Speaking the Truth - Shaykh Wasim Kempson

Khutbah One: Speaking the Truth

Praise be to Allah, we praise Him, we ask for His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we ask for His guidance. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no misguider for him, and whom He misguides, there is no guide for him.

And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, there is no partner for Him. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O you who have believed, seek Allah as He should be sought, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, seek Allah and say the right words, that He may amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great victory. Indeed, all praise and thanks is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His final Messenger. Allah says in the Quran:

And they say that Allah has taken a son. Exalted is He. Rather, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. All are devoutly obedient to Him.

If the entire world, except one, were to come together and they were all to agree to say that Allah has taken a son, that would not make it the truth. If the whole world were to come together and they would say that the moon is blue, that would not make it the truth. Because the truth — al-haqq — is not manufactured. It is not made up by individuals and then pushed out to the masses for them to accept. Rather, al-haqq, the truth, stands upon its own.

And the nature of the truth is that it can never ultimately be hidden. It may be buried for a while, but the truth can never ultimately be hidden. It has to appear one time. It has to come out, even centuries later. Al-haqq, the truth, has to appear. And the ultimate truth will be on Yawm al-Qiyamah when everyone — al-khala'iq, all of creation — will stand there in front of Allah and they will know the truth. That Allah is One and He was to be worshipped alone, and that what was worshipped besides Him was false. That is the ultimate truth and that will come to all of creation.

The Difficulty of Speaking the Truth

Now these are principles that you and I know. But the thing is, there may be times when it is very difficult for you and I. It may feel difficult to say what the haqq is. Why? Because there are consequences to saying the truth. If you say what is the haqq, what will happen? Maybe I will lose my job. Or maybe I will be investigated. Or maybe it will affect my education. Maybe it will affect my income.

Now the person weighs up their own situation — when it is wise and best to say what is necessary. But it seems that as time moves on, it becomes at times for others and for some even more difficult to say the truth. However, there will be those who, regardless of the situation, fear these worldly issues not in any way, shape or form. They will say what is the haqq, what is the truth — not fearing these worldly losses because they come and they go. But they are saying the truth because on Yawm al-Qiyamah they will have something to say in front of Allah. Something that will speak on their behalf: I stood for the truth no matter what. I didn't fear all of these worldly issues.

The Prophetic Advice on Truthfulness

Bearing in mind that the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6094; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2607)

Upon you is to be truthful. For indeed truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And that individual will pursue truth at all times until it is written with Allah that they are among the truthful ones — siddiqeen. And be aware of lying. Why? Because lying leads to evil and oppression and wrongdoing — fujoor. And this fujoor leads to the Hellfire. And an individual will pursue by any means to tell lies, distort the truth, until it is written with Allah that that individual is a kadhdhab — a liar.

This hadith is a really important advice from the Prophet ﷺ regarding the boundaries of what we should be doing and what we should be talking about. And it is always sticking to the truth. Debunking lies, debunking false narratives — even if those who are pushing these false narratives are in the minority. And as time goes on, the truth, even though you and I may not be saying it as loudly as we should, will prevail. Oppression and wrongdoing is being exposed. Even though, hypothetically, millions are being spent to pursue these lies — the truth is becoming clear amongst the people.

The Example of the Prophet ﷺ

At the time of Rasulullah ﷺ, the disbelieving Quraysh were telling lies about our beloved Nabi ﷺ — that he was a sahir, a magician, that he was insane, that he was a poet. All of this, it never stuck. The truth prevailed. Why? Because he was al-Sadiq al-Amin — the truthful one, the trustworthy one. The truth stood out by itself.

And this is what we are saying. Our focus as Muslims should be to dispel lies — from afar and from that which is on our doorsteps as well. And so, for example, what happens to the ummah wherever they are — whether it is in Palestine, Gaza, or whether it is in Yemen, whether it is in Syria, and other places around the world where Muslims are facing real difficult times — the Muslims will make sure that they say the truth and stand up for the truth.

And our beloved Nabi ﷺ told us that there will always be a faction, a group from this ummah, upon the truth — zahireen, clear in what they are upon. No harm will come to them even if people try to harm them or deceive them. Nothing will come to them, because Allah protects them for what they are standing up for. They could be anywhere on this earth and they could be in multiple places at the same time. It doesn't mean that they can only be in one such place.

Those who call to the kitab of Allah, to the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, dealing with situations with hikmah — with wisdom — following the way of the Sahabah, these are the traits of these individuals in these latter times. These are the people we should try to emulate. And this is an ongoing battle between good and evil. As Allah makes clear to us, there is Hizb Allah — the party of Allah — and then there is the Hizb of Shaytan. Two parties. And the true believers will always have allegiance to the party of Allah.

And we ask Allah to make us from those people. Allahumma ameen. We ask Allah to fix the affairs of the ummah. Allahumma ameen.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Khutbah Two: Serving Our Communities Near and Far

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ

All praise belongs to Allah and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His final messenger, Muhammad ﷺ.

What I mentioned in the first khutbah is something which is at the forefront of all of our minds as Muslims — those who have an allegiance and a love for their fellow believers, and who want to stamp out the oppression and wrongdoing against any Muslim or any human being on earth. And this is something that we find prevalent in the Muslim conversations, discourse, and narrative.

Crises on Our Doorsteps

But now here in Birmingham we have other crises that happen on our doorstep. Other things that are ongoing. Just as we want to change the narrative or how people see things from afar — trying to dispel those lies — similarly, the things that are said about Muslims: they may not say the word "Muslims," they say "refugees" and "the illegals," and they paint this picture of what is happening to society — that it is crumbling, and so on.

Just as many of us, during COVID four or five years ago, were helping neighbours and supporting one another in our local areas — the refuse collection issue here in Birmingham is an ongoing problem. And as Muslims we need to be at the forefront in fixing our own communities. Not only from afar, with our brothers and sisters wherever they may be on earth, but also on our doorstep — and we must not forget that as well. This is what Islam teaches us. Islam teaches us that wherever there are things that need to be fixed, from afar and also on your doorstep.

So as Muslims, alhamdulillah, it is like masajid taking initiatives, local communities taking initiatives to make sure that where we live is as clean as we can make it. Yes, there is an ongoing issue and maybe it is not in our hands to fix — who is right, who is wrong, that is not my business. But in the meantime, masajid for example have arranged refuse trucks to have rubbish cleaned off the streets. Not, for example, people taking advantage and fly-tipping — thinking nobody is going to notice, nobody is going to know. That is damaging our own communities. Muslims should not be participating in such things.

They say the Muslim areas are run down. Why is this in the minds of people? Why do people have these perceptions about areas where Muslims are prevalent? We need to change that. In a situation like this now, which is impacting so many of our community, we need to be proactive to change this situation, to engage with one another, to show the beauty of Islam — that we do not section ourselves off and only care for our own. No. Just as during COVID there was no distinction between the Muslims and the non-Muslims in helping one another — the Muslims were there to do shopping for others — we want to replicate and go beyond, to show people that this is what Islam is. That living Islam means this is how we help our own communities.

We are not just thinking about what is happening thousands of miles away — which of course we should be — but also about what is happening on our doorsteps. And this is how we will become productive Muslims, productive societies, and strengthen ourselves within our communities, because we are able to deal with problems that are near and far. And you just look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ — if there were issues that were local problems that needed fixing, they were dealt with. And also from afar as well. This is following the way of our Prophet ﷺ.

The Ummah as One Body

And the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6011; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2586)

The example of the believers in their love for one another, in their mercy to one another, in their emotional support for one another — is like one body. From afar and from that which is close. This is implementing the hadith in its real meaning.

If there are real problems going on in our community — crime, for example, knife crime — the masjid, for example, having a place where people are able to drop off their weapons. It is there nonetheless, and it is being used. Muslims being at the forefront in educating others on how to have a peaceful and successful society. Not just being insular, looking at themselves, and being selfish. This is not the teachings that we find in our beautiful deen.

When difficult situations appear, the Muslims are there at the front line. We ask Allah to allow us to be from those people who are at the front line supporting our communities. There are many issues that need to be dealt with — crime issues, support issues, mental health issues, whatever issues they may be — and the Muslims need to be there at the forefront, supporting one another positively and showing those who may have a negative understanding about Islam: this is not what Islam is about. This is what Islam is. Islam came to give solutions to mankind. Allah gave us Islam to be a guidance and to make us ambassadors for all of mankind.

How many rulings do you find in the Quran even addressing non-Muslims? How to deal with non-Muslims? This is what we need to educate ourselves about. And we ask Allah for tawfiq. We ask Allah to allow us to be ambassadors in the way that is pleasing to Him.

And establish the prayer.