Beyond the Fashion and Fighting around Mawlid

Beyond the Fashion and Fighting around Mawlid

Opening Greetings and Praise

Asalaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. We praise Allah. We beseech Him to send His peace and blessings upon our beloved messenger Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) upon his blessed family, his companions and those who followed him until the end of time.

InshaAllah if the brothers could scoot this way and then scoot forward, mashaAllah it's going to be like double mashaAllah. So mashaAllah alhamdulillah. So if we could like kind of center ourselves as well, get that good 50 yard line, boxy type thing going and then if we can scoot as forward as we can, it's going to be good inshaAllah. JazakAllah khayran.

As the Quran says (يَفْسَحَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ - yafsaḥi-llāhu lakum), you know if you make room Allah will make room for you. So we ask Allah yafsih lanaa inshaAllah, ask Allah to make a way for us, fi jannatihi al-na'im.

The Blessed Month of the Prophet's Birth

Alhamdulillah we know like this is a very important time for the majority of the Muslims across the globe and this of course is the month according to the strong opinion of Muslim historians and scholars of hadith that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) he was born. As Shauqi he wrote, (وُلِدَ الْهُدَى فَالْكَائِنَاتُ ضِيَاءُ وَقَمْ الزَّمَانِ تَبَسُّمٌ وَثَنَاءُ - wulida al-hudā fālkā'inātu ḍiyā'u wa qamu al-zamāni tabassumun wa thanā'u) - you know that this time actually when the Prophet was born, the era that he was born smiled and it said thanks oh Allah for choosing me to be the time that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) he was born in

Love for the Messenger - A Fundamental Obligation

And even if people differ over celebrating the Mawlid or not, what we should amplify is that none of us differ on loving the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

(Sahih Bukhari 15, Sahih Muslim 44)

- none of you will truly believe until you love me more than anything and that includes our parents and our children.

Commenting on this though, one of the early scholars said of course this is impossible. Like it's impossible for anyone to say that but it's though the Prophet is encouraging us like the level that we should love him (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

And how do we love somebody is we learn about them and we know them. That's why Sayyidina Ali karamAllahu wajhah he used to say that nobody as related by Tirmidhi met the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) fuja'atan like accidentally. You know they would bump into him (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and would leave except they had an appreciation and love for the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

The Universal Recognition of the Prophet's Character

Even Abu Sufyan when he was still one of the great arch enemies of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and he was informed that his daughter Umm Habibah had married the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and people began to chastise him in Mecca and say are you aware of who your daughter married? And he said to them I can think of nobody better for her to marry than him even though I don't believe in him and I don't agree with him (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

Beyond Sectarian Conflicts

But often times within the typical polemics you know we have a standard set of polemics as though we have the budget to be fighting and hating each other. Like as though we don't have enough enemies as though we don't have enough problems as though we can conveniently find the time to think about how better can I hate my Muslim brother or sister.

We forget the amount of money being spent in Islamophobia, the positioning of Muslims across the globe, the continued assault militarily. We see what happened in Gaza subhanAllah just this week and Kashmir and other parts of the world and Iraq we see what's going on. But somehow we fail to realize that we need each other and within that also we get caught up in the fashionable kind of notions of who the Prophet is (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

A Story About Priorities

I remember once subhanAllah I was sitting in a zawiyah of some Sufis in Egypt and there was one of the followers of this sheikh, I wasn't in that group I was there to read Quran to one sheikh who was very proficient in the Quran. So I heard this conversation, I wasn't dipping it was loud. And he said to the sheikh, I came from my university, the sheikh of that tariqa, I came five hours to visit you by train.

And he said subhanAllah, the sheikh he said, how far do your parents live from you? He said my parents live for two hours. He said no you should have gone to see your parents. Like why are you coming to see me, al awlawiyat.

So often times we don't have priorities and priorities is the sign of taqwa and taqwa of course is the gift of tawfiq.

The Universal Message of the Prophet

To regulate our love of the Prophet to a scarf or to a certain type of language or to a certain type of dialect or group or cult would be really to dismantle the greater message and the powerful transformative prophecy of Sayyidina Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

Who came as a shatib, he mentions largely with the kulliyat al-insaniya, who came with these universals that were meant to, as Imam al-Maidani said, you know like what the Prophet brought, they're like medicines that a

pharmacist gives to humanity. And if we look around us today, some of us maybe we're watching what's going on now with the testimony and then we see what's been happening within our own community, there can be no doubt that we need the adwiya muhammadiyya (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

True Love Requires Action

So what I would like to do is really focus on a more kind of universal idea that should come out of the life of anyone who celebrates Sayyidina Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

Because to say Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad and then not to be good to our wives or spouses, not to be good to our children, to be a hater, to be an internet troll, to be a jerk on minder, you know, let's get real. If we just leave Islam in the masjid, there's no masjid in the wild. But there needs to be a masjid in the wild.

Because that's where people get hurt. So to like troll girls on minder, to send like nasty pictures, to make a fool out of myself every Friday night, I left the minbar, I went to the bar, those kind of things, right? That would be to really reduce my claim of loving the messenger of Allah.

The Shahada as a Contract of Responsibility

Because first and foremost, when we say that we love Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) this means that we're going to hold ourselves accountable. Because the hukm of the atf is the hukm of the ma'toof. The ruling of the followed is the ruling, the follower takes the ruling of the followed.

I remember first few months into my Al-Islam, brothers can scoot forward again inshaAllah, like we can really scoot forward, like it's a lot of room, I know I'm a lot more intimidating than the other guy, but I swear I'm nicer, I just don't make burgers.

So like, you can scoot forward, like you can all the way up to the rug, mashaAllah. Thank you, barakAllahu feekum. So to say that we love the messenger of Allah, and that's why it's called shahada, it means to sign a contract.

And that contract is commanding us to live a much more responsible life, like the mawlid and love of the messenger isn't all about like burning incense and feeling good and like wearing a oud. That's not, anyone can do that. There are people who are bombing Yemen who do that every week.

They wear an oud and they even wear thobes, but they still bomb Yemen. Did the thobe help them, did the oud help them?

Following the Prophet Means Suffering

So to reduce the messenger of Allah, alayhi salatu wasalam, to simple fashion, would be a sign that I'm following my nafs. Because to be a follower of the messenger of Allah, means to suffer.

And that's why the Prophet said (أُوذِيتُ مَا يُؤْذَى أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ وَأُخِفْتُ مَا يَخَافُ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ - ūzītu mā yu'dhā aḥadun minkum wa ukhiftu mā yakhāfu aḥadun minkum) - He said, I suffered in ways that no human being ever suffered, and I feared like no human being has ever feared before.

Meaning, the anxiety and the stress of what he went against, in this hadith sahih, was greater than any other person. And what he suffered for (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and he says (أَتَتْ عَلَيَّ ثَلَاثُونَ - atat ʿalayya thalāthūna) - he said, you know, there were 30 nights that I met with Bilal, in Mecca, (مَا كَانَ عِنْدَنَا طَعَامٌ - mā kāna ʿindanā ṭaʿāmun) we didn't have food. He said, in fact, the only thing we could eat was what Sayyidina Bilal could hide in his clothing.

And Bilal, he had very tattered clothing. So what he could hide was like, very minuscule (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). It was a struggle.

A Misunderstanding Corrected

And I remember early on in my Islam, I met this brother, he had a liquor store, we used to call it Haramco. And that brother, subhanAllah, we went to him and he said to me, like, you know, what's your deal? I said, yeah, I'm the new guy in the community. And he said to me, you know, we don't have to follow Muhammad now, alayhi salatu wasalam.

He did everything for us. Like he took that responsibility. We can just cruise into Jannah.

And I was like, man, this is a good religion. But subhanAllah, in the Qur'an, Allah does something profound.

The Quranic Literary Device of Iltifat

And that is that, in Arabic, it's okay to change the tense for a lesson or a meaning called iltifat. In Muslim we say, lift, lift, you know, turn around. So the language literally turns around. While Allah subhanAllah is talking to Sayyidina Rasul, and then suddenly the tense switches, he's talking to us.

- Allah says to Sayyidina Muhammad, don't you know this? Don't you know this, oh Muhammad? And then suddenly it switches and says, don't you, the whole ummah of Muhammad, know?

And Sheikh Muhammad Ali Sayyid, he was the dean of the college of Sharia in Azhar. He said, because the ummah of Muhammad, by claiming it follows Muhammad alayhi salatu as-salam, now becomes part of the Muhammadan responsibility. So often times in the Quran, Allah subhanAllah is talking to Sayyidina Nabi, and the tense switches and he's talking to us.

As if to say, don't think that the Prophet, (فَلَمْ يُغْنِ عَنكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا - falam yughni ʿankum mina-llāhi shai'an) - Don't think that that kind of relationship will save you. What saves us as the Prophet said, (اتَّقُوا النَّارَ وَلَوْ بِشِقٍ تَمْرَةٍ - ittaqū al-nāra wa law bishiqqi tamratin), is work.

The Prophet as the Embodiment of Beauty

And one of the universal principles that we take from the life of the Prophet, is something maybe that we don't think about, like the Prophet alayhi salatu as-salam, is the embodiment of core values. And one of them is beauty. And subhanAllah, very rarely do we talk about beauty because the word has been gentrified in such a way, by notions of European beauty, and Eurocentric notions of beauty, everywhere in the world you can find a get white cream.

I remember once I was traveling in the Muslim world, I went into the pharmacy, and I saw the get white cream. So I was teasing the guy, I said, if I wear that, will I disappear? And he was like, you know, I don't want to say what he said, it'll give the country away, but he was like, ya'am. Then he gave me the explanation.

Like, subhanAllah, the nur of tahajjud is more than anything else we could ask for. Being a loving human being is more beautiful than anything we can ask for. So the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) he's the embodiment of beauty.

(Sahih Muslim 91)

- Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty.

Beauty Beyond the Physical

From the sunan of Allah, is to make things appeasing to human beings in a way, which isn't strictly related to the sexual. Because that's a very remedial base, as Ibn Hazm said, to be attracted to sexual beauty is part of our nature. But to be restricted to sexual beauty makes us hayawanat, makes us like animals.

The ability to transcend the post-Hellenistic pagan construction of beauty, which is largely steeped in nakedness. And the material, where our understanding of beauty transcends the material world. Because there's nothing more beautiful than our Creator.

- That in the hereafter people will see Allah in a way that befits His majesty. And they will be like blown away.

One of the narrations says Allah will recite Surat Ar-Rahman for them. Sayyidina Suhaib, when he would narrate this hadith, kan yabqi. He would weep, longing to see the beauty of Allah. So whoever is lost in the beauty of Nur, will never get deceived by the beauty of dunya.

Descriptions of the Prophet's Beauty

So the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) embodies for us what's beautiful. As Sayyidina Anas said radiyallahu anhu, I never saw anyone's character more beautiful than the Messenger of Allah. Sayyidina Abu Hurairah said I saw the Messenger of Allah at night and he was walking and behind him was the moon.

Wallahi, he said his face was brighter than the full moon (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) Sayyidina Umar ibn Khattab radiyallahu anhu, he said when I would see him I would say wallahi you are more beautiful than the full moon, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). They used to call him the badr, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). (طَلَعَ الْبَدْرُ عَلَيْنَا - ṭalaʿa al-badru ʿalaynā)

The Gaze - A Tool for Appreciating Beauty

But when we think about beauty, we tend to restrict it to the gaze. One of the concerns I have as an American Muslim is that we are always responding to like the dominant themes of America. Whereas our leaders like Malcolm X and his daughters down the street mashaAllah in Harlem. We see great leaders like Ingrid Madison, Yasmin Mugahid. We see these people emancipated themselves from being slaves of the constructions of America and begin to answer questions directly from Islam.

Not just simply responding, like let them play defense man, don't just play offense. One of the things that I often hear is people talk about the gaze and then the gaze becomes highly sexualized and then women become mistreated in the name of the gaze as though it's a woman's fault that a man can't control where he looks. But subhanAllah, let's invert it.

Because the gaze, if we scoot forward, the gaze is also a key to appreciating beauty. And Allah subhanAllah in the Quran mentions:

We beautified the heavens for you. And numerous places انظُرْ انظُرْ - Use your gaze. Look around you and appreciate.

As Imam Ibn Hammam al-Hanafi he said, (الصَّانِعُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى وَالْخَالِقُ يُعْرَفُ بِمَخْلُوقِهِ - as-saani'u subhaanahu wa ta'aalaa wal-khaaliqu yu'rafu bi-makhluqihi) - He said you know the creator, people see the ayat of God and His creation. They pay attention to them.

That's why in the Quran it's called a ayah. Ayah doesn't mean verse. Ayah means a sign. Every verse of Quran is ayah ala sidqihi (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Every verse of the Quran is a sign of the truth of the messenger of Allah (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

Moving Beyond Polemics and Reductionism

But if we want to expand the love of the Prophet to move beyond fashionable notions or the typical polemics that plague a community which has to consider itself constantly under siege, then let us stop for a moment and think about the times in the Quran where Allah commands the Prophet to look. He commands him to use his gaze. And there we find beauty. Because beauty is not captured in like very commodified simplistic ways.

In our understanding beauty is something which is going to last and benefit humanity and ourselves and the hereafter. That's beauty.

The Beautiful Cow

So Allah in Surah Baqarah when they keep asking Sayyidina Musa (مَا لَوْنُهَا - maa lawnuha) - What color is the cow? What does the cow look like? What shape is the cow? At the end of the second question, Allah says:

Allah describes the cows being beautiful.

The First Command - Look at Poverty

So the first thing that Allah orders the Prophet (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to look at is poverty. He commands him not to turn away from poverty. In this country, there is a tremendous problem with poverty. We don't feel it because it's glossed over. And now we see a political ethos which now subhanAllah actually blames poor people for their poverty.

- Allah said to the Prophet (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) because Islam isn't about utilitarianism. Islam is about being uncomfortable. Allah said to him, do not turn your vision away from them.

Who is them in shul takaf? Sayyidina Suhaib who was a refugee. He's not Arab. Sayyidina Bilal. He's not Arab. He's a refugee. Sayyidina Ammar who lost his mother. Sumayya.

- Don't turn away from them. Don't turn your eyes away from them. Seek in the beauty, the utility of dunya.

Serving the Poor - A Prophetic Community

As a spiritual community who claims to love the Prophet (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). It's so great to see, especially our MSA just a few weeks ago. A community that stays prophetic, invested in the needs of the poor. And in fact this verse, Imam At-Tabari said, was revealed when the people of Mecca came to Sayyidina Nabi (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) Look at the values and principles.

To love the Prophet is to be a person of principle. And they tried to sway him away from his mission. And one of the things that they said to him was, like why are you hanging out with these people? Why are you hanging out with the low class people?

Largely if we look at the message of Islam in America after Malcolm. Except in a few of the black American communities. We see a community that is often times more excited to go to a white house iftar than to serve people who have no food. That's a problem.

Who will celebrate sometimes it's secular successes, but ignore it's social and cultural successes. But all of us in this room, rest on the coattails of Malcolm. And none of us should forget, that he died for his people. And that's prophetic.

The Divine Response - Stay with the Poor

So when they ask the Prophet (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) sell out! Immediately Allah reveals,

- Stay patient, be resilient, with those poor people, who call on Allah in the morning and the evening.

- And never turn away from them, looking for the accolades of this life.

Sayyidina Rasul (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) when this verse came, he said:

- Praise be to Allah, who commanded me to be patient, with the people who are underserved.

And in fact he used to say (اللَّهُمَّ احْشُرْنِي مَعَ الْمَسَاكِينِ - Allahumma ihshurni ma'al masakin) - Oh Allah resurrect me with the masakin. With those people who are some ulama, they said masakin to Allah. Their hearts are masakin to Allah. Meaning that they need Allah. And others said, it means that they were people who actually were underserved.

Finding Beauty in Caring for the Vulnerable

So the first, that we can talk about, is looking at the most vulnerable. And finding beauty there. What's the beauty that we're looking for? The beauty to develop the capacity in our own emotional battery, to care for people.

When Allah talks about the hypocrite, He said (لَا يَشْعُرُونَ - laa yash'uroon) (Quran 2:12) - They don't feel. Allah when He talks about Sayyidina Isa (فَلَمَّا أَحَسَّ عِيسَى - falammaa ahassa 'eesaa) (Quran 3:52)

Isa alayhi salatu wasalam, internally he felt the needs of his people. Hassa bihim. It wasn't just like he noticed something, he was so in tune with the hawariyin, alayhi salam, that he understands their emotional needs.

The Prophet's Empathy with His Wife

The same with Sayyidina Nabi (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), as Imam Malik mentions in the Muwatta, and Imam Muslim when he came to his wife, Sayyidina Aisha, and he said to her, I know when you're angry at me. He didn't allow that to cause him to be insecure or upset. He understands the power of communication.

Allah says in the Qur'an, (الرَّحْمُنُ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ - ar-rahmaanu 'allamal quraana, khalaqal insaana, 'allamahul bayaan) (Quran 55:1-4) - You know the ability to communicate is one of the first things that ar-Rahman mentions as one of His ni'mah.

So he goes to his wife, Sayyidina Aisha, and he says, I know when you're angry at me. And she said, how? Because she wasn't like being passive-aggressive. She wasn't like shooting signals at him. She said, how? Because (وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ - wal-kaazimeenal ghayza wal-'aafeena 'anin-naas) (Quran 3:134)

He said, when you're happy, you say (وَبِرَبِّ مُحَمَّدٍ - wa birabbi muhammad) - When you're happy, you say, I swear by Muhammad, the Lord of Muhammad, alayhi salam. And when you're angry, you say (وَبِرَبِّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ - wa birabbi ibraheem) - He said and when you're mad, you say, I swear by the Lord of Ibrahim. And she said, you got it. But look how he's able to feel people.

The Blessing of Empathy

So when we talk about beauty, it doesn't mean some kind of sick sense of accomplishment or utility while I'm

helping people who are underserved. No. It means that Allah has, inshaAllah, guided me to find the great blessing, which is the blessing of empathy.

(مَن لَا يَرْحَمْ لَا يُرْحَمْ - man laa yarham laa yurham) (Sahih Bukhari 5997, Sahih Muslim 2318) - Who doesn't practice empathy will not receive empathy in the hereafter. So the first is that the Prophet (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is commanded uncompromisingly and unconditionally to stare at poverty.

We ask Allah to make us with our beloved Prophet (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as we ask Him to gather us with him as we believed in him and did not see him. I say this, I ask Allah to forgive me and you, so forgive me. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

The Second Command - Look at Those with Disabilities

There are a few other examples of where the Prophet (ملسو هيلع هللا بلص - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is implicitly commanded to stare things in the face, to look at them. One of them is people who are suffering with disabilities. And we know, everyone knows this chapter. (عَبَسَ وَتَوَلَّى أَن جَاءَهُ الْأَعْمَى وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّهُ يَزَّكَّى - 'abasa wa tawalla an jaa'ahul a'maa wa maa yudreeka la'allahu yazzakkaa) (Quran 80:1-3)

That Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum, the Mu'adhin of the Messenger of Allah, like Sayyidina Bilal, who comes to the Messenger of Allah to seek knowledge. SubhanAllah. Even though he can't see physically. (فَإِنَّهَا لَا تَعْمَى الْأَبْصَارُ - fa innahaa laa ta'mal absaar)

(وَلَكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِي فِي الصُّدُورِ - wa laakin ta'mal quloobul latii fis-sudoor) (Quran 22:46) - He can see with his heart.

And those people, even though they have everything, and they can see everything physically, they can't see with their heart. That's why Allah says about the Quraish (تَرَاهُمْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ وَهُمْ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ - taraahum yanzuroona ilaika wa hum laa yubsiroon) (Quran 7:198) - You see them staring at you, O Muhammad, but they don't see you. SubhanAllah. They're looking at you, but they don't see you. They don't see the (حَقِيقَة مُحَمَّدِيَّة - haqeeqatu muhammadiyya)

Because the beauty of Muhammad, alayhi salatu wasalam, transcends the eyes. So he comes to the Messenger of Allah, عَلَمْنِي - Teach me. And the Prophet turned away from him.

And then Allah tells him, don't turn away from this person. Look at him. Serve him.

Making Our Communities Accessible

Another thing that we should think about, like in our communities, do people who have certain physical challenges, emotional challenges, do they have entry points into our non-profits? Are we making sure that people are able to attend and be part of our programming?

In Ramadan, I was suggesting yesterday, we should have a party for everyone who can't fast. We should have iftar for them. We should say, even though you can't fast, wallahi, all of us who make dua, Allah will count our fast with your fast.

As the Prophet said, اكْتُبُوا - Allah will say about that person, اكْتُبُوا - Write what that person did. (كَأَنَّهُ صَحِيحٌ مُقِيمٌ - ka annahu saheehun muqeem) (Sahih Bukhari 2996) - As though that person is healthy and not traveling.

The Third Command - Look at the Environment

Another thing that the Prophet is ordered to stare at over and over again is the environment, stars, camels, camels. You know, I was with my teacher in the mid-90s traveling in the desert, and he said to me, we're going somewhere. I said, where are we going? He said, we're going to go look at camels. I was like, man, alright.

So we're in Fahahil, if anyone's ever been to Kuwait, a place called Fahahil, in the middle of nowhere. And it's one of the most, that's why they call them (سَفِينَةُ الصَّحْرَاءِ - safeenatus-sahraa) - Like, subhanAllah, they're majestic. Like, when you see it, you're like, (أَفَلَا يَنظُرُونَ إِلَى الْإِبِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ - afalaa yanzuroona ilal ibili kayfa khuliqat) (Quran 88:17) to look at the camel, because as one of my teachers from Rawalpindi, there's a teacher of mine in Tafsir, ma sha Allah, Sheikh Abdul Rahman, who passed away, la yurhamu, from Pakistan.

He used to say, why is the Prophet always ordered to look at camels? Because camels are the most immaterial creature. And the believer should be like a camel. The dunya is a desert.

Nike is water. Sephora is water. iPhones are water. How I look is water. Fillers are water. Lipo is water.

But if you think about it, it's inverted. That's why Imam al-Muhasibi said, the one that's lost, who made his dunya, his camel, her camel, the muti'ah, what they ride. So he said to me, the Prophet was ordered to look at camels to remember zuhd and dunya. You're gonna have to travel, I'm gonna have to travel through the desert of life. Don't forget to be like the camel.

The Sky - High Ambition

The other thing is (وَإِلَى السَّمَاءِ كَيْفَ رُفِعَتْ - wa ilas-samaa'i kayfa rufi'at) (Quran 88:18) - And I said to him, I was a smart aleck, yeah, what about the sky, what does that mean? He said, high ambition. The believer should have ambition, like the heavens.

And then he said to me, Sayyidina Nabi said (إِذَا سَأَلْتُمُ اللَّهَ الْجَنَّةَ فَاسْأَلُوهُ الْفِرْدَوْسَ الْأَعْلَى - idhaa sa'altumul laaha al-jannata fas'aloohul firdausal a'laa) (Sahih Bukhari 2790, Sahih Muslim 2831) - if you ask Allah for Jannah, ask for al-Firdaws al-A'la. Aim high.

And we live in an age now, one of the goals of Islamophobia outside of conditioning and straightening the public expression of Islam to the point that it comes into our private lives, is to cause us not to have great ambitions in society. But we see, mashaAllah, Muslims doing great work, alhamdulillah.

وَإِلَى الْجِبَالِ كَيْفَ نُصِبَتْ

)Quran 88:19) - and to be like the mountains that are firm, Surat al-Ghashiyah. And I asked, what are the mountains? And the sheikh, he said, consistency and strength. Mistiqama ra ta'tila. If the earthquake happens, the mountain stays, at least he told me.

Then he talked about K2, mashaAllah. He's from Pakistan. Allah yarhamahu, he's a great person, mashaAllah. He had a serious vertebrae issue in his back, and the only time he would sit up is when he would teach tafsir. And we'd say, don't sit up. He said, no, I'm healed with tafsir, subhanAllah.

Tafsir is my Tylenol. But he said, you should be like the mountains. You should be firm on the haq. Not rude and harsh, but immovable.

The Earth - The Whole World is a Masjid

And then the last, he said the ard. You should be like the earth. Because the Muslim, as the Prophet said,

(Sahih Bukhari 335, Sahih Muslim 521)

- The whole earth is a masjid. الْأَرْضُ لِلَّهِ - The earth is for Allah.

I remember once, I was in a taxi with a sheikh in Egypt. Now he's in prison, may Allah free him. SubhanAllah, professor of tafsir. And he had a really long beard. So he got in the taxi.

And the taxi driver said to him, where are you from? He said مِنْ أَرْضِ اللَّهِ اِسْمِي عَبْدُ اللهِ - I'm from the land of God. My name is the servant of God.

And then the taxi driver said, I knew it. I knew it. You are Sayyidina Khadr. He thought he was Sayyidina Khadr. And then he explained to him, no, what I meant by the ard of Allah is not that I'm Sayyidina Khadr who's walking all over the earth, and this is a weak opinion. But that the earth belongs to Allah.

And wherever the Muslim is, they can worship Allah. That's why SubhanAllah, in the Shafi'i Madhab, when Imam Ibn Hajar Haythami was asked by Muslims who lived in Italy, do we have to migrate from Italy because it's a land of non-Muslims? He said, no. Because the land belongs to Allah.

And by living there, you will spread the beauty of Allah's deen. And this is the greatest accomplishment, mashaAllah.

Reflecting on What the Prophet Was Commanded to See

So as we think about the Mawlid and our beloved Messenger, we should think about what he was commanded to look at. Then we should perhaps step back and be careful that we're not being caught up into the typical polemics or simple reductionism of the meaning of the Messenger of Allah in our life.

To be associated with the Prophet is to be associated with responsibility. To be associated with the Prophet is to be away from racism and bigotry. The more racism you have in your heart, the more bigotry I have in my heart,

the less I'm following the sunnah of the Prophet ملسو هيلع هللا بلص. It's to be away from evil.

And I didn't mention it, but when the Prophet is ordered to look at the environment, we can also now think about environmental resilience, ملسو هيلع هللا بلص

Living the Prophetic Example

To be committed to real things, real meaning, to be zero waste, to avoid creating a massive carbon footprint on this earth, to appreciate the creation of Allah is to be associated with the Messenger of Allah. To be good in my marriage under normal circumstances is to be associated with the Messenger of Allah. To be a good person and citizen is to be associated with the Messenger of Allah.

To stand for justice is to be associated with the Messenger of Allah. How could we restrict this just to simple things? When the Messenger of Allah, he was able, as Shawqi said, أَخُوكَ عِيسَى دَعَا مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَاهُ وَأَنْتَ أَحْيَيْتَ أَجْيَالًا مِنَ - You know, your brother Sayyidina Isa, he called the dead, and they were brought to life. But you, O Muhammad, you brought generations of people to life ملسو هيلع هللا لص

Supporting the Work of This Community

We ask Allah to bless us. And I know that there's a host of activities happening here at the center that fall into these kind of exit points of Muhammadan objectives. Like, we feed the poor in the park, mashAllah. There's a lot of zakat work happening. A women's shelter was funded by you people, mashAllah.

Our brothers and sisters are going to Palestine. People are going to Umrah. So many things are happening to help others, mashAllah. Learning, education, activism. So make sure that you try as you leave. We're going to benefit from the mawlid of the Prophet.

Being Reborn Through the Prophet's Example

We're born as the Prophet is born, to be reborn into a new life, into better, inshaAllah, habits and characteristics. We ask Allah نَسْأَلُ اللَّهَ أَنْ يَجْمَعَنَا مَعَ سَيِّدِنَا رَسُولِ اللَّهِ كَمَا آمَنَّا بِهِ وَلَمْ نَرَهُ - Ask Allah to unite us with the Prophet as we believe in him even though we haven't seen him.

Ask Allah to make our declaration of love for the Prophet something that's true and sincere. Ask Allah to make that declaration for us and not against us. Ask Allah نَسْأَلُ اللَّهَ أَنْ يُوَحِدَ صُفُوفَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ - Ask Allah to unite our communities, inshaAllah.

Closing Supplications

Ask Allah to help those who may be suffering with anxiety, depression, fear, sadness, or going through any serious, serious internal challenges. May Allah strengthen you. And understand it's not because you have weak iman, it's because you're human. May Allah make us also a means of your healing, inshaAllah.

Ask Allah to bless our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Ask Allah to bless the brothers and sisters in Palestine, in Iraq, in Syria, Kashmir, in Myanmar, our brothers and sisters in Congo, in Senegal, in Nigeria, in Chad, Zaire, Sudan. Ask Allah to bless our brothers and sisters here in this country.

Ask Allah to bless those who are incarcerated in a way which is unethical and unjust. May Allah free them, ya Rabb al-alameen. Ask Allah to help us limit any pain that we may cause for others inadvertently or purposely.

Ask Allah to give us good hearts, sincere hearts, sincere intentions. May Allah help us to be those who can help others heal and heal us, ya Rabb al-alameen. We ask Allah to accept us and forgive us, ya Allah.

We have so many sins, we have so many mistakes, we have so much hypocrisy, but Your mercy and Your forgiveness is greater than our shortcomings. Ask Allah to bless our parents, those alive and those who passed away. We ask Allah to bless our new brothers and sisters in the community.

May Allah ease your path into the way of Islam and bless you with your friends and family. We pray for our students. May Allah assist you and aid you. May Allah make this a formative time of your life that allows you to really construct the scaffolding of great human beings, inshaAllah.

Ask Allah to give us good in this world and good in the hereafter, and save us from the torment of the Fire. May Allah ease you and aid you.

Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen.