Jumu ah Khutbah 2018 September 21

The Fear of Taking Islam for Granted

And if you ever took a step back and tried to imagine your life - and some people don't have to imagine their life without it, because they lived without it. Umar (radiAllahu 'anhu) used to say that he feared for the day : (إِذَا نَشَأَ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ مَنْ لَا يَعْرِفُ الْجَاهِلِيَّةَ - Idha nasha'a fi'l-Islam man la ya'rifu al-jahiliyyah) - "Where people would rise up in Islam that don't know ignorance."

Because sometimes you don't recognize how special something is, unless you've lived without it. May Allah protect us from ever living without it. Allahumma ameen.

Sometimes you don't know how special something is. The way you treat money that you've inherited, or that's been given to you for free versus hard-earned money. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) mentioned people that taste the sweetness of iman. Why? So much so that they would hate to leave it, or to depart from it like a person would hate to be thrown into a fire. Because they know what it was like to be without it.

And when they found it, they found something not just worth living with, but worth living for. Not just worth abiding by themselves, but calling others to abide by it as well. Not just something that they found purpose in for themselves, but something that they wished other people would find their purpose in as well. Something that transformed them and transformed through them.

The Three Levels of Service

Service to Self

Something that has the power to take you from viewing the world as being there solely for the purpose of serving you - and everything around the world being meant to serve your individual happiness - to being a world that is full of an opportunity to serve and please Allah. Your entire lens becomes inverted at that point. And you start looking at everything around you as an opportunity to serve something greater than you.

The benefits of that are many. For one, if a person is self-serving, and a person dwells in this world with trying to turn everything into a vehicle for service to the nafs, to the self, that person will always be in a state of misery. Because your nafs is a hungry nafs. It can never consume enough. And eventually it runs out of things to serve it. And it reaches a place of maximum consumption, after which is nothing but sadness.

Service to People

If some people are able to move and graduate from that place of service to self to service to others, but live for the people - and certainly it's more noble than the first category of being self-serving - eventually, if you live for the people and to serve the people for the sake of the people, when you find that those efforts are not appreciated, when you find that the same people that you do good for give you nothing but a headache, you burn out.

(Tirmidhi hadith 2507)

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) taught us: "The one who mixes with the people and bears their hardship, bears what comes to them from harm, is greater than the person who does not mix with the people and does not tolerate their harm."

So when someone says: "I'm done with this community, I'm done with working with Muslims, Muslims give me a headache, I'm abandoning Islamic work, they're all exhausting, I'm just gonna pray on my own from now on and do these things from now on" - you have to actually go back and reassess why you were part of the community in the first place. What you expected from the people in the first place.

And maybe the problem was not the expected hardship that comes with mixing with the people and serving them. Maybe the problem was that your service to them was limited to the physical. But you have to recognize that when you serve the people for Allah, you also have to donate your ego. And that's the hardest donation to make. That's the hardest thing to put on a platter and to say: "I don't want it, I don't need it." That's much more difficult than physically serving someone.

Service for Allah

But the third level of that, which is serving for Allah - seeing yourself as part of something greater - and what makes you happy and makes you sad, the fluctuation and the metric for success is restricted to whether or not that which you are serving is growing and that which you are serving is succeeding. And if you are maintaining sincerity and still being a part of that. It's special, it's different.

The Dangers of Spiritual Pride

The Corruption of Good Intentions

What does it mean to serve for the sake of Allah? If I can ask all the brothers to please move forward inshallah. There are people that are standing in the back. Make space for them as much as you can inshallah. So please move forward.

So the question does not just come back down to what are you serving? It's why are you serving? Who are you serving for? And subhanallah, something can happen in that process that can be very dangerous. Because just as in our individual ibadah, as in our individual acts of worship, shaitan can hijack an intention and turn something that is in its essence good into a pursuit that's not noble at all. That can also happen to our collective work.

So if shaitan can't get you with sin, shaitan tries to corrupt your good deeds. One of the ways that it happens in our collective work or in the quality of service, the capacity of service, is that you actually start thinking that everything depends upon you. And you actually start to drink your own Kool-Aid, believe in your own self.

You start to believe the praises of people around you. And you start to have an exaggerated sense of self- importance. Not in a way of doing for people, but in a way of receiving from people.

The Dua of Utbah ibn Ghazwan

And subhanallah, there is a very powerful statement from Utbah ibn Ghazwan (radiAllahu 'anhu): (أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ فِي نَفْسِي عَظِيمًا وَعِنْدَ اللَّهِ صَغِيرًا - A'oodhu billahi an akoona fi nafsi 'atheeman wa 'ind Allah sagheeran) - "I seek refuge in Allah from being inflated in my own sight while being small in the sight of Allah."

Where maybe I see myself with a little bit of too much, whereas I might be very small in the sight of Allah. Not in the spirit of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (rahimahullah), who could look back and though he had completely exhausted himself for the sake of Allah, for this religion, for the reform that he brought to the ummah - everything was off of his back, his clothes, blood, sweat and tears - and all he could say was: "May Allah reward Islam for what it's done for me. I didn't serve Islam, Islam served me."

The Greatest Honor: Serving Allah's Deen

The Fulfillment of Belonging

Because the benefit of that wholesome belonging to something that's greater than you and always recognizing that it is greater than you - that at no point do you ever become greater than it - that's the most fulfilling part of this message: that you get to be a part of it. That Allah allows you to be part of something that's greater. That Allah allows you to serve.

That you are honored by Allah for being able to serve His deen. And in whatever capacity that may be, even if it's picking shoes off the ground and putting it on the rack. Even if it's cleaning the bathrooms in the house of Allah. In whatever capacity Allah allows you to serve, there is a benefit in that. And that is the greatest honor that Allah can bestow on a person.

The Focus on Continuity

And subhanallah, if the concern becomes continuity of that religion, then the concern of people giving you something for your ego dwindles. That's not an excuse for us to be hard with people. That's not an excuse for you to act belligerent with people. Because whoever does not thank the people does not thank Allah.

It's not an excuse to not show appreciation and gratitude to people - in a way that encourages them to continue, not in a way that inflates their ego. It's not an excuse for us, we don't have to be that person to someone else.

But it's for us to calibrate internally and to say: "Alhamdulillah Allah allowed us to be a part of this. Alhamdulillah Allah allowed us to be a part of this in any capacity. I don't care if that's in the relief sector, or the da'wah sector, or spreading knowledge, or giving charity, or just being there for someone. I don't care if that's in serving the masjid, the house of Allah, physical structure. I don't care what it is, but alhamdulillah Allah allows us and calls us to be a part of something that gives you life. That gives you a sense of purpose, a sense of being able to move forward."

Questions for Self-Reflection

The question is: Have you accepted Allah's invitation to be a part of that? And if you are a part of it, are you expecting something from it that would corrupt your pursuit of it? Are you seeking from it what Allah has not allowed you to seek from it?

Examples from Our Righteous Predecessors

The Prophet's Concern at Badr

Dear brothers and sisters, when we look at the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), when we look at our father Ibrahim (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), when we look at the Umars - Umar ibn al-Khattab (radiAllahu 'anhu), and Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (rahimahullah) - when we look at Musa (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), we just fasted Ashura yesterday, and some are maybe even fasting today.

When Musa (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) split the seas and Allah gave him victory, it was not that Allah gave Musa victory that made Musa happy. It was that Allah would allow this message of Musa (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) to continue.

Just like when the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) raised his hands in Badr, and he said: "If this group of people is eliminated, then you won't be worshipped on earth, O Allah."

So the victory of Badr was not that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) could gloat, or could feel the sense that Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), defeated his enemies with a small army because Allah sent angels to support him, or Allah answered his dua. It was that the message of Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) would continue.

The Legacy of Modern Muslim Heroes

Malcolm X (Al-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz)

And I was thinking about something today. Subhanallah, as tonight we'll be talking about and discussing the life of Al-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz (rahimahullah). Malcolm X, may Allah have mercy on him and accept his sacrifices.

And I was thinking about a quote from Dr. Betty Shabazz, may Allah have mercy on her, when she actually approached Imam Zaid Shakir, may Allah preserve him, in one of the masajid, one of the conferences, a recent conference, or not a very recent conference, one of the last conferences that she was able to live to see.

And she told him: "The socialists have claimed Malcolm, the black nationalists have claimed Malcolm. When are you Muslims going to claim Malcolm because he was a believer? Why aren't you recognizing that his core identity was Islam? It was so important to him that more important to him than any one of the identities that he held was Al-Islam. Why are you not recognizing that and furthering what he built upon?"

Muhammad Ali's True Identity

I know when you think about Muhammad Ali, the great boxer, the great athlete, the great warrior for truth, who took on the entire United States government over its stance of militarism. There was a paper that came out, an article that came out last year about how the Facebook page, which carries his brand, has not mentioned his Islam for two years. But it only talks about his social justice work and talks about his athleticism, and some of his inspirational quotes, and there is an effort to eliminate his Islam.

In 1976, I'll quote you exactly what Muhammad Ali said. 1976, Muhammad Ali, may Allah have mercy on him said: "Everything I do now is to please Allah. Being a Muslim is more important to me than being black or being an American. It drives my every being." He said that in 1976.

He used to, may Allah have mercy on him, autograph 200 da'wah pamphlets on a regular basis. Because he said: "If it has my name on it, then people won't throw it away. When they get a 'why Islam' brochure, they get a da'wah pamphlet."

The Example of Luqman al-Hakim

And you know what I thought to myself about that, subhanallah. Allah mentioned to us Luqman al-Hakim (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). Luqman al-Hakim, who had a noble reputation amongst the Arabs. But his core identity was taken away amongst them.

They used to quote Amthal Luqman - the parables of Luqman al-Hakim. But somehow the main purpose of his being and his existence and his doing, which was tawheed, monotheism. The first thing he

said to his son:

"Do not associate partners with Allah. Indeed, association [with him] is great injustice." (Quran 31:13)

Somehow the Arabs managed to take that away from his identity, though it was his core identity.

Honoring Those Who Came Before

There are people before us who worked very hard for Islam to reach us. Some of them lived 1400 years ago. Some of them lived 50 years ago. Some of them are still amongst us. There are people that have given themselves for this message, not so that they could be praised, so that their name could be on a plaque.

But that have given themselves for this message and took pride not in themselves but in its continuity and serving its continuity. And the greatest way we honor that sacrifice is sacrificing the way that they sacrificed.

The Companion at Uhud

It was one of the companions who ran on the day of Uhud after the mushrikeen shouted out: "(قَتَلْنَا مُحَمَّداً - Qatalna Muhammad) - "We killed Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam)."

And he started to say as he was rushing them back to the battlefield: "Then die for what he died for. You don't have the opportunity, you don't get to just sit down on the battlefield and put your weapons down now and cry over the loss of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam). Instead, why don't you go and throw yourselves and die for what he died for (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam). Because you were living for what he lived for (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). So now you even die for what he died for (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam)."

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah to use us for this message of Islam. We ask Allah to consume us in serving this message of Islam. We ask Allah that what we exhaust ourselves in and that what our body is consumed in and what our health and youth is used in and what our wealth is used for is for the service of Allah through this incredible vehicle that he's given to us which is for the betterment of everyone around us.

We ask Allah that on the Day of Judgment when a person is asked:

• (عَنْ عُمُرِهِ فِيمَا أَفْنَاهُ - 'an 'umrihi feema afnaah) - "About the years that he lived on this earth and what he used those years"
• (عَنْ شَبَابِهِ فِيمَا أَبْلَاهُ - 'an shababihi feema ablaah) - "About his youth and how his body was consumed"
• (عَنْ عِلْمِهِ مَاذَا عَمِلَ بِهِ - 'an 'ilmihi maatha 'amila bihi) - "About his knowledge and what benefit came through it"
• (عَنْ مَالِهِ مِنْ أَيْنَ اكْتَسَبَهُ وَفِيمَا أَنْفَقَهُ - 'an maalihi min ayna iktasabahu wa feema anfaqahu) - "About his wealth, how it was earned and how it was spent" (Tirmidhi hadith 2416)

We ask Allah that every day of our lives be used for His sake. We ask Allah that when we are asked about our bodies and how they were consumed, that our health and our bodies and our spirits and everything was used for the sake of Allah. We ask Allah that when we are asked about our knowledge and what benefit came through it, that it benefited in ways that even we were not made aware in this world and that it was for the benefit of other than our own egos or our own selves. We ask Allah that when we are asked about our wealth, how we earned it and how we spent it, that we earned it only in ways that were halal and that we spent it only in ways that were accepted and blessed.

Closing Ayah:

"Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded. So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me. And the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do." (Quran 16:90-91)

وأقيموا الصلاة - (وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ - Wa aqeemu as-salah)

"And establish the salah."

All original content has been preserved with corrected Arabic texts, proper Quranic and hadith references, and improved formatting for readability. The structure and message of Shaykh Omar Suleiman's khutbah remain unchanged.