Follow the Sunnah! - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

Khutbah al-Haajah (Opening)

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask for His help and we ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He leads astray, none can guide him.

And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, no partner for Him. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant, His Messenger, and the purest of His creation, and His friend. Allah has sent him to all people as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner.

He conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust, and advised the Ummah. And He left us on the white path — its night is like its day, nothing escapes it except destruction. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family and his companions, and whosoever is guided by his guidance and follows his Sunnah and calls to his call to the Day of Judgment.

The Lack of Knowledge in the Ummah

We have a lot of well-meaning Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world, but they lack understanding and knowledge. And this was very evident in the past week, it was very evident in the past year — it's very evident to many of us that there is a lack of knowledge within our Ummah that must be rectified.

And Allah gave us that solution in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah. What's interesting is that in every Jumu'ah, we repeat that the best speech is the speech of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ. We hear this often, we know that the truth lies in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, that we will be saved by following the Prophet ﷺ. And yet, often we see that the Muslim Ummah struggles to find these solutions — not because they don't know where to look, but because they don't understand and they don't have the knowledge.

And this is one of the biggest problems that we as an Ummah must solve: educating ourselves of our religion.

Allah gave us the guidance. This guidance of the Qur'an is for you and I — it is for you and I to be guided. And Hidayah — when Allah speaks about the Qur'an, sometimes Allah refers to the one that is lost and is trying to find his way. When Allah was defining the stars, He said:

The stars — the Bedouin Arabs and the travelers would use them to find where they were going. We want to go somewhere. We want victory. We want peace. We want the Ummah to be in prosperity and mercy. We want the approval and pleasure of Allah Almighty.

The solution is in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The Hidayah, the Huda that Allah has given us. And what makes us different from the people that came before us — when Allah praises us in the Qur'an — is that we are those who follow the guidance and the Hidayah. May Allah make us among those.

The Early Generations and Their Adherence to the Sunnah

We can see from the earlier generations — from the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba and their followers — how strictly they followed the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. And this is why they reached where they reached: because they took that to heart. The importance of following the Deen over everything else.

And this is something that we really need to take seriously. We know the plight that is happening and the issues that are happening in Palestine, for example.

I saw brothers and sisters — well-meaning, with good intentions — lighting candles and vigils for Palestine. We saw some people dancing and singing. Now do I doubt their intentions? No. Or their Iman? Absolutely not. In fact, may Allah reward them for their intention and their worry and their love for their brothers and sisters, and the Wala that they are trying to show. But we have a way. And we have a way we do things. Certain things we are not allowed to do don't become halal because we feel upset. They don't become halal because we feel upset.

We saw people abusing innocent people, chanting things that Muslims shouldn't be chanting and saying, because they are upset. Again, my brothers and sisters, it is the Deen, our Deen, that protects us from falling into transgression. You must limit yourself where Allah limited you. We are not allowed to insult people as Muslims — so when we are upset, we shouldn't make that halal. We are not allowed to destroy properties. We are not allowed to freely mix and chant and dance between the genders. These things are not allowed. And just because you are well-meaning doesn't give you a license to do those things.

But, Alhamdulillah, the Ummah — as we saw this past week — they have care for this Ummah. They have good intentions. They want to bring about good change. A lot of the efforts that they are doing, wrong or right, give you a sign of hope that the Ummah still cares. They are not sitting at home. They are not ignoring. There is khair in the Ummah. But that khair needs to be mixed with proper guidance. And it needs to be mixed with ilm. And this is extremely important.

The Story of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Innovated Dhikr

When one of the major companions — this was shortly after the Prophet ﷺ died — came to the masjid and saw people that were making dhikr. Now, what is wrong with dhikr? It is one of the greatest acts of worship. The Prophet ﷺ mentioned that it is better than most acts of worship and beloved to Allah. But they were doing it in a manner, in a way that was not known by the companions, nor had the Prophet ever advised.

And when he saw this, he went to Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه and told him. And Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said a powerful statement. He said, "Are you doing this?" — and he mentioned how short a time had passed since the Prophet ﷺ was among them — "Are we already changing the course of the Deen?" And then someone said, "Well, they are doing dhikr and they mean well." And he said: "How many people mean well, but they are still misguided."

Meaning well and having good intentions alone is not enough. This is why, when Allah was advising us, He said:

"Whoever wants to meet his Lord, let him do righteous actions." Righteous. When the scholars explain righteous actions, they say it has two components. One: it must be sincere for Allah Almighty. And two: it must follow the way of the Prophet ﷺ.

Do you want your deeds to be accepted? Do you want your efforts to be fruitful? Do you want to bring about real change? If you want that, then stick with the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, the way of the Prophet ﷺ. Respect it. Follow it. Adhere to it. Do not change it.

The Issue of Innovated Collective Qiyam

Among the things that some of you might have seen is people calling towards — and again, well-meaning brothers and sisters — calling towards a qiyam that must be prayed over the whole world at the same time. "We must all pray a qiyam at the same time or make du'a at the same time."

Brothers and sisters, this is again something the Prophet ﷺ, in his time, was dealing with many similar issues. History repeats itself. The Muslims were weak at one point. They were being attacked at one point. They were being abused at one point. This is something not new. And the Prophet ﷺ never said to his Sahaba, "Each one of you pray a qiyam together at the same time." This is something that people are doing. Again, they mean well — but this is not the way.

So how do we solve all of this? How do we solve this problem of people trying to rectify things, but going about it the wrong way? With ilm, with knowledge. You need to get into the habit of asking the question: Is there a hadith for this? Have the scholars advised this? Is this part of our Deen? Are we sure we're doing it the right way? And these questions you must ask — because if you want all of your efforts and deeds to be accepted, then you must follow the Sunnah of the Prophet, the way of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Statement of Imam Malik

Imam Malik has a beautiful statement. He swore by Allah and said:

(Attributed to Imam Malik ibn Anas — reported in al-Muwatta' and various works of Islamic scholarship)

"Indeed, the affairs of the last portion of this Ummah will not be rectified except with the same thing that rectified the beginning of this Ummah" — the Prophet and the Sahaba. So if we want to have the prosperity and the victory and the nasr and the izzah that the Sahaba had, then let's be like them. And what was their defining quality? They always followed the Rasul of Allah ﷺ.

I say this, and I ask Allah to forgive me and you and the rest of the Muslims of every sin. So ask forgiveness. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Second Khutbah: Unity, Obedience, and the Lesson of Uhud

Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu 'ala Rasulillah.

My brothers and sisters, the concept of following the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ should not be relegated to something that is just said. Wallahi, if you love the Prophet, you would want nothing else but to follow his way. And you would be worried about following a different way, or following an innovative way, or doing something in a way that is not sanctioned by the Deen of Allah.

And I remember the statement of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه when he said: "How many people mean well, but they still fall into misguidance?" And I ask Allah to protect us from that.

We have a way as Muslims and as believers. And even some of the stuff that we do — I'll give an example of some of the protests that were happening. A lot of what is happening in those are incorrect as well. And even if you are there to raise awareness for an issue, even if you want to raise awareness and show your solidarity with your brothers and sisters — and may Allah relieve them from their hardships, ameen, ya Rabbal 'Alameen — then you shouldn't do any munkaraat or any sinful acts while you're doing that. And you should always remember that that which will bring about goodness in this Ummah is coming back to the Deen of Allah, and not disobedience.

I'm going to give one final example. We all know that Allah didn't promise this Ummah constant victory all the time, every time. Because the Prophet himself and the Sahaba sometimes would fail, sometimes would lose. There wasn't always victory upon victory upon victory. That is not the Sunnah of Allah. One day, it is these people that are on top. Another day, it is another people.

But what is it that makes a group of people the people that are on top — the people that cannot be terrorized or abused? It is two things, my brothers. And Allah mentioned this in the Qur'an when the Muslims and the Sahaba lost the battle of Uhud — when 70 of their companions were killed and the uncle of the Prophet died. When Allah discusses that incident in Surah Aal-'Imran: Why did this happen to you? Isn't the Prophet among you? Yes. Aren't you upon the Haqq? Yes, you are. Why did you lose to the Quraysh? Why did that happen? Allah said:

Allah described the incident and the reason. تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ — "You disagreed and quarreled among yourselves over the matter." Disunity, being divided. This is the number one cause. As long as the Ummah is divided, you will always be a people that are suffering. As long as we are divided.

So we need to work to become united — something that we have to work towards as an Ummah. And if you can't be united with your own family — and there is discord and disunity — or with your own community — and there is discord and disunity — or your own country, how do you expect the Ummah to be united? We have to start from the bottom up and ask Allah to rectify our hearts.

The second point that Allah mentions in the surah that causes the failure of an Ummah is وَعَصَيْتُم — it is disobedience. The Sahaba disobeyed the Prophet's commands. Allah forgave them — in the same surah Allah forgives them — but they had disobeyed the messenger of Allah. This was a lesson to everyone.

An Ummah that disobeys their Prophet will not find success. An Ummah that is divided among themselves will not find success. Who is telling us this, my brothers and sisters? It is Allah Almighty — the One who gives success and victory. So remember that point.

Closing Du'a

I ask Allah to make this Ummah united. I ask Allah to forgive our disobedience and sins. I ask Allah to make us among those that follow the Sunnah of the Prophet every time, all the time. I ask Allah to make us among those that have knowledge of their Deen.

Send salawat upon your Prophet, as Allah commanded you, where He said:

وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ