The Mercy Of Differences And Islam's Unbreakable Foundations

Opening Praise and Quranic Recitation

الحمد لله، الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين، وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين، ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين. أما بعد، فقد قال الله سبحانه وتعالى في محكم تنزيله:

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم، بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3535; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2286)

The Greatest Gift: The Kalimah

Amma ba'd, my dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has granted us the gift of iman. He has granted us the gift of being in the masjid for the prayer of Jumu'ah. Many, many blessings Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us — too many to count, too many to enumerate.

But the initial blessing, the initial blessing of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — what separates us, what divides us, what separates us and the disbelievers — is the blessing of this kalimah:

This is the single thing. It's the bridge between the disbelievers and the believers. One could live a life however he wants, and at the end of his life he is given the tawfiq to read this kalimah — he is granted his Jannah. And one could live a life of piety, of righteousness, of salah and zakah and saum, all his life spent in the ibadah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and then right before he is on his deathbed, right as he is about to take his last breath, he loses this kalimah — he loses the understanding of this kalimah, he loses belief in this kalimah — he is damned to eternal hellfire, eternal suffering.

That's the difference. Us and the disbelievers — this is the difference. We have this kalimah, لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ, and they do not have it.

Differences Within the Muslim Community

Now, what I wanted to speak about today is differences amongst the Muslim community. There are so many differences. Many people have different interpretations, many people have different ideas, different methodologies, different understandings of certain things. And we welcome these differences. Nabi ﷺ has mentioned in a hadith:

(Reported by al-Bayhaqī in Al-Madkhal; commonly cited among scholars of hadith)

"The differences amongst my ummah — this is a mercy from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala."

Why did he say this? Because not everyone can stick to specific things all at once, all the time. There must be, there are different ideas. People have different understandings. Their brains work in different ways. They come to different conclusions. And as long as these conclusions are sound, and as long as these conclusions follow the principles of Islam, follow the fundamentals of Islam, then we welcome these things.

We have the four madhabs of fiqh — the Hanafi, the Shafi'i, the Maliki, the Hanbali. There is respect amongst all four madhabs. You will not see anyone from any madhab bashing someone else for their beliefs, for their ideas, for their understandings in the furu'at of the deen. And then you have differences in madhabs, in aqeedah — we welcome all of these differences. The Ash'ariyyah, the Maturidiyyah — we have all of these differences and we welcome them. We understand that they are necessary. We understand that they are a mercy from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Line That Cannot Be Crossed

But my dear brothers and sisters, there is a limit. There is a limit to how far these differences can go. There is a limit, there is a line that we cannot cross when discussing these differences. There is a line that we cannot accept. And that line is this kalimah. This kalimah is the line. This kalimah says لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ. And the fundamentals of the deen — these are the lines that we cannot cross.

Those differences cannot simply be stated as: "Oh, you know, this guy has a difference of opinion — it's fine, we accept everyone, we understand everyone, everything is all good." It's not good. If these fundamentals of the deen are not followed, then this is not a difference of opinion — this is a difference of religion.

Those people who follow the fundamentals of the deen, the fundamentals of Islam — those are what we call the believers. These are the Muslims, these are the muslimeen. And those who stray away from this — anything to do with the fundamentals, if they stray away from these things — then these people cannot be called believers in Islam. Because Islam is a totality. It's a concept, it's an understanding, it's a lifestyle, it's a worldview. So if you cannot submit to that worldview — the fundamentals of that worldview — the small things, the differences in the small things are acceptable, but if you cannot accept the fundamentals of that worldview, then you cannot be part of that category. This is clear. This is apparent.

The Finality of Prophethood: A Major Issue

And one of the major problems that happened during — and after — the life of Nabi ﷺ, and now throughout time, one major issue that has happened is the last part of this kalimah: مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ — the denial of the finality of Nabi ﷺ, of the finality of his prophethood. This is a major, major issue. And people are falling to it, people are succumbing to it now more than before.

And this is not a new issue. It's not something that we're facing that Nabi ﷺ and the Sahabah didn't face. It's not something that we don't have an answer for. Everything that we go through in our lives, everything that we see — the answer is in the deen, the answer is in the Quran, the answer is in the life of Nabi ﷺ. It's always there. And for this, it's no different.

Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab: A Historical Precedent

We see that this also occurred during and after the life of Nabi ﷺ. There were men after Nabi ﷺ who claimed — who accepted Islam in the beginning, and then towards the end of his life or after his life — they claimed prophethood. This is documented in Islam, well known.

One of those people — we know his name to be Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab. Al-Kadhdhab was given by the Muslims to show that he was a liar. So what happened was that he came during Nabi ﷺ's life in a group of three people, and they all accepted Islam, and then they went back to their tribe and they converted their tribe to Islam. All was good, everything was good. After the life of Nabi ﷺ, this man began to claim prophethood. He said that he was receiving revelation from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He changed the deen — he said that there were only three salats during the day. There were many things that he did. He claimed that he was the final prophet, the next prophet after Nabi ﷺ.

So what happened? The Muslims, they understood. There were some people who fell for his trap, but the majority of the Muslims — the Khulafa, Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu — they knew that this was something that they had to stop immediately, before it grows, before it spreads into a disease: people doubting the finality of Nabi ﷺ. So he dealt with it immediately and swiftly, in the Battle of Yamama, where many Muslims were killed. And also Wahshi radiyallahu anhu — he was the one who finally killed Musaylimah. And we know Wahshi as the one who also killed Hamza radiyallahu anhu. So when he killed him, when he killed Musaylimah, he is reported to have said: "With this spear I have killed the best of men and the worst of men."

Other False Claimants to Prophethood

This is how they dealt with this issue during the time of the Sahabah. And there were many false claims to prophethood. People like Al-Aswad al-'Ansi — dealt with in the same way. People like Sajah — she was a woman who claimed prophethood at the time of Nabi ﷺ. And what she did was she actually married Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab, and after he passed away she realized her error and she converted back to Islam.

But what I'm trying to show here is that this is not something that's new. It's not something that we don't have precedent for. And these differences, these different ideas, cannot be tolerated — they have to be immediately dispelled with reasoning and understanding.

The Quranic Proof: Khatam al-Nabiyyeen

In the ayah that I recited in the beginning, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala clearly says in the Quran:

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here is saying — and this is one of the few times in the Quran where Nabi ﷺ's name is used — He mentions that Muhammad ﷺ is not a father to any of your men. Because we all know that his sons — his three sons — they passed away during his lifetime. So He is saying that he is not a father to any of your men, any of your people. And He says: however, he is a Messenger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and he is the seal, the final prophet. وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is All-Knowing.

The context behind this ayah is mentioned in many works of tafsir. It is mentioned that the reason مَّا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِّن رِّجَالِكُمْ is mentioned is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ordained it in this manner, because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knew that if Nabi ﷺ were to have sons, were to have people who were after him — people of his blood, people of his lineage — then either of two things would happen. One: people will assume them to be prophets, people will elevate them to the level of prophethood. This could not happen. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ordained it in such a manner that this was immediately dispelled — this couldn't happen, because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not allow any of Nabi ﷺ's sons to survive.

And some of the mufassireen mention that if Ibrahim — the son of Nabi ﷺ — if he had survived, then he would have also been a prophet of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has ordained His religion in the best way, in the perfect manner, to erase any rumors, to erase any issues that might come up.

The Meaning of "Khatam"

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions clearly in the Quran: وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ — He is the seal of prophets, He is the final prophet. And many say that Khatam al-Nabiyyeen could mean "a stamp of prophethood" and not "the seal, the final prophet." But this is a clear misunderstanding, a misquoting of the Arabic language. Because we see throughout the Arabic language, in all of the books of translation, all the dictionaries, that khatam is referred to as the seal — a seal that is meant to close off an envelope, is meant to close off a letter. And more than that, it's not just a seal — it's meant in the meaning of something that's final, something that comes at the end, something that finishes something else. So this goes against all of these dictionary definitions of the word "seal."

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions this word in many other places in the Quran:

We know this ayah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is mentioning that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has closed, has sealed their hearts — "seal" in the meaning of closing their hearts from receiving guidance. So this is clear: that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in the instance of وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ, is showing that Nabi ﷺ is the final messenger, is the seal of prophethood. Nobody can come after him. There will be nothing after him.

And we know that Nabi ﷺ is mentioned in other places in the Quran as رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ — he is a mercy for all of mankind. All the prophets that came before Nabi ﷺ were sent to specific tribes, specific nations, and they were only meant to guide that nation. Nabi ﷺ was not that type. Nabi ﷺ was sent as a guide for all of mankind to come afterwards — not just a specific nation, not just the Quraysh, not just the Arabs. He was sent as a guide for all believers, for all people to come after him. So this can only happen if he is the final Nabi, the final prophet. He was different than the rest — he was the greatest prophet and the final prophet.

Prophetic Hadith: The 30 Liars

In many ahadith, Nabi ﷺ mentions this concept. And one specific hadith that is relevant to us — it explains why these ideas come up, how these things happen. Nabi ﷺ mentions in the middle of this hadith — not the entire hadith, the entire hadith is very long — but in the middle of the hadith, Nabi ﷺ mentions:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4252; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2219)

Nabi ﷺ is telling us what's going to happen later on. He is foretelling the future and he is telling us that there will be in my ummah 30 individuals — 30 liars. He says: كَذَّابُونَ ثَلَاثُونَ — 30 liars. All of them will claim that they are prophets. All of them.

وَأَنَا خَاتَمُ النَّبِيِّينَ — clear, simple. How can you misinterpret this? How can you say this means "the stamp of prophethood" over here? The context of the hadith is mentioning that there will be 30 individuals who will claim prophethood after me — وَأَنَا خَاتَمُ النَّبِيِّينَ — "rather, I am the seal, the final prophet." It's clear within the context. If you take a look at it, there is no way to misquote this, there is no way to misunderstand this.

أَنَا خَاتَمُ النَّبِيِّينَ — in this instance he is saying that he is the seal of prophethood, he is the final prophet. And he is telling us what's going to happen. There will be 30 individuals. And he says: لَا نَبِيَّ بَعْدِي — there is no prophet after me. Again, clear.

وَلَا تَزَالُ طَائِفَةٌ مِّنْ أُمَّتِي عَلَى الْحَقِّ — and there will always remain one group of my ummah that will remain on the truth. And nothing can harm them until the matter of Allah, until the Day of Judgment. There will be one group of my people who will remain on this haqq, who will remain on this understanding that I am the final prophet.

The Parable of the Brick

In the hadith that I recited in the beginning, the Prophet ﷺ mentions:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3535; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2286)

The Prophet ﷺ over here is giving an example, a parable. He is saying: the example of me to the other prophets, the likeness of me to the other prophets that came before me, is like that of a man that builds a house — كَمَثَلِ رَجُلٍ بَنَى بَيْتًا — a man that builds a house. فَأَحْسَنَهُ وَأَجْمَلَهُ — and he builds an amazing, beautiful house — إِلَّا مَوْضِعَ لَبِنَةٍ مِنْ زَاوِيَةٍ — except one brick, one corner. There is one brick that's missing.

فَجَعَلَ النَّاسُ يَطُوفُونَ بِهِ وَيَعْجَبُونَ لَهُ — so obviously people see this beautiful house, they come around and they look at this beautiful house and they're amazed by it. وَيَقُولُونَ هَلَّا وُضِعَتْ هَذِهِ اللَّبِنَةُ — but they say: "What's with this one missing brick? One missing end — the corner is missing. Why is that?" Obviously people see this beautiful house and they wonder: why is this one brick missing?

So the Prophet ﷺ is saying: my likeness to the other prophets that came before me is of that brick. He says: فَأَنَا اللَّبِنَةُ — I am that brick. وَأَنَا خَاتَمُ النَّبِيِّينَ — and I am the seal of prophets, I am the final prophet. Clear again.

The Prophet ﷺ is telling us that the prophets that came before him — it's like they're a house. The example of them is like a house that's built beautifully, but that one brick is missing. And I am that one brick, that final brick, to complete, to seal off, to complete prophethood. Now there's nothing that's going to come after me — that the Prophet ﷺ mentions clearly.

The Solution: Education

And the way to dispel these rumors — and why these rumors have spread, why these ideas have spread amongst the community these days — is just one simple issue: it's just education. People don't know, people don't understand. These people, these factions, these groups — they don't understand, they don't know who they are. So when someone comes to you and starts explaining to you concepts that you've never heard of, concepts that you don't have any background in, it's easy to fall for their issues, it's easy to fall for these traps, it's easy to fall for these ideas.

But education is the answer. We have to educate ourselves and educate our children on these matters. It's very simple — these matters are easy to comprehend, easy to understand. Education at an early age, even in later ages, can help slow the spread of these issues. And that's all we can do — we educate ourselves and our children and the people around us with these issues. And we teach them the arguments and the answers, the counter-arguments for all of these issues.

And I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us the tawfiq to understand these issues, to understand Nabi ﷺ's mission and his finality and his prophethood. Inshallah.

Announcements

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously. And please do not park on the curbs behind the seminary building or the Swift Highway. We have additional parking spaces in the used car lot, and please do not park in the condo's parking lot as well.

Tonight the Road to Ramadan series will continue — Ramadan Reflections of our Pious Predecessors — inshallah it will continue tonight after Isha salah with Mawlana Farhan Sharif.

The girls' youth halaqa — Soulful Chats — will be on Saturday, February 10th, between 1 to 4pm.

There is a weekend in-person workshop on the Islamic perspective on relationships, and the location will be the seminary sisters' prayer hall.

Please save the date for the No-Tech Retreat 2024 — Unplugged: Connecting with the Creator — this will happen on the weekend of February 17th to 18th with Sheikh Zakaria Patel, Imam of Masjid Taqwa in Toronto.

The Weekend Islamic Studies Program — Spring 2024 enrollment is open. Classes are online and on-site every weekend, with a Saturday track and a Sunday track. Inshallah you can enroll at masjidds.org.

Join us for our weekly programs: Team Fajr will continue tomorrow. Saturday Fajr iqamah at 6:15. Tafsir of Surah al-Qasas will continue every Tuesday after Isha salah. Weekly Salawat and Khatirah every Thursday after Isha salah.

Sisters' programs: there is an online weekly Tafsir in Urdu on Thursdays from 12 to 1pm — register at the Masjid DIAS website. The monthly dars is on the first Sunday of every month followed by lunch from 12 to 2pm. The upcoming dars will be on February 4th.

Du'a Requests

Inshallah, we can make du'a for all the Muslims in Palestine — may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant them victory and grant them sabr. The mother of Abdullah Muhammad is in ICU — please make du'a for her recovery. And Dr. Shahid Mumtaz is very sick — inshallah we can make du'a for his recovery as well. And for all of those who have requested du'as, inshallah.