The Muslim Identity - Shaykh Musleh Khan

The Muslim Identity

Praise be to Allah. We praise Him, we ask His help and we ask His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our actions.

Whom Allah guides, no one is misguided. And whom He misguides, no one is guided. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. Peace be upon him and his family and his companions.

Surah al-Fussilat and the Identity of the Caller to Islam

My brothers and sisters, Allah tells us in the Quran in Surah al-Fussilat. Before we speak a little bit about the translation, it's important for you to understand at least some of the central themes behind this particular surah. Surah al-Fussilat is a surah that is designed to reform and protect and even more so to design what a da'i — a caller of Islam — should look like. What they should be preaching, how they should be preaching, but more so their etiquettes and their akhlaq.

Also Surah al-Fussilat talks a little bit about the thawab and the rewards of the person who calls to لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ. One of the most beautiful verses in the surah, Allah tells us: Indeed those who claim and they say Rabbuna Allah — Allah is our Rabb. And Rabb literally means our master, our guardian, our protector.

Now this particular verse starts off with part one of our shahada, part one of our identity. And so my topic for you today is for us to at least continue to strengthen, but even more so feel proud of who we are. Feel proud of our identity as Muslims.

And I honestly think that this is not just a topic for young people, it's a topic for anybody who calls themselves Muslim. Because the reality is, ayyuhal ahbab, it's getting more and more difficult each and every day to hold on to لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. Our religion is at a test. It's been put to a point where it's constantly being scrutinized, constantly all fingers are being pointed to the Muslims around the world for whatever reason. And many Muslims who aren't grounded in the religion properly, you know what they end up saying? They end up questioning their identity, questioning the validity of the religion, questioning the existence of Allah. And a lot of times these are actual Muslims who are born Muslims, but they were never introduced to Islam properly. Or they've never taken it seriously.

The Two Parts of the Shahada

So this surah, this particular verse, starts off by talking a little bit about part one of your shahada. It's the actual statement. You proclaim لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ. So listen to what Allah tells us about these people — and insha'Allah it is every one of us sitting here today.

Here's part two of your shahada: اسْتَقَامُوا. Istaqamu comes from the word istiqamah. And istiqamah literally means to stand up — but stand up firmly and stand up straight. This is why part two of the shahada, or phase two, is that you not only talk the talk, but you walk the walk. You live the life.

Two Extremes: The Conservative and the Liberal Muslim

Now this is where all the problems begin. It's when it comes time for believers to actually live the life. If you ever notice today, you find that a lot of Muslims who practice the deen fall under two categories with respect to morals and ethics — with respect to akhlaq and adab with one another. They fall into two extremes.

One of them is what I call the conservative Muslim. The conservative Muslim is the Muslim that, mashallah, they pray, they fast, they go for the hajj, they dress like a Muslim, they walk like a Muslim, and they are in Islam and they're in Islam to stay. Nobody is going to question their identity. But the problem with this category is that they are amazing Muslims, but they're struggling to be good people. So they become the most uncivilized people when they're in public, when it's time to get out of parking lots. The guy can't give his wife her mahr after 20 years of marriage. They're struggling to just be good people. But they're amazing Muslims, mashallah, tabarakallah.

But then the other side — the flip coin to this picture — is what I call the liberal Muslim. And the liberal Muslims are the ones that, mashallah, when you tell them to stand in line, they stand in line. They're civilized, they're dignified, they have the best akhlaq, they're the best husbands, they're the best wives. But the problem with this group is that they say, because I'm a good person, I don't need to pray every single day. I don't need to wear hijab. I don't need to practice this deen. So they are amazing people struggling to be good Muslims.

And you and I know, our messenger, an-Nabiyyu sallallahu alayhi wasallam, strived his whole life to do both of these things. Before Allah spoke to him with Qur'an, before he was a prophet, he was already as-Sadiq, he was already as-Salih, he was already al-Amin. He was already somebody that people trusted and people loved. People could get along with him. Once he had that platform in his life — where he had good akhlaq and good etiquettes, and he was a good man with a clean and genuine heart — then Allah gave him Qur'an.

This is what our religion calls us to. And the problem, the bankruptcy behind that, is so often you find Muslims breaking into one group or the other. Very few actually have a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and they can create a complete picture of what the mu'min slash Muslim should be.

And so this verse calls you and I to just stop for a moment. Stop and think about yourself. Look in the mirror. You might see a beautiful beard, mashallah. You might see a beautiful hijab, mashallah. But then you have to stop and ask yourself: when was the last time I actually spent quality time with my family? Did I give all the huquq and all the rights to my spouse? Was I actually respectful to my community? Do I follow rules and regulations?

Do you ever notice that when you travel to other parts of the world, whenever Muslims have to get in line for food, we just simply can't do it? Or it's always a big problem? So being dignified and civilized when standing in line for anything — these are the questions you have to ask yourself. These are the questions that I honestly believe many Muslims take for granted. We trivialize it. We don't really take it serious. Some of us probably believe it's just something that should happen by default. No, ayyuhal ahbab, you have to work at this. You have to strive to be not only a great mu'min, but you also have to remember to be a great Muslim.

Muslim is on the outside. It's what people see from you and I. It's how we judge each other. I can judge you and you can judge me as a Muslim, because that's my behavior and my attitude that you see and experience. We don't have the right to judge each other as mu'min, because mu'min is on the inside.

The Command to Die as Muslims

And this is why Allah tells us — listen to this verse from Surah Ali Imran:

This ayah — Allah says: O you who believe, fear Allah the fear that He is most deserving of you. And don't you dare die and leave this world. Allah says وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ. Arabic students, you know that the nun at the end of this verb — it's called the heavy nun or nun al-mushaddada. When you add a heavy nun to a verb in Arabic, it represents emphasis to the greatest strength. So it's not Allah saying to you, "don't die and leave this earth." Allah is saying, "don't you dare for a moment think, don't you dare leave this earth unless you are in the state of submission."

Allah said Muslim — Muslimoon. Allah didn't say mu'minoon. This tells you and I: our number one priority in our life is — if you want Allah to bless you to be mu'min, your starting point is to act like a Muslim, is to behave like one. Allah says, don't you leave this earth unless you are acting and behaving like a Muslim.

Because when death finds you, when death comes to you, it doesn't apologize. It doesn't say, "okay, wait a minute, you're watching a movie, I'll come back on Jumu'ah day when you're in sajda." It doesn't say, "oh wait a minute, you're doing something haram, or you're being uncivilized in this one particular situation or moment, I'll come back when things are good. I'll come back in Ramadan." Once it finds you, it finds you.

So your first duty is really to look at all the decisions you make in your everyday life, in your everyday routine. Do those decisions and those circumstances represent what a true believer and a true Muslim should look like and should behave like?

Preparing for Death: The Angels at the Deathbed

So this is what you learn from this ayah. ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا — then what happens? Now you're going to prepare for death. The ayah is going to prepare you for death. Allah continues and says:

Allah will send an army of angels. What's happening? This is the person at his or her death. They're on their deathbed. They strived their whole life to hold on to this message.

So I'm going to speak personally to all of you. I know what it feels like. I'm from Toronto. I'm from Canada. So I live the same culture and the same lifestyle that you do. We all have the same pressures. We have the same problems. And the fact of the matter is, brothers and sisters, being Muslim today is simply not easy. It's just not easy. And you can decide how it's not easy for you. Every single one of us sitting here has a story of how you're struggling to hold on to this deen. But the fact of the matter is Allah still told you and I: don't you dare leave this earth unless you are Muslim.

And it makes you wonder — the religion that's being scrutinized the most, that's being criticized the most, that's being targeted the most, is the religion Allah said, "don't you dare let go of that." Why? Because you're going to prepare for this moment, when Allah will send angels to you, insha'Allah.

And they will say to you:

The angels are ordered to say to the mu'min, to the believer at his or her deathbed: أَلَّا تَخَافُوا — don't be scared and don't be frightened. Why is this person frightened at the time of death? They're frightened because they know it's coming, and they're going to meet Allah. And then the angels continue and they say: وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا — don't be sad. Why is this person who's dying starting to feel sad? It's because they're going to be separated from their families and their friends. Now they're going to be alone with whom? With Allah. They're going to be put on trial, and they're going to be questioned. So they're going to have to stand up in front of the ultimate judge — for every statement they uttered and every action they've done.

Just stop for a moment and really think. Think what that feels like. Think what that represents for you and I. And ask yourself a question right now: if this was your last Jumu'ah, are you ready to meet Allah and say, يَا رَبِّ, today, this Friday in 2016, this Jumu'ah — I give it to you. We just finished Ramadan. How many of you are comfortable saying to Allah, يَا رَبِّ, this Ramadan of 2016 — this I've tried my best, here it is?

If you're comfortable saying that to Allah now, that's one thing. But the reality is, ayyuhal ahbab, many people aren't — they're just simply not ready. And this is why I say to you: you have to be ready mentally, physically. You have to be ready thinking and never forgetting about the one thing that destroys all of our pleasures in this world. You have to constantly be thinking about your death. How you want to leave this earth and meet Allah.

A Story of a Blessed Death

You know, recently I visited another country in South America, and I met one of my classmates from the University of Medina. He was originally from Jamaica, and he moved into South America. I hadn't seen him in six years since we all graduated from Medina. So when I went back a few months ago and I saw him for the first time in six years, we were in front of an audience of thousands of people. I called him out of the crowd and I made him stand up. And I told him how much I loved him in front of everybody — because wallahi, it was the truth. This brother, wallahi, had a smile I've never seen on any human being in my life. It was one of those smiles that would actually tickle your iman. It would actually make you want to smile to others just for the sake of Allah. It was genuine, it was pure. Aside from his smile, he had the purest heart insha'Allah ta'ala. He was my friend and I loved him.

And then recently, a few weeks ago, he walks out of his house to turn on the water pump. He got electrocuted. He falls to his death. This happens in the month of Ramadan. He falls to his death whilst he's fasting, after Salatul Fajr, facing the Qibla, in sajdah.

What's going to be your death? Think — what's going to be your death? How do you want to leave this earth for Allah? You might be an amazing Muslim. Are you a good person? Even with non-Muslims, even with the system, with people around you — you are ordered by Allah to just be a good, dignified, and civilized individual. Have you represented that for yourself?

And you're doing all of this to prepare for that one moment so that angels can say: it's okay, don't be afraid, don't be sad.

Congratulations — أَبْشِرُوا, bushra. Allah is saying: the angels will come to you and say, congratulations, don't be afraid, don't be sad, don't be worried anymore. Because you did it. You got Jannah.

May Allah give us and bless us and honor us to enter His Jannah, al-Firdaws al-A'la. Allahumma ameen.

My brothers and sisters, I will continue and conclude in the second part of the khutbah. May Allah continue to increase us in our iman. May Allah continue to increase us in fiqh and ilm. May Allah purify and beautify our actions. Allahumma ameen.

Second Khutbah: The Promise of the Angels

Bismillah. Alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah, wa 'ala alihi wa ashabihi wa man wala. Amma ba'd.

The ayah continues:

This is where I will end, insha'Allah ta'ala. The angels continue speaking and continue telling this individual: نَحْنُ أَوْلِيَاؤُكُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ — we were your protectors. Awliya' is the plural for wali. We were your guardians. We were your protectors.

So when you were striving to hold on to this deen, the angels that Allah sent to protect you — they were busy battling off shayateen for you. They were your wali. They were the workers, Allah's soldiers sent for you to protect you. So the angels assure you of this:

فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ — you're also going to have, SubhanAllah, angels that are friends for you in the akhirah as well.

What You Collectively Desire and What You Individually Desire

And then the angels continue and say: you will have everything that you collectively desired from Allah and what you individually desired from Allah. Two things.

مَا تَشْتَهِي أَنفُسُكُمْ — ishtaha means the thing that all of us collectively want from Allah. So if I ask young kids right now what do you want from Allah? A young kid will probably say, I want ice cream. I want sweets. I want candy. I want to have fun. So their leisure would be a gift from Allah to them. If you ask teenagers they might want other things. If you ask adults they might say, we want security, we want pleasure, we want to see Allah. They think maturely based on their knowledge — these are the things that will make them happy in the akhirah. So that's what we collectively want as an ummah, as a community.

وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَا تَدَّعُونَ — but you're also going to get the one thing that each of you individually want from Allah. I can't tell you what that is. I can tell you one thing that I would hope — that if Allah allows me and blesses me to speak to Him and ask Him for what I want, if Allah gives me that opportunity and gives me permission to do that — one of the things that I always think about in my life is: I want to ask Allah to reveal to me the secrets of the Qur'an.

O Allah, you said الم — what does it really mean? You said يس, طه — what do these letters actually mean? Scholars till this day are divided. They don't know what these letters actually represent. يا ربي, you took Surah at-Tawbah and you didn't put bismillah before it — يا ربي, tell me why? These are the things that I think about.

What are the things that you think about? And that's important, brothers and sisters, because what that does is it sets your vision towards goals. And Muslims always have to be goal-oriented in your life to achieve anything — whether it be studies, whether it be ibadah, whether it was in Ramadan. I'm sure all of you sitting here had personal goals in Ramadan. Some of us wanted to finish Qur'an. Some of us wanted to memorize Qur'an. Some of us wanted to memorize surahs. Some of us simply wanted to pray all the Tarawih. Whatever it was, that's your individual goal.

So what do you hope to achieve when you meet Allah? What's the one thing you want to ask that's unique to you? What's the thing that you wish for the most? That's your ultimate gift from Allah.

Conclusion: Food for Thought

And so brothers and sisters, I leave you with this — nothing more, as food for thought. For you to sit with yourself and reflect. This was not intended to be an intense khutbah where I would put theological discussions and theories in your head and then leave you alone. I simply want to give you a simple message from a miskeen believer and servant of Allah.

I come from another part of the world into your community. And I just want to say to all of you here at Green Lane — from Toronto, Canada — all the brothers and sisters, wallahi, I tell you this from my heart: every masjid I go to and all the communities I go to, they send their salams and their love to Green Lane Masjid. They are followers of all the good that you do in this masjid, and all the shuyukh and imams you bring here, and all the ilm that you have in this masjid. Wallahi, myself and our own communities benefit from you.

So you have something good here — think about where you're going to take that good, insha'Allah ta'ala, when it comes time for your turn to leave this earth and confront Him.

May Allah bless us with a husn al-khatimah — a blessed and righteous ending. May Allah honor us with a husn al-khatimah. May Allah bless us and honor us with a husn al-khatimah. Allahumma ameen.

Closing Du'as

These are the words that I leave you with, ayyuhal ahbab. We send peace and salutations to our Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam, as Allah has commanded us in His revelation:

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ