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Mercy Manifested in the Spirit of the Law

Lessons from the Time of the Prophet ﷺ and His Companions

Speaker: Imam Mohamed Magid

Opening

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh)

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ - alhamdulillahi, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah)

Khutbat al-Hajah (Opening Sermon)

(إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ - innal hamda lillah, nahmaduhu wa nastaeenuhu wa nastaghfiruhu, wa na'udhu billahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayyiati a'malina, man yahdihillahu fala mudilla lahu, wa man yudlil fala hadiya lahu)

(يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ - ya ayyuhan nasu ittaqu rabbakum alladhi khalaqakum min nafsin wahidatin wa khalaqa minha zawjaha wa baththa minhuma rijalan kathiran wa nisa'an wattaqullaha alladhi tasa'aluna bihi wal arham)

(إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا - innallaha kana alaykum raqiba)

"O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment."

(أَمَّا بَعْدُ - amma ba'du)

Introduction

Thank you, Sister, (jazakumullah khair - جزاكم الله خير). It gives me a great pleasure to be with you this afternoon and I would like just to follow on my brother Qazwini's comments to thank the United for Change, Zaytuna College, and Imam Zaid Shakir for bringing all of us together in this beautiful gathering.

The topic is the spirit of the law and it deals with the concept of justice in Islam and what we believe about it and the manifestation of this justice in the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his companions after him.

The Unity of Values in Islam

Before I talk about the concept of justice and the spirit of the law, I would like to say that in Islam there is the unity of values (وَحْدَةُ الْقِيَمِ - wahdatul qiyam). And as people speak these days about the integrations of science, in Islam we believe in the integrations of values. Values are not separate from one another. You cannot partition values in Islamic perspectives and that's why when you read about the Prophet's life you can see all of these values in one person: mercy, justice, and love in one person. And they call that in Islam khuluq—morals and values.

Allah said to the Prophet:

"And indeed, you are of a great moral character."

You have the best moral conduct ever because he manifested the divine guidance in human actions. And that's why his wife said when she was asked about the Prophet's behavior, she said to the man who was asking: (أَلَا تَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ؟ - ala taqra'ul quran?) (Don't you recite Quran?) (كَانَ خُلْقُهُ الْقُرْآنَ - kana khuluqul quran) (The Prophet's moral conduct is based on the Quranic verses) and the teaching of Allah.

This unity of value comes from the concept of Tawheed—believing in the oneness of Allah. And if humanity believes in this concept which every Prophet of Allah has called humanity to, and this Tawheed was connected to the issues of the day whether it was economic injustice or problems in social behaviors or political tyranny and dictatorship. Every Prophet comes with the concept of Tawheed to call people back to Allah but addressing the issue that concerned them at the time from the Tawheedic perspective. Because if people become Muwahideen, they resolve all the issues. It becomes truly believing in the oneness of Allah because Tawheed makes a person believe that the source of the world is one (مَصْدَرُ الْحَيَاةِ وَاحِدٌ - masdarul hayat wahid). The whole world originates from Allah. And since that is the case, then (مَصْدَرُ الْقِيَمِ - masdarul qiyam) (the source of values) is the same.

Because as one of the scholars of Islam says, the universe—the presence of the world created by Allah—and the relationship of this world is organized and directed by Allah in the physical sense (physical laws) or in the social sense (as social laws). And therefore believing in that, the first principles that govern human behavior and even interpretation of what the universe is or the universe is about has to be given to us by the divine wisdom of Allah because He is the one, the source of the universe.

The Origin of Humanity and Tawheedic Perspective

I was invited with a group of interfaith leaders to visit different exhibits in this town and to give our perspective. And one of the exhibits that we have visited is the origin of human being-where we come from. Whether science believes in evolution or we believe in creation, both have the same premise: we believe Allah created

the whole world and humanity from one source. All humanity are one. Therefore the diversity of colors and cultures is by divine, but the origin is the same.

If we do believe that the world is created by Allah, then Allah has creation and the ruling and the Sharia that govern this creation. If we believe that, then our perspective of life or outlook—how we perceive things—changes and becomes a Tawheedic perspective. It is not Mohamed Majid or Sudanese or American or Australian -it becomes a Tawheedic. And that Tawheedic goes beyond human race, different ethnicity, and beyond human race because there is a unity of the universe with human being as well.

Imam Al-Ghazali on the Unity of Creation

Let me examine this from what Muslim scholars have said. Imam Al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy on him, he gave us a taste of this unity of the world and the source of all the creation comes from one source which is Allah. He said—I will read some of what he said in Arabic and I don't know if I do justice to it in English—unless maybe Imam Zaid and Dr. Jackson can give it another shot. He said Allah—he says that─I don't know, I'm going to give it a shot. Imam Al-Ghazali is complicated for me in Arabic, rather I try it in English, excuse my English as they say in America.

He said whoever likes to understand Allah as a source of justice—Imam Al-Ghazali said if you want to know that, to get just a glimpse of that—then he invites you and I on a journey in the universe. He said fly, explore the universe from the galaxies—there's billions of it. And those who have heard me talking before, I love to speak about the universe because it really humbles all of us. There's about 200 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way where the solar system exists. There's about 170 billion galaxies in the world, in the universe. In this room here there's a beautiful number of people on it. It's a room in a building, and a building in the city, and the city in a country, and the country is part of 25% of something called planet earth. The rest of it is water.

He said therefore a person explores this world and he looks if there's any deficiency on it. He said as you explore it, you come back to realize you can't find nothing that is not just, not right with the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He said then and then only a person might praise Allah, might engage in dhikr that humbles him or her because they come to understand that there's a greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and being al-'Adl, being the Just.

Allah Commands Justice and Ihsan

Allah says in the Quran—in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala orders, He commands justice, but also commands ihsan—beyond being just, you go the extra mile. But integration of values in this verse: be kind to the kin.

By the way, justice and values—the first place can be learned is not the university, not even the school, not even the masjid. It is the family. It begins at home. This kinship-mother, father, children—that's where it begins.

When I was young and naive, I asked my father, I said, "Why are there so many things in Islam about family? You know, you wanted verses talk about economics, you know, but, you know, why there's so much about marriage and divorce and so forth?" He said to me, "Son, that's where it begins. A dictator becomes a dictator first at home. The person who commits justice starts at home. That's where it comes from. Tyranny begins at home. Ihsan, kindness, and love begins at home."

The Hadith: Fear Allah Wherever You Are

I like to summarize this also with the hadith of Rasulallah—the integration of values. Rasulallah said:

Reference: Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987

"Fear Allah wherever you are."

Be conscious of God, of Allah, wherever you may be. And this is very crucial point: wherever you were. This has covered two aspects one of them the physical space and the other the social circle. Be conscious of Allah, of God Almighty, wherever you may be. There's no change of relationship with Allah because a person is in power or a person left power, whether a person is in America or a person in Sudan, whether a person in the suburbs or a person in the city. It doesn't change the relationship with Allah. Be conscious of Allah wherever you may be.

That's very crucial in what comes after, because if that has been taken care of, a person will examine his or her behavior in all circumstances, being consistent. Be conscious of Allah when we are alone—is the most crucial point in our faith when a person by themselves. That's why in the hadith of the seven categories of people that will be in the shade of Allah: a person who remembers Allah alone and their eyes become full of tears.

The Prophet ﷺ lived what he has told us—conscious of Allah in all circumstances. And Jibreel told the Prophet ﷺ according to the interpretation of this verse:

"Forgive people, do what is right, and get away from the ignorance."

He told the Prophet—Allah, Jibreel said to the Prophet—that Allah has commanded you to forgive those who have wronged you. And as I said this Fajr after Tafseer in Adam Center, this is the most difficult Sunnah. The

Sunnah—putting on a kufi, the Prophet used to wear a turban in some way, or somebody says Sudanese soap is Sunnah, or somebody says the beard—I'm not disputing all of the anything. I don't like a debate after this about me saying anything is not Sunnah. But the most difficult Sunnah is to forgive those who have wronged us.

If anyone in this room including myself will go tonight and try to reach somebody who has wronged them, they have followed the Sunnah and forgive those who have wronged you, and to give someone who has deprived you.

Examples of Forgiveness

The Story of Al-Khidr and the Wall

And I gave an example this morning that Musa said to Al-Khidr when he was building this wall, he said, "Why did you do this? People refused he refused to host them or to feed them—and Al-Khidr wanted to build the wall. He could have gotten paid for that. Nothing free in this country! Hello! Nothing free in this country, by the way. I'm Muslim, nothing we do is free, but the reward sometimes we have to depend on the reward from Allah."

The Prophet's Forgiveness of Mecca

He ﷺ said himself when he entered Mecca, he asked people of Mecca: "What do you think I'm going to do to you? You have taken the life of my uncle Hamza. You have—my beloved wife Khadija, Khadija died being deprived from food for three years. What do you think I'm going to do to you? It's time for revenge."

"A generous man, a son of a generous man." They know who he was exactly. They know who they are talking to.

"You have been set free. No one is going to go after any one of you. This is Islam. This is Rasul ﷺ, and this is what you and I believe in as a model and example."

The Story of Prophet Yusuf عليه السلام

The other example I gave─I don't know who's given the time-Yusuf عليه السلام : forgive those who have wronged you. Yusuf عليه السلام in the prison, a man came to him and said, "Yusuf, the honest man, the king has seen a dream, wants you to interpret it." Yusuf عليه السلام should be very angry with Egyptians. He would have said, "I will never interpret a dream for you guys. You don't deserve anything." Or he could have given them a wrong interpretation: "Let them go down. I'm going to give them an interpretation—wipe them out completely -wrong information."

He is in prison. He is in prison. He said, "This is what is going to happen. You need to do 1, 2, 3, 4 to save this country, to save the people of this land."

And when the king heard the interpretation, he said, "Wow!" By the way, he didn't say "wow" in English. I'm just "Bring this man to me. I want to hire him."

When Yusuf عليه السلام realized now it's about him, not about interpretation anymore, he said, "No, we have to fix the legal system. I'm not going to come to you until you find my innocence first. I'm not going to come with a cloud on my head. Clear my name. No suspicions. Don't do me a favor." And after they cleared him, he took the job.

Muslim Americans in this country want to be treated as partners, as respected citizens, not as suspects. We have to be treated as well, as such.

The Hadith: Follow Bad Deeds with Good Deeds

Reference: Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987

"Follow the bad deeds with good deeds."

Wipe the bad deeds. This is a relationship between us and ourselves, because all relationships in Islam begin here. It doesn't begin there. Be self-conscious, be aware of Allah, aware of your actions.

Rasul ﷺ is telling us to be aware of one action—it's very important—it's where it begins. He didn't say did he say that? Say engage with people, treat people. All people—this has to be seen in our neighborhood. I didn't understand the sign, by the way. Oh, because he said smiling.

Treat all people: our neighbors, our colleagues, the neighbors that look like us, doesn't look like us, the neighbors, stranger neighbors, and a person you do business with—a company, a person you're sitting next to in a traveling journey, the stranger, person in town has to be welcome.

Comprehensive Justice

I think the time is over. If I get one minute to say something on my word, you get one minute? And my word says-may Allah have mercy on him if you want the world to be a better world, establish justice—a comprehensive—I was looking to this word of my worthy—why he said because there's a partial justice. He said comprehensive justice for everybody. If that happens, he says people will like each other because we don't like injustice, and people will obey the law and will live according to a system of justice. Tyranny, dictatorship makes resentment. People resent the power. And he said the country will become better, economy will grow, and the children will be protected.

The Story of Imam Ali and the Shield

Imam Ali has a shield that a person who's not a Muslim has it, and it's his. Therefore he said, "Give me my shield." The man said, "It's not yours." He said, "Let's go to my Qadi." His Qadi—imagine, the Ameer Al-Momineen, alayhi salam, standing before the Qadi. And he said, "This is mine." His judge said, "Do you have witnesses?" He said, "Yes." He said, "Who are the witnesses?" He said, "My witnesses are my children, Hassan and Al-Hussain."

They just said, "We cannot accept that. Your children cannot be witnesses." He said, "Then that's all I have." They just said, "Then it belongs to him."

The man said, "Hold it! This is like prophets. This belongs to him."

Then about to leave, the judge said to Ali, he said to him, "Come back here, Ameer Al-Momineen. Why were you frowning when I asked you to stand next to your opponent? Didn't you like me to have you next to him?"

He said, "No, I was upset because you called me with my nickname, 'Ya Aba Al-Hassan,' and you called him with his first name. You should have been equal at the time you called us. He says Ali and so and so. That's why I was upset. You have not completely followed the procedures of fairness in your ruling."

That is a model that we need to look up to the applications of Islam that we have seen in the life of Rasul ﷺ and his companions.

Conclusion

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent our prophet as mercy to mankind and made his companions exemplary of that prophet Muhammad ﷺ model.

"And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds."

(Jazakumullah Khair - جزاكم الله خير)

End of Lecture