There Is No Calamity If There Is Certainty

There Is No Calamity If There Is Certainty

Eid al-Adha Khutbah by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Opening Salutations and Takbir

Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina wa Habibina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam taslimah, wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. Allah akbar, Allah akbar, Allah akbar.

Blessed Day and Unity

This is a blessed day, Eid-ul-Mubarak. I wanted to talk a little bit about the Eid, but before that I just wanted to mention every year we have a situation where some people fast on one day and then the Eid the next day and then another group either proceed or go after them. And that difference of opinion is a valid difference of opinion.

It's really insoluble. It's not something that we're going to come to any definitive conclusions. As long as there's not a caliph to tell everybody to fast on one day, people are making the ijtihad to the best of their ability.

No group should find fault in the other group. So the people that did their Eid yesterday, it was a perfectly valid opinion. And the people that do their Eid today, it's a valid opinion.

It might be a rahmah from Allah that some people just out of their arrangements yesterday might have been more difficult than today. So they're both valid opinions. We're following local sighting, but I really have no problem with a unified sighting either.

My personal opinion is this is the stronger one until somebody can prove to me differently, but I really believe they're both valid. So I just wanted to put that out there.

Celebrating Our Father Ibrahim

Today is a day in which we're celebrating Abraham, alayhis salaam. This is our father, Abraham. Ibrahim is the uniter of the three great monotheistic traditions in the world. We have Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and all of them share our father Ibrahim.

Ibrahim is also called Abraham in a qira'a sab'iyya, a valid qira'a of the Quran. So he is Abraham, Ibrahim, Abraham. All of these are the same individual, and he is an extraordinary human being.

He is, after our Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he is the most singular individual in human history. He has the bulk of humanity's population that actually attribute themselves to his tradition, Ibrahim, alayhis salaam.

Who Is Ibrahim - The Khalil of Allah

So who is Ibrahim, and why are we here today celebrating him? Ibrahim, alayhis salaam, is khalilullah, and the khalil of Allah is the beloved of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And the reason that he has the maqam, and there's only two Prophets that have achieved the khullah, and that is the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who is also khalilullah, and Ibrahim, alayhis salaam, who is khalilullah. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah took him as a khalil.

He's Habibullah, as an epithet that distinguishes him from Ibrahim's, but they both have the maqam of the highest level of love, and that love is the love, al-muhabbatu allatih tatakhallalu fi jasad al-insan. It is the love that permeates every cell of a person's existence. That is the love of Allah.

The Nature of True Love

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"From amongst humanity are those who take replacements for Allah. They take things beside Allah, and they love those things like the love of Allah, and the people who love Allah, who believe in Allah, love Allah more than they love their replacements for Allah."

That's what Allah says. He describes the iman of the people of Allah as being greater than the love of those who take replacements beside Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Ancient Practice of Sacrifice

Now one of the things that the ancients used to do is they would sacrifice their children. Moloch was a god in the area where Ibrahim was, and they used to sacrifice their children to that god. This is the love that they had for their idols, for their replacements of Allah. They would even sacrifice their children to them.

Ibrahim's Prayer for a Righteous Son

Now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when Ibrahim, alayhis salaam, said:

"I'm going to my Lord and my Lord will guide me. Oh Allah, give a gift to me."

Allah is the giver of gifts. Give a gift to me, a righteous son. We gave him glad tidings of a patient forebearing child.

This was the child that Ibrahim was given. And there's a difference of opinion about who that child was. The majority of the later scholars say it was Ismail. Many of the early scholars said it was Ishaq. It should not be a

point of contention for the believers. It's not the point of the story. Both are valid opinions.

The Vision and the Test

Now, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"When he reached his maturity," the son of Ibrahim, when he reached his maturity, the mufassirun say about 13 years. When he came into puberty, he was helping his father do his things.

Ibrahim says to him:

"Ya bunayya, I have seen in a vision." And he said, araa, which he didn't say ra'aytu. Araa, I'm seeing it. I have seen this and this is because he saw it consistently. And this is very important.

The Days of Hajj

Because what happened to Ibrahim is the first night that he saw the vision, the next morning he woke and he didn't know if it was a hulm, if it was a dream from shaytan or a ru'ya, a revelation from Allah. And the revelation of prophets comes in dreams as well. So what did Ibrahim do? He waited and this is yawm at-tarwiyah.

This is the 8th day. He waited on that day, tarawwah. That's what yawm at-tarwiyah is, the day of waiting. He waited to make sure. And this is very important in the nature of certainty. That certainty should not be assumed at the beginning.

Somebody has to wait until certainty comes into their heart. And so Ibrahim waited. He saw the next night and he knew it was from Allah. This is yawm arafah. When he realized that it was from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then he told his son.

The Response of Submission

And what did his son say? He said:

فَانظُرْ مَاذَا تَرَى

"Tell me what you think. What do you think about this?" He said:

"Oh my father, do as you have been commanded to do. In other words, sacrifice me. And you will find me insha'Allah from among those who are patient."

This was a test for Ibrahim to achieve the maqam of belovedness. The maqam of khulla to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to become khalilullah.

The Station of Submission

And this is something that the pagans in his area did for their idols. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tested his love. Was his love greater than those who take idols beside Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? And when Ibrahim came:

"When they both entered into a state of submission." And this is a proof that submission is not a religion. It's a station. Submission is a station. Because they were already believers. They were muslimoon.

But here they submitted to the affair of Allah. And that is why Islam is a constant thing. It's not something that you just come into or born into.

It's something we do every day. If you look at something haram, you're not in a state of submission. You're in a state of rebellion. If you are taking something that is haram, you're not in a state of submission. You're in a state of rebellion. You have the name of muslim, but you don't have the reality of muslim.

And so Ibrahim had the reality of muslim. His son had the reality of muslim.

فَلَمَّا أَسْلَمَا

When they entered into this state of submission, then what happens?

"He put him down to sacrifice him." This is yawm nahar. The day of nahar. Because on the third day he went out to take his son, to sacrifice his son.

The Moment of Sacrifice

What did his son say? His son said, turn my face away from you, so no mercy comes into your heart. In other words, his face, he didn't want to look at his face because he began to weep. And then he said, give my mother salam. So these are people in a complete state of submission.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says:

"We called him, oh Ibrahim, you believed in this revelation, and like that, we reward the people who do good."

The doing good was not the sacrificing the son. It was obeying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that is why:

"This was a test. This was only a test." We were testing the level of your commitment to submission to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Great Ram

And so:

"We replaced it with a great ram." And this is why those who enter into a state of submission, what appears to be difficult about it is replaced with sweetness.

This is why the mountain that believers climb, al-aqaba, is different from the mountains of dunya. The mountains that believers climb in their pursuit to Allah, they don't get more tired as they go up. It gets lighter.

It gets easier. It's at the base of the mountain when the journey begins that it's difficult. But as the climb towards this height of submission to Allah is drawn near, the believer finds ease, finds peace, finds ability.

The Secret of Certainty

Now this is certainty. And this is the secret of Ibrahim. He was a man in a state of certitude with his Lord.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"And we made amongst them leaders. Leaders. Why? Because they had patience."

سَتَجِدُنِي إِن شَاءَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الصَّابِرِينَ

"You will find me patient."

And they had yaqeen.

قَدْ صَدَّقْتَ الرُّؤْيَا

Tasdiq is from yaqeen. It's certainty. You believe out of certainty. And this certainty is the certainty of the believer.

The Certainty of Prophets versus Fanatics

Now the difference between this certainty and the certainty of fools and fanatics is that fanatics have a certainty about themselves. They have a certainty about themselves. And that is not the certainty of prophets.

The prophets actually doubt themselves when the message first comes to them. This is the reality of prophets. The prophets are in a state of uncertainty about themselves until Allah establishes their heart.

The Certainty About Conditions

And certainty in the self, in the science of discernment in the pre-Islamic Christians was a sign that it was from the devil. To actually believe immediately that you have truth from God was a sign that it was from the devil. And this is the difference.

The certainty of the believer is a certainty about the conditions in the world that they're from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we are being tested by these conditions. And I'll just say to all of you, there are those in this room that have had tribulation this year. But our tribulations are nothing compared to the tribulations of the people of Pakistan.

They're nothing compared to the tribulations of the people that had to face the tsunami. They're nothing compared to the tribulations of the people that face Katrina. We're in blessing and we have to be grateful for our blessings.

We have to be grateful for our blessings. And this is the state, this is the maqam of the people of Ibrahim. They're people of gratitude. They're people of certitude. Shukr and yaqeen. They have shukr, gratitude that everything is from Allah and because they believe in Allah, everything is good.

Everything is good. Everything from Allah is good. And so we should believe with certainty that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has a plan and a purpose.

Signs for Reflection

This is our belief. Everything that's happening on the earth now, these are signs for people to reflect. We're not people that think these are fortuitous that they come out of nothing.

No, they're signs for us to reflect. I'm not going to say why Allah is doing these things because I don't speak like that. We can't speak as if we're speaking with the voice of God.

But we can look at the Quran and see that the Quran reminds us that tribulations are from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because of what people are doing.

The Story of Punishment for Sin

This is why one man was walking in Medina and he saw a beautiful woman and he started staring at her. And as he walked, he came, there was a wall and he hit the wall and cut his nose.

And he went immediately to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He said, Ya Rasulullah, this is what I did. He said, that's from your sin. In other words, you got your uqubah, you got your punishment for it in this world, which is a good thing.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud 4278)

"My ummah is an ummah that has mercy upon it. The punishment of this ummah is in this world. It will be civil strife, it will be tribulations, it will be earthquakes, it will be killing."

This is the result of sins. And human beings are out of sync with nature, they're out of sync with their Lord. We're in a state of total disequilibrium.

Hope and Belief

And so much of what's happening, these are signs for us to think about. We have global warming, all of these things, they're very real. But we're people of hope, we're people of belief, and Allah says:

"Never despair of the mercy of Allah."

But ultimately:

"We believe that the end result is for the believers."

Musa said to his people:

"The earth belongs to Allah. He gives it to whomever He pleases among His servants, and the end result is for the people of Taqwa."

The Story of Pharaoh

And so Allah gave dominion to Pharaoh. He gave him power. But he told Musa, the end result is for the people of Taqwa. And so the people of Pharaoh perished. As all oppressors will perish.

But so will the believers in this world, they will perish. And in the end, it's about the Day of Judgment. And that's what Hajj is. It's a preparation for the Day of Judgment. This is what we need to be doing. Preparing for the Day of Judgment in our lives, really seriously.

Facing Difficulties with Certainty

So this year may have been difficult for you. You may have lost your job. You may have lost your business. Maybe your stocks all collapsed if they didn't collapse from before. You might have had to borrow. You might have had to beg.

I don't know what your conditions are. But whatever your conditions are, you should know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala promises for the patient, He promises to be with them. This is the difference.

We're people of principle. We're people of ethics. We're people of certainty about our Lord. And no matter what happens in this dunya, if you have certainty about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then nothing can disrupt you.

Nothing can destroy your equilibrium with Allah. And this is why Ibrahim and our Prophet, alayhim assalam, never, never do they despair from the mercy of Allah. Never do we see them unhinged by the matters of dunya. Never do we see them disrupted by anything. And that's how we should be as believers.

Be People of Ibrahim and Muhammad

We should be people of Ibrahim. We should be people of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. This is the truth of our religion.

So no matter what's happening to you, you have to unite as a community. Support your imams. Support your institutions in this community.

This community should be doing much better than it's doing. But we have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. We have too many people that want to lead and not enough people that want to get down in the trenches and do that hard work.

That's the backbone of a community. That's the backbone of a society. And that's what we should be doing as a community.

What Can You Do?

Each one of you should be asking, what can I do for this community? What can I do? Go to your community. What can I do? I want to do something. Because if you're sitting around behind some computer terminal or behind a cash register selling gasoline or whatever you're doing, I don't know what you're doing.

Or a stethoscope to the heart of somebody. If you're not doing something for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're wasting time. And time is the most precious thing that you have after faith.

"By time man is in loss. You're losing. We're losing."

Every day as time is moving away, we're going closer to our death. Allah says:

"Except those who believe and do righteous deeds."

That's the difference.

Looking Forward to Meeting Allah

We're all facing death. We're all facing death. And I'll tell you something, if you have any intelligence at all, you should be looking forward to it. You should be looking forward to it.

مَنْ أَحَبَّ لِقَاءَ اللَّهِ أَحَبَّ اللَّهُ لِقَاءَهُ

It's not something that you should be running out to find. It'll find you soon enough. But it's something that you should be looking forward to because it's a relief. It's a relief from the miseries of this world.

فِي الْمَوْتِ أَلْفُ رَاحَةٍ

"In death is a thousand reposes from the tribulations of dunya."

And if you don't have any tribulations, I don't know what planet you're on. If you don't have any tribulations, I don't know what planet you're on. But if you don't, then you're really in trouble.

Because those people, the jannah of the people of this world, they don't get jannah in the next world. So if you're really comfortable, my advice is get down in the trenches with the people that are bleeding and start helping bandage them up. Really.

A Day of Change and Making Amends

We need some changes in our community. This is a day of change. This is a day of turning. This is a day of tawbah. This is a day of dhikr Allah. This is a day of eating, drinking, and also rejoicing.

It's a day of making up. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

"Join with those you've severed. Do good to those who've done evil to you."

That's what this deen is about. And that's a difficult thing to do. But if you do it, Allah will reward you.

"Do good just as Allah has done good to you." Allah will do good to you.

Closing Supplications

May Allah give us certainty in our hearts. May He strengthen our yaqeen about this faith, about where we're going, about our meeting with Allah. May He give us love of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in our hearts. May He make us servants of this deen and of our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in servitude to him.

And may He bless our women. May He protect all you women. All you women that are wearing hijab, may Allah protect all of you. And the women that aren't wearing hijab, may Allah protect you as well. May Allah protect all of you and protect your children in this land. Increase you.

Give you more faith. Give you certitude. Give you the faith of Abraham, peace be upon him. Give you the faith of seeing with certainty that nothing in this world is a calamity when you have certainty.

The Dua for Certainty

And our Prophet made in his dua, he said:

"And give us certainty that makes all calamities in this world insignificant. Insignificant." That's the certainty that you need to have.

Every single person in here, we have people that are, they're barely walking in our community. But they have faith and that faith keeps them walking. So may Allah give you certainty that makes all the calamities of this dunya appear insignificant in your eyes. Insignificant in your eyes.

Because that's what Abraham had. And that's why even sacrificing his son with his certitude became insignificant because he knew that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, would not tell him to do something that was not in his best interest.

And because he did that, Allah:

"We replaced it with a great ram." May Allah replace all your hardships with a great ram.

جَزَاكُمُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ

To purchase lectures by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and other traditional scholars, please visit Alhambra Productions on the Internet at www.alhambraproductions.com.