Striving for Excellence: The Ideal Believer | Mufti Hassan Shaikh | 12/15

Opening Praises and Salutations

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Alhamdulillah — alhamdulillahil khaliqil wujudi minal adam, wa ja'ilil noori minal dhulam, wa mukhrijis sabri minal alam, wa mulqi tawbati alal nadam. Fa nashkuruhu alal masaa'ibi kama nashkuruhu alal ni'am. Wa nusalli wa nusallim ala rasoolihi al-akram, dhisharafil asham, wa noolil atam, wa kamalil nabiyyeen, wal kitaabil mahkam — Sayyidi Wuldi Adam, alladhi bashara bihi Isa ibn Mariam, wa da'a li bi'thatihi Ibrahimu alayhi salam heena kana yarfa'u qawa'ida Baytillahil muharram, walladhi baraka Allahu bihi kafata an-naas, al-araba minhum wal-ajam. Fa subhana alladhi lam yattakhid waladan, wa lam yakun lahu shareekun fil mulk, wa lam yakun lahu waliyyun minadh-dhulli, wa kabbirhu takbira.

Amma ba'd — ayyuhan-naas, yaqulullahu ta'ala fi kitaabihi, ba'da anna:

And Ibn Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu said:

(Reported by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr in Jami' Bayan al-'Ilm wa Fadlihi)

Whoever wishes to follow a path, let him follow the path of those who have passed away, for the living are not safe from trials and tribulations. Those are the companions of Muhammad ﷺ — they were the best of this ummah: the purest of heart, the deepest in knowledge, and the least ostentatious. Allah chose them to be the companions of His Prophet and to establish His religion. So acknowledge their virtue, follow in their footsteps, and hold firmly to as much of their character and conduct as you are able, for they were upon the straight path.

The Glorification of Allah

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters, and honorable esteemed guests — let us start off with the glorification of Allah, as any talk, any khutbah, any sermon devoid of the glorification of Allah remains incomplete.

O Allah — the eyes cannot see You, and the thoughts cannot fathom You, and people cannot give an accurate description of You. He knows the weight of the weightiest mountains and the depths of the deepest oceans. Nothing can remain hidden from the sight and the vision of Allah.

Allah gave the command to His Messenger ﷺ:

Say, O Muhammad ﷺ — if you were to command all the trees that exist on the face of the planet to start to note down the glorification of Allah, the trees turned into pens would finish, and the oceans being used as ink would also perish — all the oceans that exist on the face of the planet — and yet there would still be more glorification of Allah to be noted down.

The Question of the Ideal Believer

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters — at times we ask ourselves the question of the ideal believer, and it's something that we all look forward to. It's something that we want to be as human beings in this world — we want to be the ideal believer, the most pleasing to Allah. And at times we find ourselves competing with each other. So long as the competition remains healthy, it's very good and beneficial for spiritual health.

When you look at the example of the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ, they — despite the fact that they were at the height of closeness to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ — would say:

"Let us sit down and renew and refresh our faith."

And we know the stories of the healthy competitions that took place between Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu and Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu, where one would try to outdo the other in terms of attaining the pleasure of Allah.

Choosing the Right Role Models

When we talk about the ideal believer and the ideal Muslim, we need to look at the examples of the people who have proven themselves. Many a times, when you have a role model — why do you select someone as your role model? There's definitely a reasoning behind it. You don't pick up any random person on the street and make him your role model. No — those people who you pick as your role models have to prove themselves and have to prove their worth. Then you put them on a pedestal of perfection, and that's why you want to emulate their example and you want to be like them.

When we want to be the best of the believers and we want to be the ideal believer, we want to follow the example of the people who have proven themselves in the court of Allah — about whom Allah said:

These were the people who presented themselves in the early days of Islam. That's why Allah called them as-sabiqoon — and who is a sabiq? A sabiq is a winner in a race, one who outdoes the other people. Why were they called the sabiqoon? Because they presented themselves for the service of Allah at a time when there was nobody else, when nobody else was presenting themselves for the service of the deen of Allah. All tides were against them. Everyone was their sworn enemy.

Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu famously said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3462; cf. Quran 40:28)

"You want to kill a man just because he says that his Lord is Allah?" You're thirsty for our blood, hungry for our flesh — just because we want to accept Allah as our Lord. That was the reasoning for all the torture and the persecution.

So at times like these, these people presented themselves for the service of the deen of Allah. And so Allah gave their example in the Qur'an:

These are the winners — and who are they? They are from among the Muhajireen, the ones who immigrated, who left their city. At any point, each and every single companion of Rasulullah ﷺ had to perform hijrah. They had to leave their homeland due to the lack of resources, the persecution, and the blockages they were facing in terms of practicing their faith.

The Sacrifice of the Companions

Many a times we find ourselves saying — when someone says "go back to your country" or "go home, what are you doing here?" — our first reaction is: "We pay taxes here, we're law-abiding citizens, and we have the right to be here just like anyone else." But the companions of Rasulullah were also deeply embedded in that society — the society of Makkah al-Mukarramah.

Did you know that Rasulullah ﷺ was the one who placed the Black Stone on the Ka'bah? He was the one given that honor. Who could be more integrated into that society? If they were going to designate someone to do a task like that, it means that person was accepted in that society. The sahabah were traders, merchants — some of the influential people of the society. Yes, they may not all have been the richest, but they had their place.

Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu — people would actually travel from miles away, from other towns and cities, just to find out about their lineage. Even the mushrikeen of Makkah would travel from far and wide to come and find out from Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu who their ancestors were. So they were the knowledgeable and deeply embedded people in that society — yet they had to leave their homeland, they had to immigrate, and they had to sacrifice for the sake of the deen of Allah.

So Allah gave their example in the Qur'an:

They were not the ones that when difficulty came, when all tides were against them, they forsook the religion and the deen of Allah. No. اتَّبَعُوهُم بِإِحْسَانٍ — they remained steadfast and they did it in the best way and manner possible.

A good example of that: when things are in our favor — specifically when the public opinion is in the favor of the Muslims — what do we do? We all want to comfortably step out as Muslims and proclaim our faith and yell it to the skies. That's our example. But the moment the tide is against us, what do we do? We immediately do whatever we can to hide the fact that we're Muslims.

Now, this doesn't come from a place of criticism. At the end of the day, if someone wants to be safe and fears for his life if he steps out as a Muslim, that's a completely different story altogether. My point is that the Sahabah were not conveniently Muslims. They were not convenient Muslims — that whenever the opportunity was sound and it was a good time to be Muslim they would come forward, and whenever difficulties would come they would step back. No:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 7199; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1709)

"After all, we have given pledge to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ" — in ease and in hardship, in what we love and in what we dislike.

The Ansar and Their Pledge

When the hijrah from Makkah to Madinah took place — who invited the Prophet of Allah ﷺ? It was the Ansar, the people of Madinah. They came. But before they could be given the privilege of the acceptance of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, they had to proclaim their faith and explain the soundness of it. Because the uncles of Rasulullah ﷺ were powerful people — they may not have been Muslims, but they were very powerful and influential people.

They came up and said: "O people of Madinah — if you want to accept the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, do you know the kind of difficulty that entails? Do you know what will happen? Every single tribe of Arabia will be your sworn enemy and they will come after you." And that's exactly what happened — right after the first year of hijrah, Badr happened. Then Uhud. Then Khandaq, Ahzab — all these battles continued. Why? Because everyone was seeking the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.

My point is that these people — they stuck with Rasulullah ﷺ through thick and thin. So Allah said about them اتَّبَعُوهُم بِإِحْسَانٍ. And what is the privilege that you are given for being the ideal believer?

Allah is pleased with them, and they are also pleased with the decree of Allah.

Knowing Our Role Models

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters — many a times we do ask ourselves: whose example do we want to follow? We have these people right in front of us, provided we know more about them. Many a times when you travel throughout the country and you get the opportunity to interact with different Muslim communities — the Chicagoland community happens to be much more educated than some of the other communities in the rest of the United States. Specifically when you go to remote towns and areas and you interact with the youth, you realize that they have no idea who their ideals are. They are completely lost.

Why do you think that forsaking Islam is on the rise? Why do you think people want to turn away and shy away from giving an explanation of the faith? It's not because they are afraid. It's because when you yourself do not know the beauty of your faith and the beauty of the personalities of your faith — how would you stand up and defend them when someone on the street says things about them? If you yourself don't know how they lived their lives, you will probably start to believe in whatever is being said about them.

I will narrate a personal incident here. We were once in a gathering — I believe it was a youth talk — and I asked one of them: "Who is Abu Bakr?" It was a rhetorical question, but I found out that more than half of them did not know who he was. And Abu Bakr's name is always mentioned with the name of Rasulullah ﷺ. After all:

He is the companion of Rasulullah ﷺ — and in times when Rasulullah ﷺ was alone, who was his second? It was Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyallahu anhu.

So we are dealing with an issue which we ourselves at times do not understand. It's very easy to sit here and say what's wrong with people — specifically with the Muslims — when it comes to the weakness of the faith, the weakness of the iman, and even forsaking their deen. It's because they never had the opportunities that we had. So when we have those opportunities, what should our reaction be? Because our accountability will be higher.

Now, don't get me wrong — it doesn't mean that you should stop learning, or that you shouldn't go out and learn because you think that if you learn your accountability increases. Well, there's a different kind of reckoning for that, because if you had the opportunity to learn and you didn't learn, of course you will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment.

When it comes to learning — that's why Abu Hurairah radiyallahu anhu, what did he say? He said: "My greatest fear is that on the Day of Qiyamah, when I will be resurrected in the court of Allah, Allah will ask me: how much did you act upon what you learned?"

So as Muslims, our example is not that of a person who gets up on a stage, delivers a nice sermon, and then goes back to his life the way it was. No — these are meant to be life-changing moments.

The Story of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

When you sit down with the elders and hear the story of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu — how he accepted Islam is truly remarkable. He was a young shepherd boy, tending his flock. Two travelers came to him — weary, tired — and asked him for some milk from his herd.

He said: "I am not willing to give you two milk from a stock that is not mine." Even though, I mean — we would think, for example, if you are about to drive your friend's car, and you took permission to go to Dunkin' Donuts at the end of the street and you don't go any further, because that's the permission you took — we would probably brush it off and say, "Hey, he probably won't care." But the entire herd is there, and even though he may have known on his own that the owner of the goats wouldn't mind if someone was given a little drink, he refused, saying: "I am not the owner of this livestock." This shows their character.

They were noble people. And the person said to him: "Bring to me the smallest goat that you have — one that has not given milk as of yet." He picked it up and brought it to him. He put his hand over it, and it started flowing with milk. He said: "I realized then and there that these are not normal people." And it so happened that that person was Rasulullah ﷺ, and with him was Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu. They were running for their lives — performing hijrah from Makkah al-Mukarramah, traveling to Madinah.

He said: "I left everything and went after him, and since that time I had become like a shadow."

"I became like a shadow to Rasulullah ﷺ."

And Rasulullah ﷺ said about him on one occasion:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3763; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2464)

"Whoever wants to recite the Qur'an fresh — just as it has been revealed now, at this very moment — should recite it in the recitation of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu." SubhanAllah, how beautiful.

How did that happen? They had to give up everything. Imagine for a second that today it is asked of you that you leave everything that you have here. Everything. And why? Not for a better job. Not for a better house. Not for a better qualification. No — it is for the sake of the deen of Allah. This is a question that we need to ask ourselves: will we be ready for something like that? Will we be like those ideal believers — the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ — about whom Allah said:

Closing Du'a

Time does not permit me to go any further. I ask Allah to give us the tawfiq to follow the example and the footsteps of these beloved companions and that of Rasulullah ﷺ.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

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