Mamdouh Mustafa

Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

All praises due to Allah. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon his Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم.

The Gift of Understanding

My dear brothers and sisters, we live with the Quran, the book of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Reflecting on it, learning from it, implementing the ayat or intending to implement its ayat and the lessons that which is valid for every place, every time, every person regardless.

But we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى - the most important thing, the most important tool, the most important gift that we need to ask Allah for is al-fahm, ni'mat al-fahm - that Allah عز وجل give us the ni'mah, the bounty, the favor of understanding.

So we ask Allah عز وجل to give us the fahm, to give us the ilm and say, "O Allah, increase me in knowledge."

The Humility of Ibn Taymiyyah

Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, used to say: "I used to read in the ayah, a hundred interpretations which didn't heal my illness until I went and prayed and supplicated to Allah and I rubbed my face in the dirt and said 'O Allah, O teacher of Adam, teach me and O understander of Sulaiman, understand me' until Allah عز وجل opened."

One of the great scholars of Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, he says that when I prepare for a lecture about tafsir, I read in the tafsir of one ayah, one hundred tafsirs - one hundred tafsirs, one hundred interpretations, one hundred explanations of scholars before me.

You see the humbleness, subhanAllah. It is one hundred. Now we have mashallah Ibn Kathir in your library, you think you are Shaykh Al-Islam himself.

So he says, "I read a hundred tafsirs of scholars before me and it does not give me that satisfaction that I understood what Allah wants. I still feel that there is something missing." So he says, "I go and pray to Allah عز وجل and I put my face down in the dirt and I ask Allah, 'O Allah, you are the one who taught Adam. Teach me, teach me. You are the one who gave the understanding to Sulaiman عليه السلام to solve the case. Please give me the understanding' until Allah عز وجل opens the gates of His mercy."

True Understanding

And the fahm, or the understanding, enables you to make sense out of all what you read. You can read good, alhamdulillah, you can have information, great. You can see what is happening around you. But to make that relationship between the ayat of the book of Allah, the sunnah of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, and you look around you and say, "Oh yeah, this is what Allah is saying. Yeah, this is what Rasulullah referred to. This is what I need to do based on this." That is understanding. That is understanding.

And this cannot come without ilm, without knowledge.

Lessons from the Stories of the Prophets

The Conversation of Ibrahim with His Father

We look at the Quran, as I gave previous khutbah here about the conversation of Sayyidina Ibrahim عليه السلام with his father. Remember, we talked about that - Sayyidina Ibrahim عليه السلام with his father and how can we relate to this with our children, boys or girls. Father and daughter, father and son, mother and son, mother and daughter - how you make that conversation.

And not necessarily everything right has to come from above down. Not necessarily father's instruction is always right. Not necessarily because the child is young means they cannot advise their parents. See, now we can relate to the ayat of the Quran.

The son is telling his father, "Oh my father, I have some knowledge that you don't have access to. So follow me, I'll guide you the straight path." There's a son saying to his father. How many sons we raised in our community who can say that to their parents? And how many parents who can accept that if there is a son or a daughter like this?

And we have by the way, we have in our community sons and daughters who have some knowledge that me and you don't have as parents. But are you willing to ask them for it? And when they say it, are you willing to follow them? Like you get your new iPhone and you say, "Son, please set it up for me." But do we have someone like that for the deen of Allah عز وجل for the da'wah of Allah that we learn from story like that?

The Story of Musa and His Preparation

Another story, the story of Sayyiduna Musa عليه السلام. We talked about that before also. The story of Sayyiduna Musa عليه السلام when he is asking Allah سبحانه وتعالى for the list of needs that he have that he wants when he realized the responsibility. When Allah told him that I chose you:

And in the other recitation, the recitation of Hamza:

"We chose you, ya Musa, so listen to the revelation."

So now Musa عليه السلام realizes how big is the responsibility and I cannot do this by myself. You see, this is a lesson here.

So once Sayyiduna Musa عليه السلام - "What is in your hand?" "Oh, it's a stick, throw it." "It's a snake, pick it up." "It's a stick again." "What is in your hand? Go to Fir'aun." Whoa! Now there is a serious deal now.

First Request: Comfort and Peace

I need that now. Number one need I have, I need from you ya Allah, is to make me comfortable with this. Many duties you can do just because you don't have an option. You go to your job, you get an assignment but you just do it anyways. But in the deen of Allah, teaching the deen of Allah, you need to be comfortable with it.

And that's what we tell all the sheikhs and imams and all that - you have to love what you're doing because lots of problems are gonna come your way the minute you open your mouth.

So follow Sayyiduna Musa عليه السلام. And this was revealed to who? This story was revealed to who? To Rasulullah Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. Why the story of Musa is mentioned in the first place? To give tasliyah linnabi صلى الله عليه وسلم - to give comfort to Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. And anything giving comfort to Rasulullah should give me and you also comfort as well.

So, first lesson 101 in da'wah: you have to love what you're doing. It's not for show off, it's not for bragging, it's not for getting privileges. No. He said, "My Lord, open my chest."

And when Allah Almighty wanted to remind the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he said, "Didn't I open your chest?" Before anything, he was a small child. "Didn't I open your chest?" First thing, before da'wah. Before you receive, you have to open your chest.

So whoever Allah wants to give him, He opens his chest to Islam. First thing - comfortable with what you do. That's why Allah عز وجل, when he wanted to remind Rasulullah Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم with the favors he did with him, there is a surah called Surat al-Sharh. First thing Allah said, "Alam nashrah laka sadraka? Didn't we, ya Muhammad, expand your chest?"

That's why Rasulullah became very lenient: fabima rahmatin minallahi lintalahu walaw kunta faddan ghalid alqalbi lam faddu min hawdaka - with the rahma of Allah, you became lenient in the heart. And if your heart is horrid and your manners are rude, nobody would be around you.

So first you have to be comfortable, at peace with your own self giving the word of Allah عز وجل.

The Importance of Prioritizing Allah

That's why we tell people, you wanna memorize the Quran? You have to be at peace with that first. You're not gonna memorize the Quran otherwise. You have to be at peace that this is something that you want to achieve in your life before anything else.

My advice to you - before anything else. And literally I mean it - before anything else. You want to serve the book of Allah? It has to be before anything else. Anything else.

Many things are important - the money, the life, the medium to deliver. All of that is important. But what comes first is I'm doing this for Allah عز وجل and I love it, and I want it, and I need it, and nothing is gonna stop in my way. You have to be at peace first.

I want to be at peace first with it.

Second Request: Making the Path Easy

Now you have that. You got that. You need Allah to make the path paved and smooth in front of you. You're ready now to drive but the road is not ready.

And only you Allah will make it easy. Why? Because Allah عز وجل says:

Allah did not say fasayuyassar, Allah said fasanuyassiruh - "We are the ones who gonna make it easy for him." Whoever gives and fears Allah سبحانه وتعالى.

Are you following brothers and sisters? Follow this logic here. First he wants to be at peace. Second he wants the plan, the road to be easy. That's strategic planning one-on-one for you. You go take courses and pay thousands of dollars, but in Quran, Surah Taha, easy. Easy, you go and study it free of charge. Allah free of charge. And you can make money if you want to take it and make a course of your own.

So, he wants his readiness - that is the empowerment. They say, you have to have motivation. And motivation is internal and external. Internal comes from you. External, the environment around you. Courses, they teach.

So he said, اشرح لي صدري يا رب - I want to be internally motivated. ويسر لي أمري - externally motivated. I want everything around me to make it easy. Easy. I come, I found the class, I found the brothers, sisters sitting. Class, the board, projector. Everything is ready, click, click. Everybody is smooth. Mashallah, alhamdulillah, we've done the course. ويسر لي أمري.

Third Request: The Ability to Communicate

Alright, you are ready internally and the path is smooth by Allah's will. الحمد لله رب العالمين. Now you need the skill to talk.

You can have lots of information but you cannot deliver. You are a very wonderful person but you cannot relate to people. You have many many people who are scholars in their subject. They can write books and they can advise others, but they cannot make a presentation. This is Allah's rizq.

إن الله يوزع الأعمال كما يوزع الأرزاق - Imam Malik said Allah عز وجل distributes the abilities and aptitudes among people like He distributes provision. Someone can talk, somebody can plan, somebody can have a vision, somebody can physically help. Everybody have different things.

So Sayyidina Musa is asking for this ability to make a good presentation:

You have the good classroom, you have the resources, and you love what you do, and everything is easy for you, but you come at the day of the presentation you cannot deliver. You want Allah's help to be able to deliver and you want to be trained for it and you want to do it right.

The Importance of Improving Your Skills

That's why from here I'm advising every single person who is in da'wah - whether you have the skill to speak and persuade people and invite people and convince people, still take some education. Take public speaking courses. Go take public speaking courses. Take some creative writing, reading classes in English. Improve your skill. Know the psychology of the people. Know whom you're speaking to and what would be the best statement.

Allah did not say "We have not sent any prophet except with the tongue of his people" and that's it. You can speak my tongue, I can speak your tongue, but I'm not making sense to you. I'm not making it convincing. That's liyubayyina lahum - you have to make it clear for people so they don't have confusion in their head. So not anybody speaking the language would be effective.

So Sayyidina Musa عليه السلام, that's why he said واحلل عقدة من لساني ليفقهوا قولي - so it's not enough that I can speak fluently, I want their ears also to be tuned to the same channel.

You can have the studio, you love it, good, everything, but nobody tunes to your channel. So what good that program is? What good is it? So there is a review - how many people listen to it? How many followers for that program? It's a good program, the speaker is great, very eloquent, but the program comes at 2 a.m., everybody is asleep, and there is no repetition for it. So what is the point?

So Sayyidina Musa عليه السلام said واحلل عقدة من لساني ليفقهوا قولي.

Fourth Request: The Right Team

Then what comes next? Team. You need the right team with you who supports you. Sometimes people make presentation - one of them is the one who starts, and one of them is the one who delivers the point, one of them is the one who makes the presentation, and one is the one who makes the sales, right? The one who makes the sales cannot be starting - they will lose it. And the one making the presentation cannot be the one who seals it - they will lose it also, right? So each one has to do something.

So teamwork is important. Don't think I am skilled, I am this, I am that. You need support of someone. And that someone has to be so close to you, so like minded to you. It is you having what you don't have. It is you, is like you, but he has the set of skill that will compliment yours. That's why he chose his brother:

So from my family. And then Musa عليه السلام goes even further. He said specifically my brother. So min ahli is the larger one - it can be Bani Israel min ahli, but I want Harun - هارون أخي.

In another surah, Sayyiduna Musa عليه السلام said why. When you read the story of Sayyiduna Musa you can fill the spaces. So there is a conversation there, but in this surah here he is not mentioning the whole conversation.

So here he is saying what - I want support. I want that support to be from my family and specifically my brother who is going to strengthen me. But then in another surah, which is part of this conversation, Sayyiduna Musa عليه السلام says why. Why specifically Harun:

So Allah عز وجل is telling us in another place what is why Sayyiduna Musa chose his brother. He said, "Ya Allah, my brother Harun is more eloquent than me. You chose me for the Risalah for your Hikmah ya Allah, but when we want to deliver, sometimes I speak but I'll get frustrated when people attack me or something like that. They will deny, they will disbelieve in me, then I cannot do more. But my brother Harun has that aspect. He can go on, can go on, can go on until people are convinced. He is truly - yes, I am eloquent, but he is more eloquent and I need that support."

The Importance of Building Leaders

Now understand here is the subtle meaning. Sometimes you are in a position or you are delivering a message or anything, but always we have to be looking for more. I want to deliver more. I can convince ten people, but what about ten thousand? How can this message go more? I know that someone who has a longer breath than me, so he is supposed to be beside me there. I speak and when I stop, he picks up from there.

Actually this is sometimes nice. Even if I can deliver the whole thing, still I need somebody to get in so people have the variety.

So Sayyidina Musa عليه السلام does not only want Harun عليه السلام to be a support. He wants him to be a support as a prophet, as a messenger. So we both become messengers. You see that.

And what does that say to us? What does that say to our leaders? You are a leader, yes, but don't make your life that you are the only leader and everybody around you zeroes on the left. That's not what Rasulullah did with the Sahaba.

Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is Rasulullah. One Rasul only. No Nabi after him. But if Rasulullah is absent from the picture, all of them are leaders. Every single one of them qualified to lead. And that's what they did.

So when you are a leader, you have to empower people around you to become leaders. Let them own the project, the da'wah of Allah عز وجل. I want to teach people to come stand here, deliver better khutbah than mine. And you know when would be the best day? When I sit right there and enjoy the khutbah of one of my students. That is what we need to do like Rasulullah did صلى الله عليه وسلم.

That is your rewarding moment, like a father with a son. Same thing when you are leading somewhere, you have to find this skill that will replace you and take it to the next level, do better than you. Actually my goal is to find that one or two or ten people who are for sure can be better than me and I want them to be better than me. That if I want the da'wah of Allah, really, it's not about me. It's about this place.

This place here, who stands here after me, I am concerned. I want them to be better not lesser. Because if I want them lesser means it's about me now. I want to be the one in the picture. I don't want to be the one in the picture. I want to leave this while there is someone better than me all the time before I even die. And that is the success. That is the sunnah of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

So he wanted his brother to be a messenger like him. And when Allah told him you have to go learn from someone the knowledge that you don't have, he was humble عليه السلام. When somebody asked him عليه السلام, "Is there anyone..." He said, "No." "Is there anybody who is more knowledgeable than you?" He said, "No."

Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said Allah blamed Musa عليه السلام: "How come you did not return knowledge back to me?"

That's why our scholars, my brothers, not only when they don't know your answer for your question - sometimes when you find a big scholar and after they answer your question, what they say? We think only when I don't know, that's what we think. When somebody tells you something. But actually when they give you the full answer and you are satisfied, they said, "Is there anything missing?" Actually they are attributing this knowledge to - it's not from me. Allah knows more. And this is the little that He gives me and I'm giving it to you. That little you need that will satisfy your need, sufficient for both me and you, but it is little compared to the knowledge of Allah, is nothing. That's why we say Allah knows more.

So عليه السلام, Allah told him, "No, there is somebody who has some knowledge more than you." So he goes there and says, "Please accept me as a student." That is the humbleness to knowledge. The other one is empowering the one who supports you to be on the same level.

Imagine a CEO of the company. He upgrades someone and he said, "You are going to be my support. Whenever I make a mistake, correct me." He is a CEO, he is better, but that one there, he feels empowered. He feels good, he loves the company, he loves the business, he loves the concept. He is not looking now - I want to replace him or this. It's not about that now. It's both of us want the success of this business. And when it comes to the da'wah, it's more than any business because the business is with Allah سبحانه وتعالى.

May Allah make us among those who always trade with Him for what pleases Him سبحانه وتعالى.

I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness for me and you.

The Ultimate Goal: Remembrance and Gratitude

Alhamdulillah. Salaatu wa salamu ala Rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa min walahu wa ba'd.

Sayyidina Musa عليه السلام gave the ultimate goal. Why he needs all of that. Why he needs his chest to be ready. Why he needs the affairs to be easy. Why he needs the support and the team. Why he needs his brother to be with him. Why he needs him to be also a messenger. After all of that, he said:

See, I told you in the beginning - Quran has to be number one. If you want Quran has to be number one in your life.

So Musa عليه السلام is saying all of this - that's what I need. But the ultimate goal that I need is to be able to remember you ya Allah. Is to be able to say SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, wa la ilaha illallah Allahu Akbar. To be able to say thank you ya Allah. Whenever I need all of this so I can be able to make dhikr and shukr.

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that all our life is to be able to dhikr and shukr? That's khutbah for today - the importance of dhikr and shukr in your life. All what you do is to be able to say La ilaha illallah. Remember that.

All what I do in this dunya - now this is the mentality we need to leave this place with today - all what I do in this dunya is to be able to say La ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika la. Everything I do - my job, my family, my spouse, my children - all of this just to be able to remember Allah and thank him for his ni'mah.

So don't make your goal to get the ni'mah. Now make your goal to be thankful for the ni'mah of Allah سبحانه وتعالى.

Stories of the Quran for Our Guidance

Stories of Quran like that - story of Sayyidina Musa wa Harun, story of Maryam عليها السلام and Isa, story of Nuh عليه السلام and his son, story of Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and his wife, story of the wife of Firaun, story of Shuayb عليه السلام. Inshallah we talk about this more.

But the real issue my brothers is to relate it to me and you now here, what we do. So today inshallah rabbil alameen we know that all of this life worth nothing if it does not serve the goal of connecting with Allah, to be able to remember Allah at all times. That is the biggest ni'mah of this world.

You need knowledge and understanding all of that and all the tools you have is to serve that goal - to remember Allah. Don't forget Allah عز وجل. We remember Allah and we thank him for the ni'mah.

May Allah make us among the dhakirin. May Allah make us among the shakirin - those who are thankful, those who remember Allah عز وجل.

Ya Allah, we ask you with your names and attributes to make us among the sincere, among the believers, among the pious, among the righteous, among the devout, ya Allah.

We ask you to protect us and our spouses and our family and the Muslim ummah. Ya Allah we ask you to accept those who die innocently with nothing, ya Allah. Ya Allah we ask you to accept that they say la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah all over the world, ya Allah. We ask you to accept them as shuhada, ya rabbil alameen.

Ya Allah we ask you to unite the Muslim ummah.

Ibadallah, inna Allah ya'muru bil-adli wal-ihsan wa itaizu al-qurba anha'an al-fahsha'i wal-munkari wal-baghli ya'uzukum la'allakum tazakkaruna.

Aqim al-salah.