2015-02-13 - Friday Prayer - Sheikh Mokhtar Maghroui

The Divine Attributes Manifested in Creation

Allah — God most loving, infinitely beautiful, infinitely majestic —

Infinite is His perfection, of His infinite beauty and of His infinite majesty.

We should know, as the Quran and the Sunnah and our predecessors teach us, that life itself — the events of life themselves — at all levels, from the most minute to the grandest of manifestations of life, are expressions of the divine attributes. Allah is Rahim, so we see rahma in the creation. Allah is most loving, so we see the most loving and mercy in the world.

Allah is One who conceals and loves those who conceal the faults of others, and He conceals our faults. So out of His attribute of sitr and His attribute of rahma, for example, He gives us respite upon respite, chance upon chance — where many of us continue to arrogantly and obstinately disobey Him and do wrong. And out of His rahma, meaning out of His rizq and sitr, meaning out of His sabr also — patience and perseverance in the divine way — He gives us chance upon chance. His attributes are manifested in creation.

It is He whose attributes include al-Qabid — the Constrictor — and al-Basit — the Expander. Anything of constriction, from the physical plane through the emotional plane through the spiritual plane, is actually in that beautiful subtle dimension an expression of the attribute of Allah, al-Qabid. So when we feel sometimes emotionally constricted, that is simply a manifestation in this world — an example of the manifestation of His name al-Qabid.

When we feel inside an expansion — expanded and easy and free inside — and your chest inflates with ease and with سُبْحَانَ اللَّه feelings of goodness and delight, that is an example of the manifestation of His attribute in life of al-Basit. When we work hard and apparently some make good wealth, they are in the financial sense in expansion; that itself is another example of the manifestation of the attribute of Allah, al-Basit. And the opposite is an example of the manifestation of the name of Allah, al-Qabid.

The point is: everything in life is an example — or are examples — of the manifestations of the divine attributes.

The Purpose of Our Creation: Knowing and Worshipping Allah

Because of that, Allah created us in the way we are — with intellect, with emotions, with spirit, and with matter as well. And Allah made, through His wisdom and knowledge and rahma and many other attributes, that we know Him and that we worship Him. In that is a means of our happiness in this world and in the Hereafter.

Returning to Allah is not only about being a servant of the divine — and what an excellent title it is, anyways — but it is about, with that, through that, by that, attaining the noblest of possible happiness in this world and the noblest of possible freedom in this world, before even the Hereafter.

True Ibadah: Adorning Ourselves with the Divine Attributes

Part of being a abd of Allah and practicing ibadah is to do the following: to adorn ourselves with the attributes that the divine has and loves, at our human level.

God is Rahim. Part of ibadah — not only salah and sawm and zakah and hajj and dhikr and dua, all of those are wonderful and they are beautiful — but part of ibadah, which I believe many of us are not brought up from when we are young (neither by our parents, I think, nor by our teachers) is that ibadah, worship, is also most importantly to develop the character of the divine at our human level and human dimension.

So Allah is Rahim — and He loves and wants that I and you be ruhama. Allah is mercifully loving and lovingly merciful, and He loves and He wants that I and you, as part of ibadah, develop the characteristic and the trait and the attribute of merciful love inside of our relationship with the world — family, neighbors, far, distant and near, in prosperity and in adversity.

The Ibadah of Gratitude (Shukr)

Allah is Shakur — extremely grateful. God is grateful when we obey Him, when we do beautiful things, when we do good things, when we worship Him. God is grateful. Does He have to be grateful to you and to me, when He created you and me from nothing? Yet He is Shakur — not merely Shakir, but Shakur — extremely, extremely grateful. The hyperbole in language from Shakir to Shakur. And He rewards the little good with many, many more folds of His divine goodness.

So He is Shakur, and He loves for us and wants for us to be shakur. In this world, we are all the time subjected to — whether some of us see that or not — we are subjected to grace and favors and bounties, unlimited, from Allah at all levels, as a manifestation of many of His attributes, on earth. We enjoy ni'am — bounties and favors and grace and goodness — at all levels: physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, moral, social, collective, individual. We enjoy all of those bounties of Allah, and He wants for us to be grateful.

As part of the ibadah, I want to emphasize that you and I — many of us, if not most of us, if not all of us — think of the ibadah only when we come to the masjid. Alhamdulillah, it's wonderful and it's beautiful to perform salah, to be in prayer, in solicitation, to give zakah, to fast, to be in dua, in dhikr. It's all beautiful. And we think of ibadah as that.

And then outside of that, I and we — perhaps the least to say — we are not as aware and as conscious, for example, of the ibadah of gratitude. Real gratefulness at home — for what I have, not only physical things, for what I have of emotional things, of resources, spiritual as well. Somebody does a good thing to me. The fact that I have a masjid — I have to be grateful for it. The fact that I have a home, a family, children, neighbors, good neighbors — I have to be in ibadah of showing gratitude to God for that, and then to the creatures whom God chose to be the means by which He directly shows that favor to me.

Do we do that? Security — compared to those who are living in insecurity — is a great favor. Peace, salaam, is a great favor compared with those who do not have peace. An equal opportunity to pursue livelihood in dignity and to pursue dignified prosperity in this dunya — that is a ni'mah from Allah. Am I grateful for it? Liberty, freedom — compared to those who don't have that — each one has liberty, and it depends on you and me how we use that liberty. How we make use of that freedom: either in a way that is grateful to the divine, where we express His attributes through agencies in His creation, and therefore I'm grateful to Him and to the agencies — or am I ungrateful? Do I use liberty and freedom in the way that helps me connect to the divine in the way He loves, or am I using freedom and liberty in the way my low desires and animalistic drives demand of me, and therefore I am ungrateful?

So much to be thankful for — social structures of support in times of hardship, in the masjid, in the community. All of those are so many favors for which I need to be thankful.

And I want to emphasize — first for me, Allah knows, and then for you, my dear brothers and sisters — that I need that ibadah, that worship, along with salah, along with dhikr, along with dua: that ibadah called gratitude, that worship called thankfulness and gratefulness.

How do I use my tongue — that's a grace from God? How do I use my eyes, my sight? How do I use my ears, my hearing faculties? How do I use my intelligence? How do I use my hands? How do I use my legs? How do I use my desire for food — and what a ni'mah it is, what a favor, what a grace it is to eat food and to be released also? Just imagine you can't do either — and what happens. The ni'mah and the favor of sexuality — how do I use those in the way He loves, or in the way my low drives require, in the way that Shaytan requires, in the way my low and base desires require?

The ibadah of gratefulness. And the masjid is a ni'mah from Allah. How do I behave when I enter a masjid? How do I cherish this beautiful space of worship — I and my family and my children and my students and my teachers and everyone? How do we use that space?

Remember, I can go on and on for infinite time, perhaps, in trying to enumerate the bounties and favors of Allah, and I will not be able to do so. For Allah says: indeed, if we were to count the favors of Allah, we would not be able to enumerate them.

And yet — the human being, in response to the divine favors that are countless and infinite, the response of the human being on average is one of transgression, one of severe ingratitude — kaffar — to use the favors against God (and it doesn't harm God), meaning in the way He doesn't love, and to use them against ourselves, against our own well-being and prosperity and wellness and spiritual health and moral health. We use them against ourselves, which He doesn't want us to do.

Life is a field for ibadah — ibadah along with, I repeat, salah and fasting and dhikr and hajj and zakah and sadaqah and dua. And alhamdulillah, along with that, to do what? To express the divine attributes in my life.

Allah is al-Shakur — I need to be shakur. Allah is grateful — I need to be grateful. So when I am in the masjid, when I leave the masjid, when I go to work, when I go to drive, when I go home, wherever I go — am I aware of the practice of the worship, for example, called shukr? Gratitude.

The Ibadah of Patience (Sabr)

Second: in life there are ups and downs. Allah is Sabur — not only sabr in the sighat al-mubalagha (the form of hyperbole). Allah is extremely patient with His creatures, despite their iniquities and their shortcomings and their rebelliousness. He is very Sabur.

I, for my ibadah, as ibadah, need to show and to express sabr in my life. And why are we subjected to difficulties in life — all sorts of difficulties? Is there anyone here who has not lived in some difficulty in his or her life? Raise your hands if so — and of course, you would be a liar, and inshallah you are not liars. Everyone has gone through and will be going through ups and downs in life of all sorts: intellectual, spiritual, even moral, social, individual, financial, political, physical — at all levels. This is dunya.

You know why? One of the divine — beautiful — reasons is why: so that we, in this dunya, also show the divine attribute of sabr. That is ibadah. So that we practice the ibadah, for example, of sabr. And we are created to be in ibadah of Allah. Imagine everything occurred the way we love and we want all the time — will there be a need for sabr? The answer is no. And if there is no need for sabr, we are missing out on being acquainted with the beautiful and majestic attribute of the divine: sabr.

So that I and you practice the ibadah of patience and perseverance in patience.

Second: why does that happen? So that Allah, through His subtle divine wisdom, helps me connect stronger with Him. Because when I am befallen by calamities and tribulations and hardships, what happens to the faithful — at least, and even to the non-faithful often times — is we return to God, to Allah, and we plead and we beg. The calamities and the tribulations and hardships make us return to Allah truthfully. Allah brings out from us, through His kindness and generosity, the truthfulness of returning to Him. Allah, by that, extracts from us — because some of us don't do that voluntarily — He extracts from us this beautiful thing: this very sincere and true running away, escaping to, seeking refuge in God.

So we face those challenges for another reason: so that we connect in an even stronger and more sincere and faithful way with God, with Allah. The ibadah.

So when you are in the masjid, and when you leave, and you have problems of any sort, or difficulties or challenges, things you don't want — let us not jump to reacting in ways that are worthless, or reacting in ways that are aggressive or unkind or impolite or selfish or demanding. Think of this: that's perhaps your chance now to connect in a more sincere way to Allah.

One beautiful scholar and saintly, righteous teacher said, rahimahullah ta'ala:

Which means: when we are subjected to harm and pain and discomfort from others, he says — look at it from the divine perspective, the projection of the divine attributes in your life. Look at it this way: it is He who made and permitted that harm to come at their hands. That harm to you and to me appears to come at the hands of others — but it is in order that you do not acquiesce to them, hatta la taskuna ilayhim, so that inside of you, you do not depend on them, you do not acquiesce to them, you do not seek them — but you seek Him.

He continues to say: He intended to make you uncomfortable with everything else. That's why you and I may go through discomfort from the nearest to us, not to say the most distant to us. Expect that — but don't respond in negative ways, for that will happen. From husband to wife and vice versa, from parent to child and vice versa, from intimate friend to friend and vice versa, from even your dog — those who have dogs — from your cat — those who have cats — from your bed — there will be experiences of discomfort. He intended to make you uncomfortable, at some levels at least, with everything, in order that nothing distracts you from Him.

Allahu Akbar. Do you see? Do you feel? He wants to give you Himself. But in your heart and in your mind there are so many things — attachments for this and for that. So I have discomfort from this and from that, so that those attachments will begin to diminish and be replaced by attachments to Him. And when you have infinity in your heart, it subsumes everything else — and that's the ultimate recipe for happiness in this world and in the Hereafter.

Do not be estranged at experiencing stain and hardship in this world, as long as you are in this world — that's the nature of this world, the sunnah of Allah in His creation.

The point is: how do I respond? Do I respond in ibadah — like salah and dhikr and so on — the ibadah of sabr, the sincerity of turning and taking refuge in Allah? Or do I get angry and high-tempered and aggressive and vindictive and vengeful and unwise and immature and childish? Or do I respond with an awareness of this divine expression of life, and therefore practice part of my ibadah — to develop a khuluq, a character, that is divine?

Please seek Allah's forgiveness. What an excellent abode awaits those who seek Allah's forgiveness.

A Personal Story: Gratitude After 9/11

Please allow me a few minutes. Years ago, after 9/11 — shortly after that, perhaps a week after that or so — I went to do grocery shopping. It was in upstate New York. As I stopped my car, I was wearing my usual traditional kufi and dress, and something in my heart said: don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself under these circumstances — remove that kufi and go in. So I changed, taking the technical practical objectivist approach — I took my kufi, put it on the car seat, and went out.

And when I went out, something inside said: what have you done? What about your sisters — should they also remove their khimar and their hijab? So somehow I felt that was a lack of tawhid in my heart. I returned, put it back, and summoned feelings of tawhid of Allah, and went out. That area in which I was shopping was not a very nice area.

I entered the grocery store and took a basket. I needed only a few things, which I purchased. And then I was internally in tawhid, in dhikr of Allah, as I was returning to go to the cashier. I heard this gentle, soft voice saying: "Sir, sir — may I help you?" I opened my eyes and I looked. I had to look down, and I saw this old, frail, fragile, gentle-looking old woman. Her tag said "Betsy." She looks at me with big, joyful, delightful eyes and says again: "Sir, may I help you carry the basket?"

I said: "No, thank you so very much, ma'am. I appreciate it." And she said: "I really mean it, so please — may I help you carry the basket?" She was about 80 years of age. I said: "No, ma'am, I am really grateful to you. Thank you so very much." Inside my heart I said: "Allah, ya Mukhtar, you see what I was going to do — and now look what the response is."

When she said it again, I said to myself: SubhanAllah, I could carry you and the basket together — she was very frail and very thin. A beautiful human being. And then finally she said: "Sir, I only wanted you to know that we do not hold you accountable for what happened."

Allah, Allah. I never forgot that face, nor those words — never — and will not forget. Gratitude to Allah.

Responding with Gratitude: The Chapel Hill Murders

What happened in North Carolina — the murder of those three Muslim college students — I had to ponder about it, to internalize it. I felt pain and hurt. I did not allow anger to touch my heart. And this event of years ago came back to my heart.

Now it is my turn to tell my fellow non-Muslims — the others, even if they were atheists — I do not hold you accountable for what happened. Part of being grateful for the support of Allah that He lent to us in moments we need it, in moments we do not expect it — now shall I respond in kind, or shall I respond in ways that do not show gratitude but show personal negative traits and characteristics?

The Prayer

Closing Announcement

We have, alhamdulillah, a beautiful piece of news. One of our brothers, inshallah ta'ala, is going to become our brother in humanity — and in Islam.