2015 27 11 Second Friday Khutbah

Opening of the Khutbah

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask His help and we ask His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. Whomsoever He leads astray, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. Alone with Him is no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims. O you people, fear your Lord Who created you from one soul, and He created from it a wife, and He raised from them many men and women. And fear Allah in Whom you ask for help and mercy. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you. O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the righteous word. He will set right for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great success.

As for what follows: the most truthful speech is the Book of Allah. And the best guide is the guide of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of things are the newly invented matters in religion. And every newly invented matter in religion is a heresy. And every heresy leads us astray. And everything that leads us astray leads to the Hellfire.

Am I Truly Grateful?

Most of us are currently enjoying this holiday vacation from school and work by spending time with our families and extended families, traveling, enjoying wonderful food, and reflecting upon the blessings that we have. And no doubt this is a wonderful thing. And as we know, even the entire nation is in this mindset and mentality. However, as we enjoy these blessings and reflect upon them, I would like to remind us that it is essential for us to ask one question during our reflection. And this question is somewhat of a hard question, and it is: Am I truly grateful?

Obviously we're thinking about blessings and we're enjoying these things, but we must ask this question and be serious about questioning ourselves. Am I truly grateful? And the reason that I ask this question, and I think that we should ask ourselves this question, is for the simple reason that Allah tells us over and over again in the Qur'an that we as a species — or we as a creation, a creature — struggle with gratitude. And it's almost scary.

I'm going to take a little bit of time just to remind you of how many verses Allah simply reminds us of what He has given us, and then He tells us that we lack reflection and that we still really struggle to be grateful. And this is something, again, perhaps while we are really thinking about gratitude and thankfulness, that if we reach this level where we ask ourselves, "Am I grateful?" — Allah will be from the few that reach this level of gratitude.

Quranic Reminders of Our Struggle with Gratitude

One of these verses — and interestingly, from the beginning of the Qur'an, Allah introduces us to this struggle that we have with gratitude. In Surah Al-A'raf, after talking about the creation of mankind, and our struggle with Iblis, or Iblis' refusal to bow down — which we're going to come back to — right after this, Allah tells us and reminds us:

"We have established you on earth and created in it means of living for you. Little do you give thanks."

Likewise, Allah says — and He mentions this verse two times — reminding us of the simple and basic things that He has given us:

"Allah, it is He who has made the night for you that you may rest therein, and the day as a means for you to see." Even though this is simple and basic, this is stuff we all understand — and even more so now in this day and age with all our technology and all of our science. Allah is just saying: look at what He has done for you. We know the blessings of the alternation of day and night. We know about those people who struggle in the north with elongated days. But Allah says He has given you this simple thing that everybody can relate to — the Bedouin and the one who holds a PhD alike. Allah has given you the night and the day. "Truly Allah is full of bounty to mankind, yet most of mankind gives no thanks."

Additionally, Allah says:

"But few of My servants are thankful." And again, we are familiar with all of these verses reminding us that we truly don't reflect upon these lessons that Allah has given us and we give no thanks to Him.

Our Susceptibility to Greed

Additionally, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, tells us that we are also susceptible to greed. And we see that today, right? We talk about how we as a nation pause and think about all the blessings that we have. And we truly enjoy blessings more than the vast, vast majority of people on earth. And then it's as if on Black Friday we forget, and greed overcomes us — something that we just reflected on only a few hours ago. Our eyes light up if we are the one selling, and likewise our eyes light up if we are the one buying.

So the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, says:

"If the son of Adam — if mankind — is given two valleys of wealth, of money, two valleys full of money, he would want a third. For nothing can fill the belly of Adam's son except dust. And Allah forgives him who repents to Him."

This is our nature. I mean, if you have, let's say, 500, 600 million dollars and you are able to get there — wouldn't you want to see how it feels to be a billionaire? You make your first billion, and how does it feel to be a multi-billionaire? This is our nature. This is our test. And we just have to be aware of that. And then, inshallah, we can deal with this world properly and we can have this gratitude which we as Muslims — as Christians and Jews and mankind in general — know and realize is a virtue that everyone must have.

The Warning of Iblis

As we mentioned, we're going to go back to the story of the beginning of human history. Allah talks about Adam and what transpired between him and Iblis. And He tells us in a very scary way that Iblis — Shaytan, our manifest enemy that we are introduced to in the beginning of the Qur'an — realizes our vulnerability. And he mentions this in the Qur'an after he asks to have respite for a little while longer in order to try to get as many of us to join his destiny. So after Allah says, "You will be of those who have respite," then our enemy says:

"Because you have sent me astray, surely I will sit and wait against them — human beings — on Your straight path. Then I will come to them from before them, from behind them, on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them being grateful to You."

So this also should be from the many ayat that shake us up and make us aware that this discussion of shukr is something that is important and something that we need to be thinking about — or we will be from the masses of people who are ungrateful. And we know how despised and despicable ingratitude is even in this society.

The Prophet's Example of Gratitude

And then what should make us really think — have we truly reached this level of gratitude? We hear the hadith of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that we are all familiar with. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to pray at night — this extra prayer — to the point where his feet would become swollen. And Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, asked a very logical question: "Your sins, your mistakes, your shortcomings have been forgiven." The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had basically — obviously — it made. He was chosen to be the best of creation. Yet he didn't depend on that. He didn't become comfortable with that. And he said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4837; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2820)

"Should I not be a thankful servant?" This is how gratitude looks. Even though he knew for the most part — he saw paradise and hellfire, he knew that he would be the first one to enter paradise — but he didn't say, "It's alright." He attributed his extra worship, all of this devotion, to thankfulness. So again, this should tell us how gratitude looks.

Gratitude Brings More Blessings

And what's interesting — I mentioned this before when we talked about thankfulness and gratitude — the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, tells us that gratitude is an interesting thing. If you are satisfied with what you have, then Allah will give you more. And this is a promise from Allah. If you are truly grateful, if you give thanks to Allah, Allah is making this promise and making it definite: if you are thankful for what you have, you will get more.

So the more thankful you are, the more you will get. So the trick — or the secret, if you will — is simply to be content with what you have. That's what we're struggling with. If we are simply thankful for what we have and truly reach the level of gratitude that Allah speaks of, then you will get more of this world. And that's when you deserve more. Once you are thankful for what you have — and even us as parents, don't we try to have that mentality? "Now since you've done this, now I can give you more." We see this in cartoons, we see this in movies. This is a mentality that we understand, and that's the mentality that we have with Allah. Once we are truly thankful, then and only then will we get more.

Do Not Trivialize Small Blessings

And one last point before we move on — and this is something very interesting as well. Most of what I'm saying is something that everyone agrees upon. As I mentioned, you can go to any church or temple or whatever it may be, and people — even people who are atheists — believe and understand that this is the psyche and mentality of the majority of people.

And one thing also, as I mentioned, we have to be content with what we have. The reason that we are not content so many times is because we are overlooking and trivializing the small things that we do have. We're always thinking about the person who has the Mercedes — or the higher model Mercedes — or the person who has the beautiful wife or the beautiful husband. We feel that they have better and more than us. But of course the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, tells us to look at those who have less.

And as I mentioned before too, if we did that — if we truly did that and looked at, and didn't trivialize these small things — Allah is talking about the night and the day, making it very simple. If we didn't trivialize these small things, then it would be as if we thought that we were the most blessed person on earth. And I'm sure that some of us may have felt that way before: "No one has it better than me. I'm the most blessed person walking on the earth." And if we were truly grateful, I think that's the level. That's where you hit. That's when you get into the realm of gratitude where you say, "Man, I've got it made. I have children who are healthy. I have a great income. I am here, not fearing for my life."

And even the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, tells us this:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2346)

"Whoever among you wakes up secure in his home, healthy in his body, and has enough provision for his day — it is as if the whole world has been gathered for him."

Not provision for retirement — not all this worry that we have, which we should work for — but the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is telling us, breaking it down, how this world really is. If you wake up and you are healthy — all of us, for the most part, came here, drove here, walked here. We may take medicine or what have you, but for the most part, we're all very healthy. If you have health, if you have security — we're not like in many parts of the world where they fear at any moment a bomb could rain down or someone could invade them — and you have enough provision just for the day, then it is as if you had it all.