Hadith Of The Sinking Ship and Staying Afloat As a Community

Khutba: Hadith of the Sinking Ship and Staying Afloat As a Community

by Omar Suleiman

Opening Prayer and Testimony

Arabic Opening: أَشْهَدُ أَن لَّا إِلهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ وَعَلَى الرُّسُلِ وَالأَنْبِيَاءِ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ الَّذِينَ خَدَمُوا مَعَهُ وَعَلَى مَن تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْنَا مِنْهُمْ آمِينٍ

Translation: I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship or unconditionally obeyed except Allah, and that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is His final messenger. We ask Allah to send His peace and blessings upon him, the messengers and prophets that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in his blessed example until the Day of Judgment, and we ask Allah to make us amongst them, Allahumma ameen.

Introduction: From Personal to Community Grievances

Dear brothers and sisters, last week I spoke about this idea of hearing a person's grievance, hearing a person's heart - not simply addressing the tone, not simply addressing the argument, but actually trying to dig deeper and trying to pay attention the way that our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did.

The focus of last week's khutbah was on a personal grievance, on someone who's suffering in silence, on paying closer attention to people as they go through what they go through and they hope that someone will hear them as they are in their difficult moments. But unfortunately, we often let things get out of hand with those individuals.

I was really speaking about this idea that each and every single one of us has a personal set of experiences, a personal set of difficulties and hardships, and a personal set of goodness and privileges that Allah gave to us. And in the way that we complete each other is by recognizing what we have that Allah has given us of good and using that good to provide for someone else's hardship and to ease the struggles of another person, even though we have our own set of struggles.

So in having our own unique set of good and our own unique set of struggles and hardships, Allah allows us to be a source of comfort to another person. Because although I have my struggles, my struggles are not the same as that person's struggles, and I am in a position with the good that Allah gave me to help that person through their unique set of struggles as well.

Moving Beyond Individual to Community Progress

Now how do we move beyond that and actually talk about what that means in terms of making progress as a community, in terms of the community moving forward and living up to its fullest potential? Because as a community, we're only a set of individuals, and in helping each and every single person find their way and helping each and every single person live to the best version of themselves, the community as a whole benefits from that.

But how do we then channel all of that and make sure that we don't just pay attention to the good that we have in the community, to the potential that we have in the community, to the things that are going right in the ummah, and ignore the things that are not going so well in the ummah and ignore legitimate grievances about the ummah, ignore legitimate grievances about the community that eventually come back to haunt the entirety of it?

And it's important to point out here that there are numerous ayahs and ahadith - too many for me to go over in this khutbah - that point to the fact that as long as we as a community can stay out of our own way, nothing would stop us. We have to stay out of our own way locally, nationally, globally. When we get in our own way, we suffer as an ummah.

The Prophet's Three Requests

(Muslim 2889)

Translation: And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم made dua for three things. He said: "I asked Allah for three things. I asked Allah that He would protect this community from a ferocious enemy that would feast on this community, that would feast on his ummah and eradicate them, and Allah answered the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in protecting the community from that. I asked Allah to protect the community from an outbreak, from an outbreak of a disease or famine or plague that would naturally destroy the community, and Allah answered him. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم asked Allah that He eliminate from us division, that Allah does not allow the community to hinder, hurt, sabotage itself from within, and that." صلى الله عليه وسلم Allah did not give the Prophet

Not because it's not a noble ask, not because it doesn't match with what Allah wants of this community, but because Allah will fix everything on the outside for us. Allah will give us the traction that we need, Allah will give us the support that we need, but at the end of the day, we have to at least take care of our own business as it pertains to that which is in our control. We have to clean up our own house, and Allah will make sure that there is no storm too strong on the outside to destroy it. But we have been tasked with cleaning up our own house and making sure that we keep it clean.

Allah did not overburden us by giving us that task. It's a reasonable expectation of the community that we at least clean up our own messes and keep our own house clean while Allah keeps the storm at bay.

The Hadith of the Ship

What does this mean in terms of a community being able to move forward? A very profound hadith from the companion Nu'man ibn Bashir رضي الله عنه. He said that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم gave this example, he gave this parable:

(Bukhari 2493)

Translation: And he said: "The example of the person abiding by Allah's orders and prohibitions and a person who violates Allah's orders and prohibitions" - so he's talking about within the community, you have one set of people. Now all of us have a share of halal and haram in our lives. We ask Allah to protect us from those things coming into our lives. All of us have a share of sin in our lives, but there is a difference between a person who arrogantly persists in sin and in violating the commandments of Allah and a person who's making an effort to live in the most God-abiding way that we possibly can in accordance with the revelation of the Quran and its manifestation in the Sunnah.

So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying imagine these two groups of people setting out on a journey. You have the person who generally tries to live a life in accordance with halal, and you have a person that's indulging in haram for whatever reason. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said they start to draw lots to board a ship that's about to set sail.

The Upper and Lower Decks

Our ulama were so detailed in what they derived from the hadith that they took from this the evidence of the permissibility of casting lots - that's one of the evidences of permissibility. They cast lots to decide who's going to end up on what part of the ship. So when they cast lots, some of them get to the top - the upper deck - and some of them get the lower deck.

Once they board that ship, some people on the upper deck and some on the lower deck, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says that it starts to set sail. Now the people on the upper deck are obviously in the premium cabin. They're getting their own set of access to, you know, to what Allah has provided of them, to all the different amenities that come with being on the top deck. And you have the people on the lower deck, and they're not necessarily in the premium cabin of that ship.

And it's really interesting here because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم then gives us this image of the people on the lower deck. When they have to come up to the upper deck to get water, the people on the upper deck are clearly bothered by their presence: "We don't want to see you, we don't want to hear you,

leave us alone. We're trying to enjoy ourselves. Why do they keep coming up and asking for things? Why can't they just stay there, mind their own business?" But there is an annoyance that's being created.

The Problem: Indifference Leading to Destruction

And the way that the people on the lower deck are getting to is to a point where they don't want to compromise their dignity anymore. They don't want to compromise their dignity. They're tired of being judged in a certain way, looked at in a certain way, right, deemed an annoyance.

And so what did they start to do? The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said they start to drill holes on the lower deck. Now the people on the upper deck never come to the lower deck because they don't need to. They have no interest in (خِدْمَة - khidmah) and serving the people on the lower deck.

And this is profound because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم described the people on the upper deck as people who are righteous or people that are trying to live the most halal life and trying to be religious. But there is a blind spot in their religious practice that they don't connect serving the people on the lower deck or going and checking on them to their deen.

They're masha'Allah enjoying their salah on the upper deck their (تَدَبُّر - tadabbur) and (تَفَكُّر - tafakkur), their contemplation, reflection. They think that's the extent of their religion. And I'm extrapolating here, so let me be clear so we don't put these words in the mouth of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم . But this is the imagery that's being created that can at least be derived from the upper and the lower deck here.

They never go down to check on them. So when do they realize that there are holes being drilled in the lower deck to get water? They realize it when the ship starts to sink.

The Moment of Crisis

So they come down to see the lower deck and they see this mess that's been created where the people on the lower deck have taken axes and literally put holes in the ship so that they could draw water from the bottom. And what did they say? (مَا لَكُمْ - ma lakum) - what's wrong, literally the hadith says (مَا لَكُمْ) - what's wrong with you? What did you do? Why are you doing this? What caused you to start to drill holes in the bottom?

And they say to them: "Well, (كُنَّا نُؤْذِيكُمْ - kunna nu'dhikum) - you were annoyed by my presence and I needed to get water. We had to get that water from somewhere."

What makes this very powerful is that water in the hadith, in the verses of the Quran and in the interpretation of dreams is analogous to guidance, to (هِدَايَة - hidayah), right? So we were coming up to get that guidance, to get that knowledge, right? But you were bothered by our questions. You were bothered by our presence. You were bothered by our appearance. You didn't want us up there, and it was very clear even though you never said "stay on the lower deck." We didn't feel warmth from you.

But we had to get our water from somewhere. So, what did we do? We just figured we might as well put holes in the ship and start to draw the water from underneath.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "If the people on the upper deck ignore them, then they will all be destroyed. Whereas if they take the water to them and invite them to the upper deck, then they will all be saved."

The Principle of Collective Responsibility

(Bukhari 853 Muslim 1829)

Translation: It's a powerful example from the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم that has so many facets that it could literally take three or four khutbas in and of itself. But to at least get the bigger picture of what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is telling us here: that the community as a whole has to make progress and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم always burdens the people on top first. It's a consistent methodology - "All of you are shepherds and all of you are responsible for your flock."

Whatever is in your flock, you're responsible for it. That doesn't mean that things might not go wrong with your flock, but that means that you have to uphold your greatest responsibility. Live up to the responsibility of being a shepherd of that flock. Things might go wrong. The ship might hit an iceberg we've seen that happen before. There might be something that's completely out of the control. But at the same time, you assume responsibility by virtue of the position that Allah put you in.

Some people on the upper deck by virtue of their knowledge, some by virtue of their access, some by virtue of how it's just the fortune that Allah decreed for you - the upbringing, everything created, you know, an energy or facilitated you being on the upper deck rather than the lower deck. Everyone is there for a different reason, but at the same time, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tasks those that are on the top to be more responsible with their flock.

The Body Analogy: Feeling Each Other's Pain

(Bukhari 6011, Muslim 2586)

Translation: But there is another hadith, subhanAllah, also narrated by Nu'man ibn Bashir رضي الله عنهما where the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says: "The example of the believers in their affection, their fellow feeling" - (تَعَاطُفِهِمْ - ta'atufihim) means they feel with each other. It's not just a love or a mercy, but they actually feel with each other - "Is that of one body. If one limb aches, the entire body aches with sleeplessness and fever."

We usually quote the hadith when we're talking about our suffering Muslims in Palestine or in Syria or wherever it may be, in China or the Rohingya. But there's something else about this, subhanAllah.