2015 10 30 Sheikh Rodwan Saleh

The Khutbah Opening

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَهْدِيهِ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَسَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ

Indeed, the most truthful of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. The worst of all matters are those newly invented, and every newly invented matter is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is a deviation, and every deviation is in the Fire.

The Character of the Prophet ﷺ — "He Was the Quran Walking"

The most amazing question there is: kayfa kana khuluqu n-nabiyyi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — how was the character of the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ? We see him in public, our eyes meet his eyes, we sit with him, we reminisce, he speaks to us in public, he is our role model — but O Aisha, how is he in private, when we don't see him behave in private?

She asked Sa'd, who had asked this question — one of the sahabah. She said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 6, Hadith 139 — narrated by Sa'd ibn Hisham from Aisha رضي الله عنها)

"Did you not read the Quran?" He said, "Yes, I read the Quran." She said, "Then — he was the Quran, walking amongst the people." Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

What is it, brothers and sisters, that makes some men speak ill of another — for who would even accept their own formulated, preconceived ill notions? And that, brothers and sisters, has nothing to do except their own ignorance of the deen, and above all, it is their own ignorance of who Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is.

You look today at all the ignorance that is directed towards Islam and Muslims, and you will find that there is someone who misunderstood who Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is. And contrary to a sick popular belief — that the God of Muslims is a tyrant God that has nothing but to kill, maim, and order people to commit acts of hardship on others — how could it be, when Allah began the Quran by saying:

In the name of Allah the Merciful — but not only the Merciful, the Mercy-Giver. And how can Allah begin a Book by saying "In the name of Allah the Merciful, the Mercy-Giver," yet send His messenger who advocates killing people left and right for no reason? It does not register.

And therefore brothers and sisters, it behooves us Muslims to know who Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is. For we are, brothers and sisters — make no mistake about it — we are not only the messengers of Islam to non-Muslims. We, whether we like it or not, are in the marketing department of Islam. We are in the marketing department of Islam to our neighbors, in the marketing department to the government itself — men and women advocating on the beauty of Islam — to our colleagues at work, and to anyone that meets us in public.

The Prophet ﷺ Before Islam — His Character in Jahiliyyah

And therefore brothers and sisters, let's ask: how was the character of the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ before Islam? How was his character صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ before he was known as Muhammad the Messenger?

Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ did not come to a group of people that were praying five daily prayers, or fasting Ramadan, or going to Hajj, or doing all the good deeds, hoping that this would be their vehicle into Jannah. He came to an environment where a young girl, at six years old, would be taken by her own father and buried alive. He came to an environment where a stronger tribe would beat down the weaker one and take their belongings without any rights. He came to an environment, brothers and sisters, where women did not have any rights. And he came to an environment where multiple gods were being worshipped — in fact there were more than 350 gods surrounding the Ka'bah, almost a god for every day of the year.

So he did not come to an environment that was easy. He came to an environment that was not only challenging but also harsh.

The First Revelation and Khadijah's Testimony

And so when the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ came down after he was visited by Jibreel عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ — and after Jibreel had closed his arms around him and ordered him to read the Quran — the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is now on his journey to be the messenger of this amazing message. He came down from the mountains shivering, thinking that something had disturbed his mind صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, because that's exactly what he told Khadijah when he came into his home:

"Cover me, cover me — I am shivering. What I have seen — it is an amazing phenomenon." And so Khadijah said, "What is wrong?" He said, "I think I have lost it."

"I'm afraid — I lost it." And now listen to what she says, because she knows him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3)

She said: "Absolutely not — Allah will never forsake you, O Muhammad. You are kind to your brothers and sisters, you go and seek who is in need of help, and you make sure you speak nothing but the truth, irrespective of whatever atrocities may be in front of you. And you, O Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, you stand on your principles, even if everything around you is stood on shaky grounds."

This is who Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was — at a time of jahiliyyah, at a time of not only ignorance but true darkness, brothers and sisters — both behavior-wise and spiritually.

Arriving in Madinah — The Inauguration Speech

And so as the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ progressed and saw the hardship from his own people — when he stood at the horizon and turned to Mecca and said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3926)

"You, O Mecca — that place is a beloved land to my heart. And if it was not the people of Mecca, I would never have migrated to Madinah."

But then he comes to Madinah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. And now listen to someone who, at the time, was not only a non-Muslim, but was the chief of the rabbis of Madinah — Hibrul Yahood — Abdullah ibn Salam. He said: when he came to Madinah, every living being ran towards him, towards his camel — each grabbing its muzzle and saying, "He is staying in my home today!" And so was another, and a third, and a fourth — and everybody was fighting over him. And finally the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said, "Leave it alone — it is guided by Allah."

Abdullah ibn Salam says: "I was amongst the people. I looked at his face." He said, "When I looked at his face, I knew that this is not the face of a liar."

And then the very first thing the Prophet said — now this is his inauguration speech, similar to no other, the most unique speech that I have ever heard or read about. It was short, but it had an amazing lasting effect on generations to come. He said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1334; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2485)

He said "all people" — he didn't say "all my tribe," or "all believers," or "all those who only supported me," or "all of the Ansar." All people. Spread peace — say assalamu alaykum to a brother from Bangladesh. You may be from Palestine, but say assalamu alaykum anyway. And to a Pakistani, and vice versa — to a white or a black, regardless of who is in front of you. After we leave the salah, say assalamu alaykum, look at them in the eyes and smile. It makes a big difference.

"Give food to whomever you know and don't know." Brothers and sisters, sometimes when someone is holding a sign that says "Feed me," the very first thing that comes to our minds is: "He's taking — or she's taking that money to use it for drugs." It is not my place to make that judgment. We cannot look at people in such a way. We must put ourselves in their shoes — and that, brothers and sisters, will humble us, and truly we will go out of our way to feed them.

Look at what happens today in Pakistan — it is nothing of their doing, but they are shaken, and now they are in need. And look at what happened to the Syrians — now they are without homes, all over the world, walking on the highways of Europe. We cannot look at someone who is in need and then justify not giving or helping by saying, "Well, if I give, they might use it in the wrong way." We should be seeking to uplift ourselves first by getting closer to Allah, regardless and irrespective of what the other person will use the money for.

And then he said: وَصَلُّوا بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ، تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ بِسَلَامٍ — "Pray at night when everyone is asleep, and you will enter Jannah in peace."

This is who Muhammad صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was when he came to Madinah. These are the rules he wanted to establish in order to bring unity, rather than dividing people apart.

Islam and Kindness to All — Including Animals

Today, brothers and sisters, whether we like it or not, we do not go out of our way to unify people. Sometimes we don't care. We may stand on the side of bad people just to justify our persona to the world, and that is truly unfortunate.

Muslims and Islam were the first people to be kind to the animal world — way before any animal rights advocacy. In fact, the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ gave a ruling about a youth province in Madinah regarding a woman who had a domesticated cat:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3318; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2242)

He was told that a woman had imprisoned a cat and would not let it go out and eat from the shrubs of the land, nor would this woman feed the cat. He says: "She is in Jahannam." Imagine that — the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ would advocate on behalf of animals before animal rights even existed.

And the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ when he would recite:

He was just not only amongst the people, but also to the animal world.

Imagine, brothers and sisters, that someone would be kind and just even with his own enemies. Until once a man knocked on his door and said, "I am so-and-so." The Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ whispered under his breath:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6054; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2591)

"There is a wicked man coming to us from a wicked tribe — they are our enemy and mean nothing but harm to us." And then the door opens, and the man was ushered in. The Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ stood up, walked towards him, ushered him in personally, and sat him in his own place — and treated him with utmost honor and generosity.

The Prophet ﷺ teaches us, brothers and sisters, to be kind to anyone and everyone, regardless of who that person is. We are in the business of turning people around and moving them towards Jannah. We are not in the business of facing people with harshness and ugly face, tightening our fists and our jaws. And the Prophet ﷺ said — this is not part of our deen.

And so brothers and sisters, we should learn this. And we should truly act in such a way.

We Are the Messengers of This Deen

One of the lingering problems that I see — and I know for a certainty — we have come to this country, including Europe and many non-Muslim countries, seeking economic advancement, and that's it. No one packed up their belongings and said, "I am going to America to spread da'wah." And so brothers and sisters, it behooves us now that we are in this situation and faced by the ignorance that is facing us today — we should be in the business of showing the good side of Islam. Talk is chief amongst us, but actions speak louder than words — only in public, where there is the true test.

I say this saying and I ask forgiveness of Allah for you and me. Alhamdulillah wa kafa, wa salatu wa salam ala Rasulillah ﷺ wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in.

Second Part of the Khutbah

Justice in the Workplace

Brothers and sisters, each and every one of us is either an employee or a manager or a business owner. If I happen to be a doctor, how am I treating the nurses that work with me? And if I happen to be a business owner, am I just to my employees? And if I was a manager in corporate America, am I good and do I serve as a role model to my subordinates? These are rhetorical questions — but brothers and sisters, this is how we are judged, and this is how we will also be judged, when we deal with someone that has rights.

And the Prophet ﷺ was known to be the best of all employers. Anas ibn Malik says:

"I have served the Prophet ﷺ for ten years, and he did not once rebuke me, nor did he shout at me — though I served him for ten years. Never once did the Prophet ﷺ come to me and shout at me for something I had done wrong, saying 'Why did you do it wrong?' Or for something I was supposed to do and missed, saying 'Why did you not do it?'"

And so brothers and sisters, what can we learn from this when we are dealing with the people that look up towards us? Do we hear: "These Muslims — they are not just"? Because I don't care if you are someone who does not even pray, or someone who does not adhere to Islamic practice — your name says that you are a Muslim, whether you like it or not. And so the way you behave with someone who happens to be non-Muslim — you are not only acting and behaving on your own. You are acting and behaving, or we are acting and behaving, on behalf of the entire Muslim population. And as we said earlier — we are the messengers of this deen. The biggest testimony of all.

The Character of the Prophet ﷺ at Home

You really want to know the character of a man — or a woman for that matter?

How was he at home? That was the very first question asked of Aisha رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا. She says:

The Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ would be at home, playing and serving us. But when the adhan would call, he would leave the house as if we don't know him, nor does he know us. But we concentrate on how playful he was at home.

A lady would call the masjid — and this is a true story, I've heard it from one of the imams. She would complain about her husband. Let's call him Zayd. So the imam says, "What's the problem?" And for 20 minutes or so she would recite the issues. And finally he would say, "You mean Zayd? The guy who laughs all the time, cracks jokes, is very helpful?" She said, "That's not my Zayd."

There are some of us who enter home and even the crying baby will stop crying — from fear, not comfort. We demand things that are sometimes unimaginable. And if the food is not heated to a certain degree, we question that. And if a shirt is not ironed or a piece of clothing is not in its place, we make a big issue out of it. And never once — in some homes, never once — do we turn to our wives and say: جَزَاكِ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا for what you have done for me. "Thank you."

You see, brothers and sisters — to have public victory is good. But wallahi, who can be publicly victorious if they are not privately victorious first?

No Arab Has Superiority Over a Non-Arab Except by Taqwa

And one of the lingering things that plagues Muslims nowadays — the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 23489; narrated in the Farewell Sermon)

"There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab except by taqwa." I am sick and tired of people — especially some of my Arab brothers — where I would go somewhere in this land and someone would say, pointing to another Muslim: "That area is bad," or use a degrading word, as if you, my brother, are better than him. SubhanAllah. And I would say the same thing to our Urdu-speaking brothers, where sometimes similar words are used — and of course we smirk about it and make jokes about people who are perhaps less fortunate than us. And that is not a Muslim character at all.

Brothers and sisters, it's either we act as Muslims, or we stop and learn our deen all over again and then behave accordingly. My salah is for me and Allah will judge me accordingly. My Hajj and my siyam — all of the articles of worship are for me. But brothers and sisters, if I am not behaving in the right way with someone else other than myself, Allah will not accept my deen.

Therefore the Prophet ﷺ says: the best among the people are those with husn al-khuluq — good character.

What Is Husn al-Khuluq?

And so when we find what husn al-khuluq is, Ibn al-Mubarak — may Allah have mercy on him — said:

"Good character is a cheerful face and refraining from harming people." Brothers and sisters, if we don't have the audacity to respect someone else, then we might as well truly question our deen. And in this he says: smile in your brother's face. The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1956)

"Your smile in your brother's face is a charity." And by the way, he didn't say بَسْمَتُكَ — a single smile — but he says your continuous smile is a charity. In fact, force a smile out. Meet someone who is down on their luck — smile in their face, look at them with dignity, and watch how they respond. It is magical, brothers and sisters.

Fortune magazine says the most successful man or woman in business are those with a smile on their faces. Imagine if I were a merchant and everyone that walks into my store, I frown in their face — would I succeed? Of course not.

We, brothers and sisters, are the torchbearers of this deen. And we must walk around with that light to illuminate and pave these roads for those who are in darkness. That is the only way, brothers and sisters, and there is no other way.

The Story of the Bedouin — Mercy Over Anger

You see, the world watches us from afar — wallahi, they do. You are a captive audience, and we are talking about Islam. But I wonder, brothers and sisters, what people say about us by the way we drive in public, or when we have parties in our neighborhoods, or when we have guests over. And the most important question is: when was the last time I invited my neighbor — just for the sake of inviting him or their family over, so that they may see how we live?

There are many questions that we need to answer, brothers and sisters. Because wallahi, there is no amount of effort that can eliminate this negativity if we ourselves are not acting right. We don't own the media, nor do we have a share in it. The best way we can do this is one individual at a time. This is the deen of Allah. My effort might be limited — but nevertheless, one stone upon another makes an entire structure, and one leaf upon another makes an entire forest. And we need to act in such a way.

A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and grabbed him from his back. He said, "Ya Muhammad — you were not just. Give me from the booty that came from the war." So Umar stood up and said, "Ya Rasulullah — let me deal with him." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Leave him, Ya Umar, leave him." And he asked the man, "What do you want?" He said, "I want from the same booty that you gave your friends — and you left me out." He said, "Come with me."

He took him to one of his rooms and said, "Take from what you want." So the man piled up. The Prophet asked, "Is this enough?" "No, it's not enough." So he took him to a second and a third room. And finally the Prophet ﷺ turned to this Bedouin and said, "Are you satisfied?" He said, "Yes." And then the Prophet ﷺ took him by the hand, walked with him in front of the companions, and said, "This companion of ours said that he is satisfied — is this true?" And the man confirmed.

And then he turned to the sahabah — like the master of all teachers that he is — and said: the similitude of this man and another man whose she-camel ran away are equal. When the man's she-camel ran away, he ran after it. And other people ran towards the she-camel — they scared her more and she kept running further. Finally the man turned to the people and said, "Leave me and my she-camel alone — I know her better." He took some shrubs, went over softly towards the she-camel, and the she-camel came to him. He grabbed the muzzle and brought her home safely.

And he said: the similitude of this man and the she-camel are equal. Wallahi — if Umar had gotten up and shouted at him, he would have had every right to do so. After all, this man was embarrassing the Prophet of Allah. And he would have had every right — but this man would have run and left Islam. "I was sent as mercy to mankind. Not on my watch would he run away from Islam." He did not want this Bedouin to die as a kafir.

Brothers and sisters, we have a lot of work to do. And I think we need to start.

Ameen. Ameen.