Brussels Bombings

Brussels Bombings - Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan

Opening Praise and Blessings

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah Khaliq al-wujud min al-adam, wa ja'il al-nur min al-zulam, wa mukhrij al-sabr min al-alam, wa mulqi al-taubati ala al-nadam, fa nashkuruhu ala al-masa'ib kama nashkuruhu ala al- ni'am, wa nusalli ala rasulihi al-akram zi sharafi al-asham wa al-nur al-atam, wa al-kitabi al-muhkam, wa kamal al-nabiyyin wa al-khatam sayyidi waladi adam, al-lazhi bashra bihi Isa ibn Maryam, wa da'a li bi'athatihi Ibrahimu alayhi salam, hina kana yarfa'u qawa'id baitillahi al-muharram, fa sallallahu alayhi wasallam wa ala atba'ihi khayri al-umam, al-lazeena baraka allahu bihim kafata al-nasi al-araba minhum wal-ajam.

Alhamdulillah, al-lazhi lam yattakhiz waladan, wa lam yakun lahu sharikun fil mulk, wa lam yakun lahu waliyun min al-thulli, wa kabbirhu takbeera, wa alhamdulillah, al-lazhi anzala ala abdihi al-kitaba, wa lam yaj'al lahu awaja, wa alhamdulillah, al-lazhi nahmaduhu, wa nastaeenuhu, wa nastaghfiruhu, wa nu'minu bihi, wa natawakalu alayhi, wa na'udhu billahi min shururi anfusina, wa min sayyi'ati a'malina, man yahdihi allahu fala mudhilla lah, wa man yudhlilhi fala hadhiya lah, wa nashahadu an la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lah, wa nashahadu anna muhammadan abdullahi warasuluh, arsalahu allahu ta'ala bilhuda wa deeni alhaq, li yudhirahu ala aldeeni kullihi, wa kafabillahi shahida, fa sallallahu alayhi wasallam tasliman kathira kathira.

Reference: From Quran 103:3 and 20:25-28

Islam's Universal Concern for Human Welfare

I dedicate this khutbah to that subject. Even though just as a reminder, I will say one thing. As a reminder, I will say that when the Quran was first revealed, when it first came down, when it talked about the oneness of God, when it told people that they should only worship one God, and be mindful that there is such a thing as heaven and hell that's coming, there's a judgment day that's coming, and that previous nations that disregarded messengers have been destroyed, so the Quraysh, the original audience of the Prophet ﷺ, they better take this seriously, because that same punishment might come to them. When that conversation was happening, Muslims were in fact, over time, starting to get tortured, and Muslims were being persecuted.

But in the middle of all of that, the focus of the Quran remained something else. And this is where we lose sight. Allah actually in the Quran complained, for example:

Reference: Quran 107:2

Or:

Reference: Quran 83:1

Allah says, Allah criticizes the rich people in Quraysh, the non-Muslims, who used to push the orphan around, who used to, like, you know, dismiss people that don't have any monetary value in society.

Allah didn't say they push the Muslim orphan around. The orphan. The Quran came to speak on behalf of the orphan, whether he was mushrik, born in a mushrik family, has nothing to do with Islam, but Allah was offended that orphan shouldn't be taken care of.

When Allah talked about the corruption in the marketplace, in the Arab marketplace, before Islam, He says, the worst kind of hell should be for people who cheat their customers in business. And they skim them for a little bit of profit. (المطفف - almutaffif) is the one who makes a little bit of money by giving you, they owed you one pound, they gave you 0.9 pounds.

They got just a little bit more for themselves, or they skimmed you just a little bit, just a little over. You know how these companies nowadays, they charge you for ambiguous service, and they'll add a little this fee, or that fee, or the other fee, and there's really nothing there except these terms. This is (تطفيف - tatfif) And Allah says, the worst kind of hell is for these people, not for the people who charge Muslims these prices, but the people who charge other, the mushrikun, the idol worshippers, who charge other idol worshippers these prices.

The Universal Message of Islam

The only point I'd like to make in these two minutes, is that when the Quran is concerned that worldly, not otherworldly, worldly harm, should not come to any human being, even in matters of money, or health, or well-being, how can the same Islam justify the killing of other human beings? This same religion is concerned not just about the well-being of Muslims, and not just about the afterlife of humanity, this deen is concerned about the well-being of people in this world, and in the next.

And some people think that Allah is only concerned with giving people heaven, and saving them from hellfire, and it has no concern for the well-being of people as they live in this life. That is not the concept of the Quran. It is not. It's simply not. Or if there is something good in this life, it's only for the Muslims. Nope.

He created for all humanity.

Reference: Quran 2:29

He addressed all of humanity. How do we know that in Surah Al-Baqarah? When Allah says:

When Surahs were revealed in Medina, the audience was the Muslim community. So Allah would always say:

Believers, Believers, Believers, those of you who believe.

But He would go out of His way, even in Madani Quran, to say some things apply to all humanity. So He says:

Whatever is on the earth, for all of you, for humanity to share.

Reference: Quran 2:29

So this concept, that Islam somehow wishes harm upon non-Muslims in any way, shape or form, is foreign to the Quran itself.

I'm not telling this to non-Muslims. I'm reminding my Muslim brothers and sisters of this reality. But that's not really the subject of my khutbah today.

The Need for Long-term Solutions

The subject of my khutbah today is, we need to take a step back. You know, when you're in a state of emergency, when your house is on fire, all you can think about is putting the fire out and getting out of the house. That's all you can think about.

But if you fix that state of emergency, and next month there's another fire, next month there's another fire, the month after that there's another fire, and you keep... now you bought yourself a fire extinguisher, you do the same thing over and over again, it seems you and I have not identified a bigger problem. Maybe there's something else that we're not fixing, because we keep coming after the same fire over and over and over again, and it keeps repeating itself over and over and over again. And by the way, this house can only take so much.

It can only take so much. We are lost in this situation that we find ourselves in today. We're innocent people, for no good reason, for no good reason have been killed. For no good reason, people, families have been destroyed. For no good reason, children have been made orphans. And husbands and wives have lost their spouses.

For no good reason whatsoever. We found ourselves in this situation not too long ago in Paris, not too long ago before that in some other attack or some other incident, and we find ourselves in the same situation again. And this has been going on periodically, time after time after time, senseless violence that is attributed to Muslims in one way or the other.

And here we pull out the fire extinguisher again. We need to take a step back and say, maybe there's something bigger that we need to solve.

Acknowledging Limitations and Focus

The first thing I'd like to acknowledge is in these few minutes that I have with you, I don't propose to have the solution for all of our problems. The world's problems are a lot bigger than one khutbah can solve. So there are some things I'd like to talk about, but there's going to be a thousand other things that I didn't talk about inside this khutbah. So my humble request to all of you would be to ponder over what is being said instead of making a list of things that aren't said.

And that's the mindset of a lot of Muslims today. I know you said this, but you didn't say that, that, that, that, that, that, and that. So we'd love to think about what wasn't said instead of thinking about what is being said.

So, okay, I'm already acknowledging I can't say everything. But whatever few things I would like to bring to my own attention and to all of your attention, let's ponder over them a little bit.

The Parable of the Good Word

As I was thinking about what to talk about in this khutbah, this ayah came to mind. And in the beginning as I recite this ayah and tell you its translation, you might not see the connection.

Didn't you see how Allah gave an example of a word that is beautiful?

Reference: Quran 14:24

A good and pure word.

A good and pure word is just like a good and pure tree. A pure tree.

A tree whose roots are very well planted and they keep growing fast and they keep getting deeper and deeper in their roots.

Reference: Quran 14:24

This is thabit. Thabit actually means something that lasts beyond generations. So

this is (ثبة الجراد - thibat aljarad). They use the (ثبة الجراد - thibat aljarad). They also use when the locust is actually about to lay eggs. It's gonna breed its next generation.

So the idea of the word thabit in Arabic is something that is rooted, it's gonna last generations. So this tree that Allah says good words are like a tree and that tree has roots that are gonna last generations.

And its branches, and its upper branch is extending up into the sky. It's pointing upward. And that's the first part of this parable.

The Constant Fruit of Good Words

And then he says:

It provides fruit at every hour.

Reference: Quran 14:25

All around. Constantly. It is providing fruit.

Now trees only provide fruit in one season. You know there's a season when you pick the fruit and then the rest of the year you wait again for the fruit to come back. But this tree is strange because it provides fruit all the time.

And whether someone comes to it in the morning, or the evening, in the summer, or the winter, in the cold, in the heat, it doesn't matter. It's gonna provide them fruit. It's a different kind of tree. It's not a typical kind of tree. It's a kind of evergreen that's producing fruit. This fruit, by special permission from its master, meaning it miraculously produces fruit.

Now all of this, this image of a tree that's giving fruit all the time is being compared to just one thing, a good word. Think of a good word like this tree.

Allah's Examples for Humanity

And then Allah says:

Allah gives examples for the benefit of people.

Reference: Quran 14:25

Allah doesn't need examples. You know a professor in a university gives examples to students because the students are having a hard time understanding calculus. Or they're having a hard time understanding advanced chemistry. Or they're having a hard time

The Power of the Good Word

understanding difficult accounting. And so what does the professor do? He gives them an example. And the example is supposed to simplify the subject.

And the student goes, oh, I get it. Now I get it. Thanks for that example, it really helped. In other words, a good teacher always provides good examples. The teacher himself or herself doesn't need an example. It's the students that are in the need of an example.

So Allah says, I've given you this example where you can compare a good word to a good tree that constantly produces, that is very stable because its roots are deep. It's going high up into the sky. It's got these three qualities.

But understand that this example is being given so you can think about something. Allah doesn't need examples. He can see things beyond example.

And then He added one more thing. He gives this example for all people. I love this.

For all humanity He's given this example. And it also means that a good word, just like a good tree, a tree doesn't give fruit and says, wait, is it a Muslim picking a fruit? I'll make it sour. No, no, no. A fruit gives its benefit to anybody who comes and picks it, any human being. So Allah is saying the benefit of a good word does not discriminate between people. It will benefit everybody. Anybody can come and listen.

So they may make an effort to remember. And this is important.

The Effort Required to Remember Truth

When Allah says, hopefully they'll make an effort to remember, it suggests that the reality and the wisdom that is being taught inside this example is easily forgotten. So Allah is giving an example that's easy to remember because there will be times where you will forget this and you'll have to make an effort to remind yourself.

They'll remember.

(يَذْكُرُونَ - yadhkurun) in Arabic, to remember. (تَذَكَّرَ - tadhakkara) from (تَفَاعُلَ - tafa'ul) actually has (مَشَقّة - mashaqqa) in it. It's an effort to remember.

So why do you have to make an effort to remember something? Well, something that gets easily forgotten. That's the idea. So the truth of this statement is something easily overlooked.

And that's why I decided to make it a point to talk about this in the khutbah and hopefully in the limited time that I have tie this to the reality we talked about in the beginning.

What We Cannot Control vs. What We Can Control

Look, there are things that we can't change. I cannot change. I cannot compete with mass media. We can't. They have resources and assets and ability to reach people and there are people within that mass media that have a very clear agenda to instill hatred and fear towards Muslims.

Fear mongering and every tactic they can use they will use to that advantage. There are political players who understand that their campaigns will only take wings if they say more hateful things about Muslims. So this is actually not because they hate Muslims but it's good for their stats. It's good for their poll numbers. It's good for their campaign. So it's purely business.

Actually in a private meeting they'll even sit and tell you and I've been made privy to this, in political gatherings, in private meetings they'll sit and tell you it's nothing personal, it's just good for the campaign. We know this stuff isn't true but we need to be careful because the votes we're trying to get those people have these emotions and we want to make sure we pander to these emotions and we excite those emotions so they give us those votes. That doesn't necessarily mean we're going to be like that later.

These things have actually openly been said in multiple political gatherings. This is not a secret. That people's emotions are manipulated through these kinds of rhetoric and there's nothing we can do about that.

These people are going to play the games that they're going to play. But today my conversation and I could give you a khutbah complaining about politicians and I could give you a khutbah complaining about the mass media or complaining about governments or complaining about what these people aren't doing or those people aren't doing but at the end of the day I could do that and come back and complain about it next week and the week after that and the week after that and we'll just spend our lives complaining.

There are things that are beyond our immediate control and then there are things that are within our control.

The Power of Long-term Thinking

You could say, this is a desert there's nothing that grows here we don't have any food and one of us instead of complaining about there's nothing here look at, people are starving one of us takes a seed and plants it in the ground and decides to grow a tree nothing comes out in one day everybody else says, what are you doing man, there's such a big problem and he's just watering this thing and he's making

sure no weeds come to it and everybody else is in panic but he understands something I may not be able to turn this desert into a garden overnight but I need to learn to step back and think long term.

The idea of growing a tree that is going to give fruit is the idea of producing change that doesn't come overnight it's the idea of change that takes a generation and the idea of growing a tree there are trees, I've seen trees that are hundreds of years old trees that have fed great great great grandchildren and now are feeding great great you know, great grandparents from back then that have fed entire generations and they grow and they mature and their beauty expands as they age and all of this has been compared to what? A good word. Just a good word.

Don't underestimate the power of a seed that will turn into a tree don't underestimate the power of a good word that will expand and its growth and its benefit you cannot imagine, I cannot imagine it is beyond us.

Parallels with the Prophet's Time

Before I go on to make my point I still haven't been able to make my point yet but before I do I do want to allude to one reality that I wanted to make sure I include in this khutbah and that is the reality of our Prophet's time there are some parallels it's actually, in my opinion, it's immature to compare the Prophet's time to our time just like that, or their times were just like our times I don't agree with that I think there were a lot of differences and we should be mindful of that but there are some parallels and here's one of them.

Our Prophet ﷺ was in a very small minority when he started preaching Islam and what he had to say about one God and an afterlife and revelation and an angel coming and speaking to him and all of this, it sounded crazy to most people most people who heard what he had to say thought he was insane most people felt bad for him actually they weren't even evil, they were just people who weren't used to hearing something like that so they just dismissed it, they didn't think anything of it and as it grew even the people who controlled the media of the time the people who controlled what most people should be hearing and thinking the people who were the most influential politically and financially were people who were against the Prophet ﷺ.

The Prophet was in a position of almost bankruptcy barely being financed by his wife barely being financed by a handful and even most followers that we had were either slaves, or youth or people who have no financial worth no political worth these were majority of the Muslim followers and the people that were most adamantly against Islam were some of the most powerful people in that society so in that sense there is a parable in that we are compared to people who speak out against Islam almost invisible in our resources it's not even comparable it's not even comparable.

The Power of the Good Word Proven in History

And yet the only thing the Prophet had ﷺ is a good word all he had was these words that Allah keeps giving him the good word of revelation that Allah keeps giving him and somehow Allah empowered this word that it would put seeds inside other people and it's fruits they could bear, they could benefit from to the point if you told those companions then that you know a fifth of the world's population is going to hold these words in high regard one fifth of the planet is going to be revering this book and considering it the word of God when there's only less than a dozen followers of the Prophet ﷺ it would be even hard to imagine but they believe in something they believe in a good word carrying and resonating its effect in the most impossible society that is the most impossible society.

What I'm trying to say is we have underestimated the power of spreading the word of Allah spreading education about the Quran itself it has already proven itself I'm not telling you something that happened in the unseen something we have to have faith in that we've never experienced or seen in the world the world has already seen its map transform because of the word of Allah that's already happened in our history it's not something that didn't happen it's not a fairy tale and there's no reason it can't if it happened at the hands of just a few people just a few people who truly believed in the power of this word can you imagine how many more we are today there must be something missing in our confidence in this book and what it's capable of doing because it's the same book that hasn't changed it's the same message, it's the same God maybe people have changed maybe our hearts have changed maybe that's the only missing ingredient now.

Four Groups of People in Current Crisis

So now I want to quickly get to the point that I wanted to make in this khutbah and what we can affect I told you we can't necessarily change mass media overnight we can't affect politicians overnight we can't do that we're a small population, especially in the United States what can we affect? I want you to think about two groups or four groups of people at least when these kinds of horrible incidents happen I want you to think of it in four groups.

Group 1: The Hate Industry

One group of people hates Islam they have a political agenda they have a business agenda they have whatever agenda and they make money off of spreading hate about Islam they love these kinds of incidents they love them because they feed off of them their business grows from them they can sell fear and fear mongering and there are people who profit off of the Islamophobia industry it is in fact an industry they sell their books they sell their seminars they sell tickets to their events, etc this is their industry and if these kinds of events stop happening their business goes down that's one group of people and those group of people is no worth talking to them there's no point because those people are not genuinely against what you are they don't hate Muslims they just love money and they just love politics that's what's driving them.

Group 2: The Extremists

On the other extreme is a group of Muslims or at least they claim to be Muslims who are doing these horrible things in the name of Islam and they're mutilating the message of Islam to large populations of people and they are calling these things jihad in the name of Allah and they're quoting ayat of the Quran as they make their videos and all of it that's the other extreme and both of these extremes, believe it or not they need each other they depend on each other these extremists can quote those extremists and say that's why we exist and these extremists can quote and cite these extremists and say that's why we exist and these are both very small criminal, fringe, weird people in society they don't represent the majority of anybody they are both the extreme ends.

Groups 3 & 4: The Majority in the Middle

Now what's in the middle I want you to think about the middle as a huge population of non-Muslims who don't know any better they're not bad people they're not evil they're not hateful towards Islam they're just, they don't know what's going on they're victims they're victims, really they're victims of propaganda and they're victims sometimes of these attacks think about the people in Belgium how sad they are today how afraid they are today how angry they justifiably are today that's the majority of people and on the other side is the majority of Muslims the huge population of Muslims who are also confused who are also like, what do we do with this? where do we go with this?

And actually the real victims of these forms of extremism are the people in the middle these two populations, a large population of non-Muslims and a large population of Muslims.

The Danger to Future Muslim Generations

Today in these few minutes that I have I want to share something with you just about the population of Muslims maybe at another time about the non-Muslims but today just some things about the Muslims and I'm mindful of my time I'm pretty much out of my time I think this comment should take five minutes no more inshallah within that population over the next couple of generations I'm not talking about tomorrow or the day after I want you to think long term because the ayah is teaching us to think what? Long term.

One of two things are going to happen one of two things will happen to our next generations our next generations are going to hear a message about Islam by these loud extremists on this side and these loud extremists on that side that make Islam look so ugly they make it look so violent so uncivilized so irrational so barbaric that a huge population of the next generation of Muslims is going to say I'm not sure if I want to be Muslim I'm not sure if this is a good idea if I want to live in the modern world if I want to survive here then I don't think I believe in these values they don't have a strong education in their religion themselves all they just like anybody else is getting their information about their religion from the news or they're getting it from these events and sometimes they ask their parents but their parents didn't

have an exhaustive education in their religion that's not their fault either they're going to start developing

a lot of questions about Islam Muslims generations of Muslims are going to start asking a lot of really hard questions about Islam and they're going to ask their parents and their parents are not going to be able to answer and their parents are going to say let's go ask a sheikh let's go ask an imam and he's going to say I'm scared of that guy he looks like the guy on the news I don't want to go talk to him.

What we're going to do over time it's already happening what we're going to do over time is we're going to alienate an entire generation from their own religion as a result of this extremism and the other side that's one problem that's going to happen over the next couple of generations.

The Other Danger: Vulnerable Youth

The other problem that's going to happen over the next few generations is there are going to be young people listen to this carefully there are going to be young people who Allah puts love of Islam in their hearts He puts a love of Islam in their hearts It doesn't matter if they live in South Lake or Sydney, Australia or they live in Dhaka or they live in Lahore and it doesn't matter if they've been partying their whole life and they don't know anything about Islam one day they're going to wake up and say I want to be a better Muslim and they're going to start praying and the girl's going to start dressing better and the guy's going to start learning to recite Quran and they're going to want to learn their religion these young people not because of their parents not because of anything else something Allah put in their heart and they're going to want to learn their religion and when they want to learn their religion they will go online and when they go online the loudest voices are going to be these extremists and these extremists and these extremists will say to them that the real Islam is the one that we follow if you really love Islam if you really want to make tawbah and repent for your sins of your party life then you have to do jihad with us and these young sincere Islam loving young people they are going to become victims of that propaganda.

Either we're going to have a group of young people that just don't want anything to do with their faith they're ashamed of it or they're going to become very extreme they're going to be attracted to one of those two things and this is going to keep the problem is going to keep growing and growing.

The Only Solution: Proper Quranic Education

There's only one solution out of this the only solution out of this is... a good word is like a good tree if a proper thought provoking education of the Quran of the word of Allah, the good word of Allah if that is actually spread among the generations we make it easy for people to learn what the Quran actually means we make it easy for people to think not just follow, think about what Quran is saying if we can make that easy for generation on top of generation then these two extremes what they have to say is... it is filthy words and those filthy words will have no effect on people that are benefiting from a good word and this good word will last and will be able to save future generations.

You know, experts political experts are saying it's religious education that's the problem that's why you get extremists I am telling you, proper religious education proper Quranic education is the only solution to extremism it is the only solution if we don't furnish that education worldwide, worldwide across every village whether there's internet or not in every university, in every neighborhood if we don't provide a thought provoking education in the book of Allah in the seerah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) then we are in for big trouble in this life and in the next that's the reality of what's going on.

Conclusion: Allah's Promise of Firmness

May Allah make us of the people who are able to hold on to a good word and they're able to give and pass that good word down to their next generations I'll leave you with the hopeful words of Allah:

"Allah will keep firm those who believe, with the firm word, in worldly life and in the Hereafter. And Allah sends astray the wrongdoers. And Allah does what He wills."

Think about these words Allah will give firmness Allah will give firmness to those who believe with the firm word in this world and in the next that's Allah's promise, that's what He says next this is Allah's promise and Allah will mislead those who do wrong and Allah does what He wants Allah is giving us look, you can go either way but if you want firmness and you want stability to come back to this ummah... the word, the firm word the strong word, the stable word will give this ummah stable stability again, may Allah restore this ummah to its stability by its ability and its willingness and its eagerness to hold on to the stable word of Allah.