Station of Servitude

Station of Servitude

Imam Zaid Shakir

Opening Praise and Testimony

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

Allah's Guidance and Revelation

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. All praise is due to Allah who has guided us, and we would not have been able to guide ourselves had not Allah chosen to guide us. All praise is due to Allah who has revealed the scripture unto His servant and has made no crookedness therein.

The Honor of Servitude

If we just briefly pause on the last verse: "All praise is due to Allah who has revealed the scripture unto His servant and has made no crookedness therein."

In this great station of revelation, and the Prophet being the last human being in the history of humanity to have revelation conferred upon him, in this great, great, incomparable station, Allah honors His Prophet by referring to him as His servant: أَنْزَلَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ - "revealed the scripture unto His servant."

The Station of Servitude )مَقَامُ الْعُبُودِيَّةِ(

The station of servitude - مَقَامُ الْعُبُودِيَّةِ - is one of the highest stations we can attain to, and the essence of our religion, to a large extent, is actualizing the station of servitude. Because to the degree that we actualize the station of servitude for ourselves - تَحْقِيقُ الْعُبُودِيَّةِ لِأَنْفُسِنَا - then we actualize the station of lordship to Allah - تَحْقِيقُ الرُّبُوبِيَّةِ لِرَبِّنَا جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ . This is an inverse relationship. And to the extent that we illusionarily - not in reality, or so let's rephrase that - to the extent that we do delude ourselves into believing we have some lordship, then we negate our servitude to Allah جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ

The Age of Negation

And this is very important because we live in an age of negation of our servitude to Allah. And this is why you

see the proliferation of atheism, you see the proliferation of rebellion against Allah, you see Muslims declaring things that the entire ummah, for all of its history to this point, has declared to be haram - forbidden - to be halal. Muslims, because of the distance of this ummah, generally speaking, from actualizing its servitude to Allah جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ the Lord of all the worlds.

False Empowerment vs. True Power

And we think in the days of universal empowerment: we want Muslim power, we want woman power, now we have a men's power movement, we want black power - respond to that, we have a white power movement, we have Black Lives Matter and now we have white lives matter, we have trans power and LGBTQ - trans is in there - power. Everyone wants power, but no one wants to be a servant of Allah, which is a negation of our illusion of power as human beings, so that we can be truly empowered through our Lord عَزِيزٌ بِلا . There is no power independent of the power of Allah.

We say that, but the meaning doesn't sink into our hearts: لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ. You ever say that? You might not understand Arabic, but I'm sure you've said that. Some people repeat it: لا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ - "There is no strength and no power except with Allah."

We say it, but have we internalized that meaning and what it means in terms of what it means to be a human being? This is a statement that contains within its meaning an integral part of what it means to be human - truly human - because to be truly human is to find one's power through Allah, not through our own efforts. And that is what real justice is. That's what real justice is. اللَّهُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ

That's not what we wanted to talk about. That's a thought that came to mind. We said: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ، عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ So the Prophet was honored with عُبُودِيَّةٌ - and some say عَبْدِيَّة . Are we honored, or do we find the thought somewhat unsettling through no fault of our own? We're influenced by the zeitgeist of the time and place we find ourselves in - the spirit of our times. That's the zeitgeist. That's a fancy German way of saying the spirit of our times.

Building on Last Week's Khutbah: The Prophet's Mission

What we wanted to talk about is to build on last week's khutbah - which obviously wasn't here - but to just one of the things we focused on was the saying of Allah: He is the one who sent among the ummah a messenger from among them who recites to them His verses and purifies them and teaches them the book and wisdom. And if they were before, they would have been in manifest error, and others among them would not have joined them, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. That is the bounty of Allah which comes to whomsoever He will, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty.

That He, Allah, is the one who has revealed the scripture unto, who has deputed, who has sent from the unlettered - the Arabs, generally speaking, but specifically the illiterate folk amongst the Arabs a messenger from amongst them. They knew him.

The Significance of Reciting Allah's Signs

The point we wanted to make lies in the following: يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ )Quran (62:2) - "He recites the signs of Allah

unto them." He recites the Quran to them. So we mention this in the context of the recently passed رَبِيعُ الْأَوَّلِ - the month of the Mawlid - where people commemorate or celebrate, and some don't - most do - or remember or mention the coming into the world of Muhammad, and his significance.

His greatest significance is the Quran: يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ )Quran 62:2) - "He recites His - Allah's - verses, His signs unto them." This is a reference to the Quran.

Purification and Following the Prophet

وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ )Quran 62:2) - "And he purifies them." And the goodness - so purifies them through the process of refining our souls and our hearts and our spirits in one sense. But also, any good we can affirm for ourselves, it comes through our following Muhammad.

So Allah says: وَلَا تُزَلُّوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ )Quran) (53:32) - "Don't affirm any goodness for yourself." So a recommendation letter in Arabic we call it تَزْكِيَة: مُمْكِنْ تَكْتُبْ لِي تَزْكِيَة؟ - "Can you write a recommendation?" Write the good things about me. Allah says: وَلَا تُزَلُّوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ )Quran 53:32). And then He said, "Don't affirm your own virtue." And He says about our Prophet: وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ )Quran 62:2). So he purifies them, but also our following of this Prophet - in that lies the affirmation of our virtue.

So any virtue we might have, to use the language of the hadith scholars : لَيْسَ لِذَاتِنَا هُوَ لِإِتِّبَاعِنَا لِمُحَمَّدٍ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لِغَيْرِنَا - "Any virtue we have is extraneous. It's not because of us essentially; it's because of something external to us." And that external something is our following of Muhammad.

Teaching the Book and Wisdom

وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ )Quran (62:2) - so Quran is mentioned once. يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ )Quran (622) - "He teaches them the book." He teaches us the recitation and pronunciation of the book. So when we're studying tajweed, it comes directly from our Prophet, which came from Allah. Every single letter. The Jews lost the ability to pronounce the name of the Holy of All Holies - ask any rabbi. The Muslims retained the ability to pronounce every single letter of our scripture, every single letter, every single vowel of the scripture.

And this is what it means, as the mufassireen explain : وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ )Quran (622) - "He teaches them the scripture, the book." وَالْحِكْمَةَ )Quran 62:2) - "And wisdom." In this context, and the understanding of the book.

The Reality of Faith )الحقيقة(

Because everything has a حَقِيقَة - the hadith of al-Harithah : كُلُّ شَيْءٍ حَقِيقَةٌ أُنْظُرْ مَا تَقُولُ كَيْفَ أَصْبَحْتَ أَصْبَحْتُ مُؤْمِنًا حَقًّا - "I woke up as a believer truly. Be careful, watch out for what you're saying. Everything has a deeper reality." (Musnad Ahmad)

In other words, there's a deeper reality to your faith. And for those who think حَقِيقَةٌ - this is something the idea the Sufis invented - it comes directly from this hadith. Because he goes on to say: "I see things that ordinarily aren't seen. It's as if I'm looking at the throne of my Lord, and I see the people in paradise visiting each other with the clarity I see you, and then I see the people in hell being tormented."

And then what did the Prophet say to him? لَقَدْ عَرَفْتَ فَالْزَمْ، عَرَفْتَ فَالْزَمْ - "So you understand, you have experienced the deeper meanings of this whole thing. Adhere to that." So from that you get حَقِيقَةand you get مَعْرِفَة from this hadith. Sufis didn't make it up. This is another issue.

The Unity of Form and Meaning )الجَمْع والفرق(

So the reality - the كِتَاب has a حَقِيقَة and the حَقِيقَة lies in the meaning in and of itself as externally pronounced. Anyone can learn to do that - not anyone, most, many people. Most people - some people have speech defects and can't do certain things - but the حَقِيقَة lies in the حِكْمَة in the understanding of the book.

And this is another thing that the Sufis talk about, and people think they made it up, but it's from this ayah: الفرق والجمع - "separation and unification." The external thing that's separated - even it could be شَرِيعَةٌ كِتَاب - from its deeper underlying reality and meaning is incomplete until there's connectivity : الجَمْعِ الفَرْق الكِتَاب والحِكْمَة - brought together. It's الجَمْع - it's the unification of form with meaning. And this extends to everything in this world.

And so three instances involve the Quran : وَإِنْ كَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ )Quran 62:2(.

The Importance of Understanding the Quran

So we don't want to expound on this anymore - that was last week's khutbah, even though most of you weren't there, some of you were. What we want to mention is: we have to strive to understand الحِكْمَة to understand the book. Read the Quran, the translation. Read it in English, read it in Spanish, read it in French, read it in Urdu, read it in a language that you understand, so the recitation you have can be united with the meaning. And then the full strength of the Quran will dwell in your heart, will enter into your heart, and then you'll be - you'll have armor with which to engage this world.

The Crisis of Separation from Quranic Language

A lot of Muslims are buckling under the pressure of kufr because of this separation. A lot of Muslims - an integral part of that unification is the language of the Quran. The meanings of the Quran are conveyed through the language of the Quran. And many Muslims have rejected the language of scripture, wittingly or unwittingly, and they understand the illusionary world, because there's no key to unlock the reality of the world except through the language of the Quran. That's the key.

And so there's an illusion of understanding that leads them to undertake things that this Muslim ummah has never endorsed throughout the entirety of its history, throughout the entirety of its history. "Let there be no change or alteration in the creation of Allah." What are the implications of that - just one simple phrase - for the whole movement of transgenderism? There's an implication. Most Muslims don't know. So many Muslims out there advocating for transgenderism.

So it's important for us to understand the Quran, not just to recite it, but to understand it, and then to understand the language that it gives us to understand reality.

The Story of Ibrahim: Truth and Prophethood

So there's no time - what I wanted to just mention something from the story of Ibrahim. When Allah said: وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِنَّهُ كَانَ صِدِّيقًا نَبِيًّا )Quran) 19:41) - "So remember in the Quran Ibrahim. Verily he was amongst the deeply truthful, and he was a prophet."

So a صِدِّيق - our affair is built on honesty, a corollary of honesty, sincerity. That's one of the foundations of our affair. But if we don't have the proper language, we can't arrive to truth. So we're looking at reality through the lenses of falsehood, and as opposed to arriving at truth - الحَقِّ - we arrive at delusion. This is the nature of what's happening to us, and we have to stop it, not just for our sake, for the sake of humanity.

When the Muslims adopt the language of the world and see the world through the lenses that are provided by kufr, what hope is there for humanity to have any alternative reality, or to have reality period? There's no alternative reality - like Dawkins: "It all came from an alternative universe," as if that solved the problem. It's like circularity squared. May Allah give us tawfiq, as if that doesn't solve the problem.

No, reality - period. نَبِيًّا - "He was a prophet." We have received guidance from our Lord. Revelation is a source of knowledge for us as Muslims. We can't sideline it, we can't run away from it, we can't marginalize it. It's going to be there whether we like it or not.

Discomfort with Revelation

Some people, some Muslims are becoming uncomfortable with revelation because it presents some inconvenient truths that the zeitgeist finds uncomfortable. The spirit of our times is antithetical to those truths. But we - we are truthful, and we are from truthfulness, and the صِدْقٍ: لَا يَهْدِي إِلَّا البِرِّ، لَا يَهْدِي إِلَّا الجَنَّة - "Honesty is at the heart of our affair, and prophethood is at the heart of our affair." And challenging illusions that benefit humanity in no way - this is what we're supposed to be doing. We're asleep at our watch.

Ibrahim's Adab with His Father

يَا أَبَتِ لِمَ تَعْبُدُ مَا لَا يَسْمَعُ وَلَا يُبْصِرُ وَلَا يُغْنِي عَنْكَ شَيْئًا )Quran (19:42) - "Oh my dear father, adab is part of our" - there's another lesson - "يَا أَبَتِ - his father is going against, is engaging in shirk, but he still has the adab to address him in a way befitting of the fact that he's his father. يَا أَبَتِ - Oh my dear father لِمَ تَعْبُدُ مَا لَا يَسْمَعُ وَلَا يُبْصِرُ وَلَا يُغْنِي عَنْكَ شَيْئًا Why are you worshipping something that cannot hear, and it cannot see, and it cannot benefit you in any way in terms of guidance and direction?"

This is what we should be saying to our people: Why are you worshipping these things? Why are you worshipping money? Why are you worshipping the illusion of power? Why are you worshipping sex in all of the manifest ways sex is being worshipped? Why are you worshipping these things? They can't hear, they can't see, they can't benefit you in any way.

The Call to Follow Revelation

يَا أَبَتِ إِنِّي قَدْ جَاءَنِي مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَمْ يَأْتِكَ فَاتَّبِعْنِي أَهْدِكَ صِرَاطًا سَوِيًّا )Quran) 19:43) - "Oh my father, verily knowledge has come to me that has not come to you, so follow me, and I will guide you to a straight path."