Are you proud to be Muslim
By Mohammed Faqih | 2026-01-16T19:37:10.480624+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Are You Proud to be Muslim?
Khutbah by Sheikh Mohammed Faqih
Opening Declaration
I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.
There is none worthy of worship except Allah.
Introduction
My dear respected and beloved brothers and sisters in Islam. Today I stand here and my intention is to make this not one of those sermons where it's just a one way speech. But rather make it a conversation.
And engage you for this topic, today's topic is something very personal. We live in a time of many trials. And we spoke about some of those trials last week and how we should deal with them.
Now the worst of trials and the worst of calamities is that which affects your deen, your faith, your belief. When it's either hijacked or taken away from you or when you yourself may be not aware of what your faith is or what your principles for which you stand or what you believe in is. So today I want to share with you this thought.
The Central Question
And feel free to answer this question after you leave. Feel free to share that with me on Facebook or other mediums. If someone was to come and ask you and say, are you proud to be a Muslim? What would your answer be? Now I'm very certain, what would your answer be? Yes.
Now I'm certain that every single Muslim will say the same thing. Now the question is though, why? And I'm by the way fine with those who say, I'm not proud. But I would like to know why? Why? What is it that you're ashamed of if you're ashamed of Islam? But most importantly the majority will say, we are proud of Islam.
I'm proud to be Muslim. I'm proud of Islam. The question is why? Do you know why you should be proud of Islam? Now, I don't know about you, but I'm very proud of Islam.
And I'm proud that I'm proud of Islam. I'm proud that I'm proud of being proud of being Muslim. If that makes sense.
And I have my reasons. In fact, I'm proud to be proud, to be proud, to be proud. And I have an endless number of reasons why I'm proud to be Muslim. And that's what I want to highlight today.
First Reason: Allah's Declaration
You have every right to be proud. First and foremost, because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says so.
He says in the Qur'an:
Who is better in speech than he who calls to Allah? Who is better in speech than he who brings people closer to their Lord and their Creator? Who is better? And the answer is not given. Because it's given. The answer is not stated in the Qur'an because it's understood.
The answer is not explicitly mentioned because it's self-evident. The question is وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِّمَّن دَعَا إِلَى اللهِ And it's blank. There's no answer.
Why? You should come up with the answer. You should know the answer. Because if you're reading this ayah and you understand what it means, that means you already know the answer. And that's why you're there.
And this is the key. Who is better in speech than he who calls to Allah and does righteous deeds? Why shouldn't you be proud?
And on top of that, he says proudly that, I am of those who submit to the Lord, to Allah. I'm of those who are Muslims.
The Meaning of Muslim
The very word itself, and the name that is chosen for the religion itself, is something that you should be proud of. Very unique.
Your faith and you yourself, who you are as a Muslim, your faith is not named after a person. It's not named after a region or a tribe. Right? When you say, I'm a Muslim, it's true in each and every single one of us.
You're not named or you don't name yourself or you don't follow some ethnicity. No. This is a state of mind.
It's a conviction. You're saying, I submit to Allah. Who doesn't want to submit to the Lord? Tell me.
Who doesn't want to submit to the Creator of the heavens and earth? So the first reason why you should be proud according to this, is the fact that you understand a concept called subjugation of one's passion to the one and only God, the Creator of heaven and earth, Allah the Almighty. That's why you should be proud.
You should be proud not only because you're a servant of Allah, but you're an aware servant. You're aware of your servanthood. You're aware of the lordship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And one of the poets proudly says:
Part of my pride, the reason I feel I have this sense of glory, it is not because of my height or beauty or ethnicity or nationality.
All of these things, you're given those things. You don't earn them. You should appreciate them, but they're no reason for you to be proud or think less of someone else.
Because you don't earn those things. You don't win them in a competition. You don't even apply for them.
They're just given. But when it comes to faith and religion, it must be a choice of yours. And it should be a choice that you're proud of.
So this poet says, I am very proud and part of my pride is the fact that I am one of your servants, O Lord. That's why I'm proud. And later he says, and because Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is my messenger.
Second Reason: The Best of Nations and Final Messenger
And that's the second reason why you should be proud. That you are of the best of nations. And to you Allah جل جلاله sent the last and final messenger. And with him the final testament, the Qur'an.
Allah جل جلاله favored you. This is a favor from Allah جل جلاله. He kept his best, you know, to the end. And you came to be aware of that. That's another reason why you should be proud.
Why shouldn't you be proud? When your faith, what you believe in, calls you to do good. And be good. And enjoy what is good. And uphold good.
There isn't any good out there. That people agree upon to be something good. Except that your faith calls you to.
Personal Experience: Islam Teaches All Good
Not too long ago I was listening, I was attending a session. Held by a well qualified individual. He wasn't a Muslim. But it was on management and... So he made very, very powerful and profound remarks and statements. And people were very touched by those. Very inspirational in nature.
But every time he made some strong point, you know, something pops in my head, just a thought comes to my mind and I smile. And he noticed that I did that. More than once.
And there was one time where I couldn't hold myself and I turned to the person next to me who happened to be Muslim. And I said to him, I whispered in his ears, a quote from our noble, honorable Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Literally. Literally.
I mean we're sitting there mesmerized by this man's eloquence and the beautiful points and principles upon which this entire course of success and life management is built. And every point that he mentions, every strong point that he mentions, I'm like, there's a hadith that pops in my head. A hadith, a statement, a prophetic (صلى الله عليه وسلم) statement from our Prophet
So at the end of that session as I was leaving he stopped me, I said, thank you very much. As I was leaving he said, what do you do for a living? So I said, I'm an imam. He said, it's very interesting. And then he said something.
He made a statement, so I said, that's very interesting. He said, why? I said, because what you just said, it's a verbatim translation, it's a literal translation of a statement made by our noble and honorable Prophet Muhammad 1400 (صلى الله عليه وسلم) years ago. I'm not making this stuff up.
Go, you check it out yourself. He said, really? He said, what did he say? So I shared with him. I said it in Arabic. And then I made my best attempt to translate it. And he was like, that's very interesting. That's very interesting.
That's why I'm proud of Islam. Because there isn't any good, except that Islam taught me. And, if there's anything that wasn't there, someone may say, Shaykh, wait a minute.
What about the use of iPad? iPads are great inventions. Right? You yourself have one, right? I'm a proud owner of an iPad. So what does Islam say about iPads? Or what about this technology or that technology or this habit or that habit? Or this practice, this custom or that custom? Right? What about those things?
Well, the beauty of those Islamic principles is that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us to enjoy in anything that is good and be part of it and embrace it. And in fact, we are told that wisdom and goodness is an item that a believer pursues.
Reference: Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2687
Right? It is something that belongs to you. It's part of your belongings that is lost. And you're always in pursuit of it. So wherever you find it,
Then you are most worthy of it. You are most worthy of it. And you're part of it.
Defending Our Faith: Understanding Islam
Now this was understood. And for those of us who are facing, now we are being faced with this challenge, there are some people who are trying to define to us what Islam is. They're defining our own faith to us.
And we're sitting there, you know, becoming very defensive, and some of us are getting nervous. Some of us are even, you know, maybe some of us, right, are questioning their own faith. That's because we're not aware of it.
That's because we're not well-versed in Islam. We took it for granted. And that doesn't work anymore.
So now we are being challenged, so we can go back and Google it. And find out what Google is telling us about Islam. Right? And then we have this basic connection to it, that helps us, because Google just brings everything, right? So you basically distinguish, and you start filtering things.
And you're like, no, no, that sounds more like Islam. Right? The right thing always sounds more like Islam. And the crazy stuff, you're like, no, that's not the Islam that I know.
That's not the Islam that I was taught. That's not the Islam that I see. Right? Isn't that true? That's true.
Historical Lesson: The Migration to Abyssinia
So, here in our history, here's a story. Early on, and now you have to understand that in the early days, because some people come and tell you, no, that's what Islam used to be in the early days, and then later it changed.
Later the true, you know.
Now, you have to understand that whatever was taught in the early days of Islam, that is what? The foundation. That's the foundation. Whatever was taught first, that's the foundation. That's the most basic.
So what do we know of that? We know that the companions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) were not necessarily embraced by their society. They were not necessarily treated like first class citizens, or like even citizens.
We know that they were subjected to much more hatred, and bigotry, and Islamophobia than we can ever dream of facing. And we seek refuge in Allah from being subjected to something like that. We shouldn't be looking, you know, right? We seek refuge in Allah from something like that.
So in the middle of that, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) gave permission to some of his companions to leave. To leave Mecca. And go to Abyssinia. Where there was a ruler, the Nugus of Abyssinia, the king of Abyssinia.
Now when they were there, they lived for a little bit, you know, in security and peace. But soon the Meccans sent an envoy. They sent basically their ambassador to claim back these rebels and bring them back. And now in order for that to happen, he had to what? Do the same thing. Demonize them. Dehumanize them. Call them rebels. Terrorists.
Right? Basically use scare tactics. And start a smear campaign against them. People who just left Mecca, they left the most beloved place to them. Because they wanted to worship their Lord in peace. And because they
The Justice of Najashi
So the Nugus, but he was a smart man. Najashi, may Allah's mercy be upon him, was a very smart and just ruler. And that's what the Prophet ﷺ anticipated. He said, he is indeed just.
So Najashi said, wait a minute. Let us give them, and this is what smart people do. That's what you should spread. You should tell your friends and your colleagues. Smart people just don't listen to one side and judge based on one side's view.
They don't. If you want to learn about Islam and Muslims, you go and ask Muslims. You don't go and ask Fox News. That's not where you get your information from. And you definitely don't get your information from someone as crazy as Glenn Beck.
Seriously. If these are your sources of information, Wikipedia isn't even enough. Then you have a serious issue.
Because when I wanted to study other religions, or when I wanted to study something, then I need to go to the original sources. Right? So, he said, let's listen. To them.
Let's see what they have to say. And here's what happened. To make a long story short, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ decided to speak to the Nugus, to the king, and share with him honestly and openly what Islam is all about and what they stand for.
They were not gonna sugarcoat anything or change anything because we have nothing to hide. We have nothing to be ashamed of. So, they basically chose Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, the cousin of the Prophet ﷺ to represent them.
Ja'far's Speech: The Essence of Islam
So, Najashi asked him, look at this. He said, what is this religion of yours that caused you to depart from your people? From your own people? And how come you did not enter my religion? How come you came here?
We're very religious people. By the way, until this day, East Africa, and especially, specifically Ethiopia, very religious, very proud of their, whether they're Muslims or not, everybody is proud of their religion.
So, he said, how come you didn't join our religion? What's wrong with our religion? How come we don't see you at church? And you abandoned the religion of your own tribe. So, what is this news? What does your Prophet tell you?
So, he said to him, he was very honest with him. He said, listen. He said, he said, Your Majesty. Or he said, Ayyuhal Malik. He said, we used to be people who were very ignorant. And we used to worship idols. Idols of
our own making. We carve them out of wood and stone, and we worship them.
And in some case, like Umar radiyallahu anhu, used to have one made out of date. And one day he got hungry, and he didn't have something to eat, so he ate his god. So, he said, that's what we used to do.
And we used to eat dead, like dead meat and dead animals. And we used to commit all kinds of sins, fornication, you name it. We had no, I mean, the morality was at its lowest.
And by the way, it was a very liberal society. Right? And he said, the strong used to overcome the weak, and exploit the weak. That's what we used to do. And all of that, these were standards. Standard basically practices. We had no problem with those.
And of course, something that he didn't mention, that was also common, right? Was the abuse of slaves, of women, bearing infants, infant size, bearing babies alive. Right? So, he said, we used to do all of that.
We were like this for ages, until Allah sent to us a messenger from amongst ourselves. A man that we know very well. We know his lineage. We know his nobility.
نَعْرِفُ أَمَانَتَهُ وَصِدْقَهُ وَعَفَافَهُ
We know about his character. And we know about his modesty. And we know about his trustworthiness. And we know about his character and his integrity.
A man that no one, even those who hated him the most, could not question his integrity and his morality. Lived for 40 years. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him.
أُبُوَّةٌ عَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ
(Quran 68:4)
Great character. Great resume. His credibility was well established. They used to call him the truthful and the trustworthy. الْأَمِينُ. الصَّادِقُ This is whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose for us.
And by the way, we should be proud of that. Allah chose the best of mankind, the best of us for this mission. So he came to us, and he called us to what? What did he call us to? To worship him? He didn't claim to be God.
He didn't claim that he's a son of God. He didn't make that claim. And no prophet or messenger will ever make that claim. But he rather called us to worship the Lord. God, the Almighty, alone. No partners.
Very simple. Concept of God, very simple. And to abandon the worship of anything else. Idols, animals, human beings, you name it.
The Teachings of the Prophet
And then he ordered us, and this is what he said, I'm not making this up. I'm not trying to be politically correct
here. This is what Ja'far bin Abi Talib said long time ago. And by the way, when he made that statement, and he told that story, he really didn't have to tell that story. Right?
So he said,
وَأَمَرَنَا بِصِدْقِ الْحَدِيثِ
And he ordered us to speak the truth.
وَأَدَاءِ الْأَمَانَةِ
And to deliver our trust. Make sure that we do not betray our trust.
وَصِلَةِ الرَّحِمِ
And to be kind to our relatives and our kinship.
وَحُسْنِ الْجِوَارِ
And to be kind and benevolent to our neighbors, regardless of their background. To our neighbors, be kind, be good neighbors.
وَالْكَفْ عَنِ الْمَحَارِمِ
And to stay away from sins.
وَالدِّمَاءِ
And not to indulge in shedding blood, in murder or violence.
وَنَهَانَا عَنِ الْفَوَاحِشِ
And he ordered us to stay away from evil practices, like fornication and this kind of behavior. To be modest. He ordered us to maintain our chastity.
وَقَوْلِ الزُّورِ
And he ordered us to stay away from perjury. Or to consume the wealth of the orphan, to exploit the orphans. Or to slander each other.
This is what he told us to stay away from. And he ordered us to worship the Lord, and pray, and fast, and give charity. This is it, basically. Islam 101.
What is wrong with this? What is there not to be proud of?
Closing of First Part
I say this and I ask Allah to make you and I, of those who listen and follow the best of what they listen to.
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَكَفَى، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى عِبَادِهِ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَى
أَقُولُ هَذَا الْقَوْلَ وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ
All praise is due to Allah. May His peace and blessings be upon His chosen servants. I say this and I seek Allah's forgiveness for me and for you, so seek His forgiveness.
Second Part: The Conversion of 'Amr and Najashi
And Najashi himself was very touched by this. And he decided of course not to let the Muslims down. And he basically turned away that the ambassador or the envoy that came.
You know what is very interesting? The very person that actually came to take the Muslims with him back to Mecca to persecute them, he himself became Muslim. عَمْرٌ مِنْ عَصْرٍ . And Najashi the king himself became Muslim.
Right? You go back to that region now you find his grave is still until this day marked. رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ May Allah be pleased with him.
The Story of Abu Sufyan and the Byzantine King
Right? Later on, we also know of a story of Abu Sufyan. Because a very similar, something similar to that happened except it had a different twist. In what is modern day Syria basically. May Allah جل جلاله ease the situation there for our brothers and sisters.
So modern day Syria, Sham. Right? And in that case it was the Byzantine king. He received a letter from Prophet Muhammad ﷺ calling him to Islam. So he wanted to investigate. He asked if there is anyone from that tribe, from the tribe of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ present.
So they told him that there is this group of merchants from Quraysh. But guess what? They were not Muslims. In fact they were at war with Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. They hated him.
So he said, Okay that's fine, bring them. And he brought forth Abu Sufyan, had him stand and he started questioning him, asking him questions about Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and what he stands for. And he told the companions, he told the other people to stand behind Abu Sufyan and he said if he lies you let me know. Because if you guys are lying to me you're in trouble.
So Abu Sufyan didn't want to lie because it's going to make him look bad in front of his followers because he was the chief. And when he asked him, Abu Sufyan had to be truthful. Right?
So of what he asked him, he asked him many questions but of those questions was, he said who follows him? What type of people follow him? The elites of your community? Your society? Or the weak and the humble? He said no. The weak and the humble make most of his followers.
He said that's very interesting because that's the case with the majority of prophets and messengers before him. Usually it was those. Right? Those who were not. So anyways. So he said to him, does their number increase or decrease? He said no actually it increases.
Fast growing. Fast growing religion. Fastest growing religion.
Third Reason: The Growing Ummah
So if you want to know why I'm proud, I'm proud because I'm one of me and people who profess Islam, all of us. You know. One out of every five people in the world are Muslims. One out of every five people in the world. Right? It's the largest religion and the fastest growing.
Now tell me are all these people crazy and mad? Brother Travis that we had here with us last week accepting Islam. Sister Maria the week before. All these people they don't know what they're talking about. In fact the most intelligent of people.
They're the most intelligent, the most humble of people. There is a reason. There is a reason why one out of every five people in the world is Muslim. And I'm proud of that.
So he said they increase. Their number increase.
Abu Sufyan's Testimony
So he said wait a minute. But does anyone of them leave Islam after accepting it? And look how precise he was. Due to the fact that he was dissatisfied with Islam. With the principles themselves. They had you know. Not what Muslims do.
Because Muslims we could sometimes we traumatize people. May Allah help us overcome our weaknesses and our shortcomings. But he said does anyone leave Islam because they're upset with it itself? After knowing it.
And he said no. This is what Abu Sufyan said. He could have said yeah of course. That's why we're not Muslim. That's why he's not Muslim. No he didn't. He had to be honest.
Then he said to him. Did you ever accuse him of lying? Ever? Has he ever lied to you? Did he ever catch him? Is there any registered case of him lying or saying something false? He said never. Never. This is Abu Sufyan. His worst enemy at the time.
So he said to him. Does he betray trust? Does he commit treachery? He said never. No.
And then Abu Sufyan said that's when I had the opportunity. He said wait a minute. Now we have this truce between us and him. We don't know what he may do. That's the only time he was able to basically inject something or imply something. But nothing.
Nothing. That's why I'm proud. That's why you should be proud.
Fourth Reason: The Character of the Prophet
We should be proud because Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) taught us that a true Muslim is he whom people are safe from his wrongdoing. People feel safe in his presence. Because Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) taught us and gave us high standards to live up to.
Because Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gave us amazing examples to work for. And I'll conclude with this story. I told you this before. I'm gonna tell it for the sake of those who are on break. Some of our kids or anyone who's here for the first time. And I'll be very quick. I promise.
The Story of Thumama bin Uthal
A man was captured by the companions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Who was an enemy of the Prophet and the Muslims at that time. They brought him. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) did not punish him. All he did, he asked them to keep him in the masjid, in the musallah. He said, keep him there.
Tie him to the post, one of the posts. Leave him there. You know, feed him, take care of him. By the name of Thumama bin Uthal you can look up the story yourself. It's well documented.
So, three days later, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) releases him. He said, just let him go. Now, what this man got, in my opinion, was he got an exposure to the Muslim community from within. An ideal, good Muslim community.
They were not perfect, but they were good. And that's why it is our moral responsibility now to live up to what we say. I mean, we're proud of Islam, but are we proud of ourselves as Muslims? That's what we need to work on.
So, he said, set him free. They set him free. He leaves, takes a bath, comes back and he says,
You all know what it means. He became Muslim.
Now, the question is, what made this man Muslim? No one spoke to him. No one said anything. No one debated with him about Islam. They didn't show him any presentation about Islam. They didn't try to basically. And they did not threaten him. Nothing.
But what he got was, he got a taste of Islam. He saw Muslims. He saw what Islam is from within. And anyone that sees a community that upholds the teachings of Islam would want to be part of it.
Our Responsibility
And that's the lesson. And that is what I want you to walk out with. That's our responsibility, brothers and sisters. To make this community of ours reflect the true teachings of Islam that we're all proud of. To show humanity in action. Why we're Muslims and why we choose Islam and what Islam stands for.
You can sit and defend Islam all day long. You can blog about it all day long. If people don't see a tangible example, and this is the dilemma that we have as Muslims. Tangible example. Something that they can see in front of their eyes. They won't know what it means.
It won't affect them. That's the example that Abu Sufyan himself could not deny. He couldn't deny that. He saw it manifested before his eyes. And that's what we have to work on.
That's what... Instead of being defensive and getting all nervous and getting afraid and panicking. We need to get busy doing what we have to do. We need to get busy practicing Islam. And coming together as Muslims.
And showing that example of the one body that aches when one part of it suffers. The whole body suffers when one part suffers. To show that example. And that won't happen if we all just... If we all stay in our own little corners. And if we all have just our own way of doing things. We need to come together to do this.
Conclusion
Let us set that example for ourselves, for our children, for our neighbors, for the society that we live in, for humanity. I ask Allah Azza wa Jal to help us achieve that.
End of Khutbah