Becoming A Complete Muslim: Perfecting Your Faith And Lifestyle

Introduction

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillah, for our second session of Jumu'ah, we have a visiting sheikh and mufti from New York, Mufti Kamil Sakhi, who is the founder of Al-Hikmah Institute in Long Island, New York. Alhamdulillah, he grew up in Flushing, New York, and completed his Alimiyyah program at Darul Uloom New York, along with receiving ijazah in the 10 modes of recitation, and then continued his education in Iftaa under Mufti Manzoor Sahib.

He is currently the principal of Al-Hikmah Institute, where one of our alumni, Mawlana Zubair Khair, teaches as well. Insha'Allah, he will be delivering the second session — Mufti Kamil Sakhi.

Opening Praise

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And the end is for the righteous. And peace and blessings be upon the best of His creation, our master, our supporter, our beloved, and our friend, Muhammad ﷺ. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, his family, and all his companions.

Allah the Almighty says in His noble Book, and His glorious Furqan — I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Sadaqallahul 'Azeem.

Respected brothers, elders, sisters, and mothers in Islam, Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

The Central Verse: Enter Into Islam Completely

The Quranic ayah that I recited — Allah says, and this khitab, this address, is only for the mu'minoon, only the believers:

O believers, enter into silm — completely. Enter into silm, completely. What is silm? The mufassiroon have written: silm is Islam. That is, be complete Muslims. Perfect your Islam. Allah in this ayah is telling us, enter into Islam completely. Not like those people — one foot in Islam. Those people, their name is Muslim, their religion is Muslim, they identify with Islam, one foot is in Islam — and the other foot is out of Islam. Allah is telling us not to be a naqis, an incomplete Muslim. Allah is telling us in this ayah, be a complete Muslim. O believers, perfect your Islam.

This Islam that Allah has given us, the Islam that Rasulullah ﷺ came with — this is the ideal way of life. Islam should not just be only worship, only ibadat, only coming to the masjid. Rather, complete Islam is our lifestyle — it's a way of life. That's Islam.

Allah is telling us: O believers, enter into Islam completely. And do not follow the footsteps of Shaytan. Indeed, Shaytan is for you a clear and manifest enemy.

In all religions — in Christianity, in the religion of the Yahud, in Islam — if you ask anyone about the relation of the devil, the relation of Shaytan with you, they will say he's our clear enemy. So how can a person take a clear enemy as his friend? How can a person follow this clear enemy? If someone were to tell me, "This person is your enemy" — and I know it, and he himself has announced it. When you read the Quran, you will see the khutbah of Shaytan. Shaytan himself declares himself as our enemy. When we know he's our enemy, then how can we follow Shaytan? We have to make sure we fight Shaytan till the very end. And we follow complete Islam.

What Does "Complete Muslim" Mean?

Right before this ayah, Allah gives us an example of complete Islam — of being a true believer, perfecting our Islam. Allah says:

All of us — what I mean by perfection, what I mean by a perfect Muslim, is not ma'soom. I am not saying a person is infallible from committing sins like the anbiya. I am not saying that. What I mean by perfect Islam is: this Muslim — his ideology, his way of life, his outside, his inside — is Islamic. He is following the shariah of Allah. So long as we follow the laws of Allah, the shariah of Allah, insha'Allah we'll be following complete Islam.

When we leave the shariah of Allah, when we follow our desires — and with that we follow Islam only if it matches our desires — this is not complete Islam. And we are prohibited from doing that, because then we'll become misguided. We have to follow the shariah. Whatever my Allah said, I will follow this. And this is the sign of complete love for Allah.

You cannot say, "My teacher, I love you so much," make this announcement, tell everyone, "I love my teacher" — but then you don't show up to his class, you don't respect him, you don't do his homework, you don't listen to him, you don't obey him. Is that true love? Kind of like what kids do nowadays with their parents, unfortunately. "I love my father, I love my parents." But then he doesn't listen to his father. He doesn't inform his father when he goes out with friends. He discards the leadership of the father, thinks he's free on his own. And then he says, "I love my father."

True love — what is a sign of true love? Ta'ah — obedience. When the person is obedient, then you will say:

(Classical Arabic proverb on the nature of true love and obedience)

"For indeed a lover, for the one whom he loves, he is obedient — he listens to him." This is a sign of true love. If we claim that we love Allah, we have to follow Islam completely. Not half Islam and half our desires. That is our greatest test. And we are in a battle 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is even the battle with jihadun nafs — the battle with our desires. And continuously we are in this battle.

The Story of Suhayb al-Rumi: Selling Oneself for Allah

In the previous ayah, as I was mentioning, Allah gives us an example of those who are striving to perfect their iman, those who love Allah more than anything else. Allah says:

"Amongst the people, you have those individuals" — and this is not just at the time of the Sahaba, it is even till today. Maybe in this masjid, as I speak, there are brothers here who fall under this ayah. Because of their immense love for Allah. Because of their strict adherence to the shariah of Allah. Allah comes first. Whatever I do, I have to make sure I look at it from the Islamic shariah framework — whether it is my business, my transactions, my dealings with people, my worship of Allah. Whatever and anything that I do, I do it while keeping in mind the laws of Allah.

Shara means to sell — they sell themselves for the sake of Allah, seeking mardhat Allah, the pleasure of Allah. They are ready to sell themselves, ready to give up whatever they have for the pleasure of Allah. This is Islam. This is the perfection of Islam. That no matter what happens, I will never leave my Islam. No matter who says what to me. And if it is against the pleasure of my Allah, against the shariah of Allah, I will never follow such a path.

And if I did by mistake — intentionally or unintentionally — then I will seek repentance from Allah. This is perfect Islam. We will slip. Like I mentioned, perfection does not mean that we become sinless and never commit any sins. No, we will slip. There will be moments when we lose the battle. It happens. You'll be on your back foot and retreating. But then right away you make tawbah to Allah. Allah is Tawwab, Allah is Ra'oof, Allah is all-Merciful, all-Forgiving. And then we come back on the straight path and continue trying to perfect our Islam.

In this ayah, the mufassiroon have mentioned one in particular — Suhayb al-Rumi, Suhayb ibn Sinan al-Rumi, radiyallahu anhu. This ayah and its background speaks about such individuals. What happened was, when the hijrah occurred — the migration — the Sahaba were leaving Makkah, leaving everything they had, all their possessions, to migrate and be with Rasulullah ﷺ.

Suhayb al-Rumi, radiyallahu anhu, was not originally from Makkah, not from the Quraysh, but he had come and lived amongst them and became extremely successful — mashaAllah, a lot of wealth and properties — even though he was not born in Makkah. And then he accepted Islam. Now the time of migration came and he wanted to be with Rasulullah ﷺ. So he began to leave, but the Quraysh stopped him. They barred him from migrating. They told him, "We will not let you leave so easily."

Suhayb al-Rumi pleaded and cried, "Let me go, let me go." They said, "We cannot let you go so easily. You came to us, we let you be with us, you became rich, you had success in our community — we cannot let you go like this." So he struck a deal with them. Suhayb al-Rumi, just to be with the Prophet ﷺ, said, "All of my wealth, all of my property, all of my gold, silver — whatever I have in Makkah — take it all. Just let me be with Rasulullah ﷺ."

This is perfect Islam. This is the love of Allah and Rasulullah ﷺ — when we are ready to sacrifice anything for the pleasure of Allah. Then Allah revealed this ayah: "From the people, you have such mu'min, such Muslims, who are ready to sell themselves, their wealth, everything — seeking the pleasure of Allah." And then Allah says: Allah is Rahim, Allah is Ra'oof — He is compassionate, He is tender, He is kind with the believers. When we slip, make tawbah to Allah. Allah will forgive us.

A New Year's Resolution: Become a Complete Muslim

The year is coming to an end. And what I want to say is: make this intention to change. We have new year's resolutions. We make so many resolutions when it comes to business, family, and how to improve ourselves. One of the biggest things that we should put on our list is: I want to become a complete Muslim. I want to obey my Allah completely.

To do that, we need knowledge. We need consistency. A companion came to Rasulullah ﷺ and said, "Advise me." Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 62)

"Say, I believe in Allah, then be steadfast." Comprehensive — that's it. Thummas taqim — then be steadfast.

How to Achieve Steadfastness: The Scholars and Good Companionship

How can we be steadfast in our iman and in Islam? It is through good companionship with the ulama, the scholars. Do not detach yourself from the scholars.

In British India, when they realized the influence of the ulama and the love the masses of Muslims had for the scholars, for the Quran, for the hadith, for the masajid — they saw that they couldn't have strong influence. So they changed their tactics and plans. They were like: even if we were to get rid of the ulama, still the Muslims love the ulama so much. So that is when they started teaching and preaching against them — to divide the ummah from the ulama. To divide the people from the righteous ones and the masajid. And in doing so, they were able to brainwash people with un-Islamic ideas. And this happened.

So I say: if you want to get close to Allah, if you want to stay firm on Islam, my brothers and respected sisters — stay connected with this masjid and with all the masajid. Stay connected with the righteous ones. Stay connected with the ulama. Because of this, insha'Allah we'll have istiqamah.

As the poet says:

"The path to steadfastness — istiqamah — is extremely difficult. But good companionship makes it easy." When you are in a crowd of people who pray, insha'Allah you will become from those who pray salah. When you are in the company of people who are successful and coming to the masjid, who love the ulama, who want to better themselves, who are trying to follow Islam completely — insha'Allah you will be like that as well.

So to have istiqamah on deen, we need good companionship. And we need knowledge. Without ilm, without knowledge, we cannot draw closer to Allah. Once we have knowledge and good companionship, then insha'Allah we will be coming closer and closer to Allah.

Islam Is More Than Just Worship

One story comes to mind — I remember one gathering of my sheikh. I was sitting there and he mentioned a profound point. As long as we are trying, trying our best, so long as we love Allah and we have this intention — I want to draw closer to my Allah — make this intention.

It is wajib on us. I repeat: it is mandatory, fard on us to strive to reach ihsan as well — to try our best to reach the highest level of iman. That is also necessary. It is necessary on us to fix our etiquettes. That is complete Islam. Islam is not just the ibadah of Allah. Do not confine, do not narrow down Islam into just the worship of Allah and beliefs — theology, that is it. No, Islam is more than that. You have business transactions. You have dealings, mu'asharat — social etiquettes. You also have something called tazkiyatun nafs, which you hear the ulama continuously mentioning. It is purification of the soul, purification of our heart from evil qualities, and beautifying our heart with the prophetic qualities. This is complete Islam.

And we have to make the intention that, insha'Allah, right now and in the upcoming year, we follow Islam completely. And it's so easy. It starts from right now. If we all right now repent to Allah, Allah will accept this tawbah. If you have broken bonds, if you have wronged someone — all you have to do is pick up the phone, send a text message, see them and say: "My father, my mother, my brother — please forgive me. I have wronged you." That is all we have to do. Get rid of the ego. That is it.

Then repent to Allah, fix broken bonds, and make the intention of seeking knowledge, getting close to Allah, and surrounding yourself in good companionship. Once we have this, insha'Allah 2024 that is coming up — we will be good believers. We will be improving in our iman. We will be getting better.

And what happens when we get close to Allah? When we get close to Allah, Allah's special attention, Allah's special mercy, His special blessings will be upon us. And when we prefer Allah over everything, insha'Allah Allah will prefer us as well. Allah is with us.

Closing Verse: If You Help Allah, He Will Help You

And I end with this ayah, before we perform our sunnahs. Keep this in our minds — whatever we do, have this:

"If you help Allah, He will help you and strengthen your feet." And if you look at the Muslims in Gaza and all the other places where they are struggling — how are they able to go through these struggles? It is because of this ayah. So long as you follow your Islam, and you love your Allah, and you have tawakkul — reliance on Allah — you trust your Allah, shariah is first: Allah will help you. And Allah will strengthen your feet.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

May Allah allow us all, grant us tawfiq to implement whatever has been said. Jazakumullahu khayran.

Closing Du'a

آمِين