20161104 - 1st Khutba - Shaykh Yahya Rhodus

Opening Praise and Salutations

الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنهتدي لولا أن هدانا الله، اللهم صلِّ وسلِّم على سيدنا محمد مفتاح رحمة الله، عدد ما في علم الله، صلاةً وسلامًا دائمَين بدوام ملك الله، وعلى آله وصحبه ومن والى.

And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without partner, One God and a witnessing Lord, and we are Muslims unto Him. And I bear witness that our master and our beloved, and the coolness of our eyes, Muhammad, is His servant and His Messenger, whom Allah sent with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all religion, even if the polytheists dislike it. As for what follows: O servants of Allah, I counsel myself and you with the taqwa of Allah.

Alhamdulillah, this is a great blessing of our Lord to gather us on a weekly basis for the blessed day of Jumu'ah. And it has been given this name Jumu'ah because one of the names of our Lord is al-Jāmi' — He is the Gatherer — and this is the day that the believers gather.

But also gathered up in this day is great good. This is the day that Allah has singled out the ummah of our Prophet ﷺ with. This is a day on a weekly basis that repeats itself, that teaches us something very, very important.

Our Relationship with Time

Indeed, that is how we relate to time. And we know that time is something that we all experience, and time in and of itself is indeed something relative. When we do something that we like to do, we know that it passes very quickly; when it's something that is difficult for our nafs and our lower souls, it feels like it passes very slowly — like when we're taking a test or something of that nature.

But time is relative, and we experience time in a certain way, and what's important is what we do in relation to time. And there is no doubt, from the outward manifestations of the Divine Mercy and Generosity, that there are special times, and that there is blessing in certain times. But in reality, every single moment of our life and of time as experienced by the children of Adam is important.

Because it is in time that things happen. And what we mean by things happening — the mukallafūn, those who are legally responsible from humankind and the jinn kind — and the decisions that they make based upon the circumstances that they find themselves in, and how they experience the Divine Decree of the Lord, this is really what life is all about. In other words, if you break down the whole purpose of life, which we all clearly know through the Quranic perspective — which is to know our Lord — you'd be surprised how, for us as people who believe in Lā ilāha illallāh Muḥammadur Rasūlullāh, we oftentimes take things for granted.

There are certainly central aspects of our creed that we are so used to that we tend to forget how important those aspects of that creed are. And all you have to do is to take part in interfaith work to be able to see the clarity and the absolute clearness of the creed of Islam. And this is one of the great blessings of this Deen.

I remember I was in one of these gatherings and they asked the panel — which had people from different faiths, and we respect all human beings — however, the question was very simple. She said: What is the purpose of life? And the two other co-panelists kind of looked at each other and they stumbled and said, "Well, maybe we should go on to another question first." And I was a bit shocked about that.

If your religion is not teaching you about the purpose of life, and that's not a ready-made answer that you've already thought about and have, then there's something seriously wrong. Because the whole purpose of Deen, the whole purpose of the teachings of our Prophet ﷺ, is to give us an all-encompassing, holistic perspective about everything — past, present, future, inward, outward — everything has to be included in order for it to be considered to be Truth with a capital T. And Alhamdulillah that we've been given this. And that we've been given the keys that unlock that.

And this comes through the teachings of our Prophet ﷺ, but it all gets back to ultimately how you and I relate to time. And the decisions that we make in time.

The Decision-Making Process of a Believer

I want to walk through, in the short time that we have together today, the decision-making process of a believer. This is something that you will find, unfortunately, there is widespread ignorance in our communities about. However, if you believe everything that I just presented by way of introduction, you will also come to the conclusion that this is the single most important thing. The decisions that we make ultimately are going to determine our everlasting life.

We believe that which our Prophet ﷺ came with is Truth. And we believe that what he told us about is True. And it is in our understanding of the veracity and the truthfulness of Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ that we come to a conclusion that one-third of the breakdown of our creed relates to eschatology. It relates to things that the human mind simply does not have access to. There is no way for the mere intellect — al-'aql al-mujarrad — in and of itself, to come to a conclusion about what is going to happen when we die.

Yes, there are signs that we can read in creation that indicate certain things. However, the intellect here is not enough. Here you need something that is super-rational, that is beyond the intellect, that is going to inform you about these realities.

And this is what our Prophet ﷺ did. This is what all of the Prophets did — they came with the essential teaching that there is only one God, Divine Unity, Monotheism, which is the single most important reality in human history.

Step One: The Thought (Khāṭir)

If we look at the teachings of our Prophet ﷺ about decision-making, you'd be surprised at how in-depth they are. Because in that moment when you and I choose to do something, or choose not to do something, choose to accept something, or choose not to accept something — in that very moment there are a number of factors taking place. In a learning system you have to break them down so that you understand them and have clarity regarding them. But then in the moment, you have to strive — and this is the essence of what Deen is about — to be able to put them into practice. So it is both parts: it is learning the knowledge in theory, and then also living the reality of it.

Because to the degree that one goes astray in these two ways, or refrains from the balance — which is something in the middle — is to the degree that some will go astray according to the two archetypes of going astray in the Qur'an. We have:

We have those who had knowledge but did not put that knowledge into practice — and this is an archetype that has repeated itself throughout history. But we also have those who went astray through a lack of knowledge — and those are the ḍāllūn, those who have been misguided because they had a lack of knowledge. And the balance, ultimately, is that we have knowledge and that we have action.

Some of the scholars point to a linguistic laṭīfah between the two words for these in Arabic, which are عِلْم and عَمَل. They have the same three consonants: an ع, a ل, and a م. And the only difference between the two — incidentally, the م comes immediately after the ل in the Arabic alphabet — is that they are switched around. And so we know that knowledge is the imām of action, and action follows it. But this is the essence of what this affair is all about.

So when we are presented with some decision that comes before us, we will find that we can relegate all human behavior down to thoughts. This is where it all begins. And what is called in Arabic a khāṭir — having a thought — you can translate it as you want; there is no argumentation over technical terms. You can translate it as a suggestion, or however you would like to translate it. We will just keep it simple and call it a thought.

All human behavior begins with thoughts. It is inconceivable for you to do something without first having the thought in order to do it. If it never crossed your mind to go get that lunch at restaurant B after Jumu'ah, you would never go get that lunch at that particular restaurant if you didn't first have the thought to do so.

And so we have to understand that our behavior begins with thoughts. And the scholars have given us three very convenient sources for all of our thoughts. Our thoughts could either be of an angelic nature, they could be of an egotistical nature, or they could be of a demonic nature. There are three. And it also reflects in our dreams — the source of all of our dreams are these three as well.

And sometimes — especially when the heart is not pure, at the level of the nafs al-ammārah bi-l-sū', when we're trying to purify ourselves and to work on ourselves to move up to the nafs al-lawwāmah, where we're starting to upbraid and reproach and take ourselves to account — there is a lack of clarity. But when we have these thoughts come in, sometimes if they're intertwined, then we have to be able to sit through them to come to know what it is that they truly are.

So there are three types of thoughts. The nature of the thoughts of the angels, as we all know, is that angels are beings of light. And the nature of the thoughts of the angels tend to be very light-filled for the heart. They have an impact on the heart that is only going to be one of good. It is only going to be an encouragement to do something that is good.

But then you also have a thought that is from the nafs — from your ego. And the nature of the thoughts from the ego relate to desires of the world. And our scholars have given us classifications of those desires, going into great detail. And most of them are intuitive, and we know from the time that we're very young the nature of these desires. But they all relate to the world. And it doesn't mean that they're necessarily wrong — our religion does not make us have an antithetical feeling towards desire. But we channel our desire. And we know that ultimately the goal in religious life is to make our desires correspond to the sunnah of our Prophet ﷺ. And the more that our desires correspond to the best of creation ﷺ, the more that we'll move up in degrees of closeness to our Lord. But there are indeed desires that, if we're not careful, they can get the better of us, and can drag us into a lot of trouble before our Lord.

The third type of thought is a thought that comes from Shaytan. Now Shaytan is cunning. He is sly like a fox. And the difficulty of this category of thought is that sometimes Shaytan can actually come to you in the guise of good. How does he do that, and why does he do that? Because if there is a great good that you might want to do, he might want to come in your way between you and that great good to get you to do a lesser good. And if he can't get you to do a lesser good, then he wants you to do some type of evil. And if he can't get you to do some type of evil, then he will have plots:

If he can't get you to disbelieve, he will get you to disobey. If he can't get you to disobey, he will get you to postpone worship. If he can't get you to postpone worship, he'll get you to be hasty in your worship. If he can't get you to be hasty in your worship, he'll try to get you to do your worship for other people. If he can't get you to do your worship for other people, he'll try to make you become oppressed with your own worship — and so forth and so on.

And this is the nature of Shaytan, and it is a test from Allah, and those that rely upon Him will be free from his guile and from his deceit. So knowing that we have these three types of thoughts — and we don't have time, because this needs to be learned in a classroom, to learn all of the characteristics of the three in more detailed examples — what happens is, once you know that, you start to become aware of the various thoughts that come to your mind.

Step Two: The Inclination of the Soul (Mayl al-Nafs)

The second step in the process — because everything I just mentioned was step one, all action begins with a thought — step two is what is called the mayl of your nafs, that is the inclination of your soul. And your soul might or might not, depending upon the purity of your state, incline or disincline towards any particular thought.

So it might be that if you're in a purified state, a thought from an angel comes, and your soul inclines towards doing that thought, which is indeed a good thing — and that makes it easier for you to put it into practice. But also, it might be the opposite. You might have a good thought come to your mind, but your soul disinclines towards that thought.

So where you're at in the degrees of the purity of the soul will determine how it is that you naturally react towards the thought that comes into your heart. And the ideal is that thoughts that are of an evil nature and of a demonic source — you disincline towards them. And thoughts that are of an angelic source — you incline towards them. And that you start to minimize your approach to the thoughts of the ego, and you only channel them in a way that is pleasing to Allah.

That is the sign that someone is a righteous servant of Allah. However, from the mercy of Allah — up until now, in these first two stages — the human being has not yet been taken to account. Because this is outside of our ability to control. You cannot control the thoughts that come to your heart. Yes, you can strive and struggle with yourself — and the true religion is about striving and struggle, and it is not supposed to be easy. However, if you do that, your thoughts will become more pure. That is a reality. But still, the scholars have said we do not control our thoughts, nor can you control your natural proclivity towards the thought that comes to your heart.

Step Three: The Judgment of the Intellect (Ḥukm al-'Aql)

Where we start to possibly become accountable is in stage three of our decision-making. So you have a thought, you have the inclination of your soul towards or away from that thought, and then now is where you have the ḥukm of the 'aql. This is where your intellect comes in. And this is where you are required before your Lord to be able to sift through what is taking place at the heart level.

And now this is not easy, because when we're explaining it, we're explaining it over a period of 10 to 15 minutes — but this is happening like this, regularly, throughout our days. The thought comes, and all of a sudden, we acted upon it. We wanted to call someone, and we do. We wanted to say something about someone, and we did it. And yes, oftentimes we tend to take more time for major decisions of life, but we are making decisions every single day, in the hundreds, if not thousands, on a regular basis. And if we are ignorant of this process, we are ignorant of the single most important thing that will enable us to be able to meet our Lord in a safe state.

The intellect is the seat of knowledge, in the outward degree — and there's an inward understanding of that as well — but the intellect is the seat of knowledge. This is where knowledge becomes so important. Because if you do not have knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, and increasingly, the closer and closer that we get to the end of time, there will be less and less knowledge. The scholars will be taken, and what ends up happening is that right becomes wrong in people's minds, and wrong becomes right.

And there will come a time — and this is mentioned in a hadith — where there will even be people who are calling to munkar and forbidding things that are good in and of themselves. There will be a time where people will forbid the good and call to evil, which is the opposite. And that only comes after someone's perspective gets so skewed that they see the good as evil, and the evil as good. And this is something that we are all fighting on a daily basis — when you come into a society like the one in which we live, in the United States of America, but now we live in a globalized world, and if you open up a newspaper, a magazine, or turn on the TV, you are not entering into a neutral environment. You are entering into a highly sophisticated set frame that has been well thought out, that has hundreds, if not several thousand years of history behind it.

If you do not know some basic talking points on how to sift through some of this strange discourse, you will be pulled in its direction, and what will end up happening is that you as a believer of Lā ilāha illallāh, who are supposed to view the world as your Prophet did — or according to the principles that he gave us — you will be drawn into a worldview and a discourse that is alien to that of our Prophet.

Knowledge is what is going to give you that clarity. And this is why Allah refers to those who have knowledge as being those who are firmly grounded in knowledge. Knowledge will ground you. It will allow you to remain firm when you are exposed to all different types of tribulations at the level of the mind, and at every other level of the human being. So knowledge is key — and not only knowledge of the sacred law of the Prophet ﷺ, which is important, but knowledge of the heart, knowledge of iḥsān, knowledge of our basic creed, and then contextualized versions of that knowledge insofar as it relates to understanding the world in which we live, so that we can protect ourselves from the evil of it.

This is the third step — the step of knowledge — because knowledge is what's going to enable you to then make the right decision. So we have the thought, you have the inclination of your soul, and then you have the judgment that your intellect gives to that particular thing: Should I do this? Should I not do this?

Step Four: The Intention (Niyyah)

And then if you do decide to do it, the only thing that follows after that is your niyyah. This is where your intention comes in. Your niyyah is where you are now definitely accountable. If you make an intention to do something, you will be held accountable — unless, by the mercy of Allah, you go back on that intention if indeed it was something that you shouldn't do, and then from the mercy of Allah you will get reward.

As for the third level — the scholars say there are instances where yes, you will be taken into account for making bad judgments in relation to the intellect, and there might be other instances that relate to our own idiosyncrasies, that relate to some of the very confusing issues of our time, that perhaps we won't fully be held accountable. But it's a slippery slope, because it's likely that we will be held accountable for many of those decisions that we make with the judgment of the intellect.

But when it comes to niyyah, and the strong niyyah — which is what is called your 'azm, your firm resolution to do something — it leads to you outwardly doing it. And when you outwardly do something, at that point it is too late. It's done, and it's happened. And the only way then that you can repair what you have done — if it is something that is displeasing to our Lord — is by making tawbah and returning unto our Lord.

When we have clarity of this process, what this does is it allows us to experience every moment of time in a way that we realize the value of time. Time is very, very important. This is all we have. This is what is known as our ra's māl — our capital. Without it, there is no other way that we can engage in otherworldly commerce. It all really gets back to time, and the decisions that we make in time.

And there are keys that unlock for us the ability to benefit in the greatest possible way in every single moment. Many of those relate to this last step in the process — that of intention — which has to be the topic of another discourse, because the details of that are many. But it is through this intention that great doors open up for us.

One of the early scholars, Imam al-Junayd al-Baghdadi, said: whoever opens up for himself a door to make a righteous intention, Allah will open up for him 70 doors from the doors of tawfīq — of enabling grace — in order for him to actualize that intention. In other words, this is an oftentimes forgotten dimension of the intention: by making righteous intentions, great doors open up for us.

And then when it is that we decide to do something, we try to make the very best decision possible, and then we place our trust in Allah. And then, regardless of what happens — and this is the beauty of our religion, complete balance inwardly and outwardly — we submit to the Divine Decree of our Lord. We have to do our part.

Living in Difficult Times

There is no doubt that we're living in difficult times and in difficult days. We don't know what's going to happen come Tuesday, nor Wednesday, nor shortly after that. Nor do we know what's going to even happen tonight, let alone what's going to happen in a month. We live in a time where things are very chaotic, and there's a lot of upheaval, and things don't tend to seem that there's a lot of clarity in any of these issues.

However, if we adhere to doing what it is that we can do, and we place our trust in Allah — one of the great virtues of placing trust in Allah is that He will suffice you in terms of bringing about good to you, but suffice you as well in relation to warding off harm from us. May Allah give us tawfīq in all of this.

Alhamdulillah, we should always remember something very important — one of the greatest sunnahs of our Prophet ﷺ is optimism. And it doesn't mean that we don't worry, it doesn't mean that we aren't concerned. But our Prophet ﷺ was the most optimistic of all people in situations where it would have been inconceivable — and yes, for the Prophet ﷺ it was different because it was revelation from Allah — yet he would remain optimistic in the most inconceivable situations.

At the Battle of Khandaq, while they're building a trench and they come across a rock — and for time's sake we will just get to the point of the story — our Prophet ﷺ gives them glad tidings that the palaces of Sana'a, and of Rome, and of Persia, will open up for them. And Suraqah, who is the bounty hunter trying to hunt him down during the Hijrah — after he realizes that he is a Prophet — he gives him glad tidings, as they are fleeing to Medina al-Munawwarah, that he is going to wear the two bracelets of the King of Persia.

Our Prophet ﷺ remained optimistic at all times. And it is in going through difficult times and tribulations that allows you and I to turn into gold. And if we maintain our character, and our morality, and stick to our principles — I guarantee you, it will not be long before the reality of the light of Lā ilāha illallāh that is in your heart will also seep and spread into the hearts of the people that are around you.

There is no way for us as a Muslim community — and I will speak in the context of the United States of America — to be able to allow our religion to flourish and thrive here, because it's going to only bring about goodness absolutely and unequivocally, unless we stick to our principles. Despite what people think about us, none of that matters. We stick to our principles, and we stick to the Quranic injunctions of never repaying an evil with an evil. We have to live up to the Qur'an al-Karīm. And if we stick to those principles, Allah will take it upon Himself to change our condition. And for those who have been written in pre-eternity to be able to experience the beauty of Lā ilāha illallāh Muḥammadur Rasūlullāh, they will be brought to it. He is the Guide — what we're required to do is our part. And that is about sticking to our principles in terms of belief, in terms of practice, and in terms of character. This is the inheritance of our Prophet ﷺ, and this is what life is ultimately about.

Closing Salutations

And may Allah be pleased with all of them.