My Rights & Yours - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Khutbah al-Ula — The First Sermon

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.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى، وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

The Hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal

What is collected in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim on the authority of the famous, illustrious companion Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him — Mu'adh, who was one of the most knowledgeable of the companions of our Prophet ﷺ — a name that each and every single one of us, and especially our younger brothers and sisters present here today, it is a name that we should all know, memorize, and be familiar with.

Towards the end of the life of the Prophet ﷺ, when the people of Yemen came and they asked the Prophet ﷺ for a companion to travel back with them to Yemen in order to teach the community and in order to deal with the issues that they had there, he chose none other than Mu'adh, may Allah be pleased with him. And when the Prophet ﷺ was saying to the companions, "If you want to learn your Qur'an, learn it from four companions," from the four was this companion Mu'adh, may Allah be pleased with him.

He says in this hadith, may Allah be pleased with him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2856; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 30)

"I was once riding behind the Prophet ﷺ and there was nothing between me and him except the saddle. He called out to me and said: 'Oh Mu'adh, son of Jabal.' And I said to him: 'Here I am, O Messenger of Allah, ready and present for you.' Then we continued to ride for a short while and he didn't say anything. But then after a short while he called me again a second time: 'Oh Mu'adh, son of Jabal.' And I said: 'Here I am, O Messenger of Allah, ready and present.' He continued to ride, and then a third time he called my name: 'Oh Mu'adh, son of Jabal.'"

And all the while Mu'adh's interest is peaking, his attention is rising, his anticipation is increasing — he wants to know, why is the Prophet ﷺ continuously calling my name? Just as we are now anticipating the rest of the hadith. The third time: "Oh Mu'adh, son of Jabal." He said: "Here I am, O Messenger of Allah, ready and present." And then he said to him: "Oh Mu'adh, what is the right that Allah has upon all of His creation, all of His servants?" He said: "Allah and His Messenger know best." He said: "The right of Allah upon all of His servants is that they worship Him alone and they don't associate anyone in His worship."

Then they rode for a while, and then he called my name again: "Oh Mu'adh, son of Jabal." He said: "Here I am, O Messenger of Allah, ready and present." He said: "And what is the right that we — the servants of Allah — have upon our Lord and our Creator, Allah, if we fulfill His rights?" He said: "Allah and His Messenger know best." He said: "The right of the servants of Allah upon their Lord and Creator is that if they fulfill His rights, He won't punish them."

Our Religion Is Built Upon Rights

This hadith is an amazing hadith and it is full of many points of benefit. But the central point that I want to extract for us here today and analyze is that our religion is based on this concept of rights. I have rights and you have rights. Our religion — everything within it — is based on this central concept. Allah has rights upon us and He Himself has placed rights upon Himself, because that is the way that our religion works.

Every single one of us here today, every single one of us that is sitting and listening to this khutbah, we have rights. I have a right as a father, as a husband, as a son, as an imam, as a teacher, as an employer, as an employee. Every single function that we have within our society, every role and job that we assume — it is a right that we fulfill and it is a right that is due to us.

The Right of the Prayer

Even our religion is full of rights. Our ibadah, our worship of Allah, is based on this concept of rights. The Prophet told us ﷺ in the hadith of Abu Qatadah al-Ansari, may Allah be pleased with him, collected in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22642)

"The worst of thieves is the one who steals from his own prayer." The prayer that we pray — Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha — it has rights over us. The worst of thieves is the one who steals from his own prayer. They said: "Oh Messenger of Allah, and how does a person steal from his own salah?" He said: "Because he doesn't fulfill the ruku' and he doesn't fulfill the sujud" — doesn't bow and prostrate correctly. That person hasn't fulfilled the right of their prayer.

The Right of the Congregation Over the Imam

The imam of the masjid has a right in Islam — إِنَّمَا جُعِلَ الْإِمَامُ لِيُؤْتَمَّ بِهِ — the imam is placed there so that you may follow him in congregational prayer. But you as the congregation also have rights.

When Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, that illustrious companion, led the salah of the people of Masjid Quba and he prolonged the salah — because he was reciting, according to one narration, Surah al-Baqarah, and in another narration Surah al-Nisa — one of the people who was in the congregation left. He came the next day and he complained to the Prophet ﷺ: "Oh Messenger of Allah, Mu'adh made the salah too long, and I had other things to do." The Prophet ﷺ said to Mu'adh, because the congregation have rights over the imam:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 703; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 465)

"Don't make your recitation so long — shorten the recitation — because behind you is an elderly person and a sick person and a person who has business to attend to."

The Right of the Prophet ﷺ Upon Us

Our religion is based on this concept of rights. Our Prophet ﷺ has a right upon us all of us:

"O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Prophet ﷺ and don't let your actions become futile."

The Right of Parents

Our parents have rights upon us, and as parents we have rights upon our children. In the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, collected in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, a man came and he asked the Messenger ﷺ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5971; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2548)

"Oh Messenger of Allah, who has the most right to my good companionship?" And he said ﷺ: "Your mother." And he asked again, "Then who?" He said: "Your mother." And a third time, "Then who?" He said: "Your mother." And then he asked, "Then who?" And he said: "Your father."

The Rights of Muslims Upon One Another

Our parents have a right upon us. As Muslims, we have a right upon one another. In the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, in Sahih Muslim:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1240; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2162)

"From the rights of the Muslim upon another Muslim are five: that we respond to the salams when we give it to one another; that when someone sneezes and says الحمد لله we respond and make du'a for them; that when someone gives us an invitation we accept it; that when someone within our family or our community is sick we visit them; and when there is a funeral we follow their procession." That is the right that we have as Muslims.

The Rights of Neighbors

Even our neighbors in Islam have rights. In the hadith of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, she said that the Prophet said ﷺ:

"Jibril, peace be upon him, came and he continued to extol the rights of the neighbor — to impress upon me the rights of the neighbor — until I thought that he would make them from the people that inherit from us after our deaths." That's how strong their right is.

The Rights of Animals

Our religion has even given rights to the animals. As the Prophet told us ﷺ in the famous hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3318; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2242)

"A woman will be punished on the Day of Judgment because of a kitten that she imprisoned. She neither fed the kitten nor gave it anything to drink, nor would she allow it free to roam upon the earth and feed itself."

The Rights of Friends

Our Prophet ﷺ told us that our friends have rights upon us. In the hadith of Abdullah ibn 'Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, in Sunan al-Tirmidhi:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1944)

"The best of friends in the sight of Allah is the one who is best to his friend." They have rights upon us.

The Rights of the Road

To the extent that our religion has even given rights to the roads and the pavements that we walk upon. The road has a right upon us in our religion. The Prophet ﷺ told us in the hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari on the authority of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2465; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2121)

"Beware of stopping and sitting on the roads." Just like sometimes when you walk down the road and you have people gathered on the road and they don't leave any space for anyone to walk past or walk beyond them. Or you have on our road sometimes those people who stand in the middle of the road, wind down their windows, and they're having a conversation while traffic is backed up on either direction.

The companions said: "Oh Messenger of Allah, we have to — that's where we conduct our business." Because in the time of the Prophet ﷺ their houses were too small, they didn't have offices, they didn't have community centers, they didn't have parks — they conducted their business on the roads. "We don't have a choice, Oh Messenger of Allah." He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2465; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2121)

"If you refuse except to conduct your business on the road, then give the road its due right." He said: "Oh Messenger of Allah, and what is the right of the road?" He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2465; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2121)

"The right of the road is that you lower your gaze — don't look into the private property of other people — and that you don't harm anyone, and that you greet people politely, you give them the salams, and you enjoin goodness and you forbid what is evil." That is the right of the road.

Rights Come With Responsibilities

Every single issue in this religion, every role that we assume in life — it is a role of rights. But just as I have rights as a father, as a son, as a husband, as an imam, as an employer, as a teacher, as an employee — I also have to fulfill the rights of others. Because being a father doesn't mean that I just have rights; it means that my children have rights over me as well. I have rights that they give to me, but I have responsibilities that I must fulfill as well.

In the hadith of al-Nu'man ibn Bashir, may Allah be pleased with him, when his father gave him a special gift that he didn't give to any of his other children, and the mother of al-Nu'man said: "I'm not happy with this, I'm not pleased, until you go and ask the Prophet ﷺ." The Prophet ﷺ said to the father of al-Nu'man: "When you gave al-Nu'man the gift, did you give it to all of your other children?" He said: "No, O Messenger of Allah, I only gave it to him." The Prophet said ﷺ: "I will never bear witness to oppression. It is oppression. All of your children have an equal right upon you."

So as I am an imam, I have a right, but I also have rights that I have to fulfill. As a father, I have rights, but there are rights that I have to fulfill. As a husband, I have rights, but there are other rights that I have to fulfill. As a son, I have rights. As a Muslim, I have rights upon you, but then there are rights that I have to fulfill that are yours as well. And that is how this religion works. That's what makes it so amazing — to the extent that our Lord and our Creator, as we mentioned at the beginning of this khutbah, even placed rights upon Himself.

Because when we don't fulfill those rights, we fall into what is called oppression. We oppress one another. I know my rights, so I don't go overboard in demanding them. And I know the rights that you have over me, so I don't fall short in fulfilling those rights. And when you have that, you have harmony — harmony in a marriage, harmony in the family, harmony in the wider community and within society — because we know our rights and we know the rights of others.

The Social Ill of Knife Crime

But we have issues that we have to deal with. And one of those issues that this masjid is going to address today after the Khutbah al-Jumu'ah and for the rest of today — as will be announced after the salah — is that we're dedicating this day to some of the social ills that have become prevalent in recent months and in recent times within our community, amongst our youth, within our society. And from the greatest of those social ills is this rise in knife crime, where people are killing one another, stabbing one another for no good reason — except maybe to gain some street credibility, or because they want to be in with a certain group or a gang, or for whatever reason they do what they do.

In Islam, it is from the greatest of evils, from the greatest of oppressions, and from the greatest derelictions of fulfilling the rights of others when we harm people physically. Our Lord and our Creator said in the Quran:

"Whoever kills another believer intentionally, then they will have as their punishment the Hellfire for eternity, and Allah will have His wrath upon them and He will curse them." To be cursed and to have the anger of Allah means that you are excluded from His mercy. And we know that Allah's mercy covers everything, envelops everything, encompasses everything within this universe — there is nothing outside of the mercy of Allah, so wide and comprehensive it is. But when a person is removed from it, that is the meaning of Allah's curse and His anger and His wrath. And Allah will prepare for them a painful torment.

The famous scholar — the famous scholar of tafsir who the others used to call the Interpreter of the Quran, Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him — said that there is no tawbah, there is no repentance for the one who commits murder. That was the opinion that he had based on this verse, because Allah says that you will have Fire for eternity — there is no repentance for such a person. And he wasn't the only one: Zayd ibn Thabit, Abu Hurairah, Abdullah ibn Umar, al-Hasan al-Basri, Qatadah, al-Dahhak — many of the companions and illustrious scholars of Islam held that view: there is no tawbah for the person who commits murder; they can't repent from that sin.

Even though the vast majority of the scholars and the stronger opinion is that there is tawbah, it shows you the gravity of the issue that these companions held that there is no repentance from such a crime. And that's because they based it on a hadith of Abu al-Darda', may Allah be pleased with him, collected in the Sunan of Abu Dawud, that he said ﷺ:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4270)

"It is possible and likely that Allah will forgive all sins except for two: the one who dies upon shirk — associating others in Allah's worship — and the one who kills another Muslim intentionally, commits murder. Every other sin it is likely that Allah will forgive."

And that's why in the hadith of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, the Prophet said ﷺ in Sahih al-Bukhari:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6862)

"A person will continue to enjoy this religion and they will have leeway within it — meaning that Allah will forgive them and Allah will show them His mercy — so long as they don't spill the blood of another."

It is from the greatest of crimes and the greatest of sins in the sight of Allah. But it has become prevalent within our time, common within our time, within our community and amongst our youth. There was a time when elderly people could walk around the street and they wouldn't fear for themselves, wouldn't fear of being robbed, wouldn't fear of someone coming and showing a knife and pointing a knife towards them. There was a time when if you walked down these streets, you didn't find the houses had CCTV cameras, you didn't find all of this technology in people's houses, because there was a measure of safety that they felt. But now we don't like our children to walk down the street alone. We fear for our elders and our parents and our uncles and our aunts when they walk down the roads. When we leave our houses and we lock them, we fear what may happen in our absence — because people don't respect and they don't know their rights and the rights that others have upon them.

And Allah says:

"And for that reason We wrote upon Bani Israel, We legislated upon them, that whoever kills a single person — or does evil upon the earth — it is as if they killed all of humanity. And whoever gives life to one person, saves a life, it is as if they gave life to all of humanity."

In the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, the Prophet told us ﷺ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 48; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 64)

"To harm another Muslim verbally, to disgrace someone, to humiliate them, to degrade them — it is an evil sin. But to kill them, to fight them — it is a type of disbelief."

And the Prophet told us ﷺ:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2564)

"Every single aspect of another person is sacred — Allah has made it sacred: their blood, their life, and their honor."

So the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, may Allah be pleased with them all, they used to know their rights and they used to know the rights of others. They used to know their rights, so they wouldn't go overboard in demanding their rights — because they knew: this is where my right ends. And they would fulfill the rights of others because they knew what those responsibilities were that they had upon their shoulders.

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to understand and know those rights. And we ask Allah that He showers His mercy and His forgiveness upon us. And that Allah strengthens us and our communities. And that Allah makes us safe within our streets and within our homes.

بَارَكَ اللَّهُ لِي وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقُرْآنِ وَالسُّنَّةِ، وَنَفَعَنِي وَإِيَّاكُمْ مِمَّا فِيهِمَا مِنَ الْآيَاتِ وَالْحِكْمَةِ، أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِجَمِيعِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ، فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ.

Khutbah al-Thaniyah — The Second Sermon

الحمد لله على إحسانه، والشكر له على توفيقه وامتنانه، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له تعظيمًا لشأنه، وأشهد أن نبينا وسيدنا محمدًا عبده ورسوله الداعي إلى رضوانه، صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وإخوانه، وسلم تسليمًا كثيرًا. أما بعد:

Ramadan and the Danger of Oppression

As the month of Ramadan is fast approaching — it is a month in which we excel in good deeds, it's a month in which we offer extra fasting, extra prayers, we recite the Qur'an more, we give more charity, we make more du'a, we accumulate as many good deeds as we can — but one of the things that we have to be careful of is that one of the easiest ways to lose all of those efforts and all of those good deeds is when we commit oppression, when we don't fulfill the rights of others, when we go overboard in demanding the rights that we have upon others.

Allah, in the Hadith al-Qudsi, the Prophet told us ﷺ that Allah said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2577)

"O My servants, I have made oppression haram upon Myself, and I have made it haram amongst you, so do not oppress one another."

The Bankrupt Person on the Day of Judgment

The Prophet ﷺ one day asked his companions:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2581)

"Who is the bankrupt, destitute one amongst you?" They said: "O Messenger of Allah, the one who is destitute, bankrupt amongst us is the one who doesn't have any money, doesn't have dirham or dinar, doesn't have gold or silver, doesn't own anything." He said: "No. Rather, the one who is destitute is the one who will come on the Day of Judgment with prayer and with fasting and with charity — with good deeds — but at the same time they will have come having oppressed so-and-so, and spilt the blood of another person, and struck another person physically. So those people on the Day of Judgment who were oppressed will come before Allah and they will demand their rights. And Allah will take from the good deeds of this person and He will give it to them to equal the rights that they had — to balance the books. And once all of his good deeds are finished and those people are still coming, still coming with their demands, Allah will take from their evil deeds and He will place it on the account of this man, and then he will be dragged and thrown into the Fire of Hell."

It is from the greatest of evils to oppress someone. It is from the greatest of misdeeds and sins that we can perform to commit oppression. Allah tells us over and over again in the Quran: Allah does not love those who oppress others.

The Message: Know Your Rights and the Rights of Others

It is therefore our duty, our right, our responsibility that we learn what are our rights. In the time of the Prophet ﷺ, they used to know their rights and the rights of others. Because when you know those rights then you can compromise. A marriage is based upon people knowing their rights and then at times having to compromise. A family is based on people knowing their rights and then at times maybe they have to compromise. An employer and an employee, a teacher and their student — in everything that we do in life it is based on a principle of sometimes having to compromise on certain issues. But if you don't know your rights and you don't know the rights of others, forget about compromising and reaching a solution — we can't even uphold the basic rights that people have.

So the message from this minbar today, from this Khutbah al-Jumu'ah, is that for each and every single one of us it is our duty, our responsibility, to learn what are our rights and the rights of others. We have dual roles to fulfill: my rights are mine, but at the same time I have a responsibility to give others the rights that they have as well.