Allah Desires For You Ease

Allah Desires For You Ease

Opening Praise and Testimony

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. We praise Him, and we seek His help, and we ask His forgiveness, and we believe in Him, and we trust in Him. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide him, and whomsoever Allah allows to go astray, there is none to guide him. We bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, alone without partner. We bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who believe! Allah says in the Noble Quran - I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan:

"Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire hardship for you."

We praise Allah the Almighty. We bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship besides Allah the Almighty. We bear witness that Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is Allah's messenger and His servant. We seek refuge with Allah from the weakness of our own selves. We bear witness that whomever Allah guides cannot be misguided and whomever Allah allows to be in error cannot be guided aright.

We ask Allah to send His blessings upon His Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, upon his family and upon his companions and all the Muslims everywhere. Ameen.

The Main Theme: Ease in Religion

My dear brothers and sisters, the theme of today's khutbah is taken from the Quran where Allah says:

"Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire hardship for you."

Allah desires for you ease, He does not desire for you difficulty. And said the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him:

(Sahih Bukhari 69, Sahih Muslim 1734)

"Make things easy for the people and do not make things difficult."

And the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, also said:

"Verily, this religion is easy." (Sahih Bukhari 39)

- Make things easy, do not make things difficult. Why? إِنَّ هَذَا الدِّينَ يُسْرٌ - This religion is easy. Why? Because Allah, the Lord of the worlds says:

"Allah desires for you ease, He does not desire for you difficulty."

Two Main Points of This Khutbah

I'm giving this khutbah to make two points today.

The first point: This verse from the Quran and these two hadith that I have recited should not be used as a license to disobey Allah.

The second point: I say to myself as the imam and my fellow imams and the leaders of the Muslims all over, the Muslims in this masjid, those in security, those in different departments of the masjid: do not make things difficult for the people. Make it easy for them.

To explain the ayat from the Quran يُرِيدُ اللهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ - "Allah desires for you ease, He doesn't desire for you difficulty" - the main intention of today's khutbah is to explain that ayat from the Quran and the hadith, not to make the religion difficult.

Good News from Pakistan

Brothers and sisters, I would like to first give you some news if you haven't heard by now. Last week it appeared in one of the newspapers. Alhamdulillah, I have gotten it confirmed. And let me just read what appeared in last week's newspaper in Newsday.

I quote: "Islamic law adopted. Pakistan's parliament yesterday passed a measure that would make the Quran the supreme law of the land and subject all aspects of life to Islamic tenet." Alhamdulillah! Every Muslim should be more than happy. Ecstatic.

Liberal intellectuals fear the new system of law called Al-Sharia will hurl the impoverished nation of 120 million Muslims back into the middle ages. Islamic clerics dismiss the fears as a product of ignorance of Islam. Alhamdulillah! The law will govern Pakistani life from social matters to education and the economy.

It will frame laws in line with the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and the Sunnah, the collection of the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. This is good news for us. Sudan, now Pakistan. I have heard - not yet confirmed - I have heard that in Yemen they are about to establish the Sharia and Quran and Sunnah.

All over the world Muslims are trying to establish the Quran and the Sunnah, and this is what the Muslims in America are trying to do: to establish the Quran and the Sunnah.

Understanding the Verse in Its Proper Context

Brothers and sisters, this article that appeared in the newspaper brings me to our khutbah for today. Let's take the verse in the Quran:

"Allah wants, He desires for you al-Yusr (ease)."

"He doesn't desire for you difficulty."

Let me first tell you what this verse doesn't mean. There are some Muslims who will tell you that if you try to establish prayer five times a day, you're being extreme. Yes, we had a Muslim who told us: "Brother, you're an extremist if you make salat five times a day." (أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ - a'udhu billahi min dhalik)

Some would say to fast the entire month of Ramadan is too difficult for you. Fast what you can. Why? They quote from the Quran: "Allah desires for you ease. He doesn't desire for you difficulty."

Some would even say: "Imam Siraj, he came on the minbar two weeks ago and he said in 1991 you should stop paying interest. Imam Siraj, he doesn't know these are modern times." And they quote from the ayah from Quran يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ - "Allah desires for you ease, doesn't desire for you difficulty."

Brothers and sisters, these people are using the verses from the Quran and the hadith of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, for their own whim. In reality, they don't obey Allah; they go against Allah.

A Warning About Deviation

Brothers and sisters, I'm going to make a prediction. It is not something that I want to happen, but it is something that I believe is going to happen. And before I say it, I start by saying: (أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ، أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّحِيمِ - a'udhu billahi, a'udhu billahi minash-shaitanir-rajeem) (I seek refuge with Allah, I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan).

I believe that one day in America it's gonna come a time that they're going to have a masjid and it's going to be called the Muslim Mosque of Gays and Lesbians. (أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ - a'udhu billahi min dhalik) (I seek refuge with Allah from that).

You say: "Brother Imam Siraj, how can you make such a prediction?" I make this prediction based on the words of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And what did he say? He said: "You Muslims will follow the people that came before you step by step and inch by inch, so that even if they crawled in the hole of a lizard, you would follow right behind them." And they said: "O messenger of Allah, do you mean the

Christians and the Jews?" He said: "Yes, I mean the Christians and the Jews." (Sahih Bukhari 3456, Sahih Muslim 2669)

The Presbyterian church leadership just came out with a report that told their followers because of the modern time it is okay for your youngsters to commit fornication and for people to engage in homosexuality. These are the leaders of the church. Everything goes in the Christian church. They have priests that are homosexual. They have priests that are lesbian in the church. Everything that is done in the street is done in the church in the name of it being modern.

Not only that, I had a meeting once with some lawyers; among the lawyers were some Jewish lawyers. And we stopped after working so many hours to eat lunch. Now the Muslims there - it happened to be a Monday or Thursday, I couldn't remember - but I know all of us were fasting, so we didn't eat.

But can you imagine a Jew sitting down eating a ham sandwich, eating pork, and calling himself a Jew? Why? Because when you see a Jew, you must ask him: what is he? Is he orthodox? Or is he conservative? Or is he reformed? A reformed Jew means you can do whatever you want to do.

And brothers and sisters, we have now reformed Muslims already. And the only thing that they haven't done is they haven't yet named their masjid "The Muslim Masjid of Gays and Lesbians." I pray to Allah that such a thing will never happen.

The Danger of Taking Verses Out of Context

But brothers and sisters, I warn you: don't take this verse out of context. "Allah desires for you ease, He doesn't desire for you difficulty." Allah desires for you Jannah. He doesn't desire for you hellfire. But if you continue to disobey Allah and use His own words and the hadith to go against Allah because of your ignorance and your weakness, then brothers and sisters, I warn you that we are in danger of the hellfire.

Now brothers and sisters, in my conclusion, if I have never taught anything from this khutbah or this minbar, I've always taught you this: whenever you read the Quran, you must always read the Quran in context. You can't just take some phrases from the Quran and say يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ - "Allah desires for you ease, He doesn't desire for you difficulty" - because that statement is not an absolute statement. That statement is a relative statement based on the context of the Quran.

And if you want to understand what Allah meant, then you must read it in context. What did Allah say before that? And then it becomes crystal clear what Allah means.

The Context: Fasting and Ramadan

Now what's the context of this verse? And now from now on, anytime you hear this verse, inshallah, you will know the context of it and you will be able to correct those Muslims who come to mislead you. Where did this verse come from? It starts like this:

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you even as it was prescribed for those who came before you, that you may develop taqwa."

And further on Allah says:

"Those of you who are sick or traveling on a journey should make it up in days later. Allah desires for you ease; He doesn't desire for you difficulty."

So the context of this verse is: don't go sick and you say "Oh, I'm so sick, I'm dying, but I must keep this fast." No! There's no obligation to keep the fast if you're sick. "I'm traveling, it's difficult for me, but I'm gonna be a hero, I'm gonna fast." No! You don't have to fast. Allah said make it up days later, because He doesn't desire for you difficulty. He desires for you ease.

So the context of this verse means: follow, obey Allah, but when Allah allows for you His mercy, accept His mercy.

"Allah desires for you ease. He doesn't desire for you difficulty."

Second Khutbah: Making Things Easy for People

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ، وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَى صَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim, walhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin, wassalatu wassalamu 'ala rasulillahi wa 'ala sahbihi ajma'in, amma ba'du)

My dear brothers and sisters, to every department, I say to you as the imam of this masjid what Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Sahih Bukhari 69, Sahih Muslim 1734)

"Make things easy and do not make things difficult."

Being Proud of Your Identity

Now brothers and sisters, there's two things I want to bring to your attention. You know I have gone around the country especially, and everywhere I go, especially speaking to non-Muslims, I let them know that I'm very proud of what Allah has made me: my skin color, my nose, my texture of my hair. And brothers and sisters, it's very important that we have in this community here, alhamdulillah, Muslims from all over the world - different skin complexions, different textures of hair, different colors of eyes - and all of these things, these things with us are incidental. Alhamdulillah, we love each other for deen, and this is the most important thing.

The Danger of Blind Imitation

So every one of you should never be ashamed of what you are, because on the Day of Judgment, brother, I don't care how dark you are, you will get no credit from Allah because of your dark skin - He made you dark. And I don't care how white your skin is, you will get no demerits from Allah because of the whiteness of your skin, for Allah created you in the wombs of your mother. So don't get hung up in this. That's not our conversation. These are other people's conversations.

But yet we have people among us who are sick. An example that I have given, brothers and sisters - and the reason I give you an example is not to pick on him, I pray Allah guides him - but anytime you have a man who spends money to change the shape of his nose, the complexion of his skin, the shape of his jaw, to change his voice, these things, brothers and sisters, are bad.

Even the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, condemned a woman for wearing a false wig, a false hair wig. You don't even wear a wig. Even a woman whose head was bald, she had no hair, and her husband said, "Okay, you can wear a wig," but the mother said, "No, I want to ask Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, because I heard him curse the woman who wears a wig." And sisters, that includes extensions in your hair. And the mother told the Prophet: "Can she wear this wig? She has no hair." He said no.

(Sahih Bukhari 5937, Sahih Muslim 2124)

So you don't even put on false hair. Now what do you look like changing your complexion? Brother, if you are jet black, love your jet blackness, because Allah shaped you in the wombs of your mother. If your hair is kinky, love your kinky hair. What are you trying to put all those chemicals in your hair to change your hair, to make you look like somebody else, to make your hair look slick? You look foolish.

So Michael Jackson, he spent all this money to change himself. Someone needs to talk to him, and if I get an address, I'm going to write him or maybe go visit him if he will allow me - maybe if I was a mannequin he will allow me to come.

The Danger of Blind Imitation

So brothers and sisters, when you hear something, I'm going to tell you something now. As bad as that sounds - Michael Jackson doing that - there are people all over this country who are called "Michael Jackson look-alikes," and all they try to do is look like Michael Jackson. Many of them, not a few, many of them. And all over this country, anytime you have a star, you have other people trying to be like them, to imitate them, to emulate them, to look like them, to dance like them, to talk like them, to walk like them.

Madonna - foolish women trying to look like Madonna. As misguided as that woman is, can you imagine people worshipping that woman? Here's a young man who admitted he spent over $50,000 having operations to look like Michael Jackson!

If you want to imitate somebody, imitate Prophet Muhammad, and believe me, we don't try to look like the face of Prophet Muhammad - and I'm glad I don't know what he looked like - but we try to imitate his character and

his personality. Allah doesn't want all of us looking exactly like Prophet Muhammad. That's not what Allah had in mind. Allah wants us to obey and to follow the messenger of Allah because he represents good character for us and a good example for us.

I don't want to look like him. Allah made me the way He made me - made me Siraj Wahhaj. This is it. Be pleased with whatever Allah has made you. And the most important thing, brothers and sisters: Allah made you Muslim, and you be that.

Reading and Understanding Current Events

Now I wanted to begin the second part of this khutbah bringing to your attention: brothers and sisters, you have to read - yes, read Quran, yes, read hadith - yes, after Quran and hadith, you must read what's going on in your neighborhood, what's going on in the country, what's going on in the world.

I have recommended to this community many years: if you don't want to read the newspapers every day, at least once a week buy some newspaper like the Times and read the weekly review. Because brothers and sisters, you'll be surprised what you'll find in these newspapers. And I'm just going to give you a little glimpse of what appeared last week in the newspaper.

Brother Ali, our security man, is going to make copies. Whoever wants a copy, the security has to get a copy - everyone from security must get a copy of this article - and anyone else who wants a copy, inshallah, you see the chief of security.

But let me tell you in one sentence or two sentences. The headline is: "Bush Chooses Gates to Head the CIA." Who's Gates? What's his history? The task: slip spies into the new world order.

Brothers and sisters, this country, the United States of America, has an intelligence division. They spend every year - listen to the figures - thirty billion dollars to collect intelligence information, to spy. This article maintains that since the Cold War is over, all the money that the United States government spent in the Soviet Union and all the Warsaw Pact countries, communist countries, all that money now is available. And the question that they raise and the question that they now talk about in their secret chambers is: where are we going to send all of these spies? Where are we going to spend all of this money?

The Reality of Western Opposition to Islam

Might I suggest to you where they're going to spend this money? They're going to spend it in Pakistan. They're going to spend it in the Sudan. They're going to spend it in Yemen. They're going to spend it in Afghanistan. They're going to spend it in Libya. They're going to spend it in any Muslim country or any place where they're developing Islam.

Belgium, a European country, right now one out of ten people in that country is Muslim. Millions of Muslims now in Great Britain. I met a German on a plane on the way to Sudan, a native German, and he said to me, "As-

salamu alaykum." He's not only Muslim, he's an Imam.

Brothers and sisters, I'm telling you, unemotionally: the number one threat to the United States government and the Western world is Islam. And not only will they send spies in Pakistan and Sudan, in all the Muslim countries, they will send spies - and have sent spies - in Masjid al-Taqwa. They're here right now. In Mumineen. In Masjid Khalifa. In Masjid Ikhwa. Masjid Farooq, have plenty of them now. Right now there are spies here, right now.

To do what? To help you to establish Islam? No. To discredit you. And brothers and sisters, to divide the ranks. All you have to do is study their history. History is always the same: divide and conquer.

And brothers and sisters, let me tell you one thing. The Western world right now is on its last legs. It's about to fall. All you have to do is blow on it and it's gonna tumble. And the only ones that can help this world, Wallahi, is Allah and the Muslims. The only ones.

Going to the Heart of the Matter

Why do I say that? Because if you study, brothers and sisters, every revolutionary group, every movement in this country, in this city, you'll find all of them doing the same thing. And what is it? They go after issues rather than going to the heart of the matter. And the Muslims are the only ones who go to the heart of the matter.

And if you follow these people, brothers and sisters in the street, you know what they do? They'll lead you from one issue to another issue, to another issue, to another issue. And they'll never solve the problem. Believe me, the problem is one:

Solve that, and you solve all the other problems automatically.

Leadership Must Make Things Easy

Now brothers and sisters, that brings me to my conclusion of why I said that in this second part of the khutbah. Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, warned the imams, warned the leaders. I'm warning the head of security, and security, and the treasury department, and anybody that works in this community. I'm telling you what Prophet Muhammad said, and brother, if you wanna work on my staff here in this community, you must obey this:

"Make things easy for the people. Do not make things difficult for the people." (Sahih Bukhari 69, Sahih Muslim 1734)

I want those on staff here to be the sweetest, to be the kindest, to show the most mercy. Those in leadership positions must be the most understanding.

A Practical Example

I'll give you one example. One night a group of us had gone to a program. We came back to the masjid late. There were about five or six of us. So when we came in, maybe it was 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, midnight - real late. We locked the door, and so we made our salat, Isha.

And while we were making salat, somebody was knocking at the door. And they kept knocking. And they kept knocking at the door while we were making salat. And so now, I felt anxious. The reason I felt anxious: I assumed that there was some Muslim coming in to make salat. So I felt anxious. Like, you know, when you're making prayer and somebody rings the phone or somebody knocks at the door, you feel a little anxious. So I felt a little anxious for the brother.

And so when the prayer was over, one of the brothers, he jumped up. He went to the door. He said: "Brother, why are you knocking on the door? We're making prayer. You gotta wait. Why are you knocking on the door? You can't come in. It's closed."

I said: "Brother, you want to make salat?"

"Yes, Imam, I want to make salat."

"No problem, Brother. Come in."

Now I'm saying this not to condemn the brother, but you don't have to be so difficult or hard. The man, he didn't know. I said he probably thought we were in the back. He couldn't hear us. So he wanted to knock to make sure. If he knew we were making prayer, I'm sure he would have been patient and waited.

To have any leadership in this community, I expect for you to be the most polite and the kindest. I don't want you yelling at each other all the time. Brothers and sisters, we have too much yelling in this community. We yell at each other. We spit on each other almost. You don't hear me putting down brothers and sisters. I may take somebody in the basement or threaten to take somebody in the basement, but brothers and sisters, I want to see better in this community.

The Prophet's Anger at Making Things Difficult

Now I'm going to close with this. You have heard of one of the great sahaba, Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him - very famous companion of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Let me tell you what he said. He said: "One day I saw the messenger of Allah furious, more furious than he has ever been before." The Prophet was angry. He said: "Ibn Mas'ud, a great companion, I have never seen him more angry than I did on that day."

Why? Did somebody murder somebody? No. Did somebody commit adultery? No. Was it because somebody stole? No. Why? Can I tell you why? Listen to this, brothers and sisters, in my conclusion. And I say this to say, the second part of this khutbah, I want to remind you:

"Make things easy for the people and do not make things difficult." (Sahih Bukhari 69, Sahih Muslim 1734)

"Verily, this religion is easy." (Sahih Bukhari 39)

Now listen to this. A man came and said to the messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him: "O Allah's Apostle, I keep away from the Fajr Salat. I keep away from the morning Salat because so-and-so" - he didn't want to say the name of the person, the imam who led the Salat - "because so-and-so, he prolonged the Salat too much."

Allah's messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, became furious. And I, Ibn Mas'ud, Abu Mas'ud, said: "I had never seen him more furious than he was on that day."

The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "O people, some of you make others dislike the prayer. So whoever becomes the imam, he should shorten the prayer, as those behind him are weak, old, and needy." And one other hadith said: "busy." (Sahih Bukhari 90, 702, 703, 704; Sahih Muslim 466)

Being Mindful of People's Time

One day, brothers and sisters, I had called the masjid and said I was on the way to the masjid for Salatul Zuhr. "I'm going to be five minutes late. Hold the iqamah until I get there." And when I came, maybe some of the brothers were a little anxious. And I realized why. Because if we put on this board salat at a certain time, there are brothers who work, who only come here to make salat, to make their salat and go.

They don't want to wait around because why? They're busy. They're not bad Muslims. They're good Muslims. The fact is they came here to make the salat, and maybe the imam, he delays it too much. They're anxious because they have to get back. And they only come here to obey Allah. They want to make the salat in congregation. So the imam should be conscious of this. Make the salat and let the people go.

So the prophet became furious. Why? Because we became extremists. And brothers and sisters, I say this to you: some of us become extremists in religion.

Examples of Avoiding Extremism

And you don't have to guess what this extremism is. The prophet gives you many examples. Brother, you want to make salat at night? It's good. The prophet said: "The best salat after salat that is mandatory is Salatul Layl,"