Helm Of Change - Corrected Khutba

Helm Of Change

Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Opening

Introduction: The Butterfly Effect

How many of you have heard of the butterfly effect? I would say like 10-15% of the audience has raised its hands. The butterfly effect is actually something to do with mathematics. It's a part of, believe it or not, chaos theory.

And what it tells us is that small causes can have large effects. And the butterfly effect was first propounded back in the 1960s. And the story is actually pretty interesting.

When computers were first introduced to attempt to predict weather changes based on initial data conditions, one of the programmers who was testing out a model forgot to add a .0001 value to one of the initial inputs about whether it was a barometer pressure or something. He made a mistake at the fifth digit level. And he allowed the computer to churn out predictions for the next few weeks.

Then when he realized his error, he went back and he put in the right numbers, and he did the same calculations. And he was shocked to see the difference at a fifth degree decimal was so markedly different that he said this couldn't be possible. There must be something wrong.

So he went back and he did both of the experiments, and he realized that no, there is nothing wrong. In fact, if you begin with a change of literally 0.0001, then the impact over the next few weeks will be so different that you're going to come to two totally radically different scenarios.

And it was then called the butterfly effect to be a little bit more melodramatic because they tried to say that if the tip of the wing of a butterfly in Peru, for example, moved, eventually over the course of the next few months, it might potentially cause a tidal wave in Malaysia. If a moth flew in a certain direction, eventually a tornado would happen in Texas.

Now, they're being a little bit exaggerated here because it's not that the butterfly's wing caused the tsunami, but put together with a million other factors, if the butterfly had turned left rather than right, in all likelihood the tsunami might not have happened. The point is it's one of a lot of factors that sets into motion events that will eventually culminate very differently if those initial motions were not set into event.

Islamic Perspective on the Butterfly Effect

Why am I beginning an Islamic lecture with something of chaos theory and mathematics? Well, because we as Muslims, we actually have no problems affirming this concept as long as we add the caveat that with the permission of Allah, these changes can occur. And the notion of the butterfly effect, the concept of it, is actually something that gives us hope in this very chaotic world. It gives us meaning, it empowers us, and it makes us feel that, you know what? I can, insha'Allah ta'ala, cause a change whose impact is gonna be far greater than even what I myself can see.

The smallest good deed, the smallest change that I have in myself can bring about the most amazing and profound effects, maybe even in world history, maybe even the course of history might change. And you know, if you study the seerah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) if you study the biographies of the earlier Prophets, if you study the stories of the Sahaba, you come across these mini butterfly effects throughout the entire series.

And what that does is that it makes you feel, you know what? Maybe insha'Allah ta'ala, I better stop worrying about the consequences and start worrying about what I'm doing. Let Allah decide where my actions are gonna go. Let Allah see the fruits of those actions. My job is to cause these mini butterfly effects everywhere that I go.

And there are so many beautiful stories that I can share with you from the seerah, from the time of the Prophets, from the stories of the Sahaba. I'll just mention two or three to give you some examples here. The point of course of this whole lecture is very simple:

Never ever trivialize any good that you can do. Never ever concern yourself with the impact of a good deed. Because one good deed could literally change the course of history.

Story 1: Musa (Moses) and the Two Ladies

I'll give you, as I said, two or three examples. One of the simplest examples is the story of Moses and Pharaoh. If you remember the story, Moses was being raised in the palace of the Pharaoh. And eventually when he punched the Egyptian, and the viziers turned against him, Pharaoh turned against him. So Moses flees for his life.

Moses flees for his life, he runs away from Egypt, and he has no food, no money, just the clothes on his back. And he flees to the valley of Midian. The valley of Midian in the Quran. And he himself is a refugee. He himself doesn't even know where he's gonna go. And imagine the fear, the panic, the uncertainty that Moses has.

When he gets to the valley, as the Quran tells us, he sees a well that was surrounded by shepherds, jostling, shoving with one another, trying to feed their flock. And as the Quran tells us, there were two ladies with their flock away from the crowd. So he goes to them and he says:

"What is the matter with you?"

They said, "We cannot feed our sheep until the rest of these men leave. And by that time there's hardly gonna be any water left. And don't blame us, we don't have any money to hire a servant, and our father is very elderly."

Musa, as we know, volunteered to help them out.

The Micro Butterfly Effect

Here is where one of those micro butterfly effects is taking place. Musa himself is a refugee. Musa himself has no money to give them. He can't donate anything for them, but he donates the one thing that he does have, and that is the sweat of his brow. He's physically strong. So he volunteers to take the flock, and he gives the sheep water, he hands the sheep back to the ladies, and then like the Quran says, he walks away from them.

No need to chitchat, no need to do anything more. Keep it dignified and decent. He walks away from them, and he sits under a tree. And he makes that beautiful Quranic dua, that I hope all of you memorize and make regularly:

"My Lord, I am a beggar to any good that you can give me. I'm a faqeer, I'm a beggar. Any good you can give me, I would love it."

The Immediate Results

What happens? Musa (عليه السلام) did one act of charity. This is the butterfly effect. He fed goats and sheep. That's the good deed he did. Or you can say he helped out two ladies that needed to be helped. But how was the help? To feed goats and sheep. What was the impact of that good deed? What happened?

Subhanallah, within a few hours, one of them comes back. She's embarrassed, she's shy. And she says, "My father is inviting you. He wants to thank you for what you have done." So, they go to the house of the father.

And overnight, subhanallah, overnight, Musa has a career. He gets a salary. He gets a place to live. He gets a house. And on top of that, he gets a wife as well. Mashallah, subhanallah.

Single brothers, if you want to get married, start feeding water to the people outside. This is the effect of a good deed. Do you think Musa understood any of this when he volunteered to help these ladies out?

He didn't even know where he's gonna go tomorrow.

But when he was generous, Allah was generous to him. When he did a good deed, the butterfly effect comes into effect here. And he has no idea the consequences of his actions, what's gonna happen. But subhanallah, everything opens up.

Story 2: Khalid ibn Walid's Conversion

Another story, the story of Khalid ibn Walid, the greatest general that Islam has ever seen. The one who helped the conquest of Palestine, of Jerusalem, of Qadisiyyah. The one who participated in fighting against the Sassanids in Persia. The greatest military general who never once suffered any defeat in any battle that he fought. We all know the legend of Khalid ibn Walid.

What many of us don't know is the story of his conversion. And the fact that there was a very instrumental player in his conversion story. And had it not been for this person, maybe we would never have had Khalid ibn Walid. And that person was his older brother, Al-Walid ibn Al-Walid.

The Brother's Role

His older brother Walid actually converted to Islam before Khalid. And he was writing letters to Khalid all the time, inviting him to Islam. But Khalid wasn't interested. Al-Walid, the brother, was always interested in guiding his brother to Islam. He would write letters to him, he would give him da'wah, but was no use and value.

Then his father had died, Khalid's father dies, Walid's father dies. So Walid and Khalid are now left without a father. So then, in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the Muslims agree with the Quraysh that they're gonna be allowed access to Mecca for three days the next year to do the tawaf, to do the sa'i, to do the pilgrimage.

So in the seventh year of the hijrah, Al-Walid has not seen his brother Khalid for six years. They haven't seen each other for six years. Al-Walid is missing his brother. In the seventh year of the hijrah, the Muslims perform the Umrah in Mecca. And Walid rushes to the house of Khalid, hoping to see Khalid. But Khalid had decided to opt out of staying in Mecca. He didn't wanna see the Muslims. So Khalid had left the house and camped outside for three days. He didn't wanna see the Muslims.

The Decisive Letter

So Al-Walid was heartbroken. Now is gonna happen one of those small micro incidents, the butterfly effect. Al-Walid wrote a very moving emotional letter to his brother. And he left it in the house for Khalid to find. Al-Walid wrote a letter from the heart to the heart. And he begged his brother to think about life.

"What are you doing? For how long will you worship these false gods? Worship Allah. You know Allah is our creator. You know the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is not a liar." He was emotional and blunt and frank. And he said, "Convert, come to Medina. And I promise you, you shall be honored. We will take care

of you. We will treat you with respect. And I have the guarantee of the process. I asked him, I begged on your behalf."

Because by the way, who was Khalid? Khalid was the one who caused the disaster of Uhud. Khalid was the one who even in the battle of the trench had done something. So Khalid was somebody whom he also felt, I can't convert, I'm gonna be punished or what not. Al-Walid argued on his behalf. Al-Walid got a concession from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). He got a promise.

If Khalid converts, we're gonna protect him, we're gonna honor him. All of this is happening behind the scenes. Muslims, most of you have no clue about his brother. But see here's the point, Allah does. And Allah will reward him. And had it not been for his brother, frankly, we would not be sitting here the way that we are right now.

The Result

His brother was the one Allah used to guide Khalid to Islam. That letter was the last thing Khalid needed to convert to Islam. It was an emotional breakdown for him. He hadn't seen his brother for 7 years. Now he's in his house, he writes a letter. "Why did you leave us? I wanted to see you. Where were you? We haven't seen you. We're brothers. Do you remember this and that?" Very emotional letter from the heart to the heart.

And then a blunt call to convert at the end. "How long are you gonna avoid this? Come and convert to Islam. Be a good Muslim. And I promise you, you will be forgiven and you will be honored in Medina. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has promised he's gonna honor you."

So, Khalid ibn al-Walid, he decided to convert to Islam. And he became the last convert before the conquest of Mecca. The last convert to actually migrate from Mecca to Medina. The last convert. You know, we call those converts the Muhajir versus the Ansar. The last Muhajir is Khalid ibn al-Walid. Because after him, the conquest took place. So, there's no more migration after that. And Khalid eventually did convert and he came to Medina. And the rest as they say is history.

The Point

But here's the point. When al-Walid is doing what he's doing, do you think he has any idea that he's thinking about the future? He's thinking about the Sassanid Empire and Persia and Rome and Byzantine. He's thinking about Qadisiyah. He wouldn't even know Qadisiyah. He wouldn't even know these battles. He wouldn't even know what's gonna happen in the future.

It's not on his mind. But that's the point. Allah is not asking you to calculate the net result of all that's gonna happen. Allah is asking you, do you do your job? You spread khair and good and blessings wherever you go. You do your micro acts of good. And who knows, one of them might go and literally change the course of history.