The Two Sons of Adam عليه السلام‬‎ (with Sign Language) - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Khutbah Opening

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

The Greatest Miracle: The Quran

Our Prophet ﷺ, as you know, was given many miracles. But from the greatest of those miracles, the greatest single miracle that was bestowed upon our Prophet ﷺ was the miracle of the Quran. The Prophet ﷺ, as we know, as is mentioned in the Quran and sometimes in the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, he was given the miracle of splitting the moon into two halves. And he was given the miracle of taking a small amount of food and by reciting Allah's name over it, making it plentiful for a great number of people. The Prophet ﷺ would sometimes have water coming from his hands that would be sufficient for a large group of companions to make wudu with. Many miracles that the Prophet ﷺ was given. But the greatest of those miracles is the miracle of the Quran.

Not least because the Quran in and of itself is miraculous. From the miracle of the Quran is that it is something which applies to each and every single time. Its lessons, its principles, its morals, its guidelines — once they're deduced and derived and understood in the way and the manner that they should be understood — they apply to every time and every generation. And that's the miracle of the Quran.

Usually books, usually any type of written information, it is only valid for a small amount of time. The works that were written by authors in the 16th, 17th, 18th century — when you read them now, even though they were written in English, authors like Shakespeare, authors like Charles Dickens — those books we find it difficult to understand. They were written for a different generation, different time and place. But the Quran — it is something which is valid. Its rules, its principles, its morals, its guidelines, they can be deduced and applied to our situation right here, today, in the UK.

So I want to give an example of this inshallah in this time that we have before us, in this Khutbatul Jumu'ah, by going through and analyzing one of the stories of the Quran — a story in Surah Al-Ma'idah, verses 26 onwards, in which Allah mentions to us the story of the two sons of Adam.

The Story of Adam's Two Sons in the Quran

Adam عليه السلام, the first prophet of Allah, our father, the father of mankind — he had many children. But Allah relays in the Quran the story of his two sons. Now usually in the Quran, when we look at the story of this amazing prophet of Allah, we're only told a very limited amount of information concerning him. Most of the Quran only deals with his creation and with Allah's command to the angels to prostrate before him, and how Iblis refused to make that prostration. That's what the Quran usually speaks about when it comes to the story of this prophet.

And in Surah Al-Ma'idah, Allah tells us about two of his sons — Habil and Qabil, Cain and Abel — their story. And Allah says:

Relate to them the news of the two sons of Adam in truth. And Allah doesn't call this just a story — he calls it news. Often in the Quran when Allah mentions the stories of the prophets, he calls them stories:

Relate to them stories that they may ponder and think and contemplate. Allah calls them stories. In Surah Yusuf, Allah says:

The best of stories. But in this particular story, Allah uses the word نَبَأ — it is news. And often in the Quran, as the scholars of Tafsir mention, when the word نَبَأ is used, it's because it was a grave, important issue — something major was going to happen, something that we should pay more attention to than usual. Allah says:

What do they ask concerning? They ask concerning the greatest of news — meaning the Day of Judgment, يَوْمُ الْقِيَامَةِ. When Allah speaks in Surah Sad, he says:

Say that it is a tremendous news. And then Allah relays the story of Adam. Likewise here, Allah calls it news — something that we need to pay attention to. Relate to them the news of the two sons of Adam in truth. Because all of the stories of the Quran are true — not fiction, it's not made up, it's not just there for entertainment. Every single one of those stories that Allah mentions in the Quran, they are true, they took place. But those stories that are true are not just there for us to read — they're there for us to analyze and understand, they're there for us to contemplate, they're there for us to study, they're there for us to sit with our younger brothers and sisters and our children and explore the deeper meanings of those stories of the Quran and the lessons that Allah wants us to take from them, so that we can apply them in our situation.

The Sacrifice: Accepted and Rejected

What is the story of these two sons of Adam?

Both of them gave forth a sacrifice. It was accepted from one of those two sons of Adam, and it was rejected from the other. The scholars of Tafsir — Ibn Kathir, Al-Imam At-Tabari and others — they say concerning the background of this story that the two sons of Adam both of them wanted to marry the same woman. So their father Adam said to them: because both of you want the same woman, you should offer a sacrifice — give some charity, give something in the name of Allah. And whichever one his charity is accepted by Allah, he is the one who will marry. And the one whose charity is not accepted by Allah, he doesn't marry that lady. So both of them did this.

Now before our Ummah, before our generation, before our nation — in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, in the past nations — Allah would show acceptance of sacrifice and charity by sending a fire from the heavens and devouring that offering. That's how acceptance was shown. In the nations that passed, in the previous prophets' nations, when they would go to war, they would wage war and they would have the booty, the spoils of war. They would collect them and gather them together, and they wouldn't take them and benefit from them, they wouldn't be distributed amongst the soldiers and the generals — it would be left. And if Allah sent down a fire to devour that war booty, it was considered to be accepted. And if it was left, it was rejected — not pure enough, maybe they weren't sincere enough, whatever the reason, it was rejected. And that's how Allah would show them the signs.

In our Ummah, in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet told us ﷺ from the unique attributes that he was given:

War booty, the spoils of war, were made halal for me — meaning they were not made halal for the previous prophets who came before him. So this was the sign.

Both of them wanted to marry the same woman, so both of them were told to give some charity, offer something in the name of Allah. Habil was a man who had livestock and animals — he had sheep and cows and camels. So he had a prized animal that he was saving, and he thought to himself that this is the one that I will take and sacrifice in the name of Allah — meaning the best of his wealth. And his brother Qabil was a man of vegetation, plantation, a man of harvest, of agriculture. And he thought to himself that Allah doesn't need my charity, Allah doesn't need my sacrifice, Allah doesn't need what I give. So I will give to Allah what I have left over — the worst that I have, I will give that in the name of charity.

So Allah accepted from the one who gave the best of his wealth, and he rejected from his brother who gave from the worst of his wealth. And that is a sign in and of itself — in the way that we give charity, the mindset that we have when it comes to worshipping Allah.

The Mindset of Worship

That is why our religion is so amazing, it is so beautiful. Even on this day of Jumu'ah, we're told to come in a certain way to the masjid. We're told that we should bathe on this day, we should wear a set of clean clothes, we should perfume ourselves. Why? Because we're coming to stand in front of Allah. There are certain things that we're not meant to eat before we come into the masjid — onions, garlic, those types of things. Why? Because we're coming to stand before Allah. That is the mindset of worshipping Allah.

So one of the sons of Adam understood that. That yes, Allah doesn't need my wealth, Allah doesn't benefit from the sacrifice that I make, Allah doesn't take from the meat. But Allah wants to see how willing I am — it is a sign of my piety, of my sincerity. As Allah tells us in the Quran, in Surah Al-Hajj, concerning the sacrifice that we will offer in the days of the Eid that is forthcoming:

Allah doesn't take from the meat or the blood of what you offer. But Allah takes from the piety that you display. And so he understood this. This is a principle that goes throughout the Sharia.

When we do something — when we have our relationships, when we have our customs, the way that we treat our friends, our relatives, our guests — there's a certain standard in the way that we perform. There's a certain standard that we meet in the way that we treat one another because that is our honor and dignity. But when it comes to standing in front of Allah, worshipping Allah, what is the standard that we meet in terms of our worship? That is what Allah is telling us in this story.

A woman once came to the Prophet ﷺ and she said: O Messenger of Allah, my mother — she took an oath that she would fast, but then she died before she was able to make up those days of fasting. She took an oath by Allah. This — when a person passes away, we usually go around and we settle their debts. Someone has a loan, they took some money from someone, we settle those loans and debts as a matter of fact of the funeral procedures. My mother passed away, she made an oath to Allah that she would fast, but then she passed away. What should I do? The Prophet ﷺ told her:

Fast on her behalf. Because the debts of Allah have more right that they should be fulfilled. It is more befitting that you fulfill the rights of Allah. And that's why when someone passes away, from their estate, if they didn't perform Hajj, they didn't perform Umrah, and we have enough money from their wealth, from the money that they left behind, that someone should go and perform Hajj and Umrah on their behalf — that is from the Sunnah, something that should be done. Some of the scholars consider it to be something which you do even before you distribute that money to the deceased's relatives and to the people that are living. That's the rights of Allah.

In another hadith, a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and he said: O Messenger of Allah, when I'm at home and I'm alone, no one can see me — can I walk around naked? I'm alone, no one can see me. Is it allowed for me to walk around naked? The Prophet ﷺ said to him:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4017; authenticated by Al-Albani)

Allah has more right that you show embarrassment and shyness before him. Yes, no one can see you, there's no one there around you, but Allah is watching, Allah sees. You should be more shy and embarrassed that you walk in that way, knowing that Allah is watching and hearing you.

And that's why Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه said that when he would want to relieve himself, he would go far away in the desert, and he would say about himself that I hunch down, I make myself small, and I cover myself with whatever cloth that I have, out of shyness before Allah. Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari رضي الله عنه used to say that during the night when he would go and relieve himself in the desert — because they didn't have bathrooms in their homes, they would go out far, walk, and then they would relieve themselves — he would say: even in the night, I cover myself up out of shyness before Allah.

That is a mindset, my dear brothers and sisters. That's something that takes place in the heart. The way that we act before Allah. We're often so preoccupied with the way that people would judge us, the way that people will look at us, the standards that people have — the house that we live in, the car that we drive, the clothes that we wear, the way that we speak, the way that we act. But then when we're alone and only Allah is with us, we forget everything. No standards remain. We have nothing that we're fearful of in the sight of Allah, but we're ashamed of every single other person. This is the mindset that is being mentioned to us in the story of the two sons of Adam.

One of them understood this concept, the other one didn't. Yes, Allah doesn't benefit from the wealth that you give, Allah doesn't need our charity, Allah doesn't need our worship — but we need our charity and our worship. And Allah judges that charity and worship based upon our level of sincerity, our taqwa, the excellence that we put into the actions that we perform.

The First Murder: Jealousy and Its Consequences

It was accepted from one of them, and it wasn't accepted from the other. So the one who was rejected — he had a disease in his heart. He said to his own blood brother: I will kill you. Because in his heart he had jealousy.

Some of the scholars of Tafsir said that just as arrogance was the first sin that was committed in the heavens — when Iblis refused to prostrate to Adam عليه السلام, the father of these two men, when he refused, it was out of arrogance. That was the first sin that was committed. And arrogance is so dangerous and it is so destructive that it led Iblis to rejecting Allah, refusing to obey the command of Allah. It led to him becoming outcast. And that's why our Prophet ﷺ told us:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 91)

He will not enter into paradise, the one who even has a morsel, a mustard seed of arrogance in their heart. It's dangerous.

Just as that was the first sin to be committed in the heavens, some of the scholars said that the first sin to be committed on the earth was jealousy. And jealousy is just as destructive. When it leads to envy and hatred, it leads a person to doing things that you wouldn't think were possible — like killing their own blood relatives.

I will kill you. That's why the Prophet ﷺ told us, as recorded in the Sahih of Ibn Hibban:

(Sahih Ibn Hibban, Hadith 4605)

It doesn't come together in the heart of a single person that they have iman, faith in Allah, and they have jealousy. And the Prophet ﷺ told us, warning us as a community:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 1606; graded hasan)

There has come upon you the disease that afflicted those who came before you — jealousy and hatred. Because jealousy often leads to hatred. So he said to him: I'm going to kill you.

The Response of the Righteous Brother

His brother responded and said: Allah only accepts from the people of piety. The people who have God-consciousness. The people who are always aware that Allah is watching, Allah is hearing, Allah is knowing. The people who understand that even though no one else may understand or know what is going on within my heart, Allah knows — and he knows better than I do. Allah only accepts from the people of piety, not from anyone else.

And that's why Umar رضي الله عنه used to say, based on this verse: if I knew that Allah only accepted a single deed of mine — one action — I would place all of my hope and trust on that single action. A person like Umar, with all of his years of jihad, all of his years of worship, all of his years of companionship with the Prophet ﷺ, all of his sacrifice, all of the good that he did for Islam — one action, I would place all of my hope and trust upon it. Because if Allah accepts one, it means that you fulfill that criteria of taqwa. It's a major thing. And so Umar رضي الله عنه used to say this concerning this verse — something that we don't really think about when it comes to our acts of worship.

The month of Ramadan just passed by a month, a month and a half ago. And the companions of the Prophet ﷺ said that after the month of Ramadan finished, they would make dua to Allah for a number of months that Allah would accept their deeds from the month of Ramadan. We've heard this narration so many times. Why? Because they understood its importance. They wouldn't just forget — Ramadan's over, or Hajj is over, or this season's come and it's gone.

We're fast approaching now the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, about which the Prophet ﷺ said they are the best days of the year — the best days in terms of doing actions, coming closer to Allah. The scholars said even better than the days of Ramadan are those first ten days of Dhul Hijjah. And they're coming upon us fast. What is the mindset that we have when we approach those days? For Allah only accepts from the people of piety.

And then he elaborates on this mindset. The brother who is being threatened by his own blood brother that he's going to be killed — he said:

If you outstretch your hand to harm me, then I will never outstretch my hand to harm you, because I fear Allah, Lord of the Universe. I fear Allah. That's what it comes down to. The way that we act with one another, the way that we deal with one another — when we know that we can take from someone something that doesn't belong to them and they won't know, or they're powerless to stop us, or we know that we're in the wrong but no one can hold us to account, there's nothing that they can do — what stops us from oppressing other people? And what stops us from being oppressive towards others? It is our fear of Allah.

Just as in the month of Ramadan, when no one could see us and we were at home alone, and we had a fridge full of food and a cupboard full of food — we could have hidden and eaten and drank, and no one would be any the wiser. But we stopped because Allah was watching us. We stopped because even though no one else knows, we know, and Allah knows. But that's not just the month of Ramadan. It is in every single thing that we do — every word that we utter, every action that we perform, and especially when it comes to the rights of others.

A Lesson for Our Community Today

These last few weeks and months in the city of Birmingham and across the UK, we've seen a major rise in crime. People being stabbed, people being killed in our own community — these areas just a few minutes from the masjid. You only have to read the news to see how many people — gang-related killings, people being stabbed, people being dead. In all of my years giving khutbah in this masjid, no single topic has been requested of me more than this issue. So many people have come to me after the salah, or after the khutbah that I gave previously, or people just stopping me and saying: Sheikh, this is a big issue. Why? Because we're worried for our safety, our families, our children, our wives, our parents.

What stops a person from oppressing, from transgressing? What stops a person from taking more than what is their due? And even when we are oppressed or we're hurt, we're in the right — what stops us from going overboard in the way that we demand our rights? It is our fear of Allah. That should be first and foremost before anything else. And that's why it's important that we understand this mindset. Even if my blood brother is going to kill me, I will never harm you — because I fear Allah.

And if you do so, if you kill me, then not only will you take your sin, but you will take my sins as well. Allah will forgive me. And that's another thing that we forget — our understanding of justice, our understanding of mercy, our understanding of right and wrong is not just limited to this temporary abode of the dunya. Those people who do wrong, if they're not caught in this life, if no justice is given to them here, they will stand in front of Allah, who is the greatest of all judges. And if we don't take our rights in this life, if someone oppresses us and we are weak, we are oppressed, then Allah will give it to us in full in the next life.

You will not only take the sin of murder, but you will take my sins as well. As the Prophet ﷺ told us:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4772; Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1421)

Whosoever is killed defending his family, his property, his honor, his religion — that person is a martyr. Allah has forgiven them. They've been killed oppressively, Allah has forgiven their sins. But the person who commits murder — they will take that sin. The Prophet ﷺ told us in the hadith in Sahih Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1677)

Not a single person is killed unjustly, oppressively, anytime, anywhere in the world, except that a portion of that sin will go on that first son of Adam. Because he was the first one to start murder in this world. He was the first one to establish that practice.

And that's why sometimes when we deal with people, we don't understand the repercussions, the ramifications, the consequences of our actions. So you have someone who's oppressed, but he goes overboard in taking his revenge. And then there becomes a revenge killing. And then a third person retaliates, and it goes back and forth, back and forth. And this is a problem that we have. Murder is the extreme example. But even in the small everyday issues — the way that we treat one another, family members, friends, neighbors, the way that we deal with one another — what is the mindset that we have?

So that son of Adam — every single person, can you imagine how many millions of people have been killed oppressively? He will take a portion of each one of their blood. Because he was the first one to start this. It is a major issue.

Everyone forgets. We forget, our families forget, the community forgets, the police, everyone forgets. But Allah doesn't forget. Allah records, Allah writes, and his writing is meticulous. Allah doesn't let anything escape him. And on the Day of Judgment:

No one will be oppressed on that day. Even if it is a mustard seed of what you did — a word that you said, that you forgot about, an action that you performed that you never thought twice about — Allah will bring it forth. And sufficient is Allah as one who holds to account. This is what Allah is teaching us here.

The Immortal Story of the Righteous Son

This story of the two sons of Adam is a story of jealousy, of hatred, of revenge. But more importantly, it is a story of the way that we should be. That son whose sacrifice was taken — he ended up dying. He was killed for coming closer to Allah, for doing something that his father requested of him, for giving charity in the name of Allah — it led to his death. But Allah makes his story immortal in the Quran. Why? Because that is the mindset that he had. He had already gained success. Allah tells us in the Quran that he's successful. Because he understood that there is a bigger picture. He understood that it's not just about this thing or that thing. He will stand in front of Allah, and Allah will hold him to account.

And these are the lessons that we need to internalize for ourselves. We're living in a community, in a society that is quickly becoming fractured. People — family members, community members, friends, relatives, neighbors — we're quickly fighting with one another, fracturing with one another. And the only way to overcome this is if we right the mindset that we have. And the way that we treat people — we understand, first and foremost before anything else, our responsibility before Allah. The rights that Allah has placed upon us, and the rights that we have upon others, so that we don't become oppressed, and that we're not oppressive towards others.

May Allah save us from jealousy and hatred and arrogance, and from oppressing others. And may Allah grant us success in this life and the next.

The Diseases of the Heart

Allah, often in the stories of the Quran, we see things that are physical, things that are apparent — things that we can judge people upon. People stealing, people committing murder, people committing adultery. Those are the things that we see. But often in those stories, Allah also implies and alludes to the diseases of the heart. The sins that we accumulate in here — no one can see. But they are not hidden from Allah. Things like jealousy, things like hatred, things like arrogance — those types of destructive diseases that if we allow them to fester within our hearts, they quickly overcome our hearts, and they lead us to destruction.

Many of these sins come from these types of diseases. Someone who can't control their anger. Someone who feels that they've been downtrodden and needs to seek revenge. Someone because of jealousy or hatred — whatever the issue is — it often begins from the heart. And that's why our Prophet ﷺ told us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 52; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1599)

There is a morsel of flesh in the body. If you work to rectify and purify it, then the rest of the body will follow. But if you allow it to become destructive, you allow it to become rampant with disease and ill, then the rest of the body will also follow. And it is the heart. It is something that we need to understand.

The Du'a of the Scholars: Rectify My Heart

Our Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin, رحمه الله تعالى, one of the greatest, most illustrious scholars of this time — it is said, his students narrate, that his most common du'a in the month of Ramadan, in taraweeh, in sajda, if he was making Umrah or in tawaf, in sa'i — his most common du'a in every single place that he would go to was:

Oh Allah, rectify my heart. He would repeat this over and over. The Shaykh probably had loads of du'as to make. They said that this is the du'a that they would hear him making most, more than anything else. Oh Allah, rectify my heart.

And that's why more or less to any corner of the world that you go to, whenever you come across a scholar, when you come across a Muslim organization, when you come across a group of people, there is a love in their hearts for that amazing man, رحمه الله تعالى. He touched people in so many different ways — from the poor and the needy, to the scholars and the students of knowledge, from the rulers to the lay people, so many different ways. And it's because his heart, inshallah, was something that was pure and rectified.

This is what we need to work on. So that when we deal with one another, when we have problems that we face, we know that the one thing that we don't compromise is our standing before Allah. Everything else is easy. Everything else is insignificant. Everything else can come and go, and it doesn't matter. But that standing before Allah is more important than anything. Don't compromise your standing before Allah for some of the paltry gains of this world. You benefit today, you lose something tomorrow, and you sell your integrity, you sell your honor, you sell your trust, you sell your religion — just for a few pounds here or a few pounds there. Your standing before Allah, your honor before Allah, your taqwa, your iman in front of Allah — it is more honorable, more valuable, worth more than all of this world put together.

Closing Du'a

Remember this and work on your heart. And ask Allah that he blesses and showers his favors upon us, and that Allah keeps us and our families steadfast, and that he showers his blessings upon our children and our wives and our families, and that Allah saves us and them from the trials of Shaitan and from the trappings of this life. We ask Allah that he makes our affairs easy for us, and that Allah purifies our hearts and cleanses them, and that Allah makes us from amongst those who are good in deed and action and in character, and that Allah saves us from arrogance and jealousy and pride, and from every destructive disease of the heart.