Friday Khutbah Mufti Azeem Uddin Ahmed - 07/21/2023
By Mufti Azeem Uddin Ahmed | 2026-06-04T10:48:03.095517+00:00 | Topic: Khutbah
The Trials and Purification of Faith
Today we will discuss the trials and tribulations, a section which maybe we don't get a chance to spend too much time studying. However, I encourage all of you to make a point to read through those on a regular basis. The section that we find within our trials and tribulations is such a section which does not require too much to understand the very basis of it. I would say you don't require too much research or to have a very detailed discussion with regards to scholarship, as opposed to the discussion of zakat or salah, or some other aspects of the hadith. Because it's like you're reading the Quran - it's about its concept in terms of what's going to happen. So if it applies today, great. If it doesn't, then maybe there is a chance it doesn't. But these hadith that apply to you and I, even our children will be able to understand, because it's so apparent, it's so obvious.
The world naturally around you and I is ever-changing. And the pace of change has only increased. And also, in this process of change, what is good and what is bad has become very convoluted. It's become difficult for us to differentiate what are the beneficial changes and what are the harmful changes. So this is where the guidance of hadith is going to assist you in understanding what is beneficial and what are harmful things that I need to protect myself and my family from. These are things that will attack the dignity, integrity, the honor, and the faith of the Muslim.
Understanding Fitnah - The Process of Purification
I would like to show you the concept of فِتْنَة (fitnah), the trials of the believer. Inshallah, it will become a foundation for you and I to start understanding many other things that happen in our lives. And inshallah, it will become a means of us beginning to read more into this section called فِقْه الْفِتَن, the trials of the believer.
فِتْنَة (fitnah) means a process of purification. Previously, a gold smith was called a فَتَّان because the gold smith will take gold that is mixed with other alloys and put it under a high temperature, allow the other metals to melt away, and allow a pure gold nugget or a gold bar to remain. This process of purification of the gold was called فِتْنَة. And the one who took care of this was called a فَتَّان.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses the word فِتْنَة in the Quran multiple ways. For example, your wealth or your children are a فِتْنَة, are a test.
The Divine Test of Faith
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says at the beginning verses of Surah Al-Ankabut:
Do people truly think? Are they in this delusion? Do they think that they will be left alone simply because they have proclaimed to be believers? Do they think that they will not be tested just because they have proclaimed to be people of faith? That's not how it's going to happen. Just because you said "I believe" doesn't mean Allah will not put you through tests. Instead, the very opposite is mentioned. Indeed, We put people prior to this ummah through the cleansing process. And what was the end result when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put them through these tests? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala appointed the world to know - He already knows, but He wants the world to know about His knowledge. الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا - who are those who are truthful? وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ - and who are those who lie when they say they are true believers? Who are simply saying it because it's more comfortable, or it's culturally more accepting, but deep down they have no faith.
The Security Check of Faith
When a person walks into a high security building that has high levels of security, you walk in, you park your car, and you walk into the front door. You are expected to produce ID. And then, depending on the level of security, they may even have eye scans. They may even have fingerprint scans. They may have other kinds of scans before you actually get into the area that you are trying to go. Simply you walking to the door does not mean the door will be wide open for you. You decided to enter this secure area, then you have to show the proof that you are worthy of coming here, that you have access to come here.
When a person says لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله, it's as though he is walking to a very secure area - Jannah. So don't expect it to be a walk in the park. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say, "Okay, you are knocking on the door of Jannah, by all means, go ahead, produce your ID. Show me your credentials. Show me a track record of doing those things that I have asked you to do. Show me a track record of staying away from those things that I have asked you to stay away from. A track record of always rising to the occasion, presenting yourself whenever there is a challenge to my support. And that you are ready to take it on." That is what you call the process of purification.
The Journey of a Muslim
My dear students, boys and girls, young men and women, understand that being a Muslim does not mean a walk in the park toward paradise. You have just begun your journey. When a person enters the first year of undergraduate of a medical program - a 7th or 8th year program - you don't become a doctor after the first semester. And not even the second semester or the fourth or the sixth. There is a long journey ahead. Yes, mashaAllah, we are happy that you entered the medical program. But you've got years ahead of you, on top of that, residencies and fellowships, on top of that, years, before you can be working as a physician, as a recognized physician.
When a person says that they belong to those who believe, understanding your journey as a Muslim is definitely going to be one of challenges. Your experience as a Muslim, not only in 2023, but in the past as well, cannot be the same as someone who does not proclaim this message. Because you are asking to be entered into paradise. You are asking to be entered into the chosen group of people.
"Return to your Lord in a state that you are pleased with what Allah has prepared for you, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is pleased with your actions. فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي - And enter into the group of My servants. وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي - And enter into My Paradise."
That is a beautiful, bold proclamation by Allah. In order for you and I to be able to hear this, you cannot expect that we can sit lazily and do nothing, or rather do whatever everyone else in our class does, or whatever everyone else in our friends' group does, and then end up hearing this beautiful proclamation of Allah. It's not going to happen like that. Our lifestyle must be a unique lifestyle that will make us deserving of that.
The Discipline of Success
Maybe you go to a friend's house or a brother's house. "Hey, where's your son? It's Thanksgiving weekend." "He's in the basement." "Why?" "Studying for exams." "When is the exam?" "Six weeks from now." The parties will happen. The events will happen. The weddings will come and go. But if you've got your MCATs, you've got your LSATs, you've got your SATs, that's it. You're in the home. You're studying. That's your lifestyle. But what about everyone else? They're out partying. No, no, no. Afterwards. Not now. Not now.
For us, for a believer, that's what it is. For a believer, this dunya has been mentioned by Allah and by Rasul Allah - dunya is mentioned in hadith. Dunya is a prison for a believer.
When your son and daughter says, "Father, how come everything is so different for us?" Remember this hadith. Understand where you're headed. You're that student who wants to become an astronaut. You're that student who wants to become head of a medical department. You cannot expect yourself to lead a life similar to someone who's ambitious to sell fruits on the street, who wants to become a fruit vendor, or who wants to sell things online somewhere. You cannot have the same lifestyle. You have this bold, huge, ambitious plan for your future. Guess what? You have to put your time into it in order to achieve that.
Our sons and daughters do understand that. They cannot say that I want to be a chosen servant of Allah and enjoy Jannah and then enjoy what everyone else does. I spend my summer like everyone else does.
(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2956)
Dunya is a prison for the believer and paradise for the disbeliever. Meaning, just like a prisoner, he sees that people are free - they eat whenever they want, whatever they want, wake up whenever they want, sleep whenever they want, play whenever they want. He sees outside the walls of the prison people may lead their lives as they wish, but he as a prisoner cannot do except what his guardian allows him to do. The timings of eating, sleeping are all set. The menu is set. Everything is set.
Similarly, the believer in this dunya is a prisoner. He does what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ has taught and allowed us to do. Although he sees everyone else do whatever they want, but he says, "You know what? I am a Muslim. I don't do that. I don't eat that. I don't look at that. I don't listen to that. I don't think like that. I don't have this type of desire. I restrain myself. My vision, my purpose in my life is very different from those in my class, those in my friend circle, or those in my work circle."
The Reward of Paradise
And then, what happens? When you get to paradise, then it is:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3244)
Then Allah has prepared that which no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever truly heard, no heart of any human being has ever conceived of. What we hear about paradise, which sounds amazing, is still something which does not do justice to paradise. Because no person can truly understand it.
Imagine a child, a baby in your mother's womb who is being taught about the world. Someone is giving a lecture: "There's something called the beautiful sun. There's something called a beautiful sunny day. There's something called the beautiful sky. There's something called a beautiful walk on a beach. There's something called a beautiful mountain range." What is this supposed to mean? There's no way to understand that. No matter how many lectures and talks you give, someone who hasn't seen this world will never truly be able to understand that. They may try, but even as much as they imagine, you know that whatever they envision will be extremely different from what they've imagined.
So that is why whatever you might think about paradise, and about hellfire as well, as mentioned in the Quran and the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, it's simply to get us excited to work for paradise and afraid of disobeying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But the true essence of those things is something none of us can truly understand. Our minds cannot comprehend it.
We are only with quiet minds, quiet eyes, quiet tongues and ears, which cannot possibly encapsulate and capture and encompass the infinite, never-ending pleasure of paradise. So now, subhanAllah, a person needs to understand that my life may seem difficult, but it's very well worth it for the pleasure that I'm going to enjoy in the hereafter.
The flip side of that is Jannah to be captured. What is Jannah? Jannah literally means garden. But when we talk about paradise, it means you can do whatever you want. There is no one saying it's too late, too early, sorry you're late, sorry you're poor, the soul lives in here. You're too busy today, go back tomorrow. No. Jannah is what you do in Jannah. You pick whatever your heart desires.
And so now, subhanAllah, the Prophet says, for a disbeliever, this world is Jannah. That's why they'll wake up and go wherever they want, eat wherever they want, drink wherever they want, sleep wherever they want, do business as they like, study as they like, look at whoever they wish, listen to whatever they wish, and identify themselves with whatever they wish, and be attracted to whoever they wish, fulfill their lustful desires in any way they wish. All of that is about their lust. Whatever you want to do, just do it. That's what a disbeliever does. And what waits for him? That prison is waiting, of course in the hereafter. That is what I wanted to mention.
The Scholar and the Shoemaker
In the books that they narrated, that the Prophet was walking on the street, he saw a scholar riding by a beautiful horse, and this person who was fixing the shoes was not a believer. The person who was riding this beautiful horse was a well-known scholar. So he remarked something. The scholar stopped his horse and said, let's go back and see what did this man say? He comes back and says, wait a minute, what did you just say?
He said, well, they say you're a scholar, and you said that you're a representative of Islam. But I'm just commenting on a narration that I've heard that the Prophet said that this world is a prison for a believer and a paradise for a disbeliever. And I'm just thinking how wrong that statement is. How incorrect that statement is. Because here you are as a believer, I don't see you in any prison. You are enjoying the finest of horses and you're wearing the best of clothes and you're moving on. And I'm just sitting here and by no means am I living in paradise. I'm sitting here doing a manual job of fixing shoes and getting paid a very small amount and I can barely make ends meet. I'm at the bottom part of the socioeconomic ladder. How is this a true assessment of what the world is about?
So he was criticizing this hadith. So the scholar responded and said, no, this hadith as mentioned by the Prophet is true. But you have to understand. It means that the lifestyle that you see me enjoying right now, if I die with honor and faith, then what awaits me in paradise will make my luxurious life in this world seem as though I was living in prison for the rest of my life. What awaits me in the hereafter will be so beautiful that no matter what type of comfort that I have here, as long as, of course, I have faith and I don't break the rules of Allah, that no matter what type of enjoyable life I have, in terms of what awaits in the great hereafter, the most enjoyable, luxurious life of this world is still prison.
And on the flip side, if a person dies without faith, without iman, then no matter how difficult of a life he or she led in this world, what awaits for them in the hereafter, in terms of the anger of Allah, will make their difficult life in this world seem as though it was paradise. What a beautiful understanding of this hadith.
Understanding Our Trials
I know it sounds like a short hadith, but it's something that if today us or our children do not fully believe or comprehend this, it can have major ramifications for one's faith. Meaning, that when times of difficulty come, if we start saying what's the point of being Muslim if I'm going to face this difficulty? Why do I have to wake up every morning at 5? Why do I have to pray every night at 10? Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to do that? How come being Muslim is a difficult life?
My brothers and sisters, we have to explain and understand that this is the process of faith. This is the way that Allah has trained us to be rewarded in paradise. We have many references to that in the Quran. Believers in the past were physically tortured simply because they were believers. And that is what happens today in large chunks of the world where there are Muslim minorities, unfortunately in large parts of the world being persecuted and tortured at the hands of their own at times and at the hands of others at times, simply because they choose to remain people of faith. That's it. That's what we said. Why are you practicing Islam? Why are you adhering yourself to Islam? Why are you trying to adhere to the Muslim soul? That's one type of fitna.
The Fitna of the Hearts
But another type of fitna exists as well. And may I say that this second type of fitna is actually more challenging and more difficult than the first. You say what could be worse than being threatened with death? What could be worse than that? And that is the fitna on the hearts. The fitna on the hearts, the soul, and the mind. And this is what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said.
(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 144)
A time will come that fitna will be presented to the hearts, not on the body. We're seeing what's happening to the body. It's happening now. But what we're speaking about and what you and I are facing in this country, alhamdulillah, is we have the practice, we have the freedom in our practice, in our faithfulness and the freedom. No one is holding a gun to our head. They are looking at us to practice our faith freely. They are allowing us all to become active participants and give back to the people of this country. Say Ameen.
But there is still, does it mean we're off the hook? What about our faith? Yes, there is. In our faith that is. The fitna that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم taught us. It means that when that heart begins to think that subhanAllah, you know what, there are other lifestyles that may be acceptable. That there are other ways of doing things that are completely contrary to the teachings of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that are defined. That the teachings of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم have somehow been outdated, maybe antique. That the teachings of the Quran may not be applicable today, we have to take a more atheistic, liberal interpretation of scripture.
And a person may say that the success of a human being in this day and age, in America or anywhere else, is in terms of living your life's potential, fulfilling every desire of yours, and that as long as you don't harm someone, you may do whatever you wish, live your life as much as you wish, however you wish, and that is called success.
The Modern Challenge
With all sorts of different movements that are happening within the educational system, and in politics, and in our everyday popular culture that you and I absorb, we're seeing this massive shift in morality. And this massive shift in morality has caused people of all faiths - Hindus, Christians, Jews, Mormons, and the list goes on - to completely cave in to this new agenda, and to give up the very foundations of their faith that have been with them for the past 2,000 plus years. The scripture that had to be changed, laws that had to be amended, and the rules of the churches and synagogues had to change in order to accommodate the latest changes in popular culture.
Islam is different. Muslims are different. Muslims are being asked the same thing. This is the fitna of the heart that the Rasul of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم is speaking about, which I just mentioned in the first portion of the hadith: تُعْرَضُ الْفِتَنُ - The things that are represented on the heart, كَالْحَصِيرِ عُودًا عُودًا - like a straw mat, piece after piece after piece. The rest of this beautiful hadith, inshallah, tonight at 7pm, I will get into that, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala.
But this is a hadith that speaks about exactly what you and I are seeing today. That in order for us to lose the game, we don't have to bear arms, we don't have to be thrown into detention, we don't have to lose ownership of our bank accounts, we don't have to lose ownership of our children. Stay in our homes, stay with our clothes, with our property, having our children together, not being afraid of drones, not being afraid of losing our faith, sitting there in our bedroom. Without a gun to our head, our youngsters say, I don't believe.
That is a different kind of loss that I have been witnessing for over 20 years in this country. We're going to miss each other a lot, but I have been personally dealing with youth who are leaving the fold of Islam since 2002. This issue has now become a pandemic. And it's a fitna on the hearts. Within our own homes, we have youth who are choosing to leave Islam, choosing to change their gender, choosing to identify themselves differently. All sorts of things are happening.
Our Responsibility
And as Muslim parents, it is our responsibility, number one, to take care of those two, three, four kids who live in our homes. To protect them and preserve them. This responsibility is ours. It's mine. We have to educate ourselves on what these issues are, and how is Islam the solution for our children. And how can we do that? How can we rely on this religion? Why Islam? Why not something else? Why not Islam? Well, Allah has a solution to all these problems. I say this without a doubt, without one percent of doubt. Any Christian, Jew, atheist, Hindu, non-Arab, any Muslim who wants a way out of these problems and issues, will find the answers at the feet of Islam. But we have to go further. We have to be humble. We have to be mindful of where to find answers. And the answers are there.
I invite all of you to show up. Please, come tonight at 7:15 or 7 o'clock. And join us for a program together to eat some snacks. And as we discuss some of these issues, we'll have an opportunity to obviously ask questions as well from the audience. So wherever you are, join in online tonight. And let me ask you local people here, whatever inshallah programs we run, whether it's in the summer or in the winter, please, if you're local here, benefit. If you're from Chicago, you're not in some other part of the country, you have a lot of mosques, you have a lot of scholars, you have a lot of Islamic centers, you have a lot of people, you have a lot of sessions, you have a lot of amazing programs. Understand that what you're facing is a huge dilemma. Don't say, I don't know what to do. You know me. My name is on the website. You know me. Meet me right here, inshallah. Email me. Ask me. I'm in this situation. What am I supposed to do? Solutions are out there. You just need moms and dads to stand up and say, you know what? I'm going to go grab that solution.
I ask Allah to inspire all of us to make those choices that will keep us strong and protected from all of these trials and tribulations. Say Ameen.
In the last du'a that I will make, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, may Allah allow us to see the rightful ones, and give us the internal strength to practice what's right and to reject what's wrong. Allahuma ameen. We ask Allah for guidance. We're 100% in need. We ask Allah for protection. May Allah protect us. May Allah protect us. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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