2015-03-27 - Friday Prayer - Sheikh Mokhtar Maghroui

The Adhān

I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Come to prayer. There is no power or strength except with Allah.

Come to prayer. There is no power or strength except with Allah. Come to success. There is no power or strength except with Allah. Come to success. There is no power or strength except with Allah.

Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest. There is no god but Allah. Come to prayer.

Opening

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh. There is no god but Allah. There is no partner but Allah.

I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah — in a way that is worthy of who he is, of his names and attributes, of his glory, beauty, perfection and majesty. And do know that we will all return to Him. And do not die except in a state of Islam — in a state of loving surrender of our souls and hearts and minds, and words and deeds, all in loving surrender to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And do not die except while you are Muslims.

The Significance of Jum'ah

My dear brothers and sisters, today is Jum'ah. Jum'ah, as all of you should know, is very special. Why? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala willed it and decreed it to be so, through the words of his Rasul ﷺ.

As he said ﷺ: The most virtuous and the best of all days in the days of Allah is the day of Jum'ah.

He created time and He assigns to time values as He wills — because He also owns time itself subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the day of Jum'ah as we meet is very special.

It should help us not only assemble physically and gather and collect physically — as the word Jum'ah implies from Jam'a, which means to collect, to gather, to assemble, to focus. It is a day during which, especially as we come to the house of Allah azza wa jal, and during Jum'ah day, to teach us to assemble our hearts, to collect our hearts, to gather our hearts, to collect and focus our inner positive energies towards Allah azza wa jal.

Jum'ah must not pass without me having striven to collect my internal energies and to strive at least to do that — upon Allah azza wa jal. And I strive in gathering my heart towards Allah azza wa jal on this blessed day.

Not only do we take it as the meaning of assembling physically. But it is collecting and focusing and assembling and reorienting ourselves — our hearts, our minds, our thoughts, our emotions — towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So we ask Allah azza wa jal on this day, and on every day, to gather our hearts towards Him. Ya Allah, we gather our hearts towards You. We implore Allah on this day especially and on every day to collect and assemble and focus our hearts upon Him.

And we implore Allah azza wa jal to open the ears of our hearts to His remembrance. Ya Allah, please open the hearing channels of our hearts — today especially and on every day, and on every moment — to Your dhikr. Let our hearts hear, let our hearts see. And let us not be like those who hear with their ears but their hearts do not listen. Those who look and see with their eyes but their hearts do not see.

Created for ʿIbādiyyah

And since it is so — and Allah azza wa jal created us, as every Muslim knows and should know, and we must remind ourselves, scholarly or lay people, man or woman, young or old, we all need reminders, each one at our own marātib and levels — that Allah created us to be His ʿibād. Is it not? Allah created us to be His ʿibād, to fulfill ʿibādiyyah to Him azza wa jal. And in the pursuit of ʿibādiyyah, as some people struggle for certain purposes, when we struggle for the pursuit of ʿibādiyyah, that is how we will attain happiness in this world — the noble sense of happiness, not the low base sense of happiness. And we will attain the great noble sense and dimension of freedom, of ḥurriyyah.

Al-ḥurriyyatu ḥurriyyatu al-qalb min maʿṣiyati Allāh. Wa al-saʿādatu saʿādatu al-qalb billāh.

Freedom is that we internally inside are liberated and free from other than Allah azza wa jal. And happiness is when we rejoice internally and are united in Allah, with Allah azza wa jal.

Beauty makes us happy, doesn't it? Who is the most beautiful? Allah azza wa jal is the source of beauty. If we only perceived divine beauty, then we would be happy. But the less we perceive of this beauty subhanahu wa ta'ala, the less we conceive of it, the less we shall be happy in that noble sense.

Five Prophetic Teachings for Connecting the Heart to Allah

And thus I take this introduction to remind myself and you of words that Rasulullah ﷺ taught in this context — in the context of connecting our hearts to Allah azza wa jal. In everything we are, in everything we do — I repeat, in everything we are, in everything we do — to connect our qulūb, our hearts, to Him azza wa jal. Mundane things, secular things, worldly things, not only sacrosanct and religious, spiritual things are to connect our hearts to Allah azza wa jal. But also worldly, secular matters of everyday life are meant also for us to be conscious of and to connect us to Allah azza wa jal with our qulūb.

He addressed his companion, in accordance to what Imam al-Tirmidhī related, raḥimahullāhu wa taʿālā, and said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2305)

He ﷺ gives an offer, a gift: "Who would like to accept from me these five words — meaning five pieces of advice? And who would take them and act upon them? Or, at least, teach them to someone who is willing to act upon them?"

One of the companions — it is said, Sayyidunā Abū Hurayrah, raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu — said: "Anā yā Rasūlallāh" — "I, O Messenger of Allah." He says: fa akhadha bi-yadī — he took my hand. Fa ʿadda khamsan — and he counted five: one, two, three, four, five.

He said: wa udhakkirukum fa inna al-dhikrā tanfaʿu al-muʾminīn wa ayyāy — I only mean here to remind you and myself, for reminders are beneficial to those who have īmān.

Wa lā ubariʾu nafsī, inna al-nafsa la-ammāratun bi-l-sūʾ, illā mā raḥima Rabbī — I do not absolve myself of shortcomings and sins, for the nafs is evil-commanding, except by the mercy of my Lord.

First Teaching: Guard the Sacred Boundaries

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2305)

He said ﷺ: Ittaqi al-maḥārim takun aʿbada al-nās — Guard against the forbidden things and you will be the most devoted of people in worship.

We have been created to fulfill ʿubūdiyyah to Allah azza wa jal. And therefore, towards that we should compete — one would like to be better than the other in being this ʿabd of Allah azza wa jal. This free person. This happy person in the noblest sense.

So he said — do you know, in other words, who is the most ʿābid? Of those who say lā ilāha illallāh Muḥammadur Rasūlullāh and are striving in the pursuit of ʿubūdiyyah? He said: man yattaqi al-maḥārim.

If we are interested — if I and you are interested — to be this special ʿābid, as we say lā ilāha illallāh Muḥammadur Rasūlullāh and we perform ṣalāh and establish zakāh and so on, or are in dhikr of Allah azza wa jal and in duʿāʾ — a little test for ʿubūdiyyah, for who is more and most ʿābid:

Ittaqi al-maḥārim — to avoid, to keep away from that which is ḥarām.

What is ḥarām in the general sense here? Ḥarām is a sort of a space — whether that space is physical, or emotional, or intellectual, or psychological — to keep away from that which is not mine. That is ḥarām. That is why we say your wife is a maḥram, because no one else except you — and you are her maḥram — no one else except her, is to have a certain special intimate relationship with. That is a sanctuary.

Something forbidden is forbidden because it is not my space, my ownership, my belonging, my possession, my right — it is somebody else's. First, it is Allah's. Wa lahū kullu shayʾ — to Him belongs everything. So we are not to do anything except with His permission, because everything belongs to Him. I belong to Him. I must not use my thoughts, my feelings, my emotions, my body, my possessions, in the way He does not permit, He does not love. And by the way, that is all because it is harmful to me. That is why it is ḥarām.

Ittaqi al-maḥārim means: keep away from that which does not belong to you. At every level — not only at the level of "do not approach pork," "do not approach intoxicants," "do not kill," "do not usurp," "do not steal," "do not lie," "do not cheat," "do not backbite" — but do not intrude into the private space of others. It is their maḥram, their sanctuary. Private space — not only physical space, but emotional space, intellectual space, psychological space, social space, family space, economic space, financial space.

ʿAlā kulli mustawayāt wa marātib maʿānī al-maʿāsh wa al-maʿīshah wa al-ḥayāh wa al-maḥyā — at all levels.

Keep away from that — with the consciousness that Allah azza wa jal loves that, with the consciousness that everything belongs to Allah azza wa jal, and this is what He instructed us — then I shall reach the level of becoming min aʿbadi al-nās, of the people who are most devoted to Allah azza wa jal.

For indeed, a person who performs ṣalāh with his or her heart, a person who is in dhikr of Allah azza wa jal with his or her heart, a person who is in supplication and prayerfulness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with his or her heart — such a person indeed will be naturally, spiritually inclined to keep away from the maḥārim and to respect that.

I am walking in the street and I shall not simply walk without knowing that somebody is in front of me. That space is a maḥram at that point. When I enter the masjid, there are some ādāb, some etiquettes, some rules that comprise the meaning of maḥram as I enter this space. Some of it is obligatory, some of it is mustaḥabb and recommended. And so on.

My dear brothers and sisters, we can apply this at so many levels. If I have accepted to live in a space, in a country, in a land, in a society, and I have accepted to live with them in peace, I must preserve that. If I violate that in any sense, I have violated the maḥram of others — the private space of others. Really. If I have accepted to drive a car and the rule says do not drive in this area more than 30 miles an hour, and I do more than that, then I have violated a maḥram concept. I simply indulge my nafs. Yet I have agreed in principle to abide by those rules — as long as those rules do not command me to disobey Allah azza wa jal. And they do not.

I want us, my dear sisters and brothers, to understand this at a very daily, generic level. And the specifics are too many to list.

Ittaqi al-maḥārim fī baytik — let us keep away from the rights, the special and private space of others inside of our household. Ittaqi maḥārimak, O husband. Ittaqi maḥārimaki, O wife. Everyone has maḥārim to keep away from.

Freedom requires restraint. Isn't it strange? Freedom — to preserve freedom, interestingly enough, requires that we restrain ourselves. Because if I do not restrain myself, I shall end up violating the freedom of others, the maḥārim of others, the private space of others — at whatever different levels of that concept of private space — physically, or emotionally, or intellectually, psychologically, and so on.

What a fine, beautiful way it is to live, isn't it? But that requires that I should strive continuously to be aware of this requirement. And Allah wants us to be simply beautiful.

Inna Allāha muḥsin yuḥibbu al-ḥusna wa al-iḥsān — Allah is Muḥsin, benevolent, magnanimous, beautiful, and He loves that we be benevolent, magnanimous and beautiful in our qulūb, and in our words, and in our deeds, and in our relationships with Him, and consequently with His creatures. Subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Second Teaching: Be Content with What Allah Has Apportioned

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2305)

Be satisfied. Be pleased. And that means we should strive to be pleased in this regard. Because we have a nafs, we have an ego, we have base drives — strong internal base drives to compete with others in anything, good or bad. In this case, we have to restrain our inner drives when we want more and more and more and are not pleased with what we have. We must strive to be pleased with that which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala apportioned to us.

Irḍā bi-mā qasamallāhu lak — be pleased and be satisfied with that which Allah azza wa jal apportioned to you, assigned to you. Where is the seat of being satisfied? It is in the qalb. It is a feeling, it is an emotion, it is a ḥāl, an internal condition.

If you do that, then you become aghnā al-nās — the wealthiest of human beings. SubhanAllah.

And we compete for wealth because wealth leads to power. Because we want power. And as we compete for wealth, we will compete for power. What will happen? If we compete, it means there will be conflicts of interests. I want to be wealthier and more powerful, and we want to be wealthier and more powerful — illā man raḥima Rabbih — and therefore we will hurt one another. We will abuse one another. We will kill one another.

So he says, pay attention to that. Richness and wealth is the richness of the heart. If you have riḍā in your qalb, you are rich. Instead of oftentimes spending extra energies to be wealthier in the physical sense — and oftentimes through illegal, immoral means — what if we use that extra energy in order to compete for a qalb that is salīm? To attain satisfaction and riḍā. How many of us do that? Allah taʿālā knows. May Allah help me, myself, and help my dear brothers and sisters as well.

And when we are very rich, we think that is how we get peace and security and ease and happiness. But we could be very rich and yet not be pleased inside, and satisfied inside. Isn't it true? And some of us would kill ourselves in the competition for more physical wealth and more power. That does not necessarily grant peace of mind, and pleasure, and delight, and satisfaction. But that can be given to the heart by Allah azza wa jal — with the minimum of that, or with enough of that, or with none of that.

Man razaqahu Allāhu al-riḍā wa al-qanāʿa — and that is why they said: al-qanāʿatu kanzun lā yafnā — contentment, meaning being pleased with what Allah azza wa jal assigned to me, is a treasure that will never end. Because it is in the qalb.

So if you want to be richer and richest, let us strive to develop qanāʿa with what we have. This does not mean that to be rich is ḥarām. Underline what we are saying — to be rich is ḥalāl. Some rich people, like Sayyidunā ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, are of the mubashsharūn bi-l-jannah. But that external richness did not possess his heart. His heart was still free — in Allah, with Allah azza wa jal. Power and wealth did not own his heart. It was only in his hand. And the way they dispensed of it was always a testimony to the fact that it was not in their hearts, but only in their hands.

But this is simply as we remind those of us who are poor — and we remind those of us who are rich — that the richness is the richness of the heart. That the poor person should not disdain the rich person because he does not have. Simply your heart may also be bankrupt, even as a poor person. And the rich person, on account of wanting more arrogantly, and not being thankful to Allah azza wa jal, and not being satisfied inside internally — that person is ungrateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and will lead to conflicts and terrible human relationships.

Third Teaching: Be Benevolent to Your Neighbor

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2305)

Thirdly, he said — and he counted — wa aḥsin ilā jārika takun muʾminan. SubhanAllah. Be benevolent, be magnanimous, be very good to your neighbor. You shall become a muʾmin. SubhanAllah.

O seeker of more and more īmān in your heart. O seeker of the perfected state of īmān in your heart. O you who say lā ilāha illallāh Muḥammadur Rasūlullāh and come to the masjid — alḥamdulillāh — and perform dhikr — alḥamdulillāh — and turn to Allah in duʿāʾ — alḥamdulillāh — and fast Ramaḍān — alḥamdulillāh — and fast even extra days — alḥamdulillāh. You are good, you want to be good, but pay attention to this. Do not forget this — lest all of that may become in vain or invalid.

Be kind to your neighbor. Aḥsin ilā jārika. Because my jār, my neighbor next door and up to a radius of 40 houses in each direction — that is the neighbor as defined in the Sunnah sometimes. I am in the center and 40 houses in radius and all that circle — that is like a town almost. That is all my neighbors.

Aḥsin ilā jārika — Muslim or non-Muslim. Aḥsin ilā jārika takun muʾminan.

If my neighbor is not secure from me — if I am not secure from my neighbor — then that neighbor is not a real muʾmin. Because muʾmin derives from the word amān, and amān means security, safety. If someone around me, and as I walk down the street, the ones next to me — aṣ-ṣāḥib bi-l-janb — are not secure from me, I am not that muʾmin. If I cause people to feel insecure as I walk wherever I walk, by the way I behave, by the way I do things — then I am causing insecurity to someone else unjustly.

But a muʾmin has amān. I shall not become really a muʾmin until I feel in my qalb amān and peace. If I am restless and insecure, that is lack of experiential īmān — experiential tawḥīd:

Naqṣun fī tawḥīdī al-wijdānī — tawḥīd with the tongue and tawḥīd with the pen, but tawḥīd with the qalb is deficient. And when I lack that inner peace, I shall not radiate peace around me. And I am careful about that — even an ant, I am not going to hurt an ant, because that is not the beautiful expression of īmān.

Aḥsin ilā jārika — not only must my jār be secure from me, but I must do iḥsān to them. And iḥsān, as all of you know my dear brothers and sisters, is to behave in the most beautiful possible of ways available to me. If I have seven ways to do something, or to resolve a problem, iḥsān requires that I choose the most beautiful of those alternatives.

Waʿbud Allāha ka-annaka tarāh — worship Allah as though you see Him, and Allah is all beauty. Subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Fourth Teaching: Love for Others What You Love for Yourself

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2305)

If you want to be a Muslim — a person who surrendered himself or herself, his heart or her heart, his soul or her soul, lovingly to Allah azza wa jal, and is eternally salīm from ailments of hate and vengefulness and anger and arrogance and delusion and ostentation — ghurūr wa kibr wa riyāʾ — and so on. That is a Muslim.

Salima qalbuhū min hādhihi al-āfāt — that his heart is salim, surrendered to Allah taʿālā. And salima al-nāsu min lisānihi wa yadih — and the people are safe from his tongue and his hand, as is authentically narrated from him ﷺ.

If I want to be that Muslim, then I should love for others — for people, for all human beings — that which I love for myself. Because if I do so, then I will not have internal hate and internal vindictiveness and internal negative concepts of competition with others that will lead me to conflicts and will lead society to be in conflict.

Islam is in the qalb and the heart — yes. But when it is in the heart, it will reflect in reality.

Some of us still hold rancor and hate and what I call violent envy — which some of you call jealousy, though it is not a good word — inside of us. Even with your own father and mother. I know it is true. With our own siblings sometimes. I know this is true. With our own family members. I know this is true. With our own fellow Muslims in the same masjid. I know this is true. Let alone in different groups. Allāhu Akbar. Where is that Islam?

Islam of the qalb to Allah azza wa jal — wa salāmatu al-qalb min al-ḥiqd wa al-ghish wa al-ghull wa al-ghadr wa al-khidāʿ wa al-kadhib wa al-khiyānah wa al-ṭamaʿ wa al-ḥasad — where is that? We are not to be that Muslim until we are free from these. And therefore, consequently, I truly love for you. And love is not merely a word.

Nowadays love is just a word. "I love you" — but it is just a word. There is nothing from the qalb. My heart loves you — but actually I am saying I love me. An tuḥibb — it is that stirring emotion, that stirring and liberating emotion inside of you, that you have that hope for others that which you have for yourself.

Fifth Teaching: Do Not Laugh Too Much

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2305; Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 4217)

And finally, and look how he concludes. The fifth thing — wa khitāmu al-misk — and we have to reflect how to relate that to all of what came before. Wa lā tukthiri al-ḍaḥik. Allāhu Akbar.

Wa lā tukthiri al-ḍaḥik fa-inna kathrata al-ḍaḥik tumītu al-qalb — and beware from much laughter, for laughing too much causes the heart to die — a spiritual death.

The qalb is the last word. All of this was about the qalb — my heart and yours. He did not say do not laugh at all. He said beware against laughing much. For laughing much causes the heart to die spiritually.

(Narrated in Shamāʾil al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 233; Musnad Aḥmad)

As was described by the companions in authentic hadith — his laughter ﷺ were smiles only. You never heard him yaqhaqih. You never heard him make a sound in laughing as most of us do most of the time. May Allah forgive us.

The doctor said — the doctor of doctors, the doctor of the hearts. Speaking to us about character, about the heart. And we conclude all of this teaching with the word heart. And something external: do not laugh too much. The more laughter — we do not have time to elaborate on why it is so — but please connect it. Laughing too much, in other words, reduces your SQ — your spiritual quotient, if I may call it this way. Maybe sometime it will come in the future.

A Related Prophetic Warning: Beware of Much Talk

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2411)

And from that also, and I close with this, my dear brothers and sisters, is his saying ﷺ: Iyyākum wa kathrata al-kalām min ghayri dhikri Allāh, fa-inna kathrata al-kalām min ghayri dhikri Allāh qasāwatun li-l-qalb — beware from much talk, for much talk without dhikr of Allah will cause the heart to be hard.

A hard qalb — qalb qāsī — that will therefore become uncompassionate, merciless, uncaring. Qalb qāsī. And then he continued: wa inna abʿada al-qulūb min Allāhi taʿālā al-qalbu al-qāsī — and the furthest heart from Allah azza wa jal — the furthest person from Allah azza wa jal, spiritually, in maqām and in rank — is the person who has a heart that is harsh or hard.

Yā Rabbī, I do not want to have a heart that is hard. Please help me. Well, here he is helping us ﷺ. Do not talk too much — that will lead the heart to be hard. Do not laugh too much — that will lead the heart to be hard and to die spiritually.

Closing Duʿāʾ

Yā Allāh, help me and all of my dear brothers and sisters to be of those who listen to the words of admonition and follow the best of them. Yā Allāh, we are weak. We are weak and we confess our weakness to You. Please help us be strong — in You, in Your pleasure, in Your satisfaction, in what You love.

Yā Allāh, help us be truly free — free and dignified free human beings. Please let us be, and help us be, happy — happy in the most noble and dignified sense.

Ṣalātan ṭayyibatan mubārakatan zākiyatan nāmiyah. Ṣalātan dāʾimatan bi-dawāmik, lā tanqaṭiʿu abadā, wa lā tuthannā sarmadā, wa lā tanḥaṣiru ʿadadā, wa lā tanquṣu madadā. Ṣalāatan tunjīnā bihā min jamīʿi al-ahwāl wa al-āfāt, wa taqḍī lanā bihā jamīʿa al-ḥājāt, wa tuṭahirunā bihā min jamīʿi al-sayyi'āt, wa tarfaʿunā bihā ilā al-darajāt, wa tublighu nā bihā aqṣā al-ghāyāt, min jamīʿi al-khayrāt fī al-ḥayāh wa baʿda al-mamāt. Ṣalāatan hiya aṭyabu al-ṣalawāt ʿindaka wa ashrafuhā wa akramuhā wa aḥabbuhā ʿindaka wa arḍāhā, yā Arḥama al-rāḥimīn, yā Rabba al-ʿālamīn.

ʿIbāda Allāh, inna Allāha yaʾmuru bi-l-ʿadl wa al-iḥsān wa ītāʾi dhī al-qurbā wa yanhā ʿan al-faḥshāʾ wa al-munkar wa al-baghy, yaʿiẓukum laʿallakum tadhakkarūn. Udhkurū Allāha yadhkurkum, qūmū ilā ṣalātikum, yarḥamakumu Allāh.

The Ṣalāh and Closing Announcement

I was just told I did not sit down for the second part — that is a Sunnah, that is not a wājib. I missed it. I apologize.

Recitation During the Prayer

Community Announcements

Our community member Brother Mohammed Abed Hassan — his father passed away: Mohammed Abdullah Mohamad, in Bangladesh yesterday. Please make duʿāʾ for him.

Good Tree Academy — Guest Announcement

Bismillāhirraḥmānirraḥīm. Brothers and sisters, I am here from Good Tree Academy today from Allen, Texas. Good Tree was founded in Richardson, Texas in 2009. We had 18 students when we started. In 2013, we moved to Allen to a rented building, and our projected enrollment next year is 150 students. We are inviting anyone who has children to consider Good Tree for enrollment, just up the road here in Allen. Our principal and our academic teachers are Texas-certified.