20170310 -1st Khutba -Ridwon Saleh

Opening — The Khutbah of Need

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَهْدِيهِ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَسَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ

Amma ba'd:

Amma ba'd — fa inna asdaqa al-hadeethi kitabullah, wa ahsanul hadi hadi Muhammadin صلى الله عليه وسلم, wa sharra al-umoori muhdathatuha, wa kulla muhdathatin bid'ah, wa kulla bid'atin dalala, wa kulla dalalatin fin-naar.

The Story of the Emperor: Begin With Yourself

It was said that a Chinese emperor summoned his armies before him. He was seeking to bring the world to order. But his advisors met and asked him, "What do you want to do?" He thought about it and said, "Before I set course to bring the world to order, I need to bring my kingdom to order."

"For my kingdom to come to order, I must begin with each and every province in my kingdom. For every province to come to order, I must begin with each city. For every city to come to order, I must begin with each and every neighborhood."

"For every neighborhood to come to order, I must begin with certain streets. For these streets to come to order, I must begin with houses. And the first house that has to come to order is mine."

"And for that house to come to order, I — the leader of that house — I must come to order first."

Brothers and sisters, when we stand in front of the mirror, whom am I looking at? It is my image. It is no one else's.

Private Victory Before Public Victory

So the question is — the pinnacle of leadership — is it respect? Or is it disrespect to oneself? There is a saying that says: public victory, it has to have private victory first. If I am not privately victorious, if I cannot overcome myself, then I am the best actor there is in public. And I will be found out soon.

And so before public victory, before we are known to be respected and loved, one must be first respectful. And before I am loved, I must be lovable. And so before public victory, brothers and sisters, we first must be privately victorious.

People follow me — or follow us — not because of who we are. Each and every one of us, Allah has blessed with plenty. When you look, someone else has more than you. And you look, someone is more pretty than you. And you look, someone is luckier than you. So people don't follow us because we happen to be who we are. But they follow, brothers and sisters, because of what I am. That's exactly what leadership is all about. And it has nothing to do with management.

It is amazing that a businessman has the ability to manage his business — to the point that he might be the wealthiest of all. But he is disrespected by the public. He is cunning in his ways. He lies and cheats. He will sign on the dotted line. He will act on "fake it until you make it." That's great management. That's an ability to hoard as much wealth as you can. But it has nothing to do with nobility. And it has nothing to do with honor.

The First Quality of Leadership: Humility

So the first aspect is humility and respect. We want to lead people, brothers and sisters, as part of our da'wah. I look at Islam and Muslims — why should I accept your religion? What is it that distinguishes me as a Muslim from the next person? And so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tells us:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 6264)

Humility. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said we must be first humble. Humbleness, brothers and sisters, has a magical effect on others. It is also part of the trait of leaders.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 6264)

An arrogant person will never forgive his brother — or she will never forgive her sister — because that individual always feels that "I am better than the other person." So if they wrong me, I will never forgive them.

The Example of Anas ibn Malik Serving the Prophet

So let's look at the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — the best man that ever walked on the face of the earth. It is easy for him to deal with his companions, some of whom were wealthy, like Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, and some of whom were noble in the community, like Uthman ibn Affan and Umar ibn al-Khattab. It's easy to deal with them. But it's extremely difficult to deal with the person who serves you in a humble and honorable way. Anas ibn Malik said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6038; Sahih Muslim, Book 43, Hadith 6056)

"By Allah, I have never touched any silk or brocade softer than the palm of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم." That means he was never rough with him. He never raised his hands and punished him. "And I have never smelled a more beautiful scent than the scent of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And I served the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ten years and never once did he rebuke me. Never once did he order me to do something except with kindness. And never once did I forget or neglect to do anything except he never shouted at me."

Adorning Oneself for the Masjid

And there is a point, brothers and sisters — if we truly want to be leaders, we need to have our outward appearance to be immaculate. Especially when we come to the masjid:

"Adorn yourself when you come to the masjid." Why? Because we are in a gathering of congregation. I wonder — do I take time before I leave my house, making sure that I am not wearing the very meal that I just ate, and then come to the masjid? Because Umar ibn al-Khattab used to hold his nose if he could smell anyone who had eaten onion or garlic before coming to the masjid. And he used to say, "I don't know, but this tree is a wicked tree" — meaning onions and garlic.

He said: "I served the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ten years and never once did he rebuke me, never once did he order me to do something except with kindness, and never once did I forget or neglect to do anything except he never shouted at me."

If we are business owners or managers in corporate America and we have subordinates — if I happen to be a well-known doctor and I have nurses and other colleagues that work for me — how do I treat them? We think da'wah is for someone to stand up and give a khutbah. And we think da'wah is to give someone the Qur'an. And we believe sometimes da'wah is to stand at the corner of the street and invite people towards Islam. All of this is temporary. And as long as we don't have any of these leadership qualities, no one will follow us. And subhanAllah, these are not rocket science. These are very easy formulas to follow.

The Second Quality of Leadership: Justice

And the second aspect of leadership: Justice. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in his farewell speech said: there is no distinction of a white man over a black man, or yellow over red. There is no distinction whatsoever. All of us are from Adam, and Adam himself was created from dust.

And so now the question is — what about the "black factor"? We hear often times in America — the most civilized country on the face of the earth today, so we think — but I wonder why do people have to go out demonstrating because "black lives matter"? Why does it even matter that we have to think along these lines? Because there is no justice. If I cannot employ someone just because of the color of their skin, that is arrogance — and that's part of the shaitan's thinking.

And now let's bring the point home. The black factor amongst the Muslims. Forget the men. But the sisters come and complain to me. She said: "I have reached an age and beyond. And just because of the color of my skin — because my skin is darker — I'm not able to get married." It's shameful, it's embarrassing, isn't it? That a lady who is well educated, brought up and reared in the best family there is, well known — but the only reason her marriage is delayed is because she is a bit darker. Why is that? Why do we Muslims think along the very lines that not only divide us, but make us practice injustice?

What if the color of the skin had anything to do with it? If I had a choice in the matter, then fine. But Allah is the one who created me this way. And so the question then, brothers and sisters — are we just amongst one another?

And therefore I say: without this private victory first — the first aspect and the second aspect of leadership — we cannot expect people to follow us. We will only be managing our affairs as Muslims. We'll go on demonstrations and say "respect us, we exist like you do." We'll put up da'wah material and ask people to follow Islam. But am I within my own self a leader that is worthy to be followed?

We have the best of all examples in the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. For who? For the one whose aqeedah — whose true belief, the core of their iman — is authentic and on the straight path. For someone who truly believes in Allah and in the Hereafter. Without such belief, we are not fully Muslims.

Good Manners: The Heart of Morality

What is this, brothers and sisters — this idea of good manners and etiquettes? As I said at the beginning, we must practice it first internally, privately within ourselves. And then and only then will we be publicly victorious.

Ibn Mubarak, a well-known scholar, when he was asked "What is the summation of morality? What are ethical people?" — he replied: to smile in your brother's face. Wallahi, when we go to Hajj and Umrah, and we see all of these millions of people facing you, how often do you see people smiling? When we walk in the streets of Muslim countries, how often do you see people smiling?

I remember I gave this khutbah about "let's smile a little bit more." A young man came up to me and said: "Ya Sheikh, Al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal never smiled in all of his life." I said: "Wallahi, if you can have 10% of what Al-Imam Ahmad wrote, you don't have to smile. But as long as you're not contributing like Al-Imam Ahmad, you need to smile."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1956; classified as sahih)

"To smile in your brother's face — or your sister's face — is a form of charity." In some Muslim countries, when I once spoke, somebody said: "We've been brought up — when you smile, somebody says, 'Wipe that smile off your face, it makes you look weak.'" We have some strange cultures that we have to reckon with, don't we? That if you smile, somehow you are weak. You're not to be followed. You always have to be frowning your face and look like a mean man in order to be followed.

And about the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the companions said:

"When he smiled, it was as if the sun radiated from his face."

And then the well-known scholar Ibn Mubarak said:

"Stop harming people." We harm people with two things: either we backlash them by our tongues through backbiting, or we physically attack them.

I wonder, brothers and sisters — and I'll give just a brief example. We leave Salatul Jumu'ah. Some of you have seen this before. I'm giving a practical example. You leave Salatul Jumu'ah, and just because someone didn't see you and maybe gotten a little bit closer to you, you're pounding on the door, you're shouting at them, and you're speaking obscene words. And you just came from Salatul Jumu'ah. Where did the iman go right after Salatul Jumu'ah? We become impatient as we are leaving the parking lot. And of course, if this was Ramadan, then forget it. We, brothers and sisters, must change.

Good Character on the Scale of Deeds

Why? Because:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2002; classified as sahih by al-Albani)

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "There is nothing more heavy on the scale of any believer on the Day of Judgment more so than their good mannerism and good character. And Allah hates the obscene and indecent."

Wallahi, I feel ashamed sometimes when I see a Muslim in public speaking words that you would be embarrassed by if my grandmother, or my mother, or my child was walking with me. It's not professional at all to begin with, but then it's not Islamic. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُبْغِضُ الْفَاحِشَ الْبَذِيءَ — Allah hates, abhors, the one who is obscene and indecent.

And Jabir narrated that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2018; classified as hasan by al-Tirmidhi)

"The closest to me on the Day of Judgment," the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says, "is the one who is easygoing with people — the one who treats people with respect."

And finally — حُسْنُ الْخُلُقِ يُورِثُ الْجَنَّةَ — good character inherits Jannah. Wallahi, brothers and sisters, I have not seen anyone who could lead people, and anyone who has the ability to influence others — Muslims or non-Muslims — more so than someone who has the ability to endure others when they harm him or her, whether by words or otherwise, and just be patient with people because they are often ignorant.

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4800; classified as sahih by al-Albani)

"I guarantee a house in the highest of al-Jannah to someone who has good mannerism and good character."

The Prophet's Entry into Makkah: The Pinnacle of Humility

When we see the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم coming to Makkah as fatih — meaning he was victorious — he had his head bowed down in humbleness to the point that his forehead was almost touching سَنَامَ الْجَمَلِ — the hump of the camel — almost touching it, because he did not want to be boastful. "Now we have opened Makkah." And he never took revenge for himself from anyone. And when they asked him, "What are you going to do to us? We know we have harmed you all of these years," he said:

(Al-Bayhaqi, Al-Sunan al-Kubra; Ibn Hisham, Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah)

"Leave — you are free." You are free to leave. And he forgave all of them.

We Are the Best Ummah — But Are We Acting Like It?

The whole world watches us from afar, brothers and sisters. Allah tells us:

"You were the best Ummah ever brought forth to mankind." And what is our job? To enjoin good and abolish evil and believe in Allah.

If I ask each and every one of us: "Do you love Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم?" — there is no doubt in my mind that someone would reply and say, "How dare you ask that question!" Our love to Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, Rasulullah, it has no comparison. Yet on Newsweek I saw a picture of many Muslims from some Muslim country frowning their faces with their shoes in their hands, yelling and shouting at the people who depicted Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم — and it would not harm them a mosquito's wing. SubhanAllah. Yet they were holding a big banner that says "Islam is Peace." And the article said that many buildings and many cars were set on fire. We call that an oxymoron, don't we? How can you be so peaceful — and our religion advocates peace — yet we're willing to do all of this angrily because we want to prove a point?

And that's why I believe the next Muslim generation of this country, and in Europe — they are the ones we learn from. So in London, many of the young ladies, after that incident, went to every bus station and every subway station. They bought as many stems of roses as they could, and they wrapped around each one a paragraph about the history of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and who he is. And as people were leaving the buses or coming to the station, they were given roses — and no one did not take a rose. Amazing, isn't it? The concept of how we behave with people when they behave with us ignorantly.

Du'a — Closing Supplication

This is all, and whatever was of success then it is from Allah, and whatever was of error, slip, or forgetfulness then it is from me and from Shaytan, and Allah and His Messenger are free of it.

وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ