From Darkness to Light: The End of Jāhiliyyah | Jumuah Khutbah | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Come to Prayer. Come to Prayer. Come to success. Come to success. Allah is the Greatest. Allah is the Greatest.

The Iconic Declaration of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib

One of the most iconic incidents in the history of the Sahaba is when the cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, stood in front of the king of Abyssinia. An iconic moment in our early episodes of the seerah. And the king asked him, what is your message? What is your deen? What is your religion? And so he replied in that beautiful, poignant, eloquent paragraph, ayyuhal malik, oh honorable king, we were in a state of jahiliyyah. We were in a state of jahiliyyah and of immorality. We would worship the idols and eat dead meat lying on the ground. We committed all sorts of fawahish, all sorts of shameful deeds. We would break the ties of kinship. We didn't know honor. We didn't know generosity. The strong amongst us took advantage of the weak. And we remained in this jahiliyyah until Allah sent us a prophet. And the incident goes on.

Notice how he began. We were in a state of jahiliyyah. And then Allah sent us a prophet to eliminate that jahiliyyah. This concept of Islam coming to eliminate jahiliyyah is a constant motif of the Quran and of the sunnah and of the seerah of the prophet ﷺ.

The Testimony of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman

In one famous hadith, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, the keeper of secrets as he is known. Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman said, Ya Rasulullah, he's talking to the prophet ﷺ directly. Ya Rasulullah, inna kunna fee jahiliyyatin wa sharr faja'anallahu bihadhal khair. Ya Rasulullah, before you came, we were in jahiliyyah. We were in full evil, sharr. Then Allah brought about khair and good. Hudhayfah is acknowledging that we were in jahiliyyah until Islam came.

And in the final khutbah of the prophet ﷺ, the last khutbah he gave in front of the entire congregation of Arafat, of hajj. He spoke to a hundred thousand people and there's only five paragraphs in that khutbah. One entire paragraph is what the prophet ﷺ said, O mankind, know that everything from the matters of jahiliyyah has been obliterated aj'aluhu tahta qadami I put it underneath my foot. It is metaphor we all understand. Even though it's said in Arabic, we understand it even in English. I put it under my foot. I have come to destroy jahiliyyah. It is now gone. It is now a thing of the past.

The Importance of Understanding Jahiliyyah

So O Muslim, when we understand that Islam came to eliminate jahiliyyah, we had better study what jahiliyyah was so that we fully appreciate the blessings of Islam. When we don't understand jahiliyyah, then may Allah protect us. If we fall into it, we will not even see it, even though it is in front of us because we haven't studied jahiliyyah. We know this from the Qur'an and the sunnah that comes to teach us even evil. Allah mentions in the Qur'an, this is how we clarify the paths of falsehood.

So that the way and the ways of evil are gonna be clear to all of you. The Qur'an came to teach us good to follow and to teach us evil to avoid. And in the hadith as well, that Hudhayfah said that, people would ask the Prophet ﷺ about the good things, but I would ask him about the sharr, the evil, so that I could recognize and avoid it.

So in today's brief khutbah, I want to remind all of us, what are the realities of jahiliyyah so that when we find them amongst our families and friends, amongst ourselves, we are better able to recognize them.

What is Jahiliyyah?

Jahiliyyah comes from the Arabic jahala. And jahala is not just jahl. Jahala is ignorance upon ignorance. Because it's one thing to not know, and that is jahl. If you don't know, this is jahl. But jahala is a bigger state than simply not knowing. It is not even knowing that you don't know. It is being in a state of such ignorance that you don't even know you are ignorant. This is the worst type of ignorance.

Because if you don't know, and you know you don't know, then in reality, that's the way all of us, we're not experts in everything. I do not know so many aspects of physics, of mathematics, of humanities. If I don't know, and I don't know it, I will ask somebody, no problem. But what if you don't know, and you don't even realize, and you think you know, this is the reality of jahiliyyah. Jahiliyyah is the false illusion that you know the truth, so when the truth comes to you, you don't care because you're following a falsehood, and you think it to be true. This is what jahiliyyah means. You are in an epoch, in an era of ignorance. And it is so much ignorant that people think it is true, so you think it is true as well.

Four Categories of Jahiliyyah in the Qur'an

And we need to understand that the Qur'an especially elaborates on four categories of jahiliyyah. There are four areas that Allah calls in the Qur'an, these are entire areas of jahiliyyah. When we know what they are, then we will appreciate the beauties of Islam. The first of these, the Qur'an mentions the term jahiliyyah four times, exactly four. And each one of these is a concept.

First Category: Belief in Allah

The first of these, Surah Ali'Imran verse 154, it was revealed when the munafiqoon after the battle of Uhud, they began to make claims that were absolutely wrong. They said, if only these Muslims had listened to us, if only they followed our advice, then we could have averted the tragedy, we could have averted what Allah had planned. They thought that they had more power, and Allah did not have that power. And Allah mentions in the Qur'an:

Inside they were thinking, if only they listen to us, then we would have been able to outwit Allah. We could have done even what Allah could have done. And Allah said, You had thoughts about Allah that are coming from jahiliyyah.

This is the first area that Islam came to correct and to eliminate jahiliyyah. Which is what? The area of belief in Allah, the reality of who is Allah, the reality of the power of Allah, the reality of the qudrah, and the names and the attributes of Allah. If you don't have Islam, you will never know the reality of your Creator. If you don't have the guidance of Allah, you will never be able to answer the questions, who created me? What am I here for? What will happen after my life and death? These are questions that are immersed in jahiliyyah, and Islam has come to solve them. Without Islam, you will be in a state of jahiliyyah when it comes to your iman, your aqeedah, your theology. Only Allah's revelation can lift up that jahiliyyah.

Do you want me to worship other than Allah? This is jahiliyyah. If I were to do this, I would be of the jahiliyyah. So Allah calls not recognizing Allah to be jahiliyyah. Worshipping other than Allah to be jahiliyyah. And Islam came to obliterate that jahiliyyah. So the first category of jahiliyyah is jahiliyyah when it comes to who created you, what is the purpose of life, the names and attributes of Allah, the reality of iman, all of this comes under our Islam. And if you don't have it, you'll be in the state of jahiliyyah.

Second Category: Justice and Law

The second category of jahiliyyah, the second category of jahiliyyah, it occurs in surah Al-Ma'idah verse 50. And this context was when the Banu Quraidah, which is a Yehudi tribe, they came to the Prophet ﷺ when one of their senior members had committed a crime. And they didn't want to apply their own shari'ah. And so they came to the Prophet ﷺ hoping that because a noble person, a rich person, a wealthy person had committed a crime, hoping that he could find a way out and do something that would let this man off the hook. They didn't understand this is not how Allah's shari'ah works. And so Allah revealed surah Al-Ma'idah verse 50:

Do you want to go back to the laws of jahiliyyah? Who is better to judge you than Allah, the Alim, the Hakim? You want to go back to the ways that jahiliyyah, when the rich and the powerful and the elite would be let off the hook, when justice would be unfairly applied? And so the second concept of jahiliyyah is the reality of justice and injustice. In a jahili society, the rich walk away free. In a jahili society, the powerful exploit the weak. This is exactly what Ja'far said, the strong amongst us devoured the weak. This is the reality of the jahili system.

If you're rich, if you're powerful, you can buy your way out, you can wiggle your way out, you can hire the best lawyers, you can do this and that. And as for the poor, as for the disenfranchised, they will have to bear the brunt of the law. When you don't have the laws of the shari'ah, you're going to follow the laws of jahiliyyah. And this is why Allah has revealed to us the beauty of the shari'ah. And He tells us that in the laws of the shari'ah, there is life for you. He tells us that certain things are haram, other things are halal. Those haram things are harmful. Anything that Allah has made haram is harmful to society.

And Allah asks us, how are you going to judge? You are not qualified to judge because you are getting involved in these very things. Allah talks about alcohol. And Allah says, yes, there is good in alcohol, that's why people drink it. But the evil is more than the good. How are we going to judge? When we're drinking, and then we're going to expect to judge, how can we judge? We're the ones getting intoxicated as a society. How can we judge? Allah talks about riba. And Allah says, oh, those who practice riba, the usury, they say it is like any trade. But Allah says, no, Allah has made trade halal, and Allah has forbidden riba. Why? Because riba exploits the powerful against the weak. It allows the rich to go richer simply because they're rich. Guaranteed to become richer because you are wealthy. And who gets exploited? The weak, the vulnerable.

So the shari'a has come, the second aspect of jahiliyyah. The shari'a has come to uphold justice, to uphold fairness, to uphold equality. When you don't have the shari'a, society will go towards the way of jahiliyyah. And the rich will get richer, and the powerful will be able to do things that they should not be able to do. And this is the reality of what we see.

Third Category: Gender Interaction and Morality

The third aspect of jahiliyyah that Islam came to obliterate. The third aspect of jahiliyyah is mentioned in Surah Al-Ahzab, verse 33. And the context is about gender interaction. It is about lowering the gaze. It is about not committing zina, indecency. It is about interacting with nobility and purity. It is about men and women acting morally in an upright fashion with each other, not doing indecent things, dressing decently, interacting decently. And then Allah commands, especially our women, because Allah has gifted them with what He has not gifted us. And their power over the men is more in that aspect than the men over them. So Allah says:

And do not brazenly display your beauty the way that people would do in the earlier times, in the times of jahiliyyah. Allah calls walking around in an immodest manner. Allah calls indecency the hallmark of jahiliyyah. It is described as jahiliyyah. One of the signs of jahiliyyah is promiscuity, indecency. Zina becomes normal, nudity becomes tolerated, and the evil becomes that which people have grown accustomed to. And if you don't recognize this, look at this reality around you. This is the reality of jahiliyyah.

The Four Aspects of Jahiliyyah

When that which is indecent becomes normal, when that which no one would have mentioned even in public society, even in private society becomes a public reality. Two, three generations ago, even this part of the world had much more haya than we currently see. What has happened? Haya has been lifted up and jahiliyyah is now spreading. And this is why Allah calls those who engage in these types of issues as being guilty of jahiliyyah, of jahala.

The Prophet Lut said to his people:

Are you interacting with the same genders? You are a people that are in jahiliyyah, تَجْهَلُونَ. He called this again, تَجْهَلُونَ, جَاهِلِيَّة. This is not according to the knowledge of Islam, the purity of Islam. This is not what Islam comes with.

So the third aspect of jahiliyyah is jahiliyyah when it comes to immorality, indecency, fawahish, zina, adultery, nudity. And if you look at this reality, then you see this is exactly what the Qur'an has said. Islam has come to lift us up and show us dignity and respect and teach us a code of laws that doesn't go back to جاهليات الأولى.

The Fourth Aspect: Tribal Superiority

And the fourth and final aspect mentioned in the Qur'an, and of course, there are more in the hadith, but in the Qur'an, these are the four that I mentioned. The fourth and final aspect mentioned in the Qur'an is when the treaty of Hudaybiyyah took place. And the Quraysh prevented the Muslims from entering the Ka'bah and from doing Umrah. They had never prevented any tribe from entering. The only time in history that the Quraysh prevented somebody from the house of Allah were the Muslims.

And what excuse did they use? How did they do so? They began preaching a version of tribal superiority, of racial superiority, of what we would now call a jingoistic nationalism, which is now, we find this in the far right, the same notions. And they began preaching, we are better, we this, we that. And they dehumanize the Muslims. And Allah mentions in the Qur'an:

When the kuffar riled up the hatred in their hearts, the hatred of jahiliyyah. Allah calls it, حَمِيَّةَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ. And we can call this identity politics. Any group that considers themselves better humans because of their color, because of their ethnicity, because of their tribe, because of their nation state. Anybody who thinks my people are better humans and everybody else is a lesser dignified human being, we have the real dignity, everybody else has a hierarchy below us. This is the essence of jahiliyyah.

Yes, you may take pride in your ancestry and in your tribe, if you're all one amongst equals, no problem. You are Arab, you are Pakistani, you are this, you are that, and everybody else is equally human, no problem. You may take pride when you recognize I have some good and my culture has this and other cultures have that as well. When you are all equally human, no problem. The Prophet was Qurashi, he was Arab, and he took pride in that. But to say, I am better than a non-Qurashi, I am better than a non-Arab, we have privileges and rights, other humans do not have because of our tribe, because of this, because of that. No, now you are entering the realm of jahiliyyah.

Allah has said, all of us are the children of Adam. The Prophet told us, there is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, of a white over a black person except with taqwa. And the minute we open this door and we say, no, my people are better, this is the essence of jahiliyyah.

And this is why when one of the companions, he got angry, when Bilal owed him some money, he couldn't pay him back, immediately the man got angry and he shouted out, you son of a colored lady, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, he shouted this out. And the Prophet was walking by, and he said, did you embarrass him? Did you try to embarrass him because of the skin of his mother? You are a person that has jahiliyyah in you. Notice the clear explicit verdict, you are the man who is exhibiting jahiliyyah.

And when the sahabi heard this, he fell down flat on his face, he put his head on the sand, and he put the foot of Bilal, he said, please Bilal, forgive me, I'm sorry Bilal, and Bilal picked him up and kissed him. No, my brother, Allah has forgiven.

My point is, any person who thinks their people are better than other people's, more human than other people, that is the essence of jahiliyyah. And do I need to remind you, this is the reality of what we see in the far right, this is the reality of what we see in all of these nationalistic, jingoistic movements who are literally dehumanizing even the term they use, illegal alien, as if they're from Mars or something. And look at how they're treating people without a valid visa, pulling children away from their parents, putting them in cages, arresting parents who drop their kids off. This can only come when you have lost all empathy, lost all humanity, and it can only come when there is jahiliyyah in your hearts.

When you're a Muslim, you recognize, even if people are different, we're all human, we have rights and privileges as human beings. And the only way a person is better than another is by taqwa.

So Islam comes to eliminate that jahiliyyah.

Four Realities of Islam's Victory Over Jahiliyyah

Dear Muslims, memorize these four realities, understand them, and appreciate the blessings that Allah has given us.

Number one, the jahiliyyah of not knowing who Allah is and not knowing the rights of Allah over the creation. The jahiliyyah of kufr, Islam has come with iman and tawheed.

Number two, the jahiliyyah of injustice, the jahiliyyah of laws in which the powerful take advantage of the weak. If we didn't have the laws of Allah, then we would open this door. Islam has come with the shari'ah of divine justice, where everybody gets the right treatment, where the ethics and values are pronounced by Allah, and only Allah is qualified to tell us that which will harm us or benefit us.

Number three, the jahiliyyah of immorality, of indecent sexuality, the jahiliyyah of nudity, of fawahish, and Islam has come to control this and to make it healthy for families to nourish together, to have children together, and to make any relationship outside of marriage to be haram and unhealthy. This is the jahiliyyah that Islam has come to eliminate, and that is to promote family values.

And the final aspect of jahiliyyah, the jahiliyyah of racism, the jahiliyyah of racial superiority, the jahiliyyah of nation-state identity being superhuman, and all other identities being lesser than human. Anybody who believes this has an element of jahiliyyah in them. We thank Allah for Islam that has come to eliminate all of these jahiliyyahs.

May Allah bless me and you with and through the Qur'an, and may He make us of those whose verses they understand and applies halal and haram throughout our lifespan. Ask Allah's forgiveness, you as well ask Him for His the Ghafoor and the Rahman.

Second Khutbah: Addressing Misconceptions About Islam

All praise is due to Allah, the One and the Unique. It is He that we worship and it is His blessings that we seek. He is the Lord of the oppressed and He hears the prayer of the weak.

As to what follows, it is absolutely correct to point out that Islam has come to eradicate jahiliyyah. But we need to understand what this means, because some people who don't like Islam, who hate Islam, they are utilizing these generic concepts and bringing a political twist that is not intended.

Anytime a Muslim politician is elected, anytime Muslims come to prominence, anytime Muslims in this country try to do a project like build a neighborhood that just has a mosque in it, what happens? People from the far right, fear mongers, people who want to stir up hatred and division, they come and they say, oh, the religion of Islam is not a religion, it is a political ideology. The religion of Islam they say has a hidden agenda. The religion of Islam has sharia laws, and those sharia laws are meant to do this and do that.

And they fear monger, and they scapegoat, and they stereotype, and they whip up the sentiments exactly as Allah says in the Qur'an, حَمِيَّةَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ. Exactly as Allah says in the Qur'an. And the irony of ironies is that as they do so, they are exactly demonstrating why we need belief in Allah, because it is their societies, it is the societies that embody these aspects of jahiliyyah in every single level.

The powerful take advantage of the weak, the rich go richer and wealthier, and the poor become poorer and poorer. The people with wealth are able to get out of justice because they have the wealth. Fawahish - indecency has become the norm. This unrealistic identity of a nation state becomes superhuman, and anybody who doesn't belong to that is dehumanized. They are demonstrating why they need faith in Allah.

But we, we will not be intimidated by their tactics, and we will stand firm. And just because they try to fearmonger, we will not change this reality, which is what? Islam has come to eradicate jahiliyyah, but we are not here to threaten your political power. Nobody is forcing anyone to do anything.

We believe jahiliyyah has already been eliminated as an era. All that is left is aspects, and some societies might have more aspects than others. But as an era, as an epoch, as an entire civilization, the birth of the Prophet, the coming of Islam, it has eliminated jahiliyyah as a whole. And that is why, alhamdulillah thumma alhamdulillah, we can state firmly that jahiliyyah as a global concept no longer exists. What remains are aspects, manifestations, and our job, our role is not to force.

We are not here to be a political threat. There is no hidden agenda. We are here to live our lives and to protect ourselves and our children from what we think are aspects of jahiliyyah. And we will preach the truth. Yes, there is no ambiguity in this. And we will preach the truth. But no one is forcing anyone to do anything. And we are not allowed. Our shari'a teaches us to not allow violence as a mechanism of preaching. And we say loudly and clearly, if there are such people who are doing violence in our names, we will be the first to point them out. We will be the first to stop them.

But at the same time, we will not be treated as second class citizens. We have the full right to practice our faith without intimidation. We have the full right to preach our faith without fear of tactics. And we will do so.

Protecting Our Religion and Rights

Oh Muslims, we must protect our religion. We must protect our constitutional rights to practice our religion. And we cannot be intimidated by the fear mongering and the tactics of the far right. And again, this leads us to so many awkward conversations. Time is limited, but it needs to be said.

Every time a political issue happens, every time a Muslim politician runs or is elected, we have to have the same conversation. The irony of ironies, when a Muslim politician is elected, the far right thinks he is too Muslim and the religious folks amongst us thinks he's not Muslim enough. Look at this irony.

We have to become more mature in this regard. The reality is politics is separate from khutbas and durs and fatwas. And we must recognize the need for Muslim politicians, even as we recognize Muslim politicians will not represent fully Islamic values. It is a contradiction. It is a conundrum. It is a reality that we cannot escape. We must have Muslim politicians because they represent the people of Islam, even if they don't represent Islam.

When a Muslim politician wins, especially when the Zionist lobby pumps in tens of millions of dollars against that person, and still he wins. How can we be so naive as to not see the change in the tide of this country? How can we not be happy when the forces of evil, the forces of Zionism are defeated? Wallahi, how can we be so narrow-minded as to not see this as a victory for the civilizational strength of the ummah?

But at the same time, we have to be wise enough to recognize that if you're in that arena of politics, you're not giving fatwas, you're not a khatib, you're not a mufti, you're not an alim, you're not a sheikh.

And so we teach our children this reality. Yes, it is a somewhat contradiction, but there is no other way. This is what we must do if we're living in this land where we recognize there is some good and we speak out against the evil in a way that will educate our youth. And so take pride in strength that we might achieve, but also recognize that the ultimate strength comes from taqwa, the ultimate izzah comes from relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And we must reach a level of maturity in our dialogue to differentiate our laws, to differentiate our ethics from political engagement. The two are not overlapping. And this is a more detailed talk. I have given this in many other lectures. But the bottom line, oh Muslim, we thank Allah that Islam has eliminated jahiliyyah. And in our personal lives, we will strive our best to perfect the absence of jahiliyyah. We don't want to see any jahiliyyah in us and in our families. And if we see it around us, then we will speak against it. But we cannot force anybody to do anything.

And if people come in the system and they try to bring some good, even if they cannot bring all good, that is better than the alternative, such as the reality of our religion, a practical, realistic religion that teaches us all that we need to know. So, oh Muslim, take pride in the hidayah that Allah has revealed, in the nur that Allah has revealed to obliterate the dhulmat and the jahiliyyah.

And especially take pride in the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, whose birth, whose life, whose teachings has completely eliminated jahiliyyah. Such that he could say in his last khutbah that everything from the matters of jahiliyyah are gone and I've placed them under my foot. We thank Allah for sending us the one who is رحمة للعالمين.

عباد الله إن الله تعالى أمركم بأمر بدأ به بنفسه وثنّى بملائكة قدسه وثلّث بكم أيها المؤمنون من جنه وإنسه فقال عزّ من قائل عليماً

عباد الله إن الله تعالى يأمر بالعدل والإحسان وإيتاء ذي القربى وينهى عن الفحشاء والمنكر والبغي يعظكم لعلكم تذكّرون أذكروا الله العظيم يذكركم واشكروه يزدكم واذكروا الله تعالى أكبر وأقيموا الصلاة

لا إله إلا الله لا إله إلا الله straighten your rows leave no gaps in the line

الله أكبر

آمين

الله أكبر سمع الله لمن حمده الله أكبر

سمع الله لمن حمده الله أكبر الله أكبر

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله السلام عليكم ورحمة الله