"My Ummah, My Ummah" | Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed | Mercy to Mankind 2022

"My Ummah, My Ummah"

Allah says in His noble Book, after seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan:

And on the authority of Zayd ibn Arqam, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him what would save him from the Fire. The Prophet ﷺ said: "By the tears of your eyes" — or words to that effect, peace and blessings be upon him.

My dear special brothers and elders, mothers and sisters in Islam — and especially the students from Michigan Islamic Institute. Miftah gets all the clout — I recognize you guys.

The Visit to 'A'ishah رضي الله عنها

Once there were two great individuals from the generation of Tābi'een — 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah rahmatullahi alayh and 'Ubayd ibn 'Umayr rahmatullahi alayh. They were very fortunate; they got to live in a time where they saw the Sahaba. So they were taking advantage of that opportunity, knocking on the doors of Sahaba, asking them things about the Prophet ﷺ — as all of you are doing today over here. The speakers are coming and you're benefiting. This is something that has been passed on as a tradition from the first day.

So one day their feet fall upon the door of 'A'ishah رضي الله عنها. They knock on her door. They ask her, "Can we enter?" And she says, "It's been a long time since you last came." So one of them, you know, like how the A'ajm say زُر غِبًّا تَزدَد حُبًّا — they tried to throw a sly line in there. They said, "Visit each other once in a while, it increases love." So 'A'ishah رضي الله عنها said: دَعُوا المراطلة — don't say these statements that don't make any sense.

Right, so from this we understand one more thing — for all the youngsters who are sitting here: sometimes we throw in a remark. We don't have to do that. Where were you? You know where I was — I was listening to the speech. I went to visit my teacher in Toronto, and he asked me what I was doing nowadays. I took maybe 60 seconds to tell him what I was doing. I said we have Miftah Institute, we have Munir MI — not more than 60 seconds. He stayed quiet. And after listening, he said, "When elders ask you what you're doing, you don't have to flex. 'We're doing Sheikh Omar, Yaqeen, and this and that' — you don't have to flex." When elders ask you, when your parents ask you, you give them a report of what you're doing, but in a way that you ask them for du'as — "I'm doing this, but this is a problem I'm having" — or ask them for guidance. But you don't have to flex. And I believe he got this from here — from this extra statement she made. She said, "You don't have to say that."

Then they said, "O 'A'ishah رضي الله عنها":

"Tell us the most amazing thing that you've seen the Prophet ﷺ doing." What do we want to know? According to her, in this moment — of course everything the Prophet ﷺ did was amazing; all the different qualities you heard today, they're all amazing — but on this occasion they asked her: "Tell us the most amazing thing you saw from the Prophet ﷺ."

فَسَكَتَت — She stayed quiet. And then she said: "One night, the Prophet ﷺ was sitting next to me. And he said, 'O 'A'ishah, can you excuse me? I would like to worship my Lord.'" 'A'ishah said, "O Prophet of Allah, I want you to stay next to me — I love for you to stay next to me — but I also love that which makes you happy."

This is adab as well. We love something, but giving up what we love for what the other person loves — this is a sign of love. We don't just keep doing what we love. Giving up the things that you love for what the other person loves — she said no problem.

She said the Prophet ﷺ got up, did wudu, and started praying salah. He started crying until his whole beard became wet with tears, as if someone had poured a bucket of water over his head. She said he kept crying until the soil that was in front of him — the earth — became wet. His lap became wet with tears. He just cried so much.

Why the Heart Becomes Hard

Now why was this instance so amazing? The Prophet would cry every night. What made this night different? The Prophet ﷺ was not someone who just cried one night. Crying at the time of the Prophet ﷺ — tears at the time of the Prophet ﷺ — was the norm of the day. Everyone had soft hearts.

Someone asked, "What do you want?" He said, "I wish I could cry so much until a time comes I can no longer cry." Someone asked, "What is the paradise of dunya?" He said, "Crying out of the fear of Allah." A person came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "Ya Rasulullah, how can I be saved from the fire of Jahannam?" He says, "By crying — shedding tears. Because every single time you shed a tear, this makes Jahannam forbidden for you. No water, no body of water on the face of the earth can extinguish the fire of Jahannam, but the teardrop of a believer can extinguish the fire of Jahannam."

So the Prophet ﷺ would cry every night — but why was this crying different? The eyes drying out is a sign that the heart has become hard. The heart becoming hard is because sins are being committed over and over again. Why does a person start committing sins? They forget about death. And a person forgets about death because they think they have a long life to live — so many things left. And this longing, this thinking that we're going to be here for a long time, it comes because a person becomes greedy and desirous of more. And having this desire for more is a sign of love of dunya. And the core of all sins and vices is the love of dunya. So this is something that was not found in the time of the Sahaba — they would cry all the time.

Ummati, Ummati — The Prophet's Tears for His Ummah

But what was different about this occasion? She says the Prophet ﷺ cried and cried and cried so much. And then Bilal رضي الله عنه came to wake him up for Salah. He didn't see that he was crying. He said, "It's time for Salah." And then he saw him crying. He said, "Ya Rasulallah, why are you crying so much? Allah has already forgiven all of your sins." He says, "Bilal, should I not be a slave that's grateful to Allah?"

That same night, in the morning, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and Abdullah ibn Mas'ud — they're both narrators of this hadith. Abu Dharr al-Ghifari says, "Ya Rasulallah, last night I heard you reciting a verse the entire night. You kept reciting it — in your Qiyam, in your Ruku, in your Sajdah. You kept reciting it." And the verse was:

"This verse you kept reciting, and you kept crying" — where 'Isa عليه السلام is saying to Allah: "If you punish them, then they're Your servants. But if You forgive them, then You are Almighty and All-Wise."

He said, "Why were you crying so much?" He said, "O Abu Dharr, I was crying because of my Ummah. I raised my hand and said:

O Allah, my Ummah, my Ummah." And Allah sent Jibreel عليه السلام to the Prophet ﷺ, and he asked him:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 408)

"What makes you cry, O Prophet of Allah?" He said, "أُمَّتِي أُمَّتِي — my Ummah." Nothing else makes me cry. The concern of my Ummah.

If we look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ:

He was always concerned, he was always worried. But his worry was nothing of this dunya, nothing of this world.

My brother Sheikh Abdullah — may Allah bless him — after my brother Sheikh Abdullah passed away, I couldn't smile. I was just crying, sitting in the corner. And he came to me and said, "Listen, you're being very selfish." And I said, "You can call me anything, but don't call me selfish. I don't like being called selfish." I said, "Bajan, why are you calling me selfish?" He said, "The Prophet ﷺ went through much more difficulty than you did, than I did — but throughout the day he would smile, and he would reserve his crying for the night. So smile throughout the day."

Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah says: "Find a friend that will make you smile in the day and will help you cry at night. Find a friend that will keep you happy during the day and assist you in crying at night." Daytime is reserved to be happy — smile.

He says, "My Ummah." And then Jibreel عليه السلام said: Allah is saying:

"We will make you content and pleased with your Ummah — don't worry about it." The Prophet ﷺ says, "Wallahi, I will never be pleased as long as even one of my Ummah is still in the fire of Jahannam."

"I will never be pleased as long as there is even one person from my Ummah in the fire of Jahannam."

The Prophet's Tears — Their Nature and Their Permanence

So the Prophet ﷺ had many different occasions where he cried. If you look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ — you had tears out of the fear of Allah. You had tears when he heard the Qur'an. You had tears in Salah. But the tears that were with him from the moment he became a Nabi to the day he left this world were the tears of concern for the Ummah: "What's going to happen to my Ummah? How can I help them be saved from the fire of Jahannam?" That remained with him throughout his life, and it will continue on the Day of Judgment. The tears of reciting the Qur'an and hearing the Qur'an will not continue on the Day of Judgment. But the tears — "What's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to you all?" — this remained with the Prophet ﷺ.

The Scene at the Ka'bah — Honoring Bilal

The Prophet ﷺ — at the Fath of Mecca — is standing next to the Ka'bah. He says, "أَيْنَ بِلَالٌ؟" Where is Bilal?

Now look — if we analyze the heart of the Prophet ﷺ — he's seeing faces. Those faces that caused him so much difficulty. So on one hand, his heart is thinking: "This person caused me this, and this person caused me that." When Hind came, and she had already accepted Islam, and the Prophet ﷺ was telling them to do bay'ah — pledge upon this and that — she complained to the Prophet ﷺ. She said, "Ya Rasulallah, my husband Abu Sufyan — he's bakhil." The Prophet ﷺ was in the middle of going over the different fundamentals of Deen, and he went back and said, "Are you Hind?" And she said, "Yes." "The one who commanded to kill my uncle?" And she understood from that — because he didn't recognize her before, since she was covered. And she said, "Ya Rasulallah, you already forgave us." And he just took a moment — and then he kept going.

So imagine seeing these people for the first time — some of them he didn't even recognize. I take you to the scene of the Ka'bah. It's a beautiful scene. Sheikh Omar has this beautiful talk about Bilal رضي الله عنه — just one instance from his life. He says, "أُدْنُ مِنِّي يَا بِلَالُ" — "Come close to me, O Bilal." So Bilal رضي الله عنه comes close to the Prophet ﷺ. He says:

"Wallahi, throughout my life I can never forget the days when Quraysh used to punish and persecute Bilal around the Ka'bah." Today he is honoring Bilal next to the Ka'bah. He's come inside with him and they pray Salah.

Abu Sufyan is outside, standing there. And in this narration, Abu Sufyan says to Abbas: "I'm thinking about gathering troops and fighting against the Prophet ﷺ." The Prophet ﷺ comes out of the Ka'bah and says, "إِنِّي أَسْمَعُ مَا تَقُولُ يَا عَبَّاسُ — صُفْيَانُ — I heard what you said, and you're not going to do that." So at this moment, Abu Sufyan's yaqeen became even more firm. He said, "You know what — he's a Prophet of Allah." He put his arms down. Done. He gave up.

So now the Prophet ﷺ tells Bilal to go on top of the Ka'bah to give the adhan. As he's going on top of the Ka'bah, Hisham ibn Harith says:

He said, "Wallahi, I wish I could have died before this day — buried deep in the soil — rather than see this man," calling him al-ghurab — "being elevated on top of the Ka'bah."

Abu Sufyan, when the Prophet heard this, looked at Bilal and said:

"Wallahi, this Ka'bah is very honorable in the eyes of Allah. But wallahi, O Bilal — today you are more honored and have more fadl than even the Ka'bah."

Abu Sufyan and the Lesson of Humility

Abu Sufyan then — this is where I want to draw our attention — says to Abbas: "I want to enter into Islam." He says, "Go to the Prophet." He says, "How can I go to the Prophet with my face? I have done so much." He says:

"If you go to him with truthfulness and sincerity, he will accept you." He says, "But Abbas, what if he doesn't accept me?" Abbas said: "فَقُلْ لَهُ مَا قَالَ إِخْوَةُ يُوسُفَ لِيُوسُفَ — Then tell him what the brothers of Yusuf said to Yusuf." He gave him a strategy.

So now Abu Sufyan goes to the Prophet. Now imagine — the Prophet is Rahim, Ra'uf, Haris — but he couldn't see this person. I have not traveled on between Kamden and 12 Mile on Hoover since my brother passed away there. I have not been on that road again. I always take a detour. I know I won't be able to do it. And this person — he comes, the Prophet ignores him. He comes from the left, the Prophet ignores him. And then Abu Sufyan comes right in front of him and says:

He keeps saying it: "O Muhammad, Allah has given you superiority, Allah has given you preference over us. We were wrong, we were wrong." And the Prophet keeps looking down, keeps looking down. Then:

He raised his head and he was crying, and he said: "O Abu Sufyan, today there is no revenge. May Allah forgive you, and He is the Most Merciful."

The Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgment

The same emotions will be with the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgment. When he will go in front of Allah — before he goes in front of Allah, the doors of Jannah will not be opened until he reaches there. There will be a whole crowd — like there was a crowd for food right now, but much bigger than that. He'll get there. Once he gets there — someone asks, "Ya Rasul, where are you going to be on the Day of Judgment? Is there going to be a specific place for the Prophet on the Day of Judgment?" What the Prophet was doing here — sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — he'll be doing that on the Day of Judgment.

He says, "You won't find me in one place. First try to find me on the Sirat, on the bridge. I'll be there saying:

'Please O Allah, please O Allah — let him pass, let him pass.' وَعَلَى أَخْذِهِمْ بِحُجَزِهِمْ عَنِ النَّارِ — I'll be grabbing you by your waist, helping you. If you don't find me there, then find me at the Mizan — no single spot sitting down. This idea of sitting in one place while everyone comes to you — that's not the Prophet's sunnah. Going to people, helping them where they are. He said, then I'll be at the Mizan, at the scale, helping my Ummah, saying يَا رَبِّ سَلِّمْ، يَا رَبِّ سَلِّمْ — making du'a that their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds. If you don't find me there, you can find me when the book of deeds is being passed out. I'll be saying يَا رَبِّ سَلِّمْ — 'O Allah, my Ummah, please help them, please help them.'"

After his entire hisab is done, the Prophet ﷺ will go to the doors of Jannah. And he will notice that there are people from his Ummah that are not there. So he will go back to Allah. Allah will then tell him: ارْفَعْ رَأْسَكَ — "Raise your head." سَلْ تُعْطَهْ — "Ask and you shall be given. Intercede and your intercession will be accepted." And he will say:

Allah will then give him an allocation: "Take these many people out." He will go and tell the angels, "This is my Ummah — take them out of Jahannam." These people will be taken out. Allah will say to him, "Are you happy?" The Prophet will say, "No, O Allah — I will not be pleased until there is not even one of my Ummah in the fire of Jahannam." And he will do sajdah again, intercede on our behalf again. Allah will then say to him, "Okay — take out anyone who is in the fire of Jahannam that has even a speck, a small amount of iman — مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ مِنَ الْإِيمَانِ." He will go, take them out, and come back.

In this hadith, the Prophet said, فَأَسْتَحْيِي — "I will be embarrassed." But he's not doing it for himself.

My father says something so beautiful: "When a person separates from his loved one for a long time and they finally come back to the same place, the first person you remember is that loved one." So we're separated for two years, three years, and we come back — my father's been away from us, he comes back, he's going to say, "Where's Abdullah? Where's Abdul Rahman?" The Prophet is separated from his family for so long. And when he finally comes to the Day of Judgment — he's not going to ask about his family. He's going to ask about us: "أَيْنَ أُمَّتِي؟" — "Where is my Ummah?"

Allah will then say: "Take out anyone that has even an iota of iman."

Then, Abdullah ibn Abbas says: As-sabiq bil khayrat — the ones who were good and always doing good deeds and always in the forefront — they will go to Jannah bighayr hisab. The muqtasid — the moderate people, the ones who sinned and then did good deeds — Allah will give them an easy hisab. And the ones who were zalim linafsihi — the ones who did bad deeds throughout their life — the Prophet ﷺ will say to us: "I will be there helping you on the Day of Judgment. I will be there, taking you — begging Allah, crying in front of Allah: 'O Allah, this is my Ummah.'"

Finally, the Prophet will come back and say, "Ya Rabb, please — there are still some people in Jahannam who are part of my Ummah." Allah will then say to the Prophet: "Ya Rasulallah, anyone who said لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — take them out of Jahannam and take them to Jannah."

The Prophet's Wafa — Loyalty to His Ummah

Ki Muhammad se wafa tune, to hum tere hain — ye jahan cheez kya, loh-o-qalam tere hain.

The Prophet had wafa — he was loyal to us.

My father said something very interesting. He said: "Just like how it's written how many steps you're going to take in your life, how much food you're going to eat in your life, how much you're going to sleep — it's also written how much you're going to cry, how many tears are going to come out. Now it's up to us where those tears are shed." If we don't cry for the same reason the Prophet cried, then Allah will make us cry for dunya. It has to come out. If we don't cry for the Deen of Allah, out of the fear of Allah, for the Prophet ﷺ, out of love for the Prophet ﷺ — then those tears will come out because something bad will happen in our family, because we'll lose some money, or lose something.

Umar bin Al-Khattab and the Lesson of Accountability

So let us be those people. My father said: "Tell everyone that the purpose of the Prophet ﷺ and the purpose of this conference" — in Urdu is Apni 'oh' hai badalni — "We need to change that 'oh' that comes out of your heart. We need to change that."

Umar ibn al-Khattab was standing and a person came to him. He said, "Umar, I need you to help me out." And Umar ibn al-Khattab was busy doing something. And he said, "Umar, I need you to help me out." And Umar pushed him away. After a few moments, he realized he had done wrong. So he said, "Call him back." The man came back, and Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "Forgive me." He said, "No, I'm not going to forgive you. I'm going to hold you accountable on the Day of Judgment." So Umar ibn al-Khattab grabbed his clothes. He said, "Please forgive me," and he started crying. "Please, please forgive me, please." And the person had mercy on him and said, "Okay, I forgive you."

And then Umar ibn al-Khattab said:

He said, "Wah — O Umar, who do you think you are? You had nothing, you were nobody. Allah gave you respect. What will you say to Allah on the Day of Judgment if He asks you about this person?"

Conclusion — Changing the Cry of Our Hearts

This is about changing the cry of our hearts. The purpose of this conference today is that the cry of our hearts changes — what we are concerned about changes. This was the concern of the Prophet ﷺ. May Allah make us among those who shed the same tears that the Prophet ﷺ shed — for his Ummah, and out of fear of Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ was loyal to us — we should be loyal to him. The Prophet ﷺ loved us — we should love him. The Prophet ﷺ cried because he wanted to meet us — we should cry because we want to meet him. Inshallah, if we are like this, Allah will resurrect us with the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgment.

Jazakallah khair. Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.