The First Revelation

The Opening Praise

وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْهُ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Amma ba'd — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us in the Quran to be conscious of Him when He says:

O you who believe, have the taqwa of Allah, be conscious of Allah, the way that Allah azza wa jal is worthy that you are conscious of Him, and do not die except in a state of submission.

The First Three Revelations

Dear Muslims, we are all aware that the first revelations of the Quran in chronological order were Surah Iqra, and then Surah Muddaththir, and then Surah Muzzammil. This is the chronology that is accepted and found in all of our source books of seerah and of tafsir. Let us briefly examine the psychology, the reality, the impact of these three revelations — and of course, each of these revelations, only the first few ayat came down — and see what was the plan, what was the methodological output that was intended by the revelation of these three specific surahs.

The First Revelation: Iqra — Knowledge

If you look at the first of them, Iqra, and I'm sure you have all studied the tafsir of Iqra, given khutbas, have heard khutbas about Iqra. Iqra was one of the most amazing and frankly atypical revelations. In a society that was illiterate, in a society that was 99% illiterate, in a land and a city where barely a dozen people could read and write — the first word of the revelation was read: Iqra.

And our Prophet ﷺ responded, "I don't know how to read." Jibreel went back to him — I don't mean read from a book, I mean recite something. But what can you recite when you're illiterate? He is a Nabi al-Ummi. How can you read when you don't have a book, you don't have a scroll? So in his case, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told him: your reading will not be a reading from a book; your reading will be a recitation. اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ — you shall recite from your Lord, through your Lord, by the power of your Lord. You shall recite directly from Allah.

You don't need a book, you don't need scriptures to read in front of you. Your recitation will be linked directly to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Your qira'a will be بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ — your qira'a will be through Allah, via Allah, with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala:

Iqra is mentioned two times. The first of them — Iqra from your Lord, through your Lord — this is the qira'a of the religious sciences, this is the qira'a of knowledge, the qira'a of the sacred religion: reciting and reading and contemplating the book that Allah has sent down. And the second time — Iqra, and your Lord is the most generous, who taught men the knowledge of the pen, and who taught men what they do not know — this is the knowledge of the secular, the knowledge of the sciences, the knowledge of history, the knowledge that men have accumulated. And Allah has facilitated that knowledge; Allah taught them what they do not know, and they recorded this knowledge that they could not have known unless Allah allowed them to do so.

So in Iqra, we learn of two types of knowledge, and that sets the stage for the rise of Islam. It sets the stage for what this religion is about. How does one begin anything? You begin everything through knowledge, through learning, through acquiring that which you did not know. Knowledge is indeed power.

The society we live in is indeed obsessed with knowledge. When their ancestors a thousand years ago did not like knowledge — they wanted the people to be ignorant — they eventually realized knowledge is power, and so the western world went a different trajectory and emphasized the second type of knowledge: the knowledge of this world. We are told as Muslims, two types of knowledge go hand in hand: the knowledge of the deen — اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ — and the knowledge of this world — اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ.

That is why the religion of Islam began to ascend to power. Within a century, the Muslims controlled all of mankind. Within a century of Iqra coming down — barely one hundred years had gone by — Muslim civilization became the dominant civilization of the globe. It ruled all the way from China to North Africa and Spain, and it began to produce intellectual output in every single field of human knowledge and of sacred knowledge that impacted the globe. How did it get to that stage? How could a society that was so backward — that neither the Sassanid empire nor the Byzantine empire even cared to conquer — within one hundred years, conquer both of those empires and conquer the entire world? Iqra. Through the knowledge of Iqra: the knowledge of the divine, and the knowledge of that which is secular.

So this is the first revelation. And in that revelation, Allah azza wa jal tells the Prophet ﷺ, and through him all of us: we begin every journey — anything you want to do — the first thing you do is learn about it, study it. That's what we do when we go to university. That's what we do when we gain a new job. We go through training, career orientation. We learn and acquire skills that we do not have. And as Muslims, the knowledge we attain of this dunya will always be in harmony with the knowledge of this religion. There is no clash between deen and science. Both knowledges are from Allah — the one of them directly, and the other indirectly. However, the knowledge of the sacred is directly from Allah, and the knowledge of the secular is acquired, and some of it can be correct and some can be incorrect.

The Second Revelation: Muddaththir — Action

So Iqra sets the stage for knowledge. That is the first revelation. What does the second revelation tell us? O you who is wrapped up comfortably, O you who is wrapped up in the cloak — that's not life. Life is not to remain simply reading and wrapped up. There are things you have to do. Stand up! Get rid of that safety blanket, get rid of that cloak. There must be action that comes from that knowledge. Once you know — do. Once you learn — act. Once you acquire — disseminate that knowledge and do something with it.

So the second revelation of Muddaththir is all about putting that acquired knowledge into practice:

Praise your Lord in salah. وَثِيَابَكَ فَطَهِّرْ — make sure you're ritually pure. وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ — avoid idolatry. وَلَا تَمْنُن تَسْتَكْثِرُ — perfect your akhlaq. And it goes on and on. So the second revelation is all about perfecting your actions, your amal. And that begins with your salah, with your tahara, with your ahkam of the sharia, with the laws of Islam. And it includes akhlaq and etiquette — وَلَا تَمْنُن تَسْتَكْثِرُ — be noble with people, be generous with people, don't be stingy with people.

So once you have knowledge, that knowledge must be manifested in your actions, in your rituals, in your akhlaq, in your mu'amalat. Knowledge that is not manifested in actions becomes an evidence against us. We as Muslims do not acquire knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Knowledge is not the goal; knowledge is not the end. Knowledge is the means, knowledge is the conduit. And the actual goal is the implementation of that knowledge — to act upon it and to come closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Third Revelation: Muzzammil — Spirituality

And then the third revelation:

These verses were revealed. All of this is about spirituality — tahajjud, reading the Quran, and dhikr. And this shows us the real thamara, the real produce, of both knowledge and actions combined. Knowledge and actions put together should lead us to the ultimate product. And what is that? Raw spirituality. God consciousness. Being aware of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Ilm and Amal: The Two Pillars

The two pillars upon which our religion is based are ilm and amal. And our scholars have mentioned it is not a coincidence that ilm and amal have the same three-letter roots — ع، ل، م and ع، م، ل. They're meant to be intertwined. They're meant to stand together as two pillars. And ilm and amal should be acted upon together.

If you have ilm without amal, that is a problem — it is a type of hypocrisy. If you have amal without ilm, that is a danger. And a lot of people who don't have ilm but think they have amal end up causing more harm than good. They end up doing things that are harmful, painful, leading in the wrong direction.

And this goes back to Surah Al-Fatiha:

The maghdub — they had ilm but no amal. And the daaleen — they had amal but no ilm. They had actions but not based upon knowledge. We are not like them, brothers and sisters. We are the ummah wasatan — between those two extreme representations. We have ilm and amal put together. And when it comes together properly, with the right balance and combination, it should produce results. And what is that result? Spirituality, God consciousness. It is mostly manifested — primarily manifested — in Surah Al-Muzzammil's realization that the ultimate actions of worship are private tahajjud, doing dhikr all the time, and reading the Quran in the privacy of your house. This type of thamara, this type of fruit, is the result when you have combined between the proper education and the proper acting upon that education.

Dear brothers and sisters, this simple reality of what our religion is — learn, and then practice. And when you do that together, it should bring about a consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This should be our philosophy throughout our lives, for all that we do.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless me and you with and through the Quran. And may He make us of those whose verses they understand and apply — halal and haram — throughout our lifespan. I ask Allah's forgiveness; you as well ask Him, for He is the Ghafoor and the Rahman.

Second Khutbah: The State of the Ummah

Alhamdulillah, all praise is due to Allah, the One and the Unique. He it is whom we worship, and it is His aid that we seek. He is the Lord of the oppressed, and He answers the prayer of the weak. As to what follows, dear Muslims —

Every few months, every few years, certain tragedies happen around the globe that we bring the attention of our congregants to. And subhanAllah, every single time, the list might be updated, but there's always a list. And this is the sunnah of Allah in this creation — there are always things going on.

Today I wanted to shed a little bit of light about the realities of the Muslims, especially in India, and what is happening in that land — the rise of Hindutva — and the fact that, unfortunately, may Allah protect us and them, we are seeing the beginnings of genocide. We're seeing the beginnings of a time and a place and an era where, if things continue as they are, there is the potential of a mass genocide.

There is a group here in Washington called Genocide Watch, and they have a 10-step program of how genocide occurs. The 10th stage is to justify and to backtrack — you sanitize history, you pretend it didn't happen, you cover it over. And according to this NGO — it's not a Muslim NGO, it's not a religious one, it's a secular one — places in India have reached stage 8, and the rest of the country is stage 7. Stage 7 and 8: one step away from all-out genocide.

And unfortunately, this is not the only place that this is happening. We are already seeing what is happening in the Xinjiang province — in East Turkestan, as we should call it; the Chinese call it Xinjiang, but it is actually East Turkestan. In this region, unfortunately, our brothers and sisters are undergoing not a genocide — an ethnocide. What's the difference? A genocide wants to kill you as a human being. An ethnocide wants to kill your identity as a human being. And unfortunately, the Chinese government is getting away with it. Over a million people are systematically being denied and deprived — their identities are being wiped away. The government wants to preserve their bodies and their children's bodies, but it wants to eliminate their Islam. And what we are seeing here, even according to the UN, is the worst case of mass incarceration since World War II and since the Nazis did what they did in Germany.

Other places as well — we can talk about Kashmir, we can talk about Palestine, for 75-plus years — and the list goes on and on. And my not mentioning other regions is not because I don't care about them, but because time is limited.

What Can We Do?

I want to remind myself and all of you, dear Muslims — perhaps we cannot stop the genocide in India. Perhaps we cannot solve the problems of our Turkestani brothers and sisters. But two simple points.

Number one — the least we can do is to have our hearts connected to the ummah. Because it will make us think differently. It will make us see things differently. It will make us prioritize things differently. Even if we cannot change the realities, make sure you are aware of the situation. Be connected to your kith and kin. This is your brother and sister. This is our ummah. These are the same people. SubhanAllah, if Allah had willed, we would have been born there. And a lot of these places where these things are going on — nobody could have imagined 10 years ago this would be happening. Nobody could have imagined 20 years ago this would be the reality. And yet it is happening. What is happening there might happen here or in other places as well.

So point number one: be connected. Have your heart, your intellect, and your knowledge connected to those regions. Don't just gloss over the news. It's awkward; it's embarrassing; it's painful. Read it. Watch the videos of what's happening in those places, so that your heart is affected, so that you feel connected, so that in the very, very least, you make du'a to Allah to help them. Even if you can't do anything, at least make du'a to Allah to help them.

And this leads me to my second point, brothers and sisters. Wallahi, we are blessed and we are fortunate. Allah has given us so many blessings in this land where we are. Brutal reality, fact of the matter — the fact that you are sitting here right now and I am here right now means we are already in the top 1% of the globe. This is the reality. Your food, your lifestyle, your standard of living, the food you have in your pantry, the amenities given to you — every one of us is already in the top 1%. Whether you understand it or not, 99% of the world would love to be where you are right now. And that is a fact.

The least we can do, therefore, is to show Allah we are grateful. The least we can do is to make sure our lifestyles conform to that blessing. The least we can do is to be extra generous with our time and our freedoms. Nobody is going to stop you from praying. Do you understand what's happening to our brothers in China right now when they try to pray? When their cousin or relative goes for Umrah, they are arrested. When their grandmother is wearing hijab, the granddaughter is taken into jail. How much is happening there? And here we have the freedoms to dress as we please, pray as we please, do as we please. Thank Allah for those freedoms. And then show Allah that you are appreciative by doing those things.

We talked about ilm and amal. We talked about tazkiyah. We talked about spirituality. What is coming between you and amal? What is coming between you and spirituality? Nothing other than my nafs and your nafs. That's it. You are the impediment to your own progress. So then take advantage — overcome your own soul and ego. Because most of our brothers and sisters have much more to worry about than their own souls and egos.

Be generous with your time, with your du'as, with your money. Do what you can. Raise political awareness. And I know it's a struggle — I know it seems to be a never-ending battle. What can I possibly do to help the Muslims of India, or China, or Burma? And the list goes on and on. At the end of the day, Allah is not going to ask me: "Did you solve the entire problem?" But Allah will ask me: "Did you do something?" Something. Did you change one person's perspective? Did you make du'a? Did you give to one charity for the Syrian refugees, for the Kashmiri orphans? Whatever you could give — did you do that? And if we can answer: "O Allah, yes, I tried" — perhaps in that effort is our salvation. And if we don't have an answer to that, what will we say to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?

So, brothers and sisters, be connected to the ummah. Be connected to the globe around us. Be aware of what is going on. And allow that awareness to impact you — spiritually and emotionally. Allow that awareness to help you prioritize your own life and your own personal schedule. And perhaps, perhaps, in that attempt to rectify ourselves, is our salvation in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Closing Du'a