Team Fajr with Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 5 Advices Part 4

Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Alhamdulillah, we have been speaking for the past few weeks on the famous pieces of advice of Rasulullah ﷺ to Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه in which he asked: who is there who will take advice from me, and practice on it himself, and teach it to others who will practice on it? So Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه raised his hand and said, "I will," and the Prophet ﷺ took his hand and gave him five pieces of advice.

In the first week, we focused on the importance of how to deliver the message — the communication between Rasulullah ﷺ and Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه and the way he packaged it. Then the first piece of advice was:

Fear Allah and you become the greatest worshipper.

Then the second piece of advice, which we spoke about last week, was:

Become pleased with what Allah has distributed for you, and you will become amongst the wealthiest of people — the ones who are most self-sufficient. You won't need people, you won't need others' wealth, and you will be rich at heart.

The Third Advice: Be Kind to Your Neighbor

Now insha'Allah we'll be doing the third wasiya from the five:

Be kind to your neighbor, do ihsan towards your neighbor — go above and beyond what's due — and you will be a believer.

The aspect of being kind to those who are around us, especially neighbors, is what the deen teaches us in so many places. Allah in Surah an-Nisa, ayah 36 mentions:

Worship Allah — do not ascribe any partners with Him. And do ihsan towards:

Number one: Your parents. Number two: Dhul qurba — relatives. Number three: Yatama — orphans. Number four: Masakeen — those who are indigent and poor. Number five: Al-jar dhul qurba — those neighbors who are your relatives. Number six: Al-jar al-junub — those neighbors who are not your relatives. And al-sahib bil-jamb — those who are simply right next to you, whether at work, at school, and so forth.

The Three Layers of Neighbors

We learn here that there are three layers of neighbors. The first one — who has the most right — is someone who is a relative, a Muslim, and your neighbor. This was very common before we came to this country; people used to live together, relatives and families used to live together on the same street, same neighborhood. It was a very normal, common occurrence that you would be staying next to your relative. So this person is a Muslim, he's your relative, and he's your neighbor — he has three rights.

The second is a Muslim neighbor who is not your relative, but is still nonetheless your neighbor and Muslim — this person has two levels of rights. The third person is someone who is not a relative, not a Muslim, but is still a neighbor — this individual would have at least one nisba and one right upon us: the right of being a neighbor.

The Loss of Family Connection and Its Consequences

This is one of the sad realities of this life — that we've lost that whole family connection that our earlier generations had for centuries. Everyone would be staying in the same area, same neighborhood, and would look out for each other. Someone was just mentioning the homelessness crisis that we have in this country — and it's definitely a crisis. Many large cities now have thousands of people who are homeless, who have their own little cities on the streets. But if you think about it, the idea is probably that they are so disconnected from their relatives that they have no one to look out for them.

If people are living in an area where you have relatives with one another in one town, one village, the chance of this level of homelessness would be much less. Many of these people, as I understand, actually had a home or apartment or somewhere they were living, and then either something went really wrong in their life — bad habits, simply losing a job and not being able to get back in — and then after that making some bad decisions, sometimes destiny, and they got in and weren't able to come out of that situation. But previously many of them had homes.

I've heard, listened to interviews of people saying: don't think homeless people are sub-human or that they're garbage — many of them were just exactly like you, would never in their wildest dreams imagine that they would be on the street. But it's really tough, and subhanAllah, the environment is like a jail. Even if a person is clean when he goes into the jail, the environment is such — it seems like the survival of not just the fittest, but the survival of the nastiest too sometimes. So you have to just learn how to do crazy things in order to survive there. The streets are really tough. A person who doesn't even have bad habits, but the environment there is so bad that it changes a person. May Allah protect us from this state of affairs.

If a person were living in an environment in which they were — especially with their Muslim relatives — the chance of this happening would be much less. When someone is fine, had a house, and things happen — sometimes you lose your resources — that's when close relatives will say: come move in here and stay here. Like many people from overseas, when they come to America, the first thing they do is stay at a relative's house. Last night a brother told me he came to this country with $20 just a few months ago — $20! Alhamdulillah, he stayed with his sister, and now he's able to provide for himself, and things have improved. But he had a sibling that he was able to stay with. This is how it's supposed to be.

But the problem in this country is that the way people have come from different parts of the world and have completely uprooted themselves from their tribe, from their community, from their family lineage. Now they come here and after 100 years, no one knows who's related to who. Someone who is homeless in Los Angeles probably has tens of first cousins in maybe Wisconsin, or Iowa, or Nebraska, or right there in California — maybe just a few miles away — but no one's connected with one another. So we have no idea of what's happening.

We don't see too many immigrant Muslims out there on the street, but you begin to think: what may happen to our Muslim community in 100 years? Because we have become fragmented so much, and we have become so disconnected, and no one really knows each other. The idea of memorizing family trees and meeting with everyone is not very common anymore — actually, extremely rare. People are simply not aware of who their uncles are, who their aunts are. They don't know the family, they definitely don't know the language of their parents, don't know where their graves are, don't know what's written on the tombstone. This has already happened in the past 70-80 years. Now just fast forward to another few generations — definitely not everyone is going to remain financially strong. There will be people who will suffer financially, and Allah forbid, they don't know where they will end up going. But if you are completely disconnected from everyone, what exactly is the future of our community? Something to think about.

Right now we don't see too many homeless Muslims from our community on the street, so we think this is not an issue. But actually, it could very well be an issue. And so here it is — this is the safety net that Islam provides: you have to take care of one another. This is your insurance. As a community, you've got to be looking out for your neighbors.

The Rights of the Neighbor in the Sunnah

It is mentioned that Jibreel عليه السلام kept on encouraging — rather, commanding — the Prophet ﷺ on the fulfillment of the rights of the neighbor, until the Prophet ﷺ began to think that the Shari'ah will now make the neighbors an heir. That all neighbors will inherit from their neighbor when they die — so your son gets it, your daughter, your wife, your husband, and your neighbor — because the rights seemed to be so many that Jibreel عليه السلام keeps on coming and saying: now this, and now this. So it seemed like they are going to be made heirs next.

The Prophet ﷺ said: wa ahsin ila jarik takun mu'mina — be good to your neighbor, you will be a mu'min. He made this an 'alama, a sign of faith: that you are looking after the people who are around you.

It is mentioned in another hadith:

Whoever believes in Allah and the Day of Judgment, he must do ihsan towards his neighbor. Whoever believes in Allah and the Day of Judgment, he must honor his guest. And whoever believes in Allah and the Day of Judgment, he should say something good or remain silent.

Three things have been made a sign of believing in Allah and the Day of Judgment. Meaning, a person who does not have these three things — there is something really wrong. Why would you not do these three things? It means possibly that you seriously have no faith that you're going to come face to face with Allah, and that He will be rewarding you for what you did right and punishing us for what we did wrong.

Notice: all three things have to do with أَخْلَاق — character and conduct.

Honoring the Guest — Ikram al-Dayf

The idea of being a good host — that's something that is part of our faith. The earliest of Arabs, even before Islam came to them, had a level of generosity so powerful. The traditional Bedouins or just the Arabs generally, even those who lived in the city — we see incidents mentioned in books where they would not have much, but if a guest would come, they would slaughter their only animal to feed their guest. Some of them would have a lantern burning all night in the desert — that's very expensive — simply so that if any traveler gets lost and needs a place to sleep or some food to eat, they would have their tent available for them to find solace, wishing and hoping that someone will come and spend the night.

The examples of the ithar — giving preference to others over themselves — is mentioned in the Qur'an:

Regarding the Ansar, that they gave preference to the Muhajirun over themselves in every single thing. It's really hard to do. If you think about it — this is my hard-earned money, this is my home, this is my time, this is my vacation, this is my weekend, this is my family — why should I give it over to some random guest?

Dayf doesn't say anything of that sort. Dayf is so general — just a guest. Doesn't have to be someone related to you, doesn't mean you have to even know them, doesn't mean you have to have spent time with them. It's just that they're there at your house. And now what are you supposed to do? You have to do ikram. So the one who's going to be able to do ikram is the one who has ikhlas, sincerity of intention — the one who truly believes in Allah, and the fact that he's going to get reward in the Akhirah. Otherwise, it's not easy.

But the disbelievers and the kuffar of Makkah and those around them — even if they were someone they hated, if they came to the house, it was game over. At that moment, they could not express their hate because a guest had come. Whatever you ask, we have to abide by, we have to obey, because you are our guest. And the nisbah — the way you've come — is as a guest. So all that baggage, we're going to throw out. This was an amazing trait of theirs: the ability to compartmentalize all of that anger, frustration, and hatred towards a person if they came as a guest.

And unfortunately, this is also becoming a losing trait within our community. It becomes a burden for us to host people in our homes or to invite them. Although, alhamdulillah, the houses continue to become larger and larger, but the heart is becoming smaller and smaller. Now we don't have just one kitchen — we have multiple kitchens in the house. We have gas stoves, dishwashers, multiple ovens and stoves. Air fryers now. And of course the microwave. Scratch-resistant pots and Teflon pots. Everything is quick and easy.

I remember visiting overseas in India, and some guests had come. The household we were staying at was preparing, and first of all, there's no light — so they had a lantern in the kitchen. Then you're trying to find matches to light up the stove. It's wintertime, it's cold, there is no central heat, nor any insulation. You're on a concrete floor, your window is not properly closing, cold air coming in, surrounded by brick and stone walls. Not one microwave, not one dishwasher — simply one gas stove with two burners. And they cooked everything — like a ten-course breakfast. And I'm looking at this, subhanAllah, thinking: with all our luxury, we don't do a third of this for a guest. But here, it's not even guests in the house — it's guests in the masjid; there was a jamaat there.

Alhamdulillah, I spent time in jamaat in India. We would go to people's houses. They would come and say, "You have to come to our house to eat." We'd walk into their house — no lights in the entire town, they're carrying a lantern while walking. You are maneuvering yourself through manure on the street. Tons of it. Cow dung all over. Mud houses. You go to the small hut — the entire house is literally smaller than a master bedroom. Little kids running around the place with no shoes. And he puts out the food — subhanAllah — and you see chicken, you see meat. How can they afford this? But that's the thing: does it make a difference? A guest is here. Even if we can't afford it, we'll figure out a way. And the host is so over the top excited that these brothers have come to their little hut to eat — you could see him bubbling over in excitement, running around trying to serve everyone.

We'd walk back thinking, subhanAllah: these people are so much more generous than us with a thousandth of what we have. Sometimes people would say, "You have to drink tea at our house." Honestly, subhanAllah, sometimes the tea was so difficult to drink because it seemed like it was 90-95% water with just a little drop of milk to add the color and a little bit of open tea leaves in a small cup. Not your karak chai, not your doodh chai — none of that good stuff. Just literally milk for coloring purposes. And they give it to you and say: you must. Since you are a foreigner and you're in the neighborhood or at the masjid, you have to come. You must come to my house. I'll share with you whatever I have.

Those of you who are born overseas know exactly what I'm speaking about. But we see that, subhanAllah, the more wealth that has come to us, the stingier we have become. The hearts have become smaller and the hands have become more tight-fisted. This is one of the signs of the Hour. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1036)

That stinginess will become rampant and will become the order of the day. Generosity will be out the door and people will start becoming very stingy. We ask Allah to protect us from this evil trait. Ameen ya Rabb al-'Alamin.

So this ikram al-dayf — honoring our guest — it needs to come back into our lives.

Controlling the Tongue

Last but not least of those three things: you don't have to always open your mouth and say something. You don't always have to have a comment. Rather, the rule should be: we don't have a comment. No comment. Only speak when there's something genuinely beneficial that you can share. But the general rule should be no comment.

The Prophet ﷺ in many ahadith has said: whoever takes responsibility and guarantees me of what's between the jaws and what's between the thighs:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6474)

I will guarantee for him paradise. If you can guarantee that you don't commit sin of lust and shahwa, and guarantee that you're not going to use your tongue in a manner that is incorrect — I'll guarantee you jannah.

What is the problem in our homes? Everything — between every husband and wife, between every parent and child, between every in-law and the daughter-in-law or son-in-law — it's all about the tongue. And this has nothing to do with praying Fajr in the masjid. Nothing to do with praying 8 raka'at tahajjud before Fajr. That's good for you. But this is something all different. There are many people who do that and beyond, but then they have a tongue like a poisoned sword that they go stab left and right. And they don't just stab — it's a poisoned sword. Even after they stab, the poison remains in the bloodstream until it destroys the relationship for good.

Very dangerous problem that we have is the tongue. And we have to be careful especially with those who are number one around us. If this is the situation regarding neighbors, then imagine those who are inside the house — they're more than a neighbor. The spouse, the son, the daughter, the mom, the dad, the son-in-law, the daughter-in-law, the sibling, relatives. Imagine how important it is that we control our tongue.

You know they say "defensive driving" — you'll have crazy people, drunkards outside. But you should know: when you go outside and drive, there are people who are angry, people in road rage, people who are intoxicated. You cannot relax, close your eyes and put it on autopilot. You have to be awake and alert because you don't know what's going to happen. This is what we're speaking about: people in your own home may have a harsh tongue, but we need to ensure that we don't. People around us in work and school may not have a clean tongue, but we need to ensure that we're not saying anything that can be used against us.

Imagine if every single conversation in our kitchen, in our bedroom, in our home was recorded, and you saw a big red dot recording. How careful would everyone be? You're about to say something, you look at the big red light, the reel is playing — you'd be like, okay, forget it. You're angry, you're frustrated, but you say forget it because of that machine recording. Well, Allah says:

Allah has recorded everything while people have forgotten. Allah never forgets. Allah is recording every single thing while people are forgetting. And then:

The angels — the scribes — they're writing it all down. So anytime you have an internal push or desire to speak up and respond and be witty with your comment — don't! Because even if the other person didn't hear it, Allah heard it. And the Kiram al-Katibin are writing it down.

The Story of the Ta'weez

It's all about the tongue, brothers and sisters. If we can control this at home, our homes will be, insha'Allah, a paradise. You've heard the famous story: a lady came to a Mawlana Sahib and said, "Mawlana, I need a ta'weez — an amulet — some verses of the Qur'an written on it so I can ward off the evil spirits." He said, "What's the problem?" She said, "My husband is always fighting with me. Too many problems in our marriage." He said, "Oh, that one. Okay, I got that. I know those shayateen — very bad ones." He sat there, wrote something, folded it up in a big paper ball, put some leather around it, and said, "This is your amulet. Should I put it on my wrist? Should I put it around my neck?" He said, "No, this one is a little different but very effective. When your husband comes back from work, when he comes back from outside — that's when you've got to strike. You take this amulet and you put it in your mouth. Only as long as it's in the mouth is it going to be effective. You take it out, it loses power." She said, "But how am I supposed to speak?" He said, "Exactly. You put it inside, and only in very extreme cases, where you really feel like this is so bad the amulet might stop working but you've got to speak up — then you take it out, say what you've got to say, and after that you put it back in."

She went home with that amulet, very happy that the Mawlana Sahib had given her some beneficial ta'weez. She came back a week later — so happy, with sweets — and said, "SubhanAllah, I cannot thank you enough. This ta'weez actually really works. My husband, subhanAllah, all of a sudden he changed. Everything in our house has become so nice." And he said, "Yes, insha'Allah, you can tell everyone." Of course, there was nothing inside that amulet — it was just an empty piece of paper. What happened? Someone needed to know how to shut up. If someone keeps quiet in the house, things will automatically come right. But if two people are blaring at each other, even a beautiful large mansion will become a garbage dump — worse than a tent on the street in terms of peace and safety.

There was once upon a time that marriages lasted well for decades. Why? Because people knew how to stay quiet. At least one person knew how to stay quiet. Everyone needs to have that ta'weez available at home. Meaning: to stay quiet. And that will, insha'Allah, help us overcome a big chunk of our problems.

The Crisis of Divorce

When there is calmness and peace at home and all the anger has been extinguished, then you can discuss things in a cool-headed manner. But today, both the boy and the girl say, "I don't need you." There was a mutual dependence before — "I need you, you need me." But nowadays it's mutual independence: "I don't need you, you don't need me." And when both boys and girls start thinking along these lines, then we have a problem. Where does this thought process come from? The parents, and society, of course.

Deep stuff is happening in our community right now. After the whole Rishta process happening over many months, and then after marriage: "I don't like him," or "I don't like her looks." What are you talking about? Now you're stuck with it. Make it work. Buyer's remorse — this seems to be a big syndrome right now. A person gets married and then starts seeing all these other things. No, we have to make it work.

If you make sabr and you make it work, and you make shukr and you thank Allah that He's given you something, and then you make lots and lots of du'a, and you work on your habits and their habits, and you read Surah al-Baqarah in the home — insha'Allah there will be improvement. But if a person just says, "This doesn't seem to work, forget it" — we are living in an era of tamasha right now. That's how the level of marriages are falling apart. Everywhere, left and right. All of you sitting here probably know tens of people who are already divorced. And we're young. And those who are not yet married are dying to get married and finding it so difficult to find a spouse. And those who are married are dying to get divorced. What kind of strange society are we living in?

From amongst the many things, it goes back to the tongue. I wake up all those young men and women who are listening to me to say: it's happening. Over one-third of marriages end up in divorce. Over one-third of our Muslim community. Think about that — for every third nikah you attend, there is one divorce. Some masjids are doing five, six nikahs on a Friday. Imagine: two of them are going to fall apart. So don't think, "Oh, this is not me." One-third is a pretty crazy percentage. Don't put your guard down.

If you are not married or you are married, please think twice before you speak. And before you get into marriage, get counseling done. Definitely do premarital counseling. Understand what marriage entails. People jump into it without understanding. If you just jump on a bike and have no idea what you're doing, Allah forbid, horrible things can happen — and even with people who know how to ride, horrible things happen. Marriage is a very complicated process and it's not easy. Many young men and women say, "I'm so dying to get married" — yes, I spoke about the importance of marriage to protect ourselves from haram in Jumu'ah. But also learn how to be a successful husband and wife. A big chunk of that has to do with your tazkiyah.

That's why the abundance of dhikr of Allah helps as well. The more we make ourselves punctual in dhikr — thousands of dhikr, dhikr of the heart 1,000 times, 2,000 times, 3,000 times — this will insha'Allah allow us to control our anger, control our rage, control our tongue. It will make us realize we are in the presence of Allah and everything is being recorded. The Kiram al-Katibin are writing. Allah is listening. I have to be mindful of what I'm saying. This is what needs to come into our homes.

Specific Rights of the Neighbor

Let me now go over some of the rights we need to ensure when dealing with our neighbor — Muslim or non-Muslim, relative or non-relative. And if this applies to the neighbor, then certainly, by even greater right (darjah awla), it applies to those inside the home — our spouse, our family, our siblings, and so forth.

Right One: Initiating and Returning the Salam

First: initiate the salam. If they don't initiate, then respond to it. Nabi ﷺ has said this is the right of a Muslim upon a Muslim:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1240; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2162)

That he says salam to him when he meets him, when he sees him. How many fathers and mothers say: "My kids enter the house and don't say salam." I hear this all the time. Nabi ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 54)

You will never enter Jannah until you become believers. You will never become true believers until you love one another. Shall I not tell you something that will allow you to love one another? Make salam common amongst yourselves.

So one of the first things to bring muhabba between husband and wife, and in-laws, and siblings, and parents and children, is salam. Even if the other person did not say wa alaykum as-salam — no problem. You do your job. We ourselves have to do our job.

Right Two: Protecting Your Neighbor from Your Harm

The Prophet ﷺ spoke about keeping our neighbors safe from our harm:

Once, the Prophet ﷺ said: "I swear by Allah, he is not a believer! I swear by Allah, he is not a believer! I swear by Allah, he is not a believer!" — three times, Nabi ﷺ is swearing by Allah: he is not a believer. They said, "Ya Rasulallah, who is that?" He said:

That neighbor whose neighbor is not protected from his harm — three times the Prophet ﷺ swore that he cannot be a believer. If this is about a neighbor, then what about the one inside the house? So people are so excited about their tahajjud and their tilawat and their Umrah and Hajj and all these amazing things. But if we're misusing our tongue, it's going to nullify all of this. Not a believer — three times.

The Prophet ﷺ said in another hadith:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 46)

That person cannot enter Jannah whose neighbor does not feel safe from his harm — does not feel safe from his tongue and so forth.

Another hadith: a man came and said, "Ya Rasulallah, there is a lady:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 9673; also referenced in al-Adab al-Mufrad of Imam al-Bukhari, Hadith 119)

People talk about how pious she is — she prays a lot, she fasts a lot, she gives a lot of charity. However, she has one problem: she has a harsh tongue which she uses to harm those who are around her. He said: "She is going to Jahannam." Done. He said it. Ya Rasulallah, she has a lot of salah, a lot of fasting, a lot of sadaqa. He said: she is going to hellfire.

"Ya Rasulallah, there is another lady — people even talk about how little she fasts, how little charity she gives, how little she prays in nafl. But she gives whatever she can, small things also, anything she gets she gives. And she does not hurt her neighbors with her tongue." He said: "She is going to Jannah." This hadith is very clear on the fact that our nafl worship is not sufficient to get us to paradise. A person needs to ensure that their tongue is safe from others.

An incident happened during the time of the Prophet ﷺ. A man came and said, "Ya Rasulallah, my neighbor is a big problem for me." So the Prophet ﷺ said:

He said: throw your luggage, throw your things on the street. So he went and placed some of his own belongings on the pathway. People started passing by and when they saw these things blocking the road, they began to curse him. He came back to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "Ya Rasulallah, I have a bigger problem now. I am suffering at the hands of the people." He said, "What are you suffering?" He said:

They are cursing me. The Prophet ﷺ said:

People are cursing you now, but Allah had already cursed you before that. He said, "Ya Rasulallah, I will not go back to this sin again." Then the Prophet ﷺ said to the one who had complained:

Pick up your luggage. Indeed, you have been saved from the evil of your neighbor. The reason the Prophet ﷺ did this was to explain to the Sahabah: when you do something wrong, whether it's disregard to a neighbor or polluting the street, the anger of the people is preceded by the anger of Allah. It's not just that people are angry at me. If you do something wrong, Allah is angry first. Then secondarily you should be worried about people. What do you know? Allah is the one who is upset. And we have to be careful about that.

Right Three: Bearing the Neighbor's Harm with Patience

Number three: when that neighbor himself acts in a harsh manner with us, then do sabr, do tahammul, and do not respond. Even if they are mean with us, try your best. Hasan al-Basri has mentioned:

Being a good neighbor is not that you simply do not harm your neighbor. A good neighbor is the one who is actually patient when the neighbor is bad with him. That's what it means to be a good neighbor.

A man came to Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه and said, "Ya Abdullah, I have a neighbor that harms me, curses me, and makes my life difficult." He said:

Indeed, he has disobeyed Allah with regards to you. So now you should obey Allah with regards to him. This is where our akhlaq truly shine.

There is a saying in Arabic:

Search for a neighbor before you purchase a house. And search for your companion before you set out on your journey. This is very deep. It's not only about sharing the patio or the backyard. It's about the fact that if you have a good neighbor, you will benefit from them. Your kids are outside — they're going to play with your neighbor's kids. If they are good neighbors, not only will they not harm your children, your children will actually pick up good traits and good qualities. A neighbor will come with you to Fajr. They'll help if your kids are going to madrasah.

How often is the character of the neighbors put into consideration when purchasing a house? That's why — I think it was Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak — in his area, a non-Muslim selling a house sold it for a very high price. Someone asked why. He said: the house price is one amount, but there's an extra price because you're getting the opportunity to be the neighbor of Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak. What you're going to get here, being in his company as a neighbor — even if you're not a Muslim — is so invaluable that there's an extra cost for the house. SubhanAllah.

That is exactly how I'm supposed to be as a neighbor — that people say, "I will do anything to come and find a house next door." Such is the level of benefit, spiritual, emotional, and physical — such helpfulness — that people would be willing to pay extra to come live near them. This is the litmus test. Shouldn't be that, Allah forbid, our neighbor is trying to get out and run because of us.

Right Four: Protecting the Neighbor's Honor

And lastly: sitr and siyant 'irdh — you look out for him. Protect his honor. Look out for his needs. And of course, do not do anything to harm or taint the name of your neighbor. Don't do khiyanah. Like how a person carefully lowers his gaze in front of others — similarly, the neighbor's family is there. Make sure that we do not do khiyanah of the eye. You guard your gaze from all opposite gender, but if it comes to the neighbor, be even more careful. You have to protect them even from your own incorrect glance. And be a well-wisher for them. If something comes across that would benefit your neighbor, you need to tell them — even if it makes no difference to you. Always look out for your neighbor's needs.

Da'wah Through Character

Giving da'wah to our non-Muslim neighbors is through our akhlaq and through our character. That level of akhlaq — where a non-Muslim says the real estate value here is more because I'm next to such-and-such — that level of akhlaq means you don't just do the minimum; you go above and beyond, and they're floored. They say: "My own siblings on the other end of the city never come to see me. I have relatives who don't ever come over. No one cares about me. Why in the world do you care so much?" Because you're doing it for Allah. That's why.

They should be so floored by your character and your akhlaq that they feel you are closer to them than their own family. And that's the very best form of da'wah. When they ask why, you say: because we believe in the Day of Judgment. We believe in Allah. And this is our motivating factor. Imagine if all humans were to believe in Allah — what a better, more peaceful world this would become, where everyone gives with a huge smile simply because they're expecting reward from Allah.

You don't want them to feel that you are doing this for the sake of da'wah. And in reality, by the way, our akhlaq with our neighbor — look at all these hadiths; there are many, many more. Where does it say it is contingent upon them being Muslim, or contingent upon them coming towards Islam? The environment that Rasulullah ﷺ was speaking about — were they all Muslims in Makkah? Some of his own neighbors and relatives, each one bigger in kufr than the other, and so harmful and hateful. People talk about Islamophobia — it wasn't just fear and bad words there; they did so much more in Makkah. But the akhlaq of Rasulullah ﷺ is something we have to learn.

In India and other places where Muslims and non-Muslims are living together, this comes so important. There have been many instances where, because of good akhlaq with neighbors, communities protected each other. Best friends across religious lines have literally hidden Muslims in their own homes and given their lives to protect their Muslim neighbors. And unfortunately, sometimes where people stay only within their own community and do not build ties across communities and religions, we see unfortunate and horrible incidents — mass violence and genocide in reality. This is why the ulama have been speaking about these topics for a long time. Even in Africa — in South Africa where I studied — ulama have said: if you do not take care of your relationship with your neighbors, when there is xenophobia and people start fighting back against all immigrants, your mansion will not protect you. They'll burn it down. Ensuring that we have a relationship with our neighbors is super important.

Announcements

Our weekend programs will begin today at 10am. We have three classes insha'Allah that will be taught this fall semester on Saturday:

Number one: The Fiqh of Salah, Part One. Number two: The Tafsir of the Surahs of Salah — the last ten surahs and Surah al-Fatiha. Number three: Purification of the Heart, which is the Arba'een fi Usul al-Din of Imam Ghazali — a really beautiful book. These three classes will be taught by Mufti Nauman Khan, who completed his Iftah and Dawrat al-Hadith at Darul Uloom Deoband, with original studies at Darul Uloom New York, and has moved to town from Minnesota. Alhamdulillah, he'll be teaching these classes. You'll have the opportunity to sit with him for all three, and we have a break with snacks in between for you to spend time with your classmates and the teacher.

The Sunday track includes: History and Development of Fiqh — how did Fiqh start, how has it reached us, how did it develop throughout the ages; Introduction to Hadith Sciences — what is mutawatir, what is sahih, what is da'if, how do you classify hadith, what is the proof of hadith being authentic; and Aqidah Part One — the oneness of Allah, belief in the existence of God, and how to refute atheism. This will be taught by our full-time teacher Mawlana Farhan Sharif insha'Allah, covering all three classes on Sunday.

Sisters, there's a class for you as well in person at Dar al-Salam. The classes are also all live-streamed and recorded — from wherever you are in the country or across the globe, you can listen in.

Number two: starting in September will be our Sunday school, ages 6 to 16. You can visit the website and insha'Allah register for these courses. We try to make it extremely affordable compared to anything else available elsewhere. If someone genuinely does not have the means, we still want to make sure no one gets deprived — you can send an email to the office and figure out a method to make it more affordable. We want to make sure insha'Allah every single person benefits.

Our sons and daughters are headed back to university and college now — this is a perfect time to realize the importance of studying and to have them attend these classes along with the parents themselves. There's nothing fluff here. We spent 12 years in school and then maybe another 8 years in college, at least — and how many months have we spent studying the deen? I encourage you all insha'Allah to please take benefit from that.

We are also looking for sponsors and hosts for Team Fajr. If you can let us know if you would like to host one of the breakfasts insha'Allah — now that Fajr is a little later, we'll have the students who have come back as well, and insha'Allah bigger attendance. Not only can you bring the food or cover the cost — 300, 400, 500, or 800 dollars, whatever the amount, depending on what you want to order — but beyond that, be a host: invite people. By the time we finish it's around 6:50, and with dhikr and du'a it'll be about 7 o'clock — not too early. You can have your halwa puri at 7am! So alhamdulillah, we're looking for people to sponsor that in the coming weeks and months, and hopefully we'll have even greater attendance insha'Allah.

Du'a and Closing

We ask Allah that He grants us the ability to bring all these beautiful good qualities within ourselves. May He allow us all to constantly work on our improvement. May He allow us to use our eyes to focus on our own faults. And if someone guides us to our faults, may He allow us to become open and receptive. May Allah allow us to work on our akhlaq and make our akhlaq like the akhlaq of Rasulullah ﷺ. May Allah protect our neighbors from our harm, and protect us from their harm. May Allah improve the relationship between all members of the household. May Allah allow all those who are not married to find the very best spouses, and those who are married, may He allow their marriages to flourish and improve in every sense. Ameen.

Alhamdulillah, we have sat after Salat al-Fajr in the form of dhikr. This is a huge blessing. Let us complete this blessing with our Ishraq salah — two raka'at and two raka'at. Any surah can be recited, and you can insha'Allah make niyyah that through the barakah of two raka'at, Allah will fulfill the needs of the day; and for another two raka'at, Allah will give us a reward of an accepted Hajj and Umrah. Ameen.

Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.