Islam is Spreading Worldwide!

Islam is Spreading Worldwide

Opening and Greetings

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And may the peace and blessings be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad, his family and his companions forever. I begin with the greeting words of paradise.

The Mercy of Prophethood and Divine Revelation

One of the great mercies upon this ummah, this nation, is that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, the seal of the prophets, the last of the great messengers, he did not speak from himself. But as in the case of Ibrahim, the Prophet Abraham, (عليه السلام). As in the case of Musa, the Prophet Moses, (عليه السلام). As in the case of Jesus, Isa, (عليه السلام). The Prophet Muhammad spoke on behalf of the creator of the heavens and the earth.

And one of the special qualities of this last prophet, peace be upon him, was that Allah gave him a view of the future. So that even though he lived in Arabia 1400 years ago, he was able to see the vastness of the earth. He was able to ponder upon sights that no human being in his time or up until today was able to see.

The Prophetic Vision of Islam's Global Spread

And in one hadith, one of the Sahaba Thauban, (رضي الله عنه) he reports that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

(Sahih Muslim 2889)

"Verily Allah has shown me the expanses of the earth. He showed me the east and he showed me the west. And he informed me that the possessions of my ummah, my nation, would reach as far as I have seen."

And so in this hadith, the Prophet, peace be upon him, was given an amazing sight into the future. And (صدق رسول الله) surely he spoke the truth. Today Islam is spreading all throughout this planet to the farthest reaches.

Islam Spreading to the Far East

Recently, information has come to us that in New Zealand, and now if you stand in Arabia and you go east, you'll find with the date line somewhere out in the Polynesian Islands in the Pacific. And now recently, word has come that in New Zealand, the Maori people, they are accepting Islam in crowds. This is a phenomenon that was not known in the past. And so far out into the Polynesian Islands, people are coming into Islam.

Islam Spreading to the Far West

To the west, you cross Morocco, cross the Atlantic Ocean, into America, where thousands of people yearly are still embracing Islam. And if we continue west, to the furthest point of the west we see, in Hawaii, in the islands of Hawaii, in that part of the Pacific, we find that there are large amounts of people who are also embracing Islam.

(صدق رسول الله) he did not speak from himself. He spoke from revelation.

Islam in the Far North - Alaska Experience

I had the opportunity to travel to the far north, to a place called Alaska. And in that part of the world, there are (عجائب), there are strange natural phenomena that went on. We reached Alaska in the summer. And we were with the (جماعة) when the time came to make (صلاة المغرب), the imam looked at his watch and he said it's time for prayers, we made maghrib and the sun was out.

The time for isha came, he looked at his watch again, he said it's time for (صلاة العشاء), and the sun was still out. We continued until 12 or 1 o'clock at night, we tried to go to sleep, we looked outside and the sun was out, as though it was noon. But this is the midnight sun.

Islamic Jurisprudence and Adaptation

This is one of the strange phenomena in the earth of Allah. But the great fuqaha of Islam have shown us a way out of this. That when you travel to the north in an area where you are so far away that the day is not equal, not like the middle east, in that if you go so far out that the day does not change and you find in the north you'll have a whole month of sun and you'll have a whole month of darkness.

If you reach that point, then you can make (تقدیر). You find the closest city that has a reasonable time and then you can use that for your time. Some of the scholars also told us that we could use Mecca al-Mukarramah as the basis for the whole world. And so Islam is dynamic.

Muslims in the Arctic Regions

And in that part of the world (الحمد الله) we met Inuit people, known as Eskimos, who build their houses out of ice. It is so cold that the whole house is made of ice. On the inside, skin is put and by the mercy of Allah, the house becomes warm. In this igloo, in these areas, people in a place called Fairbanks, Alaska, the Inuit people, the Eskimo people, are coming into Islam. In the far reaches of the north, this is a phenomena that we never knew before.

It is so cold in the north that sometimes in the winter it goes down to minus 60 degrees, up to the North Pole. But by the mercy of Allah, Islam is spreading. And so in all parts of the world now, we find the message of Allah spreading throughout the planet despite the political confusions of the world today.

The True Nature of Islam's Spread

Despite the wrong image given in the technology, in the media, Islam is still spreading because it is not the religion of paper. Islam is a way of life. And let us never forget that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, told his companions on that Arafat sermon that those who are present should take this message to those who are absent.

It is the message of the belief in one God. It is the message that we should not be involved in (ظلم). We should not be involved in oppression of any type.

The Message of Equality and Justice

It is also the message that there is no preference of the white over the black or the black over the white. There is no preference of the Arabs over the non-Arabs or the non-Arabs over the Arabs (إلا بالتقوى). It is only that consciousness, that taqwa, that piety in action that separates the believers.

That message was also the one that said men have rights over women but women also have rights over men. It is that message that has shown us that there are two affairs, there are two things. If you follow them, you will never go astray.

And that is the book of Allah and the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

The Method of Spreading Islam

The Prophet peace be upon him with these words and others sent his followers to the four corners of the earth. And so Muslims up until today are still spreading Islam not by force, not by conquering armies but by interaction with other people that when the message of Islam becomes a reality, when the message of Islam is in the life of the individual, it affects not only his spiritual life, it affects his material life.

Islam as a Complete Way of Life

It affects not only his life in the masjid, it affects him outside. And so his business should be Islamic. He should be honest in his business. He should be honest in school, not even cheating on the exams. His mouth should be clean, not only the cleaning of wudu of the parts of the body but his mouth should be clean, his eyes should be clean, his whole life should be clean. And modesty comes in his life, modesty comes in her life.

And the reality of Islam should even influence his economic life that he should try his best to stay away from interest, from usury and interest. It should affect his political life that he doesn't become a slave of political parties or economic political gains but he stays the slave of Allah.

Conclusion and Prayer

Surely the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was shown the expanses of this earth. He was shown the mountains and the valleys and the rivers. He was shown the deserts and he informed us that this message would spread to the far east and to the far west. This is a great blessing to be part of this ummah.

This is a great blessing to be part of the largest ummah of any prophet on the day of resurrection. But the blessing should not stop with just being Muslim in name. But the true lesson is that with the expansion as it was in the time of the Sahaba it was a living expansion of outreach that other people would be able to accept this faith.

We pray that Allah would help people throughout this planet to see the beauty in Islam and would also never let us go astray. I leave you with these thoughts. I ask Allah to have mercy upon me and you.