Complete Submission to Islam - Mufti Minhajuddin

Complete Submission to Islam

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَقَدْ قَالَ اللهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى فِي مُحْكَمِ تَنْزِيلِهِ، أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ، بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

My dear respected brothers and sisters, respected elders and youngsters in Islam. Allah in this very comprehensive ayah is giving us a command: Yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū — O those who believe — udkhulū fi as-silmi — enter into Islam, enter into submission to the order of Allah, into submitting your will to the will of Allah — kāffatan — completely, wholly, totally — wa lā tattabiʿū khuṭuwāti ash-shayṭān — and do not follow the footsteps of Shayṭān — innahu lakum ʿadūwwun mubīn — He is your open enemy.

So this is a command in these ayahs to enter into the entirety of Islam. And Islam has different branches. Allah is asking us to enter into all of the branches of Islam, and entering into some branches and not others will not be sufficient for salvation.

Allah says regarding the previous people: do you believe in some portion of the book of Allah, the Torah, and you disbelieve in other portions? Do you take that part of the deen which is convenient to your liking, to your habits, which is easy for you, and reject that which you dislike, which you find difficult? Do you believe in some portion of the book and you disbelieve in other portions of the book? The only punishment for such people will be disgrace in this worldly life, and then on the Day of Judgment they will be taken towards even more severe torment. May Allah protect us.

So that is why you have to understand that we have no recourse, no way out, but to enter into the entire Islam. And this word kāffatan — which means completely and wholly, enter into Islam completely and wholly — it is considered from the Arabic grammar as giving the condition of totality. Now, what is it giving the condition of? Whose condition is it describing? There are two opinions, and both could be correct, from the scholars of tafsīr.

Two Interpretations of "Kāffatan" (Completely)

One is that it is giving the condition of the dākhil — the one who is entering — meaning we human beings. We need to enter into Islam wholly, completely: from our head to our toe, from our birth to our death, from our morning to our evening. So you enter into Islam wholly — meaning your whole body, your whole personality, your whole entity. Not half of yourself — or one half meaning this top half, not bottom half — or half meaning you are entering into Islam as a son but not as a husband, or as a husband you are taking care of your wife but not as a son to your parents. These are different aspects of your life. So you are entering into Islam in one role but not in another role. You are entering into Islam as an employer to your employees — you are paying their wages on time — but not as an employee to your employer, because you are not fulfilling your tasks that have been assigned to you. So these are all interpretations of entering into Islam totally, completely from the perspective of the one who is entering.

And the other tafsīr is that when it says kāffatan — completely and wholly — it is not with respect to the one who is entering, but rather that which is being entered into, meaning into Islam. And this is the first meaning I gave — many people, this is the interpretation that comes to their mind — that what Allah says, entering into Islam wholly, He is referring to all of the branches of Islam.

The Five Branches of Islam

Islam has iʿtiqādāt — beliefs. Then Islam also has ʿibādāt — acts of worship. Then there are muʿāmalāt — dealings. Then there is muʿāsharat — that is social life. And then there is akhlāq — which is your character. These are known as the five branches of Islam.

Now, when are the five pillars of Islam? That is different — that is based on the hadith of Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 8; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 21)

Islam has been established on five pillars — the central pillar being the shahādah: لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللهِ — that is the īmān, the testification to the oneness of Allah and the prophethood of Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — and iqāmat as-ṣalāh, ītāʾ az-zakāh, ṣawm Ramaḍān, and Ḥajj al-bayt — fasting, salāh, zakāh, ṣawm, and Ḥajj. These are the four remaining pillars. So these have to do with ʿibādāt — acts of worship of Allah.

Branch One: Iʿtiqādāt (Beliefs)

The first of the five branches is iʿtiqādāt — beliefs. Beliefs meaning having the belief as transmitted to us by Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — the correct belief, the testification from the bottom of one's heart in the oneness of Allah: to believe in Allah, in His being, in His attributes, in His angels, in the books, in the prophets, in the messengers, in the Day of Judgment, in taqdeer, in resurrection after death. All of these articles of faith, these beliefs — this is your creed, this is your ʿaqīdah, this is your īmān, this is your iʿtiqādāt. That is just one branch of Islam.

If our ʿaqīdah is not correct, if our belief is not correct, then no matter how much we excel in all other branches, everything will be a failure. This is a prerequisite for the acceptance of anything else. A person has the wrong ʿaqīdah — he does not have the right belief regarding Allah or regarding Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — then this could potentially take a person out of the fold of Islam. It depends on the nature of the mistake. There are certain mistakes which will completely expel a person.

For example, if a person has the wrong ʿaqīdah that there are two gods — there is a khāliq al-khayr and a khāliq ash-sharr, a creator of good and a creator of bad — so he believes in two gods. This is a wrong ʿaqīdah, and such a wrong ʿaqīdah will take that person out of the fold of Islam. After that, if he is performing salāh five times a day, going for Ḥajj, fasting, or he is being good and kind to his neighbours and has the best character — regarding such actions, Allah says they will bring mountains of good deeds on the Day of Judgment, but it will be turned into dust and will have no weight.

So that is why beliefs are very, very important — to have the correct belief. And we have to learn the correct ʿaqīdah, the correct ʿaqīdah of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah, that which has been rigorously authenticated by all of the scholars of the ummah and formulated and proven from the Quran and the Sunnah, as codified in many of the books. The ʿAqīdat aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah is a beautiful book — and other books that outline what we believe — so that we are protected from falling into shirk and we have the correct tawḥīd and the oneness of Allah. So this is one branch.

Branch Two: ʿIbādāt (Acts of Worship)

After believing in Allah, then we have to worship Allah. The ʿibādāt — this includes ṣalāt, ṣawm, zakāt, Ḥajj. All of these are the rights of Allah.

Branch Three: Muʿāmalāt (Dealings)

Then after the rights of Allah are muʿāmalāt — dealings with fellow human beings. There are rulings pertaining to nikāḥ and ṭalāq — marriage and divorce, child custody. There are rulings pertaining to employment, regarding business, buying and selling transactions — those that are lawful, those that are unlawful. These are also governed by Allah.

Sometimes we have the attitude — may Allah protect us — that when it comes to Ḥajj, yes we will attend a Ḥajj seminar to learn how to perform Ḥajj and the fiqh of fasting — to learn how to fast. If you have a question regarding our salāh, then we will ask the scholar, the imam: do I need to perform as-sajdah as-sahw or do I need to repeat my salāh? This is a valid question. But when it comes to our business — why in the world do we need to ask from the sharīʿah? This is our attitude. When it comes to earning or spending — this is our prerogative. If you need to ask someone, you can ask a financial consultant. Why would you need to ask a scholar? This is the attitude.

This was the attitude of the people of Nabi Shuʿayb, peace be upon him. To the people of Madyan, We sent their brother Nabi Shuʿayb, peace be upon him — he was the khaṭīb of the Prophets, the father-in-law of Mūsā, peace be upon him. He said: O my people, worship the one Allah — you have no other god besides Him — and when you are buying, selling, and trading, do not cheat in your trading. I see that you are committing these sins, and I see that Allah has blessed you with so much wealth and you are great merchants and traders, yet you are disobeying Allah. I see you are in a state of bounty, but I am afraid that Allah's punishment will come upon you.

So the response of the people was — they made a mockery of him — they said: "O Shuʿayb, we think that maybe you are performing too much salāh, too much ʿibādah, and this has affected your brain. That is why you are acting crazy and saying all of these crazy things — because now you are praying so much salāh, something happened to your mind, and now you think you have the right to tell us to leave the idols of our forefathers." So they didn't like that he was preaching tawḥīd — and that is the case with all of the other nations as well. But then specifically they said: "or that we can do with our money as we please." This is the attitude. This is our money, our earnings; we can do with our earnings what we like. What Allah says and what Allah's rules are regarding earning and spending — they have no concept of this. This is unfortunately our current response as well.

This is what our current response also is — as Qārūn said: "I have earned it with my own intelligence." Even though Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has said that amongst the questions that are going to be asked on the Day of Judgment — the feet of the human being will not be able to move from their place on that Day; he will be stuck, cannot take any step in any direction — until he answers four questions:

How did you spend your life? How did you waste away your youth? How much knowledge of deen did you acquire, and how much of that knowledge you acquired did you practice upon? And regarding his money — both perspectives: how did you earn it — where did you earn this money from? — and where did you spend the money? This will be questioned by Allah before we can move.

So if there are rules of Allah that pertain to the Masjid — the house of Allah — how we should perform salāh, how we should stand in the ṣaff and how we should be shoulder to shoulder, how we go into rukūʿ and how we go into sujūd — these are aḥkām, either they are farāʾiḍ, wājib, sunnah — everything has different levels, but there are rulings regarding our ʿibādah. So likewise there are rulings in the marketplace — how can we forget about that? Don't we ever say to other people that Islam is a complete way of life? What does it mean — complete way of life? It governs all aspects of one's life. In fact, in the books of fiqh, the aḥkām and the rulings and injunctions pertaining to buying, selling, transactions, and muʿāmalāt are even greater in number than the ʿibādāt. Nikāḥ, ṭalāq, and all of these different rulings of mīrāth and inheritance — subḥānAllāh, so many different rulings regarding our interpersonal relations — that is all part of the deen.

We have relegated the deen only to the Masjid. This is unfortunately the condition of other nations — they try to worship the God they believe in on Sundays only, or just Saturdays. So for us, that has become worshipping Allah on Fridays only. What about outside of that?

Branch Four: Muʿāsharat (Social Conduct)

After iʿtiqādāt, ʿibādāt, and muʿāmalāt, the fourth branch is muʿāsharat. Muʿāsharat is our adab — the etiquettes of how we interact with other people.

Branch Five: Akhlāq (Character)

And the last one is akhlāq. What is the difference between adab and akhlāq? Sometimes we use these words synonymously — we think adab and akhlāq are the same thing. But there is actually a difference between the two. Akhlāq is the inner condition of one's heart. Internally, in a person's heart, he is humble — he is not arrogant. Internally he has respect for others and he wishes well for others. A person has ṣabr at the time of calamities and shukr at the time of blessings, and a person's heart is focused towards Allah and the Ākhirah. These are all internal akhlāq — conditions of the heart.

And the way a person manifests it and behaves with others — how he gives salām first, how he respects the elders and shows mercy to the youngsters, how he treats the guests, and when he himself is a guest how he is considerate of the host, how he goes to visit sick people, how he helps others in need — these external manifestations, external etiquettes, these are the adab. So both are part of the deen.

It is possible for someone, māshāʾAllāh, to have both akhlāq and adab. That is a true Muʾmin — meaning, inside in his heart he is very humble, and on top of that he has adab — he says salām, he is polite, he is well-mannered, he does not cut you off, he lets you finish what you are saying and then he responds in a nice manner. This person has akhlāq and adab both. These are the muʾminūn — these are the Ṣaḥābah, may Allah be pleased with them all — the early predecessors, who had both akhlāq and adab.

Then there are those who might have akhlāq — they have good desires, good intentions, the internal condition of their heart is good — but they don't have the adab. Why don't they have the adab? Because they were not educated. An example of this are the Arabs and the Bedouins in the initial stages before they were taught the adab. They are mentioned by Allah in the Quran. When they came to Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — in Sūrah al-Ḥujurāt — they came with the cleanest heart; they wanted to learn the deen. They came into the Masjid al-Nabawī and Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had gone to take care of something in his home. So they called out: "Yā Muḥammad, come out, answer our question!" This was not the adab with Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Allah taught them the adab and said: don't speak ahead of Allah and His Messenger. Don't raise your voice over the voice of Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Don't call out to him "Yā Muḥammad" like you call each other — your good deeds will be destroyed. And those who lower their voice — they are those who have taqwā in their hearts — they have forgiveness and great reward. Those who call out to you loudly from behind the rooms saying "Yā Muḥammad" — they don't have understanding. It's not that they are arrogant or coming to cause you pain with the intention of inflicting harm — they are not like the Mushrikeen of Mecca. The Mushrikeen of Mecca were intentionally causing pain. These people — they simply didn't know. So they had akhlāq but not adab.

And who is the one who has adab but doesn't have akhlāq? The opposite — the Munāfiq, the hypocrite. When the Munāfiq came to Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, they said: "We bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah." And Allah says: Allah knows that you are His Messenger, and Allah bears witness that the Munāfiqūn are liars. So the Munāfiq has the adab — if he doesn't have the adab then he is not a good munāfiq because he is giving himself away. He has to be a true hypocrite — meaning the one who portrays himself as a genuine Muslim. So he comes to Rasulullah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and says: "I believe in you, O Prophet of Allah — we bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah." And Allah is testifying that they are lying. So they have the adab — the etiquettes — but their hearts are devoid of īmān itself, much less any other akhlāq.

And then who has neither — neither akhlāq nor adab? These are the open kāfir and mushrik — the open disbeliever — the one who has kufr of inkār and juhūd and is just disbelieving outright. This person has neither internal character nor external etiquette.

Entering the Whole House with the Whole Body

So these are the two different things — akhlāq and adab. And these are all five things: iʿtiqādāt, ʿibādāt, muʿāmalāt, muʿāsharat, and akhlāq. And Allah says — going back to the beginning — enter into Islam totally, completely. This kāffatan means we have to enter into Islam completely: from our head till our toe, from our morning till our evening, from our birth till our death, from all the different aspects of our life, into the complete Islam.

And just to explain — when we say whole body into whole Islam — there is an example. If there is a house and it has five rooms: if somebody steps in with half of his body, with one step, into all of the different five rooms, then he has entered into the whole house — but he hasn't entered with the whole body. Or if somebody enters with his whole body into one, two, three, four — even four rooms — he has entered with his whole body but not into the whole house. If somebody with his whole body enters into all five rooms of the house, then he has entered with the whole body into the whole house. This is what is being said — meaning the whole body entering into all five branches of Islam.

And this is where we are finding the difficulty. Sometimes people say that if you want to give your daughter in marriage, make sure you don't give her to somebody who has a beard — because these so-called religious people terrorize their wives. Or somebody will say: if you want to do business, don't hire a Muslim guy, because he will cheat you. What is happening is — somebody who is very good in ʿibādāt and in ʿaqīdah and in salāh, doing so much great worship, is failing in akhlāq and muʿāmalāt. And the other guy, māshāʾAllāh, who might not be praying salāh at all — he doesn't even pray — but he opens the door for his wife and he might be a very kind, loving, gentle man. So what is happening? His ʿibādah is zero. His akhlāq is beautiful — perfect 100% score on akhlāq — zero, or failing, or maybe 50% in ʿibādāt. Neither way is he going to cut it. We have to fulfill the rights of Allah and the rights of ʿibādah both.

Sometimes people ask: why is it that a person who is so religious has such bad character? Perhaps there is a reason behind it. The reason could be that Shayṭān — at the end of the day, he promised Allah that he would ensure they all go to Jahannam. If he failed in taking you away from ʿibādah — you are consistent in your ʿibādah, you are worshipping Allah — then he wants to destroy your akhlāq, so that his final objective of taking you towards Jahannam can still be achieved. And if someone's ʿibādah is itself zero, then he doesn't have to make additional effort to corrupt the akhlāq. So either he gets you this way or he gets you that way. This is just to understand the phenomenon — not to rationalize it and say it's okay because of Shayṭān. We cannot blame Shayṭān — we have to blame ourselves. We have to correct ourselves.

May Allah give us a true understanding, that we excel in all of these branches of faith. There is a person who comes to the Masjid but will park incorrectly, and there is another person who never comes to the Masjid but when he parks at the party he will park correctly. So what's going on here? This is a problem. We have to understand that we need to be coming to the Masjid and parking correctly. How about that? This way ʿibādah will be there, akhlāq will be there. May Allah give us a true understanding.

Announcements

A few announcements inshāʾAllāh:

Number one — please pass the donation boxes. Please donate generously for the Masjid expenses. Ṣadaqah removes difficulties and calamities, draws the mercy of Allah, and is a means of protecting our blessings and getting the protection of Allah for the continuity of His blessings. Allah will increase manifold for those who give, as He has promised.

Summer break is in full swing — please make sure to register for one of the following classes, as all applications are still open:

The Tanwīr one-year Arabic and Islamic Studies Program; the Summer Arabic Program for youth and adults; the High School Program integrated with the ʿĀlim program; the ʿĀlimah program for boys and girls; and the full ʿĀlim program inshāʾAllāh. Those girls who have finished Ḥifẓ al-Qurʾān — there is a class for them as well from August 1st inshāʾAllāh, Monday to Friday, 4 to 6pm. Sisters' after-school Ḥifẓ and revision — for those who want to do part-time Ḥifẓ as well as those who want to revise their Ḥifẓ.

We will have our monthly seminar — we did not have it in Ramaḍān as we had everyday programs during Ramaḍān. Now we will go back to our monthly seminar on Friday, July 21st at Maghrib. We have a guest scholar, Sheikh Tamim Ahmadi — a well-known speaker and sheikh from California. His topic will be: The Relationship between Islamic Literacy and Spiritual Growth.

We will have our Ḥajj seminar on July 28th at 1:30pm. Those going for Ḥajj this year or planning to go in the future are welcome to attend — open to all groups, not specific to any Ḥajj group. Learn about the fiqh of Ḥajj, practical demonstrations, spiritual advice. Ḥajj booklets will be available for purchase from Dār al-Salām.

Lastly, the Masjid is involved in several outreach programs that involve volunteers. Please sign up outside. We need volunteers for the following programs:

Food pantry event — tomorrow, Saturday, June 30th, 8:30am to 11:45am. Help those in need. Saturday, July 7th, 1:00pm to 3:45pm. Homeless shelter event — Sunday, July 8th and Monday, July 9th. Timings and details are on our website — please visit for more information.

These are great opportunities for us to serve our fellow citizens, to show the beauty of Islam in action, and to take our family members so they can also learn to appreciate the blessings we enjoy when they see others who are underprivileged and undergoing difficulties. Please do visit our website for more details.