The Estrangement of Islam

The Estrangement of Islam

My dear brothers and sisters, may Allah protect you and your families. We ask Allah to protect our Iman for us and our Islam in this land. Brothers and sisters, we're living in the time the Prophet ﷺ described as being the time of the estrangement of Islam.

As he ﷺ said:

Islam started as a strange thing, and will return to being strange as it began. So give glad tidings to the strangers. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 145)

Give the good news. Give that place in Jannah for those who live as strangers in this time. May Allah make it easy on all of us, O' Rabbil Alameen.

The Reality of Our Time

What does that mean, O' brothers and sisters? Islam in Mecca was a strange thing. When the Prophet ﷺ started propagating the da'wah to Allah, it was a strange thing. People could not understand what he was talking about. Or maybe they actually knew what he was talking about — they just didn't want to believe. There was that barrier between their minds and their hearts. So their minds want to believe in that, but their hearts, of course, had all these assumptions about it.

And we're living the same thing today. Two incidents that happened for us here in the state of Texas — that we all know, unfortunate, subhanAllah — show how much people right now have all this fear about Islam and Muslims. And as a result, they're motivated by such fear, whether out of ignorance or out of malice, Allah knows, but they act and behave in a different way.

One of them is here, close to us in East Plano, and the whole uproar that came about when the Muslim community was just planning — just planning — to design a nearby city or nearby community over there. And we have seen that even everyone everywhere in the state went against that project. Because of all the assumptions that we heard in the hearings about the planning for that city, subhanAllah, it's strange. It's literally — I can't even believe what I was hearing from the people who came to spew their hatred, or maybe their ignorance or their fear. Some of it is really legitimate, and some is just purely malice, unfortunately.

And the other incident, just a few days ago — what happened to three little girls in a middle school in Houston, Texas, when they were unfortunately being targeted simply because they look Muslim, because they were wearing the hijab. That hate can definitely be harmful in that fashion. And these girls were subjected to hate from kids of the same age group. We're talking about teenagers, unfortunately, simply and only because they look different, they spoke probably with an accent, and because they were in hijab.

Brothers and sisters, may Allah make it easy for us, Ya Rabbil Alameen. This is the time the Prophet ﷺ was talking about — the estrangement of Islam. But what does that mean to us? Does it mean to hide? Run away? Cave in? Find an exit out of this? Absolutely not.

The Prophet's ﷺ Example in Mecca

The Prophet ﷺ said: look, it was strange before, and it will come back to become strange. What does that mean? It was strange, and then it became not strange after that. When we talk about the Prophet ﷺ in Mecca, what did he do? How did he start? He started as an only person — one man. And he was speaking to his friends first, and then to the closest people. And when the news came out to the public, the elders of Mecca rejected the message. But at the same time, they thought, "just a bunch of young ones, whatever they're talking about, leave them."

But when the message became stronger and became a community somehow, that's when they started paying attention to it. And that's when they started trying to stop it. And they did everything in their power to stop it. But what do we know right now? After all these years, the Muslim population grew to 1.6 billion people in the world. And it all started with one man, Muhammad ﷺ.

And the Prophet gave us that prediction that it's going to come back again to be strange — which means, yes, there will be a moment where it's going to go down a little bit, but we're going to go up again, insha'Allah. You need to remain steadfast. He says:

Let those who embrace that mission — those whose role right now is to live the life of Muhammad ﷺ and the early Sahaba — may Allah protect them, Ya Rabbil Alameen.

The Reward of Those Who Hold Fast

Brothers and sisters, now — it is not to draw any doom and gloom scenario in the community. Absolutely not. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, there is still law and order over here. And we still have, alhamdulillah, a lot of friends around us and a lot of people. But I just want us to be prepared: this is a time where, just because you're propagating the message of Islam, or just because you're Muslim, unfortunately there might be some issues, some troubles. And this is not just in non-Muslim lands — even sometimes in Muslim lands themselves, it is happening. You go to some Muslim countries, you can't even sometimes propagate the da'wah to Allah.

Brothers and sisters, this is the time the Prophet ﷺ spoke about. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke about that time, he said that the reward for those who live in that time — speaking to the Sahaba — will be the reward of 50 of you.

They said: "O Messenger of Allah, fifty of them?" He said: "No, fifty of you. For you find supporters in doing good, whereas they will find none." (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4341; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3085)

You mean 50 of them? He said: no, no, no — 50 of you. The reward of those who live after, who haven't seen the Prophet ﷺ yet still believe in the message — their reward for holding on to this message in a time different from the time of the Prophet ﷺ — they get 50 times more reward than the Sahaba themselves. Even though the Sahaba have that one special status of being Sahaba — that's the highest you can get — with everything else, you're getting 50 times more.

He said: "You find supporters in doing good — people help you and support you among your community, among yourselves. But they will not find that. There will be no political support for them, no external help — except their own community strength."

Remaining Steadfast

Brothers and sisters:

That is the command that came to the Prophet ﷺ in that difficult time: "Remain steadfast as you have been commanded — you and those who are with you." Remain steadfast. Stand your ground.

"Indeed, those who have said 'Our Lord is Allah' and then remained steadfast — the angels will descend upon them: 'Do not fear and do not grieve, but receive good tidings of Paradise which you were promised.'"

Those who say our Lord is Allah and then remain steadfast — it means they propagate that path. Allah will send the angels upon them, saying: don't be afraid, don't be sad, and receive the good news that Jannah will be for you — that which Allah had promised you.

How to Remove the Sense of Estrangement

Brothers and sisters, how can we remove that sense of estrangement that we live in this society? What can we do in this situation? A few things I want to share with you.

1. Unify Around the Identity of Faith

The most important thing to understand is that as a Muslim community, if you look around, we look different — from different places, different backgrounds, different shades, different cultures, different original tongues. So we're different. The only way this community stays strong is if we go beyond these geographical and national differences and identify ourselves with the identity that Allah mentioned for us in the Qur'an:

"The believers are but brothers." Your brothers and sisters because of your iman and your faith. Your identity is being Muslim. Your identity is being faithful to Allah. That's what matters between you and your brothers and sisters in the community. Everything else is going to divide you. If you start looking at each other as being from this geographical area, or this background, or this economic status, you will get divided and that will make you weak.

As Muslims, we look at each other as brothers and sisters in faith, as Allah wanted that for us. So you need to keep repeating that to yourself regularly every single day. Remind yourself: alhamdulillah for being Muslim. I thank Allah for making me from this Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. Remind yourself of this regularly. Hopefully it will make you start forgetting about all the other differences that arise in the community. We focus on each other as one community and one family.

And my dear brothers and sisters, please teach your children that as well. Because subhanAllah, the kids are very innocent. They don't see the colors that parents see, or the barriers that parents would see among the community. That's why you see them playing with each other without any difference — unfortunately, until they get indoctrinated into the differences that families carry along with them. The cultural differences — this is not the time for this. Let them grow knowing that the most important value they have is the deen of Allah.

2. Create Community Within Your Own Household

My dear brothers and sisters, some of us, alhamdulillah, are more fortunate than others in living close to a masjid, close to the community, within walking distance — alhamdulillah. There are a lot of activities, a lot of programs. What I'm talking about sounds strange to many because, alhamdulillah, the masjid is, mashAllah, active and always full. People come for Fajr, we do these activities, alhamdulillah. May Allah continue to bless the community.

But some people are not as fortunate. They go to a small community, a smaller masjid, or maybe the masjid is a long drive for them. So there are a lot of times where we feel isolated, where we feel kind of far away from the community. What do we do in this case? Create your own community within your own household — you and your spouse, you and your children. For the young ones who are not married, maybe you and your roommates.

Create that environment in your own household. Make sure that the adhan is heard in the house. Make sure the salah is prayed there. If you couldn't come to the masjid, then pray jama'ah with your family and your children. Make sure to find like-minded families around you and bring your kids to grow up with them as well. So we can all, insha'Allah, share the same values as we grow. Make sure that they have a share in the Book of Allah on a regular basis — on a daily basis if possible, as much as we can — especially of course in big events like Ramadan, the Eid, and other activities. Create that community spirit within your own household, insha'Allah.

3. The Estrangement Is Temporary

My dear brothers and sisters, the third thing we need to understand is that the estrangement the Prophet ﷺ spoke about is not perpetual — it's not a permanent state. It's only a temporary thing. That's how Allah designed the whole world, the whole nature of mankind. It goes in cycles. Sometimes the khair prevails, and then unfortunately it comes down a little bit. And then evil-doing prevails for some time — but not forever. It comes down again.

As Allah mentioned, all of this is going to be part of the test. He is going to try you with one another to see who is going to be more consistent, more patient — meaning to remain steadfast. So we need to understand that this feeling of estrangement is not permanent, which means it can be removed. With being one community, a strong community insha'Allah, we will see that Allah will fulfill what He promised:

The end result will be for the most righteous. Allah gave us an example in the Qur'an in Surah al-Kahf:

They were a group of young people who felt completely out of place in their community. They ran away. They ended up in a cave, sleeping for 300-plus years. When they woke up, Allah made them a miracle to the world. And they woke up in a different world — the world of believers, not the world of disbelievers that they had left. So Allah has the end result in His hands. May Allah make it for the righteous.

4. Be Proactive in Your Wider Community

And finally, my dear brothers and sisters, in order to remove that sense of estrangement, we need to become proactive in our communities. And I don't mean just the Muslim community coming to the masjid to learn and be consistent in ibadah — that's a given. I'm talking about being an active member of your own society.

If your kids go to public school, make sure to be part of activities that happen in the school. Make sure to meet with parents over there. Make sure to meet with the teachers. If you go to college, make sure to become active within the organizations at your school. If you are part of a community, make sure that you're part of whatever organizations exist in your community and whatever benefit they bring to society. Become a member. Become an active member so that you don't leave it to assumptions — because people, if they don't know anything, they build assumptions.

If they don't know that Muslims are active, that they exist and participate and help and are part of the leadership even of the community, what assumptions are they going to build about the Muslim community? So my dear brothers and sisters, make sure to remind yourself: I am the ambassador of Islam in this land. My job and my duty is to make sure that I represent Islam, insha'Allah, in the best way possible.

This is not the job of the imam only or the volunteers of the masjid. It's each and every one of us. So take responsibility so that you can feel, alhamdulillah, I'm part of a bigger community — and never feel strange.

Second Khutbah

My dear brothers and sisters, the most important thing I want you to take from this — especially for the parents — is: do not transfer that fear and that anguish, whatever you feel from that kind of environment, onto your children. Your children grow up in a different environment with a different mindset and different hearts. I want you to remember: brave hearts. Don't transfer that fear to them. Don't give it to them. Let them grow strong, proud of their identity — alhamdulillah — to be the children of this land, as well as being Muslim, insha'Allah.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, rahimahu Allahu wa ta'ala, said:

"The believer in this world is just like a stranger. He finds peace only with his Lord. He finds comfort only with His words. And he rests only in His closeness."

You want to find that peace and tranquility? You want to remove that sense of estrangement and loneliness? Connect with Allah and teach your children to connect with Allah.