Time for Introspection COVID-19 & Why We Are We Being Punished Shaykh

Time for Introspection: COVID-19 & Why Are We Being Punished

Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Introduction: A Time of Global Crisis

Dear Muslims, we are witnessing a tragedy at a global scale, the likes of which we could never have imagined even a week ago, much less a month ago or a year ago. Around the globe, what we are seeing of shutting down of cities, of shutting down of masajid, of the fear, of the great trepidation that is afflicting all of us. If this is not going to cause us to stop in our tracks, if this is not going to cause us to reflect and to ponder and to think, then what is ever going to cause us to change?

Dear Muslims, today's khutbah that I'm going to give, and it is a symbolic khutbah, I have never in my life given a khutbah to an audience in a masjid that is this empty.

It is a symbolic khutbah, it is being given to remind ourselves, to remind the ummah that there is a reason why this is happening.

The Divine Principle: Allah Does Not Change Until We Change

Dear Muslims, we need to understand what Allah tells us in the Quran:

"That is because Allah will never take away a blessing that he has gifted to a people. Allah will never lift up a blessing that he has gifted to the people, unless and until they change something in themselves. The blessing of peace, the blessing of security, the blessing of going about wherever we wanted to go, the blessing of society, all of this has been lifted up. And it has been replaced with a fear, with an uncertainty, it has been replaced with death being close to us.

And Allah does not change the status of a people until they change what is in themselves. And when Allah wills to inflict a punishment upon a people, no one can come between Allah and Allah's punishment. And they have no one to turn to for protection other than Allah. Nothing will protect me and you, nothing will save me and you other than Allah.

The Question We Must Ask: Why Is This Happening?

Now is the time to ask ourselves, why is this happening? Why are khutbas being given in empty masajid? Why are masjids being shut down? Why is commerce and industry coming to an end? When we thought

we had reached our pinnacle, when we thought we had come to the top of civilization, in an instance, between a morning and an afternoon, everything changed upon us.

And Allah sent upon us a plague, a disease that no one could have predicted, and no one even knows how to protect themselves against. Why is this happening?

Allah reminds us in the Quran:

Allah has caused fasad, which is fitna, which is a type of evil, which is a type of trial and tribulation. Allah has caused chaos to spread in this earth. Why? (بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ - Because of what we ourselves have done).

The Reality We Must Face

It is the effects of our own selves. This is something that we don't hear too many people say. It is something that is politically incorrect to say. It is something that hardly any preacher of any religion says. And when they say it, they are mocked and made fun of. That does not change the reality.

Why is this happening to us? Allah does not send upon people plagues and diseases, unless there is something that they have collectively done. Hassan al-Basri, the famous tabi'i, he commented on this verse, and he said, because of their own sins, Allah sends fitna and fasad down. Because of what they have done, Allah sends down plagues and calamities.

The Prophetic Warning: Five Calamities

In a famous hadith reported in the Sunan of Ibn Majah, Abdullah ibn Umar رضي الله تعالى عنه says that he heard the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم say:

(Sunan Ibn Majah)

O groups of the muhajirun, there are five things, this is the Prophet speaking, there are five things that if you are tested with, and I seek refuge in Allah that you are ever tested with them. Five calamities, I seek Allah's refuge that you're ever tested with, but you might be tested with them.

The first of them, this hadith is in Ibn Majah, it is an authentic hadith, listen to it dear Muslims, do you not believe in the words of our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when he said in this hadith:

(Sunan Ibn Majah)

Never does lewdness, never does nudity, never does fahisha, licentiousness and sensual pleasures, never does fahisha spread in a group of people, and it becomes public amongst them, except that Allah sends ta'oon, He sends plagues upon them that they never heard of in their previous generations, they never heard of these things, and Allah will send plagues upon them.

The Five Warnings Continued

And never are they cheating in their business transactions, except that Allah will send upon them difficulties that will take the rain away, and they will have drought. And never do they stop paying their charity and their zakah, except that Allah stops the rain from falling, and were it not for the animals, all rain would stop. And never do they break the covenant of Allah, and the promise of the messenger of Allah, except that Allah will send enemies from outside of them that will conquer over them.

And never do they leave obeying the book of Allah, and judging by the book of Allah, except that Allah will send wars between them, they're gonna be fighting one another. This is an authentic hadith reported in the sunan of Ibn Majah. And imagine how many of these are we guilty of.

The First Sign: Fahisha Becomes Public

And the first of these five, never does fahisha become public amongst any community, amongst any group of people, except that Allah will send plagues. The word used is Arabic ta'oon. That is exactly what we are witnessing now, that their ancestors never heard of.

And that is the purpose or one of the wisdoms of what we are seeing. Dear Muslims, we need to take account of ourselves before it is too late. We need to examine deep within, why is this happening to us? When Allah has promised us in the Quran, that nothing will change, no blessing will be taken away, no ni'mah that He has blessed us with will be lifted up, unless and until we change what is in ourselves.

Our Collective Sins

We need to ask ourselves, what have we done that is worthy of this calamity that we are seeing? And so much can be said, dear Muslims, of the things that collectively the world is guilty of.

1. Abandonment of Religiosity

Collectively is the sense of arrogance that comes by leaving religiosity, by leaving tadayyun, by leaving worship of Allah. Never in human history, never in human history has agnosticism and atheism been such a predominant group of mankind, where religion itself is becoming something that is abandoned.

The churches, the synagogues, the mosques all over the world, places where Allah mentions in the Quran:

(Quran 22:40)

And by the way, Allah says in the Quran, even the churches and the synagogues and the monasteries, Allah's name is mentioned in them. Even if we as one group don't agree with the theology of the others, still some worship of Allah is better than no worship of Allah. And what we are seeing now is an abandonment of the worship of Allah.

2. Collective Arrogance

It is an abandonment of religiosity. It is a sense of arrogance that we don't need God. And this is a collective arrogance that we are seeing to an unprecedented scale around the globe.

And now Allah has shown us that where is that arrogance now. We don't even have protection against the smallest of Allah's creation, and that is a virus. We need Allah.

And the greatest sin in the eyes of Allah is the sin of Iblis, which is the sin of arrogance. There is no sin that is greater than the sin of arrogance. And collectively many people and civilizations around the globe have lost their connection with the higher power, and they feel themselves to be self-sufficient.

3. The Sin of Fahisha

Of the things that we also need to look at, which is explicitly mentioned in the hadith, one of the sins that is collective in the globe around is the sin of fahisha. And what is fahisha? Fahisha is to abandon decency, to abandon pure nature, to abandon the beauty of modesty, and to live animalistic lives with sensual pleasures without any shame.

Once again, this is something that is hardly ever said, and yet we see the reality of this hadith, dear Muslims. Fahisha never in the history of mankind has fahisha become as global and as predominant as it is now. Nudity is embraced to engage in extra-marital and pre-marital is not even given a second thought, and even perversions beyond this have become the norm, such that if anybody says something against them, they are the ones that are the backward.

And our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, Never does fahisha become prevalent in a community, except that Allah will send plagues upon them that they never heard of before.

Dear Muslims, dear people of all faith traditions, modesty is a virtue. Being pure in your personal life, being pure in matters of sexuality, restricting sexuality to those that are married, this is a part of every mainstream religion and civilization. This notion of hedonism, of sensuality, of public nudity, this is not something that is desirable, nor does it bring about good results, and our tradition explicitly links plagues to this reality.

4. Selfishness and Loss of Compassion

As well of the things that we are collectively guilty of, is that of selfishness. This generation especially, this globe in particular, the era that we live in, it is all about nafsi, nafsi. It's all about myself, me, myself, and I. What do I want? What do I want to experience? We have lost respect for the elders.

We have lost compassion for the poor and the weak. We have lost connection with other people. It's all about me, myself, and I. And that is not something that is healthy.

And it is a collective sin, that once again large segments of humanity, including many of us here, are guilty of, we ask Allah's refuge.

5. Callousness to Global Issues

Of the things that we are collectively guilty of as well, is the callousness to global issues. The callousness to what is happening around the world.

Millions of people around the world are refugees. Millions of people are victims of our own evils, our own greed, our own wars. How many are the people that are locked up without any charge, without any issue? What is happening to the Uyghurs in China? What is happening to the Syrian refugees? What is happening to the Muslims of Burma? The hunger that so many segments of the world is seeing now.

And most of us, many of us, live lives that are disconnected from that reality. Dear Muslims, for how long will the dua of the mazloom go unanswered? For how long will the women and children who are crying to Allah for a solution, for how long when they're invoking Allah's wrath amongst the zalim, for how long will they not be answered?

Until when do you think that Allah will ignore the plea of the woman who is being harmed, of the child that is being abandoned? For how long will this happen? What we see of these plagues, it is the collective result of our own inhumanity. And we need to come to terms with this and repent to Allah.

6. Neglecting Our Responsibility to Creation

As well, dear Muslims, as well Allah mentions that He has placed us in charge of this creation. And we do not give right to this creation. When we ignore the huquq of those around us, even the huquq of the animals and the huquq of nature, Allah has made us those in charge.

It is our responsibility to take care of the other creations of animals and nature. And when we turn away, and when we cause so much evil, then what is going to happen?

It is because what your own hands have done. So that they can taste a little bit of the sins that they have done.

Understanding Collective vs Individual Punishment

Now dear Muslims, somebody might say, but hey, I didn't do anything. I didn't cause any harm to the Uighurs, or to the Syrians, or to the Palestinians. I didn't do anything to nature.

Why am I being punished? And here we respond, there are two types of punishment. There is a collective punishment, and there is an individual punishment. Do not conflate the two.

The collective punishment does not mean that every individual is guilty. But it does mean that a majority of individuals were guilty. And so the punishment comes down, which is a punishment of this world.

The punishment of this world is a collective one. It does not necessarily translate to the punishment of the akhirah. The punishment of the akhirah is an individual one.

And that is what we have the potential to save ourselves from. Even if we cannot save ourselves from the collective punishment of this dunya.

Allah reminds us in the Qur'an:

Beware of the trials that will afflict not just those of you who have done wrong, even the innocent are going to suffer from these trials.

When the majority of people start committing crimes and doing evil, then the majority of people and all the people will taste the punishment even if they are not guilty. And then they will be saved of the punishment in the hereafter.

Aisha رضي الله عنها reports that she heard the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم say:

(Sahih Muslim)

When evil becomes rampant in this earth, Allah will send punishments upon the people of the earth.

Aisha says, O Messenger of Allah وَإنْ كَانَ فِيهِمْ الصَّالِحُونَ - Even if there are righteous people amongst them. And our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

Yes, even if there are righteous people amongst them.

They will be afflicted like everybody else will be afflicted.

And then when they go to the Akhirah, they will see Allah's maghfirah and Allah's rahmah. Hadith reported in Sahih Muslim. Memorize this hadith.

Aisha herself is saying, O Messenger of Allah, what if there's good people? What's gonna happen? And our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

When evil is prevalent in this world, when there's everywhere you see, collective callousness and evil and arrogance and sensuality. Then when Allah's punishment comes, it comes on everyone. Even those that were not guilty.

The Path Forward: Individual Salvation

And they might even be afflicted in this dunya. They might even die as a result of that punishment. But then in the Akhirah, they will not be punished. They will be forgiven. They will be shown mercy. Even if we cannot reflect the collective punishment of this dunya, every one of us has the potential to protect ourselves from the individual punishment of the Akhirah.

And that is our ultimate goal. Yes, we want to also be protected from the punishment of this dunya. But the real punishment is the punishment of the Akhirah.

And that is on an individual level. Umm Salama رضي الله عنها asked the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Hadith is in Bukhari and Muslim:

Will we be destroyed even when there are good people amongst us? And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم responded:

Yes, if evil is predominant everywhere, then yes, even if there are righteous people, then Allah's punishment will come down.

Dear Muslims, this is the time for us collectively and especially individually to examine ourselves.

The Purpose of These Trials

Yes indeed, the collective punishment has come. We don't want the collective punishment. We want it to be lifted away from us.

But what is much more important, what is much more necessary is that we save ourselves from the individual wrath of Allah. Even if we are not able to save ourselves from the collective wrath of this dunya. Because the wrath of this dunya comes and goes.

The wrath of this dunya will not be taken to the next life. It is the wrath of the next life that we really need to be careful of.

Allah reminds us in the Quran, and this is a verse in the Quran, think about it:

We will taste them, we will cause them to taste the punishment that is near and easier. So that they are saved and come back from the punishment that is the bigger one. We're gonna cause them to taste the lesser punishment, the closer punishment. Not the big punishment. Why? So that possibly they can come back and return to Allah.

Allah is sending the collective communal punishment of this world so that individually we turn back to Allah.

And if a majority of us, if many of us turn back to Allah, then the collective punishment will be lifted up. Even if the majority do not turn back, but we individually turn back, then we ourselves will protect ourselves from the bigger punishment which is really the one that is much more terrifying than the punishment of this world.

Dear Muslims, the purpose of these punishments are mentioned in the Qur'an. They are explicit in the Qur'an. In this verse that I just quoted you لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ - So that they can come back to Allah.

In Surah Al-Anfal:

When our punishments came down, why did they not humble themselves? تَضَرَّعُوا means to lower yourself in submission, to humble yourself in front of Allah, to remove arrogance from the heart.

Allah is asking a rhetorical question. When our punishments came down, why didn't they come to us in a humble manner? Why didn't they beg to us, to us to plead?

Instead, their hearts became hard. And Shaytan made their previous actions pleasing to them.

Shaytan caused them to blind their eyes, to dull their senses, and they continue living in a false sense of arrogance that they and they themselves can solve this problem. This is not a problem that can be solved by our mortal hands. This is a problem that Allah has sent down, and only Allah can solve.

Allah says in the Quran:

We have never sent to any nation a prophet, except that we will also test the people of that nation with trials and tribulations, with trials and tribulations, so that they will return back to us. The same word is used يَرْجِعُونَ يَضَّرَّعُونَ يَتُوبُونَ يَرْجِعُونَ All of these are mentioned in the Quran.

It's Never Too Late to Return

Dear Muslims, it is never too late to return to Allah. The last thing that we need now is the sin of arrogance, the sin of feeling we don't need Allah. If we want this problem to be solved, and all of us do collectively, Muslims and people of other faith traditions, they need to rediscover religiosity, they need to collectively turn to Allah, they need to beg and plead and understand this life has a higher purpose than just living like animals. We need Allah, and Allah does not need us.

The Prophet's Dua in Times of Hardship

To conclude our first khutbah, let us remind ourselves of that beautiful dua of our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when he was expelled by the people of Al-Ta'if, when he was at perhaps one of the lowest of the lows of his life, when Aisha رضي الله عنها asked him, O Messenger of Allah, what was the worst time of your life? What was the most difficult time that you faced from your people? And he mentioned this day of Ta'if. He himself said, this was the lowest of the low that he felt in his entire life.

What did he say that beautiful dua that is reported in the seerah of Ibn Hisham, that our Prophet صلی الله عليه وسلم he sat under a tree, his face was bleeding, his shoes were wet with his own blood, he had been pelted with stones, he felt all alone, and he raised his hands up to Allah, and he said:

O Allah, to you alone I complain, O Allah. To you alone I complain, O Allah, of how weak I am, O Allah. How weak we are, O Allah.

To you alone I complain, O Allah, that I have no solution other than you. I cannot do anything other than you, O Allah. O Allah, to you alone I complain, how weak I am in front of the people, nobody can protect me other than you, O Allah.

O One who is the most merciful of all those who show mercy, O One who is the Lord of those who are weak, You are our Lord, You are my Lord, O Allah:

Who are you gonna hand us over to? You are the Creator, You are the Fatir, You are the Rabb, You are the Mawla, Who are you handing me over to, O Allah?

Are you gonna hand me over to an enemy? Are you gonna hand me over to somebody who doesn't care about me? You are أرحم الراحمين want to be with you, O Allah:

O Allah, if you're not angry with me, then I don't care. My main worry is that you're angry with me.

If you're not angry with me, then I don't care:

But yet still, O Allah, even if my ultimate goal is your pleasure, this trial that you have put me in, if I don't have it, it is better. If you protect me even from this trial, from this bleeding, from this terror, from this fear, from this humiliation, it is easier for me.

Even though what I'm really worried about, O Allah, is your ghadab and your anger. But if you can protect me from your ghadab, and you can protect me from the problems of this world, then that is definitely better for me, O Allah:

I turn to you, O Allah, and I seek refuge in your beautiful face, in your majestic face, the face that enlightens all that is dark, and this whole world is dependent on it, O Allah.

I seek refuge in you, O Allah, that your anger comes down upon me, or that your wrath envelops me, O Allah:

You have the right to do as you please, O Allah. You have the right to criticize. You have the right to send punishment. You are the one who is the Rabb. None can ask what you do. And we are going to be asked about what we do:

O Allah, you have the right to do as you please, until you are satisfied:

And nothing can change, O Allah. And there is no power to effect change, except with you, and through you, and by you.

This beautiful dua, please read it, please memorize it, please use it. It really demonstrates the iman that we should have in this trial.

We need to turn to Allah. We want to be saved from Allah's ghadab. And even in this dunya, we'd rather not be tested in this manner.

"[May Allah bless me and you in the great Quran, and benefit me and you with what is in it of verses and wise reminder. I say what you hear, and I ask Allah for forgiveness for me and you, and for all Muslims from every sin. So seek His forgiveness, for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.]"

Second Khutbah: Moving Forward

There is so much to say, dear Muslims, about the calamities and trials ahead. We are simply beginning. This is our first week into this tragedy. And we do not know how long it will last.

First: Spiritual Reorganization

A number of points. First and foremost, we need to spiritually reorganize ourselves, reorient ourselves. Each and every one of us needs to rediscover that connection with Allah. Individually, families, communities, societies, nations, the globe. There is no solution other than what Allah will send down upon us.

Second: Never Be Lazy in Rituals

Secondly, dear Muslims in particular, there is never a time to be lazy in your rituals. Especially now when the azab is very clearly surrounding us. Never in human history have so many masajids been closed. Never has there been so much panic the globe over since many generations.

If this is not going to wake us up from our heedlessness, then what is going to wake us up? Individually, families, communities, all of us should rediscover the iman that we have. Strengthen the iman that we have. Preserve our rituals.

Pray our salah on time. Open up the book of Allah. Read the Quran. Do dhikr. Make dua. Humble ourselves in front of Allah. Collectively and individually remind one another to be more religious.

Third: Take Logical Measures

Thirdly, take logistical measures, dear Muslims. We are not a religion of foolish people. We are not a religion of mythology and tales. We are a religion of sense and sensibility. We are a religion that takes precaution and then puts its trust in Allah.

All that we are doing of shutting down the masajid, and of declaring quarantine, and of doing all that our scholars are saying, all of this is within the goals of the shariah. And all of this is something that we are required to do. Be reasonable and do not be foolish.

Allah says in the Quran:

"Don't cause your destruction by your own hands. Don't be foolish in what you do, and then bring about your own destructions.

Listen to the medical experts. They are the people who know what to do. Listen to those who understand epidemics and diseases. And listen to them when they tell you what to do, what not to do. And listen to those scholars that are in agreement with what the experts say. And you will always find such scholars.

Essential Duas for These Times

Lastly for today's khutbah, dear Muslims, remind myself and all of you of some duas that we should be memorizing and saying.

1. The Dua of Dhun-Nun

The first dua is the dua of Dhun-Nun. The dua of Dhun-Nun when he said, when he was in the well:

Memorize this, and it should be on our tongues all the time.

Allah says in the Quran, when he said this dua:

We answered him and We saved him from his distress. This is how we will save the believers as well.

Memorize this dua:

2. Morning Protection Dua

And the second dua that I remind myself and all of you, is the hadith in Sahih Bukhari, that our Prophet when he woke up in the morning:

(Sahih Bukhari)

He should say this every single morning when he wakes up.

I seek refuge in the speech of Allah, that is a perfect speech from all the evil that He has created:

3. The Dua of Uthman ibn Affan

And the third one that I will remind myself and you, is the famous hadith of Uthman ibn Affan رضي الله تعالى عنه who said that he heard the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم say, whoever says three times in the morning and three times in the evening this dua, then no sudden calamity will overtake him. What is the dua?

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi)

Nothing in the heavens and earth will ever be harmed if we seek refuge in that name. And He is the Samee' and the Alim.

Memorize these three dua:

We turn to you to protect ourselves from you, O Allah.

Closing