Detachment from the Worldly Life

Detachment from the Worldly Life

Khutba by Joe Bradford

Opening

Allah سبحانه وتعالى is the one whom we praise. We praise him, we thank him, we seek refuge in him from the evil of our own souls and the evil of our actions. Whomsoever he guides, none can misguide him. And whomsoever he leaves astray, then none can guide him to the truth. And I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship but Allah, alone, without partner, and that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is his slave and his messenger.

O you who believe, fear Allah as he should be feared. Do not die except as Muslims. O mankind, fear your Lord who created you from one soul, and from that soul its mate. And from those two spread many men and many women. And fear Allah concerning those whom you ask your rights from. And fear Allah concerning the wombs that gave birth to you, for verily He is ever watchful over you. O you who believe, fear Allah and speak the truth. He will guide you to righteous deeds and forgive you of your sins. And whomsoever obeys Allah and His messenger, has achieved the greatest achievement.

The Story of Isa and the Man Who Wanted to be His Disciple

The Beginning of the Journey

Rawal Imam Ibn Abi Dunya, in the book of Zuhd, that the Prophet Isa عليه السلام passed by a man one day.

Imam Ibn Abi Dunya narrates in his book, on asceticism, that once Isa عليه السلام the Prophet Jesus عليه السلام walked past a man. And when that man saw him, he became enamored with him. And who could not become enamored with Nabiullah Isa عليه السلام

He became enamored with him and he started to walk behind him. And when he gained the courage to walk up to him, he said to him, "I want to be from amongst your disciples, I want to be from the Hawariyeen." So Isa told him عليه السلام "Walk with me."

The First Test: The Three Loaves of Bread

So he began to walk with him. And as they walked Isa عليه السلام said, "Have you become hungry? We've been walking for more than an hour." He said, "Yes I have."

So Isa عليه السلام said, "Fine. I have with me in this bag some bread. So let's sit and eat this simple meal of bread."

And so he opened up the small bag and in it were three loaves of bread. So he said, "Here is one loaf for you and one loaf for me. وَالرَّغِيفُ الثَّالِتْ يَبْقَى - And the third loaf will stay."

And as they sat and they ate from the bread, Isa عليه السلام said, "I'm full, I'm going to go and take a drink from the river."

And as we know, Isa عليه السلام, as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم told us in Bukhari, that Isa عليه السلام lived a simple life. That he used to own a cup, and when he noticed that he could scoop water with his hand, he gave away his cup. And he used to comb his hair with a comb. And when he noticed that he could use his fingers, he gave away his comb.

So he went down to the river and he started to drink. And as his back was turned, the man saw the third loaf. And his eyes were on the third loaf. And when Isa عليه السلام came back, the third loaf was gone. So he said to him:

"Who ate the third loaf of bread?" The man said, لا أذري - I don't know."

The Second Test: The Gazelle

He said, "Okay, walk with me." So Isa عليه السلام continued to walk. And as he walked and walked and walked, it seemed that they had walked for hours, and they came to the side of a small forest.

And so he said to the man again, "Have you become hungry again?" He said, "Yes." So Isa عليه السلام called to the animals of the forest. And he saw a gazelle, a small gazelle.

And he called it to come to him. And so it, by the permission of Allah, came to Isa. And he عليه السلام ذَبَحَ تِلْكَ الْغَزَالَةَ بِيَدِهِ الشَّرِيفَةِ - he slaughtered that small gazelle with his noble hand.

And then he roasted it and served the roasted gazelle to him and his new companion. And as they sat there, and they enjoyed the roasted meat, and they finished, and they both became full.

Isa عليه السلام said to him هل شبعت؟ - Have you become full?" He said, "Yes, alhamdulillah." So Isa gathered up the bones and whatever was remnant of that gazelle.

And he touched it and he said كُنْ حَيًّا بِإِذْنِ اللهِ - By the permission of Allah, become alive."

And the small gazelle came back alive and jumped back into the forest as Allah had created it when it was first born. Isa turned to the man and he said:

"In the name of the one who gave life to this gazelle, I ask you by Allah, who ate the third loaf of bread?" The man said, لا أدري - I don't know."

The Third Test: Walking on Water

He said, "Fine, walk with me." They continued on their journey. And as they continued on their journey, they came to an impasse. They came to the side of the river where they could no longer go any further by land.

And so Isa عليه السلام said to him, "Take my hand." He said, "Why would I take your hand? There's no ferry. We can't make it across."

He said, "Take my hand." And said, بِسْمِ اللهِ and began to walk over the water with this man following him, walking over the water. And when they reached to the other side of the river, after having walked on water, he turned to him and he said:

"In the name of the one who allowed us to walk over that water by his power alone, I ask you by Allah, who ate the third loaf of bread?" The man said, لا أدري - I don't know."

The Fourth Test: The Gold

He said, "Fine. Continue with me on this journey." And as they moved into new territory, and they walked, and they came to an area that was very dusty and sandy on the edge of the desert. And so Isa عليه السلام said to him, "Have you become hungry again?" He said, "Yes." He said that in this case, "I will do something else."

And so he bent down, and he started to scoop up sand and put them in three small piles. And he put his hands over those three small piles of sand. And he said:

"Become gold by the permission of Allah."

And there were three small mounds of gold sitting there in the sand. And so Isa عليه السلامhe said to him, "One of these are for you, and one of these are for me, and one of these are for the man that ate the third loaf of bread." So he said, "I ate it, I ate it. It was me."

Isa عليه السلام said, "In that case, take all of the gold, and you can no longer be my companion."

The Tragic End

So the man took these three mounds of gold, and he put them in a bag, and he started to travel off into this deserted area. And as he traveled, he came across a small tree and two people sitting there. And it turned out that they weren't the most friendliest of people. They were highway robbers.

And when they saw him carrying the bag, they said, "What's in the bag?" He said, "This is just something that I was given." "Open the bag. Your money or your life."

So he showed them the gold, and they said to themselves, "We should just kill him and take it." He said, "Why? Why would you want to do that? Let me make a deal with you. We'll split it three ways. And I'll take my portion, and I'll go to the city, and I'll buy food, and then I'll bring it back, and we can all eat because we're hungry, and then we'll divvy up and split the rest amongst ourselves." They said, "That's a great idea." So he left.

And as he was leaving, one of the robbers said to his friend, "Look, this guy is going to go and get us food. Let's just allow him to get the food, and when he comes back, we'll do what we were going to do before. We'll kill him, and then we'll take his gold and his food. So we've served a dual purpose."

And the man, as he was going to town to purchase the food, he said to himself, "Why should I share this gold with these two people that are trying to take it from me? This is mine. I was given it."

So he went and he bought food, but he also bought poison and added it to the food. And so when he came back, he gave it to those people, and so they killed him before they ate the food, and then they took the food and ate it, and they themselves died.

And as their three bodies sat there with uneaten food, with open bags of gold sitting around them, Isa عليه السلام and his twelve disciples walked past.

The Lesson: Beware of the Worldly Life

And as he came upon their carcasses sitting there rotting in the sand, he said to his disciples:

"This is the worldly life, so beware of it."

"Pass through it, but do not build it up."

"After this, the worldly life, so beware of it, O Muslims."

Understanding the Dunya

This is the dunya, so beware of itsa عليه السلام said. The word dunya in Arabic comes from the word الدنو - to be lowly. الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا is the lowliest form of life that we can live, that we can exist in.

As Allah سبحانه وتعالى says, "And the life or the abode of the next life is what true life really is."

When we think about our attachments to those things that we love, the most important thing that we can do as Muslims is to detach our souls and detach our hearts from everything other than Allah. Many times we're caught up in this life.

We're caught up in television shows. We're caught up in sporting events. We're caught up in politics. We're caught up in the news. We're caught up in our new clothes and in our new cars. We're caught up in what someone else is doing or what mistakes they've made.

We're caught up in الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا the lowly life, the lowly things in this life.

The Heart: The Center of Our Being

If we look at what our hearts are attached to, we have to develop a sense of who our heart is truly for. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he said:

[Reference: Bukhari 52, Muslim 1599]

"There is a morsel of flesh in each and every one of you. If it is wholesome, then the body in its entirety will be wholesome. And if it is corrupt, then the body in its entirety will be corrupt. And is it not the heart?"

Everything that we attach our hearts to, other than Allah سبحانه وتعالىis merely attachment to something which is a picture or a shape.

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

[Reference: Muslim 2564]

"Allah doesn't look at your shapes, and at your wealth, but He looks at your hearts and your actions."

Types of Hearts

To be true believers, to get past the pitfalls that this man that we heard about in the first khutbah fell into, we have to detach our hearts from those things that we love. Whether it be something as simple as a loaf of bread, or something as enticing as a bag of gold.

"The heart of the believer is like a lantern in which there is light."

"And the heart of the disbeliever is a heart which is closed, it's sealed, and it has darkness over it."

And he said, "The heart of the hypocrite is like a piece of paper, it flips around, and it shows you two faces, but you never really have any substance. It's one-dimensional or two-dimensional."

And he said, "And then there's the hearts of most of us. The hearts of most of us like a good plant in bad soil."

"At some times it's fertilized, and it's nourished by what is good, and at other times it's nourished by that which is other than good."

The Balance: Wealth in the Hands, Not in the Hearts

This is this life, so be aware of it. If we take a small look at what our hearts become attached to, we can see that in reality, it's not the material that really is to blame. Because many people of the past, many people that were extremely pious, were extremely rich, extremely well-off.

They did well for themselves, but they also did good. And there's a difference between doing good and doing well. Many of us do well, but are we doing good while we're doing well?

We look at the Sahaba رضي الله تعالى عنهم we can see that Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضي الله تعالى عنه was one of the richest of the Sahaba. But yet he would give his wealth away, and Allah سبحانه وتعالى would replace it for him. Umar ibn al-Khattab was well-off. Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah was well-off. Uthman ibn Affan. Many of the Sahaba, many of the prominent and most pious and those that we look up to.

So piety and taqwa, and having a heart connected to Allah, is not directly related to what you have, but it is directly related to how you have it.

It's not bad to be wealthy. It's not bad to have possessions. One of the Tabi'een was asked about the Sahaba. He said:

"The dunya was in their hands, but it wasn't in their hearts. But as for us, the dunya is in our hearts, and so Allah takes it out of our hands."

The Consequences of Wrong Priorities

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Tirmidhi 2465)

"Whoever has this dunya, this lowly life, as his sole importance, as his worry, then Allah will disperse his affairs. And nothing of this life will come to him except that which was written for him."

(Tirmidhi 2465)

"And whoever has the next life as his intention, Allah will gather for him his affairs. And this world will come and throw itself at his feet."

Have you ever come home and you have a pet that comes and hugs your legs because it's happy to see that you're home? Or maybe you have small children and the first thing they do because they're not tall enough is they throw themselves and they grab you on your shins and you feel overwhelmed. It's almost like you can't control it.

This is the example the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is giving you. That if you keep the next life as your intention, don't worry about the dunya. It will throw itself at your feet. It will be there in your service. You will be able to use it to serve Allah سبحانه وتعالى and to serve your needs.

The Danger of Making Desires Our God

When we look at our hearts and what they're attached to, if we have the proper intention and our hearts are for Allah, Allah will make us from amongst His people and make the dunya from amongst the means that we use to reach Him.

But if we don't, Allah سبحانه وتعالى asks us a rhetorical question:

"Have you seen the one who has taken his desires as his God? And Allah has led him astray despite his knowledge and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil. So who will guide him after Allah? Then will you not be reminded?"

How to Escape Becoming Servants of This Life

The question is, after we know what the dunya is, we know what this lowly life is, and we know that it is a means, it is not a goal. How then can we escape becoming servants to this life?

(Bukhari 2887)

"Ruined is the slave of the dinar, the slave of the dirham, the slave of the fine garment, and the slave of the fine robe. If he is given, he is pleased, but if he is not given, he is displeased. May he be ruined and relapse, and if he is pricked by a thorn, may it not be extracted."

We can become slaves to this life, or we can use it for our betterment, and for the betterment of others.

The Path to Leadership

Allah جل جلاله says:

"We made them leaders, guiding and guiding others with our command, when they had two things." We made them leaders guiding and guiding others by our command, when they had patience, and they had yaqeen, they had certainty, in the verses and the signs that we had sent down from them.

Brothers and sisters, it's very important for us to remember that it all starts from here. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Muslim 2564)

"Taqwa is here, taqwa is here, taqwa is here" (pointing to his heart).

But we have to remember that it's not enough just to say that taqwa is in our hearts. But we also have to live that taqwa. We have to allow that heart to be attached to Allah, and allow our limbs to serve Him, and to serve others that are around us.

Remembering Our Return to Allah

It's important that in these days we do not forget those that are needy, here in this country, and all around the world. It's as if some of us will read Ashraf Al-Sa'ah, the signs of the Day of Judgment, and say to ourselves, it's as if we can see a similarity of what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was saying, and what we see nowadays, of the hardship, the famine, the earthquakes, the struggle, the indiscriminate killing, the injustices of the states, and of the individuals.

But we have to remember:

"To Allah سبحانه وتعالى do we all return."

If we can remember that Allah سبحانه وتعالى is there for us, and if we turn to Him in du'a, then He will answer that du'a. As long as our hearts are for Him, and for Him alone, He will give us this life, and He will allow us to make it a better place for us and for everyone else.

Concluding Du'a

(Muslim 2713)

"O Allah, You are the First, nothing is before You; You are the Last, nothing is after You; You are the Manifest, nothing is above You; You are the Hidden, nothing is closer than You."