Jumu'ah Khutbah | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 5/26/23

Sadaqallahul Azeem.

Beloved brothers and sisters, dear elders, dear listeners, اسلام علیکم ورحمۃ اللہ وبرکاتہ.

Alhamdulillah, we are blessed to be in the ummah of Rasool Allah ﷺ, blessed to have faith, and blessed to have such clear, beautiful instructions from our Nabi that doesn't allow us to remain confused of what to do next, no matter what the situation may be. And we are so blessed to have an ummah in which there are so many different methods of self-correction that allow us to reflect and figure out what the solution is, utilize the solution to remain steadfast on our deen.

Previous Nations and Our Ummah

Previous nations were dependent upon their Prophets to come their way. But Alhamdulillah, we know as Nabi ﷺ has mentioned that the previous times a Nabi would come and guide the people, and after the Nabi would go away, then people would naturally be misled. And when they would be misled, then another Prophet would come. And so this Nabi, Nabi ﷺ being لَا نَبِيَّ بَعْدِي, there's no Prophet to come after me, the Prophet ﷺ being the last and the best of, and the most complete deen he brought.

But Allah عز و جل did not leave us unsheltered, did not leave us as orphans. He created and gifted us with something beautiful that He made every single person amongst us responsible. All of us are responsible for the ummah, we're responsible for our families, we're responsible for our communities. There are some who have more responsibility than others, for example, those who've been blessed and endowed with knowledge, then their responsibility obviously is more. But the average person who has some learning of deen, some fundamentals of deen, he is also not off the hook.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 893)

Every one of you is a shepherd, and every one of you is in charge and responsible of his flock of sheep.

Taking Responsibility

As long as every one of us takes responsibility and makes ourselves hold ourselves accountable to what happens in the grand scheme of things, then inshaAllah we'll have goodness all over. And if we begin to worry only about ourselves and not care about the general community and even our own kids, then my friends, not only will deen leave from society, it will leave from our own home.

So today we don't just see deen leaving from society, we see deen leaving from the homes of everyone. Every father who's sitting here, every mother who's listening to me, everyone is concerned about their children. And if they're not concerned, then that's even a bigger problem, why they're not concerned.

Warning Signs for Parents

If we have any sense, we should definitely be concerned when we see the type of disrespect that children show to their parents, the type of disregard they show to authority, the type of disregard they show to scholarship and ilm, the type of distance they find themselves between them and the house of Allah. These are things that should be huge warning signs for all of us as moms and dads.

But the question is what do we do about it when we see our children leaving the deen, when I see our children's moral code, moral ethics and values changing. What is our response to that? Do we give a blind eye and say that as long as you bring me straight A's, I don't care. As long as you are bringing money at home, we don't care. Or is it that we say that their life is very short, we might not make it till the end of the year, might not make it till the end of the month, or might not make it till the end of the week. That anytime we may leave and we have to ensure that we don't leave in such a state that Allah Azawajal is displeased with us, and that we end up suffering in the hereafter.

So then every father and mother will naturally, should be concerned about what is entering their home. What type of influences are entering our home.

Commanding Good and Forbidding Evil

My beloved brothers and sisters, we've been taught the concept of أمر بالمعروف ونهي عن المنكر That the importance of encouraging towards good, forbidding from evil, that's who we are. We care about one another, we care about ourselves, we care about our children, we care about the one next to us. And if we don't, then the fire will spread from one person to the other. The disease will spread from one person to the other. The virus will spread from one person to the other. Instead, if we become responsible, we stamp it out right then and there, wherever we see it. InshaAllah, what will happen, that our home will be protected from the influence that is coming from outside.

The Influence of Social Media and Technology

We'll see for example, the influence of social media on our children is so obvious. We see the influence of cell phone addiction, and addiction of videos, movies, and online streaming services to such a degree that people are looking at zombies at home. They're not their normal kids, they look very different, they act very different, they say things that are horrendous, that a person says, how does a six-year-old speak to his mother or father like that?

But the problem is, we've gotten so accustomed to it that we don't say anything. It happens to me everyday, I see a child addressing his parent in a manner, and I'm looking like, okay, are you gonna respond? Are you gonna say something? But they just laugh it off. Or they just say, come on, let's move on, let's get out of here.

When we don't realize that that disrespectful statement, or that statement that is telling me that this person has got doubts about Allah, doubts about Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, doubts about the deen, doubts about the beauty of this, all of this, that it needs not to be ignored, but it needs to be taken into full consideration. We need to have all the alarms go off in our mind to say, what's going on with my daughter and son?

Society's Permissiveness

The school year is coming to an end, but how is this son and daughter thinking and approaching life so differently from the way I've raised them? We see moms and dads simply turn the other way and say, let's go grab some ice cream. Let's go out, let's continue on to our wedding plans for this weekend. Without understanding what just transpired between you and your son? What just transpired between you and your daughter? What just transpired between you and your sibling?

My beloved friends, society has become so permissive to these type of things, that when we hear these words of disrespect and dishonor to the deen, disrespect and dishonor to you as a mom and dad, disrespect and dishonor to you as an elder brother or sister, it doesn't trigger anything. It simply becomes the acceptable accepted norm.

What can we do? This is how the world, this is 2023, this is how we roll in, this is what's going on. This type of fatalistic viewpoints and fatalistic approach to life is gonna bring death and misery before its time to you and your family. There's no reason for us to have a fatalistic type of mentality. No reason for us to have this type of depressed and pessimistic type of mentality.

Taking a Stand in Our Homes

We can say, no matter what's happening in the world, this cannot happen in my house. If it's snowing outside, like it does in Chicago, or it gets very cold, do you say, it's freezing cold outside, so we're gonna keep the heat not working at home, we're gonna make sure that we don't have socks, we don't have jackets at home, no blankets, because we wanna make sure, if it's cold and freezing outside, it should be cold and freezing inside. No one says that.

If your heater is broken, furnace breaks, you do anything and everything, your water heater breaks down, you'll do anything and everything to make sure your kids do not have to suffer. What people outside who don't have a home, who don't have heat are suffering. What type of foolishness would say, what type of foolish individual would say, if everyone outside is suffering, who is homeless, well guess what, you all have a home, but I'm gonna make you suffer like the homeless people outside. Doesn't make sense. You will do everything in your hands to ensure that doesn't happen.

Similarly, no matter what is going on around us in society, that LGBTQ has become the order of the day. With June, pride month coming, starting in the next few days, a full scale agenda being pushed down our throats in every single grocery aisle, in every single department store aisle, in the type of clothing that is being sold, in the type of ice cream, in the type of cupcakes. Wherever you go, all that agenda is being pushed down our throats.

Yeah, we see that. What do you do? It's just like the super hot summer or the super cold winter. You know it's all around you, but your door is in your hands. The temperature of your home is in your hands. The thermostat of your home is in your hands. You have to make sure you take a stand and to say, these are things that I will allow in my home and these are things that I will not allow in my home. No one can control that. Alhamdulillah, the decision is yours.

That's what we're talking about. كُلُّكُمْ مَسْؤُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ Every one of us is in charge of our flock. Our flock is what's in our home. These are my three kids. These are my four kids. This is my spouse. These are my siblings. These are my parents. This is my home. I will ensure that the temperature is set appropriately.

A Real-Life Example

The agenda outside is of addiction to cellphones, addiction to video games. SubhanAllah, Mawlana before me, spoke a beautiful talk in the first khutbah. And I just happened to be in the back, listening and walking around over here, serving the needs of those who are coming. And I was dumbfounded. I was shocked. Seriously, standing in the city in the lobby, he is speaking about the addiction of cellphones and how kids are addicted to that. In front of my very two eyes, I see two men, two men playing video games.

Video games, right here, 25 minutes ago, in the lobby. And I'm like, what's going on? I told one of the volunteers. I said, what am I seeing? I rubbed my eyes. Is this true? It's a grown man playing a shooting game, while Mawlana is speaking in English about addiction to cellphones. He said, sheikh, you're up front, you're never in the back, right? Naturally, I'm giving khutbah here. He said, this is the norm. This is the norm. When you talk about addiction, you see addiction over here.

Our Responsibility to Each Other

So what should we do? And now a person may say, brother, my sons don't listen to me at home. How can I tell this person? Well, if your sons don't listen to me at home, that's a different story. We cannot say, my kids don't listen, I can't speak to other people. Your son will listen to someone else. Someone else's son will listen to you. That's just how it works, unfortunately. So that should not mean that if I have this problem in my home, that I'm not gonna tell anyone.

So naturally, I went up to the brother. I said, assalamualaikum brother. The khutbah is going on, the talk is going on. You're on your games here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard the talk before. I heard the talk before. I said, no, he's speaking about it right now. Do you understand English? Yes, I understand English. I said, he's talking about the addiction of phones. And that's exactly what you're doing. You're sitting in jama'ah playing a video game on your phone. You're not six years old, you're probably 36. I'm the imam of the masjid, I love you and I care for you. That's why I'm telling you this.

Grudgingly he put his phone away. But he did it, alhamdulillah. Then there's another one, who I saw, alhamdulillah, I got him outside.

The Need for Active Da'wah in Our Communities

I made salam with him, introduced myself to him, got to know him. I didn't say why I was speaking with him. But I know he was on phone the entire time. I spoke to him, invite him to the retreat. Alhamdulillah, assist him to join the events group. And hopefully he'll be here. Make du'a for all those who are suffering this level of addiction. That whether it's a jama'ah, whether it's tarawih, wherever it is, they cannot get their hands off of their video games, phones, their anime cartoons, their other things.

The Industry of Addiction

Someone shared a beautiful talk with me, where the CEO of Netflix was asked, what is your competition? Is it Hulu? Is it Disney? And this is some many years ago, this question was asked to the CEO. He said, my only competition, my only competition I have with Netflix is sleep. The fact that people have a biological need to sleep, I cannot go around that. If I would somehow have a way to get rid of the biological need of sleep, people would literally watch forever. In the bathroom, in the shower, while eating breakfast, while sitting with friends, wherever they are, they would be addicted to Netflix.

This is the CEO speaking. I'm not speaking about some scholar giving a talk. The CEO is openly saying, the only competition we have is with sleep. You tell me how evil this entire industry is. Not just Netflix industry, the entire online industry, Facebook, Twitter, social media, all of these things. It's meant to truly control us, our sons and our daughters, as moms and dads, to make us useless zombies, who have no sense of direction in life, no sense of morality, no sense of vision or mission, but simply just sit there and do as you're told. It's a genuine drug. And you see that wherever you go, everyone is on that, everywhere. Whether it's a wedding or it is a janazah, everyone is on it, focused.

The Beauty of This Ummah

So this is the beauty of this ummah, that although the prophets are not there, every single generation will have rightly guided ulama and average individuals who will not just mind their own business, but rather they will stand up and speak. They will encourage people to do what's right, forbid people from doing that which is evil. And so long as this group of people do their job, this ummah will be on the right track. And as soon as people give up, become pessimistic, become fatalistic, and say, you know what, this is 2023, it's too late, it's this and that. Then you brought Day of Judgment closer than anyone else.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 46, Hadith 12)

Whoever has said that the people have been destroyed, he is the one who's destroyed them. Or he is the most destructive amongst them. أَهْلَكُهُمْ - Two ways of reading it. He is the one who destroyed them, or he is the most destructive amongst them.

Creating Change in Our Homes and Communities

We cannot blame society to say, society is messed up, so the Muslims have to be messed up. Society is messed up, so our masjid has to be messed up. Society is messed up, so my home has got to be messed up. There's no reason for us to do that. You can truly create amazing individuals in your home, and in your institutions. It simply requires you to be committed to the aspect of أَمْرٍ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَنَهْيٍ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ - to stand up and speak what's right, and forbid from evil.

There's still so much khayr, I've been traveling around the country for the past month in many different cities and states. And alhamdulillah, I am very hopeful. No matter where you go, people listen, people nod their heads. Even though what you say is 100% opposite of what society is telling them. Our viewpoints, and what we talk about the deeny viewpoints, and these issues, is completely against what society is preaching. But there's still fitrah within the people. They will look at you, they'll nod their heads and say, what you're saying is right.

And then you ask them, when was the last time you heard something like this? Been two decades, three decades. I haven't heard anything like this. I haven't heard it. But what you're saying now, it makes me remember the old lessons from childhood. What you're saying is the truth. Whether we speak about haya, whether we speak about adab, whether we speak about etiquette, whether we speak about morals and values, whether we speak about love between parents and children, between husband and wife, mutual respect, any of these topics you speak about, people sit and they nod their heads and say, you know what, what you're saying is really right. Although it's been decades or years since I heard this, but what you're saying is right.

A time will come, وَإِن أُعْجِبَ كُلُّ ذِي رَأْيٍ بِرَأْيِهِ - every person will be only thinking about his opinion. He will be completely blinded and dumb and deaf from all the truth. That's the time to go to the top of the mountains. We're not there yet. We're not there yet.

Signs of Hope

Alhamdulillah, look at the hundreds of people from across the country who have come through. I'm so moved. I saw a brother, a disabled brother, and a new Muslim brother, who was holding on to the nurani qaida when he heard my talk in another state. And he said, you know what, I don't know if they'll allow me to come like this on a plane, but I'm gonna come through. And I just saw him, mashaAllah, here for the retreat.

When you see such people, from young and old, who are making the effort, putting in thousands of dollars, and going through untold sacrifice, to come to a weekend program that is focusing on these values and these ethics, speaking about the forgotten lesson, speaking about the forgotten beautiful traits of our deen, my beloved friends, then there's nothing but hope we should have.

The Responsibility of Speaking Truth

We need to understand that if we speak up, if we have a thousand people here, who speak up, who learn the truth, invite towards the truth, then inshaAllah ta'ala, literally we have hope to save millions of people. Say inshaAllah. But if you walk away, say game over, then you have actually the one who's brought the day of judgment upon your own home. You are the one who are lighting your house on fire.

You cannot work on your home until you work on society. Work around us, inshaAllah the khair will come into your home. But if you say, no, I just gotta worry about myself, you're not gonna be able to even save your kids, the society, and you won't be able to even save yourself.

If you want the fire not to come into your home, and it's in your neighbor's house, you have to help your neighbor extinguish the fire. If you say, no, I'm gonna sit tight, while the neighbor figures out what happens in his home, then it's just a matter of minutes before the fire will jump into your house.

How to Invite Others

So I invite all of you to take this aspect of inviting towards good, forbidding from evil seriously. When you see something wrong, out of wisdom, with wisdom and love, go to someone and say, my dear brother, my dear sister, my dear youngster, this is not appropriate. If you speak with sincerity and love, inshaAllah people will listen.

Do not ridicule people. Do not scold people. Do not make them the butt of your jokes. Instead, take them to the side, and encourage them to say, what you're doing is just inappropriate, and I don't blame you. It's just because you and I are a product of society. And I just so happen that I'm not currently involved in this, but let me just tell you what you're doing is inappropriate. InshaAllah you'll see, one after another people will start listening. People will start changing, and this khayr will come into your own home.

When Allah looks how much you care about your Muslim brother, Allah will also guide your own sons and daughters. Don't be selfish. Care about those who are around you, and care about the Muslim ummah in general. When you make du'a, do not pray only for your kids, but make du'a for the sons and the daughters of the ummah. Make du'a for the women and the men of the ummah. And Allah Azza wa Jal will shower His mercy upon our own kids, will shower His mercy upon our own spouses.

Retreat Announcement

This weekend, I invite every single one of you, from out of town and local, whoever it is to join us from Asr Salah, till inshaAllah Sunday Asr, where we have an amazing lineup of scholars, speakers, and talks dedicated to all of these current issues that are constantly pestering us, ruining our lives. And as moms and dads, as siblings, as husbands and wives, we have no idea how to handle that.

Whether it is gender roles, whether it's same gender attraction, whether it is gender interaction within our masjids and schools, whether it is addiction to obscene scenes on our phones, whether it's addiction to social media, whether it's addiction to recreational drugs and gambling, whether it is the breaking of marriages, or not remaining dedicated to our marriages, and falling into sin before or unfortunately after marriage. These are some of the topics that inshaAllah will be addressed by our ulama and with our panels.

Alhamdulillah, we have a women's only retreat, retreat within the retreat. It's a women by women retreat on Sunday from Dhuhr til Asr on Sunday. I encourage all my mothers and sisters to ensure for that duration at least that we're here, and all the fathers and brothers who are here, please encourage your daughters, your wives, your sisters to join the entire program, and especially Sunday from Dhuhr til Asr.

Live Streaming and Access

These programs are all live streamed. If you have a wedding to attend, please join us in the morning. If you cannot join anytime, then at least please listen to the recordings afterwards. On your way out, there are students as well who have a QR code. Just take a picture of that. Once you join that announcement group, all of our programs inshaAllah all the time, including this Jumaa Khutbah that you're listening to right now, will be shared.

So anytime you want to listen to anything that is happening here, Alhamdulillah, you'll be able to listen no matter where you are in the world. All our summer intensive one year program, all of those programs get sent. You'll be the first one to receive it within seconds or minutes of the program beginning. So I encourage everyone who is listening to me here, please do take a picture of that QR code inshaAllah. And the YouTube channel is MasjidDiyas.

Try your best to attend this free event. Free event Alhamdulillah, which is taking place inshaAllah today from Salatul Asr to Sunday Salatul Asr.

Closing Du'a

I ask Allah Azza wa Jal to accept every single one of our sacrifices. And whatever I've spoken about, may Allah allow myself to put into practice, all of us to put into practice. May Allah make us steadfast in the truth. Make us among those who invite to the truth. May Allah make us among those who revive the truth. May Allah Azza wa Jal grant us death on the truth. Ameen, Rabbul Alameen.

Let us move forward, and then inshaAllah perform our sunnah. Before you begin the sunnah, make sure the rows are filled up completely before you begin the sunnah. Let us all stand up, fill up the rows completely inshaAllah, and then begin the sunnah. Everyone in the lobby, please make your way in. JazakAllah khairan.

Announcements

InshaAllah, please pass the donation boxes from the left to the right. Donate generously to the masjid expenses. Remember sadaqah wards off calamities, as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in a hadith, a charity given during the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day. So please do donate generously with the need of sadaqah. And inshaAllah if you'd like to donate towards the retreat expenses, be sure to do that as well.

Alhamdulillah as we have this program, inshaAllah we're expecting thousands of individuals to come being provided for free. So your sadaqah towards that will be a huge benefit inshaAllah to all those who are coming.

InshaAllah the program as we said begins after Salatul Asr today, the first talk. And it will be continuing, the last session ends at 11pm tonight. Additionally inshaAllah tomorrow we'll have our regular Fajr program. And on Sunday also we'll have a Fajr program. And then the talks will continue, resume at 11am. So we have talks on marriage and divorce in the morning. On Sunday morning we have one on, specifically on pornography.