Strengthening Your Connection with Allah SWT | Mawlana Ahsan Syed | 11/10

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Strengthening Your Connection with Allah

حَيَّ عَلَى الصَّلَاةِ، حَيَّ عَلَى الْفَلَاحِ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى أَشْرَفِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ، وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ

Allah says in His Noble Book, after أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ، بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ:

The Situation in Palestine

It's been over a month now and we all are aware of the type of situation that is happening in Palestine. I know perhaps every Jumu'ah in most masajid, at least, this is the main topic of discussion. And it's important we ask again and we keep on making du'a that Allah assist and help our brothers that are there, whatever they're going through. Those who have passed away, Allah grant them the rank of shahadah.

Again, what happens is in these situations you have different individuals, different perspectives, different backgrounds — not sure how to react. Some individuals, they've been watching the videos and they've watched it so many times that they're actually saying that we feel desensitized now — we feel desensitized to whatever we've been watching. It's not affecting us. When the first images came out and we saw it, we felt like crying, we were in pain, but now we don't feel that anymore. So they become almost apathetic.

There are some who are just still in such depression, seeing it again and again — they're just in such turmoil. And it's true. A couple of days ago I saw somebody sent a video on WhatsApp and I decided to watch it, and then what happens is you have another video that pops up and then you have another video, and it gives you your feed according to whatever you're watching. So then one after the other, and time just goes by, and all you feel at the end is just this feeling of sadness and pain and not knowing what to do.

So depending on where we're at, we have to look at the situation, we have to look at ourselves, and we have to figure out what is the best course of action. For those who are apathetic or those who are becoming apathetic, keep in mind that we're aware of what's happening — we don't need to spend so many hours looking at these videos, because it doesn't seem like it's becoming very beneficial for us. We know what's happening. If a person just spends a little bit of time and they're seeing what's happening, it's enough. Looking at one video after the other — if it's desensitizing a person — it's better not to.

Instead, that same one hour that a person spent watching videos — had he sat, made du'a, recited Qur'an — that would have perhaps been better for him. Because the more videos that a person watches, what is it? After each video, were we able to do something? Did we do anything? In fact, what happens is sometimes when a person falls into a state of emotional depression and sadness, they actually no longer mentally and physically have the strength to do anything anymore. They feel so down afterwards that they don't have the strength to actually do anything productive anymore. It's not that we're unaware of what's happening — we're fully aware.

Using Our Time Productively

So, one thing is that the time that we have — how do we spend that productively? I think one of those things that we could do is rather than spending hours and hours, perhaps using that time, utilizing that time in doing the ibadah of Allah. In the Qur'an, Allah says:

Allah doesn't change the condition of the people until the people change themselves. And so that should be our goal. How can I improve? How can I improve my connection with Allah? How can I use this time, this moment to draw closer to Allah? Whatever is in my capacity — what can I do?

Alhamdulillah, many individuals in our community have reached out to politicians, have written to them, have called them, and alhamdulillah it seems like there's a little bit of benefit that that's bringing, and we make du'a.

Allah has the Qudra over everything. Within our means, whatever we have — that's what we try to do.

The Story of the Imprisoned Shaykh

I remember reading a story about one Shaykh in the past who was imprisoned. His individuals that were in prison with him used to see and observe that every Friday he would take a shower — however the facilities were in that prison — he would take a shower, he would wear his clothes, and he would walk to the entrance of the prison. He would stand there for a couple of minutes and then he would go back to his cell. Every Friday they saw this happening.

So at one point in time, one of his prison cellmates asked him: "We see you doing this every Friday — you take a ghusl, you wear your clothes, and then you just walk to the entrance, you stay there for a couple of minutes, and then you walk back." He said, "Allah Ta'ala commands me:"

"That when the call towards Jumu'ah prayer is given, then strive, rush towards the Jumu'ah prayer. So this is all I have in my capacity that I could do. I could take a ghusl, I could do that. I could walk to the door. Now if Allah Ta'ala wants and makes the order that these doors open and allows me to walk out for Jumu'ah, I'll go. But this is the extent of what I could do, so this is what I'm doing. The rest is up to Allah. But I am doing whatever I can — whatever is within my capacity that I've been ordered to do."

Lessons from Islamic History

These incidents, these types of trials the ummah faces — because of our lack of awareness of our history, our own history — sometimes we think that this is perhaps the only time the ummah has ever faced something like this. And that's just not true. The ummah has faced great disasters in the past. Again, this is not to downplay in any way, shape or form what's happening, because sometimes some individuals hear this and they think that we're probably downplaying this. The intent is not to downplay in any way. But it's for those people who are feeling so down and so depressed that they cannot get up and do anything and they can't even do the ibadah of Allah — it's for them to understand.

Wāqi'at al-Ḥarrah and the Trial of Madinah

One of the incidents that has happened in our history is commonly known in the books of tarikh as Wāqi'at al-Ḥarrah. Many sahabah were alive during this time. In Madinah Munawwarah, Hajjaj ibn Yusuf — under the ruling khalifah of that time who was Abdul Malik ibn Marwan — he sent him as the governor to take back control of Mecca and Madinah. Why? Because both of them were now under the rule of Abdullah ibn Zubayr رضي الله عنه, who was a sahabi, who was the son of Asma رضي الله عنها, the daughter of Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه. His grandfather, from the Asharah Mubashshah, is Abu Bakr Siddiq, Khalifatul Ula. His father is Zubayr ibn al-Awwam رضي الله عنه, who is also from the Asharah Mubashshah.

He was the first child to be born in Madinah Munawwarah from the Muhajirun — the first child to be born in Madinah Munawwarah from the Muhajirun. The Prophet ﷺ, when he was brought — the Prophet ﷺ did his tahniq; he chewed the date in his mouth and put it into the mouth of Abdullah ibn Zubayr.

Mecca and Madinah Munawwarah were under his khilafah at that time. But Abdul Malik ibn Marwan sent Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, and at that time anybody who was supporting Abdullah ibn Zubayr was put to the sword. There was so much fear in Madinah Munawwarah that nobody was praying Salah in Madinah Munawwarah — I'm not talking about any masjid, I'm talking about Masjid al-Nabawi.

And the only person that was in Masjid al-Nabawi at that time was a tabi'i who is known as Sayyid al-Tabi'in — Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib رحمه الله, who is the son-in-law of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه. And he is athbatu al-nasi from Abu Hurairah — in terms of narration, from all the students of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه he narrates the most, because not only is Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه his teacher, he is also his father-in-law. And Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه, as we know, narrates the most ahadith of the Prophet ﷺ.

He was the only person in Masjid al-Nabawi. In his biography, Imam al-Dhahabi رحمه الله mentions in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala that when he was in Masjid al-Nabawi, he would not know the time of the salah except through a voice — a voice that would come from the Rawdah of the Prophet ﷺ. From that he would know it's time — it's time for Dhuhr, it's time for 'Asr and so on. For about 3–4 days, nobody else was in Masjid al-Nabawi.

One day, they finally came to Makkah Mukarramah where Abdullah ibn Zubayr رضي الله عنه was, and they attacked Makkah Mukarramah. It was difficult to attack, so they used catapults — manjaniq — they used catapults to attack. And some of those catapults even hit the Baytullah. They hit the Baytullah. They damaged the Baytullah.

This is one incident that happened early on. Yet subhanAllah — this is divine from Allah, this is taqdeer. What happens? Yet in the same background there are people who are studying their ilm, who are studying, who are learning. Otherwise anyone would look at many occasions within our Islamic history and would have said, "You know what, this is it — this is it for Islam and the Muslims. That's it, they're gone now." In the very heart of the Muslim lands — Makkah Mukarramah, Madinah Tayyibah — this is what's happening. One would have expected: that's it.

Yet subhanAllah, today the Qur'an is still here, the ahadith are here, it's still preserved. There are people who preserved it. There's something going on in the background.

The Hijrah: A Moment of Divine Protection

And you take the hijrah of the Prophet ﷺ himself — his hijrah from Makkah Mukarramah to Madinah Tayyibah. At that time when the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه are hiding in Ghar-e-Thawr, Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه himself says: "I saw the feet of the mushrikeen — had they simply looked down, had they simply looked below by their feet, they would have seen us. They would have spotted us."

If a person were to just take a glimpse of this moment in history — and that's it, not look at anything after that — with all the persecution, with all the types of trials that the Muslims in Makkah Mukarramah are having to face, and just looked at this moment and didn't know anything that happened afterwards, a rational person would have concluded: "This is it. This is the Nabi of Allah with his top-most sahabi, Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه — all they have to do is simply look down, look below, and that's it."

And yet subhanAllah, Allah hid them. Allah Ta'ala protected them. There was something divine happening during this whole time. And the Prophet ﷺ came to Madinah Munawwarah and we know the rest.

The Ayah of the Hijrah — Surah al-Qasas

It comes in the books of tafsir that when the Prophet ﷺ was migrating from Mecca to Madinah, the ayah that was revealed at that time from Surah al-Qasas — Allah Ta'ala says:

"Indeed, the One who mandated the Qur'an over you, He will return you back to your original place." And where — in the longer scheme, in the greater picture — it refers to Jannah, because we are all from Jannah; our father Adam and our mother Hawwa were from Jannah. But at that time, its revelation to the Prophet ﷺ means: "We will return you back to Makkah Mukarramah."

And the beginning of Surah al-Qasas is the story of Musa عليه السلام — how he is forced to be removed from his home. His mother is told:

"We will return him to you. If you fear for your son, put him in this basket and put him in the river — and we will return him to you. Don't worry — وَلَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي ۖ إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ — we will return him to you."

And Allah Ta'ala, in His divine wisdom and divine plan — what happens? We know the rest of the story of Musa عليه السلام. His sister follows and watches. After he ends up in the house of who? The greatest enemy of his — the one who's trying to assassinate him, kill him — and he ends up in his house. And through him, Allah Ta'ala protects Musa عليه السلام.

Not only that — when no one was able to feed this child, Musa عليه السلام's sister said: "I know of a family that can help — they are nasiheen, they are well-wishers of him." And so it comes in the books of tafsir: not only did Musa عليه السلام come back to his mother — they didn't know she was his mother — Fir'awn actually put a stipend for her. He has no idea — no idea — that this is his mother, a mother feeding her own child and receiving a stipend from the royal treasury.

"We return him to you." So, O Muhammad ﷺ, now you're leaving Makkah Mukarramah — don't worry, there's a plan set in motion. We know it; you may not know it. Just know this:

And eight years after that hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ came back to Makkah Mukarramah.

Our Role: Worship, Means, and Du'a

We don't know what the divine wisdom of Allah Ta'ala is. We are servants of Allah Ta'ala. What we are told, what we are commanded to do, is worship Allah Ta'ala. Whatever is within our means, we use those means as directed to us by Allah, and we make du'a — we make du'a, we make du'a to Allah.

Many things we've heard over the past couple of weeks. I remember last week the khatib mentioned about du'a and how we can have effective du'as. We've talked about a'mal. These are times where a person says, "Yes, it's time — I need to do ruju' ila Allah — I do sincere repentance to Allah, I turn towards Allah."

May Allah forgive us and grant us tawfiq, insha'Allah. May Allah again — we make du'a — may Allah have mercy on the people there and may Allah Ta'ala send His assistance, insha'Allah.

Announcements

We can pray Sunnah now insha'Allah. Some announcements — please pass the donation box from left to the right. Donate generously; sadaqah wards off calamities as it is reported.

There is no curb parking — please do not park on the curbs behind the seminary building or on Swift Highway. We have additional parking spaces in the used car lot. Please do not park in the condo's parking lot either.

Jumu'ah times have been changed from today. First Jumu'ah — just for everyone's information — first Jumu'ah is at 12:00 PM for the talk and about 12:25 PM iqama time. Second Jumu'ah will be 1:00 PM English talk and then around 1:30 PM iqama.

Please save the dates for our annual benefit dinner — Saturday, December 9th, approximately 5:00 PM at Shalimar Banquet. It's about a month from now. It's an opportunity for us to support all the work that's happening here. May Allah increase it. These are places and times where, alhamdulillah, these institutions, these masajid, these madaris are means and sources of not only a type of sakinah but also a way for the ilm of the Prophet and the Qur'an to spread into the hearts of all the people. Please join us.

Our weekly programs: Team Fajr will continue tomorrow. Saturday Fajr iqama is at 6:00 AM. Tafseer of Surah al-Furqan continues on Tuesdays after 'Isha salah — 'Isha iqama is at 7:30 PM. Weekly Salawat Khatira every Thursday after 'Isha prayer.

Darussalam Community Center has the following programs:

• Tuesday — Women's Basketball, 7:00–9:00 PM
• Sunday — Women's Badminton, 7:45–9:45 PM
• Sunday — Women's Volleyball, 6:00–7:45 PM
• Wednesday — Men's Volleyball, 6:45–9:45 PM
• Thursday — Men's Basketball, 7:45–9:45 PM

For any further information regarding any of these, the Darussalam website could be visited.

ICN Fundraising Dinner — Islamic Center of Naperville is having a fundraising dinner at Shalimar Banquets tomorrow, November 11th, at 5:00 PM. Construction is in progress for Masjid an-Nour at 248 Avenue — prayer area for about 450 people and parking spaces; project expected to complete towards the end of May 2024 insha'Allah. Please purchase your tickets for that outside.

JazakAllahu Khayran. I request if everybody can move forward — if you see any gap in between, please fill that gap insha'Allah. JazakAllahu Khayran.