The Armour of Love (with British Sign Language) - Shaykh Yahya Ibrahim

The Armour of Love

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

حَيَّ عَلَى الْفَلَاحِ

اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ.

Always we begin with the praise of Allah. And we send our prayers of peace upon our Nabi Muhammad ﷺ. We testify with firmness and conviction that none is worthy of worship but Allah, and that Muhammad ﷺ is His worshipping slave and final messenger.

I continue to remind myself and you to maintain the taqwa — the fear, the love and the hope we have for Allah. I pray that Allah sends His rahmah and hidāyah upon all of those who are assembled with us and those whom we love who are not present. I pray that Allah sends His light into our hearts and our homes, sends His angels of protection to walk amongst us, and makes us from those who are seekers of the love of the Prophet ﷺ by establishing his way of life, his modality, his sunnah in all matters — especially when difficult. Allāhumma āmīn.

The Armour of Love: Marriage and Self-Preservation

The armor of love, the protection of marriage, the necessity of self-preservation and self-defense is established in the mandate of the Qur'an in calling us to attachment to our families. Of the final words of advice to the ummah, the Prophet ﷺ is quoted often in his final days, weeks and months. In fact, on his farewell sermon, he says:

"Treat your women well." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3331; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1468)

Bring your families together. And the Prophet ﷺ is one whose life mission as a messenger is brought together by the embrace he received at the beginning of Risāla from his loving wife Khadījah, where he returned with the wahy of Iqra:

— into her embracing arms: زَمِّلُونِي — Cover me. Shroud me. Contain me in your warmth, O Khadījah. رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا وَأَرْضَاهَا

To the final moments of the life of the Prophet ﷺ, as he laid in the hujra of Aisha, his wife, with his head resting upon her neck and chest — in that final moment, in that final embrace, from Khadījah رضي الله عنها to the final embrace of Aisha رضي الله عنها — you see the totality of the messenger Muhammad ﷺ.

The Garment of Piety — لِبَاس

Allah says:

The garments of piety, the clothing, the armor of containment — that is where you will find your nearness and richness and righteousness in your relationship with Allah. But I want you to take that word: لِبَاس. The intimacy of لِبَاس, garments.

It's not just in the Arabic language that it doesn't just mean what you wear externally as a protection from the sun or the heat or the cold. It's not just a mark of purity, it's not just a mark of beautification, it's not just something that is intimate — nearest to your skin in a way that no one else approaches. It's not just that the clothing you wear marks you from a distance whether you are regal, important or not. It's not just that what you wear must be tailored and fitting and appropriate in color, shape, size, texture.

But Allah uses that same word by saying:

They — your wives — are those beautifying garments, armored garments, لِبَاسُ الْحَرْب, dignified garments, resembling garments. And you must be the same in equity to them.

The Shaytan's Greatest Mission: Separating Husband and Wife

My discussion with you today, my dear brothers and sisters, is a necessary discussion. The trauma that is initially inflicted upon mankind by the shaytan in his greatest hope is to separate between husbands and wives. In the hadith of Imam Muslim, the shaytan brings closest to him one of his unseen demonic forces who he raises up and says, "Sit next to me. You are the one who has accomplished the mission." He's the one who says, "I kept behind this man and this woman in their bickering, in their argumentation, in their raised voices, in their insult, until I separated between them."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2813)

Allah in fact in the Qur'an says to us that the shaytan wants to remove our garments from us — not the garments that you and I wear here. Allah says, O mankind, be careful. Don't let the shaytan deceive you and remove from you the garments that you have adorned yourself. Adam عليه السلام, as a consequence of his sin and disobeying Allah, was separated from his wife for a section and a period of time.

For you and I, it becomes necessary to develop the tools to armor ourselves. The Qur'an, my dear brother, my dear sister, is a manual and a compass and a map of positive relationships in our homes and in our families. Whenever Allah wants to teach us something complex that is necessary — and it doesn't matter in which era in humanity, before the time of the Prophet ﷺ or in the times we live in today or into the very distant future if Allah gives that qadr — there is always going to be the necessity of how to relate to each other.

So every prophet, every messenger, every narrative that is in the Qur'an — the lessons of morality and ethics and civility and worship and obedience to Allah — is how it is reflected with those messengers and prophets in the relationships of their homes.

Every Family Finds Itself in the Qur'an

You open the Qur'an, and you see in whatever construct of your family today, there is an example for you to take.

You're a single father — you have the example of Lut عليه السلام. You're a single mother — there's Maryam عليها السلام. You're an adopted son — there's Zayd, who was adopted by our Nabi Muhammad ﷺ. You're a cousin in faith with other family members — Yahya and Isa عليهما السلام. You're a righteous father with an ignorant, rebellious, sinful son:

"O my beloved son, come back."

You are a righteous woman under the back-breaking tyranny of a wretched man — Asiya, the wife of Pharaoh:

Asiya would invoke her Lord in the darkness of the night: "O Allah, build for me an abode in the heights of paradise. And save me from the ignorance and the evil and the transgression of Pharaoh."

You're a righteous man who's been tested by a rebellious woman. Allah gives the example to the kuffar by mentioning the name of a prophet of Allah who was tested. Allah says in Surah al-Tahrīm:

The example of rebellion and ingratitude to Allah is in the example of the wives of Nuh and Lut. They were in the custody of righteous, obedient servants of God. But that did not dissuade them or stop them from turning away from the path of Allah.

You're a righteous brother, and you're Ishaq and Ismail walking a path of truth — or you're a brother who is challenged with anger and envy and hatred for a crime you did not commit. Imagine the sons of prophets of God, the grandsons of prophets of God, the great sons of Prophet Ibrahim عليه السلام — they conspired to nearly murder Yusuf عليه السلام. In the household of prophethood, there could be sibling rivalry to such an extent.

You open the Qur'an and you say to yourself, "Perhaps there is something — my life is different. I'm not like this story. I can't find an example." I say: turn to the life of Muhammad ﷺ. You look into the life of Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Example of the Prophet ﷺ in Marriage

He married a woman who was older than him, wealthier than him — Khadījah رضي الله عنها وأرضاها. He married a woman who couldn't converse in his language initially — Mariya al-Qibtiyya, who came and entered into faith. He married a woman who was from a different faith, different culture, who came from the people of Banī Isrā'īl, whose ancestry is Musa and Harun — Safiyyah bint Huyayy رضي الله عنها. He married a woman who was younger than him — Aisha al-Humayra' رضي الله عنها. He married a woman who was advanced in age, who no longer needed cohabitation — Sawdah رضي الله عنها. He married a woman who was very beautiful. He married women who were not necessarily that standard that everybody would covet for their beauty. He married a woman who had children with another man before him, and had loved that man in a way that she refused all men's proposals — even Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman and Ali رضي الله عنهم — Umm Salama رضي الله عنها.

There is a standard for you and I that if you find in the glimpses of the Qur'an — to our limited understanding — we can't find what is relatable, you look to Muhammad ﷺ to complete the favor of Allah upon humanity. And in looking to the book of Allah, in looking to the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ, you find solutions to problems.

The Story of Ibrahim عليه السلام: As You Live, So Shall It Be Done to You

And I want to give you just two things to think about before jalsat al-istirāha. The story of Ibrahim عليه السلام.

Allah orders Ibrahim عليه السلام to slaughter his son. And Allah calls out to him:

"O Ibrahim, you have shown you are willing to do what is bitter. It was the great, most manifest test to be given to you."

But I want you to step back to the father of Ibrahim عليه السلام. To the one who says to his son:

"If you don't stop calling me to worship one God, I will stone you to death. And get out of my sight — I never want to see you again." His father is the one who convinces his tribe and people to build a fire and throw him in it.

And Allah calls the fire to be peaceful and clement upon Ibrahim. And in Allah testing Ibrahim with him having to do what his father was willing to do for him, is the sunnah of life.

My young man who is seated with me today — وَاللَّهِ الَّذِي لَا إِلَٰهَ غَيْرُهُ — as you challenge your father and mother, you will be challenged. SubhanAllah. Could you imagine? Prophet Ibrahim عليه السلام — Allah shows Ibrahim how much conviction his father had in his false deities: "Show your conviction in the tawheed of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. The test is the same. He was willing to put you in a fire — show your obedience to Me, Ibrahim." SubhanAllah.

كَمَا تَدِينُ تُدَانُ — As you live, will be done to you. As you do, will be done. And there is a parity and a complexity in the way that Allah has established natural laws of justice. No one escapes this world without accountability to Allah.

After Jalsat al-Istirāha: The Story of Nuh عليه السلام

The Da'wah of Nuh عليه السلام and His Wayward Son

If a person stands on a mimbar and takes a platform to advise people of halal and haram and good and bad and right and wrong and sunnah and bid'ah — and as the congregation are seated listening to him day after day, morning and night — and they look outside the window, and the essence of him, the byproduct of his upbringing, his own elder son stands outside mocking him, disobeying him, contradicting him, moving past him. There is a natural conclusion from those in the audience that the people in the family may know more about him. His wife has left him, his son has abandoned him.

And even with this, Nuh maintains the course of calling them to good. And I want you to know, my dear brother, my dear sister — you who are challenged with a child or a relative or a brother or a sister or a father or a mother who has strayed from the Sirāt al-Mustaqīm and has taken a subul, a tangent away — that you and I maintain an outstretched hand.

As Allah orders the earth to fracture and water to well up, and Allah says:

"O heavens, rain down your deluge." And water begins to swirl:

And they are set to sail in waves like mountains — Nuh calls out to his son:

SubhanAllah. As a Muslim, as a mu'min, as a father, as a mother, as a believer — no one is left behind. No one is above redemption. There is always an arm that is holding on. Come back.

He doesn't say يَا ابْنِي in a hard tone. He says يَا بُنَيَّ — a tender, diminutive form, the way a mother would speak. "O my beloved, come. Come on the condition of redemption, repentance." We don't change the haram to halal. We don't overlook the crime to substantiate it as truth.

"O my beloved son, board with us, and do not remain upon a path of ingratitude and disbelief to your Maker."

Even in that moment, his son continues to rebel. He's calling him. The ship is being overwhelmed with waves. And he will not let go. His father will not let go until the very end. Until there is nothing left. And his son breaks free and says:

"I don't need you. I will run up this mountain. My mind will save me. I don't need the spirit in the heart." No one will be saved except whom Allah's mercy — iman — enters their heart. And the waves crashed between them. And he saw his son drown.

Never Let Go

My brother, do not ever let go. Do not ever stop your du'a. Do not ever turn your back. Do not ever say, "He's too far, he can never come." Wallahi — your son, your daughter, your father, your brother, whoever it is in your heart that you find they have strayed from Allah — as long as there is a moment of breath that enters and exits their body, do not pull back. But do not delegitimize our deen.