GOTV - Importance of Voting by Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

أَمَّا بَعْد — Beloved brothers and sisters, dear listeners, assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Alhamdulillah, Allah azza wa jal has given us such a beautiful deen that is extremely pragmatic, that is very real. When a person says, sometimes advice, admonish one another to say, brother, be real, be pragmatic, be realistic — there's nothing more realistic than the deen of Allah. We have to believe that the teachings of our deen are so deeply rooted in our fitrah, deeply in the innate nature of humans.

Whatever the deen teaches us, if a person were to follow it in every facet of life, you will feel and you will see comfort, peace, peace of mind, success in every regard. And this is the blessing of having a divinely inspired, divinely revealed Book of Allah, a divinely inspired, divinely taught, divinely revealed message of Rasulullah ﷺ. That any one of us were to bring the deen into our life, alhamdulillah, insha'Allah, definitely we'll be successful in that.

Acting with Intelligence and Effort

One of the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ is:

Allah dislikes incapacity and helplessness. (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 3627)

Allah gets upset, Allah reprimands, Allah dislikes a person acting incapable, acting incapacitated — that "I can't do anything." Allah doesn't like that. But instead, what does Allah ask from you? What does the Prophet ﷺ say? It is obligatory upon you to act in an intelligent manner. Act in an intelligent manner, work hard, and try your best to attain success.

Do not act like your hands are tied behind your back. Allah wants us to try our level best at whatever we are doing to attain success. And at the end, we say:

Allah destined whatever He wanted and He did whatever He liked. But our job initially is to make effort as though the results are in our hands — while knowing that the result is only in the hands of Allah. What does Allah want from me? Allah wants from me to work hard.

Responding to Oppression

My beloved brothers and sisters, when we see oppression across the globe and in our country of all sorts, the conscience of a Muslim is that it should speak up and say that I need to do something about it. Any type of oppression against anyone — be it a human being, even against the animal or against nature — it is something that should make us upset. And we should feel that we need to act in a manner that can help uplift this oppression.

We have been taught in our beautiful hadith literature:

Removing something harmful from the path of people is a charity. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2989; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1009)

If you have something harmful that's in the path of the people, then remove it, and that is sadaqah — that is a charity. You are walking by and you see something that someone could slip or trip on — remove it, and you will get the reward of sadaqah. The Prophet ﷺ has told us how and where to sit — don't sit in the footpath in a way that will annoy or disturb people. Be careful because you want to make space for people to be able to walk easily.

Basically, our teachings are so detailed from our Prophet ﷺ that we are here to give comfort to one another. And we need to ensure that we use all the means available to us to bring comfort and ease for each other.

The Responsibility of Voting

As we have now entered the last week before the elections, it's important for us to recognize our responsibility. We are seeing oppression in Palestine and across the globe elsewhere, and within our own country as well at so many different levels. What do we do when we see that? What's our response?

We have to make a simple, small, humble effort to at least show to Allah that our conscience was alert and awake and we did not allow the oppression to fall on deaf ears. Although we didn't do as much as we should have, or could have, or wish we could have — but at least we did something. And that something is that we voted. We participated in the system that is here in this country to express our dislike of what's happening and our hope that another individual will bring something better.

At the end of the day, Allah azza wa jal says:

No soul knows what it will do tomorrow. No soul knows where it will die. We don't know what the result will be of any specific politician when coming into office in this country or anywhere else — that is only in the knowledge of Allah. You and I are not bearers of the secrets. We do not have the keys to guidance. Only Allah does.

Our job is to take some interest, study the positions of the various candidates, and make an educated vote — an educated guess — as to who would be in the best interest of the ummah. Allah knows your intentions, and our intentions should be pure and clean: that we are not voting only for the interest of my family or myself, but rather we will be voting in the interest of the entire ummah.

The Lesson of the Man Who Gave Sadaqah

Notice the hadith that comes to mind — that a man who went to give sadaqah gave it in the night, and in the morning he found out that the sadaqah had gone to a thief. And people started talking — wow, someone gave sadaqah to a thief! And he said, subhanAllah, I had no idea, I quietly gave sadaqah, little did I know that it ended up in the hands of a thief. Similarly, he went to give sadaqah the next night, and people started saying — wow, someone gave it to a fajirah, a person who was committing sins. Like that, three different nights the man is giving sadaqah, and it ends up going into different hands.

But what do we learn from that story and that hadith? The fact that the man was sincere — he tried his best. He's not going to do a full detailed analysis in the middle of the night. He did whatever he could. The person seemed to be in need, and he gave. He didn't know what their actions were behind the scenes. Allah azza wa jal, insha'Allah, will reward us on our effort and our educated guess.

What exactly will this person do tomorrow? You have no idea. How many people get married? Every day I see this — a person, why would you get married to someone who you think is going to be a mess? Of course you wouldn't. You choose someone based on everything you see, that meets the eye, looks good. And after your level of background check, you get married — and then subhanAllah, unexpected things come out. Things don't happen the way you want. It happens, unfortunately, in our community and other communities every day. What are you going to do? This is dunya, this is life.

You and I don't have control over the endings. You and I do not have control over the aqibah. Allah is looking at the effort that we're putting in. So we should not allow this thought — "who's gonna do what? When I vote for them, forget it, I'm not going to participate." That's not the way to do it. Instead, Allah is watching — what are we doing? We cannot act aajiz with our hands tied — we can't do anything? You have an option. Make sure your voice is heard. And the rest of it, you leave up to Allah.

Pragmatism is that we participate in the process while having this full conviction that success, and nusrah, and help, and victory, and sympathy for our causes will only come from Allah. At the end of the day, there are human beings whose hearts Allah azza wa jal controls:

Know very well that Allah comes between a person and his heart. No one is in control of their own heart.

You cannot wish anything unless Allah, the Lord of the worlds, wills it. So when a person is making this effort, he needs to turn to Allah and say: O Allah, please allow us — allow the ummah — to be guided in making the right decision.

National vs. Local Elections

When it comes to the two elections happening — the national election and the local elections — when it comes to the national election, insha'Allah Mufti bin Hajj will be addressing this topic on Wednesday evening. So join us for that khatira.

But one point here is that this is not an issue to sit and go to war with one another. There are so many different ways of looking at it. It may seem to you as very clear black and white. But there are many other sincere brothers and sisters — and even scholars — who may have a differing opinion. This is not the time for us to fight over it. We have to understand that everyone is trying their best. Why would another Muslim brother sitting next to you try to bring harm to the ummah? Yes, there might be some people who may not be educated on the facts — you can share it with them. But we should not create an environment of "this is heretical, this is anti-Islam, this is anti-Qur'an, anti-deen." We should not think that the truth is exclusively with us and our opinions. We have to guide and talk to each other with humility and humbleness — that this is my educated guess, this is my ijtihad, and this is why I think this is the right way. Definitely share it, express your opinions, and do not get upset or hurt if someone opposes that or shares an alternative option.

Weigh in those facts. Every one of us is trying to honestly do what's best. But all I'm here to say is: do not allow this difference of opinion to cause a wedge between you and your Muslim brother and sister. There are already enough issues that have caused differences amongst us, and we cannot allow this issue — which is supposed to unite us — Allah forbid, to be a source of disunity.

The Power of the Local Elections

The second thing, my dear friends, is that when it comes to the local elections, this is an opportunity where we genuinely have the ability to bring some change. Our district over here is known to be one of the largest Muslim-populated districts in the entire United States. And this is an opportunity. What are the numbers? 80,000 registered Muslim voters.

Understand that for every one registered voter, there are probably ten who are not registered — at least. Look amongst yourself how many are registered. Just 80,000 are registered. So we're looking at how many thousands were not registered, and how many of them became eligible this year who were not eligible in the last election. We're talking about thousands. And these elections are won sometimes by a margin of how much? Sometimes 5,000 votes. Sometimes 3,000 votes.

And you're looking at candidates who are very different — some of them who have shown extreme Islamophobic tendencies or hatred for Islam and deen. Some of them are also pushing a certain agenda in our school districts to completely remove fitrah from our schools and fitrah from our children. We have to be educated. Because all of you sitting here and listening — here or elsewhere, wherever you're listening to me — the vast majority of us, more than 90% of our children, go through the public schools. So whatever type of person is running the school board or is in a position affecting our curriculum, your children are the recipients — or you may look at it as the victims — of that.

We cannot sit back and say, "brother, what can I do?" You can do something. This is the time for us to vote in these local elections, learn about the candidates, what positions they hold. There are, masha'Allah, different groups here who are sharing information regarding these candidates — read up on it, and with basira and with foresight, go ahead and vote.

A Real-Life Example: The School Superintendent's Visit

Recently, alhamdulillah, we were able to welcome the new superintendent of our district. We gave him a tour, and masha'Allah, what a wonderful afternoon was spent with him. He was so excited. He saw the Hajj class, he saw the Alim class, and he said, "I have a PhD, but I regard myself as insignificant in front of these people who are studying like this." He said, "I'm so surprised when I heard how the day is spent by these students, and what they study." He was genuinely overwhelmed and appreciative of the efforts that go on in a Muslim seminary.

After lunch, we told him, "The tour has ended, it's one o'clock, we're going to have Dhuhr soon, you're free to go." He said, "No, may I please stay back?" We said, "By all means." So he stayed, masha'Allah. He watched how wudu was performed, he heard the adhan, he sat at the back of the masjid and waited till the very end, watching how salah was performed, how manzil was recited, and so forth. He walked away extremely impressed and shared it with his colleagues. We heard great feedback afterwards, many days later, of the feedback he shared with the people around him.

How did that happen? Because there was a Muslim sister on the school board who facilitated this. And who facilitated another Muslim sister giving a training for the teachers on how to deal with Muslim students — how to understand that it's Ramadan, so they can't be burdened on top of everything else. They have their test in front of them and their exams in school, but they also have to fast, and they also have taraweeh — the teachers have no idea. And they're like — wow. An educational system was put in place to educate teachers about what a Muslim student's Ramadan looks like. So please be mindful of that when you're assigning homework.

The discussion came about providing halal food at lunches. Can you imagine? What an amazing discussion this was. And they were like, yes, we're ready to work on it. Some people had tried before but faced difficulties. We said, no problem — we're ready to try again. We're ready to connect the involved parties to see if halal food can be served in our lunches. They are willing to work with us. But it goes back to having good partners in the right places.

If you can have a Muslim partner, masha'Allah. If you cannot have a Muslim partner, then at least a non-Muslim who is sympathetic to our causes. Now that position is going to become vacated soon because her term is ending this year. We need someone to take up that position. We need someone who is listening to me right now to say, "You know what? I want to volunteer myself to be on the school board." It's going to take some hours a week, yes. But what are you in charge of? You have the ability to bring positive change literally to thousands of children of our Muslim community — and non-Muslim community as well. And you can bring awareness to Muslim causes and remove the fear of Islam and the misunderstanding of Islam from the minds of teachers, professors, and of course school children as well.

Entering Islam in Totality

It's easy to complain about world events. It's easy to sit and say, "Oh, I'm so sad." We don't need that. We need work. We need people to stand up and say, "Okay, I am ready insha'Allah to volunteer my time." More than anything else, if you love the ummah and you have concern for the ummah, you will be motivated to take the actions that are needed.

I want to remove this mindset — destroy this mindset — in our community that there is one tabaqa of people who perform salah, read Qur'an, do khatm al-Qur'an, pray tahajjud, grow out beards, wear their turbans, whose women wear hijab and jilbab and niqab, who go for umrah and so forth. And another group of people who are politically active, who are on the school boards, who are in local politics, who are champions of human rights and Muslim rights — and who have no connection with the deen. This is not what the deen taught us.

Enter into Islam in totality. We are responsible for both sides. In our relationship with Allah, we have to be there. In our relationship with human beings and the creation of Allah, we have to be there. We have to be in the front row in voting and in the front row in the masjid.

A Call to Action: Tahajjud, Du'a, and the Ballot

I invite you this upcoming election, this next week — pray your Salat al-Fajr in the masjid with jama'a. Participate in the Qunut al-Nazilah. Participate in the morning adhkar and then go vote.

I encourage you this week, in the few days that we have left before the clocks change — when Fajr Salat is still starting at 5:50, 5:45 — utilize this week, all of us insha'Allah, to perform tahajjud Salat. And stand up in front of Allah and say: Ya Allah, You have made this country where I am born and where I live the center of the world in so many ways. You have made this the superpower at this time. I happen to be born here, or I happen to reside here. Ya Allah, allow the elections — local as well as national — that are going to happen in this country, allow them to be in favor of the ummah. Allow the results to be such that will bring a rain of peace and khair and goodness across the globe.

Allah is listening to your du'a. Allah is looking at your intentions. Allah is looking at your ambitions. I don't know what will happen, but I'll tell you one thing — your 10 to 20 minutes of du'a at the time of tahajjud, begging Allah for help, that is being recorded. Regardless of who wins the election, nationally and locally, your du'a is being recorded by Allah azza wa jal. And you will be receiving the reward whether that person does right or wrong — because you voted the best way you could, and because you made sincere du'a.

Nothing is hidden from Him. He will definitely, insha'Allah, reward us in full at the end of the day.

The Lesson of Umar and Khalid ibn al-Walid

Last but not least, I want to remind you of a beautiful statement of Umar رضي الله عنه. He says:

(Narrated in various historical sources including al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah of Ibn Kathir)

"I am removing Khalid and al-Muthanna from their leadership roles so that everyone may know — and they themselves may know — that it is Allah who gives victory to His deen, and not them." Allah's loyalty is with the deen, not with the people.

Umar رضي الله عنه said: I did not remove Khalid ibn al-Walid from his position of leadership because I was angry at him, nor because he committed any betrayal or treachery. But people began falling into fitna because of him — I was afraid that people would begin to trust him more than they trust Allah. So I desired that people should know that the doer is Allah and not anyone else.

If this was the concern of Umar رضي الله عنه regarding Khalid ibn al-Walid and al-Muthanna ibn Harithah رضي الله عنهما — even though they were so victorious — imagine the level of yaqeen you and I should have when we are dealing with elections and political figures. Allah is the one who acts. Whether this party or that party, whether this individual or that individual — let's not tie our hopes to a party. Let's not tie our hopes to a person. Tie our hopes only to Allah.

Have reliance upon Allah. Do your educated guess, cast your vote, and before and after, ask Allah to guide you to make the best decision. I ask Almighty Allah azza wa jal to bring khair and goodness at this next week's elections, and allow the khair from here to spread across the globe. May Allah azza wa jal allow all of us to be participants in it.

Wassalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.