American Scholar Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed : Juma Khutba of Islamic Cultural Center of New York

The Nature of Allah's Allegiance and His Universal System

Our Gracious Lord, Our Most Merciful Lord, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and whatever is in between them, that which we see, that which we do not see, the Lord of that which has been created and what will be created in the future, the Lord of what we can conceive and that which we cannot conceive, that which we can imagine and that which we cannot imagine, as our Prophet ﷺ has taught us. As Allah was praised by the Prophet ﷺ: O Allah, all praise belongs to you, you are the ultimate truth, you are the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and whatever is in between, and every aspect of you is the ultimate truth, your promises are the truth, your warnings are the truth, your prophets are the truth, your angels are the truth, the Day of Judgment is the ultimate reality, Paradise and Hellfire is the ultimate reality, and the fact that we will have to stand in front of you is the ultimate reality.

Allah is such — Allah's method, His methodology of dealing with the humans and with the jinn is the same. Allah's allegiance is with attributes and qualities, and not with nations, and not with certain people or others. Allah has certain qualities that He loves, and no matter who — of what gender, what background, what ethnicity, what skin colour, what socio-economic status they hold — as long as they have those qualities, Allah will love them.

Allah likes the mu'mineen, He likes the muslimeen, He likes the muttaqeen, He likes the muhsineen. Allah doesn't mind who has these qualities — as long as they have iman, as long as they have islam, as long as they have taqwa, as long as they have ihsan, as long as they have the qualities of faith, of submission, of perfection in their faith, of God-consciousness, then it doesn't make a difference who or when or where those people are. Definitely they will become from those who are beloved to Allah.

And then when a group of people instead decide to go the other way — if you have characteristics and qualities that are disliked by Allah, for example oppression, for example arrogance and haughtiness, insincerity — Allah doesn't like any of that. Ungratefulness — Allah doesn't care who has those characteristics or qualities, from which family they belong to, from which aristocratic family they belong to, or which leading class of people they belong to. If they have these characteristics, then those characteristics are disliked by Allah, and those people eventually will face the wrath of Allah.

Allah has wa'd and wa'id — Allah has promises and warnings. And the system of Allah is He never goes back against His promises. If He promises you success, He will give it to you. No matter how difficult it seems, no matter how dark the night may be, you will definitely see daybreak. No matter how cold it may be, you will definitely see warmth. No matter how depressing the situation may be, you will definitely see a very uplifting moment — as long as we are doing that which brings upon us the pleasure of Allah.

Allah's Kingdom and His All-Encompassing Knowledge

Allah says He is the Lord of all kingdoms. You give kingdom to whoever you wish, and you grab away and snatch away the kingdom from who you wish. And you honor who you wish, and you dishonor who you wish. All goodness lies in your hands. You are all-powerful over everything. You are able to bring the night into the day, and you are able to bring about a living being from something that is dead. You are able to bring goodness out of pure evil, you are able to bring health out of sickness, you are able to bring wealth out of poverty, you are able to bring about beauty out of ugliness, you are able to bring about hidayah and guidance from homes that are surrounded by evil.

Allah is the one who brought Ibrahim ﷺ out from the house of Azar. And He is the one who brings the living from the dead, and He brings the dead from the living. He is the one who brought Kan'an from the home of Nuh ﷺ. Allah — no one can ask Him what He does, rather everyone else is asked.

And by Allah, you grant whoever you wish sustenance without any accounting — you give as much as you want to whoever you want.

Allah says moving forward:

I warn you from Myself — there is a boundary line, I ask you not to cross over that line. Allah says He warns you from Himself. And indeed to Allah is the ultimate return. Whatever you hide in your chests, in your bosoms, and whatever you make apparent, Allah knows it all.

How vast is His knowledge. He says He knows everything in the heavens and the earth. He knows what's in front of you, what's behind you. He knows what's below you, what's above you. But subhanAllah, He goes even a step further:

He knows the hidden secrets of your bosoms — وَأَخْفَى — and He knows that which is even more hidden than your secret. Those thoughts that you haven't even fully processed yet, those thoughts that you haven't shared with your family and relatives, those emotions — sometimes unfortunately evil emotions, sometimes unfortunately evil thoughts — that you would do anything to ensure that the closest people around you would never be able to perceive that you have such emotions. Allah says He knows it all.

And then He says:

He knows the treachery of the eye. When a person is walking down the street with his spouse, or attending a wedding or a gathering, and as he is looking forward his spouse is next to him, and they are maybe even holding hands walking somewhere — the wife that is standing next to the husband doesn't know where her husband is looking. He's looking forward, but at that exact moment where the pupils are focused, and what the attention of this individual is — is it at a billboard, is it at the orange juice someone is holding, is it at the toothpaste or is it at the teeth of the person smiling, are we looking at the cashier giving us the change or are we looking at the cashier themselves with the eyes of lust, are we looking at the medicine that the nurse is giving us or are we looking at somebody else — all of those things Allah beautifully says:

He knows the treachery of the eyes.

The Hadith of the Prophets Being Tested

If you're one of those people who are going through difficulty, reflect over this story. Reflect over the Seerah of the Prophet and see how lesser a difficulty we face compared to those who went through hard times. But remember the hadith about Mus'ab and those who came before:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4023; also reported in Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2398)

The people who get tested the most are the Prophets. Then those who come after them in righteousness, and then those who come after them in righteousness. A man is tested based on the strength of his faith. If his strength in the faith is great, his tests are increased. And if his faith is weak, then the tests are also lightened accordingly. Until a time comes when he is walking on earth without a single sin in his Book of Deeds. That is the reward of those who are patient.

The Three Types of Sabr (Patience)

My brothers and sisters, remember — patience is not only at the loss of life. Patience is not only at the loss of wealth. Patience is not only at the loss of health. But there are three different types that scholars mention of patience.

1. Sabr 'ala al-Masa'ib — Patience in the Face of Hardship

The first is, of course, sabr 'ala al-masa'ib — patience in the face of hardship. That's what we usually think of. But that's not all there is.

2. Sabr 'ala al-Ta'ah — Patience in Remaining Steadfast in Acts of Worship

The second one is sabr 'ala al-ta'ah — patience with regards to remaining steadfast on your acts of worship. It's cold. Who wants to come out for Fajr Salah? But to make yourself sit in your car ten minutes early to start it up and to drive to your nearest masjid — that's called sabr 'ala al-ta'ah. Most definitely.

You are donating on a regular basis to your local masjid, and you're getting the peace of doing so. And then you start seeing your finances and you think, where should I start cutting my expenses? For you to say, "Guess what? I'm enjoying every blessing from Allah. This big expense may come and go, but the last thing that I'm going to cut out is my daily sadaqah. I'm not going to stop that. I'm going to keep my charity." That's called sabr 'ala al-ta'ah.

3. Sabr 'an al-Ma'asi — Patience in Staying Away from Sins

And the last one is called sabr 'an al-ma'asi — to remain steadfast and firm in staying away from sins. That's a tough one.

This weekend brings about the new year all over. People from across the country and the world come to the city to celebrate. And our youth — who may be present here or may not — are going to be invited all over to parties. That is the moment for those young men and women, and all of those sitting here who are in the city and get invited to these types of parties, to remain firm and to say: "Listen, I know I belong solely to Allah. And I know I'm far from Allah. But I don't need to put the nail in the coffin. I don't need to put the nail in the coffin as the new year begins. I don't want to spend this night wasted. And I definitely don't want to spend this night in someone else's home drunk."

My brothers and sisters, I'm not going to mince my words. You and I know what's happening in society and community. It's an epidemic all over. And there's no one safe from that. No culture or religious group is safe from that. You and I need to remain firm. When these temptations come our way — all over, wherever, whichever city you may be — and not just tonight and Sunday night, but throughout the entire life of ours, we have to ensure that we remain calm and steadfast.

Patience in the face of hardship. Remain patient and steadfast in good deeds. And remain patient when you get tempted. And when Shaitan says, "Come my way," tell yourself: I am in the party of Allah. And I will have the last laugh. I will succeed with the permission of Allah. It may not seem like that right now, Shaitan. And oh cronies of falsehood, you think you're winning the game. But the tables shall turn. And if they don't turn while I'm alive, the scales of the world will turn when my eyes close and I'm no longer breathing.

As long as you've got that resolve — that Allah, the most powerful, the most knowledgeable, from whom all good has come and will come — indeed, you will be the most successful ones. You will always be on top if you are believers.

Closing Supplication and Announcement

Respected friends, we pray to Allah that He accept these words of ours and makes them an inspiration for myself and all of you present and all of those who will be listening onwards. I hope that you take this impression back home. Put into practice that from today we will follow these three aspects of sabr. And we will build our personal relationship with Allah — say inshallah. And we will use this weekend as a moment to reflect on what we have achieved this year. We will thank Allah for what we have achieved. And we will seek forgiveness for what we didn't achieve and the mistakes that we made. We pray for those who have lost their lives this year. And we hope that Allah gives us all a long life in the future — a life filled with righteousness and goodness.

I am from Chicago — my first time here, so I am very honored to be present in this beautiful masjid, to be sitting in the company of these thousands of beautiful, blessed, munawwarah, enlightened faces. I thank the community in this area and the board who invited me from Darussalam Foundation in Chicago. I request you to visit our website www.darussalam.org and benefit from the lectures that are there. Benefit from our seminary programs that are being offered to boys and girls, men and women across the country.

Alhamdulillah, we are beginning a beautiful seminary campus — a national seminary campus for youth and adults from across the country to come and study the Islamic sciences within the country, so that we have a new generation of scholars and ulama born and raised in this country, ready to serve the community — both Muslims and non-Muslims — to usher in and continue to bring about prosperity and peace for the Muslim community and the community at large. We pray that Allah accepts our efforts and accepts your efforts and grants all of us sincerity in our actions.

Allah Almighty said:

O you who believe! Fear Allah as He ought to be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who believe! Fear Allah, and let every soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow. Fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Aware of what you do.

And the Prophet ﷺ said: The world has been brought before you and the Hereafter has been brought before you, and for each one of you is a responsibility. So be of the people of the Hereafter and do not be of the people of the world. For today is work — and ask Allah for forgiveness for every sin. Indeed, He is the Forgiver, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, and all praise and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. Allah Almighty said:

Indeed, Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. O you who believe! Pray for him and ask for peace upon him.

O Allah! Send Your blessings upon our Master Muhammad, Your servant and Messenger, and send Your blessings upon the believing men and women, the Muslim men and women, and upon our Master Muhammad, his wives, and his children.