Be From Those Who Prostrate - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Be From Those Who Prostrate

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ 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 وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا

As we welcome back into our community, our friends and our relatives and our neighbors, those whom Allah blessed this year to perform the Hajj — may we ask Allah on this blessed day of Jumu'ah to accept their Hajj and that Allah grants us all the ability to perform Hajj multiple times. I want to share with you on this blessed day of Friday and in this khutbah of Jumu'ah, one of the greatest lessons that the Hajj epitomizes, one of the greatest things that we can draw from the Hajj.

The Prophet of Hajj: Ibrahim, the Khalil of Allah

One of the things that we notice from the prophet of Hajj, Ibrahim alayhi salatu wasalam, the prophet that Allah mentions countless times in the Quran and the prophet from whom we take many of the rites of Hajj even today — the lesson that I want to bring to your attention today is the importance of rededicating yourself to Allah, renewing your commitment to Allah.

If you were to study and analyze the life of Ibrahim alayhi salam, one of the greatest and mightiest prophets and messengers of Allah — to the extent that some of the scholars were of the opinion that after our prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, the greatest messenger and prophet of Allah was none other than Ibrahim alayhi salam, the Khalil of Allah.

This is a prophet who throughout his many years of dedication and servitude to Allah, Allah challenged him with test after test and trial upon trial — as Allah himself mentions in the Quran in Surah al-Baqarah. Allah says: we tested and we tried Ibrahim alayhi salam with many commandments, many tests, and he fulfilled all of them. That is why Allah praised him and said that Ibrahim is a man who is a nation unto himself.

His life, as you know, is a series of tests and challenges. He waits until old age before Allah gives him a child. Then he takes that child and leaves him in a barren desert land with no food, no people, and no water. Then when Allah saves them — his family, his child — and the child grows up to be a boy, Ibrahim alayhi salam is commanded to go and slaughter that same child with his own hand. Trial upon trial, decades of servitude to Allah.

But the culmination of that life and the culmination of those struggles is epitomized in a single commandment in the Quran. You would think that Ibrahim alayhi salam, after those years of service and dedication to Allah, would be given some honor in a way that no one else is honored. But instead, Ibrahim alayhi salam is told towards the end of this life of challenges that his reward is his rededication to Allah, to renew his commitment to Allah. So Allah commands him towards the end of his life: go back to Mecca and with your son Ismail, raise the foundations of the Ka'bah, of the house. And then when he does so, he pronounces and he invites the people to perform Hajj. And Allah commands him, saying: oh Ibrahim, purify and cleanse my house for those who will come and make tawaf, for those who will stand in prayer, for those who will make ruku' and for those who will make sujood. It is a life of dedication to Allah.

The Universal Law: Turn to Allah in Times of Difficulty

One of the greatest lessons that we take from this dedication — or rededication — to Allah is that Allah has ordained, and it is a universal law, and it is something that you find often in the Quran in the stories of the prophets: that when they are going through their most severe and difficult challenges in life — whether that be a challenge with their own health, with their family, with their children, with their spouses, or with the nations that they were sent to — Allah in those most difficult challenges commands them to increase in servitude to him. The way to rededicate yourself to Allah, to renew your commitment to Allah, is to humble yourself before Allah even more so than before.

Whosoever humbles themselves before Allah, Allah raises them. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2588, on the authority of Abu Hurayra)

So Ibrahim alayhi salam is going through struggle upon struggle and Allah says: worship me even more. That is your path to success. That is your salvation.

Ya'qub alayhi salam loses his son Yusuf, and he has been gone for many years. Then his brothers take his second most beloved son Binyamin, and they also lose him — he goes into the custodianship of Yusuf. They return to their father, and their father, because of the grief that is now compounded, loses his eyesight. So what does he say in this moment of difficulty, of challenge, of trial?

"I only complain of my grief and my sorrow to Allah alone."

Yunus alayhi salam is swallowed in the belly of the whale and stays within that belly for a number of nights. He has no other respite, no other source of recourse, except to turn to Allah and say:

Ayyub alayhi salam — for years, according to some scholars for decades — is overcome with an illness so severe upon his body that it is said the people of his town exiled him and only his wife would go and visit him. No one else wanted to know him, and there he is, a prophet of Allah. His cure, his salvation, his solution to this trial is by turning to Allah:

The Act of Worship That Draws You Closest to Allah: Sujood

But one of the greatest ways of dedicating yourself to Allah, of renewing your commitment to Allah — and one of the things that all of us are able to do, whether you went for Hajj this year or you didn't — is what Allah often draws our attention to in the stories of the prophets, including the story of our own prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. That is: in the most difficult of times, Allah will ask them to perform the single act of worship that epitomizes the most humble state that you can be in. It shows the highest level of submission, the greatest level of servitude to Allah. And that is sajdah — that you throw yourself in prostration before Allah.

Because the prophet told us salallahu alayhi wasalam: the closest position that you can be in to Allah in this world is not the tawaf that you make during Hajj, or the sa'i between Safa and Marwah, or the standing in Arafah, or those nights that the hujjaj spend in Mina. All of those are great and tremendous acts of worship. But the single act that draws you closest to Allah is that sajdah that you make in every single salah that you offer.

When you are in that state of sajdah, of prostration — when you, despite your self-pride, your self-honor, despite the fact that you don't like to belittle yourself in front of anyone — before Allah, you are willing to place your forehead and your nose upon the ground five times a day, wherever you may be. It may not always be carpeted or with a nice rug. It may be outside on the tarmac, or on the grass, or on the sand. Wherever you are, you are willing to put your head down upon the ground, your face on the ground. That is the greatest position that you can be in before Allah, the closest that you can come to Allah in this life.

The Prophet's Response to the Trials of Quraysh

So when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was facing the many challenges that he faced — especially towards the beginning of his mission in Mecca, when the Quraysh were coming time after time with severity, inflicting him with severe trials and testing him — Allah would command the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam: even though they are belittling you, the way that you overcome them is by humbling yourself before Allah. Throw yourself into sujood.

Abdullah ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhuma mentions that the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, at the beginning of Islam, would go to the Ka'bah and he would pray. The people of Quraysh and the leaders of Quraysh would see this and watch it and would not like what he was doing — the fact that he was shunning all of the idols and their gods and was praying to Allah alone by the Ka'bah.

So Abu Jahl, the enemy of Islam, walks past him one day and sees him praying and says: "O Muhammad, did I not forbid you from doing this by the Ka'bah, in open public, that you should come and worship your God like this?" And then he began to threaten him. The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam became upset, became angry, and rebuked him. So Abu Jahl said: "O Muhammad, who do you think you are to rebuke me? Do you not know that by Allah, there is no one in this valley of Mecca who has more people, more supporters, more aids than I do? If I were to simply call, all of Quraysh would come running to my benefit, to my aid, to help me. Who do you have?"

So Allah revealed verses in the Quran — in the first surah that was ever revealed, Surah al-'Alaq — concerning this incident that took place between Abu Jahl and our prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, and this statement that he made that no one can ask for more help in Mecca than him. Allah says: let him call his helpers — we will bring to him the angels of punishment.

So when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was praying one day and Abu Jahl wanted to go and stop him from praying, he walked towards the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and then he backed off and stepped away. The Quraysh said to him: "O Abu Jahl, what's wrong? What stopped you?" He said: "All I saw in front of me was fire and punishment." Allah stopped him from harming the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.

And then Allah speaks to the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in the last verse of Surah al-'Alaq, after which we are commanded to go into sujood: nay, do not obey him, O messenger of Allah — but rather fall in prostration and come closer to Allah. Allah does not say: we are going to send you angels to help you, or that we will give you victory in a night, or that Allah will send some miracle to overcome all of Quraysh. No — in this most difficult of times: O Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam, fall into prostration. Draw closer to Allah.

I know that there are people here who have recently lost loved ones, people in your family — but the solution to that is to go into prostration and come closer to Allah. There are people here who have problems with their families, with their wives, with their children — those problems keep them awake at night and keep them worrying by day. The solution is to draw closer to Allah and to fall into prostration. There are people from amongst us who have serious health issues, problems that they are afflicted with. The solution is to draw closer to Allah and to throw yourself in prostration. We see the situation of the Muslims across the world and it grieves us and it sorrows us. But the solution is to throw yourself into prostration and to come closer to Allah. If that is the solution for the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, it is a lesson for his ummah after him.

The Second Command: Surah al-Hijr

The torment of the Quraysh, their persecution and torturing of the Muslims, continued to the extent that now the companions of the Quraysh were openly accusing the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam of things that he is free from. They were calling him names, mocking him, saying that he is a sahir (a magician), a sha'ir (a poet), a kahin (a fortune teller), majnoon (crazy), and that the verses he brings are asatirul awwaleen — tales of old. Not only does he have to listen to this on a daily basis when he walks through Makkah, but Allah then makes those same words immortal, ever-living within the Quran. So now the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is praying and reading out loud the surahs of the Quran, and Allah is relaying what they say about him, and he is reading what they say about him in his salah. His companions are reciting those same verses out loud. Everywhere, the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is surrounded by those accusations. Till today, we read those verses, and for every single word that you read, Allah gives you ten rewards.

But what is the solution? Allah says to him:

"We know, O Muhammad, that your chest becomes restricted and constricted, that you feel grief and sorrow because of the words that they say. So glorify the praises of your Lord and be from amongst those who go into sajdah, those who fall down into prostration."

Allah is teaching the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam a vital lesson. In every single issue that we have going on within our lives, the problems that we are facing — yes, there are solutions and things that you can do, halal means that you can take by your hands, and those means you should take, and that is a part of our religion. But before those means and above those means and encompassing those means is the fact that you turn back to Allah. You show your impoverishment before Allah, your poverty before Allah, your need before Allah, your humbleness and your humility before Allah by making sajdah, by making du'a in that sajdah, by spending time talking to Allah and asking Allah for his help. So when you do that — even though you would not belittle or humble yourself before anyone else in this world — when you do it before Allah, Allah raises your station. Allah sends his help and his aid.

The Third Command: Surah al-Najm and the Day All Fell in Prostration

So the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam a second time is told to go into sajdah, and then a third time he is also told to go into sajdah. In Surah al-Najm, in the final few verses, when Allah again relates to us the situation of the Quraysh when it comes to the message of Islam: they are amazed by the speech — the Quran that has been sent down to them. Yet those people laugh and make mockery and jest of the Quran. It does not bring tears to their eyes. Instead, they clap and they dance and they have music out of mockery and jest of the Quran.

What does Allah say to the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam? This is the way the Quraysh treat you. This is what they do when you read the Quran to them. This is what they do when you invite them to Islam.

"Rather, you prostrate yourselves to Allah and worship him alone."

Abdullah ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhuma said — in what is collected in Sahih al-Bukhari — that when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam recited this verse, this last verse of Surah al-Najm, all of the Muslims fell into prostration, and all of the mushrikun — the polytheists who were listening to this verse — they fell into prostration, and all of the jinn fell into prostration.

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu said — in what is collected in Sahih Muslim — that the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was reading this surah by the Ka'bah. He was reading it out loud and the Quraysh were mesmerized by these verses of the Quran. They were overcome by the beauty and eloquence of the Quran. So when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam read this commandment — fasjudu lillahi wa'budu, prostrate to Allah and worship Allah — it is a commandment to me and you, to the Muslims. But even the Quraysh, when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam went into sajdah, the Quraysh fell into prostration with him. These people who do not believe in the Quran, who do not believe in the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, who reject worshiping Allah alone — they fell into prostration.

Ibn Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu says: illa shaykhan kabira — except for an elderly man from amongst them. The elderly man could not physically get on his knees and put his head on the ground. So he took the sand from the ground, placed it and rubbed it on his forehead, and said: yakfini hadha — "This for me is sufficient." Such was the impact of the Quran.

The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is being told yet again in the Quran that the way to overcome this is by prostrating to Allah. So the companions relate to us that when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was upset, when he became sorrowful, when there was some grief afflicting him, he would rush and hasten to the salah — because in that salah he was going to sajdah, and he would complain to Allah and Allah alone.

The Greatness of Sujood

The prophet said salallahu alayhi wasalam: when the child of Adam — when a person reads the Quran and they come across a verse of prostration, so they fall into prostration — Shaytan moves away and begins to cry. He says: "The children of Adam were ordered by Allah to go into sujood. So they did so, and they will be given Jannah as a result. And Allah commanded me to make sajdah and I refused, and because of this, for me is the fire."

Such is the greatness of sujood — that the prophet said salallahu alayhi wasalam that a person, when they pass away, would give and sacrifice everything in this life for the opportunity to come back and pray two quick rak'ahs — not long rak'ahs, not tarawih, just two quick short rak'ahs — that would be more beloved to them than everything else in this world.

The Story of Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b al-Aslami

There was a companion by the name of Rabi'ah ibn Ka'b al-Aslami radiyallahu anhu, from the Ahl al-Suffah — the poor homeless companions who would spend their nights in the masjid of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. This companion was extremely poor, had very little wealth if any, had no family, no wife, no children. But Rabi'ah radiyallahu anhu used to be a servant to the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.

He says concerning himself: "I would bring the water for wudu' for the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, and I would bring him his food, and if I could serve him in another way, I would do so. And at night, when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam would go home to sleep, I would stand outside of his door and would wait — perhaps he will wake up and need something, perhaps he will ask me for something." So he would spend the night serving the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.

The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, seeing his service day in day out, night in night out, wanted to acknowledge this service and said to him one day: "Sal me ya Rabi'ah" — "Ask me for something, O Rabi'ah, I want to reward you, I want to give you something."

Rabi'ah — this man who is penniless, homeless, doesn't own anything, doesn't have a wife, doesn't have children, doesn't have anything in this world he can put to his name — he thinks, and he says: "You are asking me what I want, O messenger of Allah. I want your companionship in Jannah."

The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is taken aback by this. Perhaps the man would have asked for some wealth, a place to live, someone to find for him in marriage, some suitable partner, anything. So the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, knowing his situation, says: "Perhaps you want something else, O Rabi'ah. Think again." So Rabi'ah thinks and says: "This is what I want, O messenger of Allah — your companionship in Jannah."

So the prophet said salallahu alayhi wasalam to him — and it is a lesson to us as well: "So help me help you by making a lot of sujood, by going into prostration often."

This companion wants the greatest thing he can possibly think of — to be the companion of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in Jannah. The path to that companionship in Jannah, the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is telling him: humble yourself before Allah, make sujood to Allah. The more you do so, the more Allah will raise your station and rank — not only in this life, but also in the next.

Sujood: A Sign of the Day of Judgement and a Mark in the Fire

From the signs of Yawm al-Qiyamah that our prophet told us salallahu alayhi wasalam is that a time will come upon this ummah when a single sajdah in this world is worth more than anything else — because the time will come upon the people when it will be a rarity that people make sajdah to Allah, that people humble themselves before Allah. So from the signs of Yawm al-Qiyamah is that a single sajdah is more precious than anything else in this world.

In the hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari on the authority of Abu Hurayra radiyallahu anhu, when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was speaking about the believers — the mu'mineen, the Muslims — that will be in the fire and how Allah will take them out of the fire batch after batch, depending on their level of iman, depending on their good deeds, and how quickly it takes to cleanse them from their evil deeds. The prophet said salallahu alayhi wasalam:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 806)

"Until Allah wishes to show his mercy to those people from the believers that are in the fire of Hell." — May Allah save us and our families from that.

When Allah wants to show those people rahma and mercy, Allah will command the angels and say to them: bring out, draw out from the fire those people who worshipped me alone. So the angels will go and take them from the fire and bring them into Jannah. The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said that the way they will recognize those people — because the people of the fire have been incinerated, their bodies have become charred, they are no longer recognizable in the way that you recognize them in the dunya — is that they will be recognized from the marks of prostration upon their foreheads.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 806)

"And Allah has made it haram — forbidden — for the fire of Hell that it should devour the marks of prostration."

That is how the believers will be recognized in the fire of Hell — from how much sujood they used to make to Allah. It is one of the greatest acts of worship that you can do, that Allah mentions many times in the Quran and that the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam emphasized in many hadith — because it is the point at which you are closest to Allah.

A Daily Renewal of Commitment to Allah

We have many elders within this masjid sitting on chairs who no longer have the physical ability to go down on their knees and make that prostration. They have the reward because they have a valid excuse in the sight of Allah. But for those of us who have the physical ability to go down, it is one of the greatest and sweetest acts of worship that you can perform.

Renewing your commitment to Allah, rededicating yourself to Allah — for the Muslim — is not just once a year in Ramadan or once in a lifetime in the Hajj. It is every single day. Every day you say Allahu Akbar and you turn to Allah facing the qibla, and every time you go into sajdah, you are renewing your commitment to Allah.

Do not make your sajdah one where you simply go down, read a few words so quickly that you do not even understand what you are reading, and come out. Rather, make your sajdah the way the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam used to prostrate — where he would enjoy the sajdah and prolong it when he was alone praying his own prayers. He would prolong it, enjoy it, and make much du'a within the sajdah.

Du'a and Closing

We ask Allah to make us people of the sajdah and that Allah gives us benefit in this life and the next. We ask Allah that he makes our affairs easy for us and that he showers his mercy upon us and our families and our community. And that Allah safeguards us from the traps of Shaytan and blesses upon us his blessings — those which are apparent and those which are hidden. We ask Allah to grant us Jannah and to save us from the fire.

Finally, brothers and sisters, before we conclude — today is the day of Jumu'ah, and on this blessed day, I ask you to give generously and donate in the way of Allah by spending towards this masjid. May Allah bless you and your wealth. Also, after Salatul Jumu'ah, there will be a janazah prayer, insha'Allah.