Surah Kahf Recitation & Jumu'ah Khutbah | Mawlana Asan Syed | 9/12

Recitation of Surah Al-Kahf

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

First Khutbah: The Purpose of Creation

Every single thing that we have, usually you'll find that there is some type of objective or purpose behind it. There is a function that it's made for, and so long as it fulfills its function and its objective, that thing is kept and that thing has some value to it. This mic, for example — it has a particular function that it's put here for. The moment that it stops working, it no longer retains its value. If someone can fix it, great. If somebody cannot fix it, what's going to end up happening is this will be thrown. Because it no longer fulfills the function that it was made for.

And that's the general rule that you find even in our daily basic life. Anything that we have, it serves some type of function. So long as it carries that function and it fulfills that function, we keep it. The moment it no longer can carry out the function that it was made for, you get rid of it. Something as mundane as a glass — so long as I'm using it, and it can work, I can use it to fill any liquid, great. If it breaks, what do we do? We just throw it out, because it's no longer fulfilling the objective that it was made for. Or something as mundane as a decoration piece. It has a function too. You hang it up on the wall, for example, if it's a painting, drawing, whatever it is. But the moment that it no longer has the appeal that it did when you first got it, or it breaks, or it starts to wear out, or whatever the case may be, you get rid of it. Somebody else finds value in it, someone else feels that it's valuable to them, they feel that it has some function that it can serve for them, maybe they'll take it. But for you at this point, it no longer serves any function — you get rid of it.

Allah in the ayah which I recited says the same thing about the whole creation that Allah created. Do you think that all that We created was for no reason, no objective?

Do you think We created you for no reason, no purpose at all, no function? You have some objective. You as insan have an objective for which Allah created you. And your value will remain so long as you fulfill that objective. The moment you stop fulfilling that objective, or you forget your objective, and the time that We've given to you expires — sorry, that's it. You have time until that last breath, until death, to find out, to figure out your objective and fulfill it. But if you forget and you do not realize that objective, the moment that your soul departs from this world, that's it — you have no value.

But that individual who recognizes his function, who recognizes the objective for which Allah created him in this world, and does whatever he can to fulfill that objective — where he fails, he tries his best to recover, he tries his best to make amends, no problem. And he dies with that perspective that this is my objective, and he continues to work for it, and he dies with that. Then, just because of the fact that he's even trying, and the fact that he did what he could, he has value now. And you see that on the Day of Judgment.

On the one hand, that person who believed in Allah — which is your primary objective, to recognize Allah, to believe in Allah. And that recognition of Allah should lead you to worship Allah. That person who dies in that state will enter into Paradise and will dwell therein forever. That person who failed to realize that objective, who failed to realize the purpose for which he was created, and spent his whole life gathering, spent his whole life for other objectives that were not his objective — that person will enter into the fire of Jahannam. May Allah protect us.

That's why all of the faculties that Allah gave Insan — from his aql, from the eyes that he can see with, the ears by which he can hear, the tongue through which he can speak — all of these faculties that are given to Insan, and the whole world around, is there for you to recognize that objective.

Recognizing the Objective is Not Enough

Alhamdulillah, we as Muslims recognize this — that's not something that we don't know. We come here, we come for Jumu'ah after Jumu'ah, we hear the khateeb speaking and what not. It's not that we don't know this objective. But the question that we have to sit back and think about and reflect on is: where I recognize this is my objective, am I doing whatever is within my ability to fulfill it or not? Am I fulfilling that objective or not? Where is my time, my efforts, my worries, my concerns — where are they going? What am I putting all my time, all my energy, all my efforts in?

That cannot be solved in a 20-minute Jumu'ah khutbah. The khateeb — all he can do is just give tambīh. And I address myself first in this regard, because just because I'm standing here doesn't mean that for some reason I'm out of that or excluded. No, I address myself first. We're all in this.

So in a 20-minute Jumu'ah khutbah, the person who's giving it or the person listening to it — it's not gonna simply solve itself, until we actually sit back and take some time. If we recognize this is something so important, and we recognize that there is a here and now, and a hereafter, and that the implications and the consequences that are going to occur in the hereafter are going to be based on my actions here in this world, then my dear brothers and sisters, it's not enough for a 20-minute Jumu'ah khutbah, even if it's once a week, for us to figure these things out. A person really has to take the time. Think about it. Ask himself: what are the things that I prioritize in life? What am I working towards?

This is not a call for action saying: if you're working, stop working. This is not a call for action saying: if you're with your family, stop being with your families. This is where the life of the Prophet ﷺ sheds light for us. Where the Prophet ﷺ was with his family, where the Prophet ﷺ engaged with the community, where the Prophet ﷺ did so many different things — you see that his whole life, from the time Allah gave him wahi, from that time till his death, is concerned with what? With Allah. And wherever you see his interaction with the Sahaba, you always see that where if at any time a Sahabi even forgets, you see the Prophet ﷺ doing tanbīh, reminding: look, where you're engaging in the dunya, please do not forget about the hereafter. Do not forget about the hereafter. That requires preparation, it requires time. And we have to take time out for it.

Where Are Our Efforts Going?

That's the first thing — we have to recognize how important it is. But all our endeavors, all our efforts, all our thoughts, all our energy — what are they going into? Just for a moment, if you were to simply sit and think: from the time I wake up in the morning till the time that I go to sleep at night, every day, day after day, what am I doing? What am I thinking about? What is my energy directed towards?

The person who's working but works for the sake of Allah — they're getting a reward. But that requires a type of reflection. It requires a person to take a step back and think about it. We all have to sleep — you cannot survive without sleeping. We as human beings cannot survive without eating. We as human beings cannot survive without a community, without people around us, without family. We cannot. That's part of being a human being. There may be rare cases, but collectively and in general, we cannot survive without these things. These are part of our daruriyyat, part of our hajat — things that are part of our needs.

But all it requires is a person to step back and think: if I sleep, am I sleeping for what reason? To simply get back up in the morning to work? Where am I heading towards?

We Will All Be Forgotten — Except by Allah

Sometimes I think to myself, subhanAllah — there will be a day, right? We're all here sitting. There will be a day where you and I are not going to be here. That's a fact. That doesn't require you to be a Muslim to be able to realize that. There will be a day where you and I are not going to be here. We're not going to be sitting here. We're not going to be standing here. And there will be a day where we will become forgotten. That's a reality. We'll be forgotten.

If I were to pass by the grave of my great-grandfather, I probably wouldn't know that that's my great-grandfather there. I just don't know. I don't know where he's buried. I don't know what the grave looks like. If I ever were to pass by the grave of my own relative, my great-grandfather, I would not be able to recognize it. So what tells you and I that whatever I'm working towards will live forever as a lasting legacy? People will forget. We all forget. It's the nature. But Allah does not forget.

That person who in this temporary life does whatever he does, and does it for the sake of Allah — Allah values it. Allah appreciates it.

That person who believes in Allah, who does amal for the sake of Allah, who lives his life for the sake of Allah, and who strives for the sake of Allah — then Allah appreciates it. We're not doing it so that people can see. It shouldn't be that I'm coming for Jumu'ah because it's the cultural norm. If I don't go for Jumu'ah, what is my family going to say? If I don't go for Jumu'ah, my co-workers may say, "Aren't you a Muslim? Aren't you supposed to go for the Friday prayer?" No. I'm doing it because I have to obey Allah.

If I'm waking up for Fajr, I'm not waking up for Fajr because it makes me feel good — although sometimes that does happen. You do an ibadah and it makes you feel good. I'm doing tilawatul Quran because it makes me feel good, I'm feeling some ecstasy from it, I'm feeling some spiritual benefit from it. No — I recite, I fulfill the command of Allah, because I'm a servant of Allah. That is my objective, that is my function. I do it for that reason. Nothing else. Allah commanded it, I do it.

That person, then, who does it for that reason — Allahu Akbar! We can't even imagine the reward that Allah has in store for us. Can't imagine. Though try to — try to. Allah mentions these blessings in the Quran: this is what you'll get, this is what you'll get, this is what you'll get. So think and ponder — my gosh, how will that be? Palaces, mansions, all the worries of this dunya are gone, all the difficulties of this dunya are gone. And now I am in a place where I have Allah's rida, I have Allah's contentment, Allah's pleasure. What will that day be like?

Loving to Meet Allah

One of the students this week recited the hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6507; Sahih Muslim, Book 50, Hadith 11)

"One who loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet him. And one who dislikes to meet Allah, Allah dislikes to meet him."

How? Why would you love to meet Allah? You'll love to meet Allah if you have love for Allah, and you've worked for it. Sometimes it happens — children, students — they do something wrong. They know: if I have to face the teacher, if I have to face the parent, I'm going to have to hear it from them, I'm going to get punished. So they dislike it. The teacher walks this way, they'll walk the other way. Mom or dad is coming this way, let me go the other way, so that I don't have to deal with it. Why? Because you know you did something wrong, and you're going to be asked about it. So you have this much sharam, you have this much haya in yourself — if I get asked about it, what am I going to say?

Now, I could lie. Sometimes that happens — a person lies. But if there's evidence brought: "Look, on the camera we saw you did this. What are you going to do now? Here, look — this is what you did." What are you going to do? And on the Day of Judgment:

We don't need to bring evidence from other things. We don't need to bring evidence from the ground, although the ground can testify. We don't need to bring evidence from the sky, although the sky can testify. We don't need to bring evidence from other people, although other people can and will testify against you. We will use you — your body, your hands, your tongue, your eyes, your feet — all of that as testimony for you or against you. That's enough, that's sufficient. Man's tongue will testify against him. His hands will testify against him. His feet will testify against him: "Ya Allah, he did this on this day, at this time, using this ni'mah that You gave him." What are you going to do? You're going to try to run away? Try.

Try to escape. Try to escape the dominion of Allah. You cannot escape. You can go to the moon, you can send whatever you want up in space — all of it will still come down into the dominion of Allah.

The Story of the Sheikh and the Sinner

One person came to a Sheikh and said: "Sheikh, I can't stop sinning. I commit sins — what should I do? Please give me some rukhsah, give me some concession that I'm allowed to." He said: "Okay, okay. Go ahead, you can continue to sin — but don't take from the ni'mah of Allah then. If you're going to disobey Allah, then how does it make sense for you to take from the ni'mah of Allah?"

He said: "Oh yeah, good idea." But then, a moment later, he said: "But Sheikh, I depend on the ni'mah of Allah. Which ni'mah am I going to deny?"

"Am I going to give my eyes back? Am I going to give my ears back? Am I going to give my faculties back? The house that I live in? The car that I drive? Am I going to give this back? Sheikh, please give me another solution. I depend on the ni'mah of Allah, I cannot survive without the ni'mah."

He said: "Okay, how about you go to a place where Allah can't see you. Go to a place where Allah won't become aware of what you do. Then go ahead, do what you want." He said: "Oh yeah, good idea. Where am I going to go? Which corner am I going to go to where Allah doesn't see me? Which part of this universe will I go where Allah doesn't see me?"

Can't go anywhere. "Okay, how about this? Why don't you go to a place that doesn't belong to Allah? If you can't go to a place where Allah can't see you, go to a place that doesn't belong to Allah. Then do what you want." He said: "Sheikh, where am I going to go? Everything belongs to Allah."

The dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah. Where am I going to go? Which part of the universe am I going to go? Which planet am I going to go to where Allah doesn't own and doesn't possess that? It's all from Allah.

So the Sheikh said: "Now you have to have some haya. You take the blessings of Allah. You live in the dominion of Allah. You can't go to a place except Allah sees you. Yet you disobey Allah. You commit sins. You disobey Allah."

Priorities and the Bigger Picture

May Allah allow us to realize this. Where we're thinking about macro problems, where we're thinking about global issues — my dear respected brothers and sisters, we're here for a short time. And though responsibilities of different things fall on us, there is a hierarchy to those things. Are we fulfilling those things based on that hierarchy? Am I fulfilling the commands of Allah? How am I with my family? What am I doing? There's a lot.

How can I be thinking about these global issues? It's okay, we should. But if we're not doing these basic things, how do we think we're going to be able to solve larger things? Solving larger things depends on these smaller things.

May Allah grant us tawfiq to understand. May Allah change our ways, so that we prioritize Allah and obey the commands of Allah. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.

Second Khutbah

O beloved brothers and sisters, have taqwa of Allah as He deserves to be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

Know and remember the words of Allah:

"Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given your full recompense on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever is kept away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has truly succeeded. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of delusion."

"This worldly life is nothing but amusement and play; it is the Hereafter that is the true life, if only they knew."

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 53, Hadith 1)

"This world is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever."

Remember Allah, the Most High, the Most Great — He will remember you. Call upon Him — He will respond to you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest. Allah knows what you do. Establish the prayer.

Announcements

Please pass the donation box left to right. Sadaqah wards off calamity.

Our Tafheem weekend program has already started. There are two tracks — a Saturday track and a Sunday track. This is a good opportunity for us to learn our deen, to learn our faith. For those of us who throughout the week were busy, this is an opportunity. A person can take either the Saturday class or the Sunday class. In fact, it's very flexible — each day, for each track, there are three classes, but a person has the opportunity to take one, or two, or whatever they can. There's a lot of flexibility. I highly encourage all of us to participate. We should know the basics of our faith, the basics of our deen. This is a very good opportunity by which we can learn that.

We have our weekly programs as well. On Tuesday, we have our Tafseer. On Thursday, we have our Shama'il Muhammadiyyah program, conducted in Urdu. Both are after Maghrib salah.

We also have our Team Fajr series, covering the lives of the Sahaba رضوان الله عليهم أجمعين. Please join us for that as well.

Tomorrow we have a Sisters' Part-Time Program with different classes. You can look online. There is a Riyad-ul-Saliheen Hadith class online on Wednesdays, a part-time Hifz program online, and a number of other classes with flexible timing, taught by experienced teachers. You can go to masjids.org/seminary — Sisters' Part-Time — to get more details.

We also have a Sisters' Urdu Tafseer on Wednesdays.

Next weekend, we have our Annual Seerah Conference — Friday, September 19th and Saturday, September 20th. The program will start Friday evening and continue on Saturday. This is a good opportunity for us to learn about the Prophet ﷺ. The focus of this year's Seerah Conference is on how the Prophet ﷺ engaged and interacted with different individuals — how he treated his family, his companions, animals, and so forth.

Please also save the date for our Benefit Dinner: Saturday, October 18th at 6 PM at Shalimar Banquets. You can purchase tickets here or go to masjids.org/benefit.

And we have our du'a requests. For all of our individuals within our community who are ill — may Allah grant them shifa. Those who have passed away — may Allah forgive them and grant them Jannatul Firdaus. And for all of the Muslims globally — may Allah relieve them, aid them, and remove their difficulties wherever they may be, whether it is in Gaza, in Syria, in Lebanon, or wherever they may be. This is something that should pain us.

The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. So from the bottom of our hearts, we make du'a that Allah aids them, provides them with help and assistance. JazakumAllahu Khayran.