2015 05 22 Friday Prayer Sheikh Khalil Abdul Rashid

The Call to Prayer & Opening Remarks

Those who desire Allah's goodness will be exalted in religion. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "One jurist is more powerful than a thousand worshippers."

We have many threats to our community. Many risks, many dangers, many challenges to confront. But if I may pause for a minute — the adab of the Jumu'ah is that we should do our best to refrain from speaking to each other. We should be mindful of the cell phones, any noise, and any distraction, for the sanctity of the Jumu'ah.

The khutbah is in the same realm, the same maqam, of the two rak'at of Salatul Dhuhr. So it is part of the adab of the Jumu'ah that we keep a certain degree of silence in the masjid. May I respectfully ask all of our jama'at to please be mindful of that, insha'Allah.

The Threats We Face as a Community

We have multiple problems and challenges and risks and dangers to our way of life. We have dangers and threats that are physical, that exist in the physical world — threats to our tradition, to our way of life, to our teachings, to our peaceful way of living. Some of those are physical and some of those are not physical, but they are spiritual. There are some that are physical but they are inside of our community. Then there are some that are physical that are outside of our community. And there are spiritual threats that are inside, and spiritual threats that are outside as well.

So we may assess these challenges and these threats at both of these levels: internal, external, and both physical and spiritual as well.

Physical Threats from Within

An example of a physical threat — a threat to our way of life in the physical, material sense that is a part of our community that we have to deal with — is the rise and the prevalence of so-called Islamic extremists that claim to be a part of our community and our tradition, claim to be inside of us, but in reality they represent an old challenge that goes back to the time of Sayyidina Uthman — the Khawarij mentality. This is a physical, material problem inside of our community that we have to deal with. And in reality, only we as a Muslim Ummah, as a Muslim community, are really equipped to deal with it.

Physical Threats from Without

We also have physical challenges that are outside of our community. An example of those threats and challenges is the rise and the prevalence of the anti-Islamic wave — the Islamophobic wave — that is in reality a small group of people but a well-funded machine. Well-funded. A small group of people with a big voice. And this small group of people have taken the vast majority of the American public, who don't know anything about the beauty of our tradition, and taken their minds hostage — in the same way or in a similar way that many of the so-called extremists have taken the minds of young Muslim men and women hostage. That's a problem. That is a challenge. That is a danger.

Spiritual Threats from Within: The Nafs

At the spiritual level — not material but immaterial — we also have dangers and risks and threats to us as well. The danger and the threat inside of us, the deathly internal threat, as you know it well: the nafs. One thing about the nafs — we can never defeat it. It will always be with us. It will always be there. But we can discipline it. We can restrain it. We can control it. We can tame it from its wild impulses. It is an internal, daakhili threat — a spiritual, abstract threat.

Spiritual Threats from Without: Shaytan

An example of a threat outside of us — khaariji, external to us — is Shaytan. We cannot destroy Shaytan either. As a matter of fact, we cannot control Shaytan. We cannot subdue Shaytan. We cannot tame Shaytan. We cannot put him in check and deal with him like we can our nafs. And Shaytan, like our nafs, will never go away from us. We have to die to get rid of Shaytan. But there are defense mechanisms. There are ways of protecting ourselves from that external threat.

So we have external threats and internal threats. We have material threats and spiritual threats and dangers. For those of us that have been asleep, it's time to wake up. We have a job to do. Because the reality is that those threats aren't just for us — those dangers aren't just applied to us. They're relevant for our children. Our babies. Our grandchildren. They're the next victims of extremism, or of the racist, evil sentiments and hatred of the Islamophobic rhetoric. We have to do something. But what do we do? What is the solution?

The Quranic Strategy: Raising People of Fiqh

Allah Ta'ala informed the Prophet, peace be upon him, about how to raise a community and what to do — when his community, peace be upon him, reached what's called critical mass, when it had enough men and women to establish itself and became strong, and these threats and threats similar to those became real problems. Allah Ta'ala taught the Prophet, peace be upon him, how to strategize, what strategy to use. First, it's Quranic:

Don't let all of the believers go out at the same time to do the same thing. But instead, look at all of your communities. Look at your groups. You've got doctors and engineers and lawyers and different people with different specialties, different experiences, different talents.

So therefore, go to each segment of the community. Go to the physicians, go to the engineers, go to the shoemakers, the workers, those that hold goats, those that deal in the marketplace, those that are homemakers. Go to every single class, every single nafara, every single group in your community — every single jama'at, every single group. Take a group from that group. Take a small portion of each group. Three brothers from that group, three sisters from here, three people from there, three shabaab from here. Take a small sample of each group.

You see, because the community is in crisis, and so we've got to strategize. We need volunteers — just a few from each group. Form a separate group, a small group, to do what? لِيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الدِّينِ — to get fiqh of the deen, to learn this deen, to preserve this deen. All of you can't be doctors and engineers and teachers and lawyers and this and that. We need one of each group to become a faqih, to become an 'alim, to learn the deen — we need one or two. No more than three is fine.

You've got a faqih — khalas, he has gone to the service of Allah. He is going to be an 'alim. He is going to preserve this deen. He will be a hafidh, then an 'alim, preserving this deen. Take a segment, take it aside, raise that element to be a square in the deen.

And so that when the society and the people return and consult with them in those matters — when they رَجَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْ, when they consult with them, when they return to them, when they need advice, when they need guidance — they find it. Because we, ya Rasulullah, are not going to be around forever. So we need inheritors. Somebody that's going to be a symbol of the 'alim in a time that is full of darkness. We need our own stars.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "My ashab, they are like stars" — not in the Hollywood, materialistic, crazy, Shayanic sense, but in the hidayah sense. And so that the guidance that they find — لَعَلَّهُمْ يَحْذَرُونَ — is so that they may guard themselves from those enemies, so that the community can protect themselves from those attacks. Not just the internal attacks, but the external attacks. Not just the physical attacks, but the spiritual attacks. Spiritual, material, outside and inside.

The only guardians, the only protectors, that Allah Ta'ala instructed us to raise are fuqaha — people of fiqh.

The Hadith: One Faqih vs. A Thousand Worshippers

The Prophet ﷺ would then comment on that, and he would say:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 221; also recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 71 and Sahih Muslim, Book 12, Hadith 1037 for the first portion)

When Allah Ta'ala wants khayr — when Allah Ta'ala wants good — through a person, if Allah Ta'ala wants to use you or me for good, to do something positive, to implement lasting change, any type of khayr through a person, He gives that person — male or female, young or old — He gives that person fiqh of the deen. Understanding. Fiqh means understanding of the deen.

And then he ﷺ said: One person who is learned in fiqh, who understands the deen, one person who learns fiqh, who is knowledgeable in fiqh, who takes a portion of their time to become learned in the prophetic teachings ﷺ — one person is harder on Shaytan than one thousand ordinary worshippers.

لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله — One person who understands fiqh, one guardian of the community, one protector, is harder on Shaytan — that enemy, that disgrace, that person who is trying to bring down that community — than one thousand ordinary followers who don't know fiqh trying to protect the community. Look at the investment, the value.

What Makes Fiqh So Powerful?

What is it about the teachings of fiqh that is so powerful — that we have lost, and that we are in the process of trying to regain?

One: in the ayah, لِيَتَفَقَّهُوا — to get knowledge of fiqh — that word, تَفَقَّهَ, to be a faqih, to get understanding, to be well-versed in the understandings of the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ — that word تَفَقَّهَ means that person, that student, that stays behind and takes time out of their schedule to develop and to learn fiqh, is at the core learning how to perceive the jalal of Allah Ta'ala, the majesty of Allah Ta'ala, His jalal.

Jalal and Jamal: The Two Types of Divine Attributes

You know Allah Ta'ala has two types of attributes: jalal and jamal. Jalal are the strong, majestic attributes — like Qahhar, the dominant one; Muntaqim, the one who avenges; Al-Qabid, the one who takes. These are the jalal attributes that instill awe and fear of Allah Ta'ala, respect of Allah Ta'ala, the demand of the greatness of Allah Ta'ala. So the person who understands and perceives and has idrak of those sifat — those jalal attributes of Allah Ta'ala — the end, the conclusion, is that taqwa is born inside of them.

When you get to know the jalal, then the product of that is taqwa. What comes from the jalal of Allah Ta'ala is taqwa — staying away from His muharramat, and His makruhat, and even later on the shubuhat — staying away from prohibited matters, even discouraged matters, and eventually doubtful matters. That is taqwa.

So they learn, and through their learning of the prophetic way, they begin to perceive the jalal, the greatness, the majesty of Allah Ta'ala, so taqwa is born. And then what do they do with the other attributes of Allah Ta'ala? The jamal attributes — the beautiful attributes — like Al-Razzaq, Al-Ghafur, Al-Shakur — the one who provides, the one who forgives, the one who is merciful, the one who is grateful. They strive in their learning to adopt those attributes, to mirror those attributes, to perform those attributes.

And so they take the jalal attributes — the majesty of Allah — and they do not adopt those, because they cannot adopt those, so they learn to fear Allah Ta'ala through that lens. But then through the jamal — the beautiful attributes of Allah Ta'ala — they learn to be like that in the world. So they serve the creation of Allah by mimicking the beautiful attributes of Allah, and in their service to the creation of Allah, they are fearful of Allah Ta'ala by reminding themselves of the jalal attributes of Allah — khawf.

In another language: fear and hope. They fear Allah and hope for His reward. They fear Allah and work through His service to gain His pleasure. Khawf and raja' in a different language.

The Three Things the Student of Fiqh Carries

And while working like that, they carry with them — this faqih, this scholar, this student of fiqh — they carry three things as they go along. Three things, and this is what makes them special.

One, they carry with them the way of life of the Prophet ﷺ.
Two, they carry with them the way of thinking of the Prophet ﷺ.
Three, they carry with them the way of being like the Prophet ﷺ.

Way of life, way of thinking, way of being. That's what they pass on to others. And these enemies, these attackers, these threats, these risks that I mentioned earlier — whether they're internal or external, whether they're material or physical — all of these threats are targeting one of those three. They're either targeting the prophetic way of life, or they're targeting the prophetic thinking, or they're targeting the prophetic way of being ﷺ.

And when the ulema of fiqh, the scholars of fiqh, are carrying on what they are doing, what they are embodying, what they pass on through their kalam, through their writings, through their speech, through their being — they are passing on those three ways. And those three ways together — the way of thinking like the Prophet ﷺ, the prophetic way of living, and the prophetic way of being — those three things together are called understanding of the deen, fiqh. That's what it is.

The Three Levels of Fiqh

1. Fiqh al-Akbar — The Greatest Fiqh

The way of thinking — the prophetic way of thinking about the world, about solving problems, about concepts, understanding our relationship in the world, understanding our place with other creatures and other beings — that way of thinking, that way of perceiving, is called al-Fiqh al-Akbar, the greatest fiqh, the most profound fiqh, because it targets the mind, the thinking of the Muslims. And that thinking was passed from the Prophet ﷺ down to his ashab, down to the scholars, and it became a legacy that was passed on through the scholars — the way of thinking.

The ulema taught that — that's why they were pillars of our community. And if we don't carry on that thinking, then what happens is we ourselves and our children become intellectually, mentally colonized. We become kidnapped. We become mental prisoners of other ideas, other people's philosophy, other ways of thinking.

And so at one level, there is a combat for the mind. We see this in pop culture. Pop culture wants our kids to think a certain way. It wants us to think a certain way. It wants us to solve our problems in a certain way. That's what media does as well. But there's a prophetic thinking, and our reaction should be: how would the Prophet ﷺ think about this? In order to learn that, you have to go to a faqih.

2. Fiqh al-Zahir — External Fiqh

The second level, outside of Fiqh al-Akbar, is Fiqh al-Zahir — external fiqh, outer fiqh. And that is the ways of living. The way the Prophet ﷺ lived, the prophetic lifestyle. Not necessarily in specifics alone — although the specifics are important — but the principles that he lived by ﷺ, in leading his life, in passing down to us how we should live, how we should exist, and co-exist. And that includes tahara, salat, zakat, fasting, hajj, marriage, divorce, inheritance, buying, selling, prosecuting, defending ourselves — everything. How to live in the world.

And there's an attack at that level. There is, Allahu Akbar, a competition at that level. We have competing ways in the society of how to live, competing ways of how to exist, competing ways of doing business, competing ways of being a laborer, competing ways of selling, competing ways of establishing schools, competing ways of giving medicine, competing ways of policy — competing ways of every single aspect of life. But how would the Prophet ﷺ do it? The answer to that is given by the faqih, again. And the student of fiqh searches for that.

3. Fiqh al-Batin — Inner Fiqh

So we have Fiqh al-Akbar, the great fiqh; Fiqh al-Zahir, external fiqh; and finally, the ways of being — how the Prophet ﷺ breathes internally. That's called Fiqh al-Batin, inner fiqh. There's one way to live, and it's another way to live ethically. It's one way to give food, and it's another way to give food morally. Fiqh al-Batin contains our akhlaq, ethical, ihsani principles. That's the way of being. And that gives life to our actions.

The Unity of the Faqih Against Division

And that's why the Prophet ﷺ in conclusion said that one person learned in fiqh — the ways of prophetic thinking, the ways of prophetic living, the ways of prophetic being — the person who understands that turath, that legacy, that inheritance — that person is harder on Shaytan than a thousand people who are totally confused, who have no idea about the prophetic way. That's why. Because those thousand people will be divided. And the fastest way to conquer is to divide first. But that one person unites — that faqih unites — the prophetic ways. That is fiqh.

A Call to Action: Reviving Fiqh in Our Community

Brothers and sisters, we are in a time where we must revive the discipline and the action of learning fiqh. That's our job. All of us cannot do it, but a ta'ifah — bit by bit, groups amongst you. How many of you want to learn fiqh? How many of you will give one child to the service of learning fiqh?

We need to raise a new generation of ulama — of scholars, teachers, defenders, guardians of this deen. We are in a crisis. We have attacks internally, externally, materially, and spiritually. We cannot do everything, but we have to raise fiqh. We have to raise a next generation of inheritors of the prophetic way of thinking, living, and being.

Du'a and Closing

May Allah subhana wa ta'ala protect us from the fitna that exists on the outside and the inside of our community. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala protect our children by teaching them fiqh of the deen, and may Allah subhana wa ta'ala help all of us to be stronger against Shaytan than one thousand misguided, divided, confused human beings. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil 'Alamin, wa sallatu was salamu 'ala Sayyidina Muhammad, wa 'ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een.

Allah commands:

Announcements

Brothers and sisters, before the salah, just 10 seconds — in an effort to revive the teachings of fiqh: alhamdulillah, as IACC and Taqwa, we are starting a fiqh program, and we have partnered, alhamdulillah, with SMU — Southern Methodist University — to establish a degree program and a research program in Islamic studies.

Those of you that are interested in such an endeavor and learning more — we'll be talking about this project tonight after Maghrib at Mekinni Masjid, and here in this Masjid next Jumu'ah — next week after Maghrib insha'Allah ta'ala — I'll be informing and updating the community on that project here in our Masjid, next Friday after Maghrib, and tonight after Maghrib at Mekinni Masjid. We ask all of you to attend insha'Allah ta'ala, and help us revive the legacy of 'ilm in our community.