Countering Bigotry - The Prophet s Last Sermon

Khutbah: Countering Bigotry - The Prophet's Last Sermon

Opening

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem

Khutbah Al-Hajah (Opening Khutbah)

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. And whosoever He misguides, you will not find for him a rightful guardian. And we bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, and no partner for Him.

Main Khutbah

As we prepare ourselves for the first of the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah, which will start in the middle of next week. These are sacred days, and blessed days. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says:

(Sunan Ibn Majah 1727)

The best days of the dunya are the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah. But with that, and observing what is happening in our society, seeing the news out of Charlottesville, to see the resurgence, the unfortunate, sad, dark resurgence of Nazism, and white supremacy walking in our streets.

To see that now being multiplied in multiple spaces, and preparing ourselves tomorrow that there will be similar protests here in Boston. May Allah protect our spaces and our cities. And then to see the desecration here in Boston of the Holocaust Memorial, and to see how that pains so many of our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community.

And then with all of that, we see what happens in Barcelona, Spain, just yesterday and over the night another incident had happened. All of this madness, all of this pain, all of this hurt, all of this darkness, and one really struggles to reconcile everything. And I was thinking to myself, how do I speak about Dhul Hijjah, but make it relevant to the particular circumstances that we find ourselves in as a society.

And so Subhanallah, I did what I do when I find myself struggling for words, struggling for meaning. I went to our beloved messenger, Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). The one who said:

(Al-Muwatta 1661)

"I left for you that which if you were to hold on to, you will never be led astray: The Book of Allah and my Sunnah."

And with that spirit I began to read and reflect and look and research. And Subhanallah, my eyes fell on one of the sermons our beloved messenger Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) gave during the days of Dhul Hijjah. And Subhanallah, I read that sermon and I began to tear up to say that Subhanallah, truly our guidance, our clarity is found in the way of (لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ)

The Prophet's Farewell Sermon

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) during the days of Dhul Hijjah, specifically on the day of Nahr, during Hajj, he stood (مُخَاطِبًا) speaking to the companions.

And he said, he asked them a series of questions. He said:

What is this day? They said:

They replied by saying, only Allah and His Messenger know. To the extent that we thought that perhaps maybe the Prophet would change the name of this day because the companions, they knew the name of the day, they knew what that day was. But they had reached a point in their commitment to Allah and their following the way of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that even that which was so obvious perhaps may change. So they said, only Allah knows what today is.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:

Is it not the day of Nahr, the day of Eid? They said:

Surely it is.

And which month is this? The Prophet said:

only Allah and His Messenger know.

He said:

Is it not the month of Dhul Hijjah? They said:

Surely it is.

And then he said:

And which land is this that they were in? They said, Allah and His Messenger know what this land is. He said:

Is it not the sacred lands, i.e. of Mecca? They said:

Surely they are.

And so he said, in lieu of all of that:

Surely this is the sacred land. Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) who truly has relayed the message and truly has advised the people.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1739)

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said to the companions that your life, your wealth, and your honor is sacred just as this day is sacred just as this month is sacred and just as this land is sacred until you meet your Lord.

And then he declared verily I have relayed the message:

Oh Allah be my witness.

And we today we say we have received the message we know what our obligations are we know what the message of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was.

The Sacred Nature of Human Life

See when we spoke about the sacredness of the days of Dhul Hijjah last week we mentioned how these days were the gathering point of all of the sacred rituals of worship in Islam: Salah, Hajj, Siyam, Sadaqah all of them are gathered in this point. And so the Prophet is saying and this is in his farewell pilgrimage as he is communicating to the believers he is saying no that just as you understand the sacredness of worship you must understand the sacredness of the human soul and of human life that that is your obligation as a Muslim and that is the message that he fervently declared that he has delivered and he left Allah as his witness for that.

And in that same season of Hajj he spoke to the believers and he also made it evidently clear what a true Muslim is and what a true Mu'min is. As Imam Al-Nasa'i narrates:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i 4998)

The true Muslim is the one who people are safe from their tongue and their hand that is the true Muslim the true believer is the one who people can trust with their life and their wealth that the entirety of the manifestation of Islam and Iman in the life of the believer must be, must result in the safeguarding of the human being in the sanctity of the human soul that is what it means to be a Muslim that is what it means to be a Mu'min.

Our Iman and our Islam pay attention to this is not developed or cultivated at the expense of others our Islam and our Iman is not developed at the expense of others but rather our Islam and our Iman is cultivated and developed to bring life to others. (وَاللَّهُ الْعَظِيمُ) this is the deen of Allah this is our deen these are not political slogans these are not diplomatic words that are just shared for media sound bites to show that Muslims are nice people that's not why we speak from the minbar of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) but rather we speak to teach the deen of Allah as it was taught to us by Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

And he is the one who teaches us what a true Muslim and a true Mu'min is and must be in this dunya that when you see the call of Jahiliyyah because the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in that day in Dhul Hijjah he said:

Today the call of ignorance, the call of ignorance is rendered false.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1739)

That the call of ignorance which was a call that did not care for the sanctity of human life did not care for the safeguarding of the human soul or for the possessions of the human being or for the dignity and honor of the human being. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said on that day that call of Jahiliyyah is now rendered irrelevant and false and empty there is a new day a day of prophecy a call to the way of

Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and to the way of Isa (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and Ibrahim (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and Musa (صلى الله عليه وسلم) which was a call to human dignity.

The Dignity of the Human Being

We have to internalize that our Ubudiyyah our worship, our surrender to Allah is intimately tied to the dignity of humans around us why do we assume that from the essential purposes of our shariah or ulama from Imam Al-Juwayni Imam Al-Ghazali, Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim Imam Al-Shatibi all of the great scholars when they spoke about maqasid al-shariah the purposes of this shariah of Allah (جل جلاله)shariah which has been maligned by political propagandists mired in this empty toxic rhetoric but the true shariah the one that we know as Muslims the purpose of it from among the purposes of it:

The preservation of the soul, the human being, the preservation of wealth, the preservation of dignity. This is the entire reason for the shariah that Allah (جل جلاله) sent us to preserve these in society what does that tell you about the purpose or the role or the responsibility of a Muslim in this society that is unfortunately full not by this society I don't mean just America but this world that we live in that is unfortunately full of toxic ugly demonic rhetoric that does not care for the human soul.

Allah (جل جلاله) has made it

Verily we have dignified the son of Adam. Allah says in the Qur'an and it is easier for Allah listen to this brothers and sisters because we are in a hajj season and millions of people from across the world will be heading towards the sacred sanctuary of Mecca to revolve around the Kaaba to fulfill the rights of hajj which is a life long journey for so many of us may Allah grant us all hajj al-mabroor millions will travel to the hajj to fulfill that ritual but know this that it is:

To see the destruction of the Kaaba is easier for Allah than for Him to see the loss of one innocent life.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi 1395)

And these are not my words these are the words of Muhammad our beloved messenger Sayyiduna Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam than to see the destruction of the Kaaba is easier for Allah than to see the loss of one innocent life that's why Allah Jalla wa Ala in the Qur'an He says:

The Role of Khalifa

That Allah Jalla wa Ala in the Qur'an says that the person who kills one soul he or she has killed all of humanity and the person who brings life to one soul and preserves the earth from corruption it is as if they have brought life to the entirety of humanity. This is the deen of Allah brothers and sisters. It is a religion that seeks to preserve not only the human being but to preserve the entirety of his creation.

The Role of Khalifa

And that is at the very essence of what it means to be a khalifa on this earth. Allah Jalla wa Ala speaking to the angels He says:

Verily I will place on this earth a khalifa. They said, are you going to place on this earth those who will sow corruption and spill blood? He said, verily I know what you do not know.

Allah Jalla wa'ala knows the human capacity. And He knows how the human being can cause evil. But He also knows that the human being can rise above the level of the angels when they surrender to Allah, when they take the covenant from the likes of our beloved messenger Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

Because when you understand what it means to be a khalifa, you'll understand your true responsibility. A khalifa on the earth is a representative. A khalifa on the earth is a steward. A khalifa on this earth is a caretaker. Someone who stewards and takes care of Allah Jalla wa'ala's creation. A khalifa is not someone who is a tyrant.

He's not someone who seeks to sow corruption and spill blood. But rather a representative of Allah is someone who seeks the wellness and the safeguarding of all of Allah Jalla wa'ala's creation. From the simple tree and plant to the oceans, to the skies, to the earth, to the solar system, and to the human being.

That's what it means to be a representative of Allah on this earth. And that is the amanah, that is the trust:

Indeed, we offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains and they rejected to carry it, but the human being carries that amanah.

That is the amanah, the trust that we hold dearly. And that's why it is so important for us to be good Muslims. Because the world is in need of people who surrender themselves sincerely to Allah Jalla wa'ala.

That is what this world is in dire need of. People who understand the dignity of the human soul. People who understand the responsibility, the trust to protect and preserve Allah Jalla wa'ala's creation.

The Satanic Impulse

But today, unfortunately, many of the ideologies and philosophies that are out there, they seek to do one thing, preserve the self. These ideologies of Nazis and white supremacists, or these ideologies of extremists like ISIS and others, they seek to do something that is counter to the way of (لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ - la ilaha illallah muhammadun rasulullah) people want to simply preserve their own egotistical self.

That is a satanic impulse by the way. That when you seek only to protect and preserve yourself, even if it comes at the expense of everyone else, that you don't mind exterminating and decimating and destroying everyone else. That is someone who is following in the way of the shaitan, satan.

Why do I say that? Go back to the beginning of creation. When Allah Jalla wa'ala fashioned Sayyidina Adam from tin, from dirt. And He placed him there still as a shell, as a mud shell. The angels were flowing through the jasad of Adam Alayhi Salaam. And then Allah Jalla wa'ala breathed the sacred divine breath that brought life to Adam Alayhi Salaam. And He commanded Iblis, shaitan.

He said, prostrate to him out of respect and honor, not out of worship. Satan rejected. He said, what did he say? We all know it. You created me from fire and you created him from dirt. How can someone who is created from fire bow down to someone who is created from dirt?

Someone threw himself into la'nat Allah. He thrust himself into God's curse by rejecting to surrender to Allah, by rejecting to be humble, by rejecting to realize that just because you're made of fire does not make you special.

Allah Jalla wa'ala is the one who designates who is special and who is not. Not you the shaitan. And so if there are people today in our societies who are gonna walk around ascribing to themselves superiority, that they are the master race, or that they are the master people, and that others must be decimated because I want to preserve my egotistical self, that is the way of the shaitan.

The Message of Equality

And that is not the way of any of the prophets of Allah Jalla wa'ala. We have to teach this message brothers and sisters because this is the message of our deen. Because those who seek to preserve themselves are people who worship themselves. What we seek is to preserve all of Allah's creation. And that makes us a people, bi-iznihi wa bi-fadlihi, who seek to preserve all of Allah's creation. Which means that we worship the creator of this entire creation.

Our beloved messenger Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in those days of Dhul Hijjah, he said all of you are from Adam. And this was in his farewell pilgrimage. All of you are from Adam. And Adam is from dirt.

That there is no distinction of the Arab over the non-Arab, or the non-Arab over the Arab, or the red over the black, or the black over the red except by righteousness.

The ones amongst you who are most dignified are the ones who have the most God consciousness.

(Musnad Ahmad 23489)

Because when you are conscious of Allah, the more you increase in your consciousness of Allah, your awareness of Allah and His manifest omnipotent power and dominion over all things, you realize that you are a speck on the spectrum of creation. That you're not special just because you are you, because you have a skin tone, or you have a certain color to your eye, or you have a certain look to your hair.

But you are a speck in God's creation. And your only hope is that God dignifies you in this life and the next. And that is what we seek as Muslims, to be dignified in this dunya, to revive and to bring dignity to others, to safeguard the well-being of all Muslims and non-Muslims, atheists, it doesn't matter.

Everyone is to be safeguarded by the Muslim and the mu'min. And then we truly internally realize what sacred ritual worship is about. Then when we're on that journey of humility, of surrender to Allah, we're beginning to understand the importance of the days of Dhul-Hijjah.

The Command to Act

That why we will commit ourselves in these coming 10 days of Dhul-Hijjah to surrender to Allah, to prostrate and bow down to Allah, so that Allah views us as His true servants. And He uses us to fulfill the amanah and the trust of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - Salla Allahu Alaihi Wasallam). That we have to be people who live on this earth and push back against those toxic ideologies, whether they are coming from Muslims, non- Muslims, atheists, it doesn't matter:

Allah Jalla wa Ala commands us, push back with ihsan, with excellence.

And pushing back with excellence, with ihsan, is to be vocal and to speak out when you see something that is ugly, that is qabeeh. When you see something that is ugly or qabeeh, whether it is from afar or from your own blood, from your own sibling or child or parent. When you see evil, you speak and you say, that is wrong.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - Salla Allahu Alaihi Wasallam) said. Bring victory to your brother, whether they are an oppressed person or they are oppressors.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 2444)

They said, Ya Rasulallah, we know how to bring victory to those who are oppressed. But how do we bring victory to those who are oppressors? He said, by restricting and holding back their hand from committing that oppression.

That we have a responsibility to those misguided souls in this world. Those white nationalist people, Nazis, whoever they are, or people who listen to ISIS or follow that propaganda. It doesn't matter. We have an obligation to tell that entire spectrum of ideology, stop, don't do that. That is not what is pleasing to God.

You can't be a good Christian, you can't be a good Jew, you can't be a good Muslim, if you're conducting yourself that way. That is not the way of prophecy.

These are the meanings, brothers and sisters, that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - Salla Allahu Alaihi Wasallam) imparted to us in his final pilgrimage in the sacred days of Dhul-Hijjah.

Closing Dua

I ask Allah (جل جلاله - Jalla Jalaluhu) to make us a people who take advantage of the sacred season of Dhul-Hijjah, who will commit themselves to submission and surrender to Allah, who will fulfill the ibadat that are pleasing to Allah, who will stay present, conscious of Him (جل جلاله - Jalla Jalaluhu) in all of the days of Dhul-Hijjah and beyond. May Allah (جل جلاله - Jalla Jalaluhu) bring life to our hearts. May Allah (جل جلاله - Jalla Jalaluhu) make us true believers who will be elements that safeguard the well-being of all of the creation of Allah in this world.

May Allah (جل جلاله - Jalla Jalaluhu) help us to follow in the footsteps of our beloved messenger Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - Salla Allahu Alaihi Wasallam). I ask Allah (جل جلاله - Jalla Jalaluhu) to make us a people who take advantage of the sacred season of Dhul- Hijjah, who will commit themselves to submission and surrender to Allah, who will fulfill the ibadat who will stay present, in all of the days of Dhul-Hijjah and beyond.

So much that's happening and we see ugly tweets that makes the skin crawl talking about bullets with blood on them pig blood and I don't know what else we hear this ugly rhetoric we see it on the news we see the behavior of people all across the world and sometimes it can become so suffocating but the person who's committed to Allah is a person who never despairs never despairs allahu jalla wa'ala when he speaks about those who despairs in the Quran he speaks about a people who do not believe in him:

That those who have hopelessness in Allah these are people who do not understand Allah the believer should never be hopeless the believer is someone who should be full of hope the Muslim is the one who should be full of optimism.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - Salla Allahu Alaihi Wasallam) kana yuhibbul fa'l he would love optimism.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 5754)

Be optimistic be hopeful be confident that Allah is the best of planners and that Allah knows exactly what he's doing that nothing is operating outside of the knowledge of Allah or the will of Allah but our obligation is to live in this dunya in a manner that is pleasing to Allah to fulfill the obligations that Allah has obligated upon us and to surrender our souls to him and to rely upon him jalla wa'ala and when you find yourself in these moments turn to Allah and invoke the name of Allah the way our beloved messenger Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - Salla Allahu Alaihi Wasallam) did.

If you recall the dua that I love the most the dua that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - Salla Allahu Alaihi Wasallam) I've shared with you so many times but I never get bored of sharing this dua which was the dua that he made right after Ta'if where everything around him was so dark everyone had rejected him he said:

Oh Allah I turn to you and I'm in the state of pain about what I have arrived at and how people neglect me and how I am weak amongst these people. To whom do you relinquish my affairs ya Allah to someone who's distant and far who does not care about me or to an enemy who only seeks my demise. But what did the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - Salla Allahu Alaihi Wasallam) say right after that: You are my Lord and you are the Lord of the weak and you are the most merciful. Oh Allah if you are not angry with me then I do not worry.

(Al-Tabarani in Al-Kabir 18/279)

Brothers and sisters do not worry when you're with Allah do not worry when you prostrate your head to Allah you have nothing to worry about do not fear and that lack of fear and that lack of worry in that lack of anxiety is something that this world needs this world is in need of bastions and beacons of light that are so carefree and worry-free and confident that it begins to touch every soul in the world because much of the anguish and anxiety you see today are people who are afraid people who are scared you see a lot of these people who chant and and walk in the streets with their ugly flags and their ugly chants the next day you watch them on a video clip crying saying oh I wasn't really with them I'm just I'm just kind of worried it's false it's empty it's weak the weakest people and the scaredest people they are the ones who harm others don't be afraid don't be scared be confident be worry-free be trusting in Allah who Jalla

wa'ala so that others in this world can feed off of your confidence and truly fulfill the message of a Muslim and a mu'min and that is to safeguard God's creation.

May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala make us true Muslims and true movements may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala fortify Islam Iman and Ihsan in our hearts may Allah Jalla wa'ala beautify this religion in our hearts may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala make us of those who will take advantage of the blessed days of Dhul-Hijjah we ask Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala to use us for what is khair to make us agents of goodness and agents of mercy the way our beloved messenger Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was a mercy to mankind.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala to quell the hearts of the misguided people in this earth Muslims and non-muslims alike to constrict their hearts away from that satanic impulse we ask you ya Allah to guide their hearts to righteousness and goodness and that which is pleasing to you we ask you Allah to have mercy upon this community to have mercy upon this ummah to relieve our brothers and sisters in Syria, Lyon and all across the world from the hardships that they are experiencing right now from Syria to Egypt to Libya to Iraq to Yemen to the subcontinent to Africa to our brothers and sisters in Burma all across the world ya Allah relieve their pains and please ya Allah extinguish all of their anguish and their worry ya Allah ya kareem ya rahman ya raheem.

Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving [help] to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

And the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows what you do.