At What Compromise? | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed | Friday Reminder

At What Compromise?

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17638)

A World of Choices

Dear brothers and students, this world that we live in is a world of choices. Every single day we're making choices. Small choices, big choices, significant choices, insignificant choices, but every day we have to make a choice.

Either today I will wake up and go to work, or today I will wake up and not go to work. Regardless of the consequences, our life revolves around our choices, and those choices make us who we are. There are choices that are very significant in life, and those specific choices are the ones that dictate our life.

Those are choices that we cannot change in life. Those are choices that we have to sleep at night with. Those are choices that we made to live with — such as the person that we marry, the career that we choose, the job that we have, having children. These are choices that we have to live with: moving to America, leaving our parents back home. These are significant choices that will play out throughout our entire life. And every year, every turn, we will see the positive or negative effect of making that choice.

These are considered to be the prime, the premium choices that we make in life because they decide many decisions of our life. But how about a choice that you and I make every single day that not only decides the outcome of this life that we live in, but also the outcome of the everlasting life of the hereafter?

The Choices That Reach Into the Hereafter

The choice of whether or not I want to come to the masjid is an important choice — the effect of which will not only be found within my life in this world, but will also be shown to us in the hereafter. Making sure my children live with the kalimah in their life is a significant choice, because the effect of that will not only remain while you live or while I pass away, but the effect of that will be truly shown on the Day of Judgment.

The choice of whether or not I choose to come and put my head on the ground for sajdah and make sure that my children do it with me is a significant choice. More significant than making sure they go to school even in COVID, making sure that they have good scores on their SATs, making sure that they get accepted to college, making sure that they get married, making sure that they have a fruitful life to live in this world — more important than that by every degree is the choice of making sure they know that there can be no compromise in their salah. But how can they believe that if us, being the individuals that are preaching it, have nothing but compromise in those things?

These are significant choices. Allowing my family to watch something haram together is a significant choice. Allowing my family to eat haram together is a significant choice. Allowing my family to be indulged in haram together is a significant choice. And these are choices that will remain with us till the hereafter.

Of course, Allah will forgive us. He is Kareem. And these are choices that we all make. And we think that perhaps it's okay — it's okay if my son doesn't know some Qur'an as long as he is able to get a good score. It's okay if I don't go to the masjid because I have to earn more money. It's okay that I have to build a big house so I miss the masjid for 10 years of my life.

At What Compromise?

Dear brothers, the dunya is made for us. It's been made for us. But we have not been made for the dunya. We have been made for the akhirah. This world has been presented on a platter for us. Take what you want — but at what compromise? That is the question. At what compromise?

Will I take more salary but it involves haram? Will I take less but it's halal? Will I treat my children to a beautiful house but built on interest? Or will I treat my children to a house only built on halal? Will I leave watching a TV show at home to come pray Isha in the masjid? Or will I stay to spend a few more moments indulging in my nafs? At what compromise? And we have to draw a line, because if we don't draw the line then there's no stopping us and there's no stopping where we want to reach.

The Story of Sulayman Ibn Abdul Malik and Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz

One day, Sulayman Ibn Abdul Malik — we were discussing this with our third year alim class — he was sitting with Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, who was soon to become his successor. And he says to him, looking at the entire world in which one third of the people living in the world are under his kingdom, he sits down and he says: "O Umar, look at where we are. Look at what we have achieved. One third of the world is under our ownership. We are ruling one third of the world."

"What do you think about this?" So nice, so beautiful. Sometimes we sit in our home with our families, with our cars parked outside, and we say: "Wow, look at what we've done in our life. We have definitely made it. We have purchased our own home. We have multiple cars in our driveways. We have degrees hanging all over the wall — not a spot is left. Look at us, man. Wow, we've made it."

The follow-up question should be: at what compromise? At what compromise? How many Fajrs did we miss? How many hearts did we break? How much haram did we look at? How much backbiting was involved? How many moments with our children in which we could have been helping them for deen was involved in preaching them something about medicine or engineering? At what compromise?

And if we don't draw the line for us, then wallahi our children will not draw the line either. And these are significant choices. As I started off with — significant choices. Not ordinary choices. Not day-to-day choices. Choices that will live beyond this temporal world, your brothers and youngsters and students. And the students have to make a choice too. It's not just for the community members. The scholars have to make a choice too. It's not enough just to be there. There has to be more.

So Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, looks at this kingdom and responds:

"You really want to know what I think about this? This is happiness — only if this happiness was not mixed with sadness and grief, if we don't follow Allah's commandments. These are blessings — only if these blessings were not such that they would compromise our Akhirah. I wish I could speak about this for longer."

He says: these are blessings, but if we continue looking at these blessings and compromising for these blessings and enjoying these blessings the way that we are, these blessings will be absolute dust in the Akhirah. Adeem — they will be nothing. They will have no weight.

"This is kingdom. This is sovereignty. This is ownership. But if I continue living with this ownership with the compromise that I am making — that the house of Allah sits empty — it will be followed with destruction in my life in this world or in the hereafter."

My children don't leave me because I didn't give them money. The way that I think is that my children don't leave me because I did not build my relationship with Allah. And at the foundation, there is no shortcut around the relationship with Allah. You can make relationships with friends, family, loved ones, spouses, children — but all of them have to go to the same street, and that is Allah. There is no detour. If there's a detour, it's gonna fall right back where it started. It's just a matter of time that it falls back. So in order to keep this where we want it to be and where we want it to go, we have to make sure there is no shortcut.

He says: wa farahun — this is happiness, these are smiles, these are moments of joy — only if they were not followed by moments of grief and hardship. This is what's going to happen.

The Conversation We Should Aspire To Have

You know what conversation we should aspire to have one day in our homes? The conversation that would take place in the masjid of the Prophet, peace be upon him. When the Prophet would look back at his Sahaba and say:

"Who has helped someone today? Raise your hand. Who has prayed tahajjud today? Raise your hand. Who has forgiven someone today? Raise your hand. Who has given money in charity today? Raise your hand. Who has prayed their five times salah today? Raise your hand. Who has recited the Qur'an today? Raise your hand. Who has done dhikr today? Raise your hand. Who has made istighfar today?"

These were the conversations that they would have with the children. And al-Bukhari raises his hand for everything — "I've done all of it, Ya Rasulullah."

When was the last time we had that conversation? And when was the last time I had that conversation, brothers? Speaking for myself — this is to remind me. This is not about anyone else. This is to remind my own students and all of us.

The Conversation of Jannah

The conversation that we wish to be a part of is when, on the Day of Judgment, Allah allows us to enter Jannah. The conversations that the family who will enter Jannah together will have is something that I dream of every single day. Allah in Surah At-Tur explicitly depicts a conversation that families will have with each other in Jannah.

Imagine your entire family sitting together. You know when you get together for Eid? Holidays — "Oh, everyone's together. Wow, what are you doing? Man, you made it. You're done with college. You've gotten a job. You've made it." But at what compromise? When's the last time I've seen a masjid? When's the last time the Qur'an has been opened?

Ramadan is not the start and the end. It's what lifts us. The heart needs to be beating in order for the doctors to resuscitate it back to life. It needs to be beating. If the heart is not beating, that heart cannot be resuscitated. Similarly, for Ramadan to truly help us, the heart needs to have a spiritual heartbeat. And then Ramadan will let us flourish. It will allow us to see moments of spirituality that we've never experienced before.

This conversation will take place in Jannah where the families will be sitting together and the families will see everyone. They will all enter Jannah together. They will go to their palace together. And finally, when they reach their palace and they're sitting in front of each other — imagine your sisters, your brothers. I dream of this every day.

And we'll start talking to each other.

And there will be servants around us that will be bringing us goblets and cups of different drinks — of sweet honey, sweet milk, sweet drink that is halal. And we will have family around us and sofas that we can only imagine how beautiful they will be.

Beautifully decorated and garnished sofas and places of sitting in front of your family. You can have the biggest house in the world, but a house without loved ones is indeed deserted. Ask those that are looking for their children. Ask those that are living without their children. Ask those youngsters that are living without their parents. The commodities don't mean nothing, even in dunya. So imagine having the akhirah but we don't have our loved ones. It won't really be Jannah. So Allah said: I'll bring your family back together.

And we will sit in front of each other and say to each other:

"There was a time that we were scared about this day. There was a time when we thought that we could never make it." Then when you make it somewhere, you say: "Yeah, there was a time when I was 17 years old, I never thought I would be sitting here in an office job from 9 to 5 making 100K. There was a time." There will be a time in Jannah — this is the conversation we should aspire to have.

We'll say to each other: "There was a time that we were thinking that we could never make it. But Allah truly honored us and protected us from the fire of Jahannam. This only happened because Allah loves us, and we made dua to Allah. We made dua for it. We worked hard for it."

The Hunger of the Prophet and His Companions

Umar, may Allah have mercy on him, whenever a dish would be brought in front of him, and before he could eat, he would start crying. Before he could indulge in the food, he would start crying. And the Sahabas would ask him: "Why are you crying? It's just food." And he would say: "No, I'm crying because I recall an era in which my companions did not have nothing to eat."

They had no food. They had rocks on their stomachs. "I recall a time in which I walked outside of my home, and I bumped into Abu Bakr, and me and Abu Bakr are walking on the street. I asked Abu Bakr:"

"What has removed you from your home at this hour of the day?" And he responds by saying: "Hunger." "Wow, I'm also leaving my home because I have no food and I'm extremely hungry." And they continue on this journey. And as they're walking, the Prophet, peace be upon him, walks up and they bump together. The Prophet asks them what brought them outside at that hour. The Sahabas reply by saying: "Hunger." The Prophet says: "That which has removed you from your home has also removed me from my home. Hunger."

When I think about this narration, it speaks volumes to me. Because normally when you see a person really struggling in poverty, it may be because of specific situations or lack of opportunities — he's not smart enough, she's not strong enough, they don't have skills, they don't have talents, they're not charismatic, they don't have the raw talent to do something with their life. Perhaps that's why they're struggling for work. But these brothers, these great individuals, were the most talented people the world has seen. Brains beyond what we can ever imagine. Motivation and inspiration beyond anyone else. Skills more than all of us. Charisma, intellect, power, opportunity. It wasn't because of a lack of skill that they were poor. It was because of: what is the compromise?

And they started walking and finally they found a person offering them food and they ate.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, was walking outside of his home one day, and as he's walking, Ibn Umar is with him. And they're walking and the Prophet sees a date on the side of the road that had fallen from an orchard. And he grabs that date — it's on the ground so you can grab it and eat it Islamically. So he grabs the date and he rubs the dust off the date. And he looks at his companion Ibn Umar and he says to him:

"Do you desire to eat this date?" And Ibn Umar responds by making a face as if to say: "What? Really? A date that you picked up from the ground? No, of course not." The Prophet says:

"No, but rather I want it. I need it. This is the fourth morning in which not a morsel of food has entered into my body." Fourth morning.

Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, told her nephew Urwa Ibn Zubair:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2567; Sahih Muslim, Book 36, Hadith 6457)

"That three moons would pass by — two months — and not a single fire would be lit in any of the homes of the Prophet, peace be upon him." There was no fire — it wasn't that there was no fire to light. No, there was nothing to cook. There was nothing to cook.

What's our compromise? How often do I preach? How often do I speak about Allah in my home? How often do I try my best to avoid sins? How often do I make sure that I would take a lesser bite of the apple in this world so I can receive the whole thing in the Akhirah? How often do I make that choice?

The Response of Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz

So Sulayman Ibn Abdul Malik looks at his soon-to-be successor and says: "Look at what we have. We have made it." And Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, looks at him and says: "You wanna know what I think about this? You really wanna know what I think about this?"

He says: "وَفَرَحٌ — this is happiness, these are smiles, these are moments of joy — only if they were not followed by moments of grief and hardship. This is what's gonna happen."

A Closing Call to Action

Brothers and youngsters, I leave with this, and I truly believe that we all have so much talent to give to Allah and to this deen. We have to make sure that that starts with the masjid, and that starts secondly in our home. Let's start doing things that we were not doing before.

It's okay if I miss one Bollywood drama. It's okay. It's okay if I stop binge-watching Ertugrul or whatever show that we're watching. It's okay for one day. And open the Qur'an and binge-read that for one day. Open a book of the Sahabas and binge-read that for one day. And allow that to be the light which fills up our home. Allow that to be the light which fills up our hearts.

This is important. And as I started — we live with our choices. And some choices can never be undone. Some choices can never be turned back. Your children. For many of us, our marriage. For many of us, our careers. When you're 50 years old, you can't restart a new career. But a choice that can truly never be undone is a choice that we make with the akhirah.

And Allah allow us to live with this in our peripheral view, rear-view mirror at all times — that this is what we want to get, and this is where we want to go. And inshaaAllah, if we have that as an outcome — just like how in the beginning of the month we have our monthly tasks, we put it at the bottom, "this is where we want to reach at the end of the month" — let's aspire to have that for the akhirah as well.

Al-Fatihah.