Jumu'ah Khutbah | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 8/18/23

Opening and Introduction

Beloved elders and brothers, mothers and sisters, dear students, dear listeners. السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

The Comprehensive Nature of Islam

We are blessed to have the deen that not only teaches us how to live our lives in the masjid and in public, but also teaches us how to live our lives in private. We are blessed to have a deen that not only teaches us how to become successful in this mortal, finite world, but also how to remain successful in the barzakh, the life between this and the next, and how to attain success in the everlasting akhira.

We are blessed to have a deen that is extremely logical and makes complete sense to a person who is following his fitrah, an innate nature that Allah has created us with. We are completely blessed to have a deen that is completely in line not only with our عَقْل and our intelligence, but also with our emotions, with our fitrah, with our understanding of what should be right and what should be wrong.

And when a person with an unadulterated fitrah, an unadulterated stance, original predisposition studies the deen of Islam, then he or she will come to realize the blessings and the wisdom behind the commandments of Allah and the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Commandment Against Fornication

And from amongst those commandments that are mentioned in the Quran and as stressed by Rasulullah ﷺ on multiple occasions is the commandment of not to indulge in fornication. And this is something that Allah has listed in places where he lists the most severe crime, which is of course kufr and shirk - either the denial of the existence of Allah, being ungrateful to Allah, and to ascribe partners to Allah.

Right along with that, the Prophet ﷺ mentions this a sin that gives us the impression, the correct impression, that definitely in the eyes of Allah, the sin of fornication and adultery is one of the most hideous crimes that a human being can commit after kufr.

The Importance of Chastity and Lineage

It is something that if a person studies just the history of human beings, how we have reached here and where we are headed now, then it will not be too difficult to comprehend why Islam gives this importance to leading a life of chastity and حَيَاء. Why is this so important to our faith? This is our existence in this world and what we call نَسَب and our lineage cannot be protected if it is not for the institution of nikah.

And if we open up, close those doors and open up the door, Allah forbid, of fornication and zina, then the amount of harm and haram that will come about is huge.

The Etymology of Zina

The word itself, ulema have mentioned, it comes from الضِّيق, something that is constricted. The word zina. And this is why Rasulullah ﷺ in one hadith he says:

(Hadith - reference needed)

None of you should be performing salah while you are in a state of zina. Zina meaning someone who is holding back his need to use the restroom. It is حاقِنٌ بَوْلَه - who is holding back the need to use the restroom and is performing salah because he doesn't want to do wudu again. But this is something that Rasulullah ﷺ has asked us not to perform salah because you obviously will not be able to be focused and concentrate.

So the reason that hadith is mentioned is that zina here means constricting your pathways of removing filth from the body, meaning holding it back. This is how this word comes about. And so a zani has been called a zani because ضَيَّقَ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ - he makes his life difficult both in this world and the next, because he is ruining his future lineage and he is also ruining his chances of leading a comfortable life in the akhira. So this is خَسِرَ الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَة - a way to lose out in this world and in the next as well.

Quranic Verses on the Servants of Rahman

Allah mentions in Surah Furqan when he talks about the attributes and the qualities of the people of Allah, عِبَادُ الرَّحْمَٰنِ - the servants of the Rahman:

He said they are those who do not ascribe partners with Allah. Number two: وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ - they do not commit murder. They do not take the life of that which Allah has sanctified. Number three: وَلَا يَزْنُونَ - and they do not fornicate. وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا - and whosoever does so shall be faced with the repercussions of these sins.

Scholars' Commentary on the Severity of These Sins

So Imam Qurtubi mentions: نَزَلَتْ هَذِهِ الآيَة عَلَى أَنَّهُ لَيْسَ بَعْدَ الْكُفْرِ أَعْظَم مِنْ قَتْلٍ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ثُمَّ زِنَا - that after kufr, the most severe sin is murder. And after murder is what? زِنَا.

Imam Ahmad رحمه الله has mentioned: لَيْسَ بَعْدَ قَتْلِ النَّفْسِ أَعْظَم مِنَ الزِّنَا - no sin is worse after murder than zina.

The Command in Surah Bani Israel

In another place, Allah actually has mentioned zina even before murder. Allah says in Surah Bani Israel:

Do not even come close to fornication, for indeed this is an act of immense lewdness and what a horrible path that is. Meaning what a horrible path - that zina is the first step of a life of destruction. It's a life of emptiness, a life filled with hollowness, a life filled with regret. سَاءَ سَبِيلًا - It's not just one sin you forget and move on. No, no, no. سَبِيلًا - This is a whole track you have chosen for yourself, or someone has chosen for themselves. Once they step foot into this realm, then it's gonna pave the path to a whole life filled with many other types of sins, including repeated sin of the same sort.

Then Allah says after that:

Do not kill that nafs and that soul which Allah has made sanctified, meaning has made its killing not permissible, إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ - of course if it was through a legitimate means, meaning in battle, or it would be if a person committed a murder and this was a qisas happening - blood for blood, life for life type of instance.

Imam Razi's Commentary on the Order of Sins

Imam Razi رحمة الله عليه has mentioned in this ayah - he says that someone may ask: what is the reason why Allah mentioned in this ayah zina even before murder? And one of the responses that he's mentioned from amongst many here is that the qatal is about killing someone who is already living, while zina on the other hand, it stops a person from even coming into existence.

This is a person who is committing zina - he does not want to become a means of... If that same relationship or say that same act were to be done through marriage, then it would have become a means of souls coming to this world. But what happens here? A person does everything possible to ensure that no new soul comes in. And Allah forbid, if things went beyond that, then you know, the whole procedures are taken and tablets are done and eaten and so forth. All sorts of other things are happening to actually destroy.

And إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ - in many cases, not some, many cases where a child is actually born and then dumped to die, simply because why? Not because of marriage, because it was done outside of the proper marriage. So Imam Razi mentions this is the reason why Allah in this ayah here has mentioned zina even before murder.

The Punishment in Surah An-Nur

And Allah in Surah An-Nur mentions:

This is a very deep ayah in Surah An-Nur where Allah says: the female and male adulterer - bring them. فَاجْلِدُوا كُلَّ وَاحِدٍ مِّنْهُمَا مِائَةَ جَلْدَةٍ - each one of them should be flogged a hundred times.

And then Allah says - think about that. Think about that. For every single time this sin is happening in the world, imagine how angry Allah is when this is a clear cut, unambiguous verse of the Quran in Surah An-Nur - that every single time this happens, what happens if a person is caught, right? Or if a person confesses and wants to purify himself? Well, if you want to pay the full fine, well the full fine in this world is that this man and a woman will be flogged one hundred times. This is not with this little small stick or a ruler, right? This is with a massive, you know, leather whip or something of sorts of that where more than likely most of us would not be able to handle two, and then it's a hundred - مِائَةَ جَلْدَةٍ.

And then Allah says: وَلَا تَأْخُذْكُم بِهِمَا رَأْفَةٌ - make sure compassion does not overtake you when you are giving the punishment. Wow! أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ، الرَّحْمَٰنُ الرَّحِيمُ - the one whose names of mercy are so many. Why is he being so firm on this - that when, if that chance comes that you are giving out this punishment... I know it's super painful to watch or super painful to administer it, but clearly mentioned in the Quran: وَلَا تَأْخُذْكُم بِهِمَا رَأْفَةٌ فِي دِينِ اللَّهِ - do not let your compassion overtake you when it comes to the matters of Allah's deen. These are my rules, this is my deen, and this is how it's supposed to be. And so you should not... you are simply... your job is not to come and mess around with that. Your job is to implement what Allah has ordered us to do.

إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ - if you believe in Allah and the Day of Judgment. Well then you will not be overtaken by compassion. And if you are overtaken by compassion or you feel that this is too harsh or too hard or doesn't make sense, then the ayah speaks for itself: إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ - if you believe in Allah and in the Day of Judgment, you're gonna make sure that if the proper procedures are followed... Of course you don't just jump to conclusions - this is not a jungle. There's a proper, proper, proper method of how things are settled in court and what is acceptable evidence and what's not and so forth. And most of the time these type of things have happened when a person comes and acknowledges themselves.

The Rarity of This Punishment Being Applied

My ustad, Mawlana Alauddin رحمه الله رحمة واسعة, when teaching us in Hidayah, the book of fiqh, when he would come across the hadd of zina and the punishment for zina, he would say: I challenge you to find in the annals of Islamic history and the annals of judgments by various Islamic judges across the Islamic khilafa, of how many cases were there where a man and a woman were legitimately caught and brought into court and where this punishment was given out. The cases that you see that happened during the earliest times would happen when people actually did what? They confessed. They confessed to that. But there's no instance, you know, where someone is just being dragged...

I think you two were in... No, I mean there's... the details are in the books of fiqh. It gets very detailed. But if you read the details of how much proof you need to prove this, all of you would agree that it's impossible for us to prove that. The amount of proof that's required of having four individuals - and not simply seeing two people together in a room, not people seeing beyond that... Let me not get into too many details because we have a mixed audience. But understand that it has to be beyond any doubt that it is not just people together, it's actually the deed and the act beyond any doubt is happening. How do you get four people to witness something of that sort? Pretty much impossible, right? It's not gonna happen.

The Purpose of This Severe Punishment

But what's the purpose of this? The purpose is to instill fear in the minds of the people that this is how angry Allah is with this act. You might not get flogged today, you might not get caught today, but imagine if this is the punishment of the world, what's awaiting that individual in the qabr? What's awaiting that individual in the akhira?

The Punishment for Zina and Its Wisdom

If this is the wrath of Allah and the anger of Allah with this sin, which He mentions it right after or right before death. And He says that when you're giving out the punishment, ensure that you don't become compassionate if you believe in me. If you believe in me and you believe in the day of judgment, you better not be compassionate on this.

Again, remember what I just said. There aren't many instances or any instances that our ustad said where you're able to find where this was actually proven. It's when people come and confess themselves. You might see some weird court system where someone accuses - oh, I don't know, the news media - we don't know how much to believe. This is someone who's accused of this and they're being flogged. اللهُ أَعْلَم Most of these things is also very politically motivated and there's lots of dirty stuff going on. This has nothing to do with the deen in many of these instances where all this type of capital punishments are carried out. So that's not an example for us.

But we're talking about what the real deen teaches us. Allah says:

"A group of the believers should be present to watch the punishment." It should be done publicly.

The Purpose of Public Punishment

What is the purpose of this, my friends? It's really رَادِع (a deterrent). The purpose of these hudud is to really instill fear within the people to say: "You know what? I might never get caught, but what if I do?" And imagine the society hears about this again and again.

I don't know if I've ever spoken about the hadd of zina here before. We don't usually speak about this, but the idea is this is how it's supposed to be - that a person speaks about it, hears it so much in society that just the fear: "What if they show up? What if I get caught? What if I get caught?" Yeah, akhira is there, but what if I get caught in here? Oh my God, this is not something I can handle - and the whole ummah is gonna be in front of the whole public.

Why is this? Because Allah wants our communities to be clean of this filth. Allah wants our society to be clean of this filth.

The Benefits of a Pure Society

This is how you'll ensure that our lineage will remain pure and clean. This is how you'll ensure that children are taken care of by their parents. This is how you'll ensure a generation is prepared and raised up that is not morally corrupt, that is not bankrupt morally, that has deen, that has taqwa, that has knowledge, that has akhlaq. That's what you're gonna be raising when you know that there's no other way.

And then this will force people - force people to make sure that they get married at an appropriate time. Because why? Naturally we have needs, and if this is what zina is - boy, this is not something that's worth it. So we have to get married. So now we have to make marriages simple as well, and we have to make the expectations less, and we have to know how to deal with less.

So subhanAllah, the more and more men and women start becoming married, what happens? At an earlier age, you start having a much more mature crowd. You have people who are husband - 18 year old or 19 year old, 20 year old - a wife or husband naturally is much more mature than a person who is a bachelor or a bachelorette. You cannot be - this marriage teaches you maturity.

So you now have men and women at a young age who are protected from this horrible sin, who are not doing - because just to commit zina, imagine all the sins that happen before that and after that. That's why Allah says: "Don't even come close to it."

This is that sin that makes a person do the unthinkable. So when you've closed that door off by opening up the door of nikah and making it easy, the amount of khair and goodness that come in society is multi-fold across all spectrums. And it really creates a very spiritually healthy and emotionally healthy environment in our communities and protects us from a lot of the other harms that are happening out there due to zina becoming common and nikah becoming difficult.

Worldly Consequences of Widespread Zina

One of the hadith mentions that whenever zina will become common in a community, then such diseases will become rampant in that community that their forefathers had never heard of. Such diseases will become rampant in that community that their forefathers had never heard of.

We are seeing a generation of that. And every single day brings out a new disease that was unknown to our parents' generation and definitely our grandparents' generation. This is one of the worldly, large scale worldly punishments that we are suffering from, besides the individual punishment.

Don't think that just because there is no Islamic law courts etc., so hadith is not being fulfilled. Hence Allah is just giving us "do whatever you want." No. We are all suffering. We are collectively - the ummah is getting whipped many more times than a hundred all over the world. Just look at all the natural disasters in every single part of the world that is happening. How many of these are affected Muslims? Millions of them. Millions of them losing everything, going through so much difficulty, people dying young, people dying early, people going through all sorts of diseases. This is definitely from amongst the many reasons for that. The punishment of Allah is coming because of our sins.

The Gateway to Greater Corruption

My dear brothers and sisters, the thing is LGBTQ and all of those things and transgenderism and everything else that's there that we spoke about in other occasions - not today - but subhanAllah that's all a second step. The first step is when you open up the door of zina, then all that happens.

If we have created a community that is very firm on not allowing zina to creep into our society, into our homes, we will never have an issue. We never even have to deal with this stuff. But the reason we have to deal with this stuff is because the door is super wide open now.

Preparing Our Youth

Now students are gonna be going back to college and university. How many moms and dads have had this conversation: "Dear son, you gotta be successful in school." Yes, I got that. "Take care of your car." You got that. "Take care of your grades. Do your internships. Apply for next summer's internship right now." And this and that and this and that. "Drive safe. Take care of your wallet. Keep your phone charged."

How many of them don't have a conversation: "Don't indulge in zina"? How many of them say - of course you don't have to say it like that - but "Dear son, dear daughter, these are the ahwal, these are the temptations that are gonna come. These are the methods you have to ensure that you follow to protect yourself from that."

You can't speak in a vacuum. You cannot throw a kid into a pool and say "don't get wet." If you throw a kid deep end to the other end of the country at university and then you say "Oh, I just heard in the khutbah don't commit zina, as-salamu alaykum" - that is useless. You better - saying that is as though you didn't say anything because you haven't equipped them with anything.

What Are We Equipping Our Children With?

What have you equipped your sons and daughters with? What have we equipped our children of the community who are going to high school - not even university - high school, junior high as well? How many times are we having these discussions on how horrible this sin is and that there are many things that lead up to that? If you become lax in one, before you know it, you'll be in the actual sin.

From the zina of the eye to the zina of the hands and the feet to the zina of the ears - these are all different forms of zina.

When a person hands over a fully charged 5G phone to their son and daughter and say "Bismillah, yallah go, enjoy your time at school" - what have you done? You have put all the asbab and the means of zina right in their pocket. You have - yes, it's got Google Pay and it's got a way to call you. It's got other things. But you also understand that this device is loaded up with every way and method of committing zina by the eyes, by the ears, by the hands, by the feet, by the mind, and the actual sin itself.

So that type of preparing of our children and creating a resolve within them that "this is the temptations, this is how you have to stay away from it, these are roles you have to play" - if we do not have those discussions at home, my brothers and sisters, do you seriously think that the college classmates and the professors at school will be caring about the chastity of our community?

The Shocking Reality

When you look at the statistics of how many are involved in zina, it is crazy. It's well, well above 90% within the Muslim community. You can see the stats. Go check online yourself. You will be very shocked to see. And unfortunately, it's not just men, it's girls as well. Very, very, very rampant.

If you are an adult, you don't understand this, talk to your college age boy and girl. Ask them: "Give me the stats. What's going on in school? Your classmates? You go on Instagram, Snapchat of their own friends. See all those private accounts that they have created, private sections that even if you go to their Instagram, you won't see those pictures because they are all locked in, keyed in. You have to know the password to get in."

If you open up those things, you will see what our community is handling, what we are involved in. And then we wonder, subhanAllah, why are we suffering with people becoming LGBTQ? Why are people wanting to become transgender? Why has my son become disobedient? Why has my daughter become so disobedient? Why no one wants to come to the Quran? Why she is throwing out her hijab? Why she doesn't want to read Quran? Why she doesn't want to come to the masjid anymore? "I don't understand. I don't understand."

Well, obviously, if we haven't done anything to protect them from these major, major sins.

The Marriage Solution

How many of the fathers here, if I have a conversation about marriage: "Wait till you get to 35. Wait till you get 30. Wait till you get 29." No father and mother are serious. They are living in a lala land. They don't understand where they threw their kids in.

And then when that son and daughter - who I have been approached so many times by youth who want to get married, subhanAllah, boys and girls - and they say, "Well, how do we explain to our parents?" "Can you sit?" I said, "I don't - by all means, if your dad comes, I'll sit and explain to them and I'll put him - I'll give him a reality check. They are not - they are living in lala land. They have no idea what their kids are going through."

And then they say, "No, you got to wait till you start earning tons of dollars or become a Ph.D., M.D."

The Responsibility of Parents in Protecting Their Children's Chastity

Before you get married, my brothers and sisters, I end with this. The hadith is mentioned in Mishkat al-Masabih. The gist of that hadith is: when a child, when a young adult, or whoever commits zina, the sin of that is not only with him - it will be on the parent.

So this is a warning to every parent that stops their children's marriages, that stops their children from becoming chaste, that does not educate their kids on how to remain chaste, that doesn't give them the tools to remain chaste. Then the punishment, unfortunately, we will share with our children of what happens. Simple as that.

Take this seriously. Take your kids' chastity to heart. The schools have started, colleges will be starting soon. Have real conversations. Come up with real solutions. Don't just say "Oh, don't commit zina." It does not work like that.

Remember the example: throwing a kid in a pool and saying "don't get wet" does not work. You have to come and provide solutions.

And don't think that girls don't have an issue. They have as much of an issue, if not more, than boys. But this is - again, you are not living in reality. You live in a different world. You're not connected. You just look and you get deceived by looks, and you think that everything is fine when nothing is fine.

The Gravity of This Sin

And if this is a sin that Allah speaks about right after kufr and right before death - or after murder - imagine the wrath of Allah, how it's descending on that house in which people are committing zina, on the household.

Imagine how much نجاسة (najasa), how much anger of Allah. How do you expect people to get along in that home? How do you expect the mercy of Allah and the mercy, angels of mercy, to come into that home when these type of sins are taking place rampantly across the country and across the world in houses and dorms and so forth?

Our Responsibility and Action

We have to take a stance, starting off with our own home, starting off with our own selves, to make tawbah collectively and individually from this horrid sin and horrible sin. And we have to ask Allah to grant us the ability to remain firm and strong, no matter how strong the temptations are.

Then we also, of course, have to take all the means necessary to keep ourselves and our families chaste.

Du'a

I ask Allah to grant us a deep understanding of what was just said, and I ask Allah that He grants us the ability to use all the means available - both spiritual and material means - to keep ourselves and our children and our generations protected from this evil habit and evil sin.

May Allah rid us of all this evil from our society. May Allah avert His anger and wrath that comes with the sin from our communities. آمين يا رب العالمين (Ameen Ya Rabbil Alameen).

Announcements

Prayer Preparation

Stand up and move forward and fill up every single row and perform the sunnah salah. Please, before you begin your sunnah, fill up the row in front.

Donations

Please pass the donation boxes from the left to the right and donate generously, as sadaqah given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day, as mentioned in hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him). And it's a great way to ward off calamities and draw the mercy of Allah.

Additionally, you can automate your Jumu'ah donation through Zelle or QuickPay, and that's at donate@masjiddeas.org.

Upcoming Programs

Team Fajr tomorrow will be iqama at Fajr salah at 5:30, and we'll have the weekly program followed by breakfast tomorrow morning. Everyone is welcome to join.

We've started the Tafsir of Surah Al-Furqan on Tuesdays after Maghrib. This is the new surah we started. Please join us with the whole community. There's refreshments and tea served after Isha.

And this weekend will be the beginning of our Tafheem August semester. This is a program, alhamdulillah, that started about 10 years ago at Dar al-Salam here.

So this Saturday we'll have the fiqh class - fiqh of salah, the tafsir of the surahs of salah, and Imam Ghazali's Arba'een Fi Usul Al-Deen (The Purification of the Heart). Three classes will be taught by Mufti Nu'man on Saturday for both brothers and sisters, online and on-site, and the classes are recorded.

Then Sunday will be three classes taught by Imam Farhan Sharif: The History and the Development of Fiqh, An Introduction to Hadith Sciences, and Aqeedah.

As our sons and daughters are heading off to school, I encourage you to try to sign up for these classes with your high school age or college age son or daughter.

Additionally, Sunday school will be starting in a couple weeks for ages 6 to 16, and so you can sign up for that at masjiddeas.org.

Additionally, our weekly Monday through Friday after-school Quran class - the registration is open for that. That's 5 to 7pm for boys and girls ages 5 and above. So please visit 5 to 7 here at Dar al-Salam in person, or go check our website.

Du'a Requests and Janazah Announcements

And there are du'a requests here for a number of brothers. Sister Nusrat Fatima - very critical condition in ICU. Please make du'a for shifa.

Brother Sayyid Hussain passed away in Karachi. Du'a for forgiveness.

And then there's a few janazahs in our community. One of the youngsters, 16 year old youngster, passed away just two days ago here from the Villa Park community. His janazah I think is in Masjid Huda.

And then we also have a janazah - this was Abrar Kareem. Abrar Kareem was an IFS Hifz student. He was 16. He passed away. I ask Allah to grant him janazah for those and raise him as a hafidh of Quran and grant his parents and his family patience.

Additionally, we have also a brother, a young brother from our community just here in MSI area - Ibrahim Akhoun, at the age of 18. He passed away also two days ago in a swimming accident, and his janazah will be here right after the second Jumu'ah in the gymnasium.

Please make du'a for these families and for these young men and women who have passed away and all those who are going through difficulty. May Allah allow us to take heed and take lesson from this, and may Allah grant resilience and patience to their families. May Allah elevate the status of our mawtah from the Muslimin and Muslimat. آمين يا رب العالمين (Ameen Ya Rabbil Alameen).

Adhan and Quranic Recitation