Living without fear and grief

Living Without Fear and Grief - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Opening Praise and Greetings

Alhamdulillah, we praise Allah and we ask for His help and forgiveness and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the misdeeds of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no misguidance for him, and whom He misguides, there is no guide for him. And may Allah send blessings upon our Master Muhammad and upon his family and companions and those who follow him.

Alhamdulillah. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Reflections on Contemporary Practice and Youth

So, just a little remark about Imam Zaid's talk, which is a very important talk. I can honestly say that Imam Zaid is among a privileged few that actually practice what they preach. So he does ride a bike all over Berkeley. And he eats local food also. So, he's telling you something that he himself does, therefore indicating that it's possible for the rest of us to do it. It's just a matter of will.

I want to just, the faces of those young people with so much light. You don't see young people with faces like that in the dominant culture anymore. You see young people with purple hair and bones coming out of their nose and their ears. And you also just don't see young people that have a sense of piety anymore, which is quite tragic.

And I would just remind all those young people. Imam Malik, when Imam Shafi'i came into his, he was only 15 years old. And Imam Malik saw a light in his face. The Arabs call it نور الوجه. And he said, God has given you a light in your face. Don't extinguish that light with sinfulness.

And so one of the great blessings of youth is that the sins are very few. And as you get older, you can either attempt to maintain that as best you can and do tawbah. Or you fall into sinfulness and lose that light. And this is why there's nothing uglier than an old kafir.

The Image of Islam and Being Ambassadors

I want to just say something about how people experience this. And one of the things that has been a great concern of mine in the last several years is the image of our faith. And restoring the dignity of our religion in the eyes of others. Because for many, many centuries, people looked at the Muslim world with great awe. And unfortunately, now they look at the Muslim world quite differently.

But what they see here when they come here, people outside of our faith, they see something really remarkable. And it has a big effect on them. If you remember several years ago, we brought a rabbi here. And it was the first time he'd really ever been with Muslims. And he was so overwhelmed by it. And he still talks about it.

But we had one of the visitors who's done really amazing work. And I just want to read you what he sent to the RIS team. He said, as I sit at the airport here in Toronto awaiting my flight, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you and your team for such an outstanding experience at the RIS. I had dinner with Juan Cole last night. And both of us were raving at how well organized and executed the entire convention is. I've attended plenty of conferences and conventions. And this one will stand out as one of the best experiences I've had at such an event. First class all the way.

And then he said, please pass along my gratitude to all of the RIS volunteers who made this weekend such an extraordinary experience for me. And please know if I can ever be of any assistance to you in the work you are doing with the RIS and beyond for Muslims, I'm at your service.

That's a testimony to the impact that interacting with others has. Each one of us, whether we realize it or not, is an ambassador of Islam. And more importantly, an ambassador of our Lord, the Lord of Islam. And when you meet people we've seen, and I think Dalia Mogahed and others have shown very clearly that people who have interactions with Muslims have a completely different experience of Islam and their attitudes towards Islam.

There are many people in the West who think they've never met a Muslim because they've met Mo or they've met somebody who maybe has changed their name or uses another name. But a lot of people here don't realize that they're interacting with Muslims all the time. So it's very important that we become aware of that and recognize that we are representing them.

The Prophet's Vision: Muslims as a Beauty Mark

Our Prophet ﷺ said in an extraordinary hadith which indicates what he desired for our ummah, for our community. He said, أَصْلِحُوا رِحَالَكُمْ وَأَحْسِنُوا لِبَاسَكُمْ حَتَّى تَكُونُوا كَشَامَةٍ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ "Adorn your houses" - رحال here means you can have رَاحِلَة but رِحَال one of the meanings is houses or where you live, your habitations, rectify them.

In another riwayah he said نَظِفُوا أَفْنِيَاتِكُمْ "Clean your yards have clean yards." Because the Muslims are people of cleanliness. They're people of طَهَارَة And so he said your homes وَأَحْسِنُوا لِبَاسَكُمْ and adorn your clothes, wear beautiful clothes. So that you, until you are a beauty mark. As if you are a beauty mark amongst humanity. This was what our Prophet ﷺ wanted for the Muslims. For them to be like a beauty mark amongst humanity.

Something that people saw as beautiful.

)Sahih Muslim (91) - Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty.

The Muslim Legacy of Beauty and Excellence

And this is why the Muslims historically were so committed to Ihsan. They were committed to Ihsan in everything. If you see their calligraphy today, it's sold at Sotheby's. It's sold at Sotheby's, just their writing. They were obsessed with beauty in everything. The mosques are museums. The plates that they ate on are in museums. This was our Muslim ummah. This is who the Muslims were.

تِلْكَ آثَارٌ تَدْلُّ عَلَيْنَا فَانْظُرُوا بَعْدَنَا إِلَى الْآثَارِ - These remnants we leave behind indicate who we were. So look at our remnants after we're gone. You can see who the Muslim community was.

But now we have pockets of this. We still have master calligraphers in places like Turkey. That still do extraordinary work. We still have people that in Morocco, you can still go and see handmade clothes with these extraordinary tailors. That are so much better than mass manufactured clothes. The carpets that the Muslims make are the treasured carpets of the wealthiest people in the world. They don't buy them from Belgium, machine made carpets. They want carpets made by Muslims in Persia, in Muslims in India and Pakistan and places like that. This is who the Muslims are. We're people of beauty.

- What better religion is the one who surrenders his entire being to Allah and he is a person of Ihsan. Ihsan is to make things beautiful.

The Prophet's Love of Beauty

Our Prophet ﷺ spoke in the most eloquent way. He was committed to beautiful language. He loved beautiful language. He used to ask them to recite poetry for him at times. And he would ask for more. Ibn Abi Salt was his favorite poet because Ibn Abi Salt was a poet of ethics and speaking of realities and truths.

And he would ask them. When he heard one of the great female poets of Arabia, Al-Khansa recite a poem about one of her brothers who was killed, Sakhar. The Prophet began to weep. I was so happy when I read that because when I read the Diwan of Al-Khansa, I wept on more than one occasion. And I was happy that I wept at something that made the Prophet weep. Which was beauty in language.

This is something that our Prophet ﷺ, he loved beauty. He loved beauty and he was the most beautiful human being. And he recognized beauty. He said, Ask for dua, seek dua in beautiful faces. And he wasn't talking about physical beauty. He was talking about the beauty of faith that shines through the faces of beautiful people.

Because there are many people that should be beautiful based on their faces. And they're actually ugly based on their actions. And there are other people that should be ugly based on their faces. But they're actually beautiful because of their actions. This is something that we can see in human beings. And so it's very important that we restore beauty.

The Importance of Proper Dress

What we do should be beautiful. Our mosque should be beautiful. We should dress properly. We've lost a sense of the importance of what a caliph is. And Imam Al-Juwaini said that dress follows urf. Dress follows urf. It follows the custom of a people. In fact, Imam Al-Mawardi in his book, One of the great Shafi'i scholars says that, To go against the custom of a people in their dress is stupidity and foolishness.

And one of the miracles of our ummah is wherever the Muslims went, they dress like the indigenous people.

And this is why you do not find any standardized dress of Muslims. Wherever they went, they dress like the

people because they were telling them, We're like you. We're from you. We're part of you. And this is why when you go to Indonesia, the Muslims dress in their way. If you go to Nigeria, they dress in their way. If you go to Tunisia, they dress in their way. Libya, every group has a distinct way of dressing. This is because the Muslims did not want standardization. They recognized beauty and diversity.

Because their lord, our lord is the lord of diversity. Our lord is the lord of the rose. And the tulip. The orchid. And the petunia. This is our lord. He's a lord of diversity. He's the creator of complexions. He's the maker of majestic mountains. Some white and some brown and some black. And some like rainbows that you find in China and other places. This is our lord. The creator of the heavens and the earth. Sustainer of all things living.

Remembering Our Divine Form

Each one of us right now in this room, in this auditorium, our bodies are doing extraordinary things because Allah has created an incredible body. The human form. He created us in the best of forms. This is who we are. We are the khalifa of Allah. And we have to behave like a caliph.

This is why the Egyptian peasant with his galabia and his sadria looked like a king. This is why the Afghani with the incredible embroidery looked like a king because they recognized who they were. The native peoples and aboriginal peoples understood this also.

And modern people who dress... Wealthy people that wear rags. They buy clothes that have holes in them. This is the madness of the time we're living in. We've lost a sense of who we are as human beings. There's a spiritual Alzheimer's that's happening right now. A spiritual Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's means you forget who you are. You lose your identity. You don't know who you are anymore.

- Wear your adornments at every place of worship. This is who we are. This is why Muslims... Our women still dress so beautifully. Sometimes it's so strange to see... I see a Muslim woman wearing a hijab and her scarf. And then you see next to her... Her husband wearing a t-shirt and jeans. And it's so incongruous. We need to restore a sense of who we are.

We should be a beauty mark amongst humanity. These are important things. They're not... People can think that they're insignificant things. But they're not. They're deep and profound things. And this is why the Muslims were so committed to them for centuries.

The Prophet... It's a weak hadith. But it's meaning has real imports. He said in a hadith by Imam Al-Bayhaqi and others. He said الْعَمَائِمُ تِيجَانُ الْعَرَبِ فَإِذَا وَضَعُوهَا وَضَعَهُمَا اللَّهُ "The turbans are the crowns of Arabs." They're the crowns of Arabs. Wherever the Arabs went, they wore a turban. And he said they're the crowans of Arabs. When they put them down, when they stop wearing them, they will be put down in the earth. There's a relationship to understanding who you are and what happens to you in the world.

The Crisis Facing the Muslim Ummah

If we look at the Muslim ummah right now, we have never been in a more difficult situation in our history. And I'll tell you the reason why I believe this is so. Because for the first time, we have atheism spreading in the Muslim world. And if you don't believe this, you're not aware of what's happening. This is a problem happening in many Muslim countries. This is the first time in Muslim history where calamities have resulted in atheism.

And the reason for that is that our ummah for too long has been living off the spiritual capital of the people of the past. We have been living off the spiritual capital of the greats of our past. And people are now becoming spiritually bankrupt because they don't do the things that will nurture their soul.

Faith in Times of Calamity

- No calamity will befall except by the permission of Allah. It's by the permission of Allah. And whoever believes in Allah, He will guide their heart. In the commentaries it says, when the calamities fall, they will find a stillness in their hearts. The calamities will not disrupt them because of their belief in Allah.

Faith, this is what we need to survive this time. And if you're not doing the work on your spiritual hearts, then when the calamities befall, we will fall into disarray spiritually. And this is the worst thing that can happen.

We have Muslims right now fighting over rubble. Other Muslims killing each other over stones. Killing each other over broken homes. We have 11 million refugees in Syria. We have a crisis in Yemen that is unprecedented. Two places that Allah said, The Prophet ﷺ said, اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ فِي يَمَانِنَا وَشَامِنَا "Oh Allah bless our Yemen and our Sham." If the people of Sham go astray, what good is there in you? The Prophet said الْإِيمَانُ يَمَانِ وَالْحِكْمَةُ يَمَانِيَةٌ "Faith is Yemeni."

The Yemenites became Muslim. The Prophet sent people there and they just became Muslim. Even the Persians that were in Yemen became Muslim. This was the reality. The Prophet ﷺ loved the Yemeni people. أَرَقُوا قُلُوبًا "They are the softest of hearts." But this is a fitna.

When the fitna comes, the intellects go. The Prophet ﷺ warned us, اتَّقُوا فِتْنَةً لَا تُصِيبَنَّا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنكُمْ خَاصَّةً (Quran 8:25) - Guard yourselves against strife that will not just afflict the guilty. It afflicts everybody.

The Reality of War and Suffering

Children are suffering. We should be against war. This is a time when we have to take seriously the hadith of the Prophet when he spoke about breaking swords, aerial bombardment. These should be recognized for what they are as crimes against humanity because the people at the bottom of those bombs are civilians by and large. They're men, women and children. They don't deserve to have bombs dropped on them.

Understanding the Nature of This World

This world is a tribulation. Imam al-Junaid, the great Imam in the 168th Qa'idah of Ahmad Zarruq in his book, he quotes Imam al-Junaid who's known as Imam al-Ta'ifatan. He was the Imam of the two groups. He was a master of fiqh. He was a master of hadith. He was one of the greatest scholars in the early period recognized by all of the scholars of his time. And he's mujmāʿa ʿalayhi. Ibn Taymiyyah recognizes him as one of the great Imams.

Imam al-Junaid said, (أَصَّلْتُ أَصْلًا - aṣṣaltu aṣlan) "I have taken a foundational principle." (لَا أَتَبَشَّعُ مِمَّا وَرَدَ عَلَيَّ مِنَ الْعَالَمِ - lā atabashshaʿu mimmā warada ʿalayya mina al-ʿālam) "I'm not disturbed by what comes to me from this world." After I understood this principle. What is the principle? He said, (وَالْعَالَمُ كُلُّهُ شَرٌّ وَالْعَالَمُ غَمٌّ وَابْتِلَاءٌ وَفِتْنَةٌ - wal-ʿālamu kulluhu sharrun wal-ʿālamu ghammun wa-ibtilaʾun wa-fitnah) "This dunyā is an abode of grief, of sadness, of trial, of tribulation, of strife, and conflict."

And that all of the world is wanting. All of the world is wanting. All of the world is wanting. It's lacking. It's a place that Muslims are supposed to fill it with goodness. Because without an ummah that's (قَائِمًا لِلَّهِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - qāʾiman lillāhi subḥānahu wa-taʿālā) "standing for Allah," there's no good in this dunyā. It's the people of ʿibādah.

And then he said, (وَيَتَلَقَّانِي الْعَالَمُ بِكُلِّ مَا أَكْرَهُ - wa-yataqāni al-ʿālamu bikulli mā akrahu) "The nature of this abode is to come to me with everything I dislike." Everything I dislike. (وَإِنْ تَلَقَّانِي بِكُلِّ مَا أُحِبُّهُ فَهُوَ فَضْلٌ وَالْأَصْلُ هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ - wa-ʾin talaqāni bikulli mā uḥibbuhu fahuwa faḍlun wal-aṣlu huwa al-ʾawwalu) "And if it comes to me with what I like then this is from the bounty of Allah."

The Path of Patience and Gratitude

And this is why the two things that we have to be are ṣabr and shukr. The Prophet ﷺ in the hadith of al-Qudsi when Allah says, (يَا عِبَادِي إِنَّمَا هِيَ أَعْمَالُكُمْ أُحْصِي لَكُمْ ثُمَّ أُوَثِّيكُمْ إِيَّاهَا - yā ʿibādī ʾinnamā hiya ʾaʿmālukum ʾuḥṣī lakum thumma ʾuwathīkum ʾiyyāhā) "That, oh my servants, these are your actions and then I will recompense." And then Allah in the hadith of al-Qudsi says, (فَمَن وَجَدَ خَيْرًا فَلْيَحْمَدِ اللَّهَ وَمَن وَجَدَ خَيْرَ ذَلِكَ فَلَا يَلُومَنَّ إِلَّا نَفْسَهُ - faman wajada khayran falyahmadillāha wa man wajada ghayra dhālika falā yalūmanna ʾillā nafsahu) (Sahih Muslim 2577) - Whoever finds good, let him thank Allah. But if you find other than that, blame only yourselves.

We need to blame ourselves. We have to stop blaming others for our condition. This is the sunnah of our Prophet. If you look at the duʿā that we just heard about Taʾif. If you look at this duʿā, what did he complain to Allah? He didn't complain about the people of Taʾif. There's no complaint about the people of Taʾif. They were just doing what they were meant to do. He complained about himself.

The Mercy Upon This Ummah

He said, (اللَّهُمَّ أَشْكُو ضُعْفَ قُوَّتِي وَقِلَّةَ حِيلَتِي وَهَوَانِي عَلَى النَّاسِ - Allāhumma ʾashkū ḍaʿfa qūwatī wa qillata ḥīlatī wa hawānī ʿala al-nās) He didn't complain about (إِيَّاي إِهَانَتُهُمْ - ʾiyyāya ʾihānatahum) - their humiliation of me. He said, My Hawan, my lowliness in the eyes of the people. That was his complaint. As long as you're not disturbed with me, as long as you're not upset with me, I'm content with what you've sent to me.

Because this is a balā from Allah. It doesn't negate the dhulm of the people. We're not Qadiriya. It doesn't negate the dhulm of the people and we condemn the oppression of the oppressors. It doesn't negate that. But the empowering position of the Quran is always to go to ourselves.

And when you were afflicted with a calamity that you had afflicted the twice thereof, you said, why did this happen? Say it is from your own selves, is the truth. Why is this happening to us? Say, it's from your own selves.

The Mercy Upon This Ummah

The Prophet ﷺ said, (إِنَّ أُمَّتِي أُمَّةٌ مَرْحُومَةٌ - ʾinna ʾummatī ʾummatun marḥūmah) "My ummah has the mercy of God on it." He said, (جُعِلَ عَذَابُهَا فِي دُنْيَاهَا - juʿila ʿadhābuhā fī dunyāhā) "The punishment of my ummah will be in the dunyā."

The Prophet ﷺ says: Let them be forewarned. Let them be forewarned that those who disobey the Messenger of Allah will be afflicted with civil strife. They'll be afflicted with civil strife. They'll be afflicted with painful chastisements.

Remind them of the days of Allah. (إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ - ʾinna fī dhālika laʾāyātin likulli ṣabbārin shakūr) In those days of Allah are signs for everyone patient and grateful one. Because they're patient in tribulation and they're grateful when the tribulation is removed.

Remembering the Blessings of Allah

Remember the blessings of Allah that Allah gave you. (إِذْ جَاءَكُم مِّنْ آلِ فِرْعَوْنَ يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ - ʾidh jāʾakum min ʾāli firʿawna yasūmūnakum sūʾa al-ʿadhāb) Don't remember the tribulation - that's the blessing. Don't remember the tribulation. Remember the blessing of getting out of the tribulation.

In that, the killing of your male children, leaving your wives, leaving them alive to take them as captives in bondage. Allah says, (وَفِي ذَٰلِكُمْ بَلَاءٌ - wa fī dhālikum balāʾun) - That is a tribulation. But a tribulation from whom? From your Lord. From your Lord.

If you're grateful, I will continue to bless you with gratitude.

If you look in Deuteronomy, in the Bible in chapters 4, 6, 8, 10, 28 and 30, you can see Moses, the very thing that Allah is talking about in those verses, Moses tells his people that as long as you obey the commandments, you will have the blessings of Allah, of God upon you. But woe unto you if you deviate from these blessings, you will be afflicted in your homes.

The Need for Self-Purification

They came to you, our servants. Who were those servants? أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ - The Babylonians came. (فَجَاسُوا خِلَالَ الدِّيَارِ - fajāsū khilāla al-diyār)

At that time the people of Bani Israel, these were the good people, these were the righteous people. But if you're not doing the work in this world, Allah will do it for you with great difficulty. Because we're here to purify ourselves. If we're not actively engaged in this, we're given grave tribulations. We have to pray for our ummah. Pray for these places in the Muslim world.

We don't want to see Arabia fall into disarray. We don't want to see fighting in the haramain. We don't want to see weapons in the haramain, in the sanctuaries. We don't want to see the breakdown. We should be praying for these people and the stability of their governments. We should be praying for these people.

Praying For, Not Against, Our Leaders

We don't pray against our people. In Imam At-Tahawi's aqeedah, it says that we do not imprecate against rulers. This is part of the aqeedah that's agreed upon by Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah. (لَا نَدْعُوا عَلَيْهِمْ وَإِنْ جَارُوا عَلَيْنَا - lā nadʿū ʿalayhim wa ʾin jārū ʿalaynā) "Even if they're unjust to us, we still ask Allah to rectify them." To turn their hearts. To bring them back to Allah.

This is extremely important. Abu Hanifa said, the most foolish of people are those who make dua against rulers. Because he said they're making dua against themselves. (إِذَا أَصْلَحُوا أَصْلَحَنَا كَيْفَ تَكُونُونَ يُوَلَّى عَلَيْكُمْ - ʾidhā ʾaṣlaḥū ʾaṣlaḥanā kayfa takūnūna yūwallā ʿalaykum) "As you are so are the people put over you." Abu Bakr al-Tartushi said, I looked at this hadith which has some weakness in it, until I found it in the book of Allah. The meaning in the book of Allah.

Like that we put some oppressors over other oppressors. If you don't think we're oppressors, you're in big trouble. Our carbon footprint is oppression. What Imam Zaid was talking about earlier. All of us are filled with sin. And we have to make tawbah and humble ourselves before Allah.

The Example of Prophetic Humility

Daniel the prophet, when the Jews were taken into captivity, he put on sackcloth and put ash and begged God to forgive him. This is what we have to do. When the prophet was asked by Abu Bakr, the greatest heart after our prophet in this ummah according to our tradition. Abu Bakr Siddiq. The one who believed the prophet in every situation when others doubted him. Even when he compromised with the pagans in Mecca. And they said, why are you compromising with the pagans? Aren't we on the truth? Abu Bakr was the only one that didn't have any wavering in his heart.

He said, Ya Rasulullah, teach me a dua that I can say in my prayer. He said (اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي ظُلْمًا كَثِيرًا - Allāhumma ʾinnī ẓalamtu nafsī ẓulman kathīran) (Sahih Bukhari 834) - Say, I have oppressed myself greatly. This was the dua that he taught Abu Bakr Siddiq. He said, (إِنِّي لَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً - ʾinnī laʾastaghfiru allāha sabʿīna marratan) "Every day the prophet of Allah asked forgiveness."

The Generosity and Mercy of Our Lord

If you look at the Quranic, one of the last verses revealed in the Quran. (إِذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ وَالْفَتْحُ - ʾidhā jāʾa naṣru allāhi wal-fatḥ) (Quran 110:1) - When the help of Allah comes to you and the Fath, when it comes to you, what do you do? (فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ - fasabbiḥ biḥamdi rabbika wastaghfirh) (Quran 110:3) - Ask forgiveness when everything's going well. When you get the opening, ask forgiveness.

We as an ummah have to ask forgiveness. (ظَلَمْنَا أَنْفُسَنَا وَاللَّهُ - ẓalamnā ʾanfusanā wa allāh) Everything we're seeing is from our distance from Allah and His Messenger. We have to have uns with Allah. The whole world has turned against us.

But remember this. Ibn Atayla said (إِذَا أَوْحَشَكَ اللَّهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَفْتَحَ بَابَ الْأُنْسِ بِهِ - ʾidhā ʾawḥashaka allāhu min khalqihi faʿlam ʾannahu yurīdu ʾan yaftaḥa bāba al-ʾunsi bih) "When Allah turns people against you, know that He's opening a door to become intimate with Him." There are women in this room that have just been divorced. This is an opening for you to get close to your Lord. There's men who are suffering the death of a spouse or a sickness. These are all doors to get close to Allah.

This is what we have to do. We have to ask forgiveness. This is a difficult time. All of us are struggling to understand it. It's a difficult time, but it's our time. And it's a good time because it's our time. And there's no gift greater than the gift of existence and the gift of faith. And Allah has given us both of these. These are great gifts from Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

The Generosity and Mercy of Our Lord

There are people that are turning away from their Lord. (مَا غَرَّكُم بِرَبِّكُمُ الْكَرِيمِ - mā gharrakum birabbikum al-karīm) (Quran 82:6) - What has deluded you about your generous Lord? Our Lord is a generous Lord. He's a generous Lord. Our Lord is a beautiful Lord. He's a Lord of mercy. He's a Lord of Rahmah. He's our Rahman. He's our Rahim. This is how He built His book, by giving us those two names.

He sent a prophet. (وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ - wa mā ʾarsalnāka ʾillā raḥmatan lil-ʿālamīn) (Quran 21:107) - We have to spread this mercy. We have to spread this mercy. People need mercy. We've had enough. People need mercy. They need mercy. We have to spread mercy. We have to be people of mercy.

The First Hadith: Have Mercy

The first hadith that I learned in the chain of the sun, and this is what all muhaddithun teach. (الرَّاحِمُونَ يَرْحَمُهُمُ الرَّحْمَٰنُ ارْحَمُوا مَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ يَرْحَمْكُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ - ar-rāḥimūna yarḥamuhumu ar-raḥmānu irḥamū man fī al-ʾarḍi yarḥamkum man fī as-samāʾi) (Sunan Abu Dawud 4941, Sunan al-Tirmidhi 1924) - The merciful will be shown mercy. Have mercy on those in the earth. All of those مَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ - And the one in the heavens will have mercy on you.

We need to put down these guns and violence. Our ummah has gone mad. Really. It's gone mad. And there are many reasons for it. And they're very complex and I understand that. But we have to get back to the truth of this religion.

The Five Pillars: The Foundation

We have to get back (بُنِيَ الْإِسْلَامُ عَلَى الْخَمْسِ - buniya al-ʾislāmu ʿala al-khams) (Sahih Bukhari 8, Sahih Muslim 16) - It was built on five things. It

wasn't built on anything but these five things. All the other things are extraneous to the religion.

The shahada, that there's no god but Allah. And that the Prophet ﷺ is his messenger. Establishing prayer. Establishing prayer. Paying the zakāt. Making the hajj. And fasting Ramadan. This is the hadith that Imam Nuh relates. بُنِيَ الْإِسْلَامُ عَلَى الْخَمْسِ - It was built on these five things.

Restoring the Centrality of Faith

We need to restore the centrality of these things. One of the beautiful traditions that came out of India was a group called جَمَاعَةُ التَّبْلِيعُ - This was a group that what they wanted to do was bring simple Muslims back to the religion. And they created this tradition where they had six principles that they wanted to instill in Muslims.

The first one was the vastness of the كَلِمَة. What the كَلِمَة actually means. And the weight of that كَلِمَة. And anyone who says that كَلِمَة has the ḥurmah of Allah. Has the protection of Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ said, do you

The Tragedy of Internal Division

One of the most tragic things that I heard was the head of the religion editor for one of the top news agencies in the west told me he said of all the religious communities I've - I'm telling you the God's honest truth. He said of all the religious communities that I have covered the most vicious towards one another is the Muslims. He said it's just shocking how your leadership just attacks each other.

And the question is why are we doing that? Is it moving us ahead? This is the question to ask. Is it moving us ahead? Is this moving us ahead? Or is it pulling us back? This is something that we have to ask ourselves as a community why that is. I feel the love in this room. This is one of the beauties of the RIS is that we can feel the goodness in this room. But this goodness has to spread out to our larger community. We need this goodness to spread out to our larger community.

The Blame Game and Shaitan's Path

The prophet, the point about blaming the blamer in the Quran is shaitan. In fact he invented the blame game. Iblis in the Quran he actually says to Allah, after he asks him give me some respite. He chased him out for being arrogant because he wouldn't bow down to black clay. He chases and then he tells him get out and he says give me some respite. He says you're from the people of respite.

And he says because you led me astray (أَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ - aq'udanna lahum siratakal mustaqeem) (Quran 7:16) - I will sit in wait on your straight path. (ثُمَّ لَآتِيَنَّهُم مِّن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ - thumma laatiyannahum min bayni aydeehim) (Quran 7:17) - And I will come to them in front of them, from behind them, from their right (وَعَنْ شَمَائِلِهِمْ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ - wa 'an shama'ilihim wa la tajidu aktharahum shakireen) (Quran 7:17) - And to their left. And you will not find the majority of them grateful.

The Prophet ﷺ said (اعْمَلُوا آلَ دَاوُودَ شُكْرًا ۚ وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِيَ الشَّكُورُ - a'malu ala dawuda shukran wa qaleelun min 'ibadi ash-shakoor) (Quran 34:13) - Few of my servants are constantly grateful.

The Power of Gratitude

We know now that gratitude will literally uplift your spirits. It will change your physiology. We know that people in a state of gratitude live longer. We know that people in a state of gratitude suffer depression much less. They had a study in Davis University a gratitude study where they had people that were depressed just right every morning 10 things they were grateful for and they found over a period of 3 or 4 months they were becoming less and less depressed. Grateful, we need gratitude.

And the Prophet ﷺ said (عَجَبًا لِأَمْرِ الْمُؤْمِنِ إِنَّ أَمْرَهُ كُلَّهُ لَهُ خَيْرٌ - 'ajaban li amril mu'mini inna amrahu kullahu lahu khair) (Sahih Muslim 2999) - This is in Sahih Muslim. How wondrous is the state of the believer. All of his affair is good. And then he said (إِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ سَرَّاءُ شَكَرَ - in asabathu sarra'a shakara) - If goodness if he gets goodness, he's grateful. (وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ ضَرَّاءُ صَبَرَ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ ضَرَّاءُ صَبَرَ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ سَرَّاءُ شَكَرَ وَلَيْسَ ذَلِكَ لِأَحَدٍ إِلَّا لِلْمُؤْمِنِ - wa in asabathu darra'a sabara wa in asabathu darra'a sabara wa in asabathu sarra'a shakara wa laysa dhalika li ahadin illa lil mu'min) And if he gets difficulty. If he gets good, he's grateful. And if he has difficulty, he's patient. And the believer is the only one who has this.

(فَمَن وَجَدَ خَيْرًا فَلْيَحْمَدِ اللَّهَ - faman wajada khayran falyahmadillah) - That's why because a believer sees it all as good. Even what afflicts him, it's good. Because he gets a reward for his patience.

So it's important we restore gratitude in our own lives to our children. I mean we have, there's so many incredible young people in this room. You're an inspiration because you're going against the tide. Rebellion today is to be pious. In the old days it was to be sinful. When everybody's sinful, then you can rebel by being pious. That's the best way to rebel today.

Warning About the Latter Days

In conclusion, our Prophet warned us about these days. These are the latter days. We don't know when the end of time is coming. Some of them thought it would be at the end of the 15th century for the Muslim Ummah. Allah knows. We don't know. But it won't be for a while because the atheists win in this world. They lose in the next world but they win in this world because the end of time doesn't come until there's nobody left to say Allah. And that's in the Hadith. So we, as long as we're saying Allah, there's good in the world.

Witnessing Devotion in the Ummah

And I'll tell you this happened to me recently. I was in the Vatican. I've been part of an ethics committee at the Vatican for the last two years going every few months. And I learned a lot. But one of the things that really struck me this time, I was in the Vatican and I went. And one of the things about the Vatican, if you go there, you see all these people they're just walking around like this. And they're looking at Michelangelo's paintings and it really struck me that I didn't see a lot of people doing devotion.

It was like and then I went immediately after that to Medina and I was so amazed. Despite this ummah, we have so much ignorance in our ummah, but there's still so much devotion. And it's just amazing. You think you get up at 2.30 and you think you're going to find a place in the Roda, it's already full. Because people got there before you. Every five prayers you just see these floods of people going. You see people weeping. You see tears flowing down people's faces. You see people doing khatam. It's just, it's stunning. Excuse me. To see the devotion in our ummah.

Our ummah is still alive. It still has a heart. And we're still the people of Allah, inshallah. May Allah continue to bless this ummah and restore our knowledge, restore sanity to our leaders wherever they are and whomever they are.

Clinging to the Book of Allah in Times of Tribulation

The Prophet said to Imam Ali when he asked him the Prophet said that he said the time will come when there will be fitan, there will be fitan like a portion of a dark black night. And they asked the Prophet, he asked him How do we get out on that day? And the Prophet ﷺ said (الْكِتَابُ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ فِيهِ نَبَأُ مَا قَبْلَكُمْ وَخَبَرُ مَا بَعْدَكُمْ وَحُكْمُ مَا بَيْنَكُمْ هُوَ الْفَصْلُ لَيْسَ بِالْهَزْلِ - alkitabu kitabullahi feehi naba'u ma qablakum wa khabaru ma ba'dakum wa hukmu ma baynakum huwal faslu laysa bil hazl) - This is an extraordinary hadith that Imam al-Hakim relates (Al-Mustadrak 2/223(.

At the end of time he said cling to the book of Allah. (الْكِتَابُ كِتَابُ اللهِ - alkitabu kitabullah) - The Book, the Book of Allah. We were told not to be sectarian. This is a commandment from Allah. It is haram to fall into sectarianism. This is a commandment from Allah and call people to unity call people to unity. Really the Shia and Sunni should not be fighting we both say la ilaha illa Allah this is the harma of the kalima we shouldn't be fighting.

The Amman declaration which I signed, the Amman declaration identifies eight of these different groups that all of them inshallah have salvation and we shouldn't be fighting. So this is important to call people back to the book of Allah.

The Virtues of the Book of Allah

It has news of what went before it has news of what's coming. It's something it's a criterion. It's not light it's heavy. (لَيْسَ بِالْهَزْلِ - laysa bil hazl) - It's not foolishness. It's the habl of Allah (حَبْلُ اللهِ - hablullahi) - it's the rope of Allah to cling to it's the rope of Allah. It's his light (قَدْ جَاءَكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ نُورٌ - qad ja'akum minallahi nur) (Quran 5:15) - This is a light that's come from God it's a light it's the straight path it's the wise reminder.

It's the one that people will not go astray in their appetites with it their tongues will not become diverse with it their opinions will not become ambiguous with it. This is the book that its wonders will never cease. This is the book that when the jinn heard it they said we heard a wondrous book. This is the book that the one who speaks by it has spoken the truth the one who calls to it is rightly guided the one who acts according to it is rewarded and the one that clings to it will have salvation.

A Call to Daily Connection with the Quran

جَاءَكُم بِكِتَابِ اللَّهِ - His will take you 15 minutes maximum do a hizb in the morning and a hizb in the evening. Many of you read a newspaper for 15 minutes read the eternities don't read the times read the eternities don't read the times. People spend now if you have the latest iPhone it tells you how much time you're wasting on the iPhone look at that and then ask yourselves do you have 15 minutes for the book of Allah in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon.

Closing Supplications

May Allah guide our ummah may he restore the sanity of this ummah may he bless every single person in this room anyone who's depressed may Allah uplift your heart may he put joy in your heart anyone who's going through a divorce may Allah make that transition easy to a better thing.

Umm Habib when she came from Habesha the Prophet she had just her husband had left Islam but she held strong and when she came from Habesha the Prophet said to her may Allah give you a good husband she ended up becoming married to the Prophet.

The Prophet another one of his wives his husband died who was a righteous man and the Prophet made a du'a may Allah replace him and she said who could be better than him and then the Prophet married her. So good

will come inshallah maybe you hate a thing but in it is good for you Allah knows and you don't know.

May Allah reward all these extraordinary beautiful young people may he preserve the light in their faces may Allah bless all the volunteers may Allah bless all the people that supported this all the people who came from wherever you came. Look at all of the organization on this planet for dunya humans are so organized for dunya it's amazing we work together for dunya just to get all of you here from your different places miracles were performed of organization.

Allah says (وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ - wa ta'awanu 'alal birri wat taqwa wa la ta'awanu 'alal ithmi wal 'udwan) (Quran 5:2) - may he make us people of working together for goodness and for righteousness and not for sinfulness and aggression.

I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness for me and you and the rest of the Muslims. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.