Ramadan 2014 - Last Jummah Khutbah - Sh. Omar Suleiman

The Purpose of Taqwa — Last Jumu'ah of Ramadan

Dear brothers and sisters, if you notice, every khutbah that we start with — as the Prophet ﷺ used to do — Rasulullah ﷺ used to mention the verses that command and enjoin people to have taqwa. To have fear of Allah and to have piety and awareness. And it's also no secret that each and every single one of these ayat — and if you think about them as we go through them, as the Prophet ﷺ used to — each and every single one of the commands to have taqwa of Allah and to be aware of Allah is immediately followed up with a command, an action item, and a manifestation of that taqwa in the way that you deal with people and in the way that you deal with Allah.

So for example:

That a person would speak well if they have taqwa of Allah. It would affect the way that they talk — the way they talk about people, the way they talk to people, the way they talk about Allah and the way they talk to Allah. Taqwa should affect the way you speak.

Allah also, when He mentions al-taqwa, the next verse talks about:

Allah mentions how people's ego is lifted through taqwa and how hearts are joined and brotherhood is formed and the bonds of friendship and the bonds of the ummah are formed through taqwa of Allah. Allah starts off one of the most detailed chapters in regards to commandments and objectives and laws that we find in the Qur'an — Surah an-Nisa — with a verse of taqwa. To fear Allah and to be conscious of Allah and to be aware of Allah.

The point is, dear brothers and sisters, Allah is mentioning the manifestation of taqwa in our everyday lives and in everything that we do. And obviously you've heard this verse now — as we come to the last Friday of Ramadan — over and over and over again:

That the entire purpose of fasting — the reason why it was prescribed for you as it was prescribed on every nation that came before you — and SubhanAllah, can you imagine how many ummahs have come before us, how many nations, how many prophets? Each and every single one of them had a commandment to fast. Because fasting achieves that very specific objective of having taqwa of Allah.

It truly is magical in what it can bring out of a person and what it can do to a person after 30 days. And SubhanAllah, many lives change through Ramadan and many people do change through fasting. Nothing makes you as aware of Allah, as aware of His blessings upon you, as aware of the sins that He told you to stay away from — nothing makes you more aware of them like fasting does.

So Allah says He prescribed it upon you the way He prescribed it for each and every single ummah that came before you, so that you may gain a sense of taqwa, so that you may fear Him, so that you may be aware of Him, so that you may gain a sense of consciousness. And SubhanAllah, what that tells us right away is that if that goal of taqwa is not realized through your fasting, then your fasting was in vain.

If that goal of taqwa is not realized, it doesn't matter if you can sit back and say, "You know what, I read the Qur'an so many times in Ramadan — I finished it 5 times, or even 2 times or 3 times," or "I prayed taraweeh every single night this year, I caught the tahajjud every single night, I did this, I did that, I made this dhikr, I achieved all of those goals in this Ramadan." If the goal of taqwa is not realized through that, then fasting is in vain.

Now SubhanAllah, it's not too late — and many of you are thinking, "Does that mean everything I've done up until now is basically out of the window?" No. Because taqwa is something that can be realized through sincere tawbah at any moment of your life. And it's something that can continue far beyond Ramadan, and that's why the command to have it is expressed throughout the year — it's not just expressed within Ramadan.

What is Taqwa?

When we talk about taqwa, Ibn Mas'ud radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu said that the sahaba, as they heard the Prophet ﷺ constantly telling people to have taqwa of Allah, asked: "What exactly is taqwa? How do we describe this piety, this fear of Allah?" And this hadith is in al-Hakim — the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, narrated from Ibn Mas'ud radiyaAllahu anhu)

That Allah is to be obeyed and not disobeyed — it starts off with obeying the commandments of Allah, the obligations that Allah has placed upon you without disobeying Him. And then: that Allah is remembered and not forgotten. That you constantly remember Allah and you don't forget Allah.

Now the problem with that is that as you go through the motions of life, there are times where you're naturally not paying attention and you're not remembering Allah in the sense of spiritual dhikr, in the sense of mentioning the phrases of remembrance of Allah. Is that what the Prophet ﷺ is talking about — that in every single moment, if you don't say SubhanAllah, alhamdulillah, la ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar, you're a failure and you don't have taqwa? That's impossible for us as human beings to achieve.

But rather, as Imam Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah said, as you go through those motions of life, as you go through the mu'amalat, as you go through your interactions and your social interactions, the way you deal with people — you are always conscious of Allah as you deal with everything that comes to you. So it's not necessarily the mention of Allah, because taqwa is never restricted to the tongue. Rather it's how you act, it's how you carry yourself. That the mu'min — the believer — even as he's at his workplace, as he's approached with a situation out of nowhere, right away when he sees that Allah is going to be disobeyed, when he sees that his deen is being compromised, it clicks. It's like spidey senses — it just comes up right away.

We find that Allah constantly mentions taqwa particularly in the way we deal with people — in our financial dealings, in the way we deal with our children. And so Allah expects that behavior from you, that mindset from you. That in Ramadan, whenever you're approached by someone who challenges you, or who uses idle speech with you, or who uses harsh language with you, you say إِنِّي صَائِمٌ — "I am fasting." And outside of Ramadan, the same things that you're approached with, the same things that you face, instead of saying إِنِّي صَائِمٌ, you say إِنِّي مُسْلِمٌ — "I am a Muslim."

SubhanAllah, it's funny because a lot of times the things that we debate about — whether or not they're halal or haram — they're clarified in Ramadan because we stay away from them while we're fasting. "I can't smoke while I'm fasting, but I'll still argue that it's not haram." "I can't listen to this while I'm fasting, but I'll still argue it's not haram." And then SubhanAllah, after Ramadan, you're not fasting anymore — and again, you're missing the entire point. Allah just showed you what you're capable of abstaining from for 16 hours a day. Why can't you abstain from it outside of Ramadan? Was that the point? Was that the goal? Absolutely not.

وَأَنْ يُذْكَرَ وَلَا يُنْسَى — that you constantly remember Allah, that Allah is always on your mind, that Allah is always in your heart with everything that you face. So when you encounter a situation: "I am a Muslim. I can't do that. I can't act that way. I can't cheat. I can't treat people like that. I can't act in this manner because I am a Muslim" — the same way in Ramadan you were saying إِنِّي صَائِمٌ.

Fear Allah as He Deserves to Be Feared

Now there's a very interesting ayah in particular. And SubhanAllah, you hear it every single Jumu'ah. When Allah says:

This is frightening. Because out of all of the commands to fear Allah, to have taqwa of Allah, this one adds a new component to it. Because you know, a lot of times the way we view taqwa and the way we view Ramadan — and much of what our deen becomes — is about what we want to do for Allah, not what Allah requires of us. Religion becomes more about how you feel, not what Allah commands of you and demands from you.

And so we find this command where Allah says: Fear Allah the way Allah deserves to be feared, the way Allah should be feared. That's such a terrifying standard for Allah to set for us. And SubhanAllah, we find that when this ayah was revealed, the sahaba felt such mashaqqa — such hardship — that they would push themselves beyond the limits in their worship. Their salah started to become obsessive, their siyam — they started to go to heights and bounds that the Prophet ﷺ did not command them to do. And they always felt this sense of shortcoming, they always felt troubled.

And that's why it's very interesting that this is the only ayah in Surah Ali 'Imran that the majority of the scholars say is mansukha — abrogated. The one ayah in this entire surah that Ibn Abbas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, Imam al-Shanqiti, and most of the scholars — the majority of the ulama — say is actually an abrogated ayah. Even though the Prophet ﷺ continued to use it — but it's not abrogated in the sense of meaning, it's abrogated in the sense of law. Allah did not place that expectation on us. And Allah abrogated it with:

Fear Allah as much as you can. We don't stop reading the first ayah, we don't stop reminding everyone and ourselves that we should be trying to meet that standard — where we are worshipping Allah as He deserves to be worshipped, where we are obeying Allah as He deserves to be obeyed, where we are trying our best to motivate ourselves. But because the companions felt such hardship — because of their sincerity to Allah — Allah revealed: Fear Allah as much as you can.

The Misuse of "Fear Allah as Much as You Can"

Now let me tell you the problem with the usage of this ayah most of the time. Most of the time people say "fear Allah as much as you can" when they are involved in sin. "You know what? I'm involved in a little bit of riba, I'm involved in a little bit of interest — a little bit, it's okay." فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ — "Fear Allah as much as you can. We live in this country, it's really hard to get out of that." "Look, I'm not committing outright zina. We're just dating, we're just going out." فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ — "I'm fearing Allah as much as I can. This is the best that I can do."

But then look at the context of this ayah. And if you read, SubhanAllah, the ayah that comes before it — this is in Surah al-Taghabun — Allah says:

Allah says: Your wealth and your children are but a trial, they're a test, and Allah has with Him a great reward. فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ — so fear Allah as much as you can. Meaning this ayah is actually trying to tell you that you cannot worship Allah with the same level of determination at all times of your life. It's only natural that when you're at home, when you're with your spouses, when you're with your children, when you're at work, you're not going to be able to fear Allah or remember Allah or worship Allah as much. And for us that might not pose a big problem — but the sahaba had a major faith crisis with that.

The Story of Handala

You find the famous hadith — I'm just going to paraphrase it because we've all heard it so many times — of Handala radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, who said: نَافَقَ حَنْظَلَةُ — "Handala has become a hypocrite." Why? "Because Ya Rasulullah, whenever we're with you — and Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu thought the same thing — whenever we're with you, the way we think about Allah, the way we remember Allah, the way we're worshipping Allah, the iman rush that we feel, is incomparable to any other time. When we go back to our homes, and then we go back to our families, and then we get back to the real world, we don't feel it anymore, we don't do as much as we do in your presence."

And what did the Prophet ﷺ say to Handala radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu? "If you were to stay in the same state as you are in my presence, the mala'ik — the angels — you know how they come down on Laylatul Qadr? They wouldn't just come down on Laylatul Qadr, they wouldn't just descend on your gatherings — they would shake your hands in the street." It's impossible. There's no way you could be that holy. It's absolutely impossible. It's a standard that cannot be met by a human being, just by the nature of our obligations and how we're created.

The Story of Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As

Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu — the young man with so much zeal, SubhanAllah — that the Prophet ﷺ had to calm him down, tell him to lower his standard because he's not going to be able to meet it and he's going to burn out. He was fasting every day, reading the entire Qur'an once a day, praying the entire night to a point that his family felt neglected — and Rasulullah ﷺ had to calm down his zeal, had to bring him back down.

And what does he say after the Prophet ﷺ passes away? He says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 30, Hadith 27 — narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As radiyaAllahu anhu)

"For me to be able to do a good deed today is twice as beloved to me as when the Prophet ﷺ was alive." Why? He says: "When the Prophet ﷺ was with us, all we thought about was the hereafter — we didn't care about the dunya. But now the dunya has engulfed us from all sides." Meaning: the iman rush that you felt when the Prophet ﷺ was around you — the closest to Allah you felt when you were looking at the best of Allah's creation, observing him, seeing his smile ﷺ, seeing his ibadah — it motivated everyone around him ﷺ, even more so than Ramadan could do with us. Because there's a person in front of you that represents perfection. And naturally, when you see perfection in a person in front of you, you want to meet that perfection.

And the sahaba were terrified of what Allah would do to them because they could not worship Allah with that same tenacity when they weren't with the Prophet ﷺ. And that's the context of this ayah. فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ — Fear Allah as much as you can, meaning worship Allah as much as you can.

The Principle Applies to Commands, Not to Sins

We find it in our salah — if you can't pray standing up, you don't just say, "Oh well, no salah for me." No. You pray sitting down. You can't pray sitting down, you pray lying down. We find it in our siyam — if you're traveling or sick, then at that moment you don't have the means or the capability, and you make it up later on. And if you're permanently sick, then you offer a fidya, a compensation. We find it in our zakah — if you don't meet the threshold, فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ — it's okay. Allah is not going to overburden you. Not in your salah, not in your fasting, not in your zakah, not in your hajj. These are the greatest obligations, these are the pillars of Islam. Do as much as you can.

In your qiyam al-layl — the Prophet ﷺ said: whenever you stop knowing what you're saying, and you get really, really tired, and you're just holding yourself up and leaning on the person next to you and falling asleep here and there — at that point, leave your qiyam. That's not the time to be doing qiyam. That doesn't mean watch movies all night and then make the excuse that you can't pray qiyam al-layl because you're tired. SubhanAllah, you tried, you woke up, you did everything that you could to enjoy your qiyam al-layl and your tahajjud. But it got to a point where instead of reciting Qur'an you were talking about yesterday, and your eyes opened and you realized you were in qiyam al-layl. Take a break. The Prophet ﷺ is teaching us: فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ.

In changing things around you — when we see supposedly hopeless situations around us. As mu'mineen, as believers, we don't just say, "Oh well, I can't do anything about it." No. Whoever can change it with his hands should do so. And if you can't change it with your hand, then change it with your tongue — at least speak out against it. At least do something about it. And if you can't change it with your tongue, then at least hate it in your heart. The point is that فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ — fear Allah as much as you can — is not to be used as an excuse not to worship Allah and as an excuse to disobey Allah. It's actually telling us that no matter what your situation is, you have a way to worship Allah and a way to obey Allah. No matter what. You will never be able to find a way to completely escape obligation.

And that attitude, SubhanAllah, translates into our worship, it translates into our worldly affairs, it translates into the way you see yourself as an individual, the way you see your society, the way you see your local politics, the way you see world politics. With what's going on in Gaza right now, and in Syria, and in Burma, and the Central African Republic, and all over the world in Kashmir — you can name the country. There are some people that say, "You're not gonna do anything anyway. These governments and these interests and this lobby — why are you even talking about it?" فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ. If you can't change the oppressive ruler, then at least — كَلِمَةُ حَقٍّ عِنْدَ سُلْطَانٍ جَائِرٍ — at least speak a word of truth in his face. Do something. That's what the ayah is telling you — you have to do something, no matter what your situation is. Even if you're paralyzed from the nose down and lying in a hospital bed, use your eyes to pray and use your brain to remember Allah.

And it's amazing, SubhanAllah, that this refers to the commands — الأَوَامِر. It doesn't refer to sins where people commonly use it. As the Prophet ﷺ said — and this hadith is in the Sahihain:

The Prophet ﷺ said: "When I command you to do something, do of it as much as you can. But when I forbid you from something, فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ — then abandon it altogether." You cannot continue to live in your sinful lifestyle and claim that you're fearing Allah as much as you can. This principle — this axiom — does not apply to our sins, does not apply to sinful habits and sinful lifestyles.

And if the only thing you come out of Ramadan with is that you've abandoned your riba, that you've abandoned your haram relationship, that you've started to fulfill an obligation, that you've started to pray on time, that you've started to wear hijab, that you've started to do the things that Allah commanded for you to do and started to avoid the things that Allah forbade you from — if that's the only thing you come out of Ramadan with, you've realized the goal of taqwa. Because that's what Allah demands of us. You cannot claim to say, "I'll only take from this sin to what my nafs will allow me to do so, while I still have somewhat of a consciousness and awareness of Allah." فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ — absolutely not.

We ask Allah to make us a people who abandon that which is displeasing to Him. And we ask Allah to make us a people who are honest and truthful and sincere with Him and put forth what He has made us capable of putting forth. And we ask Allah to make us a people that realize their potential — both on an individual level and on a community level — to do that which is pleasing to Allah and forbid that which is displeasing to Allah.

Second Khutbah — Carrying Ramadan Forward

الحمد لله رب العالمين ولا عدوان إلا على الظالمين والعاقبة للمتقين. اللهم صلِّ وسلم وبارك على عبدك ورسولك محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليماً كثيراً.

Dear brothers and sisters, in conclusion — as we go into this next phase of our lives being Eid — I want you to remember something, and this is something that's very, very crucial and very important for us to understand.

It's a lot easier as people of faith and people of religion to observe holidays and rituals than it is to observe commandments and obligations. It's far easier to come out and enjoy the mood and the atmosphere of Ramadan and everything that it brings — with all the socializing, all the iftars, all the samosas — it's very easy to enjoy that. It's very easy to take part in the rituals and the holidays. It's very easy for us to come to Salat al-Eid where we get to dress nicely and enjoy coming with our families and meeting everyone else and giving each other hugs and congratulating each other on what we've just completed. That's all easy to do.

But what Allah really wants you to realize from this rehab is what is to be realized from any form of rehab — which is to maintain function, to move forward and do what Allah has commanded you to do and to gain that greater awareness of Allah. And not just be a person who needs that optimal environment to worship Allah.

Because at the end of the day, as Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiyaAllahu ta'ala said, you should get accustomed to the idea that if everyone on the face of the earth disobeyed Allah, you would still be obeying Allah alone. If everyone around you was a disbeliever, if there was no masjid, if there was no place to worship Allah, if you were incapable of doing Ramadan because of your circumstances, Allah would still expect from you that you don't disobey Him.

And so it's very easy for us to say salam to one another in the masjid. It's very easy for us to be humble and to stand upright, and for the sisters to put on the hijab and the brothers to straighten up and get quiet when the Qur'an is being recited in the masjid. It's very easy for us to pray a few more rak'ahs when it's going on in the masjid anyway. That's all very easy.

But the most beloved actions to Allah are the consistent ones, even if they're very small. And what the Prophet ﷺ said — and this is an analogy we should take for every phase of our lives, especially as we come out of the month of salah and Qur'an and fasting:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 432; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 777)

"Leave some of your prayers — a share of your prayers — for your homes, and don't turn them into graveyards." And so I want you to think about what the Prophet ﷺ is saying to us here. Even as you pray in the masjid, even as you come — and I hope the masjid will remain full, because Jumu'ah is an obligation next week as well by the way, and 'Isha and Fajr are obligations every single day — I hope that the masjid is always full. But make sure that your home, your private time, has a share of your salah, and of your ibadah, and of your dhikr, of your remembrance of Allah.

Don't turn it into a graveyard. Don't turn your home into a graveyard, and don't turn your heart into a graveyard by depriving it of Qur'an for the rest of the year. And don't make your life one in which you express only your joy and your love of Allah when you're around people that are doing the same — but you live a life of disobedience to Allah.

And dear brothers and sisters, always, always find that hope in Allah — that if you are trying, فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ — if you are trying, then Allah will recognize that effort. And Allah knows what you are capable of, and Allah knows how sincere you were to your potential. And that's all Allah will ask you for.

And the Prophet ﷺ said in authentic hadith — let not one of you die, don't leave this world, except that you have حُسْنَ الظَّنِّ in Allah — except that you assume well of Allah. If you did what Allah commanded you to do, assume well of Allah. And if you're not doing what Allah is commanding you to do, then chastise yourself, and then meet that expectation that Allah has set for us.

We ask Allah to make us a people that worship Him inside and outside of Ramadan, that worship Him inside and outside of the masajid, that fear Him whether we are in worship or with our families or at work. We ask Allah to make us from الْمُتَّقِينَ, to make us from الْمُحْسِنِينَ, to accept from us our Ramadan, to accept from us Laylatul Qadr, to allow us to have observed — or to observe — Laylatul Qadr, and to grant us the full reward of it.

عِبَادَ اللَّهِ، إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ. فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ، وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى نِعَمِهِ يَزِدْكُمْ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ، وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ.

Please make sure your lines are straight. Make du'a for your brothers and sisters in your sujood — in Gaza and all over the world.