The Great Revelation - Shaykh Sajid Ahmed Umar

Opening Praises and Salutations

Praise be to Allah, who sent His Prophet with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all other religions, even if the polytheists disliked it. I praise Him, glory be to Him, the best praise of Him, and I obey Him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, there is no partner for Him.

And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. I bear witness that he conveyed the message and fulfilled the trust, and advised the Ummah, and strived in Allah for the truth of his Jihad until certainty came to him.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 6, Hadith 2042)

أَلَا فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ عِبَادَ اللَّهِ وَتَمَسَّكُوا مِنَ الْإِسْلَامِ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقَى وَاحْذَرُوا غَضَبَ الرَّبِّ فَإِنَّ أَجْسَادَكُمْ عَلَى النَّارِ لَا تُكْوَى

Introduction

O servants of Allah and O children of Adam, all praises belongs to Allah alone. We praise Him and we seek His assistance and guidance, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and the adverse consequences of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides then none can misguide him, and whomsoever Allah misguides then none can guide him. And peace and salutations be upon the final messenger, our master, our leader, Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship besides one Allah, and that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is His messenger.

My dearest brothers and sisters in Islam, I began this khutbah praising Allah with the praise of Hamd — a praise that is unique and specific for Allah alone, a praise that cannot be offered except to the being who is perfect from ever and is perfect forever. Allah is the most deserving of this praise, this Hamd — a praise that constitutes a sincere show of gratitude coupled with sincere love and exaltation for the one being praised, because He has gifted us gifts that no one else can gift us, and these gifts are many and countless:

If you are to try and audit and amass the gifts of Allah upon you, you will never ever be able to do so.

The Greatest Gift: النَّبَأُ الْعَظِيم — The Great Revelation

From these gifts, O servants of Allah and O children of Adam, is Allah sending us Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. From these gifts is the mighty revelation — the final testament, the timeless Qur'an — that Allah revealed upon the greatest messenger, Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. This book of guidance, this book of knowledge that Allah revealed to the messenger of guidance and the messenger of knowledge صلى الله عليه وسلم — this revelation that is mighty and in it is a mighty message, and mighty knowledge, and mighty instruction. Thus Allah terms it and describes it as النَّبَأُ الْعَظِيم — the great revelation, the great message with great knowledge and great instruction.

Allah reveals to Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم and commands him to tell the people that indeed this revelation is a great revelation. Allah says about this revelation:

About what are they collectively asking? What is the discussion speaking about? It is related to the greatest revelation — this great revelation with great knowledge — that is what they are discussing. This is the description that Allah has given this Qur'an.

This Qur'an, O servants of Allah and O children of Adam, is a book of success and failure, a book that differentiates between the people of Jannah and the people of Jahannam, a book of halal and haram, a book of guidance and misguidance. The one who follows it, the one who practices his or her life upon it — they will be successful and from those who attain ultimate success:

Ultimate success is for the one who is saved from the hellfire and enters paradise. Allah describes them as those who have ultimately succeeded. This is the reality of the Qur'an.

The Qur'an Converts Men into Prophets

This Qur'an and its knowledge, O servants of Allah, is what converts men into prophets — a man into a prophet. For Rasulullah ﷺ was not misguided before he became a prophet. He was guided upon his fitrah and he was blessed with a washed heart from the water of Zamzam by the mighty angel Jibrīl عليه السلام whilst he was young. He was never ever misguided, but he wasn't upon complete guidance. And thus Allah says when He mentions the gifts that He gave him ﷺ:

Some translations state "We found you misguided and We guided you," and this is an incorrect translation of the reality of this ayah. For this ayah doesn't refer to the Prophet ﷺ as misguided, but it refers to him as someone who wasn't upon complete guidance, and Allah showered upon him complete guidance. Allah opened his heart and expanded his chest:

Did We not reveal to you the knowledge that taught you how Allah wants to be worshipped? That taught you about halal and haram? You sat in the cave for a long period of time not knowing how to worship Allah. In your heart you knew the practice of your people — they were practices of misguidance, you were away from those practices — but you didn't know how to worship Allah. You didn't know about salah, you didn't know about zakah, you didn't know about fasting, you didn't know about hajj, you didn't know how to engage Allah how He wants to be engaged.

We revealed to you اقْرَأْ — We revealed to you the Qur'an, the final testament, the greatest miracle, and We taught you how to live on earth, how Allah wants you to live on earth. This is the reality of النَّبَأُ الْعَظِيم.

The Qur'an Elevates Everything It Touches

This revelation and the knowledge of this revelation also brings men out of boys. Because when this Qur'an was revealed, we found the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم أجمعين — the greatest people after Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, the greatest disciples that any prophet ever had. This is the reality of the Sahabah. They were the greatest — when? When this Qur'an reached them, when this Qur'an touched them.

And this is the reality of the Qur'an and its knowledge — it doesn't touch anything except that it makes it greater.

When it touched a night, it became the greatest night:

The Night of Power and Decree and Virtue is the greatest night — better than one thousand months. When it touched a month, it became the greatest month — the month of Ramadan. As the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "The greatest month is the month of Ramadan." And it is the month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was revealed:

It touched a city and it became the greatest city — Makkah al-Mukarramah. It was revealed in a language, and thus that language became the greatest language — the Arabic language. It reached a messenger, and thus that messenger became the greatest messenger — Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. It was sent via an angel, and when this Qur'an touched that angel, he became the greatest angel — Jibrīl عليه السلام.

Examples from the Companions

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib and the Negus

The same applies to the companions of Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. It was this Qur'an that gave Ja'far ibn Abi Talib — perhaps the first representative of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — the courage to stand up and represent the Muslims in front of the just king, al-Najashi, after the Muslims were forced to live in Abyssinia so they could be safe from the persecution of the Quraysh.

The Quraysh never left them, for they sent a contingent led by 'Amr ibn al-'As and others to go and convince al-Najashi to bring these Muslims back. And when al-Najashi sought a gathering with these few companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, it was decided that Ja'far would represent the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in front of al-Najashi. He spoke words of guidance, for he told al-Najashi:

"We were a people that worshipped idols. We were a people that ate the meat of dead animals. We were a people that never respected our neighbors, and we cut ties with our relations. The strong ones from us usurped the rights of the weak ones from us. And then Allah sent a man — someone who we knew, whose lineage was known, whose trustworthiness was known, whose honesty was known — and he taught us to worship one Allah. He taught us to leave the meat of dead animals. He taught us to look after the rights of the oppressed and to support the weak and not touch the wealth of the orphans. He taught us to maintain family relations, to stay away from worshipping idols, and he taught us how to worship Allah as Allah wants to be worshipped."

This is a message from Ja'far — from where? From النَّبَأُ الْعَظِيم.

Zayd ibn Thabit — The Young Scholar

It is this revelation, O servants of Allah, that as I said turns boys into men as well. We have Zayd ibn Thabit رضي الله عنه — a young boy who sees the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم gathering the Sahaba to go out to meet the caravan led by Abu Sufyan, so that the Muslims may retrieve some of that which was stolen from them. This was the great call from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, so great that even the hypocrites smirked and laughed after they heard this call and said:

"Their religion has deceived them. Look at them in number, look at their reality — they were kicked out of their land and they want to face the caravans of the Quraysh. Their religion has indeed deceived them."

And we have this young boy, Zayd ibn Thabit رضي الله عنه, 13 years of age. He goes and presents himself to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sends him back — why? Because he's too young. This is no small mission, O servants of Allah and O children of Adam, but the Qur'an has reached him, the knowledge of this Qur'an has entered his heart.

He comes back to his mother, Nawwār bint Mālik رضي الله عنها, and he complains of his sadness. A 13-year-old boy. His mother recognizes in him his ability to memorize, his ability to read, his ability to write. So she takes him back to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and says: "O Messenger of Allah, he can't be of benefit to you in this expedition that you are about to undertake, but this is the reality of my son — he can read, he can write, and he has memorized 17 surahs of the Qur'an at this young age and he reads it as Allah has revealed it to you." SubhanAllah. So use him — use him in the path of Allah based on the skills that he has. La ilaha illallah.

Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم tells him to go and learn Hebrew, to go learn other languages, and in 17 days he comes back to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم speaking Hebrew like the people of that language speak it. Then he goes on to learn Syriac until he becomes the main translator of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, and the da'wah of Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه وسلم can move on to people who don't speak Arabic.

What made this boy a man? Indeed it was النَّبَأُ الْعَظِيم — it was the revelation of the Qur'an and its message.

Mu'adh ibn Jabal — The Young Mufti

This message, this revelation, ignites Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه — Mu'adh ibn Jabal who ended up being a mufti of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at his time, and a judge who was picked by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, and a da'i and a propagator of Islam. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sent him to Yemen as a mufti, as a qadi, and as a da'i. SubhanAllah. And how old was he? Mu'adh accepts Islam at the age of 18 years of age and attains this grand, noble status — not being picked by the leaders of the Muslims after the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, but picked by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم himself.

After Islam spreads and enters lands that no one would have imagined, during the time of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه, we have Mu'adh giving lessons with Sahaba sitting in his lessons. People are asking: "But who is this person who has come into our city and has been given the main chair to teach, even though we have companions amongst us?" And they are taught: "Do you not know that that is Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه?"

Abdullah ibn Abbas — The Greatest Mufassir

Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما — the cousin of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the son of the uncle of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — he receives this النَّبَأُ الْعَظِيم. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم passes away and Abdullah ibn Abbas is not even 18 years of age. And when he passes away, he is known as the Mufti of the Ummah and the Mufassir of the Ummah — the greatest explainer of the Qur'an and the greatest faqih. He was from the fuqaha of the Sahaba. This young boy who was ignited because of النَّبَأُ الْعَظِيم — because of the revelation of the Qur'an and the knowledge in it — reaches this grand status.

He understood the importance of seeking the knowledge of the Qur'an and the knowledge that Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم left behind. He understood how important this knowledge makes other people. It is said that between him and Zayd ibn Thabit — who I just spoke to you about, and by the way Zayd wasn't only a translator for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, but he was also a writer of the Qur'an, and he was the main person at the time of Abu Bakr that was used when the Qur'an was being compiled, and the main person at the time of 'Uthman when the Qur'an was being unified — between Zayd ibn Thabit and Abdullah ibn Abbas was about 8 years. And when Zayd gets on his camel, Abdullah ibn Abbas is holding the rope, steadying the camel for him. SubhanAllah.

When he is told to leave it, he says: "This is not what I am doing. I should be doing more because of the person sitting on this animal — not because of him being flesh and bones, but because of the knowledge of the Qur'an and the Sunnah that he has in his heart."

This Abdullah ibn Abbas — the greatest Mufassir and Faqih — when he used to seek knowledge, he used to go at midday when he knew the people of knowledge would be sleeping, and he would sleep on their doorstep. He would say: "I would put my head on their doorstep." And those who described seeing him sleep speak about the dust from the deserts of Medina pouring onto his head and his face. They would tell him: "O cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, you are so close to the messenger — knock the door and let the person come out and give you your need, teach you what you need." And he would say: "No. This is not the way with the people of knowledge. Rather, I am here because I know he is there, and I will wait for him to come out and be the first to take my need from him."

This is the reality of knowledge, brothers and sisters in Islam.

The First Command: اقْرَأْ — Read!

This is the reality of:

When Allah reveals this النَّبَأُ الْعَظِيم, the first word that Allah chose to be the opening of this revelation is اقْرَأْ — "Read!" It's a verb. It's a call to action — not just to learn, but to learn and apply. Because knowledge is not power if it is not applied. Yes, in the English language they say "knowledge is power," but in Islam we say applied knowledge is power. It only benefits you when you put it into practice.

Allah could have chosen any term. He could have chosen a noun. He chooses the command to read and educate yourself. And the first command that He tells you to learn about is:

Know that there is no one worthy of worship besides one Allah.

When He reveals Surah al-Rahman — a surah that explains the reality of who al-Rahman is — Allah says at its opening:

Who is al-Rahman? He is the one who taught you the Qur'an. And Allah says this before خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ — He says it before He teaches you that He created you. Even though your being created came before the Qur'an being revealed, SubhanAllah, He teaches you that He is al-Rahman because He revealed to you the life of your soul and heart before He created your soul and heart. It is this Qur'an, this knowledge of Islam, that will make you great.

These are some snippets from the Qur'an and from the lives of the companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And in the Sunnah we have more related to the importance of seeking knowledge, and perhaps we'll touch on that in the next khutbah, inshAllah.

Second Khutbah: The Inheritance of the Prophet

O servants of Allah and O children of Adam, fear Allah and fear a Day when you will be returned to Allah, then every soul will be fully compensated for what it earned, and they will not be wronged.

Knowledge as the Path to Jannah

O servants of Allah and O children of Adam — you and I — we are deprived and we miss out on important dealings because of those dealings. Because of those dealings, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم taught us:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 35, Hadith 6853)

Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — the greatest inheritance ever left behind:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 3641)

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that indeed the Prophets don't leave behind gold and silver coins — they leave behind beneficial knowledge, and whoever holds on to it has held on to a great thing and some great success.

Because knowledge will always be greater than wealth. When you spend wealth, it decreases. When you spend knowledge, it increases. When you attain wealth, you have to look after it. When you attain knowledge, it looks after you. Knowledge will always be greater.

And we are always looking to be close to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. We have this reminiscence — we wish we lived at the time of the Sahaba, we wish we could have eaten with the messenger, we wish we could have touched his cloak and shaken his hand. You have his inheritance to shake your hands with. You have his inheritance to sit with, my dearest brothers and sisters in Islam. We have the greatest thing of the messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم — and that was his knowledge. And Allah has preserved it for us.

The Creation Seeks Forgiveness for the Scholar

From the package of seeking knowledge is attaining the creation of Allah seeking forgiveness over us. Because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2685)

That for the one who is knowledgeable about this religion, indeed Allah inspires all the creations of the skies, all the creations on earth, and all the creations swimming in the waters on earth to seek forgiveness for the person of knowledge — the holder of the inheritance of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. What would you pay to have a creation of Allah that is sinless ask Allah day and night for your forgiveness? What would you pay, O servants of Allah and O children of Adam? This is the reality of knowledge, brothers and sisters in Islam.

A Call to Excellence and Action

InshAllah the message is clear. We only have limited time to introduce aspects, and I pray the introduction is clear and the inspiration has reached. We live at a time when not only has Allah kept the blessings of knowledge alive but He has made our access towards seeking knowledge easy.

I do what I do because of my vision of ignited communities that benefit humanity. I speak what I speak and share what I share to encourage you to achieve your God-given podium of excellence. Because that's the reality that لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ brings to you and your children and those within your sphere of influence. If you're a Muslim, mediocrity can never be your way, for Allah has given you a podium of excellence — you just have to learn and practice and act. Yes, it's difficult, but Jannah is the prize. And when the prize is that great, it's the sunnah of Allah that the effort has to be great as well.

Announcement: Fiqh of Transactions Program

Thus I visit you in Birmingham this weekend and next for a series of lessons related to knowledge. The greatest program, inshAllah, will be next Saturday the 6th of July — we'll be sharing a one-day presentation teaching one and all the basics and the introduction to Islamic transactions from the books of fiqh, but it will be done in an interactive way that, inshAllah, relates to you and your children.

Why do I want to teach the fiqh of transactions? Somebody will say, "But this is not exciting" — because that's how we are today. We classify knowledge into exciting knowledge and not-so-exciting knowledge, knowledge which needs brain power and knowledge which doesn't. Why this subject? My purpose is the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ in which he teaches us of a person who is struggling and disheveled and in great need of help, and he raises his hands and turns to Allah and he says, "My Lord! My Lord!" — but his food is haram, and his drink is haram, and the clothes that he wears are haram. The Prophet ﷺ says: how will his du'a be answered?

(Sahih Muslim, Book 12, Hadith 2214)

Haram wealth is a means of your du'a being rejected — and du'a is the weapon of the believer. How can we have ignited communities that benefit humanity when the du'as of this community are being rejected? Why? Because without realizing, they're buying and selling in a way that displeases Allah.

We know 'Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه used to test the traders before they came into the markets of Medina, and he chose monitors from them — because of their knowledge of the fiqh of transactions — to walk the markets of Medina and check on the transactions of the people.

The masjid has told me that there are desks that will be set up after Jumu'ah taking your registrations for this topic. My promise to you is to teach you the introduction that you need so that whatever transaction comes to you, you will be able to raise a red flag with regards to it. What I need from you is just your attendance.

May Allah preserve us in His obedience. Above this program are the programs that you will see pasted around the masjid and on the flyers — please take note of those community development programs for your children and your family as well.