2014-08-22 Friday Prayer - Sheikh Abdul Haseeb Noor

Opening — Praise and Gratitude

Peace and blessings be upon him and his family and companions.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared. And do not die except as Muslims.

O you people, fear your Lord Who created you from one soul. And He created from it a wife. And He spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah in Whom you ask for mercy.

We thank Allah for allowing us to gather in this beautiful day, in this beautiful summer, in this beautiful city, in this beautiful state. We thank Allah for allowing us to be with family and loved ones. We thank Allah for giving us food and drink. We thank Allah for giving us all of these things when there are so many in the world — and maybe even in the city and in the state and in this country — that don't have those things. We thank Allah for the very basic needs that are met that we may be neglectful of.

We thank Allah for something that we may be so neglectful of, but it's part of our being itself. Purpose. We thank Allah for purpose.

The Prophet's Search for Purpose

This purpose is what the Prophet ﷺ — before he was even known as Muhammad Rasulullah ﷺ, Muhammad the Messenger of Allah, before he was known as that — this beautiful human being, this individual, this person sought when he went out of his city in pain over the darkness that had befallen his society, over the dhulm and oppression, over the fact that there was so much racism, nationalism, and people differentiated over one another due to race, due to status, due to wealth and other factors. The Prophet ﷺ sought that purpose by climbing a mountain outside of the city of Mecca.

A mountain that I had the opportunity to climb more than once. Alhamdulillah, we had steps and the Prophet ﷺ climbed when there were no steps. It's very difficult. Something very rigorous. Something that the entire time while you're climbing that mountain — overlooking the city of Mecca and that beautiful scenery to this day we get to see and witness for ourselves — the only thought that comes through your mind, and every person's mind who has taken that journey as the Prophet ﷺ took, is how much yearning he had for Allah. How much he yearned for the Divine. How much he wanted to connect to that purpose and Divine reason for being, for living.

That is what made him climb. That is what made him go time and time again. His heart had a void — a spiritual void, an emotional void, a psychological void — and that purpose was missing.

Laylat al-Qadr — The Night of Power

And it is in that faithful night that we all as Muslims celebrate, which we call the Night of Power, because it was truly powerful. The night is called the Night of Power because it holds the power to change the universe. The night that Allah gave us the power of purpose and the message to all of humanity — seeking a reason for being, a reason for living.

And that faithful night when the angel Jibril (Gabriel) ﷺ came to the Prophet ﷺ in the form of a man, the Prophet ﷺ was absolutely terrified. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't know who this person was. And then when he told him:

Read in the name of the One who created you.

And in the verses that every one of us has memorized since we were young — that message when it first came down to him — undoubtedly, the Prophet ﷺ was somebody who was in shock. And what did he do? He ran down and went to his loved one, Khadijah رضي الله عنها, because he didn't know what was going on.

Not only that, but the revelation had stopped for a period of time — there was no revelation — and the Prophet ﷺ thought he was going mad. And anguish had befallen him, and sadness overcame him, and he thought there was a problem with him. And even Jibril ﷺ narrated — رضي الله عنهما — that the Prophet ﷺ said he would come to the top of a mountain and would want to hurl himself off of it because of how much sadness he had in his heart. And the angel Jibril would come to him and say, "Muhammad ﷺ, you are a Messenger of God and I am the angel Gabriel." And when he would do that, it would calm him and he would return.

Depression, Sorrow, and the Human Experience

This fact is a fact in our history — that the Prophet ﷺ even felt moments of sadness, felt moments of anguish, and felt moments of what we could call some elements of depression. And for those Muslims who may feel, "No Muslim can be depressed — impossible. There's no such thing as clinical depression," and they start waving people off and shooing this away from the community — it is a real life fact that Allah has given the antidote, given the cure, and guided us to realize what the true meaning of nourishment means: the true nourishment of the soul, of the psyche and mind, and of the body.

Recently — just in the matter of a week or even less than that — a person who has become a household name in this society, somebody that if you ask some of us, since they were growing up they knew this name, was known for his entertainment, known for being that person that made others smile and laugh and brought benefit to this society in the form of entertainment — we thought this individual had everything in his life in terms of wealth, in terms of status — took his own life. And this is somebody that everybody questioned: how can somebody do that when they had everything at their hands?

And not only that, but one of his best friends — another individual that we know very well because of his entertainment and being funny — made a quote, and he stated this, and it is such a powerful message. He said: "I wish that everyone could become wealthy and get everything that they wanted, so that they realize that this is not the answer to life, that this is not the meaning for life." This broke a code in the society for people to realize that even the most wealthy of individuals may have a void that wealth cannot fill.

But the Prophet ﷺ was trained by Allah and was given a message by Allah to humanity to show that the only void that can truly fill the heart of a human being is the calling and connecting with Allah. Connecting with the Divine and living with a purpose is what will fill that void.

The Prophet ﷺ was not sent the Qur'an for a long period of time — some say 6 months to 2 to 3 years after the first revelation, some of the scholars say. Why? For that yearning to develop. To make the Prophet ﷺ realize that the greatest form of nourishment, the greatest need that you have, is spiritual — is knowing Allah. That is the greatest calling a human being can have.

The Comfort of Surah Ad-Duha

And the Prophet ﷺ — the first chapters of the Qur'an that were revealed to him were two chapters which gave him the best glad tidings a human being can receive. Allah comforted him and counseled this messenger. Allah said in Surah Ad-Duha:

Allah counseled His Prophet ﷺ by saying: I swear by the daybreak — the great creation of Allah — and I swear by the stillness of the night, something that no human can change or touch or deny: Your Lord has not forsaken you.

The greatest message that a human being can ever receive — if he feels forsaken, if he feels that there is no one around him, no one for him, in sadness and in anguish or even in depression — is this message: Your Lord has not forsaken you. Allah will never forsake you and I. That is the greatest message to us. If this was the only message of Islam, that is enough for me — that Allah never forsakes the believer.

And the second message is that Allah says that the Hereafter is that which is better than this life — meaning no matter how much status or wealth or whatever you gain in this life, it is not as good as what is going to come. And the last message is the Prophet ﷺ being given the glad tidings: We will soon make you very pleased. We will give you and grant you pleasure.

And the scholars of Tafsir said that this particular verse is the most hopeful verse in the entire Qur'an. Why? What will make the Prophet ﷺ happy and pleased? The scholars of Tafsir said it is that every believer enters Jannah. The Prophet ﷺ was given — before even the message of Islam had begun — the promise that every one of us will enter Jannah, insha'Allah.

And this type of message, at the very beginning of Islam, means any human being who hears this from the Creator, the best supporter, the best ally, has no room for anguish, has no room for continuous sadness. We do believe in clinical depression. We do believe in human sickness. We do believe in all of this. But we do believe that the human experience is not fulfilled except with knowing the Divine, except with connecting to Allah — which is outside the fold of simple sickness, which even the medical world and the science world cannot fully explain. And if any human being simply connects with their Creator, this fills enough of a void to be some element of the cure, as well as the physical element.

The Year of Sorrow

This is something we as Muslims need to cherish and hold to and understand — that the Prophet ﷺ even went through something we can perhaps call an element of depression. And whoever denies it, let them know that there was an entire year of the Prophet's ﷺ life which was called the Year of Sorrow — عام الحزن. The year that the Prophet's ﷺ most closest and beloved person to him, Khadijah رضي الله عنها, his own wife, passed away. And then the only father figure he had ﷺ — the father of Ali رضي الله عنه, Abu Talib, his uncle — passed away as well.

And in that year, we as Muslims call that the Year of Sorrow. Do you know what the Prophet ﷺ was given as a form of counsel? He was given two chapters of the Qur'an — Surah Maryam and Surah Yusuf. And in these two chapters, Allah outlined what the divine message for reconnecting with Allah and fulfilling that soul nourishment means, and how important it is.

And in the second khutbah, insha'Allah, we will discover and cover some of those things.

وصلى الله وبارك وعليه وصحبه وسلم تسليماً كثيراً — فاستغفروا الله إنه هو الغفور الرحيم.

Second Khutbah — The Antidotes: Faith, Patience, and Du'a

بسم الله، الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليماً كثيراً.

Allah, in the chapter of Yusuf, describes the first antidote. The first antidote is belief — is faith — is knowing about the Divine, knowing who Allah is. Allah described the state of the Prophet Ya'qub and Yusuf and Ibrahim and their brothers, and every one of them tied their relationship to taqwa — consciousness of Allah, being aware of Allah, knowing who Allah is and being connected to Him.

How many of us have taken time to know the names and attributes of Allah? Who are we dealing with? When you know Allah is Al-Qareeb — the Most Near, the one who is so close to you — you don't have to look anywhere else. When you call upon Him, you're calling the One who is near to you, so grant me relief. When you know Allah's name is Al-Mubeen — the Most Apparent — you don't have to search far for Him. You don't have to go on a discovery mission looking for Him. He is the most apparent in the creation, in your daily life, in who you are.

When you know Allah — a name that we constantly hear, and it is often mistranslated — Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim — "the Most Gracious, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful." Wrong. That is not what that means. Ar-Rahman is the Most Merciful — the One that every creation is touched by His mercy, even non-Muslims. Allah has mercy on them — with justice — letting them live, and procreate, and have families, and love one another. This is from the mercy of God, that He even grants mercy to those who don't believe in Him, even atheists.

And His other name, Ar-Rahim — the Especially Merciful, the Giver of Mercy — Ar-Rahim is for you and I and the Prophet ﷺ and the believers. Ar-Rahim is that mercy — out of the vast amount of mercy that Allah has — He chooses from that mercy and gives it specifically to the believers.

How can a believer, when he knows who Allah is, have a continuous state of anguish, outside of clinical depression? How can he not be hopeful when he knows that Allah said, in the beginning of the message of the Qur'an in the Meccan period: We will grant you that which you will love — which is entering Jannah? How can someone go through sadness and anguish and say, "Where is the victory, where are the Muslims, where is whoever," when he has Allah saying: I will never forsake you? Whether they are going through family problems, work difficulty, school issues, or something related to their personal life — how can somebody continue in that state of anguish when Allah says to them: I will never forsake you?

The Second Antidote: Sabr Jameel — Beautiful Patience

Second: صَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ — Sabr Jameel. When Ya'qub عليه السلام lost his son and blindness overcame him, he said: patience is beautiful. But no one really understands the benefit of patience unless they go through the beauty of faith, which leads to perseverance through patience. If we are lacking in our faith and weak in our faith, then patience does not bear fruit. The first step is to know who we are dealing with, and the second step is to act upon that — with patience, with charity, and with prayer.

And activism, in the best way that we can. As the Prophet ﷺ said: if a person sees in his society an evil, and if he does not remove that evil, Allah will send a punishment on the entire society — even those that may have been good, but they didn't say anything.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 84)

Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه saw some of the Tabi'een sitting amongst one another and they said: "I hear you reciting the verse:"

"O you who believe, take care of yourselves." So they thought this meant: I am going to not worry about society, so they only cared about their own affairs. And Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه reminded them of the hadith: if you don't establish the good and justice in the society, Allah will send a punishment that will overcome all of them. Action is just as important as faith.

The Third Antidote: Calling Upon Allah

And lastly, reconnecting with that purpose and that Divine can only happen if you call out to Him. The Prophet ﷺ was asked — when he was on that mountain seeking Allah and praying to Him — "How did you pray to God?" He said: "I prayed however He guided me." There was no direction. He just called to Him, because he yearned so much for Allah.

How many of us have a communication and conversation with God? How many of us raise our hands — once maybe a day — just before we sit in the car to work, or before we go to school, or while going through a difficult exam or a project or difficulty in the family or a relationship — and raise our hands and say:

"Oh Allah, You are the Rich and I am the poor. You are the One who can see me and hear me and know my affairs, and You are the One who controls my affairs. You are the One who understands me better than I understand myself and is more merciful to me than my wife and mother."

How many of us have a communication like that with Allah? How many of us have spent 10, 20, 30, 40 years — after the Salah — raising our hands, murmuring something in our mouths, wiping our faces, and walking straight out the door? How many of us have had a lack in the relationship with Allah?

If we realize that the Prophet ﷺ went through so much hardship — and this is why he was chosen, because he sought God, he sought the Creator, he sought the Divine — how many of us are seeking? How many of us are looking?

Wallahi, I see faces here that I know were searching for Allah. And they found Allah, and they cherish that more than their families. How many of us who grew up in Islam don't cherish that? How many of us see day in and day out Muslims suffering all over the world, and we care about their state, and we don't realize that their state may be better than ours — because they have Allah, and we don't search for Him. Really. This feeling has to exist in us, brothers and sisters, because this is the reason why Allah brought Islam — to reconnect individuals to this Divine, to have a relationship with Allah and to connect with Him.

Through knowing who He is, through having practical action — like patience, worship, charity, and prayer — and lastly, to call out to Him, to have an established communication, and to act in the community as those who have been trustees of God.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah to make us of those who, when we hear something, we implement it.

اللَّهُمَّ انْصُرْ إِخْوَانَنَا الْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي كُلِّ مَكَانٍ — O Allah, grant victory to our oppressed brothers and sisters in every place.

O Allah, we ask You to make us of those who, when we hear something, we listen to it and obey it. We ask You to have mercy upon us, to envelop us with mercy, to lift the veils and excuses that surround our hearts from implementing Your religion. We ask You to make us of those who implement the Qur'an. We ask You to make us of those who implement the Sunnah. We ask You to send mercy upon us, our families, our parents, our children, our wives, our husbands, and the community at large.

We ask You to make us of those who establish justice on this earth. We ask You to make us of those who guide others to Islam with the light of Islam and the beautiful message of this faith. We ask You to relieve the plight of those who have been oppressed — in Palestine, and in Gaza, and in Syria, and Iraq, and in Ferguson, and in all of the cities and states and countries where people are being oppressed and people have no one except to turn to. Oh Allah, make them of those who turn to You. And we ask Allah to make us of those who turn to Him.

Quranic Recitation During Salah