Iman, Islam, and Knowledge: Allah's Foremost Blessings

The Greatest Blessings: Iman, Islam, and Knowledge

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. We praise Him, and we pray, and we salute His noble Messenger. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our actions.

Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whom He misguides, none can guide him. And we bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And we bear witness that our Master, our Beloved, is Muhammad, His servant and Messenger.

As for the beloved brothers and sisters, youngsters and elders, esteemed and honorable guests of the House of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has mentioned in a beautiful hadith, he has said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2346)

That individual who wakes up and he is healthy — مُعَافًا فِي جَسَدِهِ — there isn't anything seemingly wrong with his body, and all of his belongings are intact. No one has stolen anything, there are no issues or real major concerns of safety. And that individual has enough food to last him for the day — then the blessings which he has been blessed with from the side of Allah, just through those few things, is equivalent to having received the entire earth and whatever it contains: فَكَأَنَّمَا حِيزَتْ لَهُ الدُّنْيَا.

Now, when a person really reflects and ponders about all the different bounties of Allah, it's impossible to ever enumerate them, to count them. In fact, one of the ways that a person can come closer to Allah — they can feel this relationship with Allah — is through the way of gratitude and appreciation. Just by pondering over all the different blessings: I'm able to take breath after breath, I'm healthy today, my eyes are healthy, I can see, I can focus on closer images, further images, I have enough saliva in my mouth with which my tongue can move freely, so on and so forth. When a person thinks about that, and they see others around them who may be going through difficulty, then it's a very easy way to attain the closeness of Allah.

If you were to truly start and try to do that, Allah says you'll come up with a never-ending list. You'll never be able to fully encompass all of the different bounties that Allah has blessed you with.

But if you were to take a moment and think — of all of these blessings, what is the absolute greatest possible blessing that a person could be blessed with? Well, the answer to that is Iman and Islam. Islam, recognizing Allah as our sole God, creator, sustainer, so on and so forth. And Rasulullah ﷺ as His messenger, and believing in the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ — this is the greatest blessing ever. To be a mu'min, to be a Muslim, there is no blessing greater than that.

The reality of this, we will only see in the hereafter. When the eyes of this world close, and the eyes of the next open up, then we will realize how blessed we actually were to be amongst the Muslims. May Allah grant us all noble, enviable deaths — when the time is right, when Allah is extremely pleased with us, and when we are longing to meet Him. Ameen.

The Second Greatest Blessing: Knowledge (Ilm)

If we were to take it further and go to number two — what is the second greatest blessing? Well, we can take lesson from Imam Bukhari rahimahullah, one of the greatest muhaddithun of the past. He wrote the famous Sahih al-Bukhari. The very first chapter that he starts his book off with is the greatest blessing of Islam — it is كَيْفَ كَانَ بَدْءُ الْوَحْيِ — talking about how wahi first started. It's talking about the concept of Rasulullah ﷺ and this great blessing that the ummah was given.

The very next chapter that he starts off with is the second greatest blessing, and that is Kitab al-'Ilm, the chapter of knowledge. Why? Because when we recognize that there is no one worthy of worship besides Allah, when we recognize that Rasulullah ﷺ is the one that was sent to guide mankind and take them out of multiple layers of darkness and bring them into the light — when we see and witness all the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ — then after being acquainted with that, a person realizes truly how to live, and they realize how to obey that Creator, that they were created to recognize His greatness.

The sole purpose of our creation — your creation, my creation, every single human being till the end of time — Allah tells us our purpose in the Qur'an, in Surah al-Dhariyat:

The sole purpose for which I have created mankind is so that they may worship Me. How is a person supposed to worship Allah without knowledge about how to worship Allah? It is absolutely impossible.

So when a person firmly believes from the bottom of his heart that there is no one worthy of worship besides Allah, and they recognize Rasulullah ﷺ as His messenger, then the very next step is to learn what Rasulullah ﷺ has brought mankind, and learn how to obey that Creator. Without learning how to obey that Creator, you are not fulfilling your purpose of creation.

There are so many different ayah that talk about the success of a Muslim, of a mu'min. And you'll see all of those ayah — they talk about, number one, first and foremost, the only individuals who will be successful are the believers. Secondly, they are not only those who have believed in Allah and believed in Rasulullah ﷺ, but they are those who have reformed their lives. They have changed their lives so that they live a life in the obedience of Allah.

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ — The believers are the truly successful ones. الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ — Those who are humble in their prayer. Allah talks about different actions that a believer is supposed to do, without which that individual cannot necessarily be successful.

One of the recitations which is considered sunnah to recite in Salatul Jumu'ah is Surah al-A'la. We hear it many Fridays. In that surah, one message for you and I is: قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ — that individual who has purified himself is successful. وَذَكَرَ اسْمَ رَبِّهِ فَصَلَّىٰ — but then it talks about how he engages in the dhikr of Allah, the remembrance of Allah, and he prays Salah. Without ilm, how can any of these be achieved?

The Virtue of the One Who Teaches Good

Ilm is so important that Rasulullah ﷺ has informed us in a hadith, he has said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2685)

Allah Himself, and all of His angels, and all of the inhabitants of the heavens and all the inhabitants of the earth — to this extent, even an ant in its ant hole, even the fish in the sea — all of them make special du'a. Allah sends His special mercy, and the entirety of creation — besides mankind and jinn-kind — makes du'a for that individual who has learned and teaches others good. Why? Because the entire world benefits from knowledge.

The Perfection and Comprehensiveness of Islam

When we learn about the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ, we will learn the injunctions of our faith. And the deen of Islam is so beautiful. It's not just faith. When we say faith or learning, it doesn't mean only how to pray salah. It doesn't mean only how to fast. It doesn't mean only how to engage in dhikr. Our deen of Islam — this deen which Rasulullah ﷺ has brought all of mankind — is so perfect, and it's so pristine, and it's so vast, that it touches every single aspect of our lives.

Today — on the day of Arafah, in the tenth year after hijrah, when Rasulullah ﷺ after addressing all of those who had come with him for hajj — Allah reveals an ayah, and He says: today I have perfected and completed your deen. الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ — I have completed your deen. وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي — And in doing so I have completed My favor upon you, O mankind. وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا — And I have selected this worldview — not just faith, but this worldview of Islam — for you. This is the only correct worldview, and this is the only deen, the teachings of which permeate every single aspect of our life.

Social interactions, monetary interactions, our social dealings with one another, our dealings with Allah — you name it. The deen of Islam is what provides a solution. When it comes to family interactions — how is the child supposed to be with the parent? How is the parent supposed to be with the child? The deen of Islam provides a solution. When it comes to how we are supposed to, how often we are supposed to read Qur'an, how we are supposed to read Qur'an, in which manner? The deen provides it. How are we supposed to have business dealings with one another? Where is it permissible? Where is it not permissible? What is usury? And what are all of the different nuances of riba and usury? The deen of Islam provides a solution for every single one of those answers and problems.

To this extent, the ulama have mentioned: it addresses everything from A to Z — to this extent, even before a child is born, till even after they pass away, the deen of Islam has provided a solution and has chalked out exactly what is required from mankind at every given moment in time. If there is a child that is still developing in the womb of the mother and the father passes away — depending on how far along, how developed that fetus is, whether it's three months, four months, five months, so on and so forth — how much inheritance will be allotted for that child? Will there be any inheritance? And if so, how much will be allotted? That has also been discussed. Till the extent that when a person passes away, how to deal with his estate, how to distribute it fairly — even that has also been discussed. How to dispose of the body. SubhanAllah, this is such a faith, such a deen, the likes of which — it's such a worldview, such an encompassing deen — the likes of which no other nation has ever or will ever seen. This is the deen of Islam.

To this extent, even further developments in technology — mashAllah, a few years ago, three, four years ago, we had a whole retreat on AI. The whole world at that time, and even now there are still discussions here and there — they're all discussing who are we going to blame if there are any legal repercussions? If anything goes wrong, then who is to blame if AI causes the death of an individual, or AI is instrumental in causing some sort of terrible, traumatic event, then who is to blame? Looking at our principles, looking at what is found in the Qur'an, what is found in the hadith, what the ulama throughout time have contributed to the deen of Islam — the scholars today are able to derive and provide guidelines and solutions, thereby creating clarity on every single matter, every matter that ever arises.

And then the ulama they mentioned — SubhanAllah — Allah has said this in the Qur'an itself: I have either perfected the faith by teaching Rasulullah ﷺ exactly what to teach the ummah, or I have taught my nabi Rasulullah ﷺ the guidelines and the principles which are then to be passed on from generation upon generation so that at every given moment in time, a Muslim and a mu'min knows exactly how to conduct himself and how to live his life. This is the wealth of Islam. This is perhaps one of the greatest treasures and one of the greatest things that the deen of Islam has to offer all of mankind. And it all comes about through ilm, knowledge.

The Exalted Status of Knowledge and Its Possessors

SubhanAllah, when we talk about knowledge, then we say knowledge is power. Allah says that in the Qur'an:

Allah says about those who have learned ilm — deeni knowledge — can they ever be equated to those who do not have this deeni knowledge? Allah talks about the ulama at such a high level. He says:

Allah bears testimony that there is no one worthy of worship except for Him. Allah Himself bears testimony to that. As well as His angels. Naturally, we would think after Allah and the angels, the next category to be mentioned — who would bear testimony that there truly is no one worthy of worship besides Allah — would be the prophets. It would be the anbiya alayhimus-salam, those who are seeing the angels, those who are receiving revelation directly from Allah or via angels. They would be the ones to testify next.

But Allah, instead of mentioning the anbiya in this particular ayah, He refers to them as well as all other possessors of ilm by using the word وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ — the possessors of knowledge. In other words, Allah in this one ayah — which is arguably the greatest ayah highlighting the virtue of knowledge, of dini knowledge, of ilm — He has equated the possessors of dini knowledge to the level and the status of the anbiya alayhimus-salam. Allahu Akbar.

In another hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ has said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2685)

The virtue of someone who has dini knowledge over someone who may be an ardent worshipper but does not have that level of dini knowledge — عَلَى الْعَابِدِ كَفَضْلِي عَلَى أَدْنَاكُمْ — is like my virtue, meaning Rasulullah ﷺ's virtue — who is أَشْرَفُ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ, the most honorable of creations to Allah, سَيِّدُ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ, the leader of all the prophets — compared to the lowest amongst you. SubhanAllah. Can you ever draw a comparison?

Ilm Is an Obligation Upon Every Muslim

But then how do you and I come into play when it comes to ilm? Ilm is not something which has been monopolized by the ulama and the scholarly individuals. Ilm is such a thing which Rasulullah ﷺ came and taught all the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم — those who are ulama amongst them and those who are not ulama. And generation upon generation this knowledge was passed on until it has even reached you and I.

Who said that you can only attain ilm by enrolling in a madrasa and studying for seven or eight years? There are so many other opportunities, but the question is: are you and I taking advantage of those opportunities or not? We have so many different summer programs, weekend programs, weekly programs. And here we are — SubhanAllah — in Chicago, such a blessed city. It's like an anomaly in America. You have maybe a few other cities like this. Alhamdulillah, may Allah increase them in number. We have no shortage of scholars, we have no shortage of programs, we have no shortage of opportunities. But what are you and I doing to link ourselves up to this legacy?

Rasulullah ﷺ has told us:

(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 224)

Seeking out this dini knowledge is an obligation upon every believer. It's فَرِيضَةٌ بَعْدَ الْفَرَائِضِ — an obligation upon other obligations. What obligations do you and I have? Well, we have our obligations to Allah in the form of praying our five daily prayers, our saum, our zakat, and so on and so forth. We have our obligation to our family members. We have an obligation to provide. طَلَبُ الْحَلَالِ فَرِيضَةٌ بَعْدَ الْفَرِيضَةِ — seeking a permissible source of income is a fard obligation.

To this extent — there was once in India, and even if you go there today, and other countries like this, you'll see certain individuals on the streets, they're selling their goods — bananas, coconuts — and they'll be calling out in their language, again and again and again. Someone in a class once, the discussion came up speaking about such an individual, and one of the students spoke as though he was looking down on such an individual. And the teacher immediately reprimanded him, and he said: actually, the same amount of reward that you get by engaging in the dhikr of Allah in your free time, this individual is receiving the same, if not more — because he's fulfilling a fard obligation. There is nothing whereby a person can come closer to Allah greater than through his own fard obligation. So earning a halal income is an obligation. But beyond that, we also have to learn deen knowledge to the best of our ability. We have to attend these programs.

How the Sahabah Prioritized Ilm

Bara' ibn 'Azib رضي الله عنه says:

Not every single one of us companions were such that we heard the hadith directly from Rasulullah ﷺ. We also had properties to look after. We also had different things that we had to take care of, because of which we weren't able to sit in the company of Rasulullah ﷺ. But we wouldn't stop at that. We would go to the others who heard from him and we would benefit from them. Whoever had the opportunity of learning from Rasulullah ﷺ that day, we would go and we would sit in their company.

Umar رضي الله عنه says: كُنَّا نَتَنَاوَبُ — we would actually take turns to go to the majlis of Rasulullah ﷺ. Every day is difficult because I have a job and someone else has a job. So one day my friend would go and sit in the company of Rasulullah ﷺ, and then the next day I would sit in the company of Rasulullah ﷺ. And at night we would always discuss with one another. It shows the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم had priorities — they understood the level of ilm and they sacrificed accordingly. What about you and I?

Knowledge Must Be Sought in Person, Heart to Heart

What are we doing about the various different programs which are offered? Sometimes we think that I'm fulfilling this responsibility by attending programs online. We have so many online programs. But let us honestly ask ourselves: how many of those programs do we religiously, with discipline, actually sit through? And in what condition are we actually sitting and listening to those lectures? Sometimes we may even be running to get a bowl of cereal. Allah knows how we're even dressed. Allah knows best what condition we're in if we're even listening to them. How many times we pay for these subscriptions — days go by, months go by — all the lessons are recorded, but we haven't even bothered to take out one day to listen to those recordings.

It's very difficult. And ilm was never meant to be passed on that way. Ilm was always meant to be passed on from heart to heart, in person. Allah says:

We make du'a every day: O Allah, guide us to the right path — the path of those upon whom You have bestowed Your favor. We don't say: Ya Allah, guide us to the path of Qur'an and Hadith — because you don't just access the Qur'an directly, you don't access the Hadith directly. You have to understand the Qur'an via the medium of Rasulullah ﷺ:

Allah says: We sent the Qur'an to you so that you may explain it to the people — so that you may explain to the people what was revealed to them. So the Qur'an was never meant to be understood literally directly from its text. It was always meant to be understood via the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ, which we can access through various different tafaseer containing the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ.

But we always make du'a that Allah joins us with those individuals — صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ — those individuals upon whom You have bestowed Your favor. Jibreel ﷺ — in the famous hadith where he came to teach the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم their deen — Rasulullah ﷺ said: أَتَاكُمْ لِيُعَلِّمَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ — Jibreel came to teach you your deen. What did he show them? He came and he sat directly in front of Rasulullah ﷺ and asked him questions directly — showing that this is how ilm gets passed on.

Wahi could have came via another source to show that. But here in this beautiful demonstration, Jibreel ﷺ came himself — taking the form of Dihyah al-Kalbi or another sahabi — and he sat before Rasulullah ﷺ, showing: this is how knowledge transfers. This will be productive knowledge. This will be beneficial knowledge.

A Plea: Take Advantage of What Is Before You

So the plea for today, and the take-home point for today, is: let us take advantage of all the opportunities — or even a few of the opportunities — that we have before us here in this beloved land of Chicago. May Allah grant us all the ability to enroll in even one of these programs and religiously sit with a sincere intention — to increase our knowledge, come closer to Allah, and truly learn how to live our lives as true human beings. May Allah grant us all tawfiq.

Announcements

Everyone can stand up and please fill the gaps that you see before starting your sunnah. Please ensure that you fill all the gaps in front of you before you start your sunnah. Please pass the donation boxes. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah.

InshaAllah we have a very special program this weekend. Throughout the entirety of this weekend — both Saturday and Sunday — we will be having our graduation ceremony for both the Tahfiz program as well as the Tanweer program and the Takmeel program. It's a very amazing opportunity for all of us to get an insight as to what goes into memorizing the Qur'an — what are the reflections from the parents and the students. We spoke so much about ilm, but what exactly is there for us? How can I get an insight as to what is available to study, what is there to learn, and how it can change my life? In these graduation ceremonies, one of the items that will be discussed is our reflections from both the parents as well as the students.

Our Khatm al-Bukhari program — which is a culmination of the entire Takmeel, the seven-year Alimiyyah program — will be taking place for both brothers and sisters on Sunday, June 14th, starting after Dhuhr Salah. We will have our special guest of honor, Shaykh Hashim Ahmed, hafidahullah, who will conduct the final lesson.

We also have on Saturday, June 13th, starting at 11 a.m., our Tahfidh program graduation ceremony for all the huffadh who have memorized the Qur'an. Our guest speaker will be Mufti Zeeshan Ahmed, hafidahullah. We also have our high school Tadris graduation ceremony on Saturday, June 13th, at 8:30 a.m.

Additionally, we have various different programs during the summer time for all ages, boys and girls. For further information, please do take some time to visit our website.

We also have weekly programs:

• Every Monday — with Mufti Abdul Mudeen, hafidahullah: the Compass, a podcast-style conversation.
• Every Tuesday — a deep dive into Tafsir with Mufti Minhaj, hafidahullah.
• Every Thursday — a wonderful discussion in Urdu on the Shama'il of Rasulullah ﷺ.
• Every Saturday — a discussion on the lives of the Sahabah, the companions around the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. This will also take place tomorrow after Fajr.

We also have various sisters programs, both offered online and on-site. You can refer to the website, inshaAllah.

Additionally, Helping Hands has a clothing drive at Dar-ul-Salam. This will take place June 20th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

And there are many individuals who are currently sick, suffering from cancer or other illnesses, as well as our Muslim brothers and sisters that are suffering throughout the world. Let us always keep them in our du'as. May Allah grant them shifa. May Allah grant them ease. May Allah alleviate them of all of their difficulties.

JazakAllahu khayran.