2015-02-06 - Friday Prayer - Imam Shpendim Nadzaku

Opening & Praise

We begin praising and thanking Allah, the Exalted, the Supreme, out of love for Him, seeking from Him guidance, asking of Him protection, seeking with Him security from our own selves as well as from the consequences of our rebelliousness and sinning.

We believe that whomever Allah guides, none can lead that person astray, and whomever Allah does not guide, none other than Allah can ever guide them. We bear witness of the declaration of truth that there is no god except for Allah, who is one, the one and only, and that He alone deserves to be worshipped without partners, and that Muhammad, may Allah's peace and blessings forever and always be upon him, is His final prophet and messenger to all of humanity.

I remind myself and you, brothers and sisters, to guard your relationship with Allah and to cherish Allah the Majestic as He deserves to be cherished, and be sure that you do not die except in full submission as Muslims.

The State of the Ummah

Brothers and sisters, the world is in a mess, and unfortunately what we see in the news are acts being perpetrated by people who claim to be Muslims, committing these different crimes in the name of Islam. Allah help us, we're going through some very difficult times. And unfortunately it's not just in one particular country or area — the tests that the ummah is facing, they're not restricted to across the ocean, but what happens there affects us here within our own backyards. And so may Allah save us from ourselves, and may Allah save us from each other, and may Allah save us from the evil of people who are plotting and planning against us. Allahumma ameen.

And many of us say, what can we do? Many of us wonder, is there anything that can be done? What is our role in all of this? Or do we just become fatalists and throw our hands up in the air and say it's only up to Allah, we can't do anything about it? Everything is up to Allah, undoubtedly. But we also have a role. We also have a way of making things better.

The Path to Reform: Knowledge

Someone may say, how is that? I remind us with a statement that Imam Malik and Ibn Sirin, may Allah be pleased with the two of them, have been known to have said:

(Attributed to Imam Malik ibn Anas and Muhammad ibn Sirin)

That our ummah in these latter times is not going to become better, it is not going to be fixed, except in the way that it was fixed and became better from the beginning. Meaning that what made the Muslims and the ummah during the time of the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahabah, ridwanullahi alaihim, excellent — what made them a source of blessing and guidance for humanity, what allowed them to become the leaders of the world — is what's going to do the same for us.

Well, what's the secret? It's education, learning, Islamic knowledge.

And this is why Allah, He says in the Qur'an:

Indeed, from all of Allah's servants, the ones who truly fear Him are those who have knowledge.

Wallahi, brothers and sisters, if we have knowledge of Allah — of how beautiful and amazing Allah is, of how wonderful He is — we would be from among the best of Allah's servants. And if we were also certain of Allah's might and His power and His ability, we would be balanced in our love for Allah such that we would be the most fearful of Him. That as Muslims, we would be the best human beings possible. But it's not going to happen if we don't have knowledge, true knowledge.

Because we hear, unfortunately, where some of these people claim to have Islamic knowledge and they are perpetrating these types of crimes, these types of behaviors. And Allah and His messenger ﷺ are innocent of it. And if they truly had knowledge, they wouldn't be that way.

The Hadith of the Seeker of Knowledge

This is why we find that the Prophet ﷺ, in this beautiful hadith that Abu al-Darda' radiyallahu ta'ala anhu wa ardaahu narrates to us, encourages us as Muslims to learn. Let's take a little journey together with this hadith. Let's examine ourselves as we're learning what the Prophet ﷺ is telling us. How much of that is me? What's my role in any of this?

Abu al-Darda' radiyallahu ta'ala anhu said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 3641; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2682; declared authentic by Imam al-Albani)

The Path Made Easy to Paradise

That first line is powerful — whoever treads a path, pursues a path seeking knowledge, Allah will facilitate and make easy for them the path to paradise. Allahu Akbar.

Listen to that — seeking Islamic knowledge leads to paradise. Well, it makes sense, because how else are you going to get to paradise if you're not going to know what Allah loves and what His messenger ﷺ loves, so that you can preoccupy yourself and engage yourself in those things that they love? As well as if you do not know what it is that they hate, so that you can be as far away from those things. When you have that knowledge, you're going to be that blessed person who is naturally, with each step, with each word that is uttered, with each sentence that is taught, going to be taking steps closer and closer to paradise.

The Angels Lower Their Wings

And now the Prophet ﷺ is exposing us to 'ilm al-ghayb — he's exposing us to the realm of the unseen. To understand that even the angels — how many are there? Allah knows. Billions, trillions — subhanAllah, even if it were a thousand we would say mashAllah. But we know that Allah is the most generous — that even the angels lay down their wings to the student of knowledge, in humbleness to them, in respect to them, because of their seeking Islamic knowledge.

In English, most of the time, what do people say? "I take my hat off to you" — to show somebody that you're so proud of what they're doing and what they're accomplishing. Imagine the angels laying down their wings. Why? Naturally, because what the student of knowledge is doing is an act of ibadah that is the foundation of everything. That's one of the things that sets us apart as Muslims — that we don't worship Allah just on emotions or based on culture, but it's based on knowledge: what Allah Himself has taught us and what His messenger ﷺ has taught us.

All of Creation Seeks Forgiveness for the Scholar

So this student continues to seek knowledge and continues to learn until ultimately he becomes someone recognized as an alim, a scholar. What does the hadith tell us then about the scholar? The Prophet ﷺ tells us that everything that is up above within the heavens as well as within the earth seeks forgiveness for the scholar — they seek forgiveness from Allah on behalf of the scholar. Even the fish, even the fish within the waters. SubhanAllah.

How many of us, when we know somebody is going to go make an 'umrah or a Hajj, or they are going to be traveling, or we know them to be mashAllah righteous — we say to them, "Brother, sister, please remember me in your du'as." What about the angels? What about Allah's creation within the realm of the unseen as well as the realm of what we can see? How many fish are there, asking Allah and saying, "O Allah, forgive Your servant, the scholar so-and-so"? Imagine. This is out of love and out of respect, and this is why we are supposed to love our scholars. We are supposed to love these scholars because Allah loves them.

The Scholar Compared to the Full Moon

And the hadith continues to tell us that the virtue of the scholar, the status of the scholar, the prestige of the scholar compared to the regular servant who is a worshiper is like that of the full moon in the sky compared to the rest of what you may see up there — of celestial bodies, of stars and of planets. We know that, subhanAllah, the full moon dominates the sky at night. This is what the Prophet ﷺ is teaching us.

The Scholars Are the Inheritors of the Prophets

And then he concludes — salawatullahi wa salamuhu alayhi — telling us that the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets. Who is it that is following within that connection such that they are going to receive what the prophets have handed down? Because he makes it clear that the prophets did not leave behind gold coins or silver coins, dinars and dirhams. They did not leave behind money. What they did leave behind is knowledge — knowledge of Islam. We know that all the prophets taught Islam. Knowledge of how to live this beautiful teaching of Islam, this beautiful way of life of ours. And whoever inherits that knowledge, they have truly received the greatest portion of inheritance — the most valuable.

While some people may be happy to receive millions of dollars and real estate and who knows what — wallahi, the best inheritance is knowledge that brings you closer to Allah, that makes you more deserving of His love, of His mercy, of His blessings, and earns you His forgiveness and grace.

And this is why the ulama, our scholars, brothers and sisters, they are so important for us as an ummah. If only the ummah truly followed the great scholars of this ummah, we would not have the majority of these problems that all of us are witnessing and suffering from, and that we ask Allah in our du'as to save our ummah and to save us from them. Allahumma ameen.

Second Part of the Khutbah

I remind myself and you that the best revelation, the purest, is the book of Allah, the Qur'an. And the best guidance and understanding in applying the Qur'an is the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ — his sunnah. And the worst things in Islam are these new innovations within the religion, because they take us away from Allah and His messenger ﷺ by taking us away from the correct understanding and application of the Qur'an and sunnah. And that path is straight. May Allah protect us. Allahumma ameen.

Knowledge Is for Action

Brothers and sisters, we know that knowledge in Islam is not just for the sake of information, but rather that knowledge in Islam is for the purpose of action — to live upon it, so that it betters us. And we believe as Muslims that the more knowledgeable we are of what Islam is really about, the better we are as human beings, the better we are as people, the more complete we are as Allah's slaves and servants. And the more ignorant we are, the opposite is true — that is the worst that we can become.

So when people are afraid and say, "The last thing we need is these madrasas and these institutions, because that's going to produce fundamentalists and terrorists and criminals" — we say no. Correct understanding of Islam actually produces the best of human beings. Because the standard was what the Prophet ﷺ and those who followed him, who beautifully emulated him — they are the standard of what a real Muslim is. A Muslim who is knowledgeable of their deen, their way of life, and who lives a life of taqwa — a God-conscious, oriented life, making sure that they guard their thoughts, their emotions, their speech and actions, so that none of it jeopardizes their relationship with Allah. Those are the best of human beings. The best of people.

Knowledge Is Obligatory for Every Muslim

And this is why knowledge is not specifically for the طالب العلم — for that student who wants to be an alim. Actually, every one of us has an obligation to learn, to have the basics. And this is what we learn in this hadith that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 224; declared authentic by Imam al-Albani)

Seeking Islamic knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim — male and female. Male and female.

And this is where when we are able, alhamdulillah, to learn and have our basics — and not just the basics, but continue to learn — subhanAllah, we can be from the best of the best.

Opportunities for Learning in Our Community

And alhamdulillah, this is one of the things that we've been blessed with here in this metroplex of the Dallas area. For adults, alhamdulillah, there are so many different opportunities for us to increase in our Islamic knowledge — you have your own Taqwa Academy here, alhamdulillah. There are so many other institutions within the area: Suffah, al-Bayyinah, Qalam, and others of these wonderful institutions to learn, mashAllah. And for our children, you have your weekend Islamic school, and by us, for example, we have our Quran Academy, and so on and so forth.

When all of us together are able to learn, and in our families reinforce these beautiful teachings, and when we're together within these communities as families doing the best that we can to live a life that is pleasing to Allah — you have from healthy families a healthy community, and from a healthy Muslim community, you're going to have a blessed society.

We may not be able to influence what's happening across the seas. But we sure can here within our own backyards. And this is where we need to actively learn. And we need to support these institutions. We need to understand that each of them is serving their role and their part in trying to uplift — uplift whoever they can, of the younger as well as the older brothers and sisters that are learning within them.

The True Muslim: Safety for All

Jama'ah, when we can lift that threshold such that all of us, alhamdulillah, have the basics of Islam, we would then come to realize — and I believe most of us already do — that we'll be able to better teach the non-Muslims what they don't know. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 10; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 41)

That a real Muslim, a true Muslim, is the person that other Muslims are safe from — from their speech as well as from their hand. That other Muslims are safe from being verbally as well as physically hurt. We know that this is not just a case for Muslims to say, "Okay, we're not going to hurt each other, but when it comes to the non-Muslims, who cares." No, no, no. This is telling us that if this is how we are with each other, then naturally that's going to be a part of our character — such that not even the non-Muslims are going to be people who should be afraid of us and worried.

Rather, we would insha'Allah be from the most prized of citizens within this area — such that our neighborhoods, you're going to see non-Muslims wanting to live next to us because of what they know about us, of what they experience with us. You're going to have employers who are going to be seeking to have Muslims within their companies because of the ethics and the principles by which we live our lives. We're going to have non-Muslims who are going to want our children to be their children's friends because they know they're going to be good role models — fantastic role models for their kids.

We need to get it right, brothers and sisters. The Muslims are counting on us. The non-Muslims are counting on us. And I think that here within our local area, we have all that it takes to make it happen. Let us be active, insha'Allah ta'ala, in learning and putting into practice what it is that we know — supporting over and over again these institutions that are there to help us and our families, our youngsters and those of us that are older, so that together we can all insha'Allah walk into paradise, being from those whom the angels are greeting, saying welcome.

Du'a

Ya Allah, we ask you, Rabb al-'Alamin, that you answer for us within this blessed place, during this blessed hour, within this blessed day, our prayers and supplications. Ya Allah, we ask you for all that is good in this life and the best of paradise in the hereafter. And that you guard us from all that is painful in this life and from the least of punishment in the hereafter.

Ya Allah, we ask you, Rabb al-'Alamin, that you purify our minds, that you purify our hearts, that you purify our souls, that you purify our speech, that you purify our actions and character. Ya Allah, we ask you that you bless us with the best of character, in the same way that you blessed your messenger ﷺ with the best of character.

Ya Allah, we ask you, Rabb al-'Alamin, that you teach us all that is going to benefit us, and that you benefit us with all that you teach us, and that you increase us in beneficial knowledge and acts. Ya Allah, we ask you that you guide us and that you help us to be a source of guidance for others. Ya Allah, we ask you, Rabb al-'Alamin, that you guide us and that you protect us from ever being misguided.

Ya Allah, we ask you that you guide our youth and that you protect them from being misguided. Ya Allah, protect them from being led astray by deviant groups that are calling to all sorts of violent, terroristic acts. Ya Allah, we ask you that you protect them from anyone and everyone that is calling them to do things that you know are dangerous to themselves and to others.

Ya Allah, we ask you, Rabb al-'Alamin, that you return us back to you quickly and beautifully. Ya Allah, we ask you that you help us to truly follow within the blessed footsteps of your messenger ﷺ.

Ya Allah, we ask you, Rabb al-'Alamin, here within our local community within the Dallas area — Ya Allah, that you help us as Muslims to be truly the renaissance for Islam in this country. Ya Allah, that you help us to be the center for Islamic knowledge and learning and the application of it in all the different ways that we know of and of those ways that you will teach us that we are ignorant of.

Ya Allah, we ask you that you bless the leadership of this community and the communities all around us, Rabb al-'Alamin, and the leadership of the Muslim Ummah as a whole. Ya Allah, we ask you that you also bless the average person, Rabb al-'Alamin, the citizens as a whole. Ya Allah, help us to work together in everything that is correct and pleasing to you. Ya Allah, refrain us from anything and everything of conflict that does not bring about productivity.

Ya Allah, we ask you, Rabb al-'Alamin, that you heal every one of our brothers and sisters that is injured and ill. That you forgive and bless with paradise every one of them that has passed away. Ya Allah, and we ask you that you answer the prayers of all who call upon you seeking their needs from you. Allahumma ameen.

Closing Announcement

We do welcome each and every one of you, insha'Allah ta'ala, for the IQA Fundraiser tomorrow night insha'Allah. And if for any reason you're not able to make it, we still would ask that if you can, biidhnillah, keep us in your du'as and in any other capacity that you're able to help us. May Allah bless you, your families, this community, and our Ummah as a whole. Allahumma ameen.