2015 09 25 EID ul udhiya in the light of Ibrahimic hope and reflection on the msg of the Pope

Eid al-Adha Khutbah: Ibrahimic Hope and Reflections on the Message of the Pope

Delivered: September 25, 2015

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

The Quranic Foundation: Who Was Ibrahim?

Allah the Almighty has spoken the truth. He revealed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, the answer which we quote in the Quran — calling all people to a word that is common between us:

"Say: O People of the Book! Come to a word that is equal between us and you — that we worship none but Allah, and we do not associate anything with Him, and we do not consider one another as lords other than Allah. So if you turn away, say: We bear witness that we are Muslims."

"O People of the Book! Why do you argue about Abraham when the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed except after him? Do you not understand? You have argued about what you have knowledge of — so why do you argue about what you do not have knowledge of? Allah knows and you do not know. Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a sincere Muslim and he was not of the polytheists."

The Delegation of Najran: A Historical Moment

A few years after the Hijrah, there was a delegation — a group of Christians — from the lower part of Arabia, on the border of Arabia and Yemen, in a place called Najran. This delegation of Christians was led by the bishop, the head bishop of the area. And they marched from their region, Najran, to Medina. This is around the 7th or the 8th year of Hijrah.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, welcomed them. He knew that they were coming, and he welcomed them and housed them — in terms of honoring and welcoming them — where else but in the Masjid al-Nabawi, where they sat. A group of Jews as well sat with them. This was after Salat al-Asr. And they began a discussion in the Masjid.

Many of the Sahabah who witnessed this event said that they had never seen the likes of these Christians before. Yes, they had their crosses, they had their garments, they were very dignified looking individuals. And they began a discussion about theology and aqeedah in the Masjid. The Christians and the Jews debated. Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, entered that discussion.

The discussion took place in two different areas. One were general matters in aqeedah and theology. The other was about Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him — which is very important for us to reflect on in this time that we are in now. The time for Hajj. The time where a pillar of our ibadah involves acts of ritual worship that were pioneered by our father in iman and amal, Sayyidina Ibrahim, peace be upon him. And his wife, Hajar, peace be upon her. And his son Ishmael, peace be upon him.

On one side, the delegation from Najran was affirming that Ibrahim was one of their members — a Christian like them. And on the other hand, the Jews of that time were affirming, no, he is one of us. And Allah revealed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, that answer which we just quoted in the Quran: that Ibrahim, peace be upon him, was not a Christian, nor was he a Jew.

Ibrahim, peace be upon him, was a thousand years before Judaism. Two thousand years before Christianity. And for that matter, more than two thousand years before the advent of the Prophet, peace be upon him. So he transcends that discussion.

Hanifan Musliman — What Does It Mean?

But he was حَنِيفًا مُّسْلِمًا — Hanifan Musliman. Hanif refers to his approach in matters of Tawheed. He was monotheistic and devoted to serving Allah, to believing in Allah in the correct way. That's what the Hanif part means — rejecting all forms of shirk, all forms of devotion to anything or any person or any idea other than Allah. So the Hanif part is a reference to the level of Tawheed and the level of worship and belief that Ibrahim, peace be upon him, had about Allah and towards Allah.

Muslim, here in the ayah, does not refer to the mustalah — the term Muslim as we understand it in the sense of the obligation to follow the shari'ah of Muhammad, peace be upon him. Not in that sense Muslim, but in a different sense. The way that Ibrahim, peace be upon him, conducted his affairs as a Muslim was not built on the five pillars of Islam as we know it today. But Muslim in the sense that his shari'ah — the ahkam, the learnings that Allah gave to him to teach people — he truly submitted to those ahkam, he truly taught those ahkam, and he truly practiced all of what Allah taught him to do. He was a true Muslim in the sense of fully submitting to everything that Allah asked him to do. So the term Muslim in the ayah has a much bigger and broader meaning than the term Muslim as it relates to you and I.

The Prophet as Wali of Ibrahim

When the delegation of Christians from Najran heard this, we know from the tafsir literature — from Ibn Ishaq and some of the other historical documents — that they were silent. Then the time for their prayer came, the Jews left, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, allowed those Christians to perform their prayer in the Masjid. It is a historical fact. He allowed them as guests in Medina. If you were to look at it at the political level, they were guests of the state.

A few days passed and they asked him for a contract — an ahd, a treaty of support and protection. And he, peace be upon him, gave it to them. He dictated it. Many of the Sahabah witnessed it. And it went down in the history books as the Covenant of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, with the Christians of Najran. Ibn Ishaq mentions it, and later Fakhr al-Din al-Razi comments on it. It becomes a defining document in our history.

Because later on in the 10th year, a larger delegation came back. And the Prophet, peace be upon him, gave them rights, treaties, and privileges. He spoke about the relations between Muslims and Christians, and that it is a duty on every single follower in his community to abide by those rules that he laid down — so that that Christian community, and other Christian communities, and all the followers of the Prophet, peace be upon him, could live in peace.

At the end of that event, in the hadith literature, after he quoted that ayah — telling them that Ibrahim is not this and not that, but that he was Hanif and Muslim and not a mushrik — the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

(Referenced in the context of Surah Aal Imran 3:65–67 discussions; see Ibn Ishaq, Sirah al-Nabawiyyah, and related tafsir literature)

Every Nabi has someone who takes from them — a guardian of their legacy. Wali means guardian, protector of their message and their honor, and what they are left with. Wali is almost in the inherited sense — that you take care of the affairs of the person who is deceased. He said: every Nabi has a wali, every Nabi has a guardian and a benefactor and a protector that comes after them, that takes their message, takes what they stood for, and protects it and passes it on.

And then he said: "I am the Wali of Khalil Rabbi" — the friend of his Lord, Ibrahim, peace be upon him. I am his Wali. I am his guardian. I am the one who took his legacy and is passing it on to my Ummah.

And in passing it on, what did his Wali, peace be upon him, do? He made contracts and treaties and personal relationships with Ahl al-Kitab, with the communities around them. In that document that he dictated, he wrote that their houses may not be touched, their houses of worship must be preserved. It is prohibited to break any of their crosses or touch any of their houses of worship. Their communities must flourish.

St. Catherine's Monastery and the Living Legacy

In the time of Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab, when he became Khalif, he went to that community and gave them permission to migrate — from Najran to Iraq if they wished. He funded them and helped them move. The Jews in Najran that lived there remained in Najran until the birth of the State of Israel. Nobody kicked them out. Peaceful relationships with our fellow brothers and sisters who share the legacy of Ibrahim, peace be upon him.

In the 10th year, a delegation came from Mount Sinai. They were monks who traveled from Mount Sinai to Medina because they had heard about this power in Arabia that was building up — this man who claimed to be a prophet of God. And he, peace be upon him, gave them a contract, a treaty. It was called an ahd. The document began:

"This is a kitab — a document, a pact and a covenant — from Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah..." (The Covenant of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of Mount Sinai, preserved at St. Catherine's Monastery)

He granted them protection. He granted them honor and dignity. He said: no one from my community will harm you — they must protect you. It is a beautiful document.

When Umar ibn al-Khattab sent his governor of Egypt, Amr ibn al-As, to govern Egypt, Amr ibn al-As went to the Sinai Peninsula and came across the Christian monastery — St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai, which is next to Jabal al-Tur, the mountain where Musa, peace be upon him, received his wahi. The monks showed him the letter of the Prophet, peace be upon him, that they had preserved in their monastery.

And what did Amr ibn al-As do? He built a Masjid directly next to the cathedral there — side by side. The Masjid is right next to the Catholic cathedral. The bell tower is there, and when the Christians would come to the church, the bell would ring. And when the mu'adhdhin calls the adhan for the Lord, it is perfect. There are non-Muslim scholars who have never even seen this — that it is all there side by side.

Then Salah al-Din ibn Ayyubi marched into Egypt. He conquered Egypt — that is how the Mamluks were removed. He went to the cathedral and heard about it from the ulama. His Shaykh al-Islam looked at him and said: "We have a kitab from Rasul Allah, peace be upon him. This is from the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him. Ya Amir al-Mu'minin, you must honor this." And Salah al-Din ibn Ayyubi ordered a wall built around the cathedral and the Masjid and the community to protect it. The wall is still there today.

Salah al-Din then took the document back to Istanbul, and today it is in the Topkapi Palace in the archives of Istanbul. You can Google it — Google St. Catherine's Monastery and then Amr ibn al-As. It will come up. It is not a coincidence.

Reflections on the Pope's Visit and a Call to Renewed Purpose

Yesterday and today, the Pope mentioned a prayer for the Muslims who lost their lives in the Hajj. He expressed that in public. Today there was an interfaith ceremony in New York City where one of our good brothers and friends, Imam Khalid Latif, led a prayer — sitting next to the Pope.

The Pope spoke about the importance of peace in a time of fear and war. He spoke about the fact that as people of faith, as people who claim support to an Abrahamic message, and as people who follow the teachings of all the Prophets, he said: all Prophets were men of peace, and all people of Prophets must be people of peace. That is a profound Islamic message.

Upon hearing this Catholic figure say a prayer for Muslims at Hajj — who lost their lives during the time when we as Muslims remember the ibadat and the nusuk of Ibrahim, peace be upon him — and every single member of the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic communities respects and invokes and claims Ibrahim, peace be upon him — that is what we are doing today as a community: living up to that legacy.

Building for Allah — The Ibrahimic Example

Because the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the hadith literature at that event, said: every Nabi has a wali. And I am the Wali of Khalil Rabbi — the friend of his Lord, Ibrahim, peace be upon him. And he made contracts and treaties and personal relationships with Ahl al-Kitab.

Ibrahim, peace be upon him, was someone who sacrificed his life, and his family, and everything in the world, to uphold the doing of Allah — in its belief sense and its practice sense. And as a pioneering act, in building the house of Allah, he built it with the vision that people would come — irrespective of where the place was.

He established it. He was a person of amal. Even in the desert. When nobody was looking. And no people were around. And nobody cared. He built. In a place where there was ultimately no hope. Because in the middle of the desert, why would you construct an institution? All the markers of establishing an institution would say: don't build over there. It's a bad place. There is no population close to people, etc.

Why would you build there? Because he was not building for people. He was building for Allah. And so that is what we have to do. We have to stop building for ourselves and for others, and build for Allah. And that requires real sacrifice.

Are we khalifah? Are we Muslims — in that sense, in the Ibrahimic sense? When we ask other people to embrace Islam, yes, we have a duty not only to do that, but to ask them to embrace Islam in the sense of Muhammad, peace be upon him. But in doing that, are we also calling them to the path of Ibrahim, peace be upon him? And are we remembering the fact that when we call them to the path of Muhammad, peace be upon him, we are also calling them to the path of Ibrahim, peace be upon him — the path of service in general? We have to keep that in mind.

The Waters of Zamzam: A Message of Hope

We have lost our institutional memory. In a time of war, hatred, rancor, extremism, and ignorance, we have to reclaim this unity — in the time when we remember Ibrahim, peace be upon him. In the time when we remember his son — may Allah bless his blessed heels kicking the dirt and water springing forth. That water is profound. That message is profound.

That in the midst of darkness, in the midst of destitution, in the midst of despair, we must cling to hope. We must work for hope. We must never give up. We must never turn our heels back. We must never be satisfied and complacent at one level of operation. We must grow. We must improve. We must expand.

Closing: Come to Agreement — A Call to Action

I want to close, inshallah, with a beautiful sentence that was uttered by this man who has called us to a particular message — and we must respond to his call. Because as Muslims, we have a more important job to do. We have to stand taller and harder and speak better than the Pope. And he has charged us to do that. And we must respond in kind.

We must come to agreement between us. We have a job to do — living up to and uplifting the honor and the legacy of Sayyidina Ibrahim, peace be upon him.

And so he says — speaking at the 9/11 memorial — "In this place of pain, I am full of hope. Because the presence of religious traditions coming together is a powerful sign of the forces of peace and reconciliation. And that in our times, looking at our differences, it is possible to live in a world of peace — where our different religions and our different tongues allow us to unify our voices against those that would wish to silence them."

Du'a and Closing Supplications

We ask Allah to guide this man and to guide those around him. We ask Allah to give us the spiritual courage to stand together as a unified community against those that would wish to silence the legacy of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, the legacy of Muhammad, peace be upon him, the legacy of all of the anbiya and the awliya and the ulema that stood for and bled and sweat for peace in this world — that established institutions together, that stood together and fell together.

We ask Allah to reinvigorate us with this spirit. We ask Allah through this Eid to give us a yazid — an increase — in our devotion to the message of Hanif al-Muslim. Our devotion to the Quranic message to build bridges with our brothers and sisters in faith. And to do that in support of coming together in a world that likes to burn bridges.

We ask Allah to forgive and to bless all of those believers who have lost their lives at the time of Hajj. And we ask Allah to accept our a'mal on this mubarak day.

O servants of Allah, fear Allah. Indeed, Allah commands justice, excellence, and giving to relatives, and forbids immorality, wrongdoing, and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ، وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. La ilaha illallah. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Wa lillahi al-hamd.