Jumuah Khutbah | Shaykh Suhaib Webb | EPIC Masjid

Community Announcements

Today and tonight after Isha he will have a community program, Ihsan and Instabilities and inshallah tomorrow between 12 to 5 p.m. he will have a community program, lessons from Surah Al-Hujurat and we will serve some refreshments inshallah and I just want to touch quick announcement about the elections right we have making announcements for everybody to go and vote in the early voting dates so we are finally the end of the election City Council's right for Plano, Wiley, Sachse, Murphy so we have brought you the polling station here in the masjid so there's no excuse brothers and sisters last Friday I mentioned that there's only 10% of us vote guess what it's even worse this year our community only voted 5% so that's not acceptable brothers and sisters I know we always complain after the fact when the elections are over bills are passed taxes are increased text books that are not appropriate that are being taught in our schools we start complaining after the elections brothers and sisters this is our final chance of course we can't tell you who to vote because of our 501C non-for-profit status but we can tell you to vote because the politicians are looking at the same data that I'm looking at 5% so why would they come and ask you what they can help us with right they will never do that because this community does not vote at all so brothers and sisters please for the sake of yourself for the sake of your kids for the sake of the community come here tomorrow we have the polling station here in the multi-purpose hall no matter how it takes you you are home you can pray have chai you know snacks chitchat with your friends bring your family but please vote exercise your rights to vote jazakumullahu khairun wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

Our Unique Relationship with Allah

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah.

In the Qur'an, one of the foundational and essential components of the Qur'an is to remind us as a prophetic community of our unique relationship with Allah. And that's why Allah says:

You are the best community brought out لِلنَّاسِ for the benefit of people. To bring about masaleh and to limit al-mafasid. To bring what's beneficial for all and to limit what's harmful for all.

Because we say that the ruling on the conjunction is the ruling on what it's conjuncted. Meaning, the ruling of the atf is the ruling of the ma'tuf. Meaning, if I say I am a follower of Muhammad ﷺ I now share in the prophetic responsibility that comes as a result of being one of his followers. So Allah says, أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ You were brought out for the benefit of people. Just as Allah describes the Prophet ﷺ as a benefit for all.

And just as the Prophet is رحمة للعالمين this Ummah is also رحمة للسالكين. We are a mercy for those who are seeking Allah.

The Passive Form - Who Brought Us?

But the uniqueness in the verse is that it says, أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ Somebody, somebody brought you to this place. You could not guide yourself. You could not decree that you would be from the people of لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله but something favored you and something guided you. This is the secret of the passive. الَّذِي لَمْ يُسَمَّ فَاعِلُهُ مِنْ أَخْرَجَكُمُ اللَّهُ وَجَعَلَكُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ أَخْرَجَكُمُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى لِلنَّاسِ Allah brought you out for the people.

So the verse is phrased in this way. So the reader will stop and say, مَنْ أَخْرَجَنِي Who brought me to this? قُلِ اللَّهُ Say, Allah. And that immediately allows us to locate ourselves as a prophetic community and to shoulder the challenges of a prophetic community with that confidence and security that the one who brought us to this place is الَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى.

That type of confidence amongst those who know Allah become so intrinsic to their personality that even after they enter paradise. We think that if we enter paradise we can let our guard down. We think that when we enter paradise we will no longer have to worry. But even in that moment after they enter Jannah, they will not forget that it had nothing to do with them. But everything is from Allah. So they will say:

We would not have arrived to this place if Allah had not guided us to Jannah.

From Abstract to Functional Theology

I say that because we are faced with incredible responsibilities, dare I say an epic responsibility. And in order for us to faithfully push in to those responsibilities, we have to relocate our relationship with Allah and move from an abstract theology or a polemic based theology to a functional theology. تفعيل التوحيد How do we live tawheed?

And Allah in the Qur'an commands us to root our lives in a distilled intimate relationship with Him. And that that relationship should emancipate us from being attached to this world. And instead of seeing our responsibility of Allah through the world, we see our responsibilities in this world through Allah.

أَن تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ فَإِن لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ To live. The other narration, أَن تَعْمَلَ لِلَّهِ To live and act as though you see Allah. Even though you can't see Him, you know He sees you.

Ibn Ata'illah says, there's a big difference between the one يَسْتَدِلُّ عَلَى الْخَالِقِ بِمَخْلُوقَاتِهِ The one who proves God with creation. وَمَنْ يَسْتَدِلُّ عَلَى الْمَخْلُوقِ بِخَالِقِهِ And the one who proves creation with God. There's a difference there. I need the temporal to prove the infinite or I use the infinite to prove the temporal. That's a higher level of understanding, a greater engagement of Tawheed that takes me beyond the trivialities of this world and allows me to adopt a moniker which is in line with prophethood.

The outcome of that kind of Tawheed is an intimacy and a love for Allah, a reliance on Allah, that everything I need and everything I have and everything that's coming to me and going for me is from Allah. أَنَا عَبْدٌ مَمْلُوكٌ And I'm owned and the servant of God.

Our Special Relationship with Allah

And that's why in the Qur'an, Allah eludes to this type of thinking. If we look at the first chapter of the Qur'an, He reminds those communities that preceded our community, وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ Remember the blessings I gave you.

But when He talks to you and me, followers of Muhammad ﷺ, and I'll talk about this tonight, our relationship with Allah is not based on what we have and what we don't have. Did I get the new house? Do I have a Model Y? Did my kid get into this grad school? Did someone swipe right? None of that matters.

And that's why Allah says to us, as followers of Sayyidina Muhammad, He doesn't say, وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي He says:

Remember me. Because it's enough for the one who knows Allah, that no matter what they have, whether they're in a state of success, or a state of duress, if I have Allah, قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ Nothing else matters.

So with previous religious communities, they had to be brought in through a value prop. They had to be told, this is what Allah has done for you. But for the true followers of Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ, who have the proper understanding of functional faith, فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ Remember me, I am remembering you.

And this responsibility that we have in front of us is so great, that sometimes Allah will talk to the Prophet ﷺ. But suddenly He will talk to us. What's called iltifat, change in the tense. أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا لَكُمْ No, وَمَا لَكَ The verse says, do you not, O Muhammad, know that Allah is in control of all things? Do you singular, O Muhammad, not know that Allah has the knowledge of the unseen? And then it says, and there is none for you, meaning... Allah wants to show us that we share in the responsibility with Muhammad ﷺ.

The Imperative to Know Allah

The key to this is reforming and reimagining our relationship with Allah and asking ourselves, Who is Allah? That's why in the Qur'an it says over and over again, Who is Allah? Who is Allah? Who is Allah? Who is Allah? So we'll ask.

Al-Muhasibi said, إِذَا أَحْبَبْتَ أَن تَعْرِفَ مَنْزِلَكَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ فَاعْرِفْ مَنْزِلَتَهُ عَنْدَكَ If you want to know if you're important to God, ask yourself how important God is to you.

In numerous verses in the Qur'an, Allah commands us to know Him. Unlike the post-enlightenment Western approach towards religion, Islam is largely an academic tradition that was negotiated in public as someone who reads the qiraat. I can tell you the qiraat were read in public, not in secret. What is canon in our scripture was negotiated in masajid, in front of people, not behind closed doors. And that exemplifies a foundational principle in the Qur'an that doesn't exclude, doesn't hide, doesn't limit, but invites, encourages, and challenges.

In Surah Muhammad, Allah says, you must learn لا إله إلا الله. You must engage لا إله إلا الله. And Allah says about the Qur'an, لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ The Qur'an is sent so you can think and ponder and engage. It's not something which is hidden.

Those who hide what we sent will be cursed. We know that كِتْمَان مُحَال عَنِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ That we believe the Prophets will never hide anything from the people. تَبْلِيغ is one of the foundational beliefs we have about Prophets.

Engaging Doubt and Questions

So we are inspired as Muslims not to run from doubt, not to flee from serious questions, but to push in and ask. As our Prophet taught us ﷺ, the remedy for any challenge is السؤال, is to ask.

So the first we should start and to begin to ask ourselves about our relationship with Allah, and address any doubts, any concerns that we have. Doubts are not necessarily a bad thing. Doubts are the sign of emergent religiosity that has matured. And Sunday school, cocomelon Islam, no longer works for them.

And that's why Allah says in the Qur'an:

I have not created jinn and men except to worship Me, and women to worship Me. Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما said, What it means is, I have not created jinn and human beings except إِلَّا لِيَعْرِفُونِ to know Me. Because as Al-Ghazali mentions in Ibn Hajj, you cannot worship what you don't know. You will not know the path to take if you do not know the destination. And the end and the final stop is who?

Is Allah.

The Keys to the Unseen

Allah in the Qur'an, He says:

In Surah An-Nam, that Allah alone possesses and there's two understandings of مفاتيح. It can mean keys, it can mean treasures. But the keys to the unknown are only known to Allah. Al-Ghaib, the mysteries of the unseen, are only known to Allah.

And our ulema said something important, that the greatest or one of the greatest obstacles to destabilizing a relationship with Allah is the unknown, fear of the unknown. And Shaytan uses the fear of the unknown to weaken our resolve and limit our reliance on الواحد القهار.

That's why Allah says:

Shaytan only wants to cause you to be scared. Do not fear them, fear me if you truly believe.

The Unknown to Us is Known to Allah

That fear of the unknown can be fixed by one simple proposition mentioned by Al-Imam Fakhruddin Ar-Razi. And that is when we say the unknown, what that means is it's unknown to us. But when it comes to Allah Azza wa Jal, there's no unknown.

So if I know, my four-year-old now, my five-year-old, the other night she told me, Baba, Baba. I ran in her bedroom, يا عيني يا حبيبتي ما بيك؟ What's wrong with you? She said, there's ghul in the closet. There's a monster in the closet. I said, no, no, no, that's not a monster. That's your teddy bear. She said, Baba, how do you know that? I said, I'm the unfortunate person who put the teddy bear where you could see it. But here we see something, that one who knows is not like one who doesn't know. And when it comes to the unseen, we're all like that five-year-old, worried and concerned with what we can't know.

Trusting in Allah During Difficult Times

So who is it that we're going to trust in the face of what's happening now on the border of Pakistan and India? Who is it that we're going to trust when we see what's happening in Gaza? Who is it that we're going to trust in Texas where Muslims are irresponsibly being put under pressure after pressure? Who knows the unseen? And who commanded us to worship Him alone and promised us whether in this life or the next you will succeed? It's Allah.

And if I believe Allah knows the unseen and I don't, then I will not be moved or swayed by the tides of a temporary world. But I will cling.

I will cling to Allah. That's one example of functional tawhid.

Practical Examples of Trusting Allah

If I wear hijab, I'm going to lose my friends. Leave it to Allah. If on my athletic team I pray and they see me praying, maybe I won't get that starting position. Leave it to Allah. I'm worried at school if I mention to the teachers that there are certain sensibilities around raising Muslim children that you need to be aware of. Leave it to Allah. Let Allah handle the rest.

That's one example of how practical tawhid, leaving the unseen which is unseen to us, not to Allah, will immediately re-center us, re-anchor us, and allow us to fulfill our responsibility as a prophetic community.

We ask Allah to be pleased with us. And we ask Allah to please us with Him.

Ask Allah to unite us with the Prophet as we believe in Him even though we can't see Him.

Hope in Difficult Times

These are difficult times. I have family from Lebanon. I know the challenges that they face. I have friends across the country who are experiencing different concerns. But don't forget one thing.

Maybe we don't like something that's good for us. And maybe we love something that's bad for us. Allah knows and we don't know. And Allah promises in the Quran to have hope even in the most difficult moments. Because the outcome of suspending everything to Allah is the only hope I have is with Allah.

Allah is the one who sends down al-ghayth. There is a difference between al-matar and al-ghayth. Matar means rain like today. It could be helpful or it could be harmful. But ghayth is a type of rain which only brings benefit. It only brings masalih. The Quran says that Allah is the sole one who sends al-ghayth after people have despaired.

A Personal Story from Gaza

Don't despair ya ummata rasulillah. It's so hard. I have a friend he passed away this year from Gaza. One of my best friends I grew up with. And he told me before he died in one weekend he lost 22 family members. And I said to him, Sami may Allah give him Jannah. And his name is Sami Matar subhanAllah. I said to him, Sami what do you have now? And he said, I have Allah.

Allah says, am I not enough for you?

Three Pillars for Strengthening Our Relationship with Allah

So if there is one thing we take from this khutbah is that we need to reignite and reformat our relationship with Allah. And the best way to do that is with the Quran. The second is with good friends and supporters. The third is strong community like you have here.

I want to encourage everyone that didn't ask me to do this. Donate to the masjid. Support the masjid. Support this institution. I remember when I lived in the Bay Area 16 years ago there were some IT guys in San Jose. They said, man we're going to go to a place called Plano. I'm from Oklahoma so I had, immediately I was angry. Then I said, man why would you go to Plano? They said, watch what's going to be there in 20 years. I said, y'all crazy. Plano is too plain. But look now subhanAllah.

So support the institution. Support Sheikh Yasser. Support the work that's happening. Encourage the young people. Have a strong community. Because that's a sign of a healthy tawheed. And finally focus on our families. Our children are going to be those who when we're dead in the grave that is our residual income that we will continue to reap after we're gone.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bring justice to Gaza. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bring peace to India and Pakistan. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect our brothers in Sudan and sisters. We pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will bless our brothers and sisters all over the Muslim world. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless the Muslims of Texas to make you a means and a beacon of truly what a prophetic community looks like that brings benefit and beauty to everyone around them.