Uniting During Hard Times, The Muslim Ban

Uniting During Hard Times: The Muslim Ban

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the Master of the Messengers and the Seal of the Prophets. And upon his pious and pure family and those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment and beyond.

Allah, the Exalted, said in the court of His revelation, after I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

My dear respected brothers and sisters, respected elders and young friends in Islam, السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ.

Indeed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has blessed us all with the Deen of Islam. And this is the greatest blessing that we could ever have from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has revealed the Quran as a means of guidance for all mankind. The Quran is a source of guidance for all mankind.

The Promise of Trials

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this Quran, He informed us:

That surely I will test you — and this is a promise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with emphasis and taqid — surely I will test you with some fear. Sometimes there may be hunger. In decrease in wealth and property and in life and fruits. Give the glad tidings to those who are patient, those who persevere, those who remain steadfast. They are those that whenever they are afflicted by any calamity, they say: إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ — To Allah we belong and towards Him is our return. Regarding such people Allah says the mercy from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala descends on such people. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that they are the rightly guided — they are those who are in hidayah.

Responding to the Current Situation

So in the past few days, certain decisions made by our government have led to fear amongst Muslims from various countries — from all countries, from those particularly who are in the affected countries, and other countries as well. The first thing for us to realize is that this is something that was promised by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — that there will be a test of fear.

That doesn't mean that it's okay and that what happens is we become complacent and say it's right as well. Na'udhu billah, it is very wrong. Everyone who is entering this country should be vetted equally based on maintaining the safety of this country. But to single out Muslim nations and to single out Muslims and say that they deserve special attention — of course this is wrong. We have to speak out against this injustice.

But at the same time, we will have failed in this test and trial if we begin to doubt our own deen and if we begin to leave our own practice of Islam. Beyond this executive order, people on social media, they continue to pass to each other different acts, random acts of intolerance that is being shown — different attacks from people, different negative comments that are being passed, placed on people's homes, doors, on their cars — or different incidences of Islamophobic attacks that people are facing. So this is one side.

At the same time, my dear friends, we should realize that there are a great number of good people in this country that are coming out and supporting Muslims and supporting Masajid even though they have no reason to. They are being bombarded by the social media and by the media and the news and the television and all the media outlets against Islam. And this is the position that the new government is also holding — from the president downwards and all his appointed staff.

Yet alhamdulillah, there is still such goodness in people that they are coming out in support of Muslims in large numbers. We know about the Masjid that was burnt in Texas. This is such a great tragedy. But at the same time, are we aware that within a few days, how many hundreds of thousands of dollars they were able to raise online — with the many, if not majority, of the donors being non-Muslims. Last time I checked — and this could be updated — it was over $800,000, with non-Muslims being the majority, and some Muslims as well, donating to a Masjid, to the house of Allah, to rebuild it. Huge support.

The Appointed Time and the Martyrs of Québec

Likewise, six people who were performing Salah and Isha in the Masjid were gunned down. This was the Shahada they received from Allah. Their time for dying was decreed by Allah:

Everyone has an appointed time in this world. And when that appointed time arrives, then we cannot move it one second before, one second after. So that was the time decreed by Allah for them to die. But if they died in Salah — if they died in Sajdah while performing Salah — then what could be a more noble death? SubhanAllah.

There are both sides to examine in this situation. Of course the fact that the crime happened is disastrous — it is very horrific that a gunman enters a house of worship and guns down people who are praying to Allah. But if it is decreed for somebody to die in that way, the other way of looking at it is that this was such a great blessing for those people who were granted that Shahada. And inshaaAllah we believe their souls will enter into Jannah. May Allah grant sabr to the family members.

Of course the pain is there in the family members — the children and the wives and those who are left behind. They will have some suffering in this world. But then again they will return and join them in the hereafter. That is the meaning of this ayah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

When they are afflicted with any calamity, the believers say: إِنَّا لِلَّهِ — we belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ — and towards Him is our return.

A Unique Gift to This Ummah

The scholars of Tafsir say that this is a specific Du'a which was granted to this Ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ and was not granted to any Ummah prior to us. This Du'a was not granted to any nation prior to us.

When Yaqub (AS) missed his son Yusuf (AS) and he was crying out, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Surah Yusuf:

He said: "Oh! Grief unto me for Yusuf — he is gone from me, he is lost." And he continued to cry — وَابْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ — until he lost his eyesight. He became completely blind. فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ — and he was holding in his grief.

So based on this ayah and other evidence, the scholars say that إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ — this beautiful prescription and this beautiful consolation — had not been revealed to any prior Ummah. If it had been revealed, then Yaqub (AS) would have recited this Du'a and would have gained consolation.

إِنَّا لِلَّهِ means: I belong to Allah. You belong to Allah. We all belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Those people that we have lost — the dear and near loved ones that we have been separated from — they also belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, just as we belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, those that are remaining behind. Both belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: we belong to Allah — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can take away and recall back whenever He chooses, because we are the property of Allah, we belong to Allah.

وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ — all of us together are returning back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So this is consolation in multiple ways. One is that we will meet up again — you are separated from someone now, but this separation is temporary. You will join them again.

And when you are going to a place for the first time, there is some apprehension, there is some fear — how will it turn out? How will it be? This is ذَاهِبُونَ — going somewhere for the first time. But رَاجِعُونَ means we are returning. Returning means that is where we actually came from. We came from Allah. And when you go back, that means you are going back to a comfortable place. And then also it is plural — that means we are going back together, not alone individually. But we will all be together and we will all be reunited. SubhanAllah. So such different levels of consolation one can achieve from this ayah.

Do Not Abandon Your Deen

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is showing us both sides of the people. There is a small minority of people who harbor hate in their hearts. But at the same time, there is a vast majority of the people — alhamdulillah — and the majority has khair and goodness.

If we ourselves leave our deen, then we are not helping anyone — we are going for our own destruction. Because of these threats, if we ourselves give up the practice and the deen, then we will be the greatest loser. We will have failed in the test.

And when others are standing up to defend the deen — there is the DuPage United group, there are local groups — and there is an opportunity for us as well to invite others to our masjid to see our deen. We are holding here at Dar es Salaam our own community open house on Saturday, March 11th, inshaaAllah. So I urge all the brothers and sisters — on the way out, on the table, we have the invitation card. Take the invitation card.

Many people are coming up to us and saying that co-workers, colleagues, or classmates at school — that they never spoke about Islam and Muslims, they never brought up the topic — now, because we are so much in the news, they are coming out and reaching out to Muslims and expressing their feelings. They discuss what happened with the murder of the Muslims in Québec as well as the burning of the masjid in Texas and what is happening at the national level. They are expressing their concern. They are showing how they are disgusted with the course that the nation is taking.

So this is an opportunity for us. They were not discussing Islam perhaps before, but now they themselves are coming forward and talking about Islam. Let us take this opportunity to invite them into the masjid so that they could, inshaaAllah, learn about Islam, learn about Muslims, hear from the actual source what we believe in, rather than being misguided further.

So that is why I urge that everyone make du'a for this open house, inshaaAllah. Take this concern as your own concern — as being ummati of Rasulullah ﷺ and being a musalli of this masjid — that this becomes a successful event. How can we help? One is that we invite people, as many as possible, so that we can have a huge attendance. And also on the logistical side, we need volunteers to make it successful. That is why we will be holding a meeting this Sunday after Dhuhr. All the brothers who are interested in helping can join us here — it is 1:30 for Dhuhr on Sunday — and we will be having a meeting to see how we can host all these non-Muslims in the best manner possible, to invite them towards Islam and to teach them about the reality of our deen.

An Opportunity for Da'wah

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving us an opportunity. We have to take this as an opportunity. Rather than becoming depressed and saddened by the conditions that are taking place, let us take this as an opportunity — that now Islam is becoming a topic of discussion where the Muslims are not being portrayed as the aggressor, as the terrorist, but rather we are now being realized by many people as the victims of injustice. So this is an opportunity for us to grab and to, inshaaAllah, lead the discourse, lead the conversation in whichever environment we are in, and start speaking about Islam.

For this, we ourselves have to become confident regarding our faith. We have to ourselves learn about our deen. How are we going to be able to speak about Islam, speak about Muslims, speak about justice in Islam if we ourselves are ignorant? That is why let us all make it our goal to, inshaaAllah, start studying the deen seriously. This is the opportunity — if never before — that we start studying the deen, gain knowledge about the deen, so that we can speak to people in an educated manner. We can actually dispel the myths that people have and all of the misinformation that is being spread. This is an opportunity for us to speak up and give da'wah.

Rasulullah ﷺ said:

Glad tidings from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are for that slave of Allah whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes a key to open doors of goodness and a lock for evil.

(Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, al-Tabarani; also cited in Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, Hadith 426)

The best of mankind are those who benefit others. And the best benefit we can give others is that we invite them towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Whose words can be better than the one who invites towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? This is an opportunity for all of us to become that inviter to Allah — for which we had been created, for which we had been sent, for which we had been selected by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, for which we are granted the title:

You are the best of all the nations. You have been selected for the guidance of mankind.

Waking Up from Heedlessness

My dear friends, the reality is collectively as an Ummah, we have been taking things very relaxed. We have been concerned only about our physical needs — and that of our children — our worldly needs, our education of ourselves and our children, our worldly education, our homes, our businesses, our work, our income, our families. But beyond that, we did not necessarily develop a genuine concern for the Muslim Ummah.

And if all of these attacks are happening on the Muslim Ummah, and all of this negative propaganda is being spread about the Muslim Ummah, and the tide is turning against the Muslim Ummah, and if we still do not change our behavior, do not wake up from our sleep of ghaflah — from our sleep of heedlessness — and our lack of concern, our complete apathy to the situation, then:

We cannot blame anyone but ourselves. The matter might go from difficult to worse. What will happen to us then?

A Call to Unity and Action

So let us, inshaaAllah, wake up, make our deen our objective in life, and become committed to serving the deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in whichever way Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes it possible for us. And overcoming whatever differences we have amongst the masajid, amongst the Muslim institutions — uniting our efforts together amongst the Muslims, and also with such non-Muslims who have goodwill for Muslims and who have good intentions and good hearts and good feelings — we also have to unite with them together to speak out against what is happening and to take action.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us tawfiq to make amal, and allow this as an opportunity for us to gain our Jannah, and to become amongst the servants of the deen, and not amongst those who fail in this test and then lose out on their deen.

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan.