ISAK Jummah Prayer - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

The Sovereignty of Allah Over All Affairs

The night into the day and the day into the night — two extremely opposite, almost opposite creations of Allah — but seamlessly one enters into the other. You don't know when one ended and when the other one started. Each one has their own very stark, different characteristics, and what people do in the day and what people do in the night.

But the seamless movement from night and day is something that Allah does in front of you and I every single day. Every single day. And He is the One who takes out the living from the dead, and the dead from the living.

And He provides sustenance to whomsoever He wishes without counting it. Allah doesn't nickel and dime us. Allah gives us based on His greatness, His magnitude, His magnificence.

We are all 100% absolutely reliant upon Him. My beloved friends, this is a really important part of our faith. Whatever missed you was never meant to get you. Whatever got you was never meant to miss you. Whatever you have in your hands — that was never supposed to be in someone else's hands. And whatever you don't have in your hands was never meant for anyone else.

Every single thing is through the decree of Allah. And no one has the capacity to go ahead and change any of Allah's decisions. Allah is the One. No one can bring anything close that He has chosen to push away. No one can push away what He has chosen to bring close to us. This is Allah who is completely in control of every aspect of our life.

The lucky one is the one who recognizes that. The lucky one is the one who appreciates that. The lucky one is the one who knows his role on this earth. And he says, "Ya Allah, I've been sent for a very short period of time. I need to fulfill my role. And as long as I fulfill my role, I know, Ya Allah, You are going to of course take care of everything else."

This trust is what a believer is supposed to have — and ما شاء الله, does have.

Our Pivotal Moment in History

My beloved friends, the fact that we are in this country at this time — a very, very unique, interesting time — in these past decades and centuries, and now in this month where we are. The past year is supposed to be a wake-up call from what has happened since October until now. So much has happened across the globe. So much has happened, subhanAllah, in Jerusalem and so much has happened in the larger, wider Bilad al-Sham and in Palestine. And then we are in the center of all of that.

Yes, the destruction and the genocide is not happening to us over here. But you and I know we are situated in that part of the world in which the decisions are made — where the money flows, and where the green light and the red light comes from. Allah has intentionally placed you and I over here. Allah has placed you and I here at such a pivotal time, in such a pivotal part of the country — or pivotal part of this world, I should say.

And now we are just a few days away from a very pivotal Election Day. And it is not a coincidence that you and I are attending the last Jumu'ah before this big election — which does not have ramifications only in this part of the country, or this country, but rather across the globe.

And all of us have to ask ourselves: what is my role? What am I expected to do? Am I really supposed to do an 8am to 12pm job and quickly go into my local masjid for Jumu'ah for 20 minutes and I'm out? Am I really supposed to just worry about my 22 or 24 credits of college and then come in for Jumu'ah and leave? Am I really supposed to just be running my business from my home online and come for a few minutes on Sunday or a few minutes for Friday and that's it?

Is that my role? Or genuinely, does Allah have something bigger cut out for me? Ask yourself this question. What are you doing here? What is your purpose? Why are you — on this day of Jumu'ah, in this part of the world, in this part of the year, in this part of human history — sitting here? Ask yourself this question.

Because we are the people who believe that not a leaf can move without the permission of Allah. Not a single child can come into existence that was not meant to exist. Not a single child dies that was meant to live. Everything is absolutely intentional. So the fact that you and I are sitting here — there has to be a very clear purpose for that. It's not just that we happened to pop up here, or our parents happened to move here some years ago and here we are. No, my friends. We are definitely at a very, very pivotal part of not only our own journey, but the journey of Islam and the journey of the world. You have to ask yourself: what am I expected to do?

The Pragmatism and Completeness of Islam

My beloved brothers and sisters, Islam is not one of the — it is the most pragmatic, most realistic, most beautiful, most comprehensive religion and deen that anyone can ever imagine. Why is it so pragmatic? Why is it so realistic? Why is it so logical? Why is it so beautiful? Why is it so complete? Because it's not man-made.

Anything that is man-made will work for a certain sector of society and won't work for another sector. Or for one ethnicity but not for the other. For one portion of the world but not for the other. That's how everything is — you always have to make adjustments. Even something like the fast foods that we have exported across the globe — our culture, our arts and so forth. Even that, when I was visiting some countries over the summer, I noticed that those fast food chains in those areas have very different menus. Even though they look the same from the outside. The food is different. You cannot expect someone in the Pacific to enjoy the very same things that we do here — those spices, that type of food. It's very different. This is man-made.

When something comes from Allah and it's meant to be for the entire humanity, then wallahi, that's what's going to be the case. The millionaire and the pauper. The nobleman and a prisoner of war. A young child to a wise elderly person. Man or woman, from all backgrounds — can find the beauty in the completeness of our faith. If they are looking at Islam with an open mind and an open heart, and are trying to unravel their fitrah, then they will find something beautiful in it.

A Story of Fitrah from Austin

Just one of my students from Austin — he just left me a message right now. He said they had a Fajr program at their masjid. He said two sisters came in, and someone said these are non-Muslim sisters who want to learn about Islam. He said subhanAllah, one of them had such a nice scarf and everything, so he thought maybe one of them was a Muslim friend. But they said both were non-Muslims.

Then at the end, he noticed earrings of the cross — a cross on her neck. So he got a little confused. Then, either he asked her point blank or she volunteered. She said: "I'm a Christian. But I love to wear the hijab and the jilbab. And I'm actually trying to wear the niqab, but my parents are not agreeing to that." Niqab. So he asked why. She said: "Because I want to be like the women of the Bible. I want to be like Mary. I want to be like the earlier women of the Christian faith, who used to dress in modest clothing. This is not because of Islam. It's because I'm a Christian woman. But yes, I'm interested in Islam. But this is how I'm dressing."

You and I have heard this in history books. You and I have read this on Wikipedia. And you and I have seen pictures from Jerusalem from the early 1900s. But here you go — in modern-day Austin, right now, this year, this week — you have a college student who's dressing in hijab. A non-Muslim Christian who says that subhanAllah, my fitrah likes this. I like to be leading a life of modesty. I like the fact that I don't have people staring at my body. I like the fact that I am able to cover myself up and I feel empowered by that. And the list goes on.

Wallahi, that's the beauty of our deen. Whether you're Christian, Jew, Buddhist, or Muslim — or a weak Muslim — whatever it may be. If you study Islam with an open heart and open mind and you want to find something that truly hits the heart, there's nothing like this.

The Building Blocks of the Ummah

One of the main components of this Islam — it starts off with: the Ummah is there. The Ummah has to be united. There's one big massive Ummah. But the Ummah is made out of small building blocks. And each of those building blocks is called the family. Each building block is a family. And the basic unit of each of those families is the heart.

It starts as I — Azeemuddin Ahmed — am an individual. My heart. That's the basic unit. Then it starts off after that with my spouse, with my children. That's a larger unit. Then after that it's going to be with my parents and my siblings and their kids. A larger unit. And here you go — you build the entire Ummah. Bit by bit. Person by person. Man by man. Woman by woman. Heart by heart. You lead from there, and then from there to the family, until you have the entire Ummah.

When you have salah and goodness in the single cell, then the goodness is going to spread all over. There's no such thing as cancer in the body at a molecular or cellular level where there's no cancer in the cells — and yet somehow the cancer is just moving around. That doesn't make sense.

If the Ummah is in pain, if the Ummah is bleeding, if the Ummah is bewildered, if the Ummah is confused, if the Ummah is in tatters — understand that this didn't happen in a vacuum. The Ummah is a reflection of a much smaller specific unit called the family. And the family is a reflection of a more specific unit called the heart. When the hearts are messed up, the families are going to be messed up. When the families are going to be messed up, the communities are going to be split. When the communities are going to be split, the nations are going to be split. When the nations are going to be split, then most definitely the Ummah is going to be split.

It is very easy for us to speak about certain things that we do not have to take responsibility for. But it feels nice to speak about it as we sip our cup of coffee or eat our steak. Then we say: "The Ummah — ya ikhwan — the Ummah, what's going on? It's bleeding." Okay, what are you going to do about it? Who doesn't know the Ummah is bleeding? But what's the answer? Oh, the answer is something that doesn't involve me. The Muslim leaders gotta get together. The Muslim prime ministers gotta get together. And that leaves you — as a business owner, as a physician, as a college student — completely out of the equation. Because I'm not a prime minister, I'm not a king, I'm not a Mufti of a country. "That's not my problem."

Understand how Shaytan plays tricks with us — that makes us speak about international problems in such a painful, empathetic way, and yet we are able to get out of the mess by saying, "We hope inshallah things sort out," and then we leave. That's it. That's the end of the story. Ya ikhwan, that's the concern — the Ummah is bleeding, and then mashaAllah you spoke to me and after that you've gone back to work. That's it.

What we don't realize is that the Ummah is a compilation of millions of families and billions of individuals like you and I. And until we do not work on ourselves, and until I don't work on our units of family, we cannot expect change to happen. Change starts not from top to bottom. It starts from the bottom up. That's a basic thing.

The Prophet did not come and say, "We want to establish this." It started man by man, woman by woman, person by person. The Prophet made an effort in those difficult 13 years of Mecca. Eventually he had to move. But subhanAllah, very soon after those long years of sacrifice, alhamdulillah, Allah changed the entire world.

It Is Allah Who Makes Our Actions Effective

Dear brothers and sisters, it is so important for us to realize that our deen is very pragmatic, and that pragmatism starts with caring for our children, for our future, for our spouse and for our kids. I have spoken here multiple times in the past year — maybe two or three times — and you will always see a common theme. The common theme is: I am the problem. If I come right, subhanAllah, everything will come right. The issue is — let's not point fingers at other people. We know everything else is falling apart. But what is your role?

On the Day of Judgment, when Allah says, "What did you do?" — what is going to be your answer? When the children and the women of Gaza and of Lebanon and of Sudan will stand up on the Day of Judgment and hold you and me accountable — what answer have we got? Do we even have something called ma'dhirat ila Rabbikum — is there something we can say, "Ya Allah, at least I tried"? I tried something. What is that try? What can you do?

From amongst the many things is that a person at least repents. At least repents. I as an imam of a masjid — and a musalli, my own weak, weak self — I tell you: I thought after October 7th and the atrocities that happened after that, that our masajid would fill up. That the musallis for Fajr would increase. And I'm here to stand and say about my own community — that has not happened. That has not happened. It broke my heart. To see a year later, I counted the rows — where are we? The number of people were where we were before. Some of the people changed, some people left, some people came. But has there been a significant increase? Absolutely not.

You go to different communities, you ask the masajid: what's going on? A year later there's so much clamor, so much talk. But subhanAllah, when it comes to the very basic fundamentals of the deen — we talk about Salahuddin. We talk about Mahmud al-Ghaznawi. We talk about Tariq ibn Ziyad. We talk about Umar ibn al-Khattab. We talk about Khalid ibn al-Walid. Find me one Muslim general who won a skirmish by missing Fajr. Find me one Muslim general whose army won a battle by them missing a fard salah. Find me one Muslim community that conquered the next town by indulging in the haram — consuming haram, spending haram, looking at haram, listening to haram, having haram relationships.

Brothers, nothing happens like that. Nothing. The world and Islam didn't spread by people committing haram. Islam spread — not even with the sword. It was men and women of Allah who sacrificed their desires, who put their foot down on their nafs and lived a life solely for Allah. They just raised their hand, and Allah did the job.

Allah is telling the Prophet, peace be upon him: "When you threw the sand at their faces, you did not throw — but Allah threw." Allah says إِذْ رَمَيْتَ — "you threw" — then Allah says "you did not throw." What is that supposed to mean? Meaning: throwing sand does nothing. The fact that you threw — you just did the action. وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ رَمَىٰ — Allah is the One who made the throwing of your sand effective.

Whether it's sand or bullets, whether it's a letter or a text or a tweet, the effectiveness of books and anything else beyond that — all of that, as a Muslim, we believe effectiveness comes from Allah. We are mere instruments. We work and we ask Allah to put ta'theer and effect in our work. We ask Allah to put effect in our words. We ask Allah to put effect in our money. We ask Allah to put effect in our efforts. But the One who is فَعَّالٌ لِمَا يُرِيدُ — who does whatever He wants — is only Allah.

As soon as a believer starts attributing success to himself, it all falls apart.

The Lesson of Umar and Khalid ibn al-Walid

You have all heard about Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him — when he had ascended the Khilafah and had seen that one of his generals on the Syrian front, and every front he was put on, was doing such an amazing job. He was conquering lands upon lands. But in the thick of the battle, Umar sent a messenger. He said, "When you go and meet Ameer al-Jaysh, the leader of the army Khalid, give him this letter." The messenger asked, "O Ameer al-Mu'mineen, should I wait till the battle finishes, or should I give it to him in the middle of the battle?" He said, "Give it to him as soon as you arrive at the army's camp. Don't wait."

He went and handed it over. Khalid ibn al-Walid, may Allah be pleased with him, opened it and saw that Umar ibn al-Khattab was asking him — in the middle of the battle — to step down as general. "You become a foot soldier, and you now need to give the flag of this entire battalion to another Sahabi." People were shocked. Let's see what's the move of Khalid ibn al-Walid.

Khalid ibn al-Walid read the letter, took the flag, and gave it to the next person whom Umar had named. And then people wondered what Khalid was going to do. Khalid said, "Let's move, Ameer. Let's go. I'm ready." People were shocked. You have gone from a top-notch general, demoted to a foot soldier, and you're still going to be participating? And his answer was: "It was never for Umar. It was always for Allah. What difference does it make if I am sitting on top of the horse holding the flag of the army as a general, or I'm a foot soldier walking behind the rest? I serve Allah in both positions. This was never about Umar. This was never about the name."

And what was Umar thinking? Why would he take someone who's doing such an amazing job and pull him away — something that I don't think any of us would ever consider doing? He said two things. Number one: I want Khalid and Muthanna, may Allah be pleased with them both, to know that Allah is helping His deen. Allah's help is not specific to you two. Rather, Allah is helping because you are doing something for His deen. Allah's loyalty is with what? With His deen. Not with names. Not with specific people from specific ethnicities. Allah's loyalty and nusrah is with people of iman, whoever they may be, whatever color they may be, whatever ethnicity they may be. It doesn't make a difference. Allah loves to see those who stand up for His deen, and He will give them victory — it could be anyone.

And then he mentioned in another narration why he pulled him out: "I did not pull back Khalid from his position because I was angry at him, or because he had done something wrong. But rather, people had fallen into fitna because of him. I was afraid that people would start relying upon Khalid instead of relying upon Allah. That if Khalid is in the battle, we are set — we have nothing to worry about. And if Khalid is not here, then there is no way we are going to win this battle. I wanted the Ummah to know that the Doer is not Khalid. The Doer is not Muthanna. The Doer is Allah."

Civic Duty and the Coming Election

My dear friends, what an important reflection as the voting season has begun, and we are days away from the final national election, as well as the state elections. It is our civic duty and it is the pragmatism of Islam that we vote. You make your ijtihad. You make your effort. Try to figure out — especially in local politics — which candidate will be the best for the Ummah. Not for your own business, but rather for the Ummah.

You make your effort. There are people who know about this. Ask them — in our local district, what are the seats available? Who is running? What are their positions? Make a little bit of effort today and tomorrow, this weekend. And then go present your vote. Not to show off. But to say, "Ya Allah, at least I tried. I have no say. But at least I made an effort. At least one person who I hope will benefit the Ummah — I voted for."

Number two: understand that no party can help Islam. No party can help themselves. No man or woman can help Islam or themselves. It is Allah who helps. Do not bank your hopes on any one man or woman. Do not bank your hopes on any politician. Do not bank your hopes on any party. Bank your hopes only on Allah. And understand that Allah wants to see us coming towards Him.

A Call to Wake Up

Beloved brothers and sisters, I beg you — allow this past year to wake us up. They say we make du'a for Gaza. Wallahi, what are they going to say — if they were to see a vision of our masjid at Fajr? If they were to see our Isha salah? If they were to see our weekends? Honestly, how heartbroken they would be. They would say: "Here we are, dying, and we still don't give up our salah. Here we are, dying, and we still don't give up لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ. And what could possibly be stopping you from going for your salah? What could possibly be stopping you from picking up a mus'haf and reading a few verses of the Quran and reflecting on it?"

My dear friends, that blood that is being spilled there — let it not be spilled in vain. Let it become a means of awakening the Ummah. I once again ask you: the fact that you are here at this time, in this period — it's not coincidental. Ask yourself: tomorrow I'm going to be asked. On the Day of Judgment I'm going to be asked. Allah will ask me: "What did you do in 2024 when the Ummah was lit on fire? What did you do with the building block of the Ummah? Your family — you and your wife, you and your husband, you and your kids — what islah and salah did you bring within yourself to help the Ummah?"

Because this Ummah will once again, inshallah, regain its beauty and its strength. But it cannot happen from top to bottom. It has to happen from the bottom up. Family by family, person by person, we must change.

And I make a niyyah today in front of you, and I ask you to make a niyyah today here in front of all of us. Ya Allah, I make this niyyah inshallah in front of You: that from now on, I will try my best every time I hear the news and watch a clip of what's happening overseas — I will try to make that a means of bringing change in my life. A means of making tawbah.

I want all of you today to say inshallah — that because of what has happened, this has motivated me to leave at least one haram. One haram that you're involved in — today make tawbah. One fard you're neglecting — please make tawbah from that. If you're neglecting your parents, if you're neglecting your spouse, neglecting your children, or involved in something haram that you all know about yourselves — use this opportunity to say: for the sake of Allah, and for the people who are giving their lives overseas and dying and being butchered and a genocide is unfolding in front of our very own eyes and I can't do anything — at least I can say to Allah and the people over there: alhamdulillah, I repented to Allah because of the sacrifice you made. And so their death will also be shahada, but they will get ajr and reward for the changes that will come into my life and your life.

I ask Allah to bring a revival and an awakening within the Ummah. I ask Allah to bring a tajdeed within the Ummah. I ask Allah to unite our homes, unite our families, and bring a massive level of awakening in all of our communities across America. May Allah fill our masajid for Fajr. May Allah fill our masajid across the world for Fajr. May Allah make our young men and women from among those who are attending the masjid regularly.

A Visit to Masjid al-Aqsa

Last but not least — because many of you might not get a chance to hear about this — two weeks ago I was in Jordan. And I was visiting the refugee camps of the Syrians and Palestinians. And alhamdulillah, Allah blessed me to go and pray in Masjid al-Aqsa as well. And I want to share with you what I just spoke about regarding Fajr.

The last day I was there — I was there one day in Aqsa — I went for Fajr salah. They very vehemently, very harshly shooed me away. They said, "Get back to your hotel." They actually put their hands onto their side — as if they were about to pull something out. Even though they knew, of course, we're American citizens. But they did not want us to come for Fajr.

And I spoke to another Muslim family from Chicago. They said, "Yes, every day we would go for Fajr. They would make us waste time — go from this gate, no not from this gate, go from that gate, that gate." Eventually they would wait until Salat al-Fajr was over, and then they would allow us in.

So I came out very sad that I couldn't pray Fajr. I'm in Aqsa. I said, "Let me go find a musalla." I looked and looked for any musalla or masjid. I asked the bakery that was open. "Brother, any masjid I can pray?" He said, "No, there is no masjid that is open for Fajr besides Aqsa. And Aqsa, they sealed it up. This is not new — this is from before."

So then I asked the brothers, "Why? Give me the logic. I prayed Asr, Maghrib, Isha." And wallahi, this is what they told me — the brother who dropped me off at the Amman border. He said: "These Yahud — they know that an Ummah that prays Fajr in the masjid is an Ummah that's awake. Allah's help will be with them, and they will also be different. The goal is literally to try to completely cancel Salat al-Fajr in Masjid al-Aqsa." Till last week, 5,000 of the settlers came in. So think about what the enemy knows about Fajr — they know that if this group prays Fajr salah, they will be different. Allah's help will be with them. They will be awake. And now if you cancel Fajr in the masjid, and the adhan is off, and no other area is open — one day you pray at home, second day you pray at home — then what happens? The whole environment finishes.

I want to share this story with you so that please, let us all make efforts. I am weak — I'm not someone who's strong, I'm weak as well. But may Allah make every one of us, and our sons, from amongst those who pray Salat al-Fajr in the masjid. Say ameen.

Let's start — it starts off with intention. If you make intention, Allah will help you. Carpool. I tell my students: make a WhatsApp group — a Fajr WhatsApp group — with five or six friends. Whoever wakes up, call. Automatically with one button, everyone's phone will start ringing. Alhamdulillah — "Are you awake? You need me to pick you up?" If someone doesn't pick up, you can call them individually. But this is a small way.

Look how many people are listening to me. If each one of us makes a small group of four or five — a Fajr conference call, a wake-up call — and you press the button and everyone's phone rings, you'll see tomorrow your attendance will be one step extra. And my attendance will be extra. So I want to ask all of you: please make du'a for my own and your own children, and our own deen, your deen. But we have to start somewhere basic. Basic. And that is with Salat al-Fajr. InshAllah, Allah's nusrah will come.

We bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. We ask forgiveness and we repent to You. And peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. May Allah bless you.

Upcoming Programs at ISAK Masjid

There are two programs happening in this very same masjid, alhamdulillah, and I just would like to mention them.

Tonight: Sacred Bonds — Fortifying Faith and Family in Times of Fitna

Today at 5:30pm here at this masjid, inshallah, there is a program called Sacred Bonds — Fortifying the Faith and Family in the Times of Fitna. It runs from 5:30pm till 11:00pm. There will also be an i'tikaf. The scholars coming from out of town — Sheikh Musa — as well as your local scholar here, Sheikh Zubair, and myself, inshallah, will be doing i'tikaf in the masjid with the youth and the adults. We encourage all the brothers here to dedicate one night to the house of Allah. Please bring the women, the men, the children, your cousins, your family members.

The first talk will be: Cultivating Conviction — Accepting Divine Guidance.
The second talk by Sheikh Musa: Family First — Rebuilding the Foundations of Society.
And lastly, the talk I'll be giving, inshallah: Faith versus Materialism — The Struggle for the Soul.

Tomorrow: Bands, Borders, and Bloodbaths — Baffled Believers at the Ballot Box

Tomorrow, inshallah, you have a program here in the same masjid. It's called Bands, Borders, and Bloodbaths — Baffled Believers at the Ballot Box. Sheikh Hamza, Sheikh Musa, and Attorney Ziad will be speaking about everything related to the election. What are the politics a believer should get involved in or not get involved in? Should we just stay away? How should people of knowledge act? Is there something called an acceptable compromise? Is voting permissible or not? What can our expectations be? All of this — amazing discussions from 2pm to 6pm at this same masjid.

Darussalam Institute — Winter Intensive

My name is Azeemuddin Ahmed. I'm traveling from Chicago — I came in this morning and I'll be leaving tomorrow morning, inshallah. I'm part of Darussalam Institute, Darussalam Seminary. I'm one of the co-founders there, alhamdulillah, and a teacher. We have a booth outside. You can pick up free du'a books, cards, and other great things, as well as a few books on marriage. Learn about our programs — our one-year intensive and our summer intensive.

Alhamdulillah, this year we will be having our three-day winter intensive on the topic of family — how to get married, how to stay married, how to raise kids, and, Allah forbid, if things go bad, what's the Islamic way of separating. A three-day workshop, 10am to 6pm, on December 21, 22, and 23, in Chicago at our base at Darussalam. We have internationally renowned scholars, alhamdulillah, coming and speaking at this event.