite the fact that they are on the receiving end of so much oppression and dhulm, they are literally well-wishers for the oppressors. They want guidance for the oppressors. They are saying to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala: fitna is a test — do not make us a test for the zalimeen in such a manner that, if they continue to oppress us and they are not stopped, not checked by You, and You allow them and give them this respite — then the fact that we are under their control, under their domination — this will become a test for them.

They will not be getting any hint from You, any direction from You, any indication that they are on batil — falsehood — and that we are on haq. Rather they will continue in this state of delusion, drunk with their power, feeling that everything is fine — "these people we are oppressing must be on falsehood because no one is coming to their help." So the fact that we are continually getting oppressed and their hands are not being stopped — this is becoming a fitna for them and they are continuing in their intoxication. So: "O Allah, do not make us a fitna for them — rather, O Allah, relieve us from this oppression that we are suffering from, so that hopefully they wake up and realize: 'We are actually on falsehood and these people are on truth.' And if they wake up, if they make tawbah and come back to You, then no one could be happier than us."

SubhanAllah. There are many such examples in the Quran where the oppressed people were actually making du'a for the hidayah of the oppressors. For example, in Surah Yasin, when Habib Najjar — the Siddiq of that time — was pelted to death, and as he is dying, what is his dying wish? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala painted that scene very beautifully — without going into the graphic description of his painful torment — saying that the command was given to him: enter Jannah. His soul enters Jannah — that is his shahada. And as he is dying, he is wishing: "Oh, I wish my people" — those who had just stoned him — "I wish they would know and realize how Allah has forgiven me and made me among the honored ones."

And this is the same tradition that goes all the way to our beloved master, our Habibul Mustafa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: as he is pelted in Ta'if, he is making du'a for their guidance.

"Do not make us a test for the zalimeen — that they continue to oppress us and are not caught by You and they think they are on truth and we are on falsehood." And then number two is the most important thing at hand: "Save us, O Allah — with Your mercy, from the kafirin." It is not because we deserve it, but rather بِرَحْمَتِكَ — out of Your mercy.

The Strategy: Preserving Worship in the Home

And I conclude with the last ayah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving a strategy to the believers — how they are going to survive in these most difficult times:

"We sent the revelation to Musa alayhi salam and his brother" — his brother being Harun alayhi salam — "that settle your people in safe houses, and face the direction of your homes towards the Qibla, or make them places of worship, and establish the salah in your homes, and give the glad tidings to the believers."

SubhanAllah — meaning, when the situation became so bad that public worship was banned. And this is not the case here — we are here performing Salatul Jumu'ah, we have freedom of religion to some extent, alhamdulillah. In this country, we are all praying our Jumu'ah right now. May Allah ta'ala protect us that this ayah becomes applicable to us. But if the time comes that you are not even allowed to perform salah — that it is clamped down by the government — then the command is: start performing the salah in your own homes. But do not give up salah. Let each home become a fortress to protect and preserve the deen within yourselves, within your family, within your loved ones.

And this is not something which is just theoretical or paranoia or fear. This has happened many times in the past, as we see in this ayah. And it has happened very recently as well, in this century — whether it was the time of communism when they entered Muslim lands. May Allah ta'ala help our Uyghur brothers in western China — in Xinjiang — who are also going through that same suffering till today.

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: continue to establish the ibadah in your homes. وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ — "And give the glad tidings to the believers." This is really at the lowest point — they cannot even pray publicly — but Allah ta'ala is saying: give the good news to the mu'mineen, because they are doing sabr and they have a great gift. They have the ma'iyyah of Allah — Allah is with them. As Allah mentions in another ayah, they have the ma'iyyah of Allah. The best ending is always for those who adopt taqwa and maintain taqwa.

Conclusion and Du'a

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us many more lessons from these ayahs. We are out of time, but the take-home message — let us not forget this beautiful du'a:

And we make du'a for our brothers and sisters throughout the world who are suffering. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect us from similar suffering and tests — because we are very weak and will not be able to bear that. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant peace and stability to the Muslim world and to the non-Muslim world — to all of humanity. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bring peace and stability across the world.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

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Du'a Requests

There are some requests for du'as: Umar Mahboob, 24 years old, has stage 4 lung cancer — please make du'a for shifa. A brother has a brain tumor surgery — please make du'a for shifa. Brother Hussain lost his nephew in a car accident — please make du'a. And du'a for the entire Muslim Ummah.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La ilaha illallah.