Positivity - Shaykh Yayha Ibrahim

Opening — Khutbah al-Haajah

Always and forever we begin with the praise of Allah. We send our prayers of peace upon an-Nabi Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. We testify with firmness and conviction that there is none that is worthy of worship but Allah, and that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is his worshipping slave and final messenger.

I always remind myself and you of this consciousness and awareness — taqwa — that Allah has asked of humanity from the beginning of time. Allah has always cautioned and sought for us to show a private, personal, inner taqwa that is greater — and I pray for all of us in capacity — than that which we seek to dramatize and to show to others in our public life. Allahumma ameen.

My dear brothers and sisters of this blessed community here in Birmingham at the Green Lane Masjid — Hayyakumullah wa taaba man shaakum — may Allah's greetings and blessings descend upon each and every one of you, upon your homes and your families and your children, upon your children's children even if they have not yet arrived into this dunya. I pray that Allah, who has gathered us from our different continents, that He gathers us all once again in this worldly life continuously upon His worship and ibadah, and if not, then in Jannatul Firdaus with Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم.

My dear brothers and sisters, it's a golden opportunity for me — I consider it a rizq from Allah upon myself to stand in front of you. My plane landed at 12:10. I flew in from Australia just a few minutes ago, less than an hour ago, and by the fadl of Allah I was expedited through immigration, through traffic. I was able, alhamdulillah, to go and have the ghusl of Jumu'ah, to get changed, and to come and greet my brothers and sisters in this blessed Green Lane Masjid — the Masjid of Ahlus Sunnah. I pray that Allah blesses its foundation, its people, its resources, and its administration to that which is pleasing to Him. Allahumma ameen.

Positivity — The Ummah of Sabr and Barakah

My topic with you today, my dear brothers and sisters, in these few moments, is about positivity. Our ummah is the ummah of sabr, but this concept of patience — sabr and musabara — was not one of defeatism. It wasn't one where you feel that you're getting hit from the right and the left, from above you and behind you. And this is the promise of the shaytan — he says:

"I will attack them from before them and behind them, above them and beyond them — I will come from every direction." And yet Allah takes this vow from the shaytan and gives it back to him. And one of the greatest blessings of Allah upon our ummah is that it is the ummah of rahmah and barakah.

Sometimes we don't focus. I want you to think of every place that Allah mentions in the Qur'an where He speaks that this place has barakah in it. You will find it outwardly, physically desolate.

When you think of Mecca at the time of Ibrahim — where Allah commands him: take your wife and your son, your first son, a son you've longed to have, to hold, to raise — every father here knows you want to keep him with you — and Allah says take him to that barren land:

Nothing grows in it — but this is the land of barakah, Bakkah, Mecca al-Mukarramah.

When you think of al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, surrounded by volcanoes — as you travel from Mecca to Medina, as the path of the hijrah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, you see this jagged black volcanic rock, mountains whose top has been blown — in the khilafah of Umar رضي الله عنه, the mubarak rashid khilafah, the volcano erupted and its lava flowed towards Medina — and you think to yourself: this is the land of barakah? This is the land where Allah has said He has added His blessing?

Bayt al-Maqdis — before them — is the one that Allah mentions in Surah al-Baqarah, where Allah says:

That man, that Prophet of Allah, Uzair عليه السلام — he walked by Bayt al-Maqdis, present day referred to as Jerusalem, and he saw the city that he knew had been destroyed, its bricks brought to ruin. He said:

Who can bring this place to life? Who would come and live in this broken-down place? Who's going to come and worship in this land, this far masjid? Who will come? So Allah put him to death for a hundred years so that he would see — and you and I would learn — that difficulty and hardship, trial and tribulation, the strikes that seem to break you in half, are meant to raise up one whose back is stronger than yours.

Two Lessons from the Seerah

The Battle of Uhud — Anas ibn al-Nadr

Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم taught this lesson well to the sahaba. We're going to look at two moments from the seerah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. One of the most painful episodes — and you hear it chronicled in Sahih al-Bukhari — is the hadith of Anas ibn al-Nadr, the incident that occurred in his shahada, in his return to Allah as one who bore witness over humanity in his firmness of belief.

It is reported to us that in the battle of Uhud, a false crier — a false propagandist, false media — spoke and said:

They lied and said: "We killed Muhammad." The sahaba — those who loved him more than their life — they heard this word and believed it. They put down their weapons. Umar رضي الله عنه وأرضاه was one of those who put down his sword, his shield, his spear, his armor, and sat upon the earth crying to Allah: "Our messenger is no more."

Anas ibn al-Nadr رضي الله عنه — may Allah write for you a visit to the holy city of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, and when you visit Uhud and the shuhada of Uhud, look at that marble epitaph, look at the 70 names, you will see his name — came late. He came galloping from Medina late to the battle, and as he approached he saw some of the most blessed sahaba who had put everything on the ground: defeated, not physically, but morally, intentionally sitting and crying at what they thought was the loss of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

He said to them:

"What are you doing?" They said: "Our Messenger of Allah has passed away." No one verified. No one asked. No one searched. He said: "What worth is there in your life after him صلى الله عليه وسلم?"

"What's wrong with you? Stand and fight and die upon what he died upon صلى الله عليه وسلم — the defense of his land, of his people, of his women, of his city." So they stood up — and this is where the resurgence of Uhud began — and they spotted the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, who had been left on his own, who had been injured, and they ran and rallied around him.

But Anas ibn al-Nadr fell رضي الله عنه. When they found his blessed body رضي الله عنه وأرضاه, there was not a space on it greater than two fingers that had not been mutilated or struck. The only way they could identify his remains was بِبَنَانِهِ — by his little pinky finger. His sister was the only one who could say: "This is his finger." رضي الله عنه وأرضاه.

So Allah revealed verses in Surah Aal Imran:

"Muhammad is nothing more than My messenger to you صلى الله عليه وسلم. If he was to die or to be martyred — if he was to die naturally or be martyred — would you go back to how you were before he arrived to you? And no one returned to that past life of Jahiliyyah except that the one who did so never harmed Allah — they only brought harm to themselves. And Allah will reward those who were patient and firm."

It was an important lesson to our Ummah: that we're not after personalities, we don't rally around figures. It's not the name, it's not the look, it's not the style, it's not what a person wears. SubhanAllah — you know, one of the things that has happened to our Ummah at times is that we become really compulsive in how we view certain segments of our community. Sometimes we look at one with an eye that makes us blind to our own faults. See these kinds of garments, see this thing — whether you wear it or don't wear it doesn't increase what you know or don't know. The robe of a scholar doesn't make you scholarly. The clothing of an Arab doesn't make you the Muslim. It's the Qur'an in your heart, it's the firmness in your sabr, it's the belief and the conviction in your dealings with others. This was the way of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. Muhammad is only a messenger — don't look at the physical, don't hold on to the persona. It's about what they say and teach that takes precedence, even if it is Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

The Battle of Khandaq — Good Tidings in the Trench

A second powerful moment from the life of our Nabi Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is that blessed day of Khandaq. The sahaba gathered together wondering how to defend Medina. There is a confederate army of thousands about to enter upon them — they had no way of standing before them in battle. Some of them said: "We'll climb on the rooftops, drop rocks on them, we'll put our wives and children above us and they can help us."

Salman al-Farisi رضي الله عنه وأرضاه said: "You know, in Faris we used to dig a trench, and we used to funnel the enemy from a wide space and bring them into a smaller confined space. And we have these lava fields" — the ones I mentioned to you: when you fly into Medina and you look out the window to your right and to the left you will see black, black, black and then it turns into city — lava fields that surrounded Medina. He said: "Their horses and camels can't ride in it. No army can come through it. They have to come through this valley, and if we make a trench here we can stop them."

And for a month they began to dig in anticipation. The munafiqeen — who will always be a part of the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ, there will always be people — the Prophet ﷺ says in the hadith of Hudhaifa in Sahih al-Bukhari:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 92, Hadith 388)

"They have your skins, they speak with your tongues" — they know your Qur'an, they know your tradition. The munafiqeen — those who had that major hypocrisy, the hypocrisy of kufr, not just of deeds — they looked down upon these poor sahaba who were digging and digging and digging. And in the midst of all of this the Prophet encounters a boulder that the sahaba call him to, and he cracks it, and then he says — with a blow, a spark, a noise erupts — he says: "With this, Damascus, the Byzantine empire — you will receive it. Persia."

The munafiqeen above them, looking down, said:

And Allah records their words in the Qur'an: "These people — their faith in God has fooled them! 'Allah is going to help them, Allah is going to help them' — don't they see they are in a hole in the ground? Don't they see they can't even pick up a weapon to defend themselves? Don't they see they are facing an onslaught, immediate peril? Don't they know what they are going to deal with?" غَرَّ هَٰؤُلَاءِ دِينُهُمْ — "their faith they think will save them from everything."

So Allah recorded those words of Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul — may Allah give him what he deserves. And the Prophet continued with his good tidings — his basha'ir. In one of the narrations it says that one of the sahaba, Suraqa — who was the one who saw the Prophet from a distance in his days of hijrah — he said: "Ya Rasulallah — Persia?" And the Prophet ﷺ said: "Ya Suraqa, don't find it strange — there will come a day where you, you, will wear the robe of its king and its crown."

Decades later, when Persia was opened and its wealth was brought to al-Medina in the reign of Umar رضي الله عنه, the one who was entrusted to bring it back from Persia to Medina was Suraqa. And when he brought it into al-Medina, Umar رضي الله عنه said: "Put this on — and put this on." Suraqa had forgotten the bushra of the Prophet ﷺ. "Put this — let me see what this looks like, put it on." Suraqa walked in, took off his simple clothes — his لِبَاسُ التَّقْوَى — and put on this luxurious silk and golden crown. And he walked out. They laughed at him: "What is this? No man dresses like this! Who are you? What is this?" And Suraqa then remembered: "The Prophet told me this day would come — when we were in that mud hole." And Umar said: "Go in the room, get changed again." He said: "Why?" He said: "The Prophet said you would wear it — not keep it." صلى الله عليه وسلم.

The man who would not return to Allah with 7 dirham — the one who changed the world صلى الله عليه وسلم on account of enduring beautiful patience.

It is a time for patience in our ummah today. And after jilsat al-istirahah I will remind myself and you of three critical things that we can begin to do in our private life as individuals, that can gather us as a community to resurge into the way of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم — three important, simple things that we can change in our home life, in our community life, that can bring about a collective change, a tipping point in our collective communities.

Three Practical Steps to Community Resurgence

1. Be Patient with Those Who Are Usually Last on the List

The first of them is to be patient with those who are usually last on the list. One of the things the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم excelled at was that he gave equal time to those who had favor for him and those who didn't. One of the negligences that we all have — me and you included — is that we always defer to authority, to power, to wealth, to knowledge. "The one who, oh mashallah, this one has something to give — I should be kinder to him, more gentle to him, more forgiving to him, I would open my house to them."

One of the social experiments — and this was done at the University of California — is that they put a person, not a beggar, they put him in the clothing of a beggar, dirty clothes, and he said "Can I have a dollar? Can I have a dollar?" Out of every 100 people, 3 or 4 would give him. Then they put a person in a suit — a suit with a phone and a briefcase — and he would say to the same people on the same street a week or so later: "I'm just missing 1 dollar to be able to take a taxi, can I borrow a dollar?" People would give him 5, because they assumed this is a person who has money. Most people defer to power, to authority, to knowledge — and we at times let people who should receive our rahmah and mercy first fall through the cracks.

One of the most beautiful hadith in my opinion is the hadith of that woman who Anas says about her that she had something in her mind — there was a mental instability. She said: "O Messenger of Allah, I wish to have one word with you." The Prophet said to her:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 2326)

"Move away from the middle of the road, let's not block people — and take many words, not one word."

He stood listening to the ramblings of a woman who the sahaba say had something in her mind — from Dhuhr till Asr. That is rahmah صلى الله عليه وسلم. You and I — it's easy to listen to abuse coming from a boss, from someone we think has power — but if we get a little bit from a father, from a mother, from a brother, from a sister, from a wife, from a husband, we're volatile. It's difficult to be patient with someone you think is insignificant. But that was the highest example of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

And therefore, when the blind man was walking the streets of Mecca: "Ya Muhammad! Tell me about your Lord!" — no one would bring him to Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. No one would take the hand of Ibn Umm Maktum and take him to the Prophet. "Can you take me to Muhammad?" — "We don't want you to be his follower." So he resorted to yelling in the street: "Ya Muhammad! Tell me — where is your Lord?" And the Prophet was sitting with the chiefs of Mecca صلى الله عليه وسلم. And as soon as they saw him, the blind man — they said:

"You want to make me — Abu Lahab, Abu Jahl — equal to this man, the lowest of us? By God we will not hear from you!" So the Prophet frowned — at their words, not at the man. It's important — at the words of these juhala, at the words of these people who would reject faith صلى الله عليه وسلم.

So give deference to the weakest amongst us, to the neediest amongst us, to those who at times we tire of listening to.

2. Be Colorblind

SubhanAllah — Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم figuratively was colorblind. He didn't see the darkness of Bilal or the brightness of Uthman, the light-skinnedness of Uthman and Abu Bakr. He was colorblind صلى الله عليه وسلم. He didn't see the difference between those things. He didn't make a segmentation between Suhaib and Salman and Uthman and Umar and Ali — "these are Quraysh and these aren't." When al-Aws and al-Khazraj would abuse each other with poetry, he said:

"Leave off this vulgarity صلى الله عليه وسلم." Open your heart. When you see people with your heart instead of your eyes, you are blessed by Allah. When you see the beauty in other people — your heart sees. Allah says:

It's not the eyes that are blind — Allah says it's the hearts entombed in their chests that have darkened, so that they cannot see with the light of the Qur'an.

3. al-Taraabut — Hold On to Each Other

Third and finally — al-tarabut: hold on to each other.

This word اعْتَصِمُوا — it's like you've held on to someone about to fall off a cliff. كُنتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ — you're clinging to a cliff, you're holding on to that brother, that sister, as if they're dangling from Everest. This is ukhuwwah. This is what it means to us. This hand held, that holds us, that binds us — is a sacred one. It is pleasing to Allah. It is taught to you in every one of our compulsory prayers — that equity and brotherhood amongst us.

When you come to Salah, you don't say: "Where is the Somali line? Where is the Indian line? Where is the Egyptian line?" You line up, you make no distinction. When you give Zakah, you don't say: "Make sure you only give this — it has to be someone from this village, that's it, don't give my Zakah to anyone unless they're from my nationality." No — it's the one who has need. When you do your Siyam — in less than 60 days, all of us, bi idhnillah:

When you fast that month of Ramadan — nearly 2 billion people — there won't be a moment in the 24 hours where there isn't someone fasting to Allah all over the world. I'm going to begin my fast in Australia while you're sleeping. My father in Canada while you're awake. There won't be a moment in time except that we're united as one Ummah. So hold on to each other, care for one another, have rahmah for one another.

And it's the same with Hajj. When you enter that Hajj, you sit in Masjidul Haram and that Turkish brother gives you some of that bread — you brothers who've gone to Hajj, you know what I mean — they give you some of those olives, they give you dates, then you see this Somali brother and he gives you some tea. Allahu Akbar — everyone loves one another, because that is the barakah that goes beyond the physical. And therefore the barakah of Mecca isn't the sand — it's that iman gravitates to it. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says: iman flows to al-Medina.

When you go to Medina, you want to give people your food. If you look at someone at Iftar: "Whatever I have, you have it. Whatever water I have is your water. Whatever you need is yours." SubhanAllah — that is the barakah that is found beyond the mountains and beyond the sand. That is the promise of Allah for the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Closing — Love for Your Brother

I leave you with the words of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — you cannot complete your faith until:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 2, Hadith 13; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 45)

Until they love for their brother — for other people, for humanity — what it is they care and they love for themselves.

I pray that Allah opens our hearts so that we accept others for who they are, and that Allah allows us to have patience with the weakest amongst us, and helps us and aids us to be from those who are examples for others to follow. I pray that Allah blesses us in this dunya and in the aakhirah and saves us from the punishment and torment of Jahannam. I pray that Allah blesses this community and this masjid and its people with that which is pleasing to Him and that which is in conformity to the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, and makes us from them. And I pray that Allah makes us from those whose best days are the days that they return to Allah.

Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, La ilaha illallah. Ameen.

Closing Qur'anic Verses