Cultivating Mercy: Building Spiritual Strength To Help Others

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Qari Hasan Abid

Opening: The Hadith of Mercy

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O ye who believe! Remember Allah often, and glorify Him morning and evening. And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

Those who show mercy, the Most Merciful will have mercy upon them. Have mercy on those who are on the earth, and those who are in the heavens will have mercy on you.
(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4941; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1924)

Respected brothers and elders, it is related in a narration of Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, that those who show mercy, the Most Merciful, Allah Ta'ala, will have mercy upon those individuals. And Allah Ta'ala does command:

Have mercy on whomsoever you see on the earth, and Allah Ta'ala will have mercy upon you.
(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4941)

Two Dimensions of Mercy: Physical and Spiritual

Scholars have mentioned different interpretations for this narration, and we know it can refer to one of two things. Number one, we see people throughout the world who are not financially well off, who may have physical ailments, sicknesses, they might not have money, and the list goes on. And we as Muslims should try our utmost best to help out these other people. If Allah Ta'ala has placed us in a position where we are financially stable, yes, we give shukr for that. We thank Allah Ta'ala for that. But one of the best ways to manifest the shukr, to show the manifestation of it, is to give for the sake of Allah Ta'ala. That when you see someone is financially unstable, then you help him out. And this is obviously very, very important.

But Mawlana Ilyas rahmatullahu alayhi, he mentions under this narration, that yes, while looking after someone's physical well-being, whatever financial help he needs, that's very important. But more importantly, that you should have mercy on other people's spiritual well-being. Because yes, even if a person is not financially stable his entire life, that will end when this world ends. But if a person is not spiritually well — he is stuck in this sin, that sin, he has difficulty getting up for salah, he has difficulty praying Fajr salah — then this will not only harm his spiritual state in this world, but that will be the cause of destruction in the hereafter.

So more importantly, this hadith is telling us: look after the spiritual well-being of other people. And it's a very simple concept — that to give something to someone, you must have it yourself. If you want to financially help someone, support them, then you must also be financially stable, you must have something to give them. Otherwise you cannot financially help this person. Similarly, to properly help someone who is going through a spiritual disease, spiritual ailments, he is far away from Allah Ta'ala — you yourself must be spiritually strong. You must have that spiritual grounding.

A person who doesn't have something cannot give it to you.
(Classical Arabic principle, widely cited by scholars)

Building Spiritual Grounding: Good Deeds and Avoiding Sin

So, first and foremost, this spiritual grounding has to be built. And how can this spiritual grounding be built? How can the connection with Allah Ta'ala be developed? Obviously, as we know, a person should do good deeds. Wherever we look, countless times in the Qur'an, we see:

It always couples faith with doing righteous actions. That is in its place, and that's extremely important. But beyond that, a person must try his utmost best to avoid sin. A person could be doing many, many good deeds, but when he's committing sins, it's as if he has a bag, he's filling it up, and there's a hole at the bottom and everything is falling out. The person he's driving — now winter is coming — he has a heater on, but he has all the windows down at the same time. What's the point of that? The cold air is rushing in, he can't even feel the heater. So the important thing over here is that a person avoids sin.

Ghaflah: The State of Heedlessness

And the biggest cause for a person falling to sin is being in a state of ghaflah — being in a state of heedlessness. When a person is in a state of heedlessness, he is prey to the wasawis, the whispers of shaitan. When a person is in a state of ghaflah, he is not thinking about Allah Ta'ala. Imagine if a person is actively aware at this very moment that Allah Ta'ala is watching him — can he extend his hand to commit a sin? A person could never do that. A person only commits a sin when he is not actively thinking that Allah Ta'ala is watching him at this very moment. So if a person is able to stay away from the state of ghaflah, stay away from the state of heedlessness, then a person will not fall into sin.

And ghaflah itself, heedlessness itself, has many detrimental factors to it. And we see how shaitan exploits that. Many of the Sufis have mentioned the reality of ghaflah, of heedlessness — what it actually is. They say that the heart, the spiritual heart, gives off a type of smoke. And this is the state of heedlessness a person is going through. And then shaitan comes, and like a bellows, he blows on it. And the smoke expands, and it covers his entire heart. And this is shaitan's wasawis — he causes that to increase and increase.

And shaitan is only able to exploit this when a person is in the state of heedlessness. And when shaitan is doing this, a person may not even notice. He cannot differentiate his own thoughts from the thoughts that shaitan is injecting into him. Oftentimes, a person, if he really thinks about it — and he thinks, what am I doing this moment — and he realizes the thoughts that he's having, he should recognize: these are not my thoughts. These are the whispers shaitan is putting into me. But it's very hard to perceive this. It's almost imperceptible.

The Hadith: Shaitan Flows Through the Body Like Blood

And this is explained by the hadith of Nabi ﷺ, where he says:

Indeed, shaitan flows through the human being just as blood flows through the body.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2038; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2175)

Now we all know blood is flowing through our body at this very second, but we cannot perceive it — it's imperceptible. Similarly, when shaitan injects these whispers into a person's mind, a person often does not notice. He's not aware that this thought that he's having is not his own thought — rather it was put into his mind by shaitan.

Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas: Seeking Refuge

And we see this — Allah Ta'ala Himself in the Qur'an subtly alludes to this, in the last two surahs of the Qur'an, in Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas. Allah Ta'ala says in Surah Al-Falaq:

Allah Ta'ala says: seek refuge with the Lord of the dawn. So we are seeking refuge with Allah Ta'ala — away from shaitan. And then the surah goes on to explain what we are seeking refuge from:

• مِن شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ — from the evil of what He has created
• وَمِن شَرِّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ — and from the night when it overcasts a person
• وَمِن شَرِّ النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ — those magicians who blow on knots and perform black magic
• وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ — and the one who envies, who has jealousy for another person

So we are seeking refuge with Allah Ta'ala once, from four things. And if you look at the next surah, Surah An-Nas, Allah Ta'ala says:

Here we are seeking refuge with Allah Ta'ala three times — with His attribute as Rabb, as Malik, and as Ilah. Whereas in the previous surah, we sought refuge only once. So now we have to ask: what exactly are we seeking refuge from, that we invoke Allah Ta'ala three times?

مِن شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ — from the whispers of the one who retracts, referring to shaitan. If you look at Surah Al-Falaq, refuge is sought with Allah Ta'ala once, from four different things. And in Surah An-Nas, refuge is sought with Allah Ta'ala three times, from only one thing. This shows the severity and danger of this one thing — that the whispers of shaitan are so dangerous that even though it is only one threat, we are seeking refuge with Allah Ta'ala from it multiple times.

So as we can understand from this: the role of the nafs is to create ghaflah, and shaitan pounces on opportunity like a wolf on a sheep, taking advantage of a person, injecting his own thoughts into that person — and the person isn't even aware of it.

The Solution: Dhikr of Allah

So how can a person protect himself from the whispers of shaitan, such that he can remain actively aware of Allah Ta'ala at all times, saving himself from sin and maintaining his spiritual well-being? And Allah Ta'ala gives us the direct solution for that in the Qur'an:

O you who believe! Remember Allah with much remembrance, and glorify Him morning and evening. And this is the one command that Allah Ta'ala gives in the Qur'an with no limitation. We know a person has to perform salah, but there are certain times where a person cannot perform salah. A person has to give zakah — that's once a year. A person has to go for hajj — that's once a year. But Allah Ta'ala says to remember Him excessively, at every single moment. Even when a person is in the bathroom — yes, he cannot verbally remember Allah Ta'ala — but he can still remember Allah Ta'ala in his heart. There is not a single moment where a person cannot remember Allah Ta'ala.

And this is the direct solution Allah Ta'ala is giving us: to protect ourselves from the state of heedlessness, so that we do not become prey for shaitan. That we remain in the remembrance of Allah Ta'ala, and are actively aware of Him. As I explained before — if a person is actively aware that his Rabb is watching him at this very moment, that person can never extend his hand towards committing a sin.

Dhikr of the Tongue and Dhikr of the Heart

Now the condition is this: for example, a person says Allahu Akbar, La ilaha illallah, SubhanAllah — he's doing multiple adhkar — but then his heart is somewhere else. Yes, obviously he'll get the reward of dhikr, but that's not the main purpose we're looking for. The goal is that a person diverts what he usually does — thinking about the dunya, thinking about X, Y, and Z — to always thinking about Allah Ta'ala. If a person, while doing dhikr bil-lisan — dhikr with the tongue — is constantly thinking about La ilaha illallah, constantly thinking about Allah Ta'ala, such that when he says Allahu Akbar he is truly thinking of Allah Ta'ala, and when he says La ilaha illallah he truly believes there is no God but Allah — and his heart is always matching what his tongue is saying — then when a person makes a constant habit of this, his nafs, which was once always creating ghaflah, becomes accustomed to remembering Allah Ta'ala. His nafs becomes accustomed to remembering his Lord.

And then, even when a person is not verbally saying La ilaha illallah, even when he is not verbally remembering Allah Ta'ala, his heart constantly remains in the state of the remembrance of Allah Ta'ala. And we see the ulama, the mashayikh, the sufiya — they reached these high levels. They would start off remembering Allah Ta'ala with their tongue, while their heart was also attached to Allah Ta'ala. And they reached such a high state — which sometimes we wonder about: how can their heart just remember Allah Ta'ala without them saying anything? It's because over many, many years, they were constantly remembering Allah Ta'ala. They did it thousands of hours, such that their nafs became accustomed to it. Instead of the default of their nafs being ghaflah, the default of their nafs became the remembrance of Allah.

So, when a person constantly remembers Allah Ta'ala, remaining in the dhikr of Allah Ta'ala while keeping his heart focused on Allah Ta'ala, then that person will stay away from the state of heedlessness. And when a person is away from the state of heedlessness, then shaitan will not be able to inject his different whispers into that person. Because if a person is remembering Allah Ta'ala and then gets a thought, right away he will think: what am I thinking of? He will immediately recognize that this thought has nothing to do with the remembrance of Allah Ta'ala. And then this person will be able to maintain his spiritual well-being and ascend the different maqamat, the different darajat that are there.

Closing Du'a

May Allah Ta'ala give us all tawfiq to excessively remember Him. Keep our tongues moist with the dhikr of Allah Ta'ala. May Allah Ta'ala give us the ability to avoid all sin, and go above and beyond in His remembrance and in doing righteous actions.

Second Khutbah

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, and we ask His help, and we ask His forgiveness. And we seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him. And whom He misguides, none can guide him. And we bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And we bear witness that our master is Muhammad, His servant and Messenger.

May Allah's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon him and his family and his companions — the stars of the path of the nations.

Indeed, Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. O you who have believed, send blessings upon him and ask Allah to grant him peace.

Indeed, Allah commands justice and goodness and giving to relatives, and forbids immorality and evil and transgression. He warns you that you may remember. Remember Allah the Almighty — He will remember you. Call upon Him — He will answer you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest. And Allah knows what you do.

Announcements

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah Ta'ala. Nabi ﷺ mentioned in a narration that charity given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day. (Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq)

Please, no curb parking. Do not park on the curbs behind the seminary building or on the swift highway. We have additional parking spaces in the used car lot. Additionally, do not use the parking lot in the condos.

We are seeking businesses to sponsor our upcoming annual banquet on December 9th. Please see the brothers outside on your way out if you are interested.

There is a workshop on Islamic estate planning: Protect Your Family, Leave a Legacy, and Fulfill Your Religious Obligations — with Hafiz Yasir Ali, wealth planning attorney, on Friday, December 1st after Isha Salah at 7:30 PM.

There is a girls' youth halaqah — Soulful Chats. Join us today with your friends for our bi-weekly sisters' youth halaqah, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. For ages 13 and up.

Please save the date for our annual benefit dinner on Saturday, December 9th at 5:00 PM at Shalimar Banquets.

Also save the date for our 6th Annual Winter Intensive from December 23rd to 25th. Register at masjidds.org/winter2023.

Join us for our weekly programs: Team Fajr will continue tomorrow. Saturday Fajr Iqamah will be at 6:15 AM. Continuing on Tuesday after Isha Salah for Surah Al-Qasas — Iqamah is at 7:30. Weekly Salawat and Khatira every Thursday after Isha Salah.

And the Dar es Salaam Community Center has the following programs: Tuesdays — women's basketball 7:00–9:00 PM; Sundays — women's badminton 7:45–9:45 PM; Sundays — women's volleyball 6:00–7:45 PM; Wednesdays — men's volleyball 7:45–9:45 PM; Saturdays — men's basketball 7:45–9:45 PM.