Khutbahs
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Maintaining Character in Chaos and Confusion | Khutbah
With the collective decay in decency and greed that has no bounds, it’s important for us to reflect on how much of it we have potentially ingested. Dr. Omar Suleiman speaks about the importance of maintaining good character in all circumstances.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. We begin by bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam 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 his blessed path until the day of judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, I hope you can appreciate how difficult it would be to come up with a khutbah today that is beneficial, that speaks to how people are feeling, but also fulfills the purposes of being a reminder. And I was thinking deeply about where we started four years ago. And I was trying to think about what the khutbahs were about then, and how we were discussing the entrance of a new president and a new way of thinking and a new demeanor in this country. And I wanted to sort of pick up on that note, which is for us to reflect on our own character. Because that's the purpose of a juma khutbah, is for us to also think about our own character and how we have changed. Or how we may have changed, or how we may have knowingly or unknowingly ingested some of the ways that have become normal around us, in the ways that we speak, in the ways that we act, and in our collective character. And subhanAllah, that's something that, whether you look through the books of history, or the books of taskiya, the books of spirituality, you find that there is a connection between the way that a person at the top behaves, and how that translates into the collective character of a people, the collective environment and righteousness, or lack of righteousness.
So you find the saying of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, rahimahullah ta'ala, that when Umar ibn Abdul Aziz was in charge, when he became the khalifa, that the wolves would not attack the sheep, because he established such a character of justice, that even wolves would not attack sheep. And we know that when Isa alayhi salam returns, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam told us that even the animals, a child would play with a python and not have to worry. That justice would be established even across the animals. Now before I go any step further, I am not suggesting Joe Biden is Umar ibn Abdul Aziz or Jesus. Let's be very, very clear for a moment inshaAllah ta'ala. I'm talking about the concept that existed then. The reality is that to much of the world, it doesn't matter who the American president is, because the way they know America is through bombs and violence and drones. No matter whether it's a democrat or a republican. So we will have our own issues to deal with if he indeed becomes president, and it's not, إذا جاء نصر الله والفتح. We have to think deeply and we have to challenge and deal with evolving circumstances as they come. However, one thing is for sure, that the unique foulness and vulgarity of the last four years has led to a collective social decay. The way that people talk to each other. You can barely use social media, and you can see the way that people have become in the way that they talk to each other. And that's not all the fault of one man. But when you have to hide your children away from political debates, because you don't want them to see the foulness and the vulgarity and just the nature of the way things have become, the descent of basic common dignity, that's something. Now I want to start from a higher level of this though. There are things that we learn from the Quran and the Sunnah about the nature of fitna as a whole, the nature of confusion and chaos as a whole, that are just so telling and they are timeless.
And some of those things is that behind every fitna, even when there are noble slogans, there are lowly agendas. When fitna arises in society, when chaos and confusion arises in society, there are lowly agendas that spark fitna. And sometimes under noble banners, people get taken on a ride. That is true from the very start of man. SubhanAllah, I was talking to an uncle in Jordan a few years ago. This isn't to put Jordan on the spot by the way, this is just the nature of conversation. And we were talking about the original story of Adam alayhi salam and Iblis. And he said, why does Iblis hate me so much? What did I do to him? So subhanAllah, what made Iblis say that I'm going to take all of you on a ride, your entire descendants, I'm going to ruin all of them and spoil all of them. Why? Because he felt like his degree in Jannah was taken away. He felt like his position, and again please don't read modern day politics into my stories here, I'm talking about character here, but his degree, his favor was taken away and it was like, you know what, I'm going to destroy all of them. He could care less about everybody, everybody, all of the children of Adam alayhi salam, I'll leave them all astray, they can all go to hell. That's the way he's going to approach us. I'm going to leave them all to hellfire with me. That is what you'd call narcissism at an added level, we call narcissism nafs. Ego gone violent. And subhanAllah, throughout history you find wars that have been waged. Wars, people killing each other in the millions, the thousands, the hundreds of thousands, the millions, over what? Over egos.
And then the egos inspire some sort of politics of their time, and then it just becomes chaos and people start to get at each other's throats. And you have people that get caught up in the confusion and in the chaos, and they don't realize what's happening. And it all comes down to what? The fitna of people that do not care about anything but themselves. Because a narcissist is subject to his nafs, says, you know what, forget about everybody. That's what corporate greed is, that's what dictatorship is, that's how every fir'awn has lived, that's how every tyrant has lived, and by the way, I want us to reflect on ourselves. On ourselves, each and every single one of us. When you see signs of hypocrisy, when you see evil becoming prevalent, you should not start to assign other people to that evil. Your first place to look has to be in your own heart, in your own life, and in the way that you act, and in the way that you go about your own business. And that's what I want to talk about. وَإِذَا خَاصَمَ فَجَرَ You know, subhanAllah, I was just thinking about these signs of a hypocrite, where the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said that when he speaks, he lies. When he makes a promise, he breaks his promise. وَإِذَا وَعْدَ أَخْلَفَ إِذَا أَتُّمِنَ خَان When he's entrusted with something, then he breaks that trust, so he divulges secrets, or is not one who can be trusted. But that last one is very interesting, because it's the most abstract. وَإِذَا خَاصَمَ فَجَرَ When they get into an argument, or when they get angry, they go overboard. They blow things up beyond what they need to be blowing up. They go too far in the midst of an argument. And subhanAllah, you know, khusuma, for us to argue, is just as natural as the other three parts of our lives, which are, we're going to make promises, inshaAllah we won't break them, we will speak, either truth or lying, but we will speak, and people will take us at our word sometimes,
and we pray that Allah azzawajal allows us to be truthful in our words and our actions. We will be entrusted, no matter who we are, right? So it's natural, we're going to have arguments, but the hypocrite goes too far. فَجَرَ, burns things down, breaks things up, becomes too vulgar, becomes too foul, does not consider the proportionality of that argument. And subhanAllah, what does Allah tell us in surah al-Hujurat? وَإِن طَائِفَتَانِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِينِينَ اَقْتَتَلُوا فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَهُمَا Two parties fight, sit them together, try to reconcile. We are so in need of these people of islah. There's a reason why they are shaded by the throne on the day of judgment, and they have such a privilege with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The people that will be on pulpits, because the people that sit two people together and say, let's stop this, let's work together, let's stop hurting people, let's stop the collateral damage, very few people can do that. It's a very unpopular and uncomfortable position to be in, in the middle of a table with two people that want to either virtually or physically choke each other out. But you do that because you want to save them from themselves, and you want to save the whole community from eating too much of pain, and the collateral damage, emotional, physical, social, collateral damage that happens to communities. And subhanAllah, what does Allah azza wa jalla say? اِن بَغَتْ اِحْدَاهُمَا عَلَى الْاُخْرَى فَقَاتِلُوا الَّتِى تَبْغِي You know, if one of them is not willing to sit, all of you gather against that person. All of you stop that. Everyone put that person in their place, put that group in their place, because the collective of the community is too important. Society is too important. For everyone to go down a route because of one fajr, or because of one group of fujur.
Again, I'm not talking Republicans and Democrats, I'm talking you and I. I'm talking us, in our own personal lives, in our family lives, in our community lives. How many times is the collateral of an argument, the emotional and social and spiritual well-being of a bunch of people that don't need to be subjected to that. Take ourselves to task. The believer, ما آمن النفاق إلا منافق. As we know from Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, no one, no one, feels safe from hypocrisy except for a hypocrite. Go back and look, and subhanAllah, one of the things that the scholars mentioned by the way, وَإِذَا خَاصَمَ فَجَرَ, there's the obvious, ليس المؤمن بالطعان. The believer is not طعان, لعان, فاحش, بذيء. The believer is not abusive, is not harmful. The believer does not curse. The believer does not become vulgar. The believer does not mock or taunt or become abusive. These are not the characteristics of a believer. حياء is the khuluq of Islam. Modesty is the khuluq of Islam. It's the character of Islam. It's our collective character. It doesn't matter how everybody else speaks. We never become vulgar. We never become abusive. We never start to taunt and use mockery, even if it becomes the societal decorum. We don't become that way. So there's the obvious there. The character of the voice is unnecessarily. The way that we would start to bring people's families into it, and we'd start to curse and yell. SubhanAllah, how many masjid arguments, damaged children, that already are having a hard time holding on to their deen, and they see the silliness of personal egos, that start to go at each other and think, no, mu'mineen, believers, we do not engage in fujoor. And of course, social media is also fajrah. It's much easier there, because it's easier to type out abusive language than to actually say it to someone's face. But it has the same impact. It has the same effect. We don't become those people, right?
But there's another thing that subhanAllah, the ulama mention, which honestly, I think is the hardest one to apply. And again, a believer, a believer, sees the signs of hypocrisy, and is worried. Because if Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu feared hypocrisy, who am I to not fear hypocrisy? If that person of taqwa, of piety, feared it so much, who am I not to fear it, and to take into consideration when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam gives us signs. How truthful are you when you speak? Do you break promises? Do you divulge people's secrets? Are you not one who can be trusted? And that last one, wa idha khasan wa fajr, you know what the ulama say? They say the majority of this, the majority of this, is when you have a haq, you have a right to respond. Meaning someone actually has done something to you in that argument, and the best thing to do, the best thing to do, is to act the way the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would act in these things. Right? To be the bigger person. To take the moral high ground, to have the bigger heart, to say may Allah forgive you, to squash it. That's the best thing to do. The second thing, which is allowable, is to respond in like manner. Right? To respond in like manner. Whether it's in the midst of argument, or it's in the midst of a dispute, or things of that sort, that is allowed. That's adl in society, that's setting a foundation of justice in society, and in our interpersonal dealings. But the third one, they say that the hypocrite uses istikhlal, he takes advantage of the opportunity, where he now knows he has the right to respond, and he goes way overboard in the response. So it just becomes way out of proportion. Fajr, explosion. Let's ask ourselves, arguments, disputes, are a part of our lives. Family disputes, friends disputes,
I don't know what you call social media disputes, it's all part of who we are in our new way of living. Political disputes, you know what, we're not going to takfir anyone over their politics. As crazy as their politics may be. Alright? All of these disputes. WhatsApp groups, things of that sort. It's a part of our lives to argue and to get into disputes, and obviously we should try to minimize it as much as possible. But am I someone that always just escalates it way too much, and goes way too far and becomes foul and vulgar? That's not how a believer is. That's not the way our Prophet ﷺ taught us to be. And a narcissist is subject to his nafs, burns it all down. I don't care who's going to be abused and damaged by witnessing this. The Prophet ﷺ taught us what? The complete opposite. You know what? I'll let my nafs take a little bit of a hit, for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Let my ego get a little bruised, and I'll move on. Swallow it. Let my nafs take a hit, because nafs is a barrier between me and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. No one else should suffer, no one else should witness this, whatever. Because we all need to work on our nafus, ourselves. And so yes, we have collective moral decay, and collective character decay that we need to work on. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow that to start in our own selves, in our own homes, in our own chambers, in our own communities, in our own societies. And yes, establish a foundation of justice and accountability, and these things that have to be present in society. But never become subjected to narcissism, and evil lowliness, in the name of upholding noble truths. Allah does not need that type of behavior from us, and Allah certainly does not accept that type of behavior from us, no matter what it is. May Allah protect us from the evil of ourselves, and the evil of all that is around us,
the evil externally, and the evil internally. May Allah purify us and purify through us, guide us and guide through us. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be sources of good, wherever we may be. And let our hearts be the first to absorb that good. May Allah guide us and guide through us, rectify us and rectify through us. Allahuma Ameen. I say this and ask Allah to forgive you and the Muslims, so ask forgiveness, for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon His Noble Messenger, and upon his family and all his companions. Allahuma gharfir lil mu'mineena wa lil mu'minat, wa lil muslimeena wa lil muslimat, al ahyaa'i minhum wal amwat, innaka sami'un qareebun wujeebul da'wat, Allahuma gharfir lana wa rhamna, wa a'fu anna wa la tu'adhibna, rabbana wa zalamna anfusana, wa in lam takhfir lana wa tarhamna, inna kunnana minal khasireen, Allahuma innaka ahuun kareemun tuhibbul afwa fa'fu anna, Allahuma gharfir liwalideena, rabbir hamhuma kama rabbawna sighara, rabbana hablana min azwajina wa dhuriyatina qurrat a'yun, waja'alna lil muttaqina imama, Allahuma nsul ikhwanil mustad'afina fee mashariqil ardi wa magharibiha, Allahuma nsul ikhwanil mustad'afina fee mashariqil ardi wa magharibiha, Allahuma aslih ahwala ikhwanil mankoobina fee kulli makan, la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inna kunna minal zalimeen, la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inna kunna minal zalimeen, la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inna kunna minal zalimeen, la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inna kunna minal zalimeen, Ibadullah, anna Allah ya'muru bil adli wal ihsan wa ita'idil qurba wa yanha'an al fahsha'i wal munkari wal baghi, ya'ibukum la'alakum tathakkaroon, fathkuru Allah yadhkurukum wa shkuruhu ana ni'ma yazid lakum, wala dhikru Allahi akbar, wallahu ya'lumu ma tasna'oon, wa aqimu salatun. wala dhikru Allahi akbar, wallahu ya'lumu ma tasna'oon, wa aqimu salatun.
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