Staying Firm Upon The Deen

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As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh. I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the mercy of the worlds. Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family and companions, and those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment and beyond.

And when they tried Abraham, his Lord, with words, he fulfilled them. He said, I will make you a leader for the people.

He said, And of my descendants? He said, No one will attain the covenant of the wrongdoers.

Indeed, Abraham was a people devout to Allah, devout.

You had a good example in Abraham and those with him.

Follow the religion of Abraham, devout, and he was not of the polytheists.

Indeed, Abraham was a people devout to Allah, devout. And the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, On the Day of Resurrection, I will count on Allah to forgive the year before him and the year after him. Or as he said, peace and blessings be upon him.

My dear respected listeners, brothers and sisters in Islam, This momentous occasion that is upon us of the Eid al-Adha, It symbolizes for the believers a great action and a great resemblance and legacy that Abraham, peace and blessings be upon him, left for the whole entire world, not just the Ummah of Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him. And so today's khutbah is going to be about that legacy, that legacy that Abraham, peace and blessings be upon him, left and his mark and his imprint that he left on this earth.

And at the same time, not only him, but his son Ismail, peace and blessings be upon him. And at the same time, we will also see how it ultimately transcended into the noble character and the being of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And so therefore, I begin with the praise of Allah and mentioning His greatness that Allah is the master of all the worlds, reminding us at this moment and time that anything that we engage in, any endeavor that we begin our lives with, any pursuit that we try to go towards, we always remember the name of Allah and His majesty.

We recognize Him first and foremost and then we begin by doing the action. So, Bismillāh ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm.

We had mentioned in ayah of the Qur'an,

Remember, remember O believers, that time when Allah, He tested, He tested Ibrahim alayhi assalām, with some sort of words, with some sort of difficulties, and He had completed all of them.

Here هُنَّ is plural, that means it wasn't just one test, it wasn't just two tests, it wasn't three, but it was many tests, tests upon tests upon tests. And that was the life of Khalilullah. Khalilullah means the friend of Allah.

And he is the second most greatest creation after the greatest creation being Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa assallam, Habibullah. So therefore, today when we had started with Bismillāh ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm, then we go to who is associated with that being, who is Allah. It is the ones who are beloved to Him.

But how did they become beloved to Him, my brothers and sisters? Those ways and attributes and qualities of these people has to be inculcated and brought into our lives. That's why in our life, this system of 70, 80, 60, 70, 80 years of living, ultimately will get us to a point where we become like the Khalilullah and the Habibullah of the world insha'Allah. And that is the goal, that is one of the purposes of our life, that we become so close and near to Allah.

But what did it entail? What did it require? It required a lot of hard work and sacrifice. And it also required sincerity and devotion. And if we look at the action that when we are going to the list of difficulties and struggles that Ibrahim a.s. went through in his life today, we are going to see that there was an intense level and high spiritual level of sincerity and devotion in the life of Ibrahim a.s. And therefore being in the days of Dhul-Hijjah for all of us, it is a reminder, it is a way to go back and reflect on how was the personality of Ibrahim a.s. Because one thing my brothers and sisters that I want to pose to you today is that we claim, we make this argument that I am a follower of Muhammad s.a.w. and I am going to do everything that he has commanded us to do.

And ultimately what Allah has commanded Rasulullah s.a.w. to do, and therefore Rasulullah s.a.w. he told us what to do. But what we see around us in this 21st century is this propaganda, this machine of trying to tell us that you don't have to submit to anyone. There is nothing and no being that you as a human being need to submit to because you are your own God.

Nāʾūdhu billāh. But we know the fact that when we take the Shahada and we take testimony to the witness that there is no God except Allah and Muhammad s.a.w. is his messenger. This covenant, this agreement, this act and transaction that we make with Allah has to be a lifelong transaction and agreement.

Otherwise those people will not be considered as Muslims. And it's very simple. It's very simple that when we make an agreement that I am going to work for a certain company or do a certain profession. No person in his right mind or her mind ever think that they are going to leave that profession in their whole entire life. They are going to be very committed to following it through and through. And therefore as Muslims there are certain requirements for us as well.

It's like a job that we have taken on ourselves, on our shoulders. And with that job there comes a lot of responsibilities. And then where do we learn what those responsibilities are? It is from the deen of Islam which is so beautiful and magnificent and it's so encompassing that no other deen and religion is like this in the face of the planet.

So therefore for us, what do we do at this moment in time? We look at the commands and the orders of Allah that was given to Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa assallam. And in this holy month there were commands and orders to follow the actions and ways of Ibrahim a.s. as we are going to see. Number one, I mentioned that this ayah in surah al-Baqarah

Then Allah says in this ayah that we have made you جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ not for the Muslims. Allah has made Ibrahim a.s. for the whole entire mankind as an imam, as a guide, as a leader for all of mankind. But then what does Ibrahim a.s. say after that? It wasn't done. He says,

Ibrahim a.s. is the actor of this verb. And what does he say? How about my progeny?

Allah responds to Ibrahim a.s. telling him that from your progeny they will not be imams, those people who are ẓālim, who are oppressors. And we know that the worst type of oppression in all of the world as we know in surah Luqman,

Verily, the worst type of oppression and injustice a person can do on himself or herself is shirk. And that is the prototype of Ibrahim a.s. where he brought to the world when he was in utter darkness. And he was at the lowest stage of humanity at that point. And they were drowned in shirk and worshipping idols. And ultimately he brings into the world monotheism.

What is that story my brothers and sisters that we need to reflect? Ibrahim a.s. being a very young lad, a young boy, he's going and he's living in a society that is plagued with injustice. And at the same time they are feeding their idols and they are worshipping them almost 24x7 and their whole entire life revolves around serving these idols. And so then what happens is that Ibrahim a.s., a young boy, sees that these people are worshipping stones and things carved from the ground, mud, items, items from the mountains.

And then they start bowing down prostrate to them. And believing that there are things that give some sort of sustenance and risk to all of humanity. So what does Ibrahim a.s.? This is a very important point to realize that in the Quran Allah gives us a synopsis of what happened in this event.

What does Ibrahim a.s. say to his father, Āzar? He says that these aṯhnām, these idols, they cannot benefit you, nor can they harm you. He says, indeed you and your people are in a great error and a great misguidance.

And just like that, the intellect, the human brain, the capacity, this is a sign that for us, as young children and adults, how was the mentality of this young Ibrahim? Was he saying that, oh you know my father, he's worshipping idols, so I can beat him up because he's an adult with strength, and I have no physical capacity to fight these people. No, he went to his mental capacity, and he looked at malakūt as-samāwāt wa-al-arḍ.

What did he do? He turned his sights and his attention to the skies and the heavens, to test them, to gauge the sun and the moon, to gauge the stars. Do they have the capacity to give me any type of sustenance or any type of life or energy in this world?

What does he come to?

What does he do? He looks at the stars at night time, and he sees that these stars, though they're giving light and they're so bright in the heavens, but in the morning time, they disappear and they dissipate. And therefore, something that comes and then it goes, it therefore cannot be God. It cannot have any type of ability to be worshipped because it's something that's not there all the time.

What does he say next? He looks at the moon, he looks at that vibrant, that beautiful lush creation in the sky, and it's so blooming with light. And then what does he say? That this has to be my creator, this is my Lord. And what does he ultimately see? He sees the same situation that happened to the stars, happens to the moon, where ultimately it becomes into a small crescent, and it disappears, and ultimately it has really no benefit. Then what do we see after that?

He looks at the sun, and he looks at how much light is giving out, and how much energy. But then he realizes that this creation that's so huge, and it's lighting up the entire world, it itself has to go away one day. So therefore, what happens? He sees that not only does the sun, does it have energy and is giving off energy, but ultimately there has to be somebody beyond that. There has to be a creator, a being, a sustainer, a supreme lord, that is supporting and sustaining this sun, and giving it energy. And this brings a point, that when you look at scientists, and there's a theory that when something gives off energy, therefore, it will have to lose energy.

The rule of enthalpy, as many people know, who studied organic chemistry. What happens is, that here in the situation of the sun, it makes no sense that it's giving off so much heat, but it's constantly staying that way. And it's not getting weaker and weaker. But the question comes to the mind, to the intellect, that who is the one, or how is it, that this sun, it cannot stop giving off this heat, because it has to stop at one point. But we realize as Muslims, that there is someone, that is providing the heat and that energy, and that fire to the sun, and therefore it is continuing, and that is only Allah.

And this young boy, Ibrahim a.s., at a very fragile and young age, where he should be playing in the streets with his fellow youngsters. What did he say?

Such powerful words, my brothers and sisters. Such words that we should be saying at the beginning of every of our Salah, before we make the Takbir of Tahreemah. What is this ayah in Surah Al-An'am? Innī wajjahtu, Indeed, I turn my wajh, my being, my existence, to the face and to the being of that one.

He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. That is Allah. Innī wajjahtu wajhiya lil-ladhī faṭarah as-samāwāt wa-al-arḍ, In a matter that I'm Haneef.

Haneef is a very powerful word, my brothers and sisters. This means that I will never in any form or doubt turn and make an association to that one being. I'm gonna be strong and firm that there is only one Allah. And I will definitely, definitely obey all of His commands. Haneef is not just one simple word but it encompasses so many detailed analysis that you have to look through the entire Quran and the Hadith to really be able to understand at a deeper level what is the word Haneef. But we're not going to go into those depths right now.

What is the last part of this ayah that Ibrahim a.s. says?

This is very powerful. Because he didn't just say I'm turning my attention to Allah. Instead he also adds a negation clause that I will never associate from this point on with Allah any partners.

And this is something we need to realize living in this country, living in this world today. Unfortunately we believe in ourselves of having the power that when something happens in our destiny, in our life cycle, something difficult comes up, some type of tragedy, some type of incident that occurs, we turn to our own selves and our family for that support instead of turning to Allah. And that is one of the lessons of this hajj, my brothers and sisters.

That the Muslims, they go back to that place, that center, that center place of Ibrahim a.s. and realize what is it that he did. What did he engage himself in as we are going to see in the second incident that occurred in his life. What did he do? He turned his attention away from all of those things that can potentially give any benefit. And he turned to the one who is the source of all benefit and the source of all harm who is Allah. And that is the same thing that the hajj do. That's why they are not classified differently amongst each other.

They are all classified on one plane as the same in front of the eyes of Allah. And then ultimately, they turn their attention in tawbah and repentance to Allah. Which we must do at this moment and time. Because we are coming to those very significant days of the Muslim in our calendar, which is the Yawm Arafah. And we are going to talk about that very close to the end in few minutes. But what is the second story? The second incident in the life of Ibrahim a.s. is the fact that he has to leave his wife and son in the barren desert.

And just very quickly, we all know this incident. But to tie this in with the khutbah, it's very important to realize the sacrifice of not only men, but women as well. But on top of that, we are going to see in the second to last incident, the sacrifice of children. But the sacrifice of women, what happened here? A pregnant woman, she's seeing that her husband is turning away from her. And at the same time, she's questioning him, asking, why are you leaving? Why are you leaving us here? What have I done? What have we done? Have we done something wrong? No couple, no people in a relationship of marriage turn away like this from each other, in the middle of the desert especially. But what happens? Ibrahim a.s. replies to her that this is from Allah.

And what did she say? She said, I am pleased with the decision of Allah. Such powerful words that should be written in gold. When is it that we are pleased with the decision of Allah? We are never pleased because we have turned our sights away from Allah. Therefore, we need to return our attention and be happy with the decree of Allah.

But what happens next is that, Hajar a.s. is with her child and she says, Okay, I'll stay put here. Whatever Allah's decree is for us, it will happen no matter what. And that was her level of iman. And so what? She sits down. Time is going. The night is passing. The next day is starting. And then what happens then? She's hungry.

And the child is also hungry. Because she had no more milk left in her chest. And she's worried for the life of her child. So then what does she do? With such level of fear and devotion, she goes running to the nearest mountain that she could see which is Safa. And she goes and climbs and she screams for help. She's asking, someone come. Is anyone there? We need some sort of sustenance and food. And then what happens? She finds no one. Then she goes and she runs to another near mountain named Marwah.

And then she goes to the top of that mountain. And she cries again, is there anybody? Is there anyone to help and assist me? I am with a child and he is very hungry. But what happens? There's nobody. And she does this seven times back and forth, back and forth. But this struggle and this sacrifice was so beloved to Allah that immediately, immediately after Allah seeing this, He commands Ibrahim a.s. to come. To come down and hit the area where the baby is.

And where that baby Ismail is, gushes forth a well known as the well of Zamzam. Such a well, such a well that is so miraculous that even today that well is running at such massive speeds that what happened when Hajar a.s. saw that this well is gushing forth? She gathered some sand, she gathered some dirt and she created a mold from there. So that the water doesn't gush forth too much.

And what does our Prophet s.a.w. say? That wow, what an intelligent woman Hajar a.s. was. Because if she didn't do that, the whole world would have become drowned in water of this Zamzam. Subhanallah.

But ultimately, what was the point and lesson from this story? The lesson was that we take from the sacrifice of our mother Hajar a.s. who is a woman. And many... Ok, so now this brings one very important point. What is the difference between sacrificing for deen and sacrificing for dunya? And we will slowly close, we are almost done.

But this is a very important point because many of us argue that oh, you know, I'm going to university. And I'm going to earn money or I'm going to get a job or open up. You know, I'm going to be a pioneer and open up a business. But we claim that we are doing it for deen. We are doing it for Allah. We are making such bold and strong claims. But ultimately we look at our actions.

We see that what happens when I earn that money? I'm very reluctant. I'm very stingy to give that in any cause of Allah. Because I think those people, they have some sort of plan with my money. Whose money is it really? That's the question. And who let us do that sacrifice in the first place? Because at any moment of our life span, we could have died in any day or any second of that time. But it was by the fadhl and mercy of Allah, by His majesty, His permission, that He allowed us to go to this scale of life and ultimately go and do some work and earn some money and then have family and have children. So that's something to realize.

Are we doing this for Allah really? Are we saying that I'm sacrificing for the deen of Allah or am I really sacrificing for the dunya? And so that is a very important point that I want us brothers and sisters to leave with today. And we should question ourselves. And finally, the building of the Kaaba, the building of the Kaaba that occurred by Ibrahim a.s. and his son Ismail a.s. And Ismail a.s at that time was very young.

And finally, Ibrahim a.s, he comes back later, later after a few years, and he asks Ismail a.s. about this command that was given to him in his dream. That in my dream it came that I'm to sacrifice you. What was the response of this Ismail a.s?

Ismail a.s says that, Do what you have been commanded, verily you will find me among those who are sabīr, those who are patient.

And so this is very important for us. And final conclusion, especially for the youth, that look at this young lad, this young child, how he was, how his response was. He's about to see death in front of his face. And really realize this, my brothers and sisters, death at any point in time is in our face. But sacrificing for Allah and seeing death in our face there, we're very scared to do any of that. Because number one, we're afraid of death.

But on top of that, if you associate death with deen, no, no, we can't do that. But look at this child, Ismail a.s, very young, who has a very long life to look forward to. He hasn't even been married yet. But what does he say?

O father, do what you have been commanded, for verily you will find me among those who are sabir.

May Allah allow us to learn from the beloved life of Ibrahim a.s and the life of Rasulullah s.a.w and Ismail a.s. May Allah guide us on the straight path and not allow us to die without iman. May Allah accept our a'mal in these blessed days of Dhul Hijjah. May Allah forgive our parents, our families, all those who have passed away. May Allah accept the hajj of those pilgrims, of those people who have sacrificed so much to go for the hajj, and make it a hajj mabroor for them.