Reverence and Relevance Problems we Face as Muslims - Corrected

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at that time he said something so profound that we really need to internalize and think about. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

"Indeed, they will give their charity and they will fight alongside you once they submit and become Muslim. Allow them to experience the sweetness of faith."

Allow them to realize and to feel, to experience a meaningful relationship and conversation with Allah. Allow them to develop a sense of reverence and then watch them be ready to submit and to comply. And that's something really important that we have to understand.

Meccan vs Madinah Revelation

Creating a sense of reverence within the people. Inspire before you strive to educate. You have to inspire people.

That's why when you even study the Quran as a very, very kind of, you know, a very general overview. A very general overview of the Quran. If you look at Meccan versus Madinah in Revelation, that is one of the primary observations that you're able to make.

It's almost 101 (عُلُومُ الْقُرْآن - 'Ulum al-Quran). That Meccan Revelation is dominated by the discussions in the topics of faith and spirituality and inspiration and reflection and introspection. And Madinah Revelation then gets into finer details of the implementation of the law and deeper issues of discussion and deliberation.

But that inspiration is created first. That faith is rooted. Faith and conviction is something that finds its, it takes root within the heart. And then the actions attest to it. Allah speaks about this in the Quran. About the parable of the tree. Being, representing faith. That its roots are extremely firm. And then its branches extend far into the sky.

So, people must be inspired first. And we do currently have this issue. Whenever we see this problem in society and how easy it is to be so critical and to completely just write off and condemn the masses and younger people.

That these people have no iman. They have no spirituality. These people, they have, they don't understand Islam properly. It's easy to blame them. It's easy to write them off. But we have to also think about what problem exists within us.

Within the infrastructure of our community. Within our institutions. Within our approach to even teaching and passing on and spreading the deen and the religion.

That how we become so informationally and technically obsessed that we feel that that's the way, that's the primary mechanism to actually communicating and relaying the faith to people. Even our own children, our own generations.

And that's not to say that there's no room for a deeper discussion and a deeper study of the religion. That is absolutely necessary. The people who commit. People who commit themselves to a deeper study of the religion are a vanguard of the religion and the community.

That's absolutely necessary. But we also have to understand about the strategy the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is teaching us. That the Quran is teaching us and instructing us within. And that strategy, that philosophy is we have to inspire people.

Addressing Problem Two: Purifying Our Intentions in Seeking Knowledge

The second issue that I talked about was our own pursuit of sacred knowledge. As a segment of the community that is more motivated to learn about our deen and learn about our religion. And maybe even involved in more serious pursuits of learning of serious pursuits of learning about the religion.

We need to constantly go back and we need to review and we need to really think about exactly how we're approaching this endeavor. How are we pursuing how are we pursuing sacred knowledge? And what form has it taken on?

And the big thing that we need to do as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم instructs us very generally, but it's particularly relevant here. And that's why scholars and ulama constantly wrote this at the beginning of their monumental works. And that is, We have to constantly ask ourselves, why I'm doing what I'm doing?

Whether it's memorizing the Quran or learning the qiraat or studying the Arabic language or studying a book of hadith or studying fiqh and usul or whatever it may be. Whatever course of study we're involved in, we have to constantly revisit our purpose of doing so.

And I know that it seems very reductive. It might seem too simplistic or too reductive to someone to say that we're doing this ultimately to come closer to Allah, but it's not. The reason why that's always the answer is because it's a universal truth.

It is a universal truth that will stand true for all time. And we have to constantly revisit whether or not I am actually coming closer to Allah, whether or not I'm becoming a better person through this exercise or not, or am I just learning certain things that gives me the ability to know more things, to talk about different types of things, to express my depth of knowledge and my intellectual prowess to people around me, or am I actually improving in my caliber and my quality as a person.

Learning from the Pious Predecessors

Something really, really small, but something so profound. I was just actually looking at something where it was talking about one of the islaf, one of the pious predecessors, and it talked about, and it's one of the very giants of our tradition.

And it was talking about that when he got older, when he was a fully grown man, and his mother was elderly, when he would sit and talk to his mother, if you were not familiar with him and with their relationship, you would think that he was extremely ill.

You would think he was extremely ill because of how softly he would speak, and how gently he would talk, and how humbly he would sit, kind of hunched over in front of his mother. Like these were actually good quality people. They had that about them. And so we have to constantly revisit.

Questions for Self-Reflection

First, we ask ourselves the question, why am I pursuing the knowledge that I'm pursuing? The second question is, how am I pursuing that knowledge? That is another travesty of our time.

Our scholars of the past used to say:

"Do not learn how to read the Quran from someone who learned it from just a mushaf, self-taught. Do not write hadith from someone who just basically read a bunch of manuscripts, checked out a book from the library."

Don't write hadith from someone like that. How are we seeking knowledge? Am I sitting there pounding away at a keyboard? And I'm calling that knowledge?

And I don't mean to be insulting or to, you know, deride anyone's efforts. Please understand what I'm saying. There sometimes are some people have the luxury. If you live here in Minneapolis, you can drive in three different directions and you can find teachers. You can find a place where you can go and study.

I understand that. But what if you're not from here? What if you're from somewhere that's two, three, four hundred miles away, in the middle of nowhere? We call it Oklahoma, right? Always. There's always has to be one Oklahoma joke.

All right. So what if you live in the middle of nowhere? What are you supposed to do? So then you have to make do with what you have available. You get a book of a scholar, of a teacher. You maybe watch some of their videos.

But as long as you do that understanding that this is not the asal, you do that understanding that you are doing tayammum, not wudu. You are utilizing what is available to you at this time. But the moment

something more valid, something more meaningful would become available to you, you would jump at the opportunity to do so.

That's one of the things I always appreciated about Al-Maghrib. Was that if you live in Raleigh, North Carolina, or you lived in Columbus, Ohio, and maybe there weren't teachers that were available there to teach. Maybe. So you were reading books and watching some videos and whatnot.

But then what would happen is three or four times a year, an actual teacher, a scholar would come to your community. And that's an opportunity. And that's where you get your test of sincerity. Are you doing it right? Is whether or not then you would free up that weekend and go sit down and actually learn in a class and interact with a person of knowledge.

"Understanding that knowledge moves from chest to chest. Knowledge is not communicated by way of ink on paper."

The Prophet's Teachings on Beneficial Knowledge

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم taught us to pray:

"O Allah, I ask You for beneficial knowledge, and I seek refuge in You from knowledge that does not benefit."

Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As رضي الله تعالى عنهما says:

"The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم used to seek refuge from four things." (Tirmidhi(

Meaning he taught us to always be very weary and be very cautious about four things. And the first of those four things was مِنْ عِلْمٍ لَا يَنْفَعُ - "from knowledge that does not benefit."

So you have to submit yourself to the process. As a person once said, trust the process.

The Proper Sequence of Learning

The third thing is what. Why, how and what. And this is something again where I need everyone to understand what I'm saying.

Studying fiqh and usul is very very important and really beneficial. But there is a curriculum that needs to be followed. And learning about the book of Allah تعالی and what Allah تعالی has said in his book has to come first.

Learning the Quran has to come first. Learning the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. The guidance the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم gave to us. The sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . That has to come second. We have to start with Allah and His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Because I talked about that reverence. We have to develop that reverence. And then will come the more in-depth pursuit of knowledge.

Then you will be driven. Then you'll be motivated. Then even reading a book of usul can be a profoundly spiritual exercise for you. Because you understand that you're doing it ultimately to understand Allah's will. And to try to find a way to live your life as closely as possible to the example of the Messenger صلی الله عليه وسلم

This is why when I generally kind of go around and I get the opportunity, I understand there might be folks who are further along in their journey of studying the religion. But I would like to state just the very first step I like to share with people. And that is for each and every single Muslim. I feel it is absolutely necessary.

To read a translation of the Quran from cover to cover. And at least start by reading a complete book from start to finish on the life of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. Start there. And then see how that inspires you and motivates you.

Addressing Problem Three: Bringing the Community Together

And the last issue I talked about, the last issue I had pointed out and I'll conclude with this. Is that we also have to help bring our community together. We all have to be beneficial to one another. But there does seem to be and this kind of goes back to the first two issues. This is a consequence of the first two problems existing.

This third problem exists as a consequence of that, as a result of that. And that is our communities increasingly becoming fragmented. It's bad enough that there are things like race and ethnicity and language and culture and even politics that divide us.

But then we further are becoming increasingly divided along spiritual lines as well. That there's this growing divide between religious or practicing people and non-religious, non-practicing people. And it's just, it's a growing divide that is very, very problematic.

Greater Responsibility for Those with Knowledge

And there's, this might not seem fair, but nobody cares. It's not about being fair. It's about what's right. To whom much is given, much is asked from or much is expected. With great power comes great responsibility. Or kama kala Uncle Ben.

Right? So you've been given a gift and a blessing, more is asked of you. That's just the way it works. My teacher's teacher (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى) gave a very profound example explaining this issue to him. He's passed (مُفْتِي تَقِي عُثْمَانِي رَحِمَهُ الرَّحْمٰن) away now.

He said his teacher gave him this example trying to explain to him, you have more responsibility. You are more liable. You are more accountable. You have to shoulder the blame. You have to shoulder the blame. You have to take the first step.

The Example of the Glass Jug

He gave this example. I have two of my children. I have three children, alhamdulillah. But two of my children. I have a daughter who is nine. And I have a son who is four.

If I give my daughter a glass jug, like a big glass jug full of water. And I give it to her and I tell her, take it to the other room. Take it to the other room.

She turns around and she hands it to my four-year-old, her little brother. Nine and four. And she hands it to him. He takes two steps. Obviously, he's small. He can't carry that much.

He takes two steps. He stumbles forward. He drops it, smashes and breaks the glass, creates a whole mess. He's crying. Glass everywhere. There's a mess.

Who am I going to be upset with? I'm not going to be upset with Muhammad, the four-year-old. In fact, I'm going to comfort him. I'm going to comfort him.

But I will be extremely upset with my nine-year-old Aisha. And I will hold her accountable. Even though technically, if you look at it directly, Muhammad broke it. But Aisha didn't do her job.

When we have this type of a divide in the community and there are people who are more practicing, more knowledgeable, whatever you want to call it. And then you have a large segment of the community that is moving further and further away. Going to another extreme. And there's animosity or bad feelings developing between these different segments of the community.

We have to understand that we have to make a better effort to represent Islam better. We have to represent this deen in a much more inviting fashion. And we have to do a better job of reaching out to people. They're not reaching out or they're not being compliant or they're not working with us. That's irrelevant. We have to do a better job.

The Example of the Prophet's Character During Hijrah

And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) I'll just give one example of this and then I'll conclude.

There's this one narration that really, really strikes me. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) when he was performing the hijrah, he was with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ). And they were performing the

hijrah and on the way to the hijrah, on the way to Medina, excuse me, they went through this mountain pass and they came across two bandits.

And when the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) confronted the two bandits, they usually would rob people, highway robbers. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) kind of called them out and they came to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم).

The presence of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) was just so sobering. He asked them:

"Who are you two?"

And they said:

"We are the most wretched of people."

And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) said:

"No, you are two honorable human beings."

That generosity of spirit, that kindness of the heart of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) brought people closer. So people today are complaining about a lack of relevance of the religion. But the religion has always been extremely relevant.

It's not a lack of relevance that is the issue, it's a lack of reverence that is a real problem. And that reverence needs to be illustrated and demonstrated through our character and our conduct. We are here today learning, but understand the responsibility that comes with that.

Conclusion

May Allah guide us all to the truth. May Allah allow us to learn our religion the proper way. And may Allah make us ambassadors of this beautiful deen and this religion.

Jazakumullah khairan. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.