Fear and Hope

Fear and Hope - Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Opening and Greetings

Assalamu alaikum. 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, we ask His forgiveness, we believe in Him, and we trust in Him. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

Address to the Audience

To you my beloved brothers, imams, leaders, presidents, principals of schools, fathers, mothers, and students, I am very thankful to Allah to have the privilege to address you tonight for a few moments. I want to first thank all of the students as they bravely stood before us and made wonderful presentations on the very difficult situation. I am very proud of them, and the speeches that they made, the ayes that they recited, all of them did a magnificent job.

The Wisdom of Brevity

As I get older, I recognize the need to speak less. I don't want to speak a long time anymore. And when I speak longer than I should, it is only because of weakness in myself. Because the longer we speak, the more we run the risk of making mistakes, offending people, misunderstandings. I ask Allah tonight to make my speech short and to touch all of you and myself to do some work for Him.

The Parable of the Seed

I must admit that everybody can't see in the same degree. There are people in this room tonight who are experienced enough, wise enough to look at a little seed and can tell you exactly what that seed will become. But not everybody, most of us can't recognize the seed. But if the seed is planted, and then the seed begins to grow, then more people can recognize it as the seed begins to take shape. And then a few more people can recognize, but not everybody. But the more the seed begins to grow until it becomes a tree, and then a whole lot of people can recognize, because it's a tree now. But even there are those who cannot even recognize the tree until it produces fruit. And then they can say, yes, this is an apple tree, came from an apple seed. Because I didn't recognize the seed, but now I see the fruit and I know what it is now.

Recognition of Islamic Education

And I must admit tonight that even there are some people, even after the fruit has been produced, even then they can't recognize it, they're blind. Not all of the Muslims in America or throughout the world recognize the need of having Islamic education. Some of them, like Sister Samina and others, know from the very beginning the

need to have Islamic education. Some of us sitting in the room tonight might find out tonight, some of us may not know until years from now. I hope that it's not too late.

Learning from the Prophet's Legacy

Tonight, as we go forth into the new era, a new time, we must never forget the great gift that Allah gave us in Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. And all over the Muslim world people celebrate, they commemorate the great seerah of Prophet Muhammad, and we should. He's the example, he's the model. And we need to always go back to his history to learn from it so that we could do something today and for the future.

The Prophet as a Great Teacher

One of the great lessons that I learned from the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was that he was a great teacher. And I imagine that one of the true test of how great the leader is, is the quality of students that he produces. If you want to see a great teacher, then you measure that great teacher by the students that he produced. What students have we produced?

The Great Companions

If you want to see a great student, look at Abu Bakr, the great student of the Prophet who became khalifa. If you want to see a great student, look at Umar ibn al-Khattab, look at Uthman, look at Ali, look at Khadija, look at Fatima, look at Aisha. Look at all the great sahaba, so Allah blessed this great teacher, the Prophet ﷺ to produce all of these great students. Indeed he said, the best of my ummah is my generation, the generation of great students, and then the generation that follows them and then the generation that follows them.

Vision for Islamic Education

Today, if I could in the next two or three minutes, if I could do something tonight, I would wish that this school of Islamic studies will grow to become one of the great institutions in America. This is my dua. That this school will grow to be one of the greatest educational institutions in America.

The State of Islamic Schools

Now, I'm going to say something brothers and sisters that's going to sound like I'm bragging. I'm warning you now. It's going to sound like I'm bragging, like I'm boasting. But I have to ask you a question: How many Muslim schools do we have full time, Muslim schools in Fort Lauderdale? How many? One. How many full time Muslim schools do we have in Miami? Some said one, some said none. Let's say one. In New York City, we have 17 full time Muslim schools. Sound like a brag, don't it? But it's not.

The Reality Behind the Numbers

I read in the newspaper New York Post two weeks ago, Monday edition, an article entitled "The Rise of Islam in

New York City." And that article said that there are 100,000 Muslim students in New York City going to public school. Question: If there are 17 full time Muslim schools in New York City and each school has a population or enrollment of 350 students, which they don't, how many students in New York City going to full time Muslim school? I see you taking out your calculator. No more than 5,000. Give us the figure: 5,950 students going to Muslim schools. That means that less than 5% of the Muslim students in New York City go to full time Muslim school. The rest go to public school. So on the surface, 17 sounds like a lot, but in reality, 17 is nothing compared to what we need.

The Greatest Knowledge

Now brothers and sisters, I'd like to leave with you tonight an attitude. I once read a book and this man said that the most important knowledge that a person can ever get is the knowledge of themselves. I respectfully disagree. I believe that the greatest knowledge, the most significant and important knowledge that a person can have is the knowledge of Allah. Most important knowledge that we can have is the knowledge of Allah. For once we understand Allah and understand, then we can understand ourselves. But we must begin with the knowledge of Allah.

Choosing a Companion

And tonight for a few moments, I'd like to leave you with an attitude. I was in the city of Dallas, Texas last week and I asked the audience, I'm going to ask you the same question. I said if you could choose to be one of the companions of the Prophet, which one would you choose? Predictably, they said Abu Bakr. Others raised their hand and said Umar. Others raised their hand and said I would be Ali. Some said I would be Aisha. Some said I would be Fatima. Some said I would be Khadija. And all of them they raised their hand saying that I would be, if I had the opportunity, I'd be this sahaba. Predictable.

The Story of Ukkashah ibn Mihsan

But me? If I had a chance to be any of the sahaba, it wouldn't be Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali. It wouldn't be Bilal bin Rabah. Obviously it wouldn't be Khadija, me being a man. But I would choose to be Ukkashah ibn Mihsan. Most of you say who? Most of the Muslims not even familiar with this name. Ukkashah. Who was he? One of the early converts to Islam. Fought in the battle of Badr. But he's not known by so many people. Why Imam Siraj would you choose him if you had an opportunity to be any of the sahaba?

The Hadith of the 70,000

I would choose him because of what I read happened during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. In my conclusion, one day the Prophet said: "I was shown all of the Ummah, and there was a Prophet and with him was a group of followers. There was another Prophet and he had two or three followers. And there was a Prophet that only had one follower and there was some Prophets that had no followers. And then I was shown a

great multitude and it was said to me: This is your Ummah. And among your Ummah with them are 70,000 people, 70,000 followers that will go to Jannah without any accounting and no punishment."

Ukkashah ibn Mihsan stood up and said: (يا رسول الله ادع الله أن يجعلني منهم - Ya Rasulullah, ud'u Allah an yaj'alani minhum) (O Messenger of Allah, please ask Allah, make dua that I could be one of them). And the Prophet ﷺ said: (أنت منهم - anta minhum) (You are one of them(.

The Significance of Being Among the 70,000

If I could be somebody, I want to be that Sahaba. Not just go to Jannah, but go to Jannah with no accounting and no punishment. Now I want you to stop and think for a moment. You think 70,000 people are a lot of people? 70,000 is a lot but compared to the Ummah size, it is a very small number. There are approximately 1,300,000,000 Muslims on the earth. 70,000 is what percentage of 1,300,000,000? Don't even try to figure it out. You calculated not big enough. Minuscule. But that's just talking about the Muslims now. What about the Muslims ever since the time of the Prophet? How many of them?

The Total Number of Humans

And I read, I used to ask myself the question, I used to wonder: How many people have ever been on the earth? You ever ask yourself that question? How many people have ever been on the earth? You know, you want to see something remarkable? Look at this. Allah is great. Look at this ayah:

"And from these two, Adam and his wife, came countless men and women."

Allah's Perfect Planning

You want to see somebody who knows how to organize, somebody who knows how to plan? Here's Allah. Put one man and one woman on the earth and he didn't have to create man everyday. Create another man, create another man, create another man. No, create one man and put everything in that man so all of us would come from Adam and his wife. How many? According to one scientist, he did a research in 1995 and said from the beginning there have been 105 billion people on earth. 105 billion people on earth. Look! And all those 105 billion people that ever lived on the earth live on the same earth big enough. Enough food. Enough space. Allah is a great creator. Everything we need is right there. He planned it like that. Made the earth big enough.

Connecting to Our Purpose

So now brothers and sisters I leave you with this: What does that have to do with the seerah? And what does that have to do with the school of Islamic studies? And what does that have to do with us tonight?

A Lesson in Perspective

You know brothers and sisters, I met a young girl, Muslim sister, on the west coast. And every time I would go to California I would see her. She would attend my lectures, a young girl. And one day she came to me and said: "You know Imam Siraj, I was born a Muslim. My parents are from the Middle East." And she used to say, she said: "You know Imam, I used to say that I'm definitely gonna go to Jannah. Yeah," she said, "man yeah, I'm going to Jannah for sure." That's what she used to say. She said one day she attended a lecture by Imam Hamza Yusuf and got some knowledge. And she said: "You know what Imam? Ever since I attended that lecture I said to myself you know what? If I don't get myself together, I'm going straight to hell."

The Right Perspective of Allah

You see brothers and sisters, I want to leave you with an attitude. What attitude is that? We have to have the right perspective of Allah, the knowledge of Allah. And you know what? I used to be very confident about going to Jannah. Yeah, you might even say a little cocky. But I don't feel that way no more. I feel real humble. Yeah, Rabb please. Because when I read the Hadith: Only 70,000 will go to Jannah without any accounting and no punishment. That means all the rest, Inshallah if they go, no problem, but there's a price you're going to have to pay. You're going to have to do some accounting. And some of us going to have to receive some punishment.

The Ayah of Fear and Hope

So I leave you with these words of the Quran. You know I was on my way from London a couple of days ago and it was an 8 hour trip. And I was preparing for my class and as I was preparing for my class I thought about the Jumu'ah Khutbah. And I thought about an ayah. I said you know what, tomorrow I'm going to talk about this ayah in the Quran. But before I look up this ayah I want to look up another ayah for my class. So I looked up the ayah for my class first and the very next ayah I didn't know was the very ayah I was looking for. Right? So I jotted it down. And when I got out of the plane in New York City I got in my car, my driver picked me up, and I had a cassette of the Quran and I put it in my car. Turned it on. And guess what ayah came? The same exact ayah. And this is the ayah and then we finish:

"Inform My servants that I am the Forgiving, the Merciful, and that My punishment is the painful punishment."

Know that Allah is severe in punishment and know that Allah is forgiving and merciful.

The Balance of Fear and Hope

Why do I say that? Tonight brothers and sisters my dua is that every one of you and your children be blessed to go to Jannah. That's one dua. But that Allah will spare us of the punishment also.