Gems from the Qur'an - Ustadh Muhammad Tim Humble

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. 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.

Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whom He misguides, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and upon his family and companions, and upon those who follow his path and abide by his sunnah until the Day of Judgment.

And the best speech is the speech of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad ﷺ. And the worst of matters are the newly invented matters — those things which do not have any basis or any evidence from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the actions of his companions. And all of these newly invented matters are innovations, and all innovation is misguidance, and all misguidance is in the Hellfire.

O you who believe, fear Allah and speak a word that is true. He will correct your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has indeed achieved a great success.

Introduction — Reflecting on a Single Ayah

In this khutbah today, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى, I wanted to spend with you this short time in reflecting upon a single ayah from the book of Allah. This ayah is very, very, very short in length. It probably doesn't even cover two lines of the Mus'haf. And yet, we will not be able to cover all of the benefits from this ayah even in a single khutbah — because of the great benefit and the great fa'idah that is in there for the Muslims and for those who reflect.

This ayah is the statement of Allah:

Indeed, those people who say, "Our Lord is Allah," and then they stand firm, and they stand straight and upright upon the religion of Islam — the angels descend upon them saying: "Do not grieve over what has passed, and do not fear over what is to come, and take the glad tidings of paradise that you have been promised."

The First Gem — Rabbuna Allah: Belief Comes First

From the benefits that this ayah contains — and the first and the most important thing that we can extract from this ayah — is how Allah begins the ayah: Indeed, those who say, "Our Lord is Allah." This belief — the belief that Allah is our Lord, that Allah is the only one who is worthy of worship, and nobody and nothing is worthy of worship but Him — this is the first thing that a Muslim clings onto.

Before a Muslim looks at his salah, his prayer, and before he looks at his fasting, and before he looks at his optional deeds, and before he looks at how he treats his parents — before all of these things, a Muslim, before everything else, looks at his belief and his relationship with Allah.

Indeed, those who say, "Our Lord is Allah" — this is not just a word that we say, لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. How many times does this word come and fall off the tongue of a Muslim? But the question is: do your actions give truth to what you say, or do your actions belie what you say? Everyone in this masjid, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى, is from those people who have said رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ, who have said لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ. Every single person here. And yet we differ in the amount that we apply this statement.

And it seems — and Allah knows best — that Allah begins the ayah with this statement because we have no hope of the rest of our deeds being accepted if this is not correct. If the belief is corrupt, then the rest of the deeds will be corrupt.

As we find in the famous hadith of An-Nu'man ibn Bashir رضي الله عنه, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 52; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1599)

"Indeed, there is in the body a piece of flesh. If it is correct, the whole body will be correct. And if it is corrupt, the whole body will be corrupt. And it is the heart."

Ibn Rajab رحمه الله تعالى has a statement. He says: "The essence of standing firm upon Islam — this ayah is all talking about standing firm upon Islam — the essence, the core, the center of standing firm upon Islam, is for the heart to be firm upon Tawheed. And if the heart is firm upon Tawheed, then the limbs will be firm in obedience to Al-'Aziz Al-Hamid."

If the heart is firm and has the right belief, and we look at our hearts and we correct our hearts, and we correct our belief, and we correct our sincerity between us and Allah, then our limbs will fall into obedience to Allah Al-'Aziz Al-Hamid.

The Second Gem — Istiqamah: Standing Firm Upon Islam

And then Allah continues in the ayah:

Those people who say "Our Lord is Allah" — and they do not stop at this. This is not where they stop. They don't stop and suffice themselves by saying, "I believe." ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا — and then they stand firm upon the religion of Islam. They stand firm and strong and upright. They stand up and they are counted as Muslims.

How many of us today are frightened to stand up and be counted as Muslims? In our workplaces, in our schools, with our families, when we deal with people in the street. How many of us are frightened to stand up and be counted as a Muslim? How many of us are applying the statement of Allah:

"O you who believe, enter into Islam completely, and do not follow the footsteps of the Shaitan."

So we stand firm upon Islam. We stand straight upon Islam. We rise up and we are counted as people who practice this religion of Islam.

What Is Istiqamah?

What is this istiqamah that Allah talks about in the ayah? What does it mean to stand up and be counted as a Muslim? Istiqamah, in the Arabic language, means to rise up and to stand up tall. So Allah, in this ayah, talks about you rising up and standing up tall.

Some of the scholars of Islam defined this istiqamah with the following. They said it is:

That you stick to the straight path — that straight path that you ask Allah for how many times a day in your salah:

"Guide us to this straight path." So the very essence of this istiqamah — of standing up tall and rising up and saying, "I'm a Muslim," and being proud to follow this religion of Islam — the very essence of this is that you stick to Allah's straight path.

How do you stick to Allah's straight path?

By sticking to those things that Allah has commanded you to do — and that His Messenger ﷺ commanded you to do — and by staying away from those things that Allah prohibited you from and those things that Allah's Messenger ﷺ prohibited you from.

How do you do all of this? You do all of this by:

With knowledge — the knowledge has to come first. And then after knowledge, you have that sincerity between you and Allah. That this is for Allah alone. That you're not sticking to the صِرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ because your parents have told you to. And you're not sticking to it so that you can be seen in the masjid to be someone who is praying and someone who is fasting. And you're not sticking to it for the sake of your peer group or your friends. But you're sticking to the صِرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ for Allah alone and for nobody and nothing else — seeking the face of Allah, hoping to see Allah in Jannatul Firdaws al-A'la. This is the reason why we stick to the صِرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ.

And we have to have in our actions that they are in accordance with the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Because he ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1718)

"Whoever does an action which is not in accordance with what we have brought — what is from the sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ — this action will be rejected." They will not find those good deeds with Allah if they were against the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

The Parable of the Straight Path — Hadith of An-Nawwas ibn Sam'an

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ explained to us what it means to stick to the Sirat al-Mustaqim. He explained it in the hadith of An-Nawwas ibn Sam'an رضي الله عنه, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17634; also narrated by Al-Hakim and others)

"Allah has given you a parable — an example — something that you can understand: the straight path of Allah." How did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ explain the straight path of Allah? He said it is a straight path. On the two sides of this path are walls — tall walls. Imagine a path and imagine on both sides of the path there are walls as far as the eye can see. And on each of these walls there are doorways — door after door after door after door. And these doors, they are covered by a cloth that hangs over each door.

At the beginning of this path there is a da'i, a caller. And the caller is saying to the people: "O people, come and enter the straight path all together and do not look left and right. Do not divide. Do not move to the left and do not move to the right. Stick to this path."

And then there is another da'i from above the path. And he calls down when anyone tries to lift up the curtain that is covering one of the doors. When he tries to lift up this curtain, there is a caller who cries out:

"Woe to you! Don't open this door — because if you open this door, surely you will go into it."

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: the straight path is the religion of Allah. And the walls on either side are the hudud — the limits that Allah has set. The limits whereby you know: if you cross them, you go into the haram. As for the doors, those doors lead to what is haram. The caller at the beginning of the path is the Book of Allah. And the caller who calls from above and tells the Muslim not to lift up the door that leads to the haram is what Allah has put in the heart of every single Muslim — that nature, that inherent fear of Allah in the heart of every Muslim. That little feeling you get when you go into the haram. That little thing that is saying to you, "Stop it, don't do it." That is the caller that calls out to you when you go to lift up the curtain.

And when you go to lift up the curtain — if you walk into it, you will walk into the haram. This hadith explains to us what is meant by the straight path. We have a path like the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Its night is like its day. Nobody turns away from it except that he is destroyed." A path that has been made so clear for us. The halal is so clear and the haram is so clear. But there are temptations on either side of the path and there are doors. You are the one who lifts up the curtain. And even when you go to lift up the curtain to go into the haram, there is a caller that calls out: Wayhak — woe to you. Don't enter into this, because if you open this, surely you are going to go into it.

Second Part of the Khutbah — How Do We Achieve Istiqamah?

All praise is due to Allah alone, and we continue to send our salutations, peace and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and upon his family and his companions.

We are talking about the ayah in which Allah says:

Indeed those people who say "Our Lord is Allah" and then they stand firm upon Islam — the angels descend upon them saying: "Do not fear what is to come, and do not grieve over what has passed, and take glad tidings of a paradise which you have been promised."

The next question that comes to us: how do we achieve this standing up straight? How do we make sure that we don't turn left and right? How do we make sure that we don't lift up one of those doors and go inside? How do we stick to this straight path?

Practical Steps Towards Istiqamah

The first thing: seeking refuge with Allah. There is nothing like it. Look at the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. From the time that Allah revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the punishment of the grave, he would seek refuge in every single salah from the punishment of the grave. So seeking refuge with Allah — have complete trust in Him. Know that you cannot achieve anything without the help of Allah. If it was not for the guidance of Allah, you would not be able to stop yourself from going left and right. So ask Allah for that guidance and stay firm, and realize that you can only achieve it with the help of Allah.

Stick to the middle path. Allah has made us ummatan wasatan — a middle ummah. We are prohibited from extremes in this way and that way. We are prohibited from going too far in our religion and we are prohibited from not going far enough. So we stick to the middle path. This is one of the best and most easy of ways for you to stick to the Sirat al-Mustaqim and not turn left and not turn right.

Know that you won't be able to achieve a hundred percent. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, as narrated by Al-Bukhari in his Sahih:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6463)

"Stand firm upon the religion of Islam and know that you won't be able to do it completely." You're not going to spend your entire life straight down the Sirat al-Mustaqim not even looking left and right. You're going to have times when you slip up. Recognizing when those times are is very, very important — because that's how you correct yourself and that's how you stop yourself from going further down that path.

Know the actions that you do best and do as many of them as you can to come close to Allah — beginning with the fard. Because we know in the famous hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he narrated from Allah: "My slave will not be able to come close to Me except with those actions that I have made obligatory." So we start with the fard, we start with the obligatory, and then we build upon it — until the sunnah becomes something that we are used to and accustomed to. And we build more and more and more. But we begin with the easy actions and then with the difficult actions.

Small, regular actions. Allah loves those deeds that are regular, even if they are small.

Know your weaknesses and know the way that the Shaitan attacks you. If you know the way the Shaitan is attacking you, then perhaps you can put something in the way that will prevent you from answering the call of that Shaitan.

The importance of having good friends, good companions, and a good environment. Not to have concern over who is with you or who is against you.

And I finish this section with the statement of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2626)

"Don't consider any good deed to be insignificant." Al-Hafidh ibn Hajar رحمه الله has an addition to this. He says: "That is because the slave of Allah does not know which good deed is going to be the one that will earn him Allah's mercy and forgiveness, nor does he know which sin it is going to be that is going to earn him Allah's anger and punishment."

So we don't consider any of the deeds to be insignificant. And we continue to strive even for the smallest deeds. This is one of the ways that we can achieve this istiqamah and staying upon the Sirat al-Mustaqim.

The Reward — The Angels Descend

To conclude, we talk about the reward. The reward that Allah mentions in the ayah:

The angels will descend. Imagine at the time of death. You feel your soul leaving the body. You feel how much you've been shaken. You don't know whether you're going to Jannah or to the Hellfire. And an angel — in fact, the angels — descend and they say: "Don't worry about what is going to come. And don't worry about what is past. And take glad tidings of the paradise that you have been promised."

Again, imagine when all of the souls are taken out. When the angel blows the horn for the second time. And everyone is running from here to there. And the sun is brought close. And the people are going from person to person to find somebody who will intercede with them before Allah. Then imagine at this time — when you're in this situation — the angels come down and they say to you: "Don't fear about what is going to come. And don't be upset over what is past. And take glad tidings of the paradise that you have been promised."

And the third time: when the believers enter Jannah, and they say the same thing.

So this is a reward that is worth fighting for. That is worth striving for. And we will only be able to do it with the help of Allah.