Jumu'ah Khutbah | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 8/2

Opening and Introduction

Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Honorable brothers and sisters, respected guests of the house of Allah, beloved students, assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Allah's Principles and Promises

Allah, our gracious creator, master, provider, most loving and most caring, has stipulated certain principles that are mentioned to us by him in the book of Allah and that are mentioned to us by his beloved Habib Mustafa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And as long as we stick to those principles and those rules, inshallah, most definitely, we will see exactly how Allah has promised things will be.

Allah jalla jalaluhu mentions that Allah's help and nusrah and assistance will be with those who have faith.

It is a responsibility that we have taken upon ourselves, a right of yours that we have taken upon ourselves to assist the people of faith, to assist the people of iman.

Indeed, most definitely, we shall continue to assist our messengers as well as the believers in this world and on the day of judgment when the witnesses will be standing up. That day in which the disbelievers and the sinners, their excuses will be of no benefit. Rather, they will be suffering the curse from Allah. And will have a very bitter place as an abode, a horrible place as an abode.

Indeed Allah has made a promise for those amongst you who are believers and those who have faith. That He will make them vicegerent on earth the way He has done so with previous people, that He made them leaders on the earth. And He will allow their religion, i.e. the religion of Islam, to take a strong foothold just like it has chosen and is pleasing to Allah. That deen that Allah chose for us, Allah will ensure that that deen will have an upper hand, and it will be strongly established. And that Allah will change the current situation of fear into a situation and a condition of peace and security. As long as you are worshiping Me and you are not ascribing any partners with Me, this is My end of the deal, this is My promise.

Allah Himself says: Who can speak better than Allah and who can be more truthful than Allah.

Allah's Unwavering Promises

Allah azza wa jal does not need to make anything obligatory upon Himself. But He has made the rules, He has made the principles, and part of that, Allah azza wa jal has clearly mentioned in His book that He takes it upon Himself to assist the righteous ones. Not only in the hereafter, but to assist them in this world as well. He has taken responsibility of granting them victory. He has taken responsibility of assisting them. He has taken responsibility of granting them tawfiq and ability to do good, opening up things for them. He has taken responsibility to grant success to them. He has taken responsibility of changing their situation of fear into peace and calm. He has taken responsibility of ensuring that Islam is well established. As well as many other responsibilities that Allah has taken upon Himself, promises that He has taken upon Himself in His book and explained to us by His Habib Mustafa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

My beloved listeners, the entire world can fall apart with all the creation of Allah perishing and dying. And the entire cosmos crashing within itself. This huge incident would not be as bad or as unacceptable as one or any one verse of Allah being proven wrong. Allah, the most truthful, His speech can never be wrong. His promises can never be wrong. There can never be a concept of khulfil wa'ad, where He backs out from a promise He has made. It is absolutely against logic and against our belief that any words of Allah could come out proven wrong or the end result of that would be opposite of what Allah has promised us.

The Ummah's Current Condition

The question most definitely arises, is that how come the collective condition of the ummah only seems to deteriorate from one section of the world to the other, from one coordinate of the world to the other, from one continent to the other, one country to the other. There's always new flare-ups. The list of dua that comes in every day and every Friday continues to increase. And a person is at times afraid to even mention countries, because people think you're playing favoritism. How come you remember this place, you mentioned six countries but not the seventh one, where I'm from. When in reality that's not the case. There's how many you're gonna remember when you're up on stage, if you're not actually reading out of a printed paper. But that tells you the plight of the ummah today. That every single place, collectively we're seeing so much difficulty, in terms of external enemies, in terms of internal enemies, in terms of natural disasters, in terms of abject poverty, in terms of starvation, in terms of floods or drought, or mudslides, or avalanche, or earthquakes, that are constantly plaguing the Muslim ummah and beyond.

Naturally a person must ask, will ask, مَتَى نَصْرُ اللَّهِ When is the help of Allah coming? How come all of these ayahs and many more, many many more, promise Allah's help? Where is that help of Allah when we most need it?

The Divine Principle of Change

Beloved friends, Allah when He promises us His assistance, and He lays out principles, Allah jalla jalaluhu has also laid out a principle of how the world runs. Allah has mentioned in Surah Ar-Ra'd:

Indeed Allah does not change the condition and the situation of a group of people, until they themselves first begin to change within themselves. And when Allah intends to afflict a nation with some sort of difficulty or evil, there is absolutely no one who can turn this the other way. There is no one who can flip the switch off. When Allah's decision of difficulty, of problems, of disasters, of enemies, start coming towards the ummah, Allah says, there is no way you're gonna be able to turn it back. And there is no one who has the ability to be a protector, a caretaker, to protect you from the powerful might of Allah. Not in the hereafter and not in this world.

لَا مُعَقِّبَ لِحُكْمِهِ No one can go ahead and follow up his decision with an alternative decision. No one can overturn his decision. لَا رَدَّ لِقَضَائِهِ There is no one who can go and cancel out his decisions and decree.

The Meaning of Divine Change

Allah in this verse, He is saying, إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ That Allah will not change. This is the most, the well-known first tafsir of this ayah. Is the gist of it: Allah will not change the favorable conditions of goodness, of blessings, of ease and comfort, of health and security, of happiness within the home, until they turn their backs to Allah and begin to change their condition of obedience with disobedience. Following the deen to neglecting of the deen. Following the rules of the sharia to criticizing, critiquing, and Allah forbid, mocking the rules of the deen. Following the sunnah to turning their backs to the sunnah. Unless and until the ummah doesn't turn their back away from the deen, Allah says, I have no problem allowing you to continue enjoying life.

The Parable of Parents and Teachers

As fathers here, and our mothers who are listening, fellow parents, how do we raise hopefully our children? None of us hopefully enjoys giving punishments. As teachers, none of us enjoy making life difficult for our students. The only reason a punishment is ever given, only reason, logical, acceptable reason why a child or a student may be scolded, is when you genuinely have his or her good at your heart. And you are trying to bring change because that person was doing well and has decided to not to slack off. They were on time, now they start coming late. They were doing their homework, now they start becoming lazy. They were not talking, and now they are talking and disrupting the class. And the list goes on. Otherwise no sane parent or sane teacher enjoys passing out detention slips or passing out any form of punishment.

We love to see as human beings, as a creation of Allah, we love to see each other happy. We love to see each other prosper. Instead I can say every genuine teacher and genuine parent most definitely loves to see his kids and his students prosper far greater than he has prospered. To go many more miles ahead than he has gone. This is the dream of every father and every mother. This is the dream of every teacher, that no matter how much I have been able to gain success, that may my students and my children gain ten times that success.

Allah's Infinite Love

My dear brothers and sisters and listeners, if this is the level of love that a creation has for his fellow creation, imagine the level of love our Creator, our Master, our Nourisher, our Provider, most gracious and most merciful Allah has for us. Most definitely He has innumerable amount of times, exponentially higher amount of love for all of us. There's no reason Allah wants to see us suffer.

He Himself says: What will Allah do by seeing you punished? What will Allah do by punishing you? As long as you are grateful, and as long as you have faith. I want to see two things in you, I want to see in you faith, and I want to see in you gratitude. That's it. There's no reason for me to put down difficulties upon you.

My dear brothers and sisters, Allah in multiple places of the Quran has mentioned the same point, that Allah starts off with goodness and ease for us, but it is when we decide to take the other out. It is when we decide to turn our backs to Allah, then things will begin to change.

A Warning for the Future

My beloved friends, I remember one of my teachers said to me some time ago, he said, today you think the ummah is going through difficulty? You think the ummah is bleeding? And of course they are. You think the ummah is suffering? Of course they are. He said, you should thank Allah, and you should be happy that you're able to at least voice your frustration. If you can't do anything, you're able to at least voice your sadness. But he said, I promise you a time is coming when the ummah will be cut into pieces, will they be bleeding to death, and they will go through untold torture, but very few will even have the ability to simply express a word or two, for their fear that they will be the next target. That you cannot even share condolences over something that is happening.

Living Reality of Oppression

One of our students, he came back, who is studying here, came back from Kashmir, US citizen who lives abroad, he came back from the summer, and I asked him, what is the condition out there? And what did he tell me? He said, subhanAllah, the masajid, you're absolutely not allowed to speak about, of course Kashmir, of all the horrific things are happening, from the internet shutting down to kids being pulled up, anyone protesting, immediately being imprisoned and so forth. But along with that, you're not even allowed to mention Palestine. Not in dua, not in the khutbah, not in any public appearance. And the imams are scared to even have any contact with the crowd, coming from this beautiful community that we're so blessed to have.

The Global Struggle Against Faith

He goes back summer excited, to bring back some of the programs that we have here to his own community back in India, back in Kashmir. And the response is, absolutely not. What are you talking about? Brother, this is not America. You can't do any of that stuff. He looks around, and the masjids are empty and devoid of the youth. No youth. There is no programs allowed besides the Jummah khutbah and salah. Trying to meet up with the imam. He says, you can't even meet up, because the imams are so scared. Don't know who's working for who. I don't want to lose my job. I don't want to lose my life. I love my wife and my kids. I don't know, where is the entrapment taking place? So the imam is also afraid to even simply share a few words of hello, hi, with the musallis. Leave the salah and run. That's what is the...

I asked about that when this is the type of oppression happening, like a pressure cooker, what is that doing to the youth? The encampments and people getting out on the streets. سُبْحَانَ اللهِ. He says, not only are they immediately arrested, it's because for every arrest, it's gonna create more. He says, yes, when they're arrested, they're taken into the prison, and they're injected with drugs. And then released in two weeks. So now they become full-blown drug addicts. So that same person who's leading the protest or leading the effort to have a Qur'an halaqah, is now a druggy. Now his entire effort is now how he can get his next high, and spread it, أعوذ بالله. A whole generation of youth being wasted.

Yesterday we were honored to have a brother from Palestine, actually lives there, and from here. And he told me the same thing, that the war is not on the ground only, the war is not only on the bodies, the war is on the hearts and the minds in the educational system. I said, give me an example. Every single Muslim school must have at least two to three agents, Palestinian, Arab-looking, Muslim-looking. And he said, I said, for example, what they will do, he said, slowly, in one of the classrooms, they will somehow bring out a device, pictures, images, etc. And slowly infiltrate the LGBTQ agenda by showing inappropriate things. And no one should become too pious, no one should become too religious, no one should become too God-conscious, because that would be a threat to us.

The Reality of Our Situation

My beloved brothers and sisters, this is the reality, that the effort is taking place, those who are becoming shuhada, they are the most lucky ones. والله العظيم. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is guaranteeing them that they will live forever. One death for the sake of Allah, and they have gotten a life forever. The worry should be about people like myself and yourself. How many more months are we gonna survive this continuous push against our faith, against our teachings, against what we know is right.

How long can we push back against the effort to remove iman from our hearts, to change our understanding of what is morally right and what is morally wrong, to change the system that we have of respect of parents, respect of mashayikh, respect of the masjid, and to switch that with absolute disrespect for all those you're supposed to respect, and then the respect for pop artists, and Instagrammers, and influencers. A whole massive effort is taking place in our minds and our hearts to bring that change. And we would be fools to think it's not happening.

The Need for Change

My beloved brothers and sisters, if we want to resume the blessings across the globe, and in this country, to continue to enjoy the peace and security, and health and wealth that you and I have here, then let us learn a lesson from across what's happening across the globe. If we do not all repent, and do not come back immediately to his house, and start filling up the masajid, the way we fill up for Juma and Taraweeh. If we do not start filling them up for Fajr, for Isha, if we do not start benefiting from all the programs that our amazing city has to offer, then we should blame no one besides ourselves when things in this country begin to be similar to what's happening across the world.

This is the system of Allah.

You will not find Allah's sunnah to be changing. Allah has already mentioned in the Qur'an. We need to read the Qur'an with that intention. Learn our deep lessons, and bring change person by person, family by family, child by child, women by women, man by men, as individual units.

Personal Transformation

Change must come into me first, I as a speaker. Change must come into myself, my wife, my kids, my siblings, my parents, and slowly moving outward. Every one of us needs to walk away with this intention. Say, inshallah, that we will not allow the conditions of peace and security in this country to deteriorate or be taken away from us because we ourselves have decided to turn our backs against Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

We repent to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala individually and collectively for the sins that we have committed. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that Ya Allah, the remainder of the life that we have, allow us to lead in such a manner that favorable conditions are sent towards us, and that You are pleased with us. And not only pleased with us, but through our a'mal, inshallah, and our tawbah, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings conditions of ease across the globe.

Let us all inshallah stand up, and fill up the spots in front of you before beginning the sunnah. Please move forward, fill up every spot in front of you before beginning the sunnah.

Announcements

Beloved brothers, inshallah, as we know the hadith that's quoted here, charity on the day of Jum'ah is greater reward than any other day. As the Prophet ﷺ said, so please donate generously as the donation boxes are passed. Inshallah, please pass them from your left to your right. And be mindful if there's someone completing the sunnah, just go around them, inshallah. Please pass the donation boxes from the left to the right. And on the way out, there's kiosks as well. Those who would like to donate through that or through Zelle, donate at masjiddeas.org, that's donate at masjiddeas.org.

A few important announcements of the upcoming programs. Inshallah, this Sunday we'll have a women's only session that we have once a month. And alhamdulillah, there's lunch and there's dhikr and dua and so forth. Inshallah, I will be addressing them this Sunday and we'll be discussing, inshallah, reflections from hajj and our journey from the far east that we just alhamdulillah were able to complete. So reflections on that will be shared for the sisters this Sunday, August 4th, from 12 to 2:30 p.m. in the seminary second floor in the main women's prayer hall. So that's 12 to 2:30 this Sunday for sisters.

We are gonna be starting some, inshallah, all our programs back on schedule now that summer is coming to an end. We have our maktab evening classes from 5 to 7 p.m. that have started up. Enrollment is open. Sunday school, inshallah, is available as well. And additionally, we have our monthly seminar on August 16th called Cradle to Grave, The Obligation of Learning by Sheikh Tahseen Khan. Also our weekend classes. Many brothers and sisters have asked for part-time classes. So that is gonna begin, inshallah, fall semester, August 17th. Enrollment for fall 2024. This is a great program for working adults, young professionals, men and women of all walks of life. Classes are recorded as well for those who can't make it on site. And this is gonna be starting August 17th, inshallah.

We started a new weekly program here, alhamdulillah, this week. It is a weekly Urdu program on the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ by a new faculty member, Mawlana Abdul Basit. This is taking place Thursday between Maghrib and Isha. So yesterday's dars is available online. You can listen to it. Please join us and spread the word for the Urdu-speaking brothers and sisters here. It's live streamed as well as in person.

Last but not least, our weekly program of tomorrow, 5:15, Salatul Fajr, followed by the talk and breakfast will be taking place tomorrow. Tomorrow we have a guest speaker, Mufti Abdullah Nana from California. Inshallah, we'll be addressing the audience here. Tomorrow, 5:15, will be the talk of Fajr followed by the talk. And our Tuesday tafsir, alhamdulillah, we are currently doing Suratul Ghafir. And the recordings of the previous sessions are also available online. Jazakumullah Khair.

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

Du'a Request

There is a dua request. InshaAllah one of our super regular brothers who is in charge of the volunteering as well outside in the parking lot. You see him every single day, every Friday. Brother Riazuddin, his mother passed away this week. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ. Let's make dua for her. As well as all the shuhada across the globe. As well as we know the deteriorating condition in Bangladesh, in Sudan, subhanAllah, and many other parts of the world besides Palestine as well. Please keep them in our duas.