The Unlimited Love And Care Of Allah For Mankind

Opening Praise & Salutations

الحمد لله خالق الوجود من العدم، وجاعل النور من الظلام، ومخرج الصبر من الألم، فنشكره على المصائب كما نشكره على النعم، ونصلي ونسلم على رسوله الأكرم، ذي الشرف الأسمى والنور الأتم، وكمال النبيين والكتاب المحكم، سيد ولد آدم، الذي بشّر به عيسى ابن مريم، ودعا لبعثته إبراهيم عليه السلام، حين كان يرفع قواعد بيت الله المحرم، والذي بارك الله به كافة الناس، العرب منهم والعجم، فسبحان الذي لم يتخذ ولداً، ولم يكن له شريك في الملك، ولم يكن له وليٌّ من الذل، وكبّره تكبيراً.

الحمد لله الذي أنزل على عبده الكتاب، ولم يجعل له عوجاً.

أما بعد، يقول الله تعالى في كتابه، بعد أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم، بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم:

وقال تعالى:

وقال عليه الصلاة والسلام:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3209; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2637)

The Unlimited Love of Allah for Mankind

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters, when it comes to the criteria of love mankind has set for itself in this worldly life, it is very, very limited. And when it comes to the expression of love that comes from Allah towards mankind itself, it is unlimited.

As Allah mentions when expressing love for mankind, He says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2577)

O my beloved servants and slaves, each and every single one of you is hungry. You were born hungry, you will die hungry — unless you supplicate your needs and your sustenance from Allah. And so Allah says: you seek sustenance from Me and I shall grant it to you.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2577)

O mankind, each and every single one of you is naked. You came into this world without any clothing, you will leave this world without any clothing in your possession, you will be resurrected by Allah on the Day of Judgment without clothes. Allah says: you seek your needs of Me, I shall grant your needs.

This is the love that Allah has for mankind itself. Take the example of an individual — an individual who is not even capable of taking care of himself. They are not even capable of getting up in the middle of the night when they feel thirsty.

How many times do we wake up in the night and we're thirsty, our throat is parched, we're extremely thirsty, we need water — but we put it off and say, "Never mind, I'll wake up in the morning, I'll get up in the morning and drink water," and we sleep on. This is our story, this is our plight, that we're not even able to quench our thirst ourselves. But the same individual, when he's granted a child, you will see him wake up in the middle of the night — or multiple times in the night — let alone water itself being a bigger need; even if they hear a small cry or a small sigh, they get up and tend to the child. This is the love that Allah puts in the heart of a human being — that limited love itself.

Take the example of the father. He's not even able to support himself, he does not do anything to support himself and is dependent 100% on his parents. The moment he gets a child, he starts to worry: "How am I going to support the child?" He goes out and starts working hard so that he can support the child.

The Example of the Prophet ﷺ and the Trial of Loss

And let us put all these examples aside — take the example of Rasulullah ﷺ. There is no difficulty, no trial that exists in the face of this world that Rasulullah ﷺ has not faced. That is why, when we ask the question, "I am an obedient slave of Allah, why do I still face difficulties in life?" — you definitely need to take a deeper dive into the life of Rasulullah ﷺ, because there was no one more obedient than Rasulullah himself, yet he still had to go through different trials and difficulties in life.

We notice that all the male children of Rasulullah ﷺ passed away in his very own lifetime. And the heaviest burden — it is said — is the burden of the janazah of a child on the shoulder of a father. There is nothing more burdensome than that. The normal system that Allah has created in this world is that we come, we live a certain age, and then we die. Normally the children are the ones burying the parents. But it is not the other way around. It is highly unusual that the child passes away, and we know that sometimes the grief itself takes the life away. And Rasulullah ﷺ himself buried multiple children.

The last child who was to pass away was Ibrahim رضي الله عنه, and he passed away in the lap of Rasulullah ﷺ. The Sahabah witnessed tears welling up in the eyes of Rasulullah. The Sahabi sitting right next to him said: "Ya Rasulullah, maa hadha?" — O Rasulullah, what is this? He did not mean it in a way to ridicule Rasulullah; he was asking a gentleman a question about whether this was permissible or not. This was the nature of the Sahabah. And may Allah have mercy on them, because of them we have the answer to each and every single aspect of deen.

Had it been left to us, I think more than half or three quarters of deen would have been left unexplained — because we don't even bother asking. Or at other times when we do ask, we definitely don't want to follow up if it's something difficult.

So the Sahabah asked: "Ya Rasulullah, maa hadha?" — What is this? And Rasulullah ﷺ replied: it is an expression of grief. And Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1303)

Verily the eyes are becoming teary, and the heart is heavy with grief, and the tongue will only utter what will please Allah. Setting the highest criteria of love here — that no matter what happens, yes, we do have the relationships, the objects in this life that we love dearly, the things that we do not want to depart from in this worldly life. But yet, the ultimate objective is the pleasure of Allah. It is the love of Allah which mankind needs to express in order to attain the pleasure of Allah.

The Story of Musa عليه السلام: Blind Trust and Divine Love

Take the example of Musa عليه السلام. We notice that he was one of the most beloved servants of Allah. He had been granted the title and status of Kalimullah — meaning one who converses with Allah. And it is very interesting that Musa عليه السلام was the one who used to stutter. Imagine — he used to communicate with Allah in that very state of stuttering.

When Musa عليه السلام was born, as most of us are familiar with the background story, this was the year in which Fir'aun had given the order for the children of Banu Israel to be slaughtered. This is the oppression of Fir'aun. Fir'aun was a self-proclaimed god. He used to say:

Does the kingdom of Egypt not belong to me? Am I not the one who runs the affairs of the kingdom? Take a look at all these streams that flow beneath my feet. He was a self-proclaimed king, and he had been foretold by a soothsayer that a child from Banu Israel would be born who would be the source of the destruction of his kingdom and his throne being snatched away from him.

Hence, he had given the order that all the male children of Banu Israel were to be slaughtered. And it so happened that they used to use the children of Banu Israel for their labor. Now when they started killing all the children, they became worried: if we kill all the male children, who is going to work hard and toil in our fields? So he gave the order that they could kill them one year and let them live the other year — hoping that the foretold child would fall in the year in which the killing was happening.

And look at the qudrah of Allah here: Harun عليه السلام, the brother of Musa عليه السلام, was born in the year in which the children were not being killed. And Musa عليه السلام was born in the year when the children were being killed. That is an expression of the greatness of Allah.

The mother was naturally worried, because the soldiers of Fir'aun would go from door to door, investigating if there was any childbirth. So the order of Allah came. And this is where we see an expression of blind love — the love a mother has for a child. But look at the order that comes from Allah:

The mother is scared that the soldiers will find the child and kill him. She is naturally looking for direction from Allah. But what is the order being given? Place him in a small little box — and then put it in a closet? No. What are you going to do with the box? Throw it in the river Nile. No. Do you see a way out of this? No.

Allah orders: place him in the box, throw it in the river Nile. And what is going to happen — what will be the outcome? Allah tells her as well. The outcome is not that He will take him to a faraway land and someone will adopt him and he will live a long life. No. What happens? An enemy of Allah and your enemy is going to be the one who plucks the child from the river.

And we know what happens — when the child reached the banks of the river Nile, Fir'aun was there. Actually, the wife of Fir'aun, Asiya رضي الله عنها, was standing on the banks, and she ordered for the box to be removed. The moment her gaze fell on the child, she instantly fell in love with him. It was known that Fir'aun had no children, he had no progeny. And Asiya رضي الله عنها said: "We will make him our child and raise him."

Fir'aun was naturally reluctant. And here we notice that when the maternal love of Asiya رضي الله عنها came for Musa عليه السلام, Fir'aun also started to feel it a little — that love was slowly seeping in as well. Even though he was wary of the child, even though he was threatened by the presence of the child, he was beginning to agree to adopt him. The very child that he had been trying to avoid — because of whom he had killed hundreds and hundreds of children — that same child had ended up in the court and palace of Fir'aun.

This is the expression of love. We notice that Allah, even in scenarios and in circumstances where nothing makes sense, where you would see utter destruction — Allah took him out. This is an expression of love that Allah has for mankind.

The Limits of Human Love

And this is how we realize that the love we have for each other is limited. Take the example of a child who buries his own father. The night before, when the father is alive, you make sure that you make their stay in this world as comfortable as possible. You get the softest mattress possible, the best pillow, you cover them, make sure they are not cold, tend to them, provide medication, spend as much money as you have — so that you can save them and so that they can remain in this worldly life.

But the moment they pass away — what do we do? Do we keep them in that bedroom, covered and warm, so they are not cold? Do we go and talk to them? No. What do we do? We pick them up, wash them, give them their ghusl, put them in their kafan. We try to find the cheapest possible kafan, and then — do we keep them? No. We carry them on our shoulders and put them in their graves. We put them on dust itself.

This is the system of Allah. You were created from dust, you will turn to dust, you will be resurrected from dust itself. And you place them there, and you put that dust on their face — the very face that you would kiss, the forehead that you would kiss, and the very body that you would not bear to see harmed for even a single second — you put dust on it. And do you stay there next to the grave for the rest of your life? No. You come back home and go to sleep in your comfortable bed. This is the criteria of love that mankind has set for itself.

So we need to look at the criteria of love which was set by Allah, and focus on our relationship with Allah, because ultimately it is the love that we have, and the love that Allah has for us, that will save us.

The Wisdom of Hatim al-Aslam: Choosing the Everlasting Friend

I would like to conclude with the saying of the tabi'i, Hatim al-Aslam رحمه الله, in which he mentions:

Inni nazartu ilal khalq — I looked towards the creation of Allah. Fa ra'aytu kulla wahidin yufarriqu mahbubahu — I found that each and every single individual, every living thing on the face of this planet, was forced to depart from the beloved things that they have in this life — in the form of the individuals they love, and in the form of the material objects they possess in this worldly life. So then I thought: all of these things are useless, there is no use whatsoever, because when I am going to need them — at the time of my need, in an hour of need — these things will not be there to help me.

So what does he say? Fattaqastu li nafsi khaleelan la yufariquni — So I chose for myself a friend which will never depart me. And what is that friend? It happens to be in the form of my relationship with Allah — the a'mal al-hasanah that I cultivate in this worldly life. They will be a source of protection, a source of comfort, a source of solace in the confinements of my grave, and also a source of intercession on the Day of Qiyamah, when I stand in the court of Allah and am granted a place under the shade of Allah.

May Allah give us the tawfiq to invest in the worthwhile love — the love that lasts forever, which is unlimited. And may Allah give us the tawfiq to focus on our relationship with Allah.

Second Khutbah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

يقول الله تعالى:

وقال عليه الصلاة والسلام:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

بارك الله لنا ولكم في القرآن العظيم، ونفعنا وإياكم بما فيه من الآيات والذكر الحكيم. إنه تعالى جوادٌ كريمٌ، ملكٌ بارٌّ رؤوفٌ رحيم.

الحمد لله وحده، والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده.

أيها الناس، إن الله تبارك وتعالى أمركم بأمرٍ عظيم، بدأ فيه بنفسه وثنّى بملائكته المسبّحة بقدسه، وصلّى به عليكم أيها المؤمنون من بريّته جنّه وإنسه، فقال تعالى:

قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3791; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 154)

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(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 664)

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Girls Youth Halaqah — Soulful Chats: Join us next Friday, February 10th, from 5:45 to 7:45 PM with your friends for our bi-weekly Sisters Youth Halaqah. Location: Darussalam Seminary, Sisters Prayer Hall. Open to sisters from the ages of 13 to 21.

Sisters Monthly Darussalam: We invite the sisters of the community to step away from the rush of everyday life and come spend an afternoon in the house of Allah. Experience a unique opportunity to sit in the company of a female scholar and listen to a talk on preparing for Ramadan, followed by a Q&A session. The program will conclude with Zuhr in Jama'ah and lunch. The program will be on February 5th, from 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM. Location: Darussalam Seminary, 2nd Floor, Prayer Hall, Sisters side.

Weekly Programs: Tomorrow's team Fajr program will continue. Fajr Iqamah is at 6:15 AM. Bukhari Dars will resume from Monday, February 13th. Tuesday's Tafsir program will continue with Surah al-Mu'minun. Also, the weekly Salawat gathering continues on Thursdays after Isha Salah.

The Institute of Islamic Education is holding a Qur'an Night with Qari Ahmad Nu'ayna, invited from Egypt, on February 5th after Maghrib, insha'Allah. Students from the IIE are outside distributing flyers.

There is a request for du'a for an 87-year-old sister who will be starting cancer treatment, which has reached her brain.

Du'a of maghfirah for Sharif Ziauddin, who passed away on Monday.