Abdul Rahman Chao - 4-28-23

The Historical Context: The Expedition to Tabuk

The Arabian Peninsula. From the northeast we have the Persians and their allies, the Lakhmids. And then in the northwest we have the Byzantine Roman Empire and their client states, the Ghassanids.

And these were Christians. And so for the longest time these two superpowers viewed the Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula and even before Islam as a bunch of ragtag barbarians who are living in the desert that no one cares about. They didn't even bother to conquer it.

But during this time period, towards the end of the life of the Prophet ﷺ, while they were in Medina, the Romans started paying attention and noticing that the Muslims were potentially becoming a threat. So there were strong rumors circulating as the caravans would go up north and come back to Mecca and then come right down through all the way to Yemen. There were rumors, strong rumors and suspicion that the Byzantine Romans were ready to attack the Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims.

So the Prophet ﷺ prepared a large army to confront them. Not only to make a military statement but as well as a political statement. So the Prophet ﷺ usually would not announce his intentions to where he would go on military expeditions in order to keep it a secret.

But this time the Prophet ﷺ made it very clear. And so the hypocrites obviously gave their excuses and they said, we can't make it, we have excuses, we have responsibilities, we have families that we have to take care of and the list goes on. And there were people that actually had genuine reasons that they could not go.

The Story of the Three Who Stayed Behind

And they would come to the Prophet ﷺ and they would be crying. And as the days would go by, these companions of the Prophet ﷺ would get their money in order, their camel, their ride, their supplies, their weapons in order. And there were three companions, Ka'b bin Malik, as well as Hilal bin Umayyah and also Murad bin Rabieh.

Now these three companions had the capability to go. Like from the story that we read in the hadith of Ka'b bin Malik, he talks about himself and he says, he describes himself as never having two camels at once. So he had the means to go.

And he would look at his garden and the date palms and the fruits were getting ripe and it was time for harvest and he was enjoying the fruits of his labor. And everyday as he watched the people get ready, he would say to himself, I will get ready tomorrow. I will get ready tomorrow, I'll catch up, I'll do it.

I have the ability to, I just need to apply myself and I'll get ready. Until it became too late, until the Prophet ﷺ and the expedition they left to go to Tabuk, all the way to the north. And the hypocrites came up with lots of excuses.

Don't go, it's going to be so hot in the summer. And Allah responded to them:

Say that Jahannam is hotter.

And they also came up with other excuses. Who are you to fight against the Romans? They will destroy you, you will become prisoners of war. And you're going to leave all of this behind and get killed for nothing.

Now Ka'b was not a hypocrite, but he had the problem of procrastination. Until they left and he was still telling himself, there one day ahead of me, I'll catch up, I'll get there. Until it was too late.

The Consequences of Procrastination

The Prophet ﷺ was there, the Roman army never showed up. So it was technically a victory for the Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ was there for about 20 days.

And so he was gone for multiple, multiple weeks. And by the time he came back, the hypocrites again came to apologize and give their excuses. But this time Ka'b and his three companions, they came to the Prophet ﷺ and they admitted that their mistake was procrastination.

They had no excuses whatsoever. And so the punishment was that Allah told Muhammad ﷺ that these three, because they turned their backs on the Muslim community in a time of need, because of their procrastination, for no real reason, that the community would shun them for an unspecified period of time. And it continued for 50 days until Allah revealed the verse in Surah At-Tawbah.

As for the three who stayed behind. Until they couldn't handle it anymore, because they were wracked with guilt. And they realized that there is no fleeing from Allah except to Allah.

So Allah forgave them. Fifty days, no one spoke to them of silent treatment.

Understanding Procrastination

Brothers and sisters, this story teaches us about the dangers of تسويف or procrastination.

And procrastination, according to psychologists like Dr. Fuchsia Soroy, she describes it as a form of voluntary, you voluntarily refuse to do something even though you know you have to do it. And so it is completely a form of harmful delay. And procrastination, a lot of people think that procrastination is because we're lazy or because we have bad time management or so on and so forth, or because of perfectionism.

And these are all actual symptoms of procrastination. And so the real reason behind why we procrastinate from doing what it is, whether it is to learn Arabic, whether it is to memorize more Quran, or we now have the money and we can go to Hajj but we're still delaying for no obvious reason, is the root of it is because of negative emotions. You don't want to deal with this task because of some inconvenience.

Maybe it's a bad experience, maybe it's difficult, maybe you're afraid of failure, maybe it's some negative emotion. So what you do is you cope by avoiding it and doing something else instead. And so you keep putting it off until the deadline comes too close, and you end up missing it, and it makes it worse.

Islam and the Struggle Against Desires

Brothers and sisters, you look at the entire message of Islam. The entire message of Islam is rooted in submitting your egos and your desires. The Prophet ﷺ tells us that Jannah is surrounded by the things that we dislike.

It's difficult to get up for qiyam al-layl, it is difficult to do all these acts of ibadah, and that's why Islam means to submit oneself to Allah. It's not easy. That's why the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Reported by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in Tarikh Baghdad)

None of you have truly believed until you make your whims and desires compliant to whatever the Prophet ﷺ has brought.

Brothers and sisters, we put off these things that we need to do because we know it's difficult. We have some negative feelings or emotions. And so we do the things that are easy and enjoyable.

The Story of Yusuf's Brothers: Procrastinating Repentance

And so brothers and sisters, you look at the story of Yusuf when his brothers conspired to kill him. They were jealous that their father was giving so much attention to Yusuf. So what did they say? In order to make themselves feel better about the sin that they were going to do, they decided to procrastinate their tawbah.

Instead of stopping the sin that they were going to do. What does Allah say in the Quran?

Kill Yusuf or expel him to another far far away land. That was their plot.

And our father will now be able to dedicate his time to us. He won't see him anymore, so he won't be preoccupied. And then he will pay attention to us.

And what did they say? While they were plotting their brother's death, what did they say? وَتَكُونُوا مِن بَعْدِهِ قَوْمًا صَالِحِينَ And after that, you will be amongst the righteous. We will ask Allah for forgiveness.

How many of us brothers and sisters have said to ourselves, Inshallah, when I'm 40, Inshallah, when I'm 60, Inshallah, I will repent to Allah.

How do you know you will live that long? We ask Allah to guide us. We ask Allah to keep us on the straight path.

Second Khutbah

The False Dichotomy of Perfectionism

Sometimes we procrastinate because we've created, Shaytan has created this false dichotomy in our heads of absolutes.

Let's say for example, someone is not praying. And they're also committing major sins. So instead of stopping these things in an organic one by one slowly but surely, Shaytan will come to them and say, Why do you even need to pray? Pray later.

You're doing so many other sins right now. You pray and the next minute you're going to the bar and clubbing. You are a hypocrite.

So Shaytan comes and uses this idea that you need to be perfect in order to delay you from enacting little changes little bit by little bit. And so when people make these big promises and they say, Oh, you know, when I get to this age, I'm going to do this and this and this and this. Psychologists, they say that people say these things because they want to be seen by other people as if I only applied myself, it's not that I can't do it.

And that's what people tell themselves. Oh no, no, no, I can do it. I can do it. It's just that I haven't gotten the resource, I haven't gotten around to it. And so they lie to themselves about the reason for this. And so they would rather be seen as lacking effort than be seen as inept, incapable.

The Wise and the Incapable

And you look at the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, encapsulates this meaning so well in this hadith in which he says:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2459)

The wise person is the one who holds himself accountable and does good deeds for the benefit of the next life after his death. وَالْعَاجِزُ, the inept person, the one who is unable to. مَنْ أَتْبَعَ نَفْسَهُ هَوَاهَا He follows his desires.

وَتَمَنَّى عَلَى اللَّهِ الْأَمَانِيَّ And then he has all these hopes. Inshallah, Allah will forgive. Inshallah, Allah غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

And over time, some people become arrogant where they tell themselves, they've already numbed themselves to this, and so they actually will say things more worse.

And they will say, well, you know, Allah understands my situation. And that's what they tell themselves. Allah غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ Which is true, Allah is غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ But not for those people who keep delaying.

The Example of Pharaoh: Arrogance and Hard Hearts

You look at the greatest impact that procrastination has, and that is arrogance and the hardening of hearts. Look at Firaun. What does Allah say about him?

And they knew in their hearts, but they rejected the truth.

Firaun knew who Allah was. He knew that he was supposed to submit, but their hearts knew deep down. وَجَحَدُوا بِهَا وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا أَنفُسُهُمْ ظُلْمًا وَعُلُوًّا Out of dhulm, oppression and arrogance.

And look what happened to Firaun.

Shaytan's Deception About Time

Brothers and sisters, some of the effects of procrastination is that shaytan makes us think that we have a lot of time. From the famous hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, shaytan comes at night, and he discourages you from getting up and praying qiyam al-layl.

A lot of people think that this hadith is talking about fajr. It's actually talking about qiyam al-layl. And so he will tie three knots over the person.

And what does shaytan say? عَلَيْكَ لَيْلٌ طَوِيلٌ You have a very long night. Go to sleep. And he will say it every time.

He ties his knot over you. He'll say, you have a very long night. Go to sleep.

So you think, yes, I have time.

The Reality of Death and Limited Time

Brothers and sisters, you look at what the Quran tells us and warns us about this obliviousness to time. On the day of judgment, look at the disbelievers.

Until the disbeliever, until death comes to them, what will they say? And when death comes to them, Oh Allah, return us back. So that they can believe, so they can do good deeds. لَعَلِّي أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا Perhaps I will do good deeds.

فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ كَلَّا The things that I've left behind, the things that I didn't do. No, it will not be allowed.

And even for the believers, Allah tells us:

Even the believer, they will say, Oh Allah, delay death for me so that I may give charity, so that I will be amongst the righteous.

The Solution: Acting Immediately

And so that's why brothers and sisters, the solution to this procrastination that we have, is to, when you see something good, you do it immediately. That's why when the companion said, Ya Rasulullah, what is the greatest deed, the most beloved deed to Allah? He said, to do your salah on time.

The Prayer of the Hypocrite

And I want to close off, by reminding you the opposite, in which the Prophet ﷺ tells us in a hadith.

He describes the hypocrite when it comes to the salah. May Allah protect us. He says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 622)

That is the way of how the hypocrite prays. That is the way how the hypocrite prays. That is the way how the hypocrite prays.

So here the Prophet ﷺ is talking about the person and Salatul Asr.

He sits there and he watches the time. Like we do at work. We still have 30 minutes, 20 minutes, 10 minutes.

He's watching the sun, watching the time. Until it is right about to be coming, coming to Maghrib, what does he do? He goes and he pecks, four pecks, like a bird. In other words, it's a metaphor for the person makes a sajdah so quick that he barely touches the ground.

So fast, just to get it done with. وَلَا يَذْكُرُ اللَّهَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا He does not mention Allah except very, very little.

Take Advantage of Five Before Five

The Prophet ﷺ says, take advantage of five before five.

Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before your preoccupation, and your life before death.