Balancing between Religion and Worldly Matters - Dr

Balancing between Religion and Worldly Matters

Dr. Bilal Philips

Opening

Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Introduction

Today, I would like to address a common question which I hear people asking all over the world, Muslim people. How do we balance or find the balance between the deen and the dunya? Between what Islam requires of us, a religious way of life, and the material world that we live in, which has its demands. But it seems in our time, the demands of the material world far exceed the demands of the religion.

Or it supersedes, because it is so pressing, oppressing, depressing. We can't seem to find time to do the simplest of our religious requirements. So many times, we abandon them, or we neglect them, we delay them, but we feel guilty.

This shouldn't be. We know in our heart of hearts that the deen is supposed to come first. Our priority should be Islam.

The Formula for Balance

So how do we find that balance? Getting the deen right, doing it in the right way. Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, he gave us guidance. Guidance which would not only get the deen right, but it would get the dunya right also.

He left a very simple formula behind. A simple formula, which is the answer for everything. If we utilize it correctly.

He said, and you have heard it a thousand times before:

(Source Name)

"I've left with you two things, if you hold on firmly to them, you will never go astray: Kitabullah wa sunnati. The book of Allah and my sunnah."

A simple formula, which encompasses everything. That if we hold on firmly to the Qur'an and to the sunnah, we will find the balance. That's the promise.

The balance is found when we hold on firmly to the Qur'an and the sunnah. When we let it go. When we neglect it. When we are negligent. Then we lose the balance. The dunya now overtakes us. And we are unable to find our proper footing. But it is all a result of not holding on firmly to the Qur'an and the sunnah.

Understanding What It Means to Hold On Firmly

But we have more Qur'ans than we have ever had. Copies of the Qur'an. The number of copies of the Qur'an in the world today is a million times more than they were when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, died. Millions of times.

Yet, we are not holding on firmly to the Qur'an. And when he died, there was no complete text in the book form. That was done by Abu Bakr. The first text. But we have millions. They were holding on firmly and we are not.

So obviously holding on firmly doesn't mean physically holding on to that book. Some people they hold on very firmly to it. They keep it close to themselves. They put it on a high place. If it falls on the ground they will kiss it. They will protect it. The physical book. But is that what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was talking about? That's the point. That's not what he was talking about.

The physical book. Holding on firmly to the Qur'an is holding on firmly to what the Qur'an teaches. That was what was intended. Holding on firmly to what the Qur'an teaches.

The Warning About Abandoning the Qur'an

So we don't end up being described in Surah Al-Furqan verse 30 where Allah said:

He said, "O my Lord! My people have abandoned this Qur'an." The physical book is here. But the meaning of the Qur'an. What the Qur'an teaches, isn't. It remains inside the Qur'an. But it has not found root in our hearts and our lives. So we let it go. In fact we have abandoned it.

While physically we have made millions and millions of copies of it. Put it in our homes, on our walls, in our cars, in any location you can think of. We've got the Qur'an there. But we abandoned it. Why? Because we lost sight of the purpose of the Qur'an.

The Qur'an: Not a Religious Artifact

The Qur'an became for us a book of Barakah. You read it in Ramadan, you got the Barakah of reading it. Even though you never understood a single word of the Qur'an. People believe that. You read that whole Qur'an from Fatiha to Nas. You didn't understand a single word in it. But you believe that Allah's blessings will descend upon you for having done it.

What is the difference between us doing that and the Hindus and the Buddhists? They have wheels which they spin and idols which they wash and feed. Believing that they will get Barakah. We have turned the Qur'an into an object, a religious artifact. Where in Islam we have none. The Qur'an is to be heard and understood.

"And if the Qur'an is read, listen to it and be quiet for it, in order that you would receive mercy from Allah." The mercy of guidance from that book.

Instead, we will play the Qur'an in our houses. To make it an Islamic house, we have a tape or DVD or the radio. We turn on the Qur'an. The Qur'an is playing as we go about doing our business in the house and carrying on. And the Qur'an is playing. Is that how the Qur'an is supposed to be? Allah said if you hear it recited, listen. Listen. Be quiet. Understand it. That's what Allah said. Not keep it as background music. This is the problem.

Preparing for Ramadan

And of course Ramadan is before us. And this is something we have to address in that month. We're on our way there. We're planting the seeds for Ramadan from now. The seeds of what we want from the Qur'an, if we are to hold on firmly to it, we need to be doing it from now. Before Shaban. Shaban, we're watering those seeds. As the scholars used to say. And we reap the seeds, the plants, the fruit in Ramadan.

Holding Firmly to the Sunnah

And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and his sunnah. How do we hold on firmly to it? We do it by obeying what he's instructed us to do. But before that, we do it by knowing what he instructed us to do.

Today, most of the Muslim world is caught up in culture and tradition. And the sunnah seems odd. Weird. Different. When people want to do it, the traditionalists, the cultural nationalists, will say, you are a Wahabi.

You are a deviant. You're trying to bring a new religion. But actually what you're trying to inform them of is the sunnah. The sunnah has been lost.

Allah told us:

"Whoever obeys the messenger has obeyed Allah."

Obedience to the messenger is obedience to Allah. That's why we need to obey the messenger. Because to obey him is to obey Allah. So if we're not holding firmly to that obedience, then for sure we're not obeying Allah as he deserves to be obeyed.

The Danger of Deviating from the Sunnah

And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, told us, actually he told some people in his own time, who when they asked about how the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to live his life, they found that his life was too normal, too simple. So they wanted to do more.

One wanted to fast every day. Another one wanted to stay up at night and pray all night. And the third one wanted to give up marriage. The Prophet's way was too simple for them. They wanted something more challenging, as they saw it. But in doing that, they deviated from his way.

So when he heard about what they wanted to do, he told them:

Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5063

"Whoever likes a sunnah, a way, other than my way, is not a true follower of mine."

That's the bottom line. Anyone who feels that he or she wants to do more, more than the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did, to make another way, another path, for this deen, has deviated and lost their way. They're not holding on firmly to the sunnah of Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him.

So, we need to go back in all of our commitments to the deen, and know what the sunnah of Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, is with them, and follow it. Try our best to follow it. And that is how we hold on firmly to the sunnah of Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him.

The Example of Salah

So when it comes to our most basic requirement, five times a day, salah. How do we pray today? The way we pray is not the way that Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed or taught us to pray. The way we pray today is the way a man came and prayed beside the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed and came and sat beside him, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, told him to go back and pray because he didn't pray. That's the kind of prayer we're making.

The one which Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, you didn't pray. That wasn't salah. The salah which is 90 miles an hour, we have broken the speed limit in our salah, regularly. We're just going through the motions. But the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had said:

Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 3390

"Pray the prayer of one who's giving farewell to this world."

If we keep that in mind, that is the prayer that we should be striving for, and we strive, then we have held on firmly to the sunnah of Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him.

And I ask Allah to give us the tawfiq, the guidance, the mercy, His mercy, to be able to hold on firmly to the Qur'an and the sunnah as they deserve to be held on to. To forgive our negligence, our lack of care, our ignorance, and our sins with regards to the Qur'an.

Getting the Dunya Right

Getting the dunya right. How do we put the dunya in its proper place, where the dunya is work? For the majority of us, it is working 40 hours in a week or more. How do we put that dunya in its place when it takes up so many hours, 8 hours of our day. After eating and sleeping, it seems like there's nothing else. So what do we do?

How do we get the dunya right? First and foremost, we have to choose what part of the dunya to bite off, to take, to get engaged in. Because if we choose the wrong part of the dunya, no matter what we do, it's a curse. So we have to be careful in what we choose from the dunya. That what we choose is halal.

Very basic. It's not about what gives us the most money. Because if what gives us the most money is haram, then it's evil. Then we have not put the dunya in its place. And no matter what du'as we make, how many umrahs, how many hajis, we do. It is not going to change the fact that our basic earning is haram.

Choosing the Best Work

So we have to choose a job which is halal. And of course the best of the halal jobs are the ones that have the

most benefit to society. Because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had said:

Sahih al-Jami, Hadith 3289

"The best of people are those most beneficial to society."

So we try to choose a job which is in service of the community. People benefit from. They appreciate what we're doing. They make du'a for you: جَزَاكُمُ اللهُ خَيْرًا (May Allah reward you with goodness). This is the best jobs we should seek.

The Principle of Excellence (Itqan)

And the other principle that we have to keep in mind with regards to our job is itqan. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had said:

Sahih al-Jami, Hadith 1880

"Allah loves from each and every one of you, whenever you do anything, you do it to the best of your ability."

So you work hard, you do your best. You're honest in your work, in your dealing. As the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was Al-Ameen, we strive to be like him. Umana. This should be our goal.

Rejecting the Cat and Mouse Game

We should not submit to the work culture. The work culture which is based on the cat and mouse game. The cat and mouse game, when the cat's away, the mice will play.

When the manager is not around, the workers rest. When the manager shows up, everybody is working hard. Seriously, they want to impress the manager. They're working hard, everybody. Soon as he goes out the door, everybody, relax. Now if you don't play that game, you're in trouble.

It's a haram game. Everybody is doing it. The job might be halal, but the way that we are doing the job may be haram. Because if we play that game, then it means we are cheating our employers. Because they didn't hire us to do the minimum that we could. They hired us to do the maximum.

The same way we work when the manager, the director is around, should be the same way we work when he's not around. That is honesty. Then our salary is halal.

But if we have been hiding all the time, when the manager is not around, we find a slot and just lie down, relax, sleep. Hey, the manager is coming. Okay, everybody jumps up. If we have been earning our monthly salary that way, that monthly salary is haram. We are being paid for what we didn't do. That's the challenge of finding the balance.

The Solution: Hold Firmly to Quran and Sunnah

Because the Quran and the Sunnah tells us to do that. To do the best that we can. To do it right. To choose what is halal. The Quran and the Sunnah tell us. If we hold on firmly to the Quran and the Sunnah, then that's what we are going to do.

If we are not holding on firmly, then we play the cat and mouse game. It's simple as that. So the solution remains in our hands. We need to be honest with ourselves.

The Challenge of Standing Alone

We also need to be strong with what is right. Because when you decide that you are going to work hard, even when the director isn't there, your other workmates, your other compatriots, working with you in the office, they will see you working hard and they will say, "It's okay. Director is gone. Manager is not around. No problem. Relax, relax."

You say, "I know that's okay, but I'm going to..." They're going to start looking at you suspiciously. What does this guy want to do? I think he wants to take my job. He's working hard. He wants to show off to the manager that he's a harder worker than me, so he wants to take my job. So now the other employees start to look at you as the enemy.

It's very hard. When everybody else is playing the cat and mouse game, but you don't play along with it. Now that is the big challenge. Can you hold to your principles? Regardless of what the others say. Even if it makes enemies. Know that you are a friend of Allah.

And that is more important than being a friend of the people. That is where the challenge lies.

Closing Dua

So I ask Allah to give us that completeness. That balance. That clear path for our lives. So that we remain living lives working for His pleasure. So we don't live to work, but we work in order to live a pleasing life to Allah.

"Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire."

"Our Lord, do not let our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us from Yourself mercy. Indeed, You are the Bestower."

End of Khutbah