I m Only Human

I'm Only Human

Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Opening Praise and Testimony

Alhamdulillah, we praise Allah, we ask for His help, we seek His forgiveness, we believe in Him and we trust in Him. And we seek Allah's protection from the evil of our egos and from the evil of our actions. Whomever He guides is rightly guided, and whomever He allows to go astray, none can guide them.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

"O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except as Muslims."

As-salāmu alaykum wa rahmatu Llāhi wa barakātuhu. Brothers and sisters, we praise Allah the Almighty. Yes, we do. We praise Al-Wadūd, the Most Loving. We praise Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. We bear witness that nothing deserves to be worshipped except Allah. He has no partners. And we bear witness that Muhammad ﷺ is Allah's Messenger and His Servant. We bear witness that whomever Allah guides is rightly guided, and whomever Allah leaves to err, no one can guide them.

Celebrating Our Humanity

We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves. Yes, from the evil of ourselves. Brothers and sisters, in the next few moments, I want to celebrate. I want to celebrate because of what the Prophet ﷺ said, and he said, (إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ - Innamā anā bashar) - "I am only a human being." To me, one of the most eloquent statements of our Messenger, a very simple statement: (إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ - Innamā anā bashar) - "I am only a human being."

And why did he say it? He said it because Allah told him to say it. (قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ - Qul innama ana basharun mithlukum) - "Say: I am only a human being like you." (Quran 18:110) Allah told the Prophet to say that I am only a human being just like you.

Our Prophet was born from a woman. He lived, he ate, he answered the call of nature and he died. And all of us are human beings. And today, inshallah, in a few moments, I want to celebrate our humanity, celebrate my humanity and celebrate your humanity.

The Cosmic Debate Between Allah and the Angels

And I want to go over a cosmic debate that took place. We don't know exactly how long ago, maybe millions of

years ago, maybe billions of years ago, but it was a debate. A dialogue between Allah and His angels. And I submit to you this afternoon in this masjid, that that conversation that took place, that debate that took place millions of years ago, billions of years ago, it still impacts us today in this city and in America and in the world. Wallahi it does.

Every day it impacts us, this great debate that took place billions, millions of billions of years ago. And this debate was so critical that Allah recorded it in the Qur'an so that we would forever read it until Yawm al-Qiyāmah. We will read in the Qur'an this debate that took place between Allah جل جلاله and His angels.

Great debate. And in this debate, in that cosmic debate that took place, are principles that every day we follow, we understand, it unfolds.

And when your Lord said to the angels: "I am about to place a khalīfah (vicegerent) on the earth." (Quran 2:30)

Obviously this name khalīfah means something. About to create on the earth a khalīfah. They, the angels said:

"Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You?" (Quran 2:30)

Are you going to make in the earth that which causes mischief in the earth and the shedding of blood? And we, we celebrate your praises. We the angels, we celebrate your praises and we sanctify your holiness.

Allah's Response and the Angels' Question

And Allah جل جلاله is like this. Even the messengers are like this. That if you say something and it's wrong, you must be corrected. And if the angels said you're going to make a khalīfah, when Allah said he's going to make a khalifah on the earth and the angels were afraid because this that you're going to create is going to cause mischief in the earth and going to cause the shedding of blood. Who is Allah going to create? Allah is going to create human beings.

And Allah did not deny what the angels said. He simply said:

"I know what you do not know." (Quran 2:30)

And I would like to take a few moments this afternoon just to examine that.

The Universal Call to Repentance

In the end we're going to say this, what the Prophet said:

"O mankind, turn in repentance to Allah and seek His forgiveness."

(Sahih Muslim 2702)

I want everyone here today in this masjid, not some, not most, not the adults, not the men, not the women, but everybody, the men and the women, the young and the old, the black and the white, the Arab and the non-Arab. I want every one of us today to make tawbah to Allah جل جلاله. I want every one of us today to go back to Allah جل جلاله. Everyone, and I want everyone to ask Allah's forgiveness.

And so the Prophet didn't only say that, didn't only tell us to turn to Allah, he went a step further. He says:

(Sahih Muslim 2702)

"For verily I turn to Him in repentance one hundred times a day."

For me, me, Rasulullah, the messenger of Allah, the one whom Allah has blessed, me, I turn to Allah every day, 100 times a day. And if the messenger of Allah turns to Allah 100 times a day, how often must we turn to Allah?

The Difference Between Angels and Human Beings

You want to know the difference between us and angels? You want to know the difference? If you want to know the difference between us and the angels that Allah created these creatures of light, I want you just to examine a part of the verse of Qur'an, Surah Tahrim, the 66th chapter of the Qur'an, and the 6th verse, just a part of it:

"They disobey not Allah in what He commands them, and they do what they are commanded."

And they never disobey Allah in anything. And they do exactly as they are commanded to do. This was their argument. This is a good argument. It's a very good argument. What about us? You want to make man a khalifah? You want to make man a ruler on the earth? What about us? We're the angels. You created us of light and we don't disobey you in anything. And we simply celebrate your praises.

Allah simply said:

"I know what you do not know." (Quran 2:30)

If you ask the question, were the angels right? You have to say, yeah, yeah.

The Reality of Human Bloodshed and Mischief

You look at man and look at the mischief that man has caused on the earth, you have to say the angels, yeah, they're right. Bloodshed? How long was it before man started shedding blood? How long were we on the earth

before man started shedding blood? First son of Adam. Not long. The first son of Adam murdered. Not only did he murder, he murdered his own brother.

And so when you look in the earth, not just in America, in America every year, 20,000 people will be murdered. And not only will 20,000 people be murdered, 30,000 people will take their own lives. Bloodshed. Bloodshed all over. Not just in non-Muslim lands, not just in the West. Bloodshed in Afghanistan, bloodshed in Pakistan, bloodshed in Iraq, bloodshed everywhere you want to look. On the globe, there's bloodshed. Bloodshed in Sudan, bloodshed in Nigeria, bloodshed everywhere you look on the earth, bloodshed. That's what man does.

But yet Allah, in His infinite wisdom, made man His Khalifa. His explanation?

"I know what you do not know." (Quran 2:30)

The Nature of Love: Angels vs Humans

Think about the angels. You want to know the difference between man and angels? And I'm looking at all of you. I know that there are people here that you love. You love your wife, you've been married 40 years. You love your children. You love your husband. You love our leaders. You love.

But man's love is imperfect. Allah is الْوَدُودُ )Al-Wadud, the Most Loving. Allah loves too. Angels, do they love? Angels, do they love? Yeah, angels love. But the love of angels is different from the love of man. What do you mean by that?

The Prophet said that Allah said, in Hadith Qudsi:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 6040, Sahih Muslim 2637)

"When Allah loves a servant, He calls Jibreel and says: 'O Jibreel, verily Allah loves such and such person, so love him.' Then Jibreel loves him."

You love him too. Then Jibreel begins to love that person. And then Jibreel calls all of the people in heaven:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 6040, Sahih Muslim 2637)

"Verily Allah loves such and such person, so love him. And then the inhabitants of heaven love him."

Oh, angels! All those in heaven. Allah loves such and such person. You love them too. And then the angels begin to love that person.

Imagine someone not loving the Prophet. It's hard for us to imagine as Muslims the most lovable person. For us, Muhammad ﷺ, how could you not love him? Yet, there are some who became sahaba who said he used to be the most hated of us until Allah guided us to Islam and then he became the most beloved of us.

Oh, but the love of man is imperfect. What do you mean by that? Sometimes we love whom we should hate. Yeah. And sometimes we hate whom we should love.

The Gift of Free Choice

And you know the difference between angels and human beings? Allah said in Quran:

"And We have certainly honored the children of Adam." (Quran 17:70)

How did Allah honor you and us? He honored us in a lot of ways. One of the things that Allah has given to us, that great gift of free choice. Yeah. You can love whomever you wanna love. Allah not gonna stop you. And you can hate whomever you wanna hate. Allah not gonna stop you.

But we as Muslims, as khalifa, we try to love whom Allah loves. So therefore the Prophet ﷺ said about Al-Ansar:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 3783, Sahih Muslim 75)

"None loves the Ansar except a believer, and none hates them except a hypocrite."

The Ansar, none loves them but a believer. And none hates them except for a hypocrite. And those who love the Ansar, Allah will love them. And those who hate the Ansar, Allah will hate them. We bear witness today in this masjid, that we, all of us, we love the Al-Ansar. We never met them. But it doesn't matter to us. We know that Allah loves them.

The Freedom to Obey or Disobey

You know the difference between angels and human beings? Yes, angels, they submit to Allah. SubhanAllah, subhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. Angels do that all the time. Oh, but man, human beings, we also do it. You know the difference? The angels are only wired to obey Allah. They can't help themselves.

But you, and you, and you, us, we can do whatever we want to do. Yeah. We can do whatever we want to do. And you can't stop them. We can walk out of this masjid today, and you can go to a brothel. You can go to a house of prostitution. You can go to a drug house. Nobody can stop you. You, as a believer, you stop yourself. You stop yourself. Because you believe in Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

The Great Gift: Inspiring Faith, Not Forcing It

And understand the great gift that Allah has given to us. I want you to think about this as we sit down. And when you leave this masjid today, I want you to think about this. About the great gift that Allah has given to us.

Second Khutbah: We Are All Sinners

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)
Brothers and sisters, I'm finished. But I want to nail one thing home. I want to nail it home. There is not one of us who sit in this masjid, who sit in that hall, who sit outside, who sits up there. There is not one of us that is without sin. How do I know that? I know it because of what the Prophet ﷺ said. He said:

(Source Name)

"I swear by Him in whose hand my soul is."

And whenever the Prophet said that, he's about to drop on us something heavy.

(Sahih Muslim 2749)

"By Him in Whose hand is my soul, if you had not committed sin, Allah would remove you and bring a people who would commit sin, then seek Allah's forgiveness, and He would forgive them."

Allah Created Us as We Are

Allah did not make a mistake with us. We're not the product of a mistake. Allah knew who we were and how far we would go. How far would man go? Man can go as far down in the depths of darkness as he wants to go. On the one hand, he can rise to the greatest heights.

If you had not committed any sin, Allah would remove you. All of you. You who think you're sinless. You who think you're better than anyone else. You who think you're pious. You who think you're righteous. If you had not committed any sin, Allah would remove you and bring a people who would commit sin so that they can ask Allah's forgiveness so that Allah can forgive them.

The Full Glory of Allah

You want to know the full glory of Allah ? You can't exhibit the full glory of Allah with angels alone. Why? Because angels don't make mistakes. How could you have a Rahīm , forgiving, merciful and forgiving unless you have people that make mistakes. So the key is not that you're not going to make mistakes. You're going to make mistakes for sure. You're a human being.

You're going to make mistakes. You'll see it. You live long enough. You're going to make mistakes. Your husband is going to make mistakes. Your wife is going to make mistakes. Your children are going to make mistakes. Your leaders are going to make mistakes. Your presidents are going to make mistakes. Your governors are going to make mistakes. Your mayors are going to make mistakes. Everybody. Human being going to make mistakes. That's not the issue.

The issue is when you fall, do you get back up and turn to Allah subhana wa ta'ala and make tawbah to Him? That's the issue.

Lessons from the People of the Book

You know what? I used to be a Christian. And there's an interesting verse in the Bible. And I want to prefix what I'm going to quote from the Bible with something the Prophet ﷺ said. He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 4485)

"Do not verify what the people of the book say, and do not deny it."

Don't verify what the people of the book say. Don't verify it. Don't deny it. But rather say, we believe in Allah . And what was revealed to us and what was revealed to you.

"Your God and our God is One."

I'm not saying Jesus said it. I'm saying the Bible said that He said it. And this is what Christians preach. And it's interesting. Some scribes and some Pharisees that came to Jesus with a woman and said that this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. According to the law of Moses, she should be stoned. What do you say, Jesus ? And they were trying to trap Him. And they said that Jesus got on His knees and began to write something in the dirt and they didn't know what it was. And they repeated the question again. And He stood up and He said this: Let him who is without sin, let him first throw the stone. He didn't say yes. He didn't say no.

You know what? One by one they began to drop the stone and they walked away. Until nobody was left. Did it happen? Allahu alam.

The Story of Jesus and the Thief

But let me tell you what did happen because the Prophet ﷺ said. He said that Jesus (Isa( عليه السلام, he saw a man stealing. And he said, Did you steal? And the man said, Wallahi, I didn't steal. Here's the messenger of Allah , Isa عليه السلام Jesus . Saw a man. He witnessed a man stealing. He said, Did you steal? No, I swear by Allah , I didn't steal.

You know what Jesus said? He said, I believe in Allah and I deny my own eyes. And the prophet taught us that. What was Jesus saying? Jesus saying, I ain't perfect. I may be making a mistake. How often our eyes deceive us. How often our ears deceive us. How often our hearts deceive us.

Yes, today we celebrate. What do we celebrate? I am a human being. And I will make mistakes. But I will turn to my Lord and ask forgiveness.

Most of Our Worship is Seeking Forgiveness

You want to hear something? If you had time, I would take you all through Sharia. And show you most of what we do. We only do it to get Allah's forgiveness. If you had time, I would do it. I'll go all throughout the Quran and all throughout Sunnah. And I will show you everything we do. Most every Ibadah that we do is to seek Allah's forgiveness.

I'll give you one thing to think about. Aisha رضي الله عنها said that Rasulullah was praying one night, early in the morning. And he prayed so much that his feet began to ache. And when he finished, she said:

"O Messenger of Allah , why do you do this when Allah has already forgiven you of your past and future sins?"

Ya Rasulullah, why are you doing this? Why are you making all of this extra prayer? This is not Maghrib, this is not Isha, this is not Fajr. You don't have to do this. Why are you doing that? Allah has already forgiven you of your past sins or your future sins. Why? Why would you do that?

He says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 4837, Sahih Muslim 2820)

"Should I not be a thankful servant?"

Now look at this, here's the messenger of Allah . He's done all of this extra worship, right? And Aisha is saying, well wait a minute, she's puzzled. Why are you doing all of that? And you go from Shahrul fasting in Ramadan to standing up in Lailatul Qadr, standing up in Tahajjud, or Salat al-Tarawih, or making pilgrimage to Mecca, all of that, and you study and you will find out that you do it seeking Allah's forgiveness. You know why? Because we, as human beings, are sinners. We're not angels.

Being Forgiving to Each Other

So therefore when you look at yourself and say, oh wait a minute, I'm a human being, let me be careful. I'm a human being, let me be careful. And then it means that we should be forgiving to each other.

Finally, I close. We searched not long ago for Lailatul Qadr, remember? Remember, when you came to the masjid so often during Ramadan, remember? It wasn't that long ago. And remember Aisha said to her husband, the messenger of Allah :

"O Messenger of Allah , if I find Lailatul Qadr, what should I say?"

He said: "Say: O Allah , You are the Pardoner, You love to pardon, so pardon me." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 3513, Sunan Ibn Majah 3850)

Ya Rasulullah, if we find Lailatul Qadr, what should we say?

Allahumma innaka 'afuwwun tuhibbul 'afwa fa'fu 'anni

O Allah , O Allah , you are the Pardoner. You love to pardon. Therefore pardon me.

Closing Supplications

We make dua for ourselves, our family members. We make dua for each other. We ask Allah the Almighty to forgive us our sins and have mercy upon us. We ask Allah the Almighty to turn to us. We ask Allah to help us to make tawbah to Him.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala azwaji Muhammad wa dhurriyati Muhammad, wa sallim tasliman kathira.

"Our Lord , accept [this] from us. Indeed, You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing."

"Our Lord , do not impose blame upon us if we forget or make a mistake."

"Our Lord , and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord , and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people."

وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ

Iqamat as-Salah (Establish the prayer)