Nature & Anxiety
By Abdal Hakim Murad | 2026-01-13T19:47:50.498338+00:00 | Topic: Trials
Nature & Anxiety - Friday Khutbah by Abdal Hakim Murad
Opening
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
بسم اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Khutbah al-Hajah (Opening Khutbah)
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي سَلَّمَ مِيزَانَ الْعَقْلِ إِلَى أَكُفِّ ذَوِي الْأَلْبَابِ وَأَرْسَلَ الرُّسُلَ مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ بِثَوَابِ وَالْعِقَابِ وَجَعَلَ شَرَائِعَ كَامِلَةً لَا نَقَاصَ فِيهَا وَلَا عَابَ. أَحْمَدُهُ حَمْدَ مَنْ يَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُ مُسَبِّبُ الْأَسْبَابِ وَأَشْهَدُ بِوَحْدَانِيَّتِهِ شَهَادَةَ مُخْلِصِ فِي نِيَّتِهِ غَيْرِ مُرْتَابٍ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَرْسَلَهُ وَقَدْ سَدَلَ الْكُفْرُ عَلَى وَجْهِ الْإِيمَانِ الْحِجَابَ فَأَخْرَجَهُمْ مِنَ الظَّلَامِ بِنُورِ الْهُدَى وَكَشْفِ النِّقَابِ وَبَيَّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَأَوْضَحَ مُشْكِلَاتِ الْكِتَابِ فَصَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ الْآلِ وَكُلِّ الْأَصْحَابِ وَتَابَعَيْنَا لَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْحَشْرِ وَالْحِسَابِ
أَمَّا بَعْدُ فِي يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِخْوَةُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ سَلَامُ اللهِ تَعَالَى عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
Main Khutbah
Opening Quranic Verse
: قَالَ اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ فِي الْقُرْآنِ الْكَرِيمِ
أَعُوذُ باللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّحِيمِ
بسم اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
"Say, by the grace of Allah and by His mercy let them rejoice in this - it is better than everything that they collect."
صَدَقَ اللهُ الْعَظِيمُ
The Message of True Rejoicing
A short verse in a sense it encompasses the entire message of Deen and it tells us that there is something more important than that which we put into our bank accounts and store up on the front drives of our houses and all of that other storage for the unknowable future that occupies our waking hours and keeps us awake at night. There is something that is (خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ - better than what they gather and collect) and this thing is by Allah's grace and His mercy and Allah says (فَبِذَلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا - let them rejoice in this).
We can't have a full rejoicing in the things of this world. We buy something at a high price and we feel proud and important for a short while but then it becomes a source of anxiety. That is the way of this world - everything, not only ourselves, gets older. There is metal fatigue, spare parts are hard to find, it's a headache. That initial joy soon wears off and it becomes just another source of anxiety.
The Wonder of Creation
When we think about this world we think about this process whereby everything runs down - the baby is born and the clock is already ticking and Allah knows how many seconds will be in that baby's life. Everything is running down, everything physical, but the thing which abides of course is the spirit. But the world also is this great paradox of things that seem to build up mystery after mystery, miracle after miracle and the believer looks at it all not just with curiosity but with wonder. Faith is wonder.
What is more unlikely and strange and mysterious than that anything at all should exist and yet it does? What is more extraordinary than that there should be physical laws in the universe - there is the law of gravity, the speed of light, so many other things, mysterious and yet they exist? What should be more unlikely and mysterious and strange than that there should be living things? Scientists struggle to define life and yet there it is in all of its wondrous variety, now so shockingly threatened by a culture of unbelief and greed - a culture of (مَجْمَعُون - what they gather).
The Miracle of Humanity and Prophecy
And of all living things what could be more extraordinary and strange and mysterious than man - Bani Adam - in whom there can be moral choice, discernment, planning for the future, great works of culture, great evil? What a mystery is man, the climax of creation أَحْسَنِ تقويم. And amongst the ranks of humanity what is more extraordinary and beautiful and wonderful and unlikely and blessed - full of فضل and رحمة - than a prophet, one who takes nothing for himself and who makes immense sacrifices only so that people may look at this universe with wonder and with gratitude?
And amongst all of the Anbiya' that a benign heaven has sent down the centuries, down countless millennia - for every nation there has been a guide (this is Allah's generosity) - there has never been one whose mission was more extraordinary and whose restoration of the human balance was more complete in difficult times than the holy prophet of Islam ﷺ who was sent in order to bring us to this رَحْمَة and this فضل.
The Mercy to All Worlds
"We sent you only as a mercy, as a grace, as a blessing to the world."
Everything that he brings - the beliefs that he brings, the wisdom that he brings, the capacity to see everything with wonder and delight and gratitude - this فَرّح of the believer from him. Every single thing we need to absorb and benefit from every last detail of the sunnah is something that even if it seems hard to us at first, we should recognise is not an imposition but is simply a merit and a blessing - فضل و رَحْمَة
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala has truly been generous to us: the miracle of creation, the miracle of life, the miracle of beauty, the miracle of the anbiya, the miracle of Bani Adam and then at the summit of all of that خَيْرٌ خَلْقِ اللهِ - the best of Allah's creatures - Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ
The Birth of the Prophet ﷺ
If you read history books you might have heard of something called the Dead Sea Scrolls - very interesting ancient Jewish texts dug up on the west bank 50, 60 years ago with strange stories of a Jewish community that was expecting great changes in the religious history of mankind. One of these documents is called the Damascus Document and in it these Jews - and this is six centuries before the appearance of the seal of the messengers ﷺ - they are speaking to themselves of two great transformations, two messianic changes and deliverances which will turn the world upside down and bring light and salvation. One of these they call the Priestly Messiah and one is called the Lay Messiah.
Now no doubt they didn't get everything right, no doubt these are strange terms for us, but Sayyidina Isa عليه السلام was from the line of the ancient Israelite priests and Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ was a gentile prophet. They were expecting not just one but two deliverers. We all know the story of how the wise men were guided to the cradle of Sayyidina Isa عليه السلام by a star - this is not really in our text, we don't need to believe it but we've heard the story.
But when we look at the birth of the founder of our final all-inclusive mercy-filled religion we find in the seerah of Ibn Ishaq this extraordinary story. We know that Ibn Ishaq who is the first of all the seerah writers and he is meeting people who know the tabi'een - he is very early. He says:
The Prophet ﷺ was born in the month of Rabi' al-awwal in the year of the elephant. But he narrates something else and he narrates it of one of the famous sahaba Hassan bin Thabit. Hassan bin Thabit who is from Medina was the great poet of the holy prophet ﷺ whose diwan is considered to be the first great collection of poems that praise the founder of the Islamic religion.
Hassan bin Thabit's Account
So Hassan bin Thabit's words are described as follows:
- I was a boy, seven years old or eight
- I understood everything that I was hearing from people (he's not a baby)
- One night one of the Jews of Medina of Yathrib as it then was, on the roof, shouting out:
- O assembly of Jews, gather together
- And they all gathered to him and they said: "Woe betide you, what's wrong?"
- And he said: "On this night the star of Ahmad has risen, denoting his birth."
So many of these old communities which preserved their Tawheed and so many true memories and were worshipping Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala recalled that this deliverer would come.
The Blessing of Birth
So when we think of this supreme blessing, what greater blessing is there that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala should lift the curtains of darkness in the world of the Jahiliyyah and in the world of Tahrif and distortion of earlier messages and bring them once again to the pure Abrahamic truth in which there is true delight:
- what greater blessing could there be than that?
And it takes the form of a birth. This is significant. The Holy Qur'an speaks a lot of births and birthing. It speaks of the growth of the embryo quite frequently:
We created man of a kind of clay. And then:
We made him a seed, a little embryo, a mass of cells in a safe place.
The Miracle of Motherhood
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala in His mercy, because of His love for Bani Adam, wishes us to originate and wishes our insoling and origination in the world to be in a place that is special, safe, revered, full of mercy as the mother directs all her energies and her thoughts and her prayers in love to that unborn helpless child who she carries within her - the most beloved, the most secure place.
Now we know that this greatness of motherhood is often a time of anxiety. Mothers worry, pregnancy can be difficult, sometimes it goes wrong, sometimes there's a miscarriage, sometimes the child is born and isn't healthy. It's a time of anxiety but also a time of extraordinary hope. What is a more beautiful moment in a marriage than the time when with tears in her eyes the wife announces to the husband that she is with child? Is there any more extraordinary and moving moment that brings them together that increases their mutual love and support?
And when she feels the child quickened and move within her - subhanallah - and she realises that she is within herself not just one soul, not just one ruh but two? A Turkish word for pregnant is "iki canla" which means "to have two souls" - I always like that - and so double blessings, an extraordinary and a blessed time.
The Stories of the Prophets and Their Mothers
And it is here that Allah in His wisdom and creative might has decreed that Bani Adam shall enter the world including the great Anbiya عليهم السلام. So again and again when we hear in the holy Qur'an the stories of the prophets and how they stood against impossible odds in order to bring the light of truth and this فَرّح this rejoicing to their peoples, we see this question of the birth and the greatness of the mother.
Hajjar and the Sa'i
When we think about the rights of women in Islam we must never exclude the fact that our scripture praises motherhood and loves motherhood. So we find when we take our hajj or we take our umrah and we finished our tawaf and we make our two rak'ahs at the maqam of Ibrahim the great patriarch, where do we go next? Where are we required to go next or the ritual is not perfect? Zamzam! And then of course safa, tamarwa safa, tamarwa safa, tamarwa - without that no hajj, no umrah, nothing at all.
And when we do that we remember the mother of Ismail عليه السلام and her extraordinary heroism out in the desert holding the little hand of her son apparently against all odds. Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala because of her trust, because of her prayers, because of her confidence in the command of her prophetic husband opens up to her the miracle of zamzam and the extraordinary ritual of sa'i.
Maryam عليها السلام
When we think about Sayyidina Isa عليه السلام we think particularly about his birth. Most of what is about him in the Quran is about his birth - the annunciation, the arrival of the angel and then that great trial which shows how strong she was, how absolute she was in her acceptance of the command of her lord. She comes to the judges, the scribes, the pharisees in Jerusalem holding the baby. The assumption of course is that she has committed an abomination but she is faithful to her vow of silence. She just points
The Strength in Weakness
And we need to think about this again and again. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is talking about pregnancy, life, childbirth, the honour of the mother, the strength of the mother even though so difficult - pregnancy, a time of weakness; childbirth, a time of weakness:
Reference: Quran 31:14
"His mother bears him weakness upon weakness." What can she do? And yet these women are shown as so strong. Out of their anxiety, through these beautiful fitri processes of nature by which a loving creator has determined that his most beloved creatures shall enter this dunya, wonders happen!
Facing Modern Anxieties
This is an age in which many of us are anxious - climate change, so many other things, things seem to be changing, the ground seems to be shifting beneath our feet and everybody, every ummah recognises this is a time of uncertainty, instability. People are not sure about the future.
The gift of iman is that we know that even in the most difficult situations you depend on Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. You say:
This, the holy prophet's religion, is the religion for the last phase in prophetic history when the dark times and the end times shall come and it is there to remind us of the divine power and omnipotence so that we say when a musiba approaches us:
And we say:
And we say:
These are beautiful Islamic phrases that should come from us frequently. We know that whatever is happening outwardly has an inward meaning and is part of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala's decree and His plan and His wisdom and ultimately, though we cannot see it, leading towards this faraj, this joy.
The Poet's Words of Hope
So let us not be people of pessimism and people of despair. Let us remember the omnipotent power and grace and mercy of our creator. There's a famous poem which runs like this which is precisely about it:
One of my favourite poems I can't translate at all, but it's a poem in which the poet is talking to his nafs, his self and he says: "If you don't get the things that you want do not be aggrieved but always run towards your lord's banquet which he has spread out for you. And if something which you're hoping for is slow in coming, then you should know that very often in that slowness is itself a gift. And should there come to you from your lower self a breath of despair - that lowest and most deplorable thing - then wake up from the slumber of heedlessness and make your pasture the land of hope which you never leave." And he goes on.
In other words when we are despairing it's because we've forgotten the obvious thing which is that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala is in charge and has always been in charge and will be in charge and was in charge of Sayyidina Isa and Sayyidina Musa and Sayyidina Ibrahim and Sayyidina Muhammad and all of the Anbiya عليهم السلام who never wavered in their confidence in the divine control and the divine power for one instant.
Closing Prayer
So we ask Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala to bestow upon us that great and precious grace that when we see some misfortune we say:
Or we say:
These are the things that the believer will naturally say rather than utter some ugly obscene word. No, he has these words which remind him that behind the incomprehensible show of things there is only the divine mercy and grace and power and perfection.
Just behind the surface of everything there are only the names of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Nothing makes anything happen in this world other than the one true creator and this is the essence of Tawheed.
So may Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala make us people of hope and heal our anxieties and through these beautiful natural processes such as the miracle of new birth and through the miracle of nature itself make us people of hope not of anxiety, people of trust not of fearfulness and inshallah keep us far, far, far away from the vice of despair.
آمین
Closing Dua
Reference: Quran 2:201