The Age of Deceivers

The Age of Deceivers | Juma Khutbah

Opening Praise and Testimony

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and surely Allah is the Friend and Protector of the Righteous.

And I bear witness that Allah is One and has no partners, and that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, is His servant, His last messenger. May Allah constantly, always, send peace and blessings to Muhammad, to his family, his companions, to all those who call to his way and establish his sunnah, to the Day of Judgment.

The Command to Speak Truth

As to what follows, I begin by reminding myself and you of the critical importance of taqwa, al-khawf wa al-raja, that we fear Allah, we hope in the mercy of Allah, and we surround our lives with this consciousness. And Allah has revealed to us in His last testament, in a way that would be relevant and would be a source of guidance for believers to the Day of Resurrection. Allah has revealed to us in Surah Al-Ahzab:

"O you who believe, have the consciousness of Allah, and speak a straightforward word. He would repair your deeds, forgive you of your sins, and whoever obeys Allah and His messenger has surely gained a mighty triumph." (Quran 33:70-71)

And so in this divine formula, Allah reminds us of the importance of being conscious as much as possible of the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And this manifests itself in speaking a straightforward word.

Understanding Qawlan Sadeeda

قُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا - And this qawlan sadeeda is a very crucial concept for us today. Because when we look at sadeeda, we look at the concept of this word, it means not only straightforward, but it means an appropriate word. It means something which hits the target. That the word that we say hits the target.

If we can do this, if we can maintain our consciousness of Allah in all the things that are happening to us, and be straightforward, then Allah has promised us that He would repair our deeds. He would forgive us of our sins. And that this being in obedience to Allah would be the greatest achievement that we possibly can make.

The Strange World After Ramadan

And this is of importance to us as we have left the blessings of Ramadan and we are moving out of the remaining blessings and guidance of Shawwal and we have entered into the world. Many of us dropped social media, stopped listening to the news or toned it down in Ramadan. And now that we have come back into the world, we find that the world is even stranger than it was before the month of Ramadan.

Our major leaders in the world gathering together, some of them saying that global warming is a good thing. That the fact that the ice is melting in the north is a good thing for us. But the reality is the opposite of what some of these leaders are saying, is that the earth is falling apart. Greenland which is close to us is now 45% melted. This is unprecedented. It is never known that Greenland would be melted like this. Which means huge glaciers are pouring into the seas. And this will have an impact upon us.

Global Crises and Contradictions

This heat that is being trapped is causing confusion. In India itself, cities are running out of water. And they say that by 2020, 21 cities in India alone will have no more ground water. No more fresh water. And with these droughts and confusions, water is also coming abnormally in other places. In the Midwest of the United States, there are epic floods. The floods are hitting, raising the rivers higher than any time in recorded history.

In China, they report that they have made a huge summer camp for Muslims. They call it Skills Development Training Center. But the reality is, over a million of the Uyghur Muslims are in concentration camps. Horrible concentration camps.

In the Middle East, they are talking about the deal of the century for the Palestinian people. But when this deal is happening, the Palestinian people are not even there. They have boycotted this deal. This is a contradiction.

The Age of Deception

There is something rising in our societies. And we could say that we are entering into a period of the forerunners of Dajjal - may Allah protect us. (رُوَّادُ الدَّجَّالِ - Ruwwad al-Dajjal). And the Dajjal, the Antichrist, has been described as a trickster, a deceiver, a master deceiver, a fraud, one who makes fake news, the ultimate trickster. And we are entering into this age of the deceivers.

The Prophetic Warning About Our Times

And we wonder what would the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say about this, these times that we are living in now. Because Allah opened up on him. He did not speak from himself. And it is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has told us:

(Sunan Ibn Majah 4036)

"There will come upon the people years of deception (sanawat khaddaat) in which the liar will be believed and the truthful person will be considered a liar. The treacherous deceiver will be trusted, and the trustworthy custodian will be considered disloyal. And the ruwaybidah would speak out." The companions said, "What is this ruwaybidah?" He said, "A tafih rajul - the most despicable, worthless person - would speak out on behalf of the masses of the people." (Musnad Ahmad 7912, Sunan Ibn Majah 4036)

صَدَقَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ - The Messenger of Allah spoke the truth. This age has come.

The Reality of Modern Deception

The age of deception. The age of illusions. Illusion of freedom. Illusion of peace. Illusion of equality. And even in our Muslim lands, people marching in the streets being gunned down. Democratically elected leaders being taken down in front of the world and put into prison and killed in front of the eyes of the world.

Native populations, even in our lands, a land of peace, but native populations who lived right here for over 20,000 years, are still living in poverty. Their women are being taken away, raped, murdered, in front of the eyes of the people. Special groups of leaders making decisions behind closed doors and saying the opposite in the public. And the few good leaders, because there are a few good leaders, feel like they are surrounded. They feel like every word that they say is being monitored and they could be attacked.

The Two-Faced People

So this is the age of the worst of people. And as believers we take comfort in the fact that Rasulullah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke about this that would happen. And he told us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 6058, Sahih Muslim 2526)

"You will find amongst the worst of people on the Day of Resurrection is the two-faced person. The one who comes to one group with one face and another group with another face." (Sahih al-Bukhari 6058, Sahih Muslim 2526)

Living in the Age of Deception

سَنَوَاتٌ خَدَّاعَاتٌ - How will we be? And it is difficult for us as the common people in an age that we are living in. It is difficult, because in the past in many times, in times of justice, the truth has power to it. If a person is true, it should be recognized. And that is what you could call قُوَّةُ الْحَقِّ - quwwat al-haqq. Two words قُوَّة and حَقّ. The person with the truth should be recognized.

But the reality is, turn the two words around. Not قُوَّةُ الْحَقِّ but حَقُّ الْقُوَّةِ. And حَقُّ الْقُوَّةِ is might makes right. So whether the person is right or wrong, if they have the strength, then they are right. This is a deception.

Finding Our Place as Believers

And we as believers need to find ourselves in this time. Because it's no longer the time where we can roll over as Muslims and hide and cry and beg for our freedom. These times have ended now. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke about this.

We ultimately believe that the ultimate قُوَّة - power - is with Allah. And we say:

"There is no power and no strength except with Allah."

"Indeed, all power belongs to Allah." (Quran 2:165)

The power ultimately is with Allah.

The Strength of a Believer

But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said something for us. And he told us:

(Sahih Muslim 2664)

"A strong believer is better and more beloved by Allah than a weak believer. But in both of them, there is good." (Sahih Muslim 2664)

There is good in both. And so on our level at least we can strive our best and teach our children to try to be as strong as possible, committed, consistent.

True Strength: Self-Control

And this strength, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke about the strength because when most people think about strength, they think about the fist or the knife or the gun or the bomb. But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 6114, Sahih Muslim 2609)

"The strong person is not the good wrestler. But the strong person is the one who controls himself when he's angry." (Sahih al-Bukhari 6114, Sahih Muslim 2609)

Self-control. So our strength needs to be the strength of our character, the strength of our spirituality. That after Ramadan is over, Shawwal leaving us, we can still continue in a positive way and not wait till the next Ramadan to come. But consistency and the strength that we need.

Cultivating Strength and Unity

Strength of the mind to culture our knowledge. Study as much as we can. Study our traditions. Study the sciences of this world. Ask Allah for hikmah, wisdom. Because wisdom is so needed in this world that we are living in today. The time of سَوَاتٍ خَدَّاعَاتٍ - years of deception.

So let us try to nurture in our youth to be strong in everything they do. Strong students in school. Strong at work. Strong in any task that we are doing. And our unity, our unity gives us strength. If we look at Muslims not as my cousin or someone who looks like me or speaks my language, but any of the believers, then we are a large jama'ah. If we look at it tribalistically, then we are small little groups that will be taken away.

Cherishing Our Blessings

And so Allah has blessed us. Allah has blessed us with the revelation. Allah has blessed us, especially here in this country as we go into the long weekend, with a relative state of peace. Allah blessed us with provisions. So we need to cherish these moments. And not forget these times that we are spending together.

And take time, greet other Muslims. Greet people who are different than you today. If you see a Muslim on the street, care about that Muslim. If you see a Muslim in trouble, then you're in trouble. If you see a Muslim feeling sad, then that sadness is also part of you.

Praying for Each Other

We need to pray for each other. We need to pray strongly in this jama'ah for the Haqq family, our beloved brother Farooq, beloved sister Hasina, beloved brother Fahim. In this loss they have suffered of our beloved sister Maryam. And we pray that Allah would bless her in her transition to the barzakh. We pray that Allah would give her the best of friends in that world. May Allah bring light to her. May Allah give her happiness in the barzakh. May Allah give comfort and strength to her family. And for all Muslims who have losses today, we pray that Allah would help them with their losses.

Preparing for the Ultimate Test

This is a time for us. This is a time, it's a test. It has happened historically in the past. And we are coming to the ultimate test. We are coming to the age of the ultimate deceiver. And so we need to gear ourselves to this.

To take up the task, even the small things, like being consistent in our salah. Small things, like not letting haram things come into our mouth. Small things, like making sure that we are giving to our organizations. Small things, like reaching out to people in this society, non-Muslims. Showing them what Islam really is. And if we see injustice happening to somebody who is not a Muslim, then we feel that this injustice has also happened to us.

Supporting Our Leaders

We need to support our leaders. Support our leaders while they are alive and not while they have passed away. It's not enough just to say, as the leader passes away, Rahimahullah. But when he was alive, when he was suffering, when he was taking the hit for our families and ourselves, what did we do? Even if it was just a prayer, any way of support.

Staying Vigilant

Keep vigilant. It is a long weekend, but our eyes need to be opened up. Even while we are enjoying ourselves, we enjoy ourselves in an Islamic way. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has told us:

(Nawawi40:41)

"None of you will truly believe until his desires follow what I have brought." (Reported in Al-Arba'in An-Nawawiyyah, Hadith 41)

You will truly believe until his desires, until his enjoyment, until his playing follows what I have brought him. So even while we enjoy ourselves, keep vigilant. Keep our eyes open as to what is happening, especially when we are in the houses of Allah.

Seeking Wisdom and Hikmah

We need to pray to Allah, especially for wisdom. Hikmah, putting things in the proper place. And if we hear something of wisdom, we need to think about it. Take it in.

I leave you with some of the wisdom of one of our great leaders, Amir al-Mu'minin Umar ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). And Allah blessed him with a great wisdom. And blessed him with the type of spirit that we need today. That when he would walk down a narrow alley, that the evil demon, shayateen, would go the other way.

The Wisdom of Umar ibn Al-Khattab

But his wisdom, his wisdom, and it is reported in translation that he has said: "Fear Allah, for He alone lives. All other things will perish." Think about this. The one we need to fear is Allah. Everything else, every president, every prime minister, every power will perish, except Allah.

And he gave us a beautiful advice for ourselves in these سَنَوَاتٍ خَدَّاعَاتٍ - years of deception. He said: "Be dignified, honest, and truthful." Dignified, not arrogant, but dignified. You respect yourself, and you respect other people. And honest, and truthful.

And he said (may Allah be pleased with him): "Trust is that there should be no difference between what you do, and what you say, and what you think." That is the true trust. There should be no difference between what you do, say, and even what's in your head. To not be a hypocrite deceiver.

He also said: "Do not be misled by hearing of someone's reputation." Don't be misled if you hear the reputation of a person.

He also said (may Allah be pleased with him): "Do not depend upon the morality of a person until you have seen him behave while he's angry." Don't believe in the morality. But if he's angry, see how he acts. Then you know who that person really is.

Remember what the strong person is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

"The one who controls himself when he's angry." That's the strong person. That's the one that we need to follow and we need to respect.

Remaining Vigilant and Active

And so we take this time as we go into this rest period to remind ourselves not to rest. Because Allah is:

"Ever-Living, Who never dies." (Quran 25:58)

Keep vigilant. Keep making du'a. Keep trying to do something for the righteousness of this world. And keep praying that Allah would have mercy upon the weak and the innocent in the ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Keep praying that Allah would protect the dignity and the honor of the women and the families of this ummah. Keep praying that Allah would protect and strengthen the men of this ummah and raise up balanced leadership into our world.

Closing Supplication

And keep praying that Allah would take yourself and all of us out of this world with: