2015-05-15 - Friday Prayer - Sheikh Khalil Abdul Rashid

The Adhan

The Khutbah Opening

أوصي وأوصيكم بتقوى الله. قال تعالى، أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم، بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم:

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "Give glad tidings to those who walk in the darkness to the mosques of a perfect light on the Day of Resurrection." (Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 561; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 774)

The Time of Transformation

The time has come. The moment has drawn near. The opportunity has arrived for each and every member of the Ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم to have a share or a portion in journeying closer and in multiplying exponentially their nearness to Allah تبارك وتعالى.

This is what we remember. This is what we are reminded of. This is what we are tasked to do as we remember the event of the night journey. As we are leaving the month of Rajab and entering the month of Sha'ban, we are reminded that this is a time of transformation. This is a time of change. This is a time where we are tasked with the job of enhancing our state of عبودية — servanthood to Allah سبحانه وتعالى.

This is what this first ayah in Surah Al-Isra means. What the event reminds us of, and the lessons that we take from it.

The Meaning of Subhan — Transcendence from Change

For Allah تبارك وتعالى, this ayah informs us in that magnanimous and beautiful verse of the Quran — سبحان الذي — that سبحان applies to Him. سبحان is to be given to Him. سبحان is the word, the essential صفة, the essential noun, the essential مصدر — verbal noun — which means that any type of change, any type of alteration, is completely unacceptable and inapplicable to Allah عز وجل. The notion of change does not apply to Him but applies to us.

For to change means, or entails, going from a state of weakness to a state of strength, or it entails the opposite — going from a state or position of strength to a position of weakness. That is what change means: going from strength to weakness or weakness to strength.

In the case of the former — going from strength to weakness — that is a sign of deficiency. And Allah تعالى is exalted, سبحان is He from being described and attributed with attributes of weakness. And going from weakness to strength is also a sign of weakness, for going from weakness to strength entails need. And تعالى سبحان from being described as having a need. And so any form of change or alteration — Allah تعالى is سبحان from that, exalted from that. And that is the one we worship. That is the object of our عبودية.

We worship the one who doesn't change, but brings us through change. Because change is necessary for us. And therefore He changed the state of His نبي صلى الله عليه وسلم, and changed that state from being a نبي in the earthly sense, and exalted his state in the روحي — metaphysical, abstract sense. That change of going from the world of the seen to the world of the unseen, from the physical world to the metaphysical world — that change was meant to be inspirational not just to him صلى الله عليه وسلم, but to the followers of him. That is part of his سنة — that not only he can do that, but we have a share and a portion and a نصيب of that, if and only if we follow him صلى الله عليه وسلم in the act of عبودية.

The Mi'raj — The Divine Ascent

And that is why when he recorded that event, when he told us about that event عليه الصلاة والسلام, he told us that he went from Jerusalem — when he went there, when he was carried there by the براق, that animal that took him from Masjid al-Haram to Jerusalem — and he met a group of the Prophets صلى الله عليه وسلم there. And then he said:

"I saw the Ma'arij." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3207; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 162)

I saw the معارج — the divine elevator, the divine spiritual escalator, that transport system far past and far superior to anything NASA could ever produce. That divine space shuttle system that carries the ملائكة up and down from the world to the other world, to the غيب. I saw the معارج. And I went up to the معارج with Jibril.

And he recounts that event stage after stage, مقام after مقام. When he first saw Adam عليه السلام at the first مقام — the first stop, the spiritual divine magnificent elevator number one was the Adam floor. And he got off at the Adam floor and conversed with Adam عليه السلام, saw our father. And he went back to the معارج and went up and got off at level two. And level two he met Yahya and he met Isa عليه السلام at level two. And at level three he met Yusuf عليه السلام — what a beautiful level that must have been. After Yusuf, level four — he got off at level four and he met Idris عليه السلام, the great-great-grandson of Adam. And after that, level five he met Harun عليه السلام. Level six — Musa عليه السلام, his teacher in the Quranic sense. Level seven — Ibrahim عليه السلام, father of the Tawhidic science which was passed down.

Every single level, every single مقام, was a درس — not just a درس, but something that he took from them. Which is why at each مقام, each level, Allah تعالى introduced him to them عليهم الصلاة والسلام, صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم. And he took a نصيب, a portion, from their بركة, their message. And after gathering and taking a نصيب and a portion from each of them, he took that بركة and ascended to the top — the roof, the top floor, the balcony — that was Sidrat al-Muntaha.

At Sidrat al-Muntaha

At صدرة المنتهى, he tells us صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم, in the authentic narrations that are contained in Bukhari, that a جماعة, a group of ملائكة, enveloped him. And he says صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم:

"It was as though they were a swarm of locusts of gold." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3207)

It was like they were a swarm of bees or insects or locusts swarming around him, and they were all gold. It was like a gold envelope enveloped him, of the ملائكة. And they took him from صدرة المنتهى to a higher مقام.

And he says صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم, as he was rising up in that angelic capsule, that angelic container of ملائكة which were there to greet him and meet him صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم, that he looked behind him and saw Jibril. And Jibril عليه السلام was getting smaller and smaller and smaller. And he says until he saw Jibril the size — like he was the size of an عصفور, a little sparrow, a little tiny bird. And that he didn't see him again. He was carried distances and distances until Jibril himself was a tiny piece of creation, and then he didn't see him again.

And then at that point صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم says the ملائكة loved him, and there were wings that carried him further, until he reached a place, an area, a realm — and he heard a voice. A voice called out to me, he said صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم:

"Come to your Lord. Come to your Lord. Enter the divine presence."

And he صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم tells us that when he entered that moment, when he responded to the call — "Come to your Lord" — he said:

"I cannot — there are not words enough to praise you. You have not, ya Rabb, created words that are at the level of your ثناء. All of the words on the planet of praise are deficient because you've created them. I can't find anything in the created vocabulary to praise you. I can't do it."

That is the ultimate مقام of عبودية — servanthood. I can do nothing without your help. Nothing without your توفيق. Nothing without your power. Nothing without your قدرة. Nothing without your بركة. Nothing without your رحمة. I am zero.

That is عبودية. That's it. That's his ثناء. That is him getting it صلى الله عليه وسلم — he got it. That is what we have to get. That is our journey. That's what we're here for. That's what Rajab is here for. That's what Sha'ban is here for — to teach us these things intellectually. And then Ramadan is that capsule. Ramadan is our being encased in that معراج, that elevator to ascend. Laylat al-Qadr is that moment of هيا إلى ربك — "Come to your Lord." That is it.

Returning to Earth — The True Challenge

Now, brothers and sisters, that is the easy part. The hard part is what happens when you come back down to earth. What happens when Ramadan leaves. What happens when you have to go back to work. When you leave the masjid. What happens when you must return to Makkah. The struggle begins after. Our lives, your lives, my life — are merely scenes of our development in trying to keep that notion of عبودية.

But how do we do that? That's also in the ayah as well.

The one who took His عبد, at night. عبده — that's why the word عبد is there. He didn't say He took His نبي — أسرى بنبيه. نبوة was not the point. Or He didn't say سبحان الذي أسرى برسوله — that wasn't the point. Because we as his followers do not, cannot, and shall not have the نصيب of نبوة. And we do not, shall not, and cannot have the نصيب of his رسالة. None of us have that power. But we all can reach what is possible and within our reach — of something that he shared — which is عبودية. That is what we can get. That is what we can achieve. That is what is within our reach.

And Allah تعالى spoke that language to us — to inspire us to be like that, to tell us that if you really want to be an عبد, if you really want to have — if you come to My presence, go down. If you want to be elevated, bow down. Not just once and twice and three times — four times, five times a day. Not just in the masjid, but bow down outside of the masjid. When you are confronted with all kinds of trash, bow down. When you are confronted with all kinds of things from the نفوس, from the earthly and horrible, bow down. And when you bow, you are elevated.

But not just part-time bowing. Not just even full-time bowing. Full-time bowing doesn't cut it. Because the عبد does not clock in and clock out. The عبد does not take a vacation from being an عبد. The عبد does not have a weekend off from being an عبد. The عبد does not retire from being an عبد. The عبد is an عبد سرمداً — forever, always, eternal.

The Tools of the Servant

And the عبد knows — very perceptive — as to the means and the instrument that the عبد must use. For every profession, every job, has a tool. The gardener works with a hoe. The police officer works with handcuffs and a gun. The teacher works with a pen and chalk. Every single profession has its tools, its vehicles, its means of production. And every single profession has not only its means of production but also its instruments, its mode of production as well. The teacher teaches at a certain time and is most effective at a certain time.

So the material — the tools of the عبد — the tools that the عبد has is the قلب, the إخلاص — sincerity — which is contained in the heart. If that city is not guarded from failure, from enemies, is not guarded from Shaitanic and human aspects of evil and aspects of rejection of عبودية, then we will fail.

The Grammar of Laylā — A Portion of the Night

And that is why also the language in the ayah is that سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده — with his عبد — and لَيْلًا. At night. And what is very interesting from the grammatical aspect — the word is لَيْلًا. It is the نكرة, the indefinite form. It is not في الليل, for example. It is not definite. It is indefinite — لَيْلًا, with the تنوين there. لَيْلًا means not just "at night" — because "at night" would not be within Allah's power, and Allah تعالى wants us to really be profounded and humbled by that experience. So of course it would be profound and amazing enough to say في ليل — at night. That alone would qualify it to be a معجزة — a three-month journey done at night.

And oftentimes we translate it as "the Night Journey." Actually it is a bit of an error to say "Night Journey," because the ayah says لَيْلًا — the نكرة there is important. Because لَيْلًا means a part of the night, not the night. It means a piece of the night, not the night. So it is actually not the "Night Journey" — it is actually the "Part-of-the-Night Journey." It is part of the night.

Why part of the night? Because this is also an إشارة — a point of indicating aspect as well. This inspires us at two levels. One — that the secret and the key of عبودية is not staying up the whole night. It is not worshipping Allah تعالى the whole night. The night is important, and that is why the night journey occurred partially at night, or at a part of the night — which means the secret engine and the secret inertia and energy that we need to propel us to closer nearness and proximity to Allah تعالى, to give us the energy by day to work better — that is accomplished by ibadah at night. But it is not the whole night that is necessary. It is a part of the night.

For the whole night would be excessive and out of reach for the overwhelming majority of the followers of the Ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. And so that is why — to make his path صلى الله عليه وسلم easy for his Ummah, to show the divine رحمة and محبة of Allah تعالى on his Ummah — He took the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم on that journey and returned him in just a portion of the night. Thereby He showed an indication to his followers that we must pray by night, stand by night, worship by night — but not the whole night. Because there are others that have rights on us, and we must be productive by day. And the energy at night is to be productive by day. It is for that purpose.

And if we spend all our nights in ibadah, we will not be productive by day. But it is the work by day that goes into our حساب — that through that work we strive and we struggle and we make a difference in the world. But it is by night, a part of the night — لَيْلًا — that we acquire the spiritual energy to do that. And the closest proximity to Allah تعالى and His pleasure, to get permission to continue doing that. That is the way of the عبد.

لَيْلًا — a portion of the night. A portion of the day. A portion of your wealth. A portion of your time. A portion of your energy. A portion of this, a portion of that. A portion of your wealth in زكاة for Allah.

Entering the Blessed Months — The Cocoon of Transformation

Brothers and sisters, as we enter into the time of change — that is what this means. Sha'ban, Ramadan — that is what it means. It is like a time where each of us enters into these blessed months and they are like cocoons for us. They are moments in time where almost things stop and we enter this time period, and we are supposed to come out different. We are supposed to be changed.

One — we are supposed to be changed in our devotion and our dedication to being better عباد, better slaves and servants of Allah. By first contemplating and understanding — understanding is سبحان — the fact that He does not change. Any type of weakness is not attributable to Him. He is purified from all of those things. That is why we worship Him. But we ourselves — we are subject and bound by change. And we can change, and we must change, and we should change. But the kind of change that we must endure is the prophetic change.

And we must change gradually over time to becoming — not better doctors, or better lawyers, or better engineers, or better parents, or better taxi drivers. Those things are all good and fine. But at the core is that we must be better servants of Allah. We must be better at our عبادة. That is what it is. And that betterness comes by, over time, gradually developing the habit to give up a portion of our nights in exchange — in exchange for proximity and قربى to Him.

If we want to go to Him. If we want to come to Him. هيا إلى ربك — "Come to your Lord." If you want to come to your Lord, you must let a little bit of your nights go. Because we cannot have it both ways. We must let a little of the nights go. And a little bit of the night — when we leave it for His sake — then we arrive with a نور and a light that will propel us forever to His pleasure and His مقام, His رضوان. And to have a little bit — just a portion — of the رضوان of Allah is better than having all of the رضوان of all of His creation.

The Closing Du'a

May Allah endow us, inspire us, give us the توفيق to strive and do what it takes to receive a نصيب, a portion, of the معراج of the Prophet. May Allah inspire us, grant us and give us the توفيق to become enlightened and inspired by his سنة, to follow it and to learn to go into this blessed time one way, but to come out in an even better way.

The Second Khutbah

أوصي وأوصيكم بتقوى الله. قال تعالى:

عباد الله، اتقوا الله.

The Iqamah and Prayer

Just keep the ranks close together. Make space for your brothers and sisters so that we may fill in as many people as we can, inshallah.

Surah Al-Fatiha

First Rak'ah — Surah Al-'Imran (26–27)

Second Rak'ah — Surah Quraysh