What Allah Expects From Us | Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan

The Muhajiroon: The First Category

I'd like to share a small bit of reflection from an ayah from Surah Al-Hashr. Some of you that have been attending the duroos on Surah Al-Hashr may be more familiar, but for those of you that haven't, Surah Al-Hashr was revealed to the Prophet ﷺ after Uhud.

This was after the Battle of Uhud. And this was regarding the consequences for one of the tribes in Medina that broke their treaty with the Muslims, and now they were supposed to face the consequences of breaking that treaty. And the opening of this surah discusses what the consequences of that breaking will be.

And in the middle of that surah, Allah describes the state of the Muslims and in a way divides the Muslim population into three groups of people that Allah will forgive or that Allah is accepting. Because among the Muslims there are munafiqoon also. There are hypocrites also.

And Allah says about the hypocrites, إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ فِي الدَّرْكِ الْأَسْفَلِ مِنَ النَّارِ that the hypocrites are going to be in the lowest pit of hell. May Allah protect us from being hypocrites. So there's that group of people, but what about the people that are not hypocrites? Those populations that Allah is going to grant His forgiveness, He's going to grant His Jannah, those people are not all in the same category.

They are in different categories. So Allah describes those different categories based on their contribution to the mission of Islam. So the first people Allah mentions are the muhajiroon.

And Allah describes why are they in this top category:

These are people that became bankrupt, they became homeless. Allah says, why did they become bankrupt? They were bankrupt in Madinah, they didn't have a home of their own. And they were only living off of the support of the Ansar.

But why are they like this? You see someone poor, you don't ask the question, how did they become poor? But Allah explains how did they become this way. He says, الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ — They were actually removed, expelled from their homes and from all of their assets. Everything they owned, all of their belongings, they were taken away from them.

And they were taken away from them for only one reason: they were loyal to Rasulullah ﷺ. So if they left Rasulullah ﷺ, they can keep their home. If they left Rasulullah ﷺ, they can keep their money. The only reason they lost everything, the only reason they're refugees now living in Madinah is because they're loyal to Rasulullah ﷺ. So they gained iman and they lost everything else.

This is the reason Allah is putting them in this place. Allah did not make that demand from any other person. Somebody takes shahada today, Allah is not making a demand from them to leave their home and leave their family and leave all of their belongings. But this was in a sense almost a requirement of iman for the muhajirun that when the Rasulullah ﷺ has to migrate, they have to migrate with him. So they had to fulfill a requirement that nobody else after them had to fulfill. They had to make a sacrifice that nobody else had to make.

So Allah says, يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا — The only reason they left home, the only reason they became bankrupt is they were pursuing a favor from Allah and they just wanted Allah to be pleased with them. That's it, that's all they wanted.

And He said, when you make a big contribution like this, you would think, okay, now I've already done my part. Now other people have to do their part. So I already did my part. Allah says, وَيَنصُرُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ — They continue to aid Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. So they don't look back at their past accomplishments and say, okay, I already did everything, I already earned the reward, Allah has already given me the medal of honor in this ayah. No, they're still helping Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ — Those are the truthful. That's category one.

We don't belong in category one.

The Ansar: The Second Category

Category two:

Allah says, and those who are well settled in the city. There were people... So the first group lost their home. The second group Allah opens and tells us, these are people that are very well settled in their home, meaning Medina. But they're not only settled in their home, they're settled in Iman.

This was a very beautiful thing to tell the Ansar. Famously, all of you are probably familiar with the Muslims who supported the Muhajirun, the Muslims who gave the Prophet ﷺ a home to be in, in Medina, we call them the Ansar. Allah is giving the Ansar a different title here. He didn't even use the word Ansar here. He used the words, الَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُوا الدَّارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ.

Now, when someone settles into a home, the homeland becomes part of your identity. So you see, even back in the day, what's your identity? Oh, I'm from Tabuk, I'm from Ta'if. Even now, what's your nationality? Oh, I'm from this country, that country. The place becomes a part of your identity. Allah says, Allah didn't even mention the name of the place. He didn't say, تَبَوَّءُوا الْمَدِينَةَ or تَبَوَّءُوا يَثْرِبَ. He said, تَبَوَّءُوا الدَّارَ but then he replaced the word دار with something else. He said, actually their identity became الإيمان, faith.

They were actually citizens not of the city, but they were citizens of إيمان. And this is beautiful because the first group left their home to prove their إيمان. The second group did not leave their home. So they might feel, okay, well the first group has إيمان because they left their home, but we're sitting comfortably in our homes. We can never have إيمان like them. Allah said, no, you also have إيمان, even though you're in home. الَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُوا الدَّارَ وَالإِيمَانَ.

And then Allah tells us what's their contribution. We saw the first group's contribution. Their contribution is, يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ — They love the people who migrated towards them. They don't look at them as refugees and added expense. They're taking up all the space. They're eating half our food. Now they came from Makkah and all of a sudden we are enemies with the Quraysh and everybody has a problem with us. And we used to get along with the Jewish tribes in Medina. But as soon as these Muslims came from Makkah when they came here, all of a sudden the Jewish tribes have a problem with us. The Quraysh have a problem with us. We're going to war all of a sudden.

We're already not very rich to begin with. Now we have to gather all of our money to go to war in Badr and Uhud happened. And even I told you this surah came right after Uhud. And right after Uhud you should know in Uhud most of the shuhada, most of the people that were killed on the Muslim side were from Medina, from Aus and Khazraj, most of them.

So when you're saying, well, a couple of years ago these people were not here, nobody would have gotten killed. But now these Muslims came and because of them coming we have to go to war in Badr. And then we have to go to war again in Uhud and most of our people died. Somebody's father has died. Somebody's brother has died. Somebody's husband has died. Somebody's son has died. And even then, and who do you blame when death happens? These people, these muhajirun. What does Allah say about them? يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ — They love those who migrated towards them.

It's easy to love them when they first came. طَلَعَ الْبَدْرُ عَلَيْنَا. They're coming from Makkah and the city of Medina is singing and welcoming the muhajirun and Rasulullah ﷺ. But it's been a couple of years now and they've paid the price for hosting the muhajirun. But even now, what an amazing build of iman these people have. يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ — They love those who migrated towards them. That love has not decreased, even though the problems increased.

Then He says, وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا — What an amazing thing to say about them. You know, when the Banu Nadir was invaded, and then the land was taken by the Muslims, by Rasulullah ﷺ, he gave most of the land to the muhajirun. Most of the land was given to the people of Mecca. So they're not from Medina, but now they're given patches of land because they were homeless.

And the Ansar have been paying their expenses since the day they got to Medina. So if I was back then living and I was paying for my muhajirun friends meals, housing, all expenses, I'm doing all of that. And I've been doing it for a few years. And finally now we have extra land, extra territory. And the recipient is the muhajirun. I'm like, I paid all this expense. At least I should get a reimbursement. At least I should get some refund.

Allah says, وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا — From what the muhajirun were given, they don't feel any need. Even the thought doesn't come. Maybe I should have gotten a little bit. They should have at least given me a couple of trees. They should have given me at least a cow or two. Nothing, nothing. The feeling doesn't even come in their hearts. وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا.

وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ — And they give other people preference over themselves even though they are falling apart. خَصَاصَة in Arabic is when your clothes are about to rip. Or when you put a house together and there are holes in the planks. And the rain comes right through. And the wind comes right through. It's not well built. It's falling apart. They themselves are not financially secure and they're still giving others preference over themselves. وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ. This is the second group.

Those Who Come After: The Third Category

Then Allah mentions us. There's muhajirun, and there's ansar, and then there's us. And we saw the contribution of the muhajirun. We saw the contribution of the ansar. Let's see what our contribution is.

وَالَّذِينَ جَاءُوا مِن بَعْدِهِمْ — Those who came after them. That includes us. It includes the Muslims even after Uhud. But it also includes us. And those who keep on coming and keep on coming like the mufassirun say. Okay.

يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا — They say, our Rabb forgive us. They make dua for forgiveness. So we come after and we ask Allah istighfar. That doesn't sound like a contribution. I mean the first group made a contribution. The second group made a contribution. You're just making dua.

رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ — And Ya Allah forgive our brothers who came before us with iman. Meaning forgive the muhajirun and ansar. Because they're not prophets and they're not angels. Even if they have ever made any mistakes, Ya Allah forgive them. We don't want to have bad thoughts about them. And we are only here Muslim because of what they did. So Ya Allah forgive us. First of all we're concerned with our own forgiveness. And then we include them in our dua. وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ.

Then Allah tells us, these people who come they say, وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — Don't place in our hearts resentment, ill feeling, rough feelings, mistrust towards those who've believed.

Understanding Our Contribution

Let's pay attention to this part. We first made dua for Allah to forgive us. Then we made dua for Allah to forgive the people who came before us, number two, meaning the sahaba. And then those who came after them. We're making dua for them. Then we're asking Allah, keep our hearts from feeling resentment towards any people who believe in the past or even now. وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا.

Do you hear any contribution yet? No. What service are they providing, these people that come afterwards? Nothing yet. They haven't done anything. There's no mention of da'wah, there's no mention of jihad, there's no mention of infaq, no sadaqah, nothing. And then رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ — You are compassionate, you're always loving and kind. That's it. That's all we get. That's all we get.

What do we learn from that? We learn that the most important contribution of the people that will come after is that the people who came before, they built this beautiful house we call Islam. They built this beautiful thing we call an ummah. They built it for us. They built a home for us to live in. The ones who come after, they're being asked, you're not being asked to build it. Just please don't damage it. Just live here. And if you mess up, ask for forgiveness. And don't start fighting each other when you're living in this house. Don't have feelings, ill feelings towards each other and resentment towards each other. If you can just do no damage, that will be a great contribution. That's the contribution.

In other words, Allah did not make a big ask from the future ummah that was coming. He simply asked them for... And this du'a is telling us something. The Muslim ummah will have a very easy... They easily get infected with a virus. And that virus is, number one, they stop asking Allah for forgiveness for themselves. They genuinely stop being sorry for their behavior to Allah.

Two, they start looking at the past with suspicion. Now say, I don't know about this sahabi. I don't know about... I don't agree with this. And they start having opinions about the people who came before them. And then it becomes so sick. You're here, for example, in Australia. This masjid probably wasn't built six months ago. It was built by people who came many, many years ago. Or at least the project started many, many years ago. Now it's easy for you to come sit in the masjid. I don't know. These people who built this place, they didn't have a good vision or they didn't understand... No appreciation for people who came before you and what they had to go through.

What is the du'a saying? Forgive us, forgive those who came before us in iman. That's the second thing. And if you don't have that, then easily, not only do you look at the people in the past without humility, you start looking at each other with resentment, suspicion. I don't know about this person. I don't like this person. Why is he dressed like this? Why does he look like that? Why does he talk like this? I don't agree with these people. Oh, these people are all the same. وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ۚ رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ.

The Call to Do No Harm

Allah put this here for a reason. Allah put this here because before we talk about the great things the ummah has to do, we have to first start with do no harm. Like a sick patient comes before the doctor. Before the doctor can do anything, he has to sanitize. And before you say, I'm gonna fix this, you just have to make sure you don't misdiagnose and add more to the problem. So the great contribution you and I can make is not be part of the problem. And that's enough for Allah to offer us forgiveness.

And to include us in a list that started with the muhajirun, moved to the ansar. And then we have the honor of being included in that list if we don't become people that don't live up to this du'a. So it's not just a du'a. It's a du'a that if we truly make with our hearts and live by what we're asking Allah to live by, then we get to be honored to be included in that chain that started with the muhajirun, continued with the ansar, and now is also Allah has allowed that to include us.

So may Allah allow us to be included in this honorable chain and remove, truly remove غِل that we may carry in our hearts towards each other, towards those who came in the past. And allow us to be an ummah that has, you know, رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ — they're loving and caring and soft towards one another.