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3 Ways to Save Yourself from Fitna | Khutbah
In this khutbah, Dr. Omar Suleiman explores a powerful hadith that gives three fundamental ways to remain in the protection of Allah in times of turmoil.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him and those that follow in their blessed path until the day of judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahuma ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, last week I spoke about this idea of figuring out what to do when there is so much to do and how to actually choose a path forward and keep our priorities as the priorities that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has intended for us. And I mentioned the narration of Abdullah ibn Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhuma when he was frustrated that a group of people that would have taken place part in the murder of Al-Husayn radiyallahu ta'ala anhum, spilling the blood of the grandson of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, would have the audacity to speak about, you know, whether or not the blood of a mosquito coming on the garment of one would nullify their prayer. Speaking about the idea of priority, priority, priority. Where are your priorities? And then once you see so much that's happening and you can exert yourself towards causes of good in so many different directions, how do you choose which cause? Without becoming completely exhausted and eventually rendered idle. Now last week we spoke about prioritizing action. This week I want to speak about another element of dealing with fitna, which is chaos, turmoil, tribulation. And that is when inaction is actually necessary. When inaction, being intentionally inactive, is actually a good thing and where we hold ourselves back, especially when we don't know what to do. Now this is actually a very important dimension here,
that many of the narrations of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam about the end times are acted upon prematurely throughout Islamic history. So people who thought that the end of times would have been 800 years ago or 900 years ago, that's there. And so they kind of abandoned all things and didn't do anything. So prematurely acted upon some of these ahadith in their most absolute sense. And there are others that deal with these ahadith in a very inappropriate way. Where they use these ahadith to introduce things that are not actually concepts in the religion. And so let's be very clear, when there is a known good to busy yourself with, then it is good to busy yourself with that known good. And when there is a known wrong to combat and to work against, then it is always good to busy yourself in in working against that which is wrong. But then when there's a lot of confusion in between and gray areas and disinformation and chaos and people don't know where to go or what to do, that's where holding yourself back becomes very important in this regard. And so let's talk about this for a moment inshallah ta'ala. Before I get to this beautiful hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, where he gives three fundamental tips that a person can act upon to really keep themselves safe when things become confusing and distracting. This hadith is one in which Abu Umama asks Abu Tha'laba radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, he says this verse in the Quran, alaykum anfusakum, like worry about yourself. Worry about yourself, which is one of those statements that can be good or can be grossly misinterpreted. Right, to mean abandon all others. Worry about yourself. He said does that mean that like we really should not care about society or worry about what's happening outside of ourselves and outside of our homes? How do we deal with this? And he said you know I asked the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that question and he said to me,
bala'it tamiru bil ma'ruf wa tanahu anil munkar. Rather you should enjoy good and you should forbid evil. You should not abandon the act of enjoying good, doing good things and working against that which is not good, working against that which is not wrong. You should enjoy good. You should forbid evil. But he said after that sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, hatta idha ra'ayta shuhhan muta'an, wa hawan muttaba'an, wa dunya mu'thara'atan, wa i'jaabu kulli dhi ra'yin bi ra'ihi, fa alayka bi nafsika wa da'a anka al awam. Powerful narration. He said until you see people reach this level and this particular level by the way is an absolute level, but there are always going to be elements of these things. So he said until you see people reach a point where shuhhan muta'an, shuhhan muta'an means people succumb to their greed. Shuh is a very particular type of greed. It's to hold back what is due to God or due to the people around you. So holding back zakah or not fulfilling the rights of your family, not fulfilling the rights of your society upon you. Holding back your wealth, holding back what you owe to others because people succumb to greed, which is a potential fault or flaw in all of us. They succumb to greed. Shuhhan muta'an or he went on to say wa hawan muttaba'an and people follow their lusts. Now you'll always find greedy people and you'll always find people following their lusts, but the idea that this becomes the dominant order of the world around you that people are shameless in their stinginess and people are openly in obedience or in worship of their lusts and of their desires and then he said wa dunya mu'thara' and you find that people prefer the life of this world to the life of the hereafter very clearly and very openly.
And the next one he said wa i'jaba kulli dhi ra'yin bi ra'yihi. And every person has an opinion on everything. Everyone has an opinion on everything and they're impressed by their own opinion. It's actually a very profound way of putting it. Everyone that could possibly have an opinion has an opinion on everything. So you have an opinion on everything from religion to science to medicine to biology to sociology. You know it all because you got something on WhatsApp that looked very compelling and you forwarded it and you were very compelled by it and very compelling with arguing why it's true. So, you know, there's very little dispute in the world today that there is mass disinformation. The dispute is about who's causing the mass disinformation, right? And who should be checking it not whether or not there is mass disinformation. That's a fact at this point, right? We live in a post-truth world, but everyone that has an opinion has an opinion on everything and is impressed by their own opinion. And if they have the spiritual corruption that is mentioned in the previous three categories, then their opinions are likely to follow that which gives them access to their lusts and makes them feel better about succumbing to their greed. You know, this is the way it is. This is why we're like this. And so everyone sort of succumbs to that. So fitna in this sense makes things very very confusing and very difficult for a person to move forward. So the Prophet ﷺ said, so at that point, alayka binafsik, look, worry about yourself. Wada'a anka al-awam. And leave the things that people are talking about and the affairs of the people, the masses. Stick to yourself. Stick to what you know you should be doing with yourself. And leave off what everybody else is doing and everybody else is thinking of and the gossip of the day. Stick to yourself. So, what are the ways then that you stick to yourself? And what's a healthy way to do that? And this is the narration that I actually wanted to share with you today.
It's a narration from Uqba bin Amir radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. He asked the Prophet ﷺ, Ya Rasulullah, man naja? How do you stay safe? How do you stay saved? How do you protect yourself? We see corruption on the rise. We see a lot of things that we're hearing about and we don't know what to believe and what to not believe. What do I do? Man naja? Greed is overtaking us and the Prophet ﷺ said, I don't fear for you poverty. There's a lot of poverty in the ummah. The Prophet ﷺ said, that's not my fear for you. Poverty is not the fear. In fact, riches are the fear because riches bring with them certain corruption. Global corruption. That's what I worry about for you. Not the poverty part. It's the riches and the corruption that is generated as a result of that. Ya Rasulullah, man naja? Like how do I protect myself? Give me some fundamentals here. And this is where the Prophet ﷺ said three things and listen very carefully. Qala amsik alayka lisanik. Hold your tongue. Learn to hold your tongue. Like grab it and hold it. Not in the physical sense, but restrain this tongue of yours. Hold yourself. Everyone that has an opinion, has an opinion on everything. You, you know what? Learn to practice some silence. Hold your tongue. Abu Bakr ﷺ literally one day was walking around and he was holding his tongue and he was saying, this, this thing has driven me to dangerous places. Because it could be one word you say, one thing that you utter, that totally ruins the life of someone else and ruins your own afterlife. Right? A word of gossip that's actually a word of slander. A word that is displeasing to Allah ﷻ. Like learn to hold it. Even when you're so convinced that you should be saying this, you're weighing in on something you really shouldn't be weighing in on. Learn to not weigh in. Learn to really practice silence.
Amsik alayka lisanik. He's saying this to a sahabi, to a companion, who's righteous and who's afraid. What about a person who doesn't have that level of taqwa, that level of God consciousness that would govern their tongue and their expression and their keyboards. Amsik alayka lisanik. Hold your tongue. And subhanAllah, one of my teachers actually said that a gem from this hadith is that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned holding on to revelation, that the way of the Messenger ﷺ, the Qur'an and the Sunnah, he said, hold on to it with your back teeth, like someone's trying to pull it out of your mouth. And so if you open your mouth to get loose with your tongue about all the nonsense, then the divine revelation and that which is good and righteous will be taken away from you right under your eyes. But a person who's really trying to hold on, guard that which is sacred in their life, practice silence intentionally. You don't have to weigh in on everything. You can learn to be silent and whoever is silent is safe. This is actually a saying and a principle, a great principle in our religion. Not when there is an obvious oppression happening in front of you. Right, you say, no, I'm going to stay silent. No, no, you should say something. Not there, but assumpt when things are not really clear. Not really clear. Learn to amsik alayka lisanak. Don't have an opinion when you're not sure. When you're not sure. And then the Prophet ﷺ said, wal yasa'aka baytuk. Hard, by the way, phrase to translate. Let your home suffice you. You all are just coming out of quarantine and you're like, don't send us back home. Go home, stay home, learn to enjoy your seclusion. Wal yasa'aka baytuk. You know, this literally means let your home encompass you. Let your home suffice you. Like don't, everyone wants to get out all the time. Actually, wal yasa'aka baytuk. Let your home suffice you. Now, the scholars mention two meanings of this. There's a minor opinion and a major opinion and they don't contradict one another. In fact, they enrich one another. The first one, some scholars said, al ihtima' bil ahl.
Focus on your family. Focus on what's in your home. And that parallels ihtinab, leaving off the affairs of everybody else. Like, you know the saying, clean up your own house first. And often you find those that talk about everybody else's homes, the same thing's happening in their house. They're just not aware of it because you're busy talking about everybody else's business. And you're not realizing that those flaws and those diseases are actually penetrating your own home. You're losing your own children. You're losing your own house. So ihtima' focus on your family. And indeed, that's one of the ways that we learned that those who talk about those who taunt others for their sins often end up doing the same sins themselves at some point. Those who taunt other people for their affairs find that those affairs consume their own household. So that's one meaning of this hadith. The second meaning, which is the main meaning, is ilzam baytak. Like, learn to stay home a bit. Learn to be by yourself. Learn to enjoy seclusion. Learn to be introspective and reflective and in a state of contemplation and a state of remembrance. Because if you're talking about everybody else and you're busying yourself with everybody else's stuff, that is disaster waiting to happen. Even if you escape nine times out of ten, that one disaster you fall into could lead to a much greater musiba for you on the day of judgment. So learn to enjoy your house. And this is something that requires some balance. Imam al-Nawawi rahim Allah ta'ala mentions that the believer when they think of when they're leaving their home, they leave and they weigh every time they step out of their home a maslaha diniya or a maslaha dunyawiya. Something that is good for me and my religion or something that's good for my worldly affairs. Meaning I'm going out because this is how can I actually justify, of course back then you don't have the world of social media, I'm stepping out of my house. Why am I stepping out of my house? What's the benefit of me leaving my house right now? And going out. So what's the religious benefit or what's the worldly benefit? Am I going to work? Am I going to benefit myself?
Am I going to increase myself in risk and sustenance? Or am I wasting my time and wasting my good deeds in the process as well? So why am I leaving my house? The opposite extreme though, some people use this hadith to stop coming to the masjid, their start, stop going to good things or doing good things. And the masjid is baytul kulli mu'min as the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam said. It's the home of every believer. And the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam said the gardens of dhikr, the gardens of remembrance and knowledge are gardens of paradise on this earth. You need to immerse yourself in those gardens. So some people use this and they disappear and they say, you know, I'm practicing some seclusion right now. And that's actually a form of self-delusion because we need these places. We need these good gatherings and these good places and these volunteer opportunities and ways that we can do good for ourselves and do good for the world. Wal yasa'aka baytuk does not discourage this in any way. Wal yasa'aka baytuk means, you know, learn to actually enjoy being alone by yourself sometimes and not diving into a lot of these different things. And there's something very profound and I hope inshallah you'll remember this because it actually blew me away when I read it in the context of this hadith. The scholar said if you look at the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam, he never forgot his adhkar, his remembrance when he stepped out of his home. And what are those two adhkar? Two phrases of remembrance, two adhkar that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam always would say when he left his home. The first one, Bismillah, tawakkaltu ala Allah, la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. In the name of Allah, I depend upon Allah, la hawla wa la quwwata, tawakkaltu ala Allah, la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. There's no power, no might except for that which is with Allah, with God. And what did the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam say happens? The devil flees you. The angel calls out and says, hudita wa kufita wa wuqita. You're going to be guided for the day. You're going to be protected for the day from your enemy.
You will be protected for the day for any type of harm that would come to you. Hudita wa kufita wa wuqita. And this is one narration, but the other narration, listen very carefully and I want you to try to practice this in the Quran. I want you to practice this inshallah ta'ala. And I'll hold myself to it as well. Umm Salama radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha says, maa kharaja an-nabiyu sallallahu alayhi wasallama min bayti qat illa rafa'a tarfahu ila as-samaa. I love the imagery here. And I actually just thought about it today. She said, every time the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam left my house, and he never left my house except that he would do this, he'd look up to the sky. He'd look up to the sky. And I want you to practice this inshallah ta'ala. He'd look up to the sky and he would say, Allahumma inni a'udhu bika an-adilla aw udhal, aw azilla aw uzal, aw adhlima aw udhlam, aw ajhala aw yujhala alayya. So profound. He would say, oh Allah, Allahumma inni a'udhu bika an-adilla aw udhal. Oh my Lord, I seek refuge in you from going astray or leading astray. Leading or going astray. Or leading astray. Being led astray. Aw azilla aw uzal. Or to slip or cause to slip. Or be made to slip. Aw adhlima aw udhlam. Or to oppress or to be oppressed. I don't want to be misguided. I don't want to fall. I don't want to oppress. And I don't want any of those things happening to me either. Or the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, aw ajhala aw yujhala alayya. Or to do wrong or to have wrong done towards me. This is profound. Like think about the intentionality of stepping out of your house every single day and looking up and saying this dua. I pray that we can practice it. Maybe not every time, but at least we can start bringing this in as a sunnah when you walk out of your home. And you make that dua. Even if you're in your car, driving out of your garage, if you're coming out of a garage.
Say the dua. And think about the implications of this dua. Like I'm trying to leave my home today and I don't want to cause harm to anyone. Nor do I want this harm to be caused towards me. So this is a profound way that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam used to engage every single time he walks out of his home, walks into the world. I don't want to harm, be misguided, nor do I want those things to happen to me. So wal yasa'aka baytuk. And obviously if you connect with social media, if you dive into social media when you're at home, it kind of defeats the purpose of this hadith. The hadith means disconnect. The hadith means, you know, learn how to cut off and enjoy yourself in seclusion and in solitude. The last one the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, Wabki ala khati'atik. And cry over your sins. What this means is that many people focus on either the future uncertainty of the world or the current gossip about other people's flaws. And you have plenty of current and past baggage that you need to cry about and you need to get out of yourself to really exert yourself towards Allah. And he is merciful and he will forgive you when you ask for his forgiveness. But let that be your concern. Some people talk about the fitna, the fitna. And I think the end of the world, you know, I heard the Sheikh say 2022. 2022 came, alright, the world didn't end. Well, he got the calc, he meant 2222. You know, he read the Quran wrong. So I think it's 2222, you know, and you're likely not going to be around at that time if it's even around, right? But like this is happening and you see this happening. And so what causes them anxiety and paralysis is what? Everything that might happen. Or what causes them distraction and delusion is the flaws of other people. And the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying, bring it back to yourself. You've got your own flaws to work on. Wabki ala khati'atik. Let that be which keeps you, you know, concerned. I've got things that I don't want to meet Allah with.
I don't know when I'm going to meet him, but I know I will meet him. Let me work on those things and do that dirty laundry. Rather than trying to indulge in the dirty laundry of everybody else. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us from that delusion. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us to that which is pleasing to Him in all of our affairs. Allahumma ameen. Aqoolu qawli hadha wa istaghfirullah li walakum wa risala al muslimeen. Wa ta'ala yasakfiru anna hu al-ghafurur raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulihi al kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een. Allahumma khfir lil mu'mineen wa lil mu'minat, wa lil muslimeen wa lil muslimat, al-ahya'i minhum wa l-amwat. Innaka sami'un qareebun. Wajeebu al-da'awat. Allahumma khfir lana wa arhamna, wa a'fu anna wa la tu'adhibna. Rabbana zalamna anfusana wa in lam takhfir lana wa tarhamna. Lanakoon nana minal khasireen. Allahumma innaka a'fu wa in tuhibbu al-afwa fa a'fu anna. Allahumma khfir liwalidina, rabbir hamhuma kamarabbuna sighara. Rabbana hablana min azwajina wa dhurriyatina qurra ta'ayun. Waja'anna lil muttaqina imama. Allahumma ansur ikhwana al-mustad'afina fi mashariki al-ardi wa magharibiha. Allahumma aizzal al-islam wa al-muslimeen, wa athilla al-shirka wa al-kathibeen. Wadammir a'da ad-deen. Allahumma ahlik al-zalimeen, abd al-zalimeen. Akhrijna wa ikhwana min baynihim salimeen. Ibadallaha anallahi ya'muru bil-adli wal-ihsani wa ita'idhi al-qurba. Wayanha anil fahsha'i wal-munkari wal-baghi. Ya'idhukum la'allakum tathakkaroon. Fathkurullahi yathkurukum. Washkuruhu alil ni'ma yazid lakum. Wala dhikrullahi akbar. Wallahu ya'numu ma tasna'oon. Waqimassalam.
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