Theology of Breaking Bad- Avoiding Becoming Walter

Theology of Breaking Bad: Avoiding Becoming Walter

Opening Prayers and Testimony

There is none worthy of worship except Allah. O people, fear Allah as He should be feared. And do not die except as Muslims.

O people, fear your Lord Who created you from one soul and created from it its mate. And He spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah in Whom you ask for help and mercy.

Verily, Allah watches over you. O you who have believed, fear Allah and say what is rightfully said. He will set right your deeds and forgive you your sins.

And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great success. We praise Allah. We beseech Him to send His peace and blessings upon our beloved Messenger Muhammad. Upon his companions, his family, and those who followed him until the end of time.

The Prophetic Methodology of Addressing Contemporary Issues

One of the hallmarks of the methodology employed by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as well as the Qur'an is that they would address contemporary issues that surrounded the society that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم lived in, alayhis salaam.

And we mentioned this before, how Surah Al-Adiyat talks about, you know, the camels and how people used to style on camels. (لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ - Quran 106:1) - The ilaf of the Quraysh, the security of the Quraysh was a hot topic in the Arabian hood, if you will. Allah even addresses things that happened outside (غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ - Quran 30:2), you know, outside of the Arabian Peninsula, major events that occurred, you know, for example, the war between the Persians and the Romans.

And this empowered the theology of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم this truth that Allah sent him to resonate with people. He was able to speak a language that affected people's lives immediately and brought benefit to them, whether it was in their relationship with Allah, whether it was in the relationship with themselves, whether it was in the relationship with the society that they lived in, salallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sahbihi wa sallam.

And that's why Allah says (وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالْأَغْلَالَ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ - Quran 7:157) - Allah said that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was Sultan Araf, he removed the shackles from the people, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he eased the affairs for them, salallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sahbihi wa sallam.

The Importance of Being Conversant in Contemporary Culture

And that's why it's very important for us as a community to be conversant in the things that are going on. And it is not possible for one person to be conversant in everything. But there should be people who focus on certain

areas and speak the language of theology or interject the language of theology through those means.

(وَقَالَ ادْخُلُواْ أَبْوُبًا مُّتَفَرِّقَةً - Quran 12:67) - Allah said that Sayyidina Ya'qub said to his sons, go through different doors in the city, not one door. So for example, Lupe Fiasco or brother Ali are speaking a certain theological language through a certain dialectic that their people understand.

A fashion designer who's a Muslim with his t-shirts or his wallets or his shoes. One brother, he sent me shoes he makes now, masha'Allah. He's speaking to people. A sister as a chemist or a doctor, as a lawyer. You speak that language whether you like it or not as a Muslim, people immediately pay attention to you.

So each and every one of us are representatives of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the sphere of our life. Each and every one of us are the Mus'ab ibn Umair of this age, whether we like it or not. Whether it's in home, whether it's in school, whether it's in the taxi, whether it's on the tea, whether it's in the financial district, whether it's on the minbar. Each of us are speaking and living alhamdulillah Islam.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us the tahseen of our Islam insha'Allah and to increase our iman.

Making Islam Relevant to Society

And for that reason if we are able to speak the language of the people culturally, then our theology, our deen becomes much more meaningful to the people. And now the meaning of Islam in the broader society is a skewed meaning.

Just yesterday, this morning, on the front page, you have an article about the mall assault that took place in Kenya. And then you have, you know, a young white British woman, they're calling her the white widow, saying that she's out to kill people. The rhetoric about Muslims in general on the front page is we are about killing people.

It's not a good way to make friends with folks when they think you want to kill them. It's kind of difficult. So that should not cause us to blame the press or conspiracy theories or Illuminati and, you know, all of this.

That should invigorate us to be more committed to being the best examples we can be. Aisha said about the Prophet, (كَانَ خُلُقُهُ الْقُرْءَانَ - Sahih Muslim 746) - the Prophet was the Qur'an. In another riwayah she said, (وَكَانَ قُرْءَانًا يَمْشِي) - As though the Prophet is a walking Qur'an.

The Best Translation of the Qur'an

When I first came to America, the first fatwa I ever wrote in California after I came back from Egypt. Someone asked me, what is the best translation of the Qur'an? So this is my first fatwa in America. I was really happy.

You know, it's a dangerous moment. And my answer was, the best translation of the Qur'an is you. The best translation of the Qur'an is us. When people see us, they see the Qur'an.

And that's why Alam Iqbal and his poem in Urdu, actually Persian in Urdu, he said something very beautiful. He said, if the Muslim lives a good life, a righteous life, the Muslim man and Muslim woman committed to goodness. When people see them and see how they act and treat them, their fitrah, the fitrah of those people will say to them, (فَبِأَيِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ - Quran 55:13) - The Muslim will be such a benefit and blessing to the person that when they see the Muslim, they will say in their hearts, which of the favors of your Lord can you deny? This person is such a benefit to us.

Living Theology in Contemporary Times

For that reason, we're gonna talk about something that is really popular today. In fact, this is the first khutbah I've ever given where people texted me and said, I'm looking forward to this khutbah. Or I can't wait. In fact, some brother texted Yusufi and said, I want the Breaking Bad khutbah. Right?

That's not something we should laugh about. Someone accused us of pop Islam. That's making Islam relevant. Today you're gonna notice more young people in the audience than normal. Why? It's relevant. Right?

And the way of our beloved messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم even using poetry to touch the people's hearts صلى الله عليه وسلم . And humor. So this is not pop Islam. This is living theology.

It's very easy to live theology 200 years ago, 300 years ago, and ignore the plight of the people around us. But the challenge is how do we live theology for now and for the future.

The Danger of Television's Moral Framework

This show is actually a very interesting show because television brings with it a host of problems. One of the major problems of television is that it divides choices into two. Choices that mean nothing, moral neutrality, and then choices, you know, when the going gets rough, somehow the celebrity, the star, is able to pull and muster enough energy to become suddenly like, you know, solving major world crises.

We'll see, for example, on shows, someone will be playing a video game and they'll tell him, you know, your patient is dying. You'll say, well, I'll wait until he reaches this, you know, stage because at John Hopkins they told me until he reaches that stage, he'll be fine. And then when they tell him he reaches that stage, he rushes to the hospital and saves the person. That's not how life works.

So one of the dangers of television in general is that it reinforces a misunderstanding of the importance of choices.

The Islamic View on Choices

And Abdullah bin Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu, he related on behalf of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said that the mu'min, the believer, takes their sins like mountains. No matter how small the sin is, they consider it, that choice of doing evil affects them. And the hypocrite, he considers the small sins like, you know, flies.

One of my teacher used to tell me that if you think about it, mountains are made of small rocks at the end of the day. So those small sins when they accumulate lead to major problems. But this show is different. It's five seasons long. Five seasons of bad choices. And it actually echoes what we find in our own theology that every choice ultimately matters.

(إِنَّا هَدَيْنَهُ السَّبِيلَ إِمَّا شَاكِرًا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا - Quran 76:3) - Allah says, we guided him either to choose she or he, the good way or the bad way. There's consequences. (هَلْ جَزَاءُ الْإِحْسَنِ إِلَّا الْإِحْسَنُ - Quran 55:60) (وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةً وِزْرَ أُخْرَى - Quran 6:164).

So the first lesson we take from the show actually is something we can benefit from. The reinforcement of choices. The choices that we make now may come back to haunt us later. We ask Allah Ta'ala بالعافية

Walter's Descent: How Bad Broke Him

This show has a character, his name is Walter. Walter becomes Fir'aun. He becomes Fir'aunic. If you were to psychoanalyze him, you know, you wouldn't use Freud, of course, thank God. But you would say that he has become very Fir'aunic.

And there are reasons for this. How did the bad break him? Because that's really what happened.

First Reason: Tests and Illness

Number one, is that he was afflicted with an illness, cancer. And when he was afflicted with this test, this fitna, he decided to make some choices. And that test ate at his ethics. This happens to us every day as Muslims, every single day, every single moment usually, our battle.

As Imam Ibn Qayyim said لِكُلِّ شَخْصِ - Every person has two mu'adhins around them. One mu'adhin is calling to Allah, the other mu'adhin is calling to evil. And he said, according to the state of the person's iman, he or she will make the right choice.

So our iman is affected not only by our internal states, but the external states. And the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he taught us how to break bad. When he said (اتَّقِ اللهَ حَيْثُ مَا كُنْتَ - Sunan at-Tirmidhi 1987) - He said, shallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and a better translation, it's very difficult actually to translate this beautiful statement of our beloved messenger, which means, fear Allah wherever you are, physically or spiritually, mentally or in any situation, whether internally or externally, tangible or intangible, fear God.

Because the fear of God is the way out. And what he means by the fear of Allah is not that old, you know, southern religion fear of God. What he meant is اَمْتِثَى بِأَوَامِرِهِ - isto observe his orders and to stay away from his disobedience.

And oftentimes one of the greatest variables that affects our obedience to God are tests, especially in health. So we see that Walter is affected by a test, cancer.

Second Reason: Fear

The second thing that affects him is fear. We'll talk about this in the second khutbah. (إِنَّمَا ذَلِكُمُ الشَّيْطُنُ يُخَوِّفُ أَوْلِيَاءَهُ فَلَا تَخَافُوهُمْ وَخَافُونِ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ - Quran 3:175) - Allah says in Surah Al-Imran, Shaytan tries to inspire you to fear, to fear things.

The famous poetry of Shawqi about the ant, who كَانَتِ النَّمْلَةُ تَمْشِي مَرَّةً تَحْتَى الْمُقَطَّعِ فَأَرْتَطَحَ مَفْصِلُهَا مِنْ هَيْبَةِ التَّوْرِ الْمُعَظْمِ -

We know about this ant, who was on this hill, she was climbing the hill. Why would an ant climb a mountain? I'm just an ant.

And she became fearful, and she ran down the hill as fast as she can. And Shawqi says وَسَقَطَتْ فِي شِبْرٍ مَاءٍ هُوَ عِنْدَ النَّمْلِ كَالْيَمٌ - And she fell into a puddle, and he says, a puddle to an ant is an ocean. And then she began to drown, and she said, why did I obey the fears? Why didn't I think objectively?

And then he says يُصَاحِبَي لَا تَخْشَعْ عَظِيمًا فَالَّذِي فِي الْغَيْبِ أَعْظَمُ - don't fear the unseen, because what awaits you can be worse for you.

So we see here, Walter is someone motivated by intangibles, fear. We'll talk about that in the second khutbah.

And it causes him to make an ethical mistake. He gives in to morality based on fear, based on this test and trial.

Tests as Opportunities for Gratitude

(وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوُلِ وَالْأَنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَتْ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّبِرِينَ - Quran 2:155) - Allah says in the Quran that you should know that tests will come, because the test will be good for them in the hereafter.

As the Prophet said عَجَبًا لِأَمْرِ الْمُؤْمِنِ (Sahih Muslim 2999) - Prophet said, I'm amazed at the affair of every believer. Everything they do is good. وَلَيْسَ ذَلِكَ إِلَّا لِلْمُؤْمِنِ - And the only one who has that is the believer, any situation they benefit from.

So the Muslim approaches tests not in a way to suspend moral responsibility or to adopt a moral neutral policy. The Muslim embrace test as an opportunity to express their gratitude to Allah who is allowing that test to be a means for them to be forgiven by Allah in this life.

Sin as a Slow Burn

The second lesson that we take is that sin is a slow burn. It's a slow burn. Five seasons. You know when you first start watching that show, you think by the first week, the next week, this guy is gonna be dead. But it's a slow burn. And that sin brings with it a posse. Sin has boys. Sin has ashab.

So initially the show starts, his wife is the model of morality. By the end of the show, she's sitting with him counting dead presidents, man getting paid, white woman from the suburbs. By the beginning of the show, she could have been the mother on Brady Bunch. The end of the show, she could have been on the wire. That's what happened to her.

The Danger of Thoughts: From Thought to Action

The other lesson that we learn from this show is the danger of thoughts. Imam al-Ghazali radiyallahu anhu, Abu Hamad, we read his book every Friday here, alhamdulillah. He was asked, when does someone start to fornicate? Like when does that happen? When does zina begin?

Al-Ghazali said, it begins with a thought. (التَّصَوُّرُ وَبَعْدَ التَّصَوُّرِ التَّصْدِيقُ وَبَعْدَ التَّصْدِيقِ التَّنْفِيذُ - Attasawwuru wa ba'dat tasawwuri attasdeequ wa ba'dat tasdeeqi attanfeedh) - Imam Ibn Qayyim said (إِيَّاكُمْ وَالْخَطْرَةَ - Iyyakum wal khatrah) - Ibn Qayyim said, be careful of bad thoughts.

(فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ صَارَتْ شَهْوَةً - Fa'in lam taf'al sarat shahwatan) - Because if you don't be careful of bad thoughts, Walter, man, I mean who would have thought a chemistry teacher is gonna make meth? Just like who would think that a Muslim who Allah blessed with iman, would throw that iman away for something else.

(يُبِعْدِنَهُ بِثَمَن بَخْسٍ - Yubdi'unahu bi thaman bakhs) (Quran 12:20) - Subhanallah. Who would give up the zikr store for the liquor store, the minbar for the minibar? Who will allow themselves to make that exchange?

So here we see that moral dilemma. And Muslims are going to be subjected to every day to this moral dilemma. Because we wanna come out pure in front of Allah. So Ibn Qayyim said (إِيَّاكُمْ وَالْخَطْرَةَ - Iyyakum wal khatrah) - Watch out for bad thoughts. (فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ صَارَتْ شَهْوَةً - Fa'in lam taf'al sarat shahwatan) - Because if you don't, they will become desires.

فَأَقْطَعْهَا - So amputate them. You know amputation, we have a number of physicians here. Amputation is the last thing you wanna do. So Ibn Qayyim is like saying, the submarine is sinking. The heart is in danger. Amputate.

The Value of the Hereafter Versus This World

(فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ صَارَتْ هِمَّةً وَعَظِيمَةً - Fa'in lam taf'al sarat himmatan wa 'azheema) - Because if you don't, those desires will become aspirations and objectives, goals that you have. And he said, if that happens (فَهَارِبُهَا - Faharibuha) - Declare jihad against them. So it started with a thought. The thought went to a desire. The desire now has led to aspirations.

Ibn Qayyim said, (فَجَاهِدْهَا - Fajahidha) - Make jihad against them. (فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ صَارَتْ فِعْلًا - Fa'in lam taf'al sarat fi'lan) - Because if you don't, then those desires are ultimately going to turn into aspirations, which are ultimately going to turn into actions. (فَدَارِكْهَا بِضِدِهِ - Fadarikha bi diddihi) - Then do the opposite of that action.

(فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ فَصَارَ عَادَةً - Fa'in lam taf'al fasara 'adatan) - Because if you don't, it will become a habit. (فَيَصْعُبُ عَلَيْكُمْ انْتِقَالٌ عَنْهَا - Fayas'ubu 'alaykum intiqalun 'anha) - And it will be hard for you to stop it. And that's what we saw in this show. Someone who makes a decision, stays committed to that evil decision, and doesn't think about going back even after Allah blessed him with his health.

The other way to break bad. We see that Walter made a crucial mistake, is to understand the value of the hereafter versus the value of this world. Wallahi (هَذَا سُؤَالٌ - Hatha su'al) that question is what saves the believer.

When we find ourselves tempted, all of us, me, you, we're all out there, we all have those struggles, those challenges that pull on the heart. But the ultimate question (وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ - Wa lasawfa yu'teeka rabbuka fatarda) (Quran 93:5) - Is to remember, (هَذَا مَا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ - Hatha ma wa'adallahu wa rasooluhu wa sadaqallahu wa rasooluh) (Quran 3:22) - This is what Allah promised us.

Imagine the sahaba, even in the battlefield they're losing, they say, this is what Allah promised us. Young brother gets on the tea, one blink, one wink, one number, one digit, one note, his iman is out the door. Come on, huh?

Sister, out there, Richard comes and hollers at you, I'm 28, I'm never gonna get married, I might as well, you know, who cares. There's some ijtihad that allows it. The heart is pulled. Mortgage the home, the heart is pulled. Go off on my family, the heart is pulled.

So the question comes, Allah said (وَمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ بَاقٍ - Wa ma 'indallahi baqin) (Quran 16:96) - What's with Allah is gonna last forever. And the Prophet ملسو هيلع هللا بلص said if you compare the akhira to this life, it's like the ocean in a drop taken from the ocean. There's no comparison. There's no comparison.

Blessings Can Be Curses

The next, subhanAllah, is to understand that blessings can be curses. That's why Imam Ibn Rushd radiAllahu anhu, he said, foolish is the person who thinks because Allah opened the doors of dunya to them that they are blessed.

(فَلَمَّا نَسُواْ مَا ذُكِّرُواْ بِهِ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوبَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَتَّى إِذَا فَرِحُواْ بِمَا أُوتُواْ أَخَذْنَاهُم بَغْتَةً فَإِذَا هُم مُّبْلِسُونَ - Falamma nasu ma zukiruu bihi fatahna 'alaihim abwaba kulli shai'in hatta idha farihu bima utuu akhathnahum baghtatan fa idha hum mublisoon) (Quran 6:44) - Allah said in surat al-An'am فَلَمَّا نَسُواْ مَا ذُكِّرُواْ بِهِ - When they forgot what we blessed them with, Allah keeps giving them what they want, but he keeps also getting what he want.

And that's the double entendre of the show. But for us as Muslims, we believe that sometime what we might think a ni'm, actually cannot be a ni'm. For example, you go to hear a sheikh give a speech, you say, man, my iman is so high, mashaAllah. And the next day you miss fajr. What's the benefit of that speech?

You get a promotion, the next day you miss fajr. What's the benefit of that promotion? You get to come to America to study, and the thing that shaitan is telling you the whole way in the plane, is man, you go hit the clubs, like, you know, like little John. Instead of saying Allahu Akbar, you're making a fool out of yourself in a club.

And there was a group of brothers once who came here, I remember from overseas. And one of them he contracted AIDS. And he told me, I went to the club, I was so excited to go to one of those dirty south clubs or whatever, you know, make it rain and all that. I said, you made it rain fire, man.

He said, I woke up the next morning in the hotel room, and lipstick on the mirror was, welcome to the world of AIDS. So choices, and how they affect us, and the calamity of sin, and the erosion of morality, are found a constant.

And the way to address that is to realize the value of the hereafter, compared to the value of this world. And that the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, the hereafter is surrounded by difficulties and hardship (Sahih al-Bukhari 6487). Meaning Jannah is surrounded by difficulties and hardship. Hellfire is surrounded by lusts, and desires, and ease.

Using Blessings Properly

Blessings can be a curse, if they're not used (فِي عِبَارَةِ اللَّهِ سُبْحَنَةُ وَتَعَلَىٰ - Fi 'ibarati Allahi subhanahu wa ta'ala) - One of our brothers, he just got a really nice car. Really nice car, man. Nice car. BMW, man. Nice. And he said to me, you know how I'm using this car? To go to Fajr faster.

I said, okay, but don't break the law. But like that's a good attitude to have. Like now that Allah has blessed me with this nice car, I'm not gonna miss Fajr anymore. You get married. I tell people all the time, the morning after is the most important thing, not the first night. They say, why? Do you pray Fajr together? Or did you forget? Is it a blessing? Or is it a curse?

So we see in the story, a man is given the money that he wants. (مَتَّعُ الدُّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ - Matta'u dunya qaleel) (Quran 9:38) - Allah says in the Qur'an. But it causes him to move farther and farther and farther and farther away from Allah.

The Story of the Qur'an Memorizer and PlayStation

When I was memorizing Qur'an, there was a brother who memorized Qur'an with me. And we were together. We memorized together. And we reached Surat Al-Ma'idah. He started like slacking off. And this guy had an amazing memory.

So I asked him (فَنَسُواْ حَظًّا مِّمَّا ذُكِّرُواْ بِهِ - Fanasu hazan mimma zukiruu bihi) (Quran 5:14) - is in Surat Al-Ma'idah, subhanAllah. The verse in Surat Al-Ma'idah that says, they will forget a lot of what they memorized. So I said to him (هَذِهِ الْآيَةُ وَصَفَتْكَ - Hathihi al-ayatu wasafatka) - This ayah is talking about you.

Then a week later, he came back. He started destroying me. My man started memorizing two pages a day. And I said to him, What happened? And he said, Have you ever heard of PlayStation 2? At that time, I was in the Molana world. I said, I don't know anything about PlayStation 2.

And he said, I got this game, man. And I started Gran Turismo. And I played like eight hours a day. And I wasn't able to do my lesson. But my mother sent it to me because I was doing my hips as like a gift. I said, that wasn't a gift. That was hell.

Then I said, what happened? He said, I threw it away, man. I threw the whole thing in the trash. I amputated it because I realized, it wasn't really a blessing.

Don't throw your spouse in the trash, of course. But the point is, understand, blessings, if they're not used right, can be against us. Even the Qur'an. The Prophet said, (الْقُرْءَانُ حُجَّةٌ لَكَ أَوْ عَلَيْكَ - Alquranu hujjatun laka aw 'alaik) (Sahih Muslim 223) - Can you imagine? The Prophet said, The Qur'an can be for you or against you.

Who can imagine that? Because it's not about the substance. It's about the subject who uses that object. So we see Walter, Allah, in the story, allows him to achieve what he wants. But it only pushes him into further, further calamity.

And that's why the ulema say, what started with obedience to Allah, Allah will make sure that the obedience stays there. He will protect the person from slipping. And that's why Imam Ibn Ata'illah Iskandari said, (مَنْ أَشْرَقَتْ نِهَايَتُةُ فَقَدْ أَشْرَقَتْ بِدَايَتُهُ - Man ashraqat nihayatuhu faqad ashraqat bidayatuh) - Ibn Atallah said, whoever illuminated his ending, it was because he illuminated his beginning.

(وَمِنْ عَلَامَاتِ النَّجَاحِ فِي نِهَايَةٍ أَنْ رُجُوعُةُ إِلَيْهِ فِي الْبِدَايَةِ - Wa min 'alamati annajahi fi nihayatin an ruju'uhu ilaihi fil bidayah) - Subhanallah. And he said, any man or woman who succeeds at the end, the sign of that is that it began with Allah.

There are reasons why Walter slipped, why he wasn't able to break bad, but bad broke him. We'll talk about them in the second khutbah. We ask Allah to give us the ability to overcome our desires. We ask Allah سُبِّحْنَةُ وَتَعْلَىٰ يَأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُواْ رَبَّكُمْ وَاخْشَوْاْ يَوْمًا لَّا يَجْزِي وَالِدٌ عَن وَلَدِهِ وَلَا مَوْلُودٌ هُوَ جَازٍ عَن وَالِدِهِ شَيْئًا إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُم بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ (Quran 31:33).

Second Khutbah: How to Break Bad

First Principle: Trust in Allah's Qadr

The first cause for being broken by bad is not to trust Qadr, not to trust what Allah has given us. In fact, many of

the ulama said that the first sickness wasn't arrogance on behalf of Iblis, was dissatisfaction with the plan of Allah.

And Imam Al-Muhasibi said (إِيَّاكُمْ وَالتَّدْبِيرِ - Iyyakum wattadbeer) - Imam Al-Muhasibi said, be careful of always question the Qadr of Allah. Some ulama said (كُنْ كَالْمَيِّتِ فِي الْمَغْسَلَةِ - Kun kalmayyiti fil maghsilah) - You know some ulama said, what the Qadr of Allah means after you've made all the effort and tried and struggled and everything be with the Qadr of Allah like the dead person being washed after they die.

And we find Walter, what did he say when he was ill? What did he say when he found out he was ill? He said, you know what he said? He said, for once I want to control things. For once I want to determine my own destiny. This is the height of a pharaonic personality.

(فَقَالَ أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الْأَعْلَىٰ - Faqala ana rabbukumul a'la) (Quran 79:24) - When someone begins to try to wage war against God by acquiring the attributes of God, that (نَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ هُوَ يُقَدَّرُ - Na'udhu billahi min thalika huwa yuqaddar) - This is how they acquire a pharaonic state.

The opposite of that is to be in submission to Allah. That's why Allah said to Sayyidina Musa, (إِنَّ الرِّضَا فِي رِضَائِكَ بِقَضَاعِي - Inna arrida fi ridaka bi qada'i) - Allah said to Sayyidina Musa, indeed my happiness with you is related to your happiness with me. What I have ordained for you.

Second Principle: The Importance of a Support Group

The second is a lack of a support group. He was alone basically. He didn't have anyone to talk to. I mean he ends up reaching out to Hank, I mean of all people, right. And it's very important that as a community, we support each other.

And we talk about support each other, it doesn't mean that we support our successes, but also we should help each other in our failures. We should have Alcoholics Anonymous in the Muslim community. We should have people who are suffering from substance abuse. That should be in our community just like we have ELS classes.

And we should not make fun of those people, look down on those people. We should be the supporters of those people. (وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ - Wal muminoona wal muminaatu ba'duhum awliya'u ba'd) (Quran 9:71) - We are here for each other. People who suffer from mental illness. Students who are alone in the city. Singles and divorcees.

There has to be at ISBCC, we need to think now, how can we help people break bad. Because it's not enough to tell a woman who's been divorced with three or four kids on her own and her husband has left the country اذْهَبِي أَنْتِ وَرَبُّكِ فَقُتِلَا - to say to her, go and fight, we'll watch. Or a brother who's gone through a divorce. Or a brother who's got substance abuse issues.

To say to him and her, you know, we don't want to look at you, get away from us. لَا فِي بَابِ تَعْذِيرَاتِ - The Prophet said, (الْمُؤْمِنُ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ كَالْبُنْيَانِ - Almu'minu lilmu'mini kalbunyan) (Sahih al-Bukhari 481) - We are like one support system.

So we see that one of the reasons he made this mistake is that he did not have a healthy support system. A community of compassionate orthodoxy. Compassionate theology. As our Prophet said إِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُ بِالْحَنِيفِيَّةِ السَّمْحَةِ

Third Principle: Overcoming Fear Through Love of Allah

The last point that we'll make about breaking bad is really the theme, and I alluded to it in the beginning. The theme of fear and fear. In this case, it was the fear of giving up on his morals or the fear of potential poverty for his family.

In our case as Muslims, it's the fear of God and the fear of dunya. The fear of God and the fear of dunya. Or the fear of dunya and the love of God. The scholars said the highest maqam to overcome the highest station to overcome the fear of this world is the love of God.

Allah, whoever is dutiful to God in all situations, God makes a way, an escape pattern for them.

And many of the scholars said, where is the one who feared Allah, who established the taqwa, and Allah did not help them. Like anyone who did that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala aided and assisted them.

So that battle happens everyday, whether it's putting on the hijab, worrying about what people are going to say about you. Whether it's coming to community that you're not sure you're religious enough. I'm not sure if I'm religious enough for this community. What the heck does that mean?

When we go to the bar, we don't say, I hope I'm not bad enough. I'm not bad enough for this community. Why is it always about the goodness? When people go to evil places, I don't go to bars (عَلَى سَبِيلِ مِثَابٍ - 'ala sabeeli mithabin) - When people go to evil places, does shaitan ever stop them and say, you know what, you're just not bad enough for these folks.

You need to go and do more evil and come back. Right? Go do worst stuff, then you can get in. How come it's always with good things? Because shaitan sits in front of the masjid as a haris to keep people away from him.

The Lesson from the People of Prophet Yunus

So, the challenge that we face every single day, whether it's at work, whether it's at home, whether it's, you know, on the tea, whether it's in the street, whether it's in the masjid, whether it's interacting with people, whether it's internally, is a challenge of fear. Don't be like the ant. Don't drown in a puddle.

And don't be like Walter whose fears ultimately pushed him to sell out any sense of morality. And he drowned himself. To the point that he is very similar to the people of Surah Yunus.

And Allah said they were in a boat and waves started hitting the boat.

دَعَوُاْ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ - And when that boat was rocked, they became the most pious people.

If you save us, oh Allah, we'll be thankful to you. فَلَمَّا أَنجَنُهُمْ

When we blessed them and saved them and gave them what they were looking for, they forgot us.

So fear. And the way to deal with fear is to trust in Allah

If you've made a decision, trust in Allah.

Fourth Principle: Avoiding Fatalism

The last point that will make this dangerous about to show is fatalism. The idea that if you do bad, you'll see bad immediately. And if you do good, you'll see good immediately. This is not how Islam works. We are not asked to worship Allah for results. We are asked to worship Allah because Allah is Allah.

And believe that the results will wait for us in the hereafter or in this life.

When the man asked the Prophet, يُرَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَتَى السَّاعَةُ - When is the hour? He said, what have you prepared for it?

So the Muslim is not into fatalism. Well, if I'm bad, immediately I'll see bad. If I'm good, immediately I'll see good. So that means I'm good or bad. No. Sometimes the good people are tested. The good people are afflicted with hardships. We leave the wisdom to Allah.

And sometimes we see bad people. I remember a sister told me, you know, I'm thinking of, you know, just losing it. I said, what is losing it mean? She said, you know, I see all these girls at school, they don't wear any clothes and they get married.

Me, I'm holding it down, trying to do it right. I go to someone's house and they tell me, we will never marry you to our son because you wear hijab. And I said to her,

In this situation Allah said, just stay down, just stay strong, just stay down.

Summary: How to Break Bad

So the idea here is that we don't believe in fatalism, we believe in

And this is how we break bad.

The Six Principles

Number one, humility with the plan of God. Humility with what God has decreed, whether it's a test internally or externally.

Number two, we fight our own sense of arrogance, our own sense of value. He was a very very skilled chemistry teacher. I've never seen a chemistry teacher with that kind of acumen. And that's what ultimately got him in trouble. That's why the ulama said, the origin of all spiritual calamities is الرِّضَ بِالنَّفْسِ - Is the assumption that I'm right. The assumption that at the end of the day, ultimately I'm right.

And the Prophet used to say, don't let me trust myself, (طَرْفَةَ عَيْنِ - Tarfata 'Ayn) - Even the blinking of an eye. And this is our Prophet ملسو هيلع هللا بلص

Number three, the goal is ibadah. The goal is to establish the worship of Allah. One of our scholars used to say to a Sheikh Ishmawi, he used to say, the example of a person who worries about everything except their relationship with Allah is like the person, and their relationship is broken, is like the person that has a scorpion under his thoat and he's trying to swat flies from the faces of other people. So start with the scorpion. And then that will come as a result of that.

The fourth, is not to assume that blessings are blessings unless we use them in the right way. So I got to go to a certain school, I received a certain promotion, that means Allah has blessed me, that depends on how you or I use that blessing.

The fifth, a support group. Our communities, we have to stop teaching theology only and teach sociology. The masjid should be places where people feel welcome and warm and comfortable, and they can come to and share their challenges and be embraced for that, not castigated for it.

The last is the battle of fear and morality. For us the fear of Allah and the fear of this dunya. Allah said الشَّيْطَنُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُم بِالْفَحْشَاءِ (Quran (2:268) - Shaytan calls you to the fear of poverty, calls you to do evil. وَاللَّهُ يَدْعُوكُمْ - Allah invites you to forgiveness in paradise.

Closing Supplications

We ask Allah يُرَبَّ الْعَلَمِينَ أَنْ يُصْلِحَ بَالَنَا وَيُثَبِّتَ أَقْدَامَنَا وَيَنصُرَنَا عَلَى أَدَآئِنَا - We ask Allah to help us break bad.

We ask Allah to let us approach the سَيِّئَاتِ and obliterate them with حَسَنَاتٍ and تَوْبَةٌ . We ask Allah to guide us and نَخْتِمَ حَيَاتَنَا عَلَى شَهَادَةِ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ - to end our lives in a state of faith.

We ask Allah to make us a benefit to those around us. We ask Allah to make us a benefit to the city of Boston.

We ask Allah يُطَهِّرَ قُلُوبَنَا مِنَ النِّفَاقِ - We ask Allah to purify our hearts from نِفَاق. And our speech from lying and evil.

We ask Allah يُحْيِيَ قُلُوبَنَا بِالْإِيمَنِ - We ask Allah to revive our hearts with إِيمَن. We ask Allah يَجْعَلَنَا مِنَ التَّوَّابِينَ - To make us from those who constantly repent to Him.

We ask Allah to bless the young people in our community to give them the strength to lead and share and bring that energy that's so important to our community. We ask Allah to bless the elders to have the wisdom to engage them and teach them and guide them. We ask Allah to bless the sisters in our community.

Those who are single, those who are divorced, those who are children, those who are struggling. May Allah those who are elderly, may Allah alleviate all your hardships. We ask Allah to help the men of this community.

Allah said رِجَالٌ لَّا تُلْهِيهِمْ تِجْرَةً وَلَا بَيْعٌ عَن ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ (Quran 24:37) - We ask Allah to make us مِنْ هَؤُلَاءِ . We ask Allah to make us from those who He says الرِّجَالُ قَوُّمُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ Quran 4:34(.

We ask Allah to bless our children. We ask Allah يُؤَدِّبُهُمْ أَحْسَنَ تَأْدِيبٍ - We ask Allah to teach them or give them ilham and their hearts that they will live insha'Allah a life that will be pleasing to Him.

We ask Allah to help our brothers and sisters and all of those who have substance abuse issues. May Allah make the love of the wine of the hereafter more beloved to them than the love of the wine of this world. We ask Allah to bless our new converts to Islam.

May Allah strengthen you. May Allah guide your friends and your family and give you an understanding of Islam. وَالسَّلَمُ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَلَمِينَ (Quran 37:181-182).