Khutba The Value of Joy

Khutba: The Value of Joy

By Joe Bradford

Opening Story

He tells us, says he, We would be overjoyed on the day of Jumu'ah. So someone said (لِمَ بِأَيِّ شَيْءٍ؟ - lima bi-ayyi shay'in?) One of his students said, Why? Why would you be happy on the day of Jumu'ah? He said, (كَانَتْ هُنَاكَ عَجُورٌ تُرْسِلُّ إِلَيْنَا طَعَامًا بَعْدَ الْجُمُعَةِ - kanat hunaka 'ajurun tursilu ilayna ta'aman ba'da al-jumu'ah) There was an old woman who would send food to us. She used to go and she used to get some dates from one section of Medina.

And then she would get some herbs from another area of Medina, fresh herbs. And then she would cook it for us. And then after we would pray Jumu'ah with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), we would go to her home and sit outside.

And she would present this food for us. And we would sit there and share in the food and laugh and eat.

So we wouldn't sleep, we wouldn't have lunch until after Jumu'ah.

The Value of Joy

Why am I mentioning this narration in particular? Because I want to draw our attention today to a value that many times we overlook. And that is the value of joy. Not just happiness.

A lot of times we feel very happy with things in our life, things that we've done, things that others have done for us. But what is the idea of joy? Joy (الفرح - al-farah) is much less common. It's not something that simply happens as a reaction and then goes away.

But it's something that we possess. It's not something that others can give us. But it's something that we possess on our own.

Joy is a value that we as believers, as Muslims as مؤمنين - mu'minin and محسنين - muhsinin must embody in our lives. But it has to be the right kind of joy, about the right kind of things. No one can take your joy from you.

You only give it away. For example, if you're driving to the masjid today and someone cuts you off, you could be very happy and overjoyed that you're going to get to pray Jumu'ah today. In fact, you should.

It's a blessing how many of our friends and our co-workers are unable to pray Jumu'ah many times on Fridays. We, alhamdulillah, are blessed to be here. We should be overjoyed with the blessing to be here.

Someone cuts you off in traffic, what's gonna happen? How are you going to react? Are you going to allow your inner state of joy with the blessing of being in a car, walking on your own two feet, making

your way to the house of Allah to be snatched from you? Or are you going to allow them to go wherever they need to go to and continue celebrating and reveling in the joy that Allah gave you? It's a choice that you have to make about your own heart. Number one is, will you give your joy to others? Will you allow them to take it away from you? Number two, what are you overjoyed about? What do you find sets you in a state of joy, of farah? Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala describes many different types or many different instances of joy when he talks about them in the Quran. Let's talk a little bit about the things that we shouldn't be joyful for.

The Wrong Types of Joy

We shouldn't be joyful for the disobedience of Allah. We shouldn't be joyful and overjoyed at what we think are our own accomplishments. We shouldn't be joyful for those things which take us away from Allah's remembrance.

And in this, we can say that joy is both a positive and a negative value for us as Muslims. We should value joy. We should want to be happy and to have continuous inner peace.

But then we have to ask ourselves, what does that continuous inner peace look like? And why do we have that inner peace? Many people are very happy with what they're doing. They're very much at peace with how they live their lives. But they live their lives wronging others.

They find joy in pressuring others into situations. They find joy in oppressing others socially, politically, familially, communally, whatever that may be. They find joy in sinning.

They find joy in doing the opposite of what Allah wants. So we don't want to be that person and we don't want to have that kind of joy. I wanna show you three examples in the Qur'an of that wrong type of joy.

And then let's talk about how we can have the proper type of farah, the proper type of joy that we should embody as Muslims. Why am I talking about this subject of values today? Of the value of joy? I wanna talk about this and inshaAllah ta'ala in future lectures and khutbas because I have noticed the disconnect in our community. We have become so entrenched in politics and social causes and solving problems that sometimes aren't even there.

That we have forgotten to embody the values that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asks us to embody in the Qur'an. Ask any young Muslim what it is to be a Muslim. What will they tell you? They might, many times, express to you how we are to stand up for justice and that's great.

They'll express to you how things are wrong in the Muslim countries. We have to right those wrongs. Things are wrong here politically.

We have to right those wrongs. But in the end of the day, when all of the politics is done, when all of the social movements change their positions, what things do you value as a believer in Allah? Why is it important to be a Muslim? Why do you submit to Allah? What things do you hold dear in your heart that work for you, whether you are in the political realm, the social realm, the religious realm, the business realm, whatever area of life that you're in, what are those things that guide your actions? Are you being

guided by the current of social media, by the current of political thought, by the current of the 24-hour news cycle, or are you being guided by the values that are ingrained in your heart?

Example 1: Joy in Material Life

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, describing those who are joyed with certain things, He says:

And they are happy with their material life. And this material life compared to the next life, the akhirah, is but a trinket.

It's nothing but a temporary joy. So it's not the material that we have that should bring us joy, but it's the ability to recognize Allah's blessings in that material. Have you ever seen a person who has millions, if not billions of dollars, and they never seem to be satisfied? And you see a person who all they have is, say for example, the head of a goat that they're given by a butcher who was going to throw it away.

And they cook it for their family and they have a family meal, and it's the best thing that they've ever had. And they find joy in their heart. Does that joy in their heart come from the head of a goat? No.

That joy in their heart comes from the blessing of being with family, of sharing something that they have, of congregating on food, which is a core act for us as Muslims. So you can have everything and never find joy in anything. And you can have next to nothing and find joy in the smallest things.

Example 2: Joy in Material Wealth with Heedlessness

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

Until they find joy with what we have given them, we take them to account. Now what is this referring to? This is referring to not only being overjoyed or joyous with your material wealth, but also thinking that that is a result of your own actions. Thinking that the good that you have in your life was bound to come to you because you're just that awesome and that amazing and it was supposed to.

And when you get to that point of heedlessness, of ghafla, that is when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will take you to account. Many times, things happen to us in our lives and then we discover difficulties and then we become more entrenched in difficulty because we thought we should never see difficulty. We should never have problems.

We should never face hardships. But the believer understands that there's joy in this and there's joy in that. Why? Because everything is destined from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

But the moment that you place your mind and your material as the be-all end-all of life, then that is the wrong type of joy to embody.

Example 3: Joy in Opposing the Prophet

Lastly, some of us are happy to differ with Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). We are happy to be contrarian to the messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

Not only in his actions and in what he encouraged us to do of good, but in the core values that he taught that were revealed to him in the Qur'an.

Allah says about those who sat behind after the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - alayhi salatu wasalam) had went out to the battle of Tabuk. They were overjoyed that they sat out the battle.

They weren't there with the community. They weren't supporting the Muslims. What were they doing? Ha ha, we're good.

Y'all go ahead. They were like the people of Moses when they said:

Go, you and your Lord and fight. We're gonna sit right here.

So when you find joy in differing with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - alayhi salatu wasalam), does that mean there weren't people in Medina who sat out the battle for legitimate reasons? Maybe for mistakes? No, there were. There were, and that was called to attention. If you read the long story of the battle of Tabuk that's in Sahih Muslim and Sunan al-Tirmidhi, you'll find that.

But the point here is that we should never feel joy in the fact that we're being contrarian to the very values that we express. And this is an odd state here in our modern world. That we somehow think that we don't have to, you know, we can take the label and none of the responsibility.

We want all the rights as a Muslim. We don't want any of the responsibilities in front of Allah and in front of the community. And that in and of itself is an issue.

The Right Type of Joy

Now let's talk about those things that we should be doing as Muslims. That joy that we should have. We should be happy that Allah has blessed us.

It's not wrong to have material blessings.

And as for the blessings of your Lord, then declare them. It's okay to have what you have.

It's okay to be happy. What is the key differentiator here? That you realize who those blessings come from. And that you're not only joyous because of those blessings, but you're even joyous when those blessings leave you.

Joy in Allah's Bounty

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says:

They are overjoyed with what Allah has given them of His bounty. Now the bounty of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala doesn't mean that it's in only those things that we like. Lot of times bad things happen to us in our lives by the permission of Allah for our betterment.

How many of us have had a medical scare? We've had some hugely disruptive medical event in our lives where we thought that all was lost and then we go to the doctor and the doctor says, you know, you actually have a lot of time. You just need to work on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. If we judged our entire lives by that one medical scare, that one instance where we thought that everything was lost, then yeah, we would have no cause for joy. But we understand that that medical scare, that one instance is actually one of the reasons why we should be joyous because it was the catalyst that moved us into becoming better people physically and working on our health.

The same goes for our character. The same goes for our devotion and worship of Allah. Many times things happen in our lives, we don't realize it, but they're good for us.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, he said (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam):

(Sahih Muslim 2999)

Amazing is the affair of the believer. His entire affair is good and that is only for the believer. If something good happens to him, he's grateful and it's good for him.

And if something bad happens to him, he's patient and it's good for him. And that cannot happen except for the believer. Notice again, what's the differentiating factor here? The belief in Allah, the realization that everything, that our true joy is in pleasing Him, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.

Joy in Revelation

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala also says:

And those who we have given the book, who revelation have come down to, they are overjoyed with what's been revealed to you. So we as believers should find joy and happiness with our faith, with the Qur'an, with the sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Am I saying that we practice all of it? Am I saying that we understand all of it? Am I saying that we never come up short? No. We will always come up short because none of us are perfect.

But we find our joy, our solace, our strength in knowing that we have something to go back to that gives us guidance. Something to go back to to find strength from. Something to go back to that can help us in both times of joy as well as times of sorrow.

Joy in Allah's Victory

And Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:

To Allah belongs all affairs both before and after. And on that day, the believers will feel joy with the victory of Allah who gives victory to whomever He wills. So our victory, our joy in life comes not only from understanding that what happens to us in our lives good or bad has a purpose but that all of that pours into, pours up into a greater purpose.

And that is returning to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Those material victories, the wins that we get in life, we should feel joy for. Why? Because we know that they're there to put us forward and to allow us to be able to worship Allah.

Those victories that we have in life, that joy that we get from the things that we get as well as the things that we lose, those things are there that push us forward to have joy in the revelation of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.

The Greatest Joy

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:

Allah says, and because of the bounty of Allah and His mercy, it is because of that that you should feel overjoyed. It is better than anything else you could gather.

Second Khutba

الحمد لله وحده والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن اتبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَاسْمَعُونَ وَأَطِيعُوا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُوا

There are three things that you can do today and that you should think about every single day to make sure that the joy that you express in your life is joy that pours back into what Allah is overjoyed with The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1904)

The believer, talking about Ramadan, has two times of joy The joy when he breaks his fast and the joy when he's meeting his Lord What are those things that can combine for us those two? So we take what we've been given in life, good or bad and we take this blessing of Islam and we are able to be joyous in this life that leads us to the joy and the happiness in the next

Three Practical Steps

1. Find Purpose in Life

Number one, find purpose in life Have purpose and not just an intention to do something Everyone talks about intentionality You have to have an iyyah, you have to have an intention But remember, people have intentions for bad and intentions for good Find purpose, find something that motivates you that you feel good about and that you know is pleasing to Allah and then work accordingly The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was asked Why should we act? Hasn't everything been destined? He said act, because each of you will be facilitated for what He was created for When you find yourself good at something When you find that you're able to do some form of good whether that be in business, whether that be in charity whether that be in service to others whether that be simply in worship then take to that thing Find a purpose People that have purpose in life are known to live longer than those who do not