The Inner and Outer Realities of Ourselves

The Inner and Outer Realities of Ourselves

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We begin by praising Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and by declaring that there is no one worthy of worship other than He Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to send His peace and blessings upon Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and upon his companions and family, and upon those that follow him and his way. And we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to make us among them. Allahumma Ameen.

The Prophet's Vision Beyond the External

When you look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, his life was filled with many beautiful moments — but also teachable moments that he taught the Sahaba RadhiAllahu Anhum. And through teaching them, he taught us — his Ummah. There are many lessons that we can learn when you look into the Seerah of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

One of them that I want to mention and focus on today is that the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam throughout his life was somebody that was visionary. He had Basirah not just Basar — he had vision, not just sight. He was able to look at somebody and go beyond their external image. He was able to look at somebody — a man or a woman — and connect with them in a way that whenever somebody loved the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, they never said that he did not understand them, or that he did not understand me.

The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught his companions and followers and us as well, that we need to be people of Basirah. We need to be people that have depth, that have vision. That are not focused on just the external. Because when somebody understands the reality of truth, it's not just whatever is seen to the eye — that's apparent, that's the truth — but rather everything inside is another reality that we have to take account of.

The Story of Zahir: Worth in the Sight of Allah

There is a beautiful story that we find in the hadith — in Sahih al-Bukhari actually. The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, one time there used to be a man named Zahir. Zahir RadhiAllahu Anhu was not from the city of Medina but he was from outside. Yet Zahir used to frequently visit the city, and whenever he used to come to do his trade, he used to give gifts to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

The hadith says: "The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam loved Zahir very much." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

So when it was time for Zahir to come to Medina, he was in the marketplace. The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was among his people and was walking in the marketplace, and then he saw Zahir RadhiAllahu Anhu. Zahir is busy — he's doing his work — and the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam goes behind Zahir, sneaks up upon him, and grabs him from the back. You know, when you haven't seen somebody for a long time and you want to hug them — so he goes behind him and he hugs him.

Now Zahir, he's not from the city — he's from the desert. There are no friends in the desert. If I know you, I know you. If I don't know you, I don't see you. So Zahir immediately tensed up. But then when he turned around and saw it was Al-Habib Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam — look what the hadith says — Zahir leaned back into the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and just embraced him.

And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam loved him so much, so after hugging him he started joking around with him and said: "Who wants to buy this slave?" — obviously Zahir is not a slave, but it is a joke, right? "Who wants to buy this slave?"

But Zahir was described in the hadith as rajulun dameemun — somebody that wasn't physically that attractive, a humble man, he didn't look like much. So when the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam jokingly said "Who wants to buy this slave?", Zahir heard that and responded: "Ya Rasulullah, if you were to sell me, I would not even be worth that much." Look at his perspective — Zahir knew that to the eyes of the people he was not that much. Probably he wasn't the richest, probably he wasn't the best looking.

So when he said that, the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam turned Zahir around and they were looking at each other face to face. And the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught Zahir a lesson that changed his perspective. He said:

"No, by Allah — rather, you are precious in the sight of Allah." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

He said: "Ya Zahir, you may think you are worthless based on the perception of what you think people might think of you — but bal indallah, to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, anta ghalim — you are the most precious of people, you are beautiful in the sight of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala."

The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught Zahir in a loving way that it's not about what people think about you if you're doing the right things. It's not about your external image that matters the most — as if that's the be-all and end-all, that if you don't look a certain way, if you don't act a certain way in front of the people, that's it, you're not going to be accepted. The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught Zahir: even if you think that you're worthless in the eyes of the people, but to Allah — anta ghalim — you're rich, you're pure, you're beautiful.

What Allah Truly Looks At

And the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught this to us. We know the hadith:

"Indeed, Allah does not look at your outward appearances and your wealth, but He looks at your hearts and your deeds." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2564)

Allah does not look at your external image, and Allah does not look at the things that you possess in this world. Hold on — we pause here. If Allah does not prioritize these two things that a lot of us prioritize, what am I doing prioritizing them? So tell me, what should I prioritize? The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam answers that: walakin yanzuru ila qulubikum wa amalikum. Allah looks at rather your hearts — when you go back to Allah, what is the condition of your heart? Is it filled with jealousy and animosity and hatred for those around you? Or is it filled with nothing but love for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and His Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? How is your heart? Allah looks at that. And then Allah also looks at your deeds — what are the things that you used to busy yourself with in this life? What are the things that you used to do in this life?

Because right now, SubhanAllah, we find ourselves in the opposite of this hadith. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says inna Allaha la yanzuru ila surikum — He does not look at your image — but you look at social media, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube and all these different things, saying sawwirni, sawwirni — record me, take a picture of me, put me online, my face belongs there — because we are so fixated on making sure our external image is what everybody wants to see, forgetting that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala doesn't really look at the external image.

And when we find ourselves prioritizing external image rather than true depth of internal effect in our hearts, we find that sometimes our a'mal, our ibadah — our worship, our deeds — can become empty. And that is a dangerous state. We find ourselves worshipping better when the people are around us, but when people are not around us, we are a completely different person. This is very, very dangerous.

But how do we prevent ourselves from going to that state? First and foremost, we have to have the perspective that we need to look for depth — not just the outer realities but the inner realities of every single matter. And it begins with the person that you look at in the mirror, which is yourself. Then it goes beyond to everybody around us — everybody is going through their own things. Who are we to judge with our eyes that are very limited?

The Lesson of the Two Men in the Marketplace

The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught us in another beautiful incident. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was not just saying things — he used to teach the Sahaba RadhiAllahu Anhum experientially. One time the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was sitting with some companions and they were watching the marketplace as people went left and right, doing their business, doing their trade, doing what they needed to do in the day.

So the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam wanted to teach his companions a nice lesson. A man walked by and the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam asked his companions around him: "What do you think about this man?" So the Sahaba said: "Ya Rasulullah, this man — he's from the poorer of the Muslims. Wallahi, harun in khataba an yankiha la yankah — if he were to propose for marriage, nobody would say yes. The uncles would be saying, 'I'm sorry, go to this other brother.' And if he speaks, Ya Rasulullah, I don't think he's going to be heard."

So the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam stayed quiet. Then another man walked by and the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said: "What do you think about this man?" And the companions said: "Wallahi, this is the man! This guy — he is the most honorable of the people. If he were to propose, if he says he's willing to get married, the uncles are jumping off their seats — quick, quick, quick, before he's off the market! If he speaks, everybody listens. If he asks for a favor, he's going to be given that favor."

And the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said nothing. But then he pointed to the first man — the man that they said was a humble man — and he said:

"This man is better than an earth full of the likes of that man." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6447; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2967)

Look at Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam — he saw beyond external realities. He pointed to that first man and said: "Wallahi, do you know this man? He is better than a full earth, a full world, of the man that you were praising." The first man — bring me one of him — is better than a whole world of the second man that you were praising.

The lesson here is not that the first man is better than the second man — it's not about who's better than who. It's about depth and reality and how the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam had vision and looked long-term, not just at what was in front of him, making surface-level conclusions. That's not who he was Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

Why is that so important, my brothers and sisters? If we don't move on from this perspective, if we don't move on from these lenses that we're using — where we just focus on the external — our ibadah will be soiled, our worship to Allah will be empty. When we're around the people, our khushu' and our tears fall. But when we're alone, Shaytan is our best friend. And this is the very same nasihah, the very same advice, that Imam al-Ghazali gives in his book Ayyuhal Walad.

The Warning from Imam al-Ghazali's Ayyuhal Walad

Imam al-Ghazali says in Ayyuhal Walad — a book advising his students — that in his studies he read in the Injeel of Isa Alaihissalam that from the moment the mayyit is put into the casket and then walked or driven to the qabr, to the graveyard itself, in that time Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will ask this person that has passed away many questions.

(Imam al-Ghazali, Ayyuhal Walad)

The first question: Allah will say to the mayyit — to this person that just passed away — and this is very scary, may Allah protect us — Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells this person: "Ya 'abdi — oh My slave, you belong to Me, you're coming back to Me — taharta manzilaka li khalqi sinina — you have beautified and cleansed your external image for a long time, for the creation, meaning for the people. Wa ma taharta manzili sa'atan — but for Me, you did not cleanse yourself even one time. Wa kulla yawmin nanzuru fi qalbika — and all this time when you were forgetting about Me, We have been looking at the state of your heart."

Allah continues and says: "What have you prepared for Me? This whole life I was giving you goodness, but you have prepared nothing for Me. Ama anta asammu la tasma'u — and despite Me giving you blessings and good things and happiness and everything that you asked for in this life, you were deaf and you did not listen to the things that were coming to you."

It's interesting that in this passage Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala uses the word asamm — deaf — because none of us here, the majority of us, are physically deaf. But our hearts might be. And when our hearts are deaf — when our hearts are blind — we don't see past the external. And when our hearts are blind, our ibadah, our worship to Allah, does not go beyond the external — it will not penetrate your heart.

The Man Who Prayed for an Audience

There was a funny story, and I will conclude with this. My teacher one time taught me that there was a man who used to pray better when somebody was watching him. One time he was alone in the masjid, waiting for Salat al-Duha. He didn't go up to pray until he heard a little commotion at the doorway. So he says, "Ahh, it's my time now." He goes up and says Allahu Akbar — he's praying the best Salah, the best Duha, khushu', reading long surahs, the ruku' is perfectly straight, the sajda is long. And then when he's done, he says Assalamu Alaykum, Assalamu Alaykum, and he looked at the door to see who it was.

It was just a dog that had entered.

This is how empty your ibadah can be, and this is how foolish you look to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, if we don't do things for His sake. What is the purpose of us worrying about how we look, what we attain — the money, the house, the cars — if we prioritize that over what our hearts are supposed to be for Allah? We're in a big problem.

But Alhamdulillah Rabbul Alameen — Allah has given us another chance. As Allah says:

"Except for one who comes to Allah with a sound heart." When you go back to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, He is only looking for one thing — when you have a heart that is clean, a heart that is at peace. And you have to do things for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to develop that type of heart. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to make it easy for all of us.

I say this, and I ask Allah to forgive me and you and the rest of the Muslims — so seek His forgiveness, for He is the Most Forgiving and Most Merciful.

Second Khutbah

Alhamdulillah wa kafa, Alhamdulillah, wa salatu was salamu ala ibadihi alladhina astafa, khususan ala afdalihim wa khatamin nabiyyin Muhammadin Amin, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in.

Ibadullah rahimakumullah — O servants of Allah, may Allah have mercy on you:

"Indeed, Allah commands justice, good conduct, and giving to relatives, and He forbids immorality, bad conduct, and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded."

"Remember Allah and He will remember you. Call upon Him and He will respond to you. And establish the prayer."