Virtues of the Ummat of the Most Beloved SAWS | Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed | 11/3

Opening Praise and Recitation

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ، اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ، اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِيْنَ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَىٰ خَاتَمِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِيْنَ وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ الطَّيِّبِيْنَ وَالطَّاهِرِيْنَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ وَدَعَا بِدَعْوَتِهِمْ وَاسْتَنَّ بِسُنَّتِهِمْ وَاقْتَدَى بِهَدْيِهِمْ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الدِّيْنِ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ

فَقَالَ اللهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ فِيْ مُحْكَمِ تَنْزِيْلِهِ، بَعْدَ أَعُوْذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيْمِ، بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ:

Sadaqallahul Azeem.

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, respected elders and youngsters, Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Introduction: Responding to Tragedy with Hope

We have been, day and night, in our khatirats and in our programs — in our Thursday dars or Tuesday tafseers — talking consistently about the different tragedies that are taking place throughout the Ummah, in particular in Palestine, the Arzul Muqaddasa, the Holy Lands. We definitely need to continue talking, continue discussing different lessons that we can derive from this tragedy and how we should respond. But in today's session, I wanted to tackle this from another perspective.

The perspective is: when we are hearing all of these tragic news and we are seeing these tragic images, many of us are developing a sense of despondency in the mercy of Allah. And losing hope in the mercy of Allah is such a major sin that it has been labeled as kufr. In fact, Allah says in Surah Yusuf — when Ya'qub (alayhi salam), towards the end of the story, is now missing his second son — he is losing the son Yusuf who had been lost in the beginning, and now Ibn Yamin is also gone. He says to the remaining ten brothers: go and try to find Yusuf and his brother Ibn Yamin. The old Yusuf, decades ago, was lost; and Ibn Yamin — the recent tragedy. He says:

Do not lose hope in the mercy of Allah. Only the disbelievers lose hope in the mercy of Allah.

So there are so many blessings for us to think about, to ponder over, to reflect on — that can grant us hope, that can create within us the desire and the ability to make shukr to Allah. And amongst those blessings, even one single category would be the blessings that we are enjoying by virtue of being in the Ummah of Rasulallah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

So just this aspect — the fact that we are in this Ummah — there are a number of ahadith. I don't think I have enough time to cover all of them. I just thought I'll go through these ahadith as a reminder for myself and a reminder for everyone, inshallah. Because despite everything that's happening, are we not the reciters of the kalima لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُوْلُ اللهِ? And are not those who are dying — reciters of the kalima لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُوْلُ اللهِ? Those who are saying حَسْبُنَا اللهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيْلُ as they are dying, as they are injured — so how great is this honor that we have of being in the Ummah of Rasulallah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

The Best of Nations — Surah Aal 'Imran, Ayah 110

To begin with is the ayah — Surah Aal 'Imran, Ayah 110. Allah says very clearly, explicitly, without any ambiguity:

You are the best of all the nations. Very clear. كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ — you are the best of all the nations. Allah is addressing us. Allah has selected you for the guidance, Allah has selected you for the leadership of all mankind. You are those who invite towards good and you forbid evil.

Why We Must Speak Out Against Injustice

I don't want to go on another tangent on this, but sometimes this is a relevant reminder. People say: what's the point of speaking out against the injustice? What's the point of speaking out against all the crimes that are being committed? You really are not going to be able to put a dent in it. You do not have any political power, you do not have control over the media, no one is going to listen to you — so what's the point? How are you going to be able to stop it?

This was an objection that was made in the Quran by a particular group as well, and Allah narrates their story:

وَاسْأَلْهُمْ means: ask them — Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is being told by Allah — ask them. "Them" is referring to the rabbis of Medina. Ask them about the town that was situated by the sea. Allah had given them a command that they were not supposed to work and earn their livelihood on the day of Saturday. It was prohibited to buy and sell, to earn their livelihood. They had six days of the week to earn; on the seventh day — the Sabbath, in Arabic يَوْمَ السَّبْتِ — the prohibition was there.

The Virtue of Yawm al-Jumu'ah for the Best Ummah

It is interesting to compare with our Deen. In our Shari'ah we have Yawmul Jumu'ah. Subhanallah — if you have different awards, you have the platinum award, the gold award, silver, bronze — different levels. But the one who is the best, you give him the platinum. So likewise, all of these different days have honor in the eyes of Allah for ibadah. So the best day, He gave it to the Ummah which is the best Ummah.

Amongst the Ummahs, you are the best Ummah; and amongst the days, Jumu'ah happens to be the best day. These are not two unrelated facts that happen to be true. Based on the hadith of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), Allah — the Creator of time and space — chooses and selects and says: this day is more honored than that day. This day — the 9th of Dhul Hijjah — is Yawm al-Arafah. This day — the 10th of Muharram — is the day of Ashura. This night is Laylatul Qadr. This month is Ramadan. These places are Muzdalifah, Arafat, Mina. This is where the Ka'bah is. This is where the road of Riyadul Jannah is. So He selects the earth and His places and time, and He gives it more honor. So Allah honored Jumu'ah, and Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said on behalf of Allah — truly, Jumu'ah is the leader of all days. So this is the best day of worship, and He gave it to the best Ummah. Subhanallah.

And let us not forget — we are not comparing to the Christians of today who worship on Sunday, or the Jews of today who worship on Saturday. We are referring to the actual religion of Islam of the previous nations. Because before Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), who was on the religion of Islam? The nation of Ibrahim (alayhi salam), the nation of Musa (alayhi salam), the nation of Isa (alayhi salam). They were on the right path — those who believed in Tawheed: لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ. Musa — Kaleemullah — and Isa — Ruhullah — were on Tawheed. They were worshipping Allah, they believed in Allah, they were on the path towards Jannah — yet they were not given the best day. They were given Saturday or Sunday, and the best day was given to the best Ummah. Subhanallah.

Do we deserve this? It seems like we're being self-righteous — "holier than thou, oh I'm so great, I'm the best Ummah." No. We're coming from the perspective of: let us realize how much we have to be thankful for. We do not deserve this in the least. But at the same time, we have to remember the favor. How are we going to be thankful for the blessing if we don't even mention the blessing? That's the only reason we're mentioning it.

May Allah protect me and protect you and protect all of us from having one minutest atom's worth of pride — because pride: the one who is already in Jannah, default status, Iblis is in Jannah; but because of arrogance, what happened? He was expelled. So if a person has pride and arrogance, how can he gain admittance? We're not in Jannah right now, we're in Dunya. How can we expect to enter Jannah with pride when the one who was already in Jannah was expelled because of pride? And that's why Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 265)

The person cannot enter Jannah in whose heart there is an iota's worth of arrogance. So may Allah protect us from pride. But we're mentioning the blessing.

The Restriction of Jumu'ah Compared to the Sabbath

What happened is that we have Yawmul Jumu'ah and they had Yawmul Sabt. There is a restriction from buying and selling for us too, as it was for them — but our restriction is far more limited. When is our restriction? In Surah al-Jumu'ah:

O those who believe! When the Adhan is called on the day of Jumu'ah, hasten to the dhikr of Allah — this is the khutbah, the salah — and leave buying and selling. That is better for you, if you but knew.

So there is both a commandment and a prohibition: the commandment is فَاسْعَوْا إِلَىٰ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ — hasten to the dhikr of Allah; and the prohibition is وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ — leave buying and selling.

The Sahabah were such that — you know if Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is addressing someone in front of him and says "sit down" — Abdullah (R.A.) was outside, he heard Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) saying "sit down," and he sat down in the street! سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا — we hear and we obey. So you would have to tell him: okay you can get up now. Likewise, when Allah said وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ — leave buying and selling — they would leave it for the rest of their lives. They would rather die from starvation because Allah Ta'ala said: when the Adhan of Jumu'ah goes, leave buying and selling.

Because of their nature, Allah Ta'ala had to specifically say: here is when it is permitted again. That's why Allah Ta'ala said — when the salah is over:

Go spread out in the earth and go seek the fadl of Allah — meaning by earning, you can go and earn your livelihood. Why would you have to tell us to go spread out? We need to be told to come pray; we don't need to be told to leave. Allah Ta'ala is literally saying فَانتَشِرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ — go spread out in the earth — meaning: it's permissible. Go to the markets, go to the bazaar.

So there's a command here. Now when the verb comes — the imperative verb, fi'l amr, the command form — in the Quran it comes for 16 different meanings. It doesn't always carry the default of wajib. When Allah says أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ it means it's fard to perform salah, آتُوا الزَّكَاةَ — give zakat, it's fard. But if there's a context clue — qareena — then it can leave the wujoob of obligation and carry one of the other 15 meanings. One of those meanings is ibaha — permission. The purpose of the command here is to indicate it's mubah — it's permissible. Meaning: after the salah finishes, if somebody wants to make tilawah, read Surah al-Kahf, then pray Asr and go — he's not violating the order of Allah.

There are so many ajeeb examples of this. Like there was one qabilah of the Ansar — they were so much into sharing their food that if they had a meal, they would search and search for somebody to share it with. They would always try to share with someone. If they could not find someone they would consider it impermissible, and then sometimes they would miss a meal, miss the second meal, third meal, fourth meal — two days they're not eating because they can't find anyone to share their meal with! Then Allah had to reveal an ayah:

It's not a sin for you to eat together or on your own. They had to be told it's not sinful to eat on your own. We have to be told to share! So they were prohibited the entire day, and we were prohibited for a short period of time — that's the resemblance, and the extent of the resemblance.

The Story of the People of the Sabbath

In this case — Allah made the deen easy for the people. In case we're wondering why it was so hard for this particular nation — what happened is they were disobeying Allah and rebelling against Allah, and as a form of punishment Allah made it more difficult. What happened? On the day of Saturday, all the fish were coming to the top — you could see the whole water, the sea filled with fish, you just go and grab them. And the remaining days of the week, they go down to the bottom of the ocean and you can't see them and you're fishing all day and can't find them. Why? Allah Ta'ala says: because they were persisting in their disobedience. This was an ibtila, a test for them — it didn't come in a vacuum.

The Three Groups

To make a long story short, there were three groups. The first group wanted to change the order of Allah — acting like they could outsmart Allah Ta'ala. What did they do? They made traps. They put the traps on Friday night, and then on Saturday all the fish are getting caught, and they're saying: "Hey, we're not fishing, we're not actively fishing." Then on Sunday they would take the traps out. They tried to change the shakal — the outward form — of the order of Allah Ta'ala, and Allah Ta'ala likewise changed their shakal, as you will see.

The second group did not do the haram thing — they were not doing any zulm, any aggression, any disobedience to Allah Ta'ala — but they were hanging out with the first group, spending time with them, living with them, and they were not prohibiting them from the evil.

The third group was staying away from the evil and actively prohibiting it, speaking out against it.

Allah mentions that the second group chastised the third group and said: why are you guys stressing out so much? Why are you trying to advise such people that Allah is going to destroy? Allah is going to bring a dreadful torment upon them — so why speak out if it won't make a difference?

What was the response of the third group? They said: this is our excuse — we will present this in the court of Allah, that we tried our best. Perhaps some of them may come back and make tawbah. We have to try our best. And what happened is: they continued trying, and then eventually they moved away from them because the first group persisted in their evil ways. They went into a nearby dwelling — they moved out. One morning they got up, they heard loud screams, wails, terrifying sounds that they had never heard before. They rushed back — because they were related, from the same tribe — and they saw all of the people: their own relatives, their friends. Their minds and intellects were there as human beings, but they had become despicable monkeys. They turned into monkeys and apes.

This is mentioned by Allah Ta'ala in the Quran — in reality, not something figurative. The Mu'tazilites want to take a figurative meaning, but Allah physically turned them into apes. They could recognize one another — they knew who they were — and they were looking at themselves, screaming in agony and pain. And the entire nation of those individuals died within three days.

Allah preserved only those who spoke out — those who spoke out against the evil were saved, and the rest of them were destroyed.

So we have to speak out against evil. We cannot say: "Hey, what's the difference?" We have to continue to speak out, and Allah Ta'ala is going to take us to account for that. Remaining silent is not an option. May Allah Ta'ala give us the himmah. May Allah Ta'ala allow us — as I said, this is just the first ayah, and we will continue with this topic next week inshallah.

Explanation of the Ayah — The Unique Attribute of This Ummah

You are the best of the Ummah. You have been selected for the guidance of mankind. You invite towards good. You prohibit people from evil.

This is the reason why we are the best of the Ummah. And then وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ — and you have belief in Allah. Notice that الْأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْيُ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ is mentioned first, even though it has no value, no basis, no reward, and doesn't even count — and chronologically, Iman comes first. What is الْأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ without Iman? But here the order is reversed — الْأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْيُ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ comes first, and Iman comes after — to indicate that the unique attribute which gives this Ummah that high position is the fact that it does الْأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْيُ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ. The Iman is present in the previous nations as well, but this — commanding good and forbidding evil — is what distinguishes us.

May Allah give us the reality of الْأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْيُ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ.

Closing Du'a

Indeed, Allah commands justice, excellence, and giving to relatives, and He forbids immorality, wrongdoing, and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

Du'a After Salah

Oh Allah, help our Muslim brothers that are oppressed throughout the world, in Palestine in particular, ya Rabbal Alameen. Oh Allah, grant them sabr jameel, ya Rabbal Alameen. Oh Allah, accept their shahadah, ya Rabbal Alameen. Oh Allah, make it easy for them to bear this difficulty and have yaqeen on Your promises, ya Rabbal Alameen. Oh Allah, guide the Muslim leaders to resolve their differences and support one another, ya Rabbal Alameen. Oh Allah, do not test us in a like manner, ya Rabbal Alameen. Protect the Muslims throughout the world, ya Rabbal Alameen. Oh Allah, protect us from doing dhulm on others or becoming mazlum ourselves, ya Rabbal Alameen. Oh Allah, protect us from committing dhulm or being on the receiving end of dhulm, ya Rabbal Alameen.

Oh Allah, this disgrace that the Ummah is going through — we have brought it upon ourselves. Oh Allah, forgive us for our crimes, ya Rabbal Alameen. Oh Allah, our honor is through Your deen — oh Allah — which we have abandoned. Forgive us for this crime, ya Rabbal Alameen.