Are We Fit To Lead

Are We Fit to Lead?

Imam Zaid Shakir

Opening Supplications and Praise

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help and we seek His forgiveness. We seek His forgiveness and we repent to Him and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. And whosoever He leaves astray, none can guide him.

And I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O mankind, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it its wife, and spread from them many men and women. And fear Allah through Whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will then amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great victory.

As for what follows, the best speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of things are the newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Call of Ibrahim (Peace Be Upon Him)

Allah says: (فَنَادِ - You make the proclamation. وَعَلَيْنَا الْبَلَاغُ - And upon Us is the responsibility of making your voice reach them. We will make your voice reach them.

So the story begins with this proclamation, this declaration, that's given to Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and Allah caused the mountains to fall down, to humble themselves, so that the earth was rendered a vast, expansive plain and his voice traveled to the far corners of the earth, reaching not only everyone alive at that time, but everyone who was destined to respond to the call and make the pilgrimage until the end of time, responding:

We're responding at your service our Lord.

And everyone who was destined to respond has responded to that call that Ibrahim, peace be upon him, rendered.

Who Was Ibrahim? The Patriarch of Monotheism

It behooves us to ask: who was Ibrahim? Who was Ibrahim? Who was this great patriarch of monotheism, peace be upon him? Allah gives us a description of him. In the Qur'an there are many descriptions, but one we'll focus on because of its conciseness and the limitations of time.

Allah says:

Three Characteristics of Ibrahim

Three basic characteristics are mentioned in these verses:

First Characteristic: He Was an Ummah (A Leader)

(إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ كَانَ أُمَّةً - That Ibrahim was an ummah. And amongst the meanings of this term is that he was an imam, he was a leader whose example is to be followed. The important thing for us to understand is that in this regard he is no different than us, as an ummah.

Allah, amongst the prayers that we are instructed to make:

"Make us leaders for the righteous." (Quran 25:74)

Make us leaders whose example is to be followed by the righteous. (وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا - whose example is to be followed, exemplary leaders for those who are righteous.

(وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا لَمَّا صَبَرُوا وَكَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا يُوقِنُونَ

"And We made from among them leaders guiding by Our command when they were patient and [when] they were certain of Our signs." (Quran 32:24)

Allah says He made leaders from the children of Israel. He raised up prophets amongst them. And He made leaders for the generality of humanity. And He has passed the torch of leadership to this community.

كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ

"You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah." (Quran 3:110)

You are the best communities raised up for the service of humanity, for the leadership of humanity, for the guidance of humanity. You enjoin that which is right, you forbid that which is wrong and you believe in God.

Are We Prepared for Leadership?

It behooves us in that regard as we reflect in these days on the example of Ibrahim, on the example of Abraham, to ask ourselves: are we prepared for leadership? Are we exemplary individuals, communities and exemplary nations whose example is fit to be followed? This is a great challenge for us. And this is a question it behooves us to ask ourselves.

For if the people who claim to be following divine guidance are not fit to lead, then who is? Who's fit to lead? The people who are running the corporations that are raping and destroying the earth? The people who pledge that their ultimate allegiance is to some vague philosophical context or concept described as the national interest, on whose altar every principle, every concept of decency, every idea related to fairness and justice is willingly sacrificed? Are those the people fit to lead humanity? Those people whose only concern is how well their stocks are doing or how much power they can impose on others?

كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ

Ibrahim, peace be upon him, was fit for leadership. His example was an example fit to be followed. His example was an example that inspired nations, inspired communities. An example that is talked about and reflected upon to this very day.

Questions for Our Community

How will history remember our community when the history of these days is recorded? What will be the ethical principles that are associated with our mention? What will be the lofty principles and concepts that are associated with our mention when our names are mentioned and our community is mentioned by those who came after us? And if we don't acknowledge that far from being fit for leadership, that we have become the example of vile characteristics and vile practices, then what is left?

Contemporary Examples of Our Condition

There's one small example to give an indication of where we're headed as a community. Last week, amongst the spate of kidnappings, it's bad enough when a female writer for the Christian Science Monitor who's trying to tell the Muslim story, who's trying to convey objectively the suffering of the Iraqi people, is kidnapped in Iraq. That's bad enough.

Even worse than that, what happened in Palestine where the parents of Rachel Corrie, that young lady from Evergreen, Washington who stood in the face of an Israeli bulldozer and was crushed to death trying to protect the home and family of a Palestinian Muslim. Her parents were kidnapped in Palestine last week, and had to be

rescued by Palestinians of higher principles and then apologizing and saying that their kidnapping is a disgrace to the Palestinian nation.

But that's what we've sunk to. We ask Allah for forgiveness. O Allah, grant us well-being and grant all the Muslims well-being.

Second Characteristic: Qanitan Lillah (Devoutly Obedient to Allah)

So Ibrahim is described as a leader. (إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ كَانَ أُمَّةً قَائِتًا لِلَّهِ - He's described as قَائِتًا لِلَّهِ devoutly obedient to Allah. The lexicographers they say : قَانِتٌ مُدَاوِمٌ عَلَى طَاعَةِ اللهِ - One who was consistent in his obedience to God. And we have to be a community; he's no different than us.

Allah describes the righteous people in the Qur'an:

"The patient, the true, the obedient, those who spend [in the way of Allah], and those who seek forgiveness before dawn." (Quran 3:17)

الصَّابِرِينَ - Those who are patient, who patiently persevere. وَالصَّادِقِينَ - Those who are truthful. And we have to be people of truth. People who are truthful to ourselves.

"O you who have believed, fear Allah and be with those who are true."

People who are truthful to others in our interactions with others. People who are truthful to Allah.

"Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah." (Quran 33:23)

There are men and also women who are truthful in that which they have covenanted with Allah. صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ

الصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالْقَانِتِينَ - And those who are consistently and humbly, devoutly obedient to God. وَالْمُنفِقِينَ - And these two go together: الْقَانِتِينَ وَالْمُنفِقِينَ Righteousness which is embodied in الْقَائِتِينَ its greatest sign is the ability to spend freely.

"You will never attain righteousness until you spend [in the way of Allah] from that which you love. And whatever you spend - indeed, Allah is Knowing of it."

وَالْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ بِالْأَسْحَارِ - And those who humbly beseech the forgiveness of God in the latter part of the night when no one's around to witness, no one to show off for, no one to shed crocodile tears for. The worshipper alone with Allah in the reaches, the latter reaches of the night, beseeching His forgiveness. وَالْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ بِالْأَسْحَارِ

So every quality that Ibrahim is praised for, that we remember him for, that history records his virtues for - all of those characteristics should be articulated in us.

Third Characteristic: Hanifan (Inclining Toward Truth)

And Allah says:

"Inclining toward truth, and he was not of those who associate others with Allah." (Quran 16:120)

He was naturally inclined towards monotheism and he was not amongst the idolaters.

Upholding Monotheism in an Age of Idolatry

We should be upholders of the monotheistic truth in a world that's being inundated with idolatry. And idolatry has many manifestations. It's not just worshipping gods as substitutes for Allah.

"And [yet], among the people are those who take other than Allah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allah." (Quran 2:165)

So it's not just talking about that. Money becomes an idol.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

"Ruined is the slave of the dinar, the slave of the dirham, and the slave of the decorative garment." (Sahih al-Bukhari 6435)

Ruined is the worshipper of money - عَبْدُ الدِّينَارِ وَعَبْدُ الدِّرْهَم . The worshipper of clothes - وَعَبْدُ الْخَمِيصَةِ

The human being himself or herself, especially in this narcissistic age we live in, can become an idol.

"Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire?"

Have you not seen the one who takes for his god his very self, the inclinations of his soul? We should be witnesses to the oneness and the worship of God.

Being Grateful for Allah's Blessings

"Grateful for His favors." (Quran 16:121)

Thankful for the blessings bestowed upon him. Thankful for his blessings, for the blessings of God. شَاكِرًا لِأَنْعُمِهِ

We mentioned one thing: this should be our characteristic also. Allah, Almighty God, orders us:

"So remember Me; I will remember you."

Remember me, I will remember you. وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ - Be thankful for My blessings. وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ - And do not reject those blessings by failing to give thanks.

The Magnitude of Thankfulness

Sufficient to impress upon us the magnitude of thanks is that so few people are thankful.

"And few of My servants are grateful." (Quran 34:13)

Few are the thankful ones amongst My servants. Sufficient as an indicator as to the magnitude of thankfulness is that those who fail to give thanks are threatened with the punishment of God.

"And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, 'If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.'"

And when your Lord proclaimed: if you give thanks for the blessings I bestowed upon you, I will increase you in those blessings. And if you fail to give thanks, you should know that My punishment is severe.

Closing of First Part

I say these words and I seek forgiveness from Allah for myself and for you and for all the believers. O people, seek forgiveness from Allah.

Second Khutbah

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى سَيِّدِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا