Jumu'ah Khutbah | Mufti Azeemuddin

I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Come to Prayer. Come to success. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.

Four Pieces of Prophetic Advice

The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ at various occasions would come to Rasulullah ﷺ and would ask for advice. And there are collections of such ahadith in which Rasulullah ﷺ's pieces of advice are preserved to various people that he shared. One of those beautiful narrations is a narration related by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas radiyallahu anhu, and mentioned by Imam Mundhiri in his Targhib wal-Tarhib.

He says, a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and he asked for advice. A man said, "O Rasulullah, give me advice." He gave four pieces of advice:

First: Avoid Greed and Envy

Number one, make sure you become despondent from the material things of others. Make sure you become despondent from trying to achieve from others what they have. Never expect or never think, never desire that what this individual have, I wish I can grab it from him and get it for myself.

(Mentioned by Imam Mundhiri in Targhib wal-Tarhib)

And protect yourself from greed. For indeed, greed is poverty that is present at this very moment.

What a beautiful piece of advice. Number one, when you look at what people have, the Prophet ﷺ is saying to this person who is coming and asking, that do not be interested and do not look with the eyes of envy at what other people have. Allah Azza wa Jal says in the Qur'an:

Do not stretch out your eyes. Do not open your eyes wide with the eyes of envy looking at what we have given others. From all the beautiful things of this world. Allah says, "It's only the external beauty of the world that they have. And the reason I gave it to them," Allah says, لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ "In order for Me to put them into trial."

The reason they have those material things and the abundance of material things is to put them into a test. Why would anyone desire to be tested? Allah is telling the Prophet ﷺ, When you see others who have a lot of material things, shiny, glittery, attractive type of material things that they have in their possession, do not become envious of that. And obviously the message is for us, for you and I. Rasulullah ﷺ is being informed, but the message is for you and I.

Do not look at them with the eyes of envy no matter how little you have and no matter how much they have. Because لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ - why did we give it to them in the first place? To put them into a trial and a test. And very few come out of this trial and a test successful. Most people fail with the abundance of material things.

If you look at people who have extraordinary amounts of wealth, and you see the extraordinary amounts of sin that are committed by them, it's easy to sit back and say, I can't believe this person could do something like that. I can't believe this head of state of a Muslim country would do something like that. But you and I should thank Allah that we've never been tested with this type of wealth. Or with that type of power. When you have that type of wealth and that type of power, boy, it is a huge imtihan and test from Allah which very few make it out successful.

So instead of looking down upon anyone, we should thank Allah that we've been saved from such a trial. And then Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ, وَرِزْقُ رَبِّكَ "The sustenance of your Lord" خَيْرٌ "is far better than what the material things they have." وَأَبْقَى "And it's far longer lasting than what they have."

Because what they have will definitely perish. It's there today, it's gone tomorrow. And if it's not gone tomorrow, it will definitely be gone as soon as the soul departs. The body, everything is over. People will be fighting over it before even the body is buried.

The Secret of Happiness and Respect

So the Prophet ﷺ is giving us the secret of happiness. A secret of becoming beloved in the eyes of Allah and beloved in the eyes of the people. Which is do not look with the eyes of envy towards the possessions of others. Not only will you become beloved to Allah, but people will love you as well. That this person doesn't care about what I own, what I have. He's not interested in it. He doesn't want any of these things. If he wants it, he wants it from Allah, whatever he wants, but he's got nothing to take from me. He doesn't want anything from me.

It's mentioned regarding one of the righteous, pious predecessors from the tabi'een, if I'm not mistaken. That the Khalifa of the time was waiting. He saw him, he was doing tawaf around the Kaaba. Great scholar, great righteous person. He wanted to be of service to him. Khalifa goes up to him and says, "Can I be of service to you? Can I do any khidmah?"

So he looked at the Khalifa and he said, "In front of the house of Allah, in the mataaf, around the Kaaba, you're asking me if you can help me? Why would I ever ask you for help when this is the place where I am, in front of the house of Allah, in front of the Kaaba?" He shooed him away.

The Khalifa recognized obviously the closeness of Allah that this individual had. He wanted to serve him for his own benefit. He waited outside. When this tabi'een, this great scholar, left the mataaf and went out of the haram, he was waiting outside. And he said, "Please may I be of some service to you?" And he responded by saying, "Okay. Would you like to help me in the matters of akhira or dunya? Which one?"

He said, "How can I help you in the matters of akhira? No, I'm nobody. I cannot help you in the matters of akhira. I meant in the matters of the dunya." So then he said, "Okay. If it comes to the matters of the dunya, when I was in front of the lord of the world, in front of the lord of the Kaaba, I didn't ask for the dunya over there. You think I'm gonna ask from you?" Subhanallah.

So imagine what honor and respect all of a sudden, renewed, highest level of honor and respect this person enjoyed immediately in the eyes of the Khalifa. You can't buy these people out. They don't want anything. They could care less what we have. They're not even interested. They're not even looking at what we have. They have been given such a gift that far exceeds any material blessings that we're enjoying. It's a sweetness of the relationship with Allah. It is the connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's knowing who Allah is. And knowing who your Ma'bud is. Knowing that you're gonna meet him very soon. And that you're in his presence wherever you are.

The Power of Sincere Da'wah

When we show humanity that we are not interested in what you have, what will happen? We will gain more respect in their eyes. And then when we invite them towards Islam, and when we lead our life, they will be even more impressed. As every single time, or majority of the time in the Qur'an where it speaks about the da'wah of the Prophets, what's mentioned there?

"I am not asking you for any wealth. I am not asking you for any reward. My reward is only with Allah. I don't want anything you have." Repeatedly this theme is mentioned when the da'wah of the Prophets is mentioned in the Qur'an. Because that's what makes the da'wah of the Prophets powerful. The sincerity and letting the people know that the blessings that they have of iman and ma'rifah are far superior to anything else that someone may have or they may try to offer.

As Bilqis tried to impress Sulaiman alayhi as-salam. And she sent a gift. And what did he say? He said:

"What Allah has given me is far superior than what you have. Go, you all enjoy your own gifts yourself. I don't need your gifts. Allah has given me deen. Allah has given me dunya. Allah has given me prophethood. I need nothing. I want you to come to me."

"Come to me as believers. That's all. I don't need anything from you."

Being a Gift to Society

When the world sees this level of sincerity from the Muslim Ummah, the world will change. The communities need to know that we are not Muslims or we haven't migrated - for those who have migrated, for example, to this country. I mean all of us have, whether it's 400 years ago or whether it was 100 years ago. The world needs to know and the people of this country need to know that we haven't come here to simply usurp or take or rightfully also earn a living and take from this land. The more than we can take from this land and from this people, we're here to give.

And when the people truly understand that that's what you truly believe, that the moral character, the ethics, the value system that you and I have been blessed with through Islam is far superior than any paycheck, than any payout from any company that you can get in this country, and that you are honored to serve them by sharing with them what Allah has given you, then the tide will change. The power dynamic will change. Because now you've got the upper hand. They're taking from you and you're giving.

As long as we start thinking that we're taking and they are giving, then we are in a weaker position and others are in a stronger position. But when we tell ourselves that no, we are not here to take, yes, we're earning money, everyone has to earn the rizq, but the value system, the ethics, the morals, and the akhlaq, the character, the way to live a true, beautiful, comfortable life, what Islam teaches us is something that they need to know, and they need to taste, and they haven't seen that. When they realize that that's what you're here to give, they will appreciate your presence and my presence much more. We will not be a burden on society, but rather we will be a gift to society.

That is the first piece of advice that Rasulullah gave this individual.

Second: Protect Yourself from Greed

Number two, he said, make sure you protect yourself from greed. Because many of us may think that I'm worried about poverty, I don't want to participate in such and such thing, because I don't have enough money. If I give today, I might not have money tomorrow. I don't want to donate to a certain cause, because if I give, shaytan tells us that الشيطان يعد الفقر - that I will become poor.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying, forget about tomorrow's poverty and ten years down the line poverty. If you are greedy, you are poor right now. Poverty has overtaken you the moment you have become greedy over dunya. So we're taught to be content, قناعة, have a sense of contentment within our heart that, alhamdulillah, whatever Allah has given me, I'm happy with that.

Third: Pray as if it's Your Last

And number three, every single salah that we perform, including the Jumu'ah and the Sunnah that we're gonna perform now, perform it with such level of concentration, devotion, love, and focus, as though it is your very final and last prayer. Every moment we should think, that this may be the two rakah after which I may not get a chance to do so again. How many announcements we're getting every single day of people passing away, people falling ill, people who are terminally ill, car accidents, what not.

Fourth: Never Do What Requires an Excuse

And lastly, protect yourself from ever doing something which you have to give an excuse or an apology for. Subhanallah. What a beautiful piece of advice.