Calmness in the Religion - Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem

Khutbah Opening

The Delegation of Abdul Qais and the Virtue of Calmness

My dear brothers in Islam, there is a hadith that is reported by Imam Ibn Majah and Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal that a delegation came to Medina to visit and see the Prophet ﷺ. This delegation was known as Wafdu Abdul Qais — a particular tribe by the name of Abdul Qais — and their delegation came to visit the Prophet ﷺ. They were the people of villages, and some of them lacked some akhlaq. When they arrived in Medina al-Munawwara, most of them rushed towards the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ in a way that they were running.

Amongst them was a person known as Ashaj. He was very calm. He did not rush, he did not run. The Prophet ﷺ observed him, and when he arrived in the masjid, he ﷺ said:

(Reported by Imam Ibn Majah and Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal)

"O Ashaj, you have been blessed with two characteristics that Allah loves: al-hilm — humbleness — and al-ana — calmness."

Haste is Against Our Nature as Believers

Whenever we do anything, our shariah, our religion — the Quran and the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ — has advised us not to be hasty and to avoid haste. Allah says in the Quran that the human being has been created out of haste. This is something that is in our nature, but we must try our best not to be hasty. Rather, we need to be calm whenever we do anything, whether it is a worldly matter or even when it comes to worship.

Calmness in Salah — The Man Who Prayed Incorrectly

We all know the very famous hadith that is reported by Imam al-Bukhari and other muhaddithin that the Prophet ﷺ was once sitting in the masjid when a person came and offered two raka'at, then came to the Prophet ﷺ and said salam. He ﷺ replied to his salam and then said, "Go back and offer your prayer again, because you have not prayed." Although he had prayed two raka'at and the Prophet ﷺ had seen him praying. He went back and prayed again, offered another two raka'at, came and said salam. The Prophet ﷺ replied to his salam and said again, "Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." This was repeated three times. Eventually the man said, "O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, let me know what mistake I have made in my prayer, because you are saying I have not prayed."

There was one big mistake that he was committing: he was hasty in offering salah. The Prophet ﷺ then taught him. He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 793; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 397)

When you begin the salah and you are standing in the position of qiyam, fatma'inna qa'iman — make sure you have all the calmness when you are standing. When you go into ruku, you must be calm. When you go into sujood, you must be calm. You should not be hasty.

How many of us offer our sunnah prayer before salah? You enter into the masjid and you know there are only a few seconds or a minute left in salah, and you quickly want to finish the sunnah before the imam begins. What is the point? When it comes to offering salah, we must not be hasty. Rather, we have been instructed by Allah to have khushu'. Although there is no single word with which we can translate khushu' into English, one of its explanations includes calmness.

Calmness in Reciting the Quran

When it comes to reading the Quran as well, Allah instructed His Prophet ﷺ:

Jibreel عليه السلام used to bring the revelation to Rasulullah ﷺ, and he ﷺ used to rush in reading the Quran along with Jibreel عليه السلام. So Allah revealed the ayah: do not be hasty in reciting the Quran. In another ayah, Allah says:

Do not move your tongue quickly in order to read the Quran fast. And Allah instructed us:

Read the Quran slowly, with pondering and reflection. Read slow.

The Creation of the Heavens and the Earth in Six Days

The scholars and the mufassirun have said that whenever it is mentioned in the Quran that Allah created the heavens and the earth in six days, one reason that we can understand from this is: although Allah had all the power to create all the heavens and the earth with one word — كُن, "Be," and it will be — yet Allah mentioned in the Quran:

Allah created the heavens and the earth in six days. What we can learn from this is: whenever we do anything, we must be calm and we should not be hasty — whether it is salah, whether it is reading Quran, or anything.

Rushing Towards Good — But Not Being Hasty Within It

Yes, there are certain acts of ibadah that our shariah has encouraged us to rush towards. But it does not mean that once you start doing them you rush or become hasty. Rather, we must try our best to perform them on time. For example, Allah says in the Quran in Surah al-Jumu'ah:

O you who believe, when the adhan is called for Jumu'ah, then rush towards the remembrance of Allah. It does not mean that you leave it for the last minute, keep waiting and wasting your time, and then when you know there is very short time you end up rushing and running towards the salah. No, it does not mean that. Rather, it means that you make preparation well before time.

Rasulullah ﷺ has instructed us: when you enter the masjid while the congregational prayer has been established and the imam has begun the salah, come to join the congregation while you are walking with calmness. Do not join the congregational prayer while you are running. How many times do we see here that the imam is about to go into ruku and a person entering the masjid runs to join the row? It means that we must be calm, we must do everything on time, and we must not leave things for the last minute.

It does not in any way mean that we become lazy — that is something completely different. Our shariah, our religion, our Nabi ﷺ have taught us to be active and to do everything on time. But when you begin an action, you must be calm and must not be hasty.

Haste in Worldly Matters

Even when it comes to worldly matters, we all know that haste can cause the biggest harms and dangers in our life. While you are driving, if you are hasty, if you are over-speeding, you can end up losing your life. The decisions that are made in haste can be very, very harmful.

Haste in Du'a

Allah says in the Quran that generally human beings are very, very hasty. Rasulullah ﷺ says:

Allah answers the du'a of one of you as long as he is not hasty. He ﷺ explained: haste in the du'a means that you make du'a for a few days, or a few weeks, or even a few months, and then you say, "I have made so many du'as but Allah is not answering my du'a."

As soon as you say this, Allah closes the doors of His mercy upon you. Your du'a is never going to be accepted because you have given up. You have lost hope in the mercy of Allah. Don't be hasty. And it's not only when you make du'a for yourself for something good — even Allah says in the Quran that sometimes human beings make du'a for evil against themselves when they are hasty. If they are unable to achieve a good, they start making du'a against themselves and asking Allah for something evil.

Just imagine if Allah were to be hasty the way you are hasty when it comes to asking for evil — Allah would have completed your matter very quickly.

Calmness is from Allah, Haste is from Shaytan

Rasulullah ﷺ says: calmness is from Allah. If you have calmness in your heart and you have this quality — that you are calm whenever you do anything — this is a blessing from Allah. Whereas haste is from Shaytan. Sometimes you do something in haste in order to complete it quickly, but you end up spending more time, or even wasting the time completely.

Acts of Worship to Hasten Towards — Without Rushing Within Them

When it comes to certain acts of worship and certain good deeds, Rasulullah ﷺ has encouraged us to do them quickly. But quickly does not mean that when you begin them you rush in order to complete them. Rather, it means we should not delay them.

For example, whenever the time for salah comes, Rasulullah ﷺ has encouraged us to perform the salah in its earliest time. As soon as the time has started, don't delay it anymore. You should try your best to get up, make wudu, and offer your salah.

Likewise, he ﷺ has instructed us: أَسْرِعُوا بِالْجَنَازَةِ — whenever everything is arranged for the janazah, do not delay it. But it does not mean that when you offer the salah of the janazah you do it within a few seconds. It means: do not delay it unnecessarily.

Likewise he ﷺ said: people will remain on good and will remain good as long as they hasten to break their fast. As soon as the sun has set and it is iftar time, they do not delay it unnecessarily. And this is in order to demonstrate that you are obedient to Allah. In the morning, Allah had instructed you to stop eating and drinking and to begin your fast. And as soon as the time for Fajr started, you stopped everything. And now the time for iftar has arrived — again you demonstrate your obedience to Allah and you do not delay. But it does not mean that you break your fast before time.

Balance in the Matter of Marriage

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, I would like to highlight that in our community we have a very common problem, and I would say this problem has to do with having imbalance. We have within our community people who are very hasty when it comes to the matter of marriage. Some parents are hasty in getting their sons and daughters married without looking at and observing the compatibility between the spouses. They are very hasty, and then they end up ruining the lives of their own sons and daughters.

Whereas on the other hand, there are other people in our community and in our society who delay the marriage of their children unnecessarily, putting unnecessary conditions. We must have balance. We must not be hasty, and we must not be delaying things unnecessarily.

Closing Reminder

The whole point, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, is that our religion teaches us the best manners and akhlaq. In worldly matters and when it comes to the acts of worship, we have been taught that we must not be hasty. Rather, we must show calmness and we must have tranquility whenever we do anything.

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to perfect our akhlaq and our manners. We ask Allah that He enables us to rectify our mistakes and our errors. We ask Allah that He gives us tawfiq and ability that we demonstrate calmness in all the actions that we do, whether they are related to worldly matters or they are related to the acts of worship. We ask Allah that He gives us tawfiq and ability to understand His religion and to follow the footsteps of our beloved Nabi ﷺ.