EPIC Masjid Jummah Khutbah, Love for the world, 09-06-2013 P 1/2

The State of the Muslim World: Where Did We Go Wrong?

The world asks all of us today, what is wrong with the Muslim world? We read it, we see it, and we hear it. What is wrong with the Muslims and the Muslim nations as it exists today? It's a golden question. And it requires that each and every one of us must truly understand what is the core problem.

But brothers and sisters, before we answer this question, we must go back in the yesteryears — but in the yestercenturies — we must stand on the footsteps of time, and look through the window of history and ask: Why was Adam and Eve brought down to earth? Why were they ejected? And who destroyed the people of Noah, and Aad, and Salih, and Tubba, and Lot, and other prophets? What destroyed all of them? And what brought them from a powerful nation into a mere insignificant people?

And now brothers and sisters, we look at the Muslim world and we must ask, where are the solutions? And so the answer is, brothers and sisters: إِنَّهَا مَعْصِيَةُ اللَّهِ — it is the only reason that Allah has left us alone with our problems. And the reason is because we transgress our boundaries with Allah.

The Hadith of Thawban: Love of the Dunya

In the hadith of Thawban, the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4297)

The Prophet ﷺ told us the reason that you are looked upon as an insignificant people — no one cares about you, and we have problems upon problems upon problems.

The Prophet ﷺ said: A time will come — you were a multitude of nations, powerful nations. And then he said, you will become insignificant, like the foam that foams at the banks of a river, only to be washed away after the flood recedes. So they asked, "Why, Ya Rasulullah?" He said: Not only will you be insignificant, but Allah will put a wahan — a weakness — in your hearts. Whatever you say, no one will hear it. Whatever you bring to the table, it is not looked upon. And you will have no solutions.

But why? He said: حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا — the love of al-dunya.

What Does Love of the Dunya Look Like?

I love al-dunya so much, I'm willing to lie, cheat and steal. I love al-dunya so much, I'm willing to get away with murder if nobody could discover it. I love al-dunya so much, I'm willing to act upon the idea: "Fake it until you make it." And this is the norm today, brothers and sisters.

When we lie and cheat in our businesses, it's considered to be street smarts. When I show my wife the harshness that I show her and I become a tyrant father at home, it is seen as machismo. When I engage in big talk and no one finds out about it, it's considered to be charisma. But subhanAllah, this is what حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا is. When we love al-dunya so much, we are willing to give up our morals. And therefore our moral compass is no longer facing towards Makkah. It's no longer facing towards Al-Qur'an and As-Sunnah. It is now focused somewhere else — towards the Shaytan's direction.

Hubb al-Dunya and Karahiyyat al-Mawt

We have to make a distinction about what the Prophet ﷺ said between حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ. The Prophet ﷺ did not say "afraid of death." We are all afraid of death — no one came back from death and told us what death was all about. But he said كَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ — to hate to die.

Brothers and sisters, when my nature is lying and cheating and stealing, when my nature is that I don't know anything about the Sunnah and Al-Qur'an, when my nature is that I would take the opinions of other people who have nothing to do with knowledge — then I hate death. Because I know what I will face when I die.

So the Prophet ﷺ says: حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ — the love of al-dunya and the hatred of death. Therefore, transgressing our boundaries with Allah is the root cause of all the problems that we face today.

Seasonal Worshippers: The Lesson of Ramadan

Ramadan just ended — almost 30 days ago. Brothers and sisters, on weekdays, knowing that the following day at 8am I will have to be at work, yet I would come to Salat al-Tarawih, Salat al-Isha, and even Qiyam in the last ten days. And Ramadan just ended — even on Eid day, or a day after Eid, the masajid are completely empty. The softness of the heart is gone. Reading of the Qur'an came to a halt. The ability to give for the sake of Allah is gone through the window. And the sincerity, slowly but surely, is leaving the house.

And that's why brothers and sisters, we have become seasonal worshippers. As it was said:

Anyone who worshipped Allah only as a seasonal worshipper — Ramadan has gone and died. But if we truly worship Allah, Ramadan or otherwise, we ought to still be coming to the masjid. We ought to still be reading the Qur'an, making qiyam al-layl, and engaging in al-khairat as we used to do in Ramadan.

The Quranic Warning: A Life of Misery

So brothers and sisters, the answer is very simple: إِنَّهَا مَعْصِيَةُ اللَّهِ. When we transgress our boundaries with Allah, Allah leaves us alone. How? Allah says:

What an amazing analogy the Qur'an is. Allah tells us: go on the straight path, follow the commands of Muhammad ﷺ and the commands of the Qur'an, and you will have a good life — a life of plentifulness, a life of ease, a life of tranquility and blissfulness.

But if we turn a deaf ear and turn a blind eye to the commands of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ — Allah says: فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا — that individual, he or she, that country, that nation, or the Ummah, will have a life of misery.

By Allah, I ask myself and all of us today: isn't the life that the Muslims are living today a life of misery? Where is the honor of destroyed countries? Where is the honor of Muslims killing one another? Where is the honor of Muslims that no one cares about anymore?

And then what? وَنَحْشُرُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَعْمَىٰ — on the Day of Judgment they will be resurrected blind. Then we ask Allah: رَبِّ لِمَ حَشَرْتَنِي أَعْمَىٰ وَقَدْ كُنتُ بَصِيرًا — "Why would You resurrect me blind? I had 20/20 vision in the dunya."

Now listen to the answer of Allah: كَذَٰلِكَ أَتَتْكَ آيَاتُنَا فَنَسِيتَهَا — "Remember when you were forewarned." Remember when you were told: don't engage in riba, it is haram. And you said, "I live in a country where everyone does it... What world do you live in? What planet did you fall off of? What are you talking about? Everybody is dealing with it. I don't know what you're talking about. Please brother, go back and consult your shaykh." And this is the problem.

The Danger of Seeking Easy Fatwas

Ibn Abbas said:

Anyone that goes from one mullah to another, one shaykh to another, seeking permissive opinions — Ibn Abbas says all evil has gathered in that person. And I'm not only talking about riba. There is a multitude of issues where we go to whichever shaykh we like in order to pass what we want. And this is another reason destroying the Ummah today.

Not everyone who stands on the minbar of Rasulullah ﷺ and eloquently speaks to people is automatically a shaykh or an alim. And this is a forewarning from the Prophet ﷺ. He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 100; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2673)

Knowledge will not be taken from the hearts of men directly, but rather it will disappear through the death of the scholars. Then people will take the ignorant as their leaders. They will be asked questions and they will give fatwas without knowledge — so they went astray, and they led the people astray with them.

You really want to get a ready fatwa? Go to YouTube. Just type your question and instantly you get an answer — without finding out the root cause of your question, without sitting with an alim, without finding the bigger issue. And people today are just passing these and causing problems. This is the root cause of our Ummah today, brothers and sisters.

We Don't Know Our Own Religion

We as a Muslim nation, as Muslim people, do not understand our own religion. Because we don't have time. Any immigrant who comes to this country is willing to learn English in less than six months. Why? Because there is a $55,000 or $60,000 job waiting if you know how to speak good English. But no one takes time to read their Qur'an and understand it. No one takes time, brothers and sisters, to understand their deen so we can pass it on to others and give them da'wah as well.

Two opposite experiences: we stay away from the path of Allah, we get a life of misery, and we will be resurrected blind on the Day of Judgment. Then we have the audacity to ask, "I used to have 20/20 vision — why did You resurrect me blind?" Allah says: فَنَسِيتَهَا — you ignored it. وَكَذَٰلِكَ الْيَوْمَ تُنسَىٰ — and today you will be ignored.

One of us would cry out, "Ya Malik!" — for one thousand years — and no one will answer. Why? Because in the dunya, we forgot all of these warnings.

But What About Those Who Transgress Yet Prosper?

But brothers and sisters, one would say: "Brother, what are you talking about? Wallahi, I have seen people who transgress their boundaries with Allah. They don't pray. They don't go to Hajj. They cause all havoc in this world. They engage in haram actions. They blatantly drink. And they engage in anything that is evil. Yet they have the upper hand. Yet they are the decision makers. All the power is in their hands. Don't you see them roaming the world and the land with such power? What are you talking about? We are the masakeen. We come to the masajid. Nobody listens to us. We pray and we go to Hajj. We do our umrah and salah and zakat. Yet nothing is happening for us."

The answer is again from the Qur'an. Allah says:

Allahu Akbar. Allah tells us: don't look at these people. Who was more powerful than Fir'aun? Who at his time was more powerful? He's the one who said, "All these rivers run beneath me. I am in total control." When they turned their eyes away, when they would not listen — Allah opens the doors of the dunya.

There is a Hindu brain surgeon who earns better money than all of us probably combined. He is not a Muslim. There is someone out there who doesn't even believe — he's an agnostic, he's an atheist — but he is in the upper echelons of our society. This is the dunya. And the dunya — Allah gives it to anyone and everyone. Allah gives the dunya because He is just. Work hard and you'll get it.

وَلَكِنَّ الْآخِرَةَ — but the Hereafter, the upper one — لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ فَقَطْ — is for the believers only. The dunya is the lower one. It is given to anyone, even those who transgress their boundaries with Allah. But al-jannah — for whom? For the true believers. Those who follow the commands of Allah.

You see a tyrant ruler like today, killing people, destroying his country. When I read today the news about Muslim countries that used to be moral Muslim countries — who would have ever thought that in Pakistan, in the middle of downtown, someone took out a gun and robbed another person? Who would have thought that in Khartoum, in Sudan, where I grew up, people would jump into your homes — these are Muslims — and steal your things, and if you try to resist, they shoot you? Who would have ever thought that in other Muslim countries, young men and women are being harmed and held for ransom?

Yes, the tyrants have the upper hand today. But Allah is greater than them. Allah is capable of everything. Allah is able to turn everything around.

I say this and I ask Allah for forgiveness. Alhamdulillah, and that is enough.

The Second Part: Allah is Watching

Come forward, we have some brothers standing in the back.

One of the reasons that tyrants — and not necessarily people who rule countries, but me, myself, us as individuals — one of the reasons that we think we can get away with anything, that we do whatever we please, is because we think that no one is رَقِيبٌ عَلَيْنَا. We don't believe that someone is watching us.

SubhanAllah, if Ramadan taught us anything, Ramadan taught us the utmost sincerity. It is the peak of the articles of worship. In the hadith of Qudsi, Allah says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1904; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1151)

Fasting is for Me, and I accordingly reward for it. Why? Because even when we gather on a Friday congregational prayer, there is someone who is not fasting for a legitimate reason, but you and I could never tell simply by looking at him. Why? Sincerity — only for Allah. There is no way you can tell someone is fasting or not. So what happened to that sincerity? The reason we get away with all this evil is because we believe that no one is watching us.

Allah says:

There is not a single group of people — whether three, five, six, ten, or a multitude — except that Allah is with them with His knowledge. He knows what is in the heavens and on earth and in the oceans beneath. He knows everything. So Allah is الرَّقِيبُ عَلَيْنَا — the Watcher over us.

Death: The Great Reminder

And if this doesn't deter us, let us know that we will die. Allah told Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: you will die, and so will they. Wallahi, brothers and sisters — all of us will die. And when we come up on the Day of Judgment, each and every one of us will come up only according to his or her deeds. Allah says:

Allah says: when the agonies of death come to one of us, we can no longer go back. One of us would say: "Ya Allah, let me go back just one second, just one moment — so I may pray and give sadaqah and zakat, so I may be a better husband or a better wife, a better father or a better son or a better daughter, a better businessman, a better neighbor, a better colleague." Allah says: No, you will never go back.

Brothers and sisters, we have طُولُ الْأَمَل — we think we are going to live forever. And that is our problem. A newborn baby dies. A 60-year-old dies. An 18-year-old runs on a basketball court, jumps toward the hoop, falls flat on his face, and dies — cardiac arrest.

Life is nothing but heartbeats. How many heartbeats are left for you and I? How many — a million? Ten thousand? Five? A billion? How many are left? It is only 72 or so beats per minute. So how many are left? And how long will we transgress our boundaries with Allah?

They Come From Among Us

We may look at the world's problems today. But brothers and sisters, those who rule us — where did they come from? They are your cousin and mine. Your brother and mine. Your family member and mine. They are our countrymen. Where did they come from? And the reason we don't like it is because they emerged from amongst us. And that's the problem.

We need to come back to our foundations, brothers and sisters. I hear some people shouting murder about other people, yet they themselves don't pray. Wallahi al-azim, I have smelled alcohol on some people's breath as they are talking about problems that touch the world. And that's a problem. That's a problem, brothers and sisters. We cannot just change the world in 24 hours.

And the Prophet ﷺ stayed in Makkah for 13 years and in Madinah for 10 years. And after 23 years, only a small group of people believed with him. And then 1.6 billion Muslims today. But it took 1,400 years. And that's the thing we must look at — each and every one of us: How am I behaving as a Muslim? Am I raising the future generation of Muslims right, so we don't repeat the problem? Am I conscious and aware that I might be at fault? And this is the problem, brothers and sisters.

The Solutions

So what is the solution, brothers and sisters?

First: Tawbah — Return to Allah

At-tawbah wa al-nubū' ila Allah. Allah says:

O you who have transgressed their boundaries with Allah — do not give up hope. Allah forgives all sins. Wallahi, I don't care what sin you have committed before you came here, or last night, or this morning, or last year — make istighfar. Allah forgives all sins. In the hadith al-Qudsi, Allah says:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3540)

Oh My servant, if your sins reached to the heavens and you came to Me remorseful, asking for My forgiveness — I forgive you. And no problem.

Second: Leave What Is Wrong

The second thing is to leave what we are doing wrong today. Cut that relationship. Run away. فِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ — run to Allah, as Allah says.

Third: Do Not Listen to Shaytan

And the third: let us not listen to Shaytan. Let us learn how to be true brothers and sisters. Shaytan will continuously whisper, as the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2038; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2175)

Shaytan runs through us like blood runs through our veins.

Change Begins With Oneself

We all want to change and maybe change the world. I am reminded of the Chinese emperor — it was said that he stood and spoke to his countrymen and his army, and told them: "I must go out and change the world and bring everything back into order." And subhanAllah, he then reflected and said: "But before that happens, I must begin with my nation. And for my nation to come into order, I must begin with the first province. But for that province to be good, I must begin with the first neighborhood."