The Firm Tree and The Spiritual Heart | Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed

Opening Praise

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Whom the eyes cannot see, nor can the interpreters describe Him, nor can the senses mix with Him, nor can the circles fear Him. He knows the number of rain drops, and the number of leaves of trees, and the number of what the night darkens over Him, and the number of what the day dawns over Him.

You are the rightful of those who worship, and the rightful of those who remember, and the victor of those who seek, and the most merciful of those who are kind, and the most generous of those who give, and the most generous of those who ask.

You are the King, there is no partner for You, and You are the Only One, there is no equal for You. Everything is destroyed except Your face. You will not be obeyed except by Your permission, and You will not be disobeyed except by Your knowledge. You are obeyed and You are grateful, and You are disobeyed and You forgive.

The hearts are open to You, and the secret is with You openly. The lawful is what You have made lawful, and the unlawful is what You have made unlawful, and the religion is what You have legislated, and the command is what You have decreed. The creation is Your creation and the command is Your command, and You are Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, there is no partner for Him, and we bear witness that our master and guardian is Muhammad, His servant and His messenger. Peace be upon him.

Introduction: The Example of the Two Trees

Allah says in the holy Quran — and after I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan, in the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate:

O you who have believed, be steadfast for Allah, witnesses in justice. And Allah says in another place:

Verily, Allah loves the just.

My dear friends, brothers and sisters in Islam, it is very interesting — to say the least — that I am speaking from the minbar of Unity Center but looking straight at a camera. Usually I am honored to come here and hear the beautiful voice of Sheikh Ahmad, and if I'm lucky I get to see Sheikh Muhammad Masmari. But today I'm looking at a camera. Whichever means we have, we still have to convey the message, and we still have to do our job that Allah has entrusted us to do. So we are here today, and hopefully soon enough we will see each other together in the masjid, and I'll be back again with this masjid full again, and see all of you brothers and sisters.

Brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah gives an example in the Quran which today I want to elaborate on. This is the example of the two trees. I will not be able, in my 20 minutes of talk today, to elaborate on all the minute details, but hopefully this example — which focuses on one tree — will give us some perspective, some idea, some background and foundation on how we should live and how we should react within the times that we are living in today.

The Firm Tree: The Parable of the Pure Word

Allah says:

He speaks about the كَلِمَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ — the firm and correct belief that a person has in his or her heart. The كَلِمَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ, which the mufassireen say is لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ, or it could be the knowledge of Allah, the knowledge of deen, Islam itself. The example of this is like a pure tree — كَشَجَرَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ — a pure tree. Not just beautiful, but its roots are pure, the tree is pure, the fruits are pure.

أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ — it is so firm that no wind, no circumstance, nothing in this world can shake it. And because it is so rooted in the ground, nothing can make this tree fall down. أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاءِ — and though its roots are deep in the ground, it bears fruits for those who see the tree. You don't get to see the roots. The roots are firm in the ground. But you get to benefit from the shade of this tree, you get to benefit from the fruits of this tree. And the fruits of this tree are not only yielded in the day — this tree is not seasonal. Rather, you can benefit from its fruits in every season. تُؤْتِي أُكُلَهَا كُلَّ حِينٍ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا — Allah says: the one who wants to benefit from this tree can benefit at all times, whichever season, during the day or at night.

Channeling Our Emotions Towards Justice

When the mufassireen talk about this example they ask: what does it actually mean? Brothers and sisters in Islam, today we are talking about what we have seen in Minneapolis with George Floyd. I don't want to be repetitive — khateebs, lecturers, and speakers have spoken about it, and I recommend and encourage you to listen to them. Imam Zaid Shakir has a very good narrative about this. Imam Dawood Waleed spoke about this many times. Sheikh Omar Suleiman — listen to what they are saying, and I support what they are saying. But I am not going to repeat what they are saying. Rather, I am going to bring a different angle.

I remember when Kobe Bryant died — and again, it has nothing to do with this death because they are two different things. But I remember, as a youngster growing up, I was a huge follower and supporter. I used to model my basketball game off of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. And when Kobe passed away, even though I was a sheikh, even though I had knowledge — it hurt me. To a point where I couldn't leave my house for a few days. It really hurt. The fact that this man passed away in a helicopter crash, and the whole idea of what was going to happen to him in the akhira — it hurt me. And I remember the first khutbah I had to give after that, my teacher said to me: listen, channel that energy. Channel those emotions you have for all those people in the world who are dying. Channel it for them. The sympathy, the tears, the broken-heartedness that you have — channel it and use it for those people as well.

So yes, right now, because of what we have seen — and it is on video — it is not that racism has increased; it is just being recorded now. That is all it is. So we see it live, we are seeing it on camera. Because of that our emotions are stirred up. Let us use this. Let us channel these emotions that we have, stirred up right now for justice, and talk about something else as well.

The Command of Justice in Surah Al-Ma'idah

When we are living in this world, there is this ayah that everyone quotes in Surah Al-Ma'idah. Surah Al-Ma'idah is one of the last surahs revealed in the Quran. يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا comes 16 times in it. Surah Al-Ma'idah speaks to you and I — Muslims who have been Muslims for a long time, born Muslims. It has 16 different commands. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud says: whenever you hear يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا, pay attention, because this is for you. And it talks about details.

One thing we miss out on a lot is this: when Allah says يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ لِلَّهِ — "O you who believe, be those who stand firmly for justice" — the first thing Allah mentions is لِلَّهِ. Don't forget the right. Don't forget that covenant that you have made with Him.

As a human being there is empathy towards those around us — not just humans, but animals. The Prophet ﷺ was walking by and a bird complained about people taking her children. The Prophet ﷺ had empathy towards that bird. We see in the story of Bani Israel that a woman — or in some hadith a man — who showed mercy and empathy and sympathy towards a thirsty dog, got forgiven.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3318; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2619)

We also see the contrary — that a woman in Bani Israel was punished because of a cat. She tied this cat to a pillar. Neither did she feed this cat, nor did she let this cat go outside on its own to fetch food for herself. Because of this lack of sympathy and mercy in this woman's heart, Allah punished her for that.

So the fact is — this is unacceptable. Now when we talk about human rights, Allah talks about one step before that. He says: the first right between you and anybody is the right between you and Allah. In this ayah, Allah says be just — it is nearer to taqwa. And when the Prophet ﷺ spoke about taqwa, where did he point his finger? He said piety is here — it is in the privacy, in your home. مَنْ حُرِمَ الأُصُولَ حُرِمَ الأُصُولَ — a person whose foundation and roots are not strong, what can this person provide outside? What can this person do to bring justice and difference in this world?

Justice Begins at Home

A person who cannot be just and fair with their family — a person who is not just with the rights of Allah — Allah calls us. And I will say this again: listen to Imam Zaid Shakir, listen to Imam Dawood Waleed, listen to Sheikh Omar Suleiman, listen to these other great scholars who are speaking about this. I stand with them. I am not going to be repetitive. But at the same time, when we talk about Salahuddin Ayyubi walking into Palestine as a Fatih after 70 years of oppression — this was not an ordinary man.

When we talk about him, yes he was a great leader, yes he was a person riding that horse — but this man never missed Hajj in his entire life. This is recorded. This man — you know how hard it is to pray with the first takbeer when you are a musafir? When you are traveling you are excused to do jama', and according to some madhabs you are excused to pray two rak'ats. And this person was traveling throughout most of his life, but he still never missed the first takbeer. When we talk about these people — the mercy and the help of Allah came with them because they brought so much benefit to mankind. Because in their homes, in their privacy, in their treaty, in their pact with Allah, they were just.

If we want to bring justice outside our home — are we just inside our home? Are we just with our wives? Are spouses just to each other? Is it justice to walk into our homes after 10 hours and walk in looking at our phones, talking to our wife but on our phone? Is it justice for our parents that children walk into their homes and are more worried about their Instagram feed, Facebook, and Twitter than they are about their parents? Is that justice?

Is it justice that when it is Fajr salah time, we stay up all night playing video games and then sleep at 5 o'clock and miss Dhuhr? Is that justice? Is it justice to put the Quran away after the month of Ramadan, and it is two weeks into Shawwal and we remember that we have not opened the Quran for the last two weeks? Is that justice? Is it justice to pray Taraweeh and nafl in the month of Ramadan and then forget about bowing our head in front of Allah afterwards? Is it just that when Allah calls us towards salah every single day, five times a day, we do not kneel in front of Him? Is that just? Is that justice?

So for us to provide benefit to mankind — there is a proverb in Arabic: a person who is deprived of something cannot give it. If someone is asking you for apples and you don't have any, how can you provide them? So my humble appeal to all of us is to channel this energy. Channel this. When I watch these videos and I am crying and my heart is broken — channel it. First of all, channel this towards ensuring that we are firm on our deen.

If the branch of human rights, or if the branch of financial responsibility, or all those different things that come in Surah Al-Ma'idah — if those branches are cut off from the tree, then those branches are not going to bear any fruits. But as long as they are connected with that tree, and just as strongly as we stand for justice outside of our homes, we stand like that for justice in our homes — then you will see change. Then you will see change.

The Lessons from History: Salahuddin and the Companions

Look at the Sahaba. Look at the Prophet ﷺ himself. How they combated these regimes, and how these regimes and oppressors fell. Before Islam, whenever kings would walk in — look at the Mongols. The Mongolians walked into Baghdad after all those years of oppression. When they finally came to Iraq as the conquerors, when they finally came in as the ones with authority — they did not leave the animals alone. Genghis Khan's son, or one of his relatives, was killed in a city called Kandahar, and he made sure there was a battalion surrounding the entire city. He was coming from a point of authority, and he made sure every creature in that city felt the pain he felt when his relative was killed there.

But that was not the case when the Prophet ﷺ walked back into Mecca from a point of authority. That was not the case when Salahuddin walked into Palestine and how he embraced those who were there. These people were deep-rooted in their faith with Allah. And because they were deep-rooted, Allama Iqbal in Shikwa — and this is a long poem, and I wish there were a translation of Shikwa in Arabic — he speaks about our forefathers. He says: Oh Allah, the companions — our forefathers — were the ones because of whom inequality left the surface of this earth. King Mahmud stood with his servant Ayaz every single day in the same row. They made sajda and there was no such thing as inequality, because these people were just in their homes.

Surah Al-Hujurat: Reconciliation and Community Responsibility

Surah Al-Hujurat — a surah that all of us should read and reflect upon — talks about rights within our family, within our community. Allah says among the people He loves in the Quran, He declares love for those who are fair. And when He talks about this fairness, I want you to read this.

Remember that fruit — that beautiful tree. Does it bear fruits right away? Is it instant gratification? There is a story of a king who was traveling down the road and saw an old man planting an olive tree — just digging up the soil and planting the seeds. Those of us who are farmers and know anything about olive trees know it is not something you can plant and have bear fruits instantly. It will take years before it can give you any benefit. And this king looks at him and says: Brother, one foot is in the grave and one foot is outside the grave, and you are planting an olive tree right now? And you know what that old man said? He said: If the people before us thought like you, then we would never be able to eat olives. The fact is we have to do something for those who are coming after us.

So this is not something that will happen overnight. But the things that we have control over — in our homes, in our relationship with Allah, in that pact that we have — Allah is saying: O believers, fulfill that pact and be just to Allah, with Allah, for Allah. If you want to bring anything into this world, start it in your homes first. Start it in the privacy of our own communities, in our masajid, in our centers. And then of course continue doing what we are doing outside our homes. But never think for one second that if we don't bring it inside our homes it will benefit outside, because that branch that is cut off from that tree will not bear fruits and will not be beneficial.

In that ayah in Surah Al-Hujurat, Allah says:

— then go and reconcile between them. If two brothers in your community, two sisters in your community, two families in your community have a problem with each other — it may not be your problem. It might just be a few people in the back of the masjid who are walking in and you are leading salah and have no idea these two people have an issue. Allah in Surah Al-Hujurat is putting the responsibility on your shoulders.

He is not talking about those two people having an argument. Even the ayah before it:

Allah is not talking about that person who brought the news and how bad he is doing. Rather Allah speaks about how you received the news. There is a difference. How he or she brought it — that is not the point of discussion right now. The point of discussion is: what did you do with the news when you received it? Allah gives clear instructions.

Similarly, Allah is not talking about whether their fight is something petty — "oh you never gave me a wedding gift" or "you never invited me to that wedding" or some business deal that went wrong. That is irrelevant right now. Allah says in this ayah: when two people have a difference of opinion and are not speaking to each other, it is your responsibility. You not being there, you not knowing — that is not an excuse for you not helping. It is your responsibility to find out what is going on, to reconcile, to be the one who puts their head down and works and makes du'a and cries for them to get back together.

I live for moments to reconcile between two brothers, between spouses. To me — and ulema and imams have different opinions — but to me, one of the most joyful moments of my life is if a husband and wife walk to the door with a two-year-old child and a five-month-old in the car seat, and they both cannot get along, and somehow, someway Allah puts the right words on your tongue and it penetrates into one of their hearts, and then you find them three or four years later living happily with another child. That brings joy to your heart — that your words, or something you did — even though it was nothing you did, it was from Allah — because of that, you reconciled.

You cannot say that is not your problem. Imagine if imams and ulema, or marriage counselors, started saying to a husband and wife who walk to the door: "It is not my problem, my wife and my children are perfect." That is the problem with our Ummah today — where we say this is not my problem. This is our problem.

The Prophet ﷺ said that the believers are like one body. If your finger starts hurting you are not going to cut it off. You have to figure out how to help and heal it.

Justice in Our Dealings: A Reflection on Character

And that is why I conclude by saying — as a Muslim community, brothers and sisters — when I was 19 years old I first started working in HR in one of the healthcare facilities in Michigan not far from here. I had a set of questions to ask everyone who walked through the door. I would always ask, when I found out their previous employer: who was your boss there? What was the owner's name? Because it was the healthcare field, and we were raised in that environment, we knew that most of these companies — medical practices, urgent cares, healthcare facilities — are often owned by someone you might know, or a Muslim. So if that person would say the boss was a Muslim, I would always ask: how was your experience there?

You know what is so interesting about the ayah of justice in Surah An-Nisa? Those ulema and huffadh watching will tell us — it is right before the ayah of justice. You see, I would ask: how was your experience there? Wallahi, without exaggeration, 9 out of 10 would say: the worst experience. Horrible experience. It was not a good experience.

Now you and I are going to stand on this khutbah telling people about deen and Islam, talking about da'wah — when that opportunity just slipped through our hands. We were in a position of authority. We could have brought iftars, we could have brought food, we could have done anything. One moment of change.

I remember meeting the most racist people in a bank in a city close by in Michigan. Wallahi, they would hold $10 checks for two weeks. And I said: how can we combat this? Am I going to stand outside reporting them to the authorities? I said, you know what, let us give it a shot. The way to the heart is through the stomach — let us feed them some food. I figured out they take lunch, so we started giving them lunch once in a while. The people of that bank — the tellers, the people there — they started to love Islam so much that every single time something negative happened about Islam in the world, they would ask me to come in at 4:45 before the bank closes and I would sit with them and they would ask me direct questions. And they pledged to me that they would never listen to or hear news about Islam from any other source but me. Just one gesture — it was just food. It might have cost $200. But when I was 19 years old and I heard 9 out of 10 people had bad experiences with their employers or bosses — and it was always: "man, they were so greedy for money, they never gave me any time off" — this is what Allah is talking about in this ayah.

What happened? We failed the society. The Sahaba were fixated on the akhira. They were ready to compromise some dollars of this world. They were ready to compromise the luxury of this world. And because their roots were firm, they were able to benefit those around them. And today, as a Muslim community, we cannot fail the next generation. It is our responsibility.

Conclusion: Water the Roots

We see someone — we see even an animal thirsty — and we feel bad. We see a picture of a thirsty child somewhere across the world and we feel bad. But imagine: if we do not show these people the true colors of Islam, if someone leaves this world thirsty forever in the akhira — then what? That is why it is our responsibility not just to be fighting for justice outside of our homes, but to apply that within our homes, to apply that within our relationship with Allah.

I am not saying start one and then do the other. I am saying do it simultaneously. If Allah is saying don't do this — we know this is wrong, this is unacceptable. But there are things that we are doing that if the Prophet ﷺ were here among us, he would say: that is unacceptable. If Umar ibn al-Khattab were standing here today, he would say: that is unacceptable, because Allah does not deserve that from you. Allah is divine and there are divine rights. If the Sahaba were here today and saw how children are dealing with their parents — those same children who are ready to go out and spend hours on the internet going back and forth with people who are going against their beliefs, but those same children have not had a meaningful conversation with their parents — how is that justice? And how will this child bring justice in the world we are living in? How will this child benefit mankind?

So these two things go hand in hand. The roots are our relationship with Allah and the divine rights that Allah has placed on our shoulders. And once we can start — use this energy that we have, channel it towards there, water that plant as well while we are watering the plant of things around us.

And remember — truly, those people who are most effective, who have the best relationship with Allah and fulfill their rights with Him — those people do not even have to speak. Musa alayhis salam went to the biggest tyrant with no resources but his staff. To a point where he did not even have the resources of speaking, because he would stutter every time he spoke. هَارُونُ أَفْصَحُ مِنِّي لِسَانًا — Harun is more eloquent than me in speech. When Musa alayhis salam asked for Harun, he said: O Allah, grant me the companionship of Harun so he can speak better than me. But who was Kaleem? Harun was fasih but who was Kaleem? Musa was Kaleem — Musa was the one who spoke directly to Allah.

That tells you: you do not have to have anything except get your roots and your foundation down. And Allah will bring the branches out. Allah will bring the fruits out. As long as you keep watering those roots — with you and Allah — people might sit here and say: how can I help someone all the way there? Start doing this and you will see: you will become a benefit while you are living, and after. That person who plants that tree — that tree stays there forever. People still benefit from that tree.

May Allah make us among those who are just with our rights with Allah, who are just with human rights, who apply equality, justice, and fairness in every walk of our life — not one over the other, but every walk of our life. And remember truly: those people who are effective are the ones who have the best relationship with Allah and fulfill their rights with Him. May Allah make us among those who benefit mankind.