Jumuah Khutbah | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

My dear brothers and sisters, in today's khutbah of Eid, my topic was the topic of shukr. And so working on that for the Friday khutbah, I wanted to remind ourselves of one of the main manifestations of shukr, which is the topic of hamd, of praising Allah. This topic, which is a fundamental topic of the Quran and of the sunnah of the Prophet. It is one of the primary mechanisms of remembering Allah and that is to praise him by saying, الحمد لله.

This phrase is so important that Allah chose to begin his final revelation with this phrase, الحمد لله رب العالمين. Almost half a dozen surahs in the Quran began with the phrase الحمد لله. And Allah reminds us that praising him is a timeless concept. It is a concept that we must constantly do regardless of the place, the location, the time frame we find ourselves in.

To him belongs hamd from the pre-eternity, and to the post-eternity. To him belongs hamd from the very beginning, and he shall be praised to the very end. And Allah says in the Quran, to him belongs hamd in the heavens and in the earth. Wherever you are, whenever you are, hamd should be done.

The First Words of Humanity

In fact, this phrase is so important that when Allah created our father Adam, he inspired Adam to begin his speech with الحمد. Let this point sink in. The first man, when he spoke the first words, those words were الحمد لله.

We learn in the traditions that when Allah created the body of our father Adam, he then blew the ruh into Adam. And he started the ruh blowing into the head through the nostrils. And the hadith goes that as the ruh came into the body of Adam, he became sentient. He could understand, but his physical strength was not there. And the Prophet ﷺ said, man being hasty, Adam attempted to stand up even before he had the strength to do so. As soon as he got cognition, he tried to do something, but he couldn't do so. And he ended up sneezing. And Allah inspired him to say, الحمد لله. The first phrase of the first man, الحمد لله. Then Allah said, يرحمك الله يا آدم. Allah shall have mercy on you, O Adam.

Praise in the Lives of the Prophets

الحمد was the phrase that Allah taught to the Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him). When the Prophet Nuh rode in the ark, Allah said to him that, O Nuh, ride the ark and say الحمد لله, say praise be to Allah.

When you and the people with you on the boat, on the ark, are going to go on there, then say الحمد لله.

When our father Ibrahim (peace be upon him), when he built the Kaaba, and he is seeing what Allah has blessed him to do, he raises his hands to Allah, and he says:

All praise is due to Allah. He has given me so much. He has given me even in old age, Isma'il and Ishaq.

And when Sulayman (peace be upon him) was reminded by Allah of all the blessings that Sulayman had been given, Sulayman and he was with his son Dawud, when they're looking at these blessings, what did they say?

Dawud and Sulayman, they are looking at Allah's blessings, and they say, الحمد لله, Allah has given us so much above so many other people.

And when our Prophet ﷺ would wake up in the morning to pray salatul tahajjud, the first phrase that he would say every single morning was the phrase:

He would say الحمد لله to the one who has brought us back to life after we were in our state of death, in the state of sleep.

The Weight and Importance of Praise

The concept of hamd, dear brothers and sisters, the Prophet ﷺ said, الحمد لله fills up the heavens. In another phrase he said, الحمد لله is heavy in the scales. This simple phrase, when we make it a part of our routine, when we make it a part of our habit, a part of our cultural day and night, what is gonna happen is we will start appreciating Allah's blessings on us. It will cleanse our hearts of arrogance. We will not feel a sense of self-entitlement. We will constantly be reminded of the blessings that Allah has given us.

Today in the morning, I mentioned the importance of shukr. And right now I will say, you cannot do shukr to Allah unless you frequently say الحمد لله. Shukr is manifested in the heart, in the tongue, in the actions. And in the tongue, the biggest manifestation of shukr is the phrase الحمد لله. And so this phrase should be a part of our routine. I encourage myself and all of you to become into the habit of saying الحمد لله as frequently as you can.

The Example of Prophet Nuh

And our Prophet ﷺ commented on a verse in the Quran when Allah says about Nuh (peace be upon him):

Nuh was a thankful servant. Nuh was a thankful servant. The Prophet ﷺ said, Nuh (peace be upon him) would never take a sip of water or put a morsel of food in his mouth except that he would say الحمد لله. Note here, not when you finish the meal, which is obviously good to do. Nuh (peace be upon him) was so conscious of Allah's blessings that every sip he would take, he would appreciate Allah has given me this. And every time he raised a glass to his mouth, every time he put a morsel of food in his mouth, he would feel a sense of shukr to Allah. And he would say الحمد لله for every single morsel of food and every sip of water. When you get to that level, Allah himself will reveal Quran about you and say, Nuh was an abadan shakoora. He was a thankful servant of Allah.

The Rewards of Constant Praise

Dear Muslims, those who praise Allah are beloved to Allah. Those who praise Allah have the highest chance of entering Jannah bighayri hisab. Those who praise Allah have the highest percentage of being saved from Jahannam. Our Prophet ﷺ said, nothing causes a person to be saved from punishment more effectively than the constant dhikr of Allah. And the phrase الحمد لله is of the pinnacles of dhikr.

We should all know there are many adhkar, four of them are the pinnacles:

And our Prophet ﷺ called these four. He said, these are the fruits of Jannah. And each time we say them, Allah will plant for us a seed in Jannah that will become a magnificent plant and a tree. Every time we say الحمد لله or سبحان الله or الله أكبر or لا إله إلا الله, every time our tongue moves, Allah will plant another tree for us in Jannah. Can you imagine a lifetime of dhikr? How large our plot of land will be? Can you imagine how beautiful our luxurious farms are going to be if we're constantly doing dhikr of Allah?

Gratitude on the Day of Eid

So today, which is the day of Eid, the day that Allah told us one of the purposes of Eid is to thank Him, is to show shukr to Him. Allah says in the Quran:

I want you to finish the days of Ramadan. tukminu al idda, there is a routine, there is an apportioned time frame. Finish those 30 days. wa li tukabbiru Allaha alama hadakum Say the takbir because Allah has guided you. wa la'allakum tashkuroon And show your shukr to Allah.

So I wanted to remind you of the most important ways of showing shukr is to be constant in our hamd of Allah on this day of Eid. Let us thank Allah for all the blessings He has given us. The blessings of health, the blessings of wealth, the blessings of safety, the blessings of security, the blessings of food and drink.

And the greatest blessing out of all of Allah's blessings, the greatest blessing which is the blessing of Islam. So that Allah says that wa li tukabbiru Allaha alama hadakum so that you may praise Allah because He has guided you. الحمد لله for Islam. الحمد لله for Iman. الحمد لله for the Qur'an. الحمد لله for being in the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ. الحمد لله for wealth and children and health. For everything Allah has given us. الحمد لله.

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

Praising Allah in All Circumstances

The believer praises Allah in all circumstances. Our mother Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says the Prophet ﷺ would praise Allah in every circumstance. And when things are good, we say الحمد لله. And when things are not good, we still say الحمد لله because Allah's hamd is not linked to my or your good status. Allah is worthy of hamd regardless of what happens. Allah is worthy of hamd whether life is good or whether life is not so good because what you think is not good is actually good for you. What you think is a negative, Allah will bring a positive out of that.

And so when we show hamd, when we demonstrate hamd in times of even negative, it is actually a catalyst that Allah will change our negative into positive. I repeat, when you show Allah that you are thankful, when the situation might not appear so good for you, but you still show Allah that you are thankful. This is a catalyst. This is a mechanism that Allah will substitute your negative for a positive. To have good thoughts of Allah, to read in the best, to expect the best from Allah, even when situation is not so good, is a part of iman.

Finding Strength in Trials

And my dear brothers and sisters, right now, we are currently seeing one of the most vicious anti-Muslim bigotry that we have seen since really the beginning of this country. We have never seen this onslaught that we are currently witnessing. And perhaps some of you are aware, even as we speak on this day of Friday, on our day of Eid, they have not left us alone. And there is a protest right now as we speak outside the masjid. Wallahi, how much hatred do you have for a people that on the holiest of holy day, when they bring their women and children, when they bring their celebration, still you will protest and you will chant and you will say things that are absolutely untrue.

But from that negative, we say, الحمد لله على كل حال. الحمد لله in all circumstances. Because one of the positives of that negative, one of the positives of that negative is that it reminds us that we have a responsibility. It reminds us that we have an obligation that Allah is testing us, testing us to see what we are going to do in the face of this misinformation, this miseducation, in the face of the slanders and the lies.

And even though we shouldn't compare, Subhanallah, the prophets, all of them, and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and the sahaba, they faced so much worse. We shouldn't even compare. It's actually embarrassing that I should even mention this in the light of nuisance like this. But still, at least it's a little bit of a whiff, just a little bit of a pinch compared to what they faced. So this is الحمد لله that at least we have a little bit of an understanding that what of the sahaba and those before them and the prophets, how they had to face constant ridicule, constant lying, constant slander.

So Allah has chosen us to follow in the footsteps of great people, of great giants. And therefore, let us learn from what they did. Let us learn from their sabr. Let us learn from their himmah. Let us learn from their courage. Let us learn from their akhlaq. So all of this negative will be a positive. As Allah says in the Quran, perhaps out of that negative, Allah will bring ba'da da'usun an yusra. After all negatives, Allah will bring positive and ease.

Standing Strong in Faith During Difficult Times

So as we are living through these difficult times, I remind myself and all of you, there is no vacation from being a Muslim, even on the day of Eid. There is no vacation from being a Muslim. We are always Muslims. We are always demonstrating Islam. And there is no easy solution to this hatred that we see other than the long term solution of educating people about our faith.

There is no easy battle to win. This is gonna be a long term battle. Every one of us is going to have to be the ambassador to Islam in your colleagues, amongst your friends, amongst your co-workers. There is no alternative. There is no other way to win this battle. The only way to win it after the help of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is every single one of us. Make sure the people we interact with, they see the beauty of Islam through our manners. This is the way we will win this battle.

Hope After Darkness

And insha'Allah ta'ala, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, after darkness comes light, after the dark of the night comes the dawn, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will show us the fruits of our efforts and actions. And if you look at overall the landscape, while it is true that there is so much negative, still at the same time we see the positives. We see public support changing for what is happening in the Middle East. We see people's perceptions waking up. We see people coming to this faith.

Every few days, somebody accepts Islam here and across the country. In fact, one survey said that in England, people have embraced Islam 400% more than they used to embrace Islam before all of this current political climate began. 400% increase in embracing Islam. So yes, there is negative. But through the negative will also be positive. And in the darkness, we will also see the light of dawn.

Our Path Forward

So persevere. Be patient. Put your hope in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Be optimistic. Try your best to live Islam in your actions amongst your colleagues and friends. And most importantly, turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for help. Praise Allah for all that He has given you. Live your life like a Muslim. You shall be successful in this world and the next.

Du'a

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the Merciful, the Compassionate, Master of the Day of Judgment. It is You we worship and You we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path, the path of those You have blessed.

اللهُ أَكْبَرُ، اللهُ أَكْبَرُ - Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest.

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ - Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ - Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.