Khutbahs
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Don’t Wait For Others To Ask | Khutbah
There are those in need who hold back from asking to preserve their dignity, and there are those who seek them out instead of waiting for them to be driven to ask in the first place.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. When global hunger is expected to double this next year, and people are losing their jobs, and people are experiencing for the very first time food insecurity, where they have to make a choice whether or not they feed themselves or their children. They have to make a choice whether they pay their cell phone bill or they use whatever money they have to purchase food. They have to make choices that they never had to make about the types of food that they would purchase. And subhanAllah, you have people that because of the hardship that they are in and because this is so new to them, will not go to those that they know, will not go to their local community centers, will not go to their places of worship, will not go to their close circle of friends, but would actually prefer to drive out to a food bank far away, where they know that none of the volunteers will recognize them. Will actually be afraid of a camera that is taking a picture of the lines of cars now that are at every single feeding station. And by the way, this is something that we have to be very conscious of, that many times in our desire to show good efforts, people will snap a camera, will take a camera out, take their phone out, and take pictures of some of these feeding stations. And you'll notice that that person that's rolling down the window, maybe for the first time in their lives, to get a plate of food, is trying to keep their face away. And we have to be conscious of that, we have to be aware of that. I wanted to talk about this from the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ that is narrated in Al-Bukhari and with another variation in Al-Nasa'i, a very powerful hadith about people and asking. He says ﷺ, لَيْسَ الْمَسْكِينُ الَّذِي تَرُدُّهُ الْتَمْرَةَانِ وَالْلُقْمَةُ وَالْلُقْمَةَانِ
The one who is poor is not the one who leaves when you give him a date or two, or give him a small piece of food, a morsel or two. And in one narration, يَطُوفُ حَوْلَ النَّاسِ He's walking around the people with his hand out asking for something here, asking for something there. He said, إِنَّ الْمَسْكِينُ الْمُتَعَفِّفُ He said, the one who really is poor is the one who holds back out of shyness. And he said, اِقْرَأُواْ إِنْ شِئْتُمْ لَا يَسْأَلُونَ الْنَّاسَ الْحَافَةَ Read if you will, they don't ask the people for anything, they don't beg of the people at all. And the Prophet ﷺ is speaking to the hayat, he's speaking to the shyness that a person would have, that they don't want to give up their dignity in the process of asking, that they're shy, that they don't want to be in that situation of asking someone for help. No one wants to be the receiving hand, everyone prefers to be the giving hand. No one wants that to become a normal to them. And that's why there's so much emphasis in Islam on what? On smiling when you give charity, on the way that you look, your body language, on the words that you say, قَوْلٌ مَعْرُوثٌ, right? To say nice words, to say things that are not harmful. Because if it's صَدَقَةَ تَتْبَعُهَا أَذَى, if it's charity that's with harm, then the person who you give charity to would wish they never asked for charity, they would wish that you never gave them anything. Keep your food, keep your help, keep your loan, keep all the money, keep the assistance to yourself if you're going to degrade me when you give it to me. And in reality, society should be set up in a way that people don't have to ask, that people don't have to come forward and ask, but they are actively being surveyed, they are actively being sought out. That instead of the homeless person walking up to your car at an intersection
and hoping that you'll roll down the window, that you're going out and looking for them. That instead of the brother or sister that used to come to the masjid that now is afraid of being asked questions, that might be lowering their head in some sort of shame because of some hardship they're undergoing. That people in the masjid, that their own community is saying, are you okay? Hey, I haven't seen you. Is everything okay? Can I help you? How is your work life going? Are you covered? Is your income okay? Is your family okay? Anything I can do to help you? And actually not probing to be nosy, probing to be helpful by showing concern. Do you need anything? Because people are going to struggle now that have not struggled before. And it's going to be important for us to expand our thoughts, to expand our concern, to expand our asking, and to think about what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is saying here about those who don't ask because they're shy. They don't like that feeling of wanting to ask or needing to ask. And they need people to go look for them instead. And subhanAllah, this is the difference, a subtle difference in the Quran. Pay attention. In Surah Al-Ma'arij, Allah is talking about those who fulfill their obligations. الذين هم على صلاةهم دائمون Those who make sure to pray on time, an obligation. على صلاةهم يحافظون An obligation, they guard their prayers. And how does Allah refer to their charity? وفي أموالهم حق معلوم للسائل والمحروم And in their wealth, there is a known right, حق معلوم An established right للسائل والمحروم For the one who asks and for the one who does not ask, for the one who's forbidden from asking. There is an obligatory right, and this refers to your zakah.
This refers to the obligatory charity that is due out of your wealth for those that are in need. In Surah Al-Dhariyat, which is not too far away from Al-Ma'arij, Allah talks about a different category of people. A people that have moved beyond just establishing their obligatory prayer and their obligatory charity. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions, وفي أموالهم حق للسائل والمحروم Allah mentions that they spend the nights, they spend the nights seeking forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Meaning what? They pray Qiyam al-Lail, they pray Tahajjud, they pray the night prayer, they stand up and petition their Lord and pray to their Lord when others sleep. They don't have to do that. Qiyam is not an obligation. You will not be punished for not praying Qiyam. But they voluntarily wake themselves up and while others sleep, they look for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They look for their Lord. They call out to their Lord. And then Allah mentions the charity here. And look what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says. The same thing He says in Surah Al-Ma'arij, but the word Ma'loom, a known right, is missing. The word Ma'loom is missing. And the scholars say because this is referring to voluntary charity. This is referring to the Sadaqah that comes beyond, the charity that comes beyond the obligatory. It's not an established right on your wealth. It's not that you have to give that extra wealth. It's not that you have to take that extra step. But just like you spend your night looking for your Creator while others sleep, you spend your day looking after the creation while others ignore them. You look for them. You ask about people. You're concerned about people. You give more than what is demanded of you. You give more than the standard.
You look more than what is customarily done. You push others to look more. And that is true for us as individuals and for communities. What is a community of Ihsan? What is a community of excellence? Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to think about this. Every month, when there is any feeding point, anywhere out there, the way that those lines are going to double and triple is overwhelming. It really is overwhelming. That traffic is caused not by people going to work now. Traffic is caused by the lines of cars on a highway to a food bank by people who no longer have a job. As a community, we need to think, how do we go the next level? Before these food banks, before these other institutions come out and ask for us to support them even, how do we go out and offer the manpower and offer the finances to do more? That's at the community level to help people that are struggling with food insecurity for the first time and maintaining their dignity. And then as a community, ourselves, check up on each other. Check up on your neighbors. Ask about those that you used to see in the masjid in normal times. Ask about those that you didn't used to see in the masjid. And this goes beyond wealth. Ask people how their families are. Ask people how their work life is. Ask people if there's anything you can do for them. Push not to be nosy, not to scrutinize, to help, to help. And just offer yourself. Offer yourself to people.
And do that with the intention of embodying this person in surah Zariyat. The one who pays attention to the creator when others don't. And the one who pays attention to the creation while others don't. The one who stands up and invokes the creator at night while others sleep. And the one who goes out and searches out the creation while others turn a blind eye to them. That is ihsan. What does ihsan look like in our individual lives? What does ihsan look like as a community? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enable us, enable us to help those that are in need. To look for those that are in need. May Allah allow us to go beyond what is obligated upon us. To do that which is excellent. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala respond to that for us with excellence. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help each and every single person who is in here, who is listening. Every single person who is struggling. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala see you through your struggles. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala see you through your struggles and your finances with your family. Whatever it may be, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help you through it. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to see each other better. So that we can do better for each other. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shower us all with his mercy and his generosity. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be amongst those that call upon him at night. And that serve his creation in the day. Allahumma ameen.
Allahumma ameen. Allahumma ahliki al-zalimina bil-zalimin wa ikhrijna wa ikhwanan min baynihim salimin. Ibadullah, inna Allah ya'muru bil-adli wal-ihsan wa ita'idhi al-qurba wa yanha'u al-fahsha'i wal-munkari wal-baghi. YaAAibukum laAAalakum tathakkaroon. Fathkuru Allah yathkurukum. Washkuruhu AAala al-ni'ma yizid lakum. Wa la thikru Allahi akbar. Wa Allahu ya'nu wa ma tasna'u.
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