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In these final nights, point the way to faith.

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Acts of Worship

Transcript

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
We begin as always by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and sending his peace and blessings upon his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the prophets and messengers 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, if everyone could do me a favor and move forward just a little bit inshallah ta'ala. If everyone in front of me can please move forward just a little bit inshallah ta'ala. I wanted to begin today's khutbah with a perspective that I've never seen myself but I know with certainty exists. And it's the opposite side of the perspective that we've had over the last few days of these videos and images of our brothers and sisters crushed under rubble, in earthquakes, and the devastation that we see from this side of the portal. And I want you to imagine that there's a door between this dunya and the next realm. And the people on this side of it see one thing and the people on the other side of it see another thing. And for a moment, I want you to consider being on the other side of that door. You hear a sound and if you are amongst the righteous souls, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala count us all amongst them. Allahuma Ameen. Everyone rushes to receive the believing soul that has entered. You just witnessed one of the largest entrances of shuhada into this realm in a pretty long time. Thousands of people all entering, being dressed with honor, celebrating their new abode. And you're going to them and everyone is hugging and celebrating and saying,
Welcome to your jannah. Welcome to your next life. Welcome to a life of no pain. Welcome to a life of no trauma. And on the other side of that door, you have the bodies that are left over. You have the crushed homes that could not be inhabited even if they died a quote-unquote natural death. And you have the people that are left behind in grief and in confusion. And with a whole lot of pain. Now subhanAllah, I want you to imagine if the battle of Uhud would have happened in a world of social media. And the images of Hamza radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and Musab radiyaAllahu anhu and those people, the most righteous people to walk the face of the earth as a generation. Their bodies that have been cruelly dealt with, the images of those bodies were constantly going around. And Muslims around the world were sharing those images and looking at that. Or if you witnessed Asiya alayhi salam from this side of the portal. You know, we've witnessed it from the other side because all we have from Asiya is the end. And we have her jannah side. Looking at the laughter and the happiness and the joy. But if you were living in the time of Firaun and Asiya and you were in that gathering, one of the helpless people that had to go with the orders of Firaun at the time, and you were seeing what was being done to Asiya alayhi salam. And what that might do to your faith. Or if you lived at the time of the Firaun of this ummah, Abu Jahl, and you watched him poking at the body of Sumayya radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, the first shaheed of Islam, the first martyr of Islam, and felt a great deal of helplessness. You might be paralyzed. And that captures the sentiment sometimes as we are watching from this side, what happens to people when they exit this world, especially if it is a traumatic exit.
And subhanAllah, what do you hear from people when they lose their loved ones? Alhamdulillah, they didn't suffer. And what they mean by that usually is that it wasn't a prolonged death. You know, the body, even if it's intact when it's put in the ground, the earth will do with the body what the earth does with the body, except in the miraculous situations. But alhamdulillah, it wasn't a prolonged traumatic exit, right? And they'll think about it in that way. And what does the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam say in an authentic hadith? ما يجد الشهيد من مس القتل إلا كما يجد أحدكم من مس القرصة He said in an authentic hadith sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam that the shaheed, the martyr, and we ask Allah that each and every single one of our brothers and sisters that died in this earthquake is a shaheed. Allahuma ameen. That the martyr, whether it is sahibul hadm, the one that was crushed by something, or the one that was killed by something, he said sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, the martyr does not feel the pain of death except like one of you feels the bite of a bug. Al-Izz ibn Abdus Salam rahimahullah commented, he said, the bite of a flea. That's what Asiya felt alayhi as-salam. That's what Sumayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha felt as she exited this world. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has transitioned them to a place that we cannot perceive. But that what they are perceiving is far greater than anything that they had in this life while they were still here. And then you say, well, what about the years of cruelty? What about the days under oppression? What about the long days before they passed away if they had long days before they passed away? They will not remember the cruelty. They will not remember the long days. They won't even remember a life of oppression with one dip in Jannah as the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said. Not a moment under the crushing rubble, not a moment under the crushing oppression of a tyrant.
But that doesn't mean that we should not be doing everything we possibly can to pull them from under the rubble and to pull them from under the crushing fist of a tyrant. What that says, dear brothers and sisters, is that we're human and that the way that we feel is because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has put these human emotions inside of us. It is rahma, it is mercy to cry when you see brothers and sisters in pain. It is yaqeen, it is certainty to know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has a recourse for that pain. And those two emotions are not contradicting ones. They're just part of our own human dilemma. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not punish us for our human feelings. In fact, He rewards us if we act despite those feelings and even more so if we channel those feelings towards acting for His pleasure. And that contradiction is captured by the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam in another hadith that's also authentic. He said sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, يَكْرَهُهُمَا إِبْنُ آدَمٌ There are two things that the child of Adam hates. يَكْرَهُ الْمَوْتُ He hates death. يَكْرَهُ الْمَوْتُ خَيْرٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ مِنَ الْفِتْنَةِ But death is better for the believer than being tried. Being tried in what way? In regards to their deen. Death is better than having fitna in your deen. It's better to leave this world than to be tested in it in a way that will take away from your hereafter. But we hate death. We all hate death and that's part of the human feeling that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has put inside of us. وَيَكْرَهُ قِلَّةَ الْمَالِ He hates to be deficient in regards to his wealth. No one likes to have less money. وَقِلَّةُ الْمَالِ أَقَلُّ لِلْحِسَابِ He said salallahu alayhi wa sallam, but less money means lesser accountability on the day of judgment. So for some people, poverty is actually better for them, but they still hate poverty and that's understandable.
The problem is not that they hate poverty. The problem is if their poverty or their hatred for poverty leads them to a hatred of the Lord of the worlds and leads them to this conundrum and this dilemma of not understanding anymore their purpose, why they are here in the first place. And so yes, it's hard to keep perspective when pain is imminent or when it's overwhelming. And even when we have perspective, it doesn't negate our sense of pain. Just like the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam cried while holding his dead son even though he knew that his son was going to the care of Ibrahim alayhi salam in paradise. He still cried salallahu alayhi wa sallam because perspective doesn't negate pain. It just keeps it within certain guidelines. It keeps it within a certain understanding. It keeps it measured, controlled, but it doesn't negate it. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has not asked us to negate that pain. We feel pain, but we maintain perspective. And when it comes to the philosophical side of things, and subhanAllah, I want to actually say from the onset, I cannot solve your philosophical problem with a 15-minute khutbah. There is a wonderful paper that our Sheikh Mohammed al-Shinawi, hafidhahullah, has written, Why do people suffer? God's existence and the problem of evil. Why do people suffer? God's existence and the problem of evil. And there are many other resources that we'll mention another day inshallah ta'ala. And if the question bothers you enough philosophically, then at least be willing to do the reading that is necessary to help you come to terms with it. So if you need to read some papers, if you need to look into this, and to help put your pain in perspective, then do so. But in brief, with this khutbah that we have, we don't know why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does what he does. We don't know why he allows what he allows. But what we do know is that it's never without purpose, and the believer is never without reward.
Nothing strikes the believer without purpose, and everything that strikes the believer carries potential reward. Not always. So what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to be focusing on the human component of this. The mu'min asks, the believer asks, did my sins harm and can my sadaqah help? How do I not hurt and how do I help? Because we understand a collective responsibility, that all of our individual actions play into the entire scheme of our collective existence, and that's where we look to. And we're introspective. And when we start to be introspective, we realize that natural disasters aren't always as natural as we think they are. Our role might be bigger than we initially assume. A famous hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, la takumu sa'a hatta yuqbadu al ilmu wa takthuru al zalazil wa yatakarab al zaman wa tathahar al fitan wa yakthuru al harj, ayyil qatil, hatta yakthuru feekum al malu fayafil. He said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that the hour will not come until six things happen. Knowledge is taken away. How? By the death of the scholars. Is that just because all scholars die, or is that because we fail to act on the mandate of transferring the sacred knowledge and formulating greater institutions and people that care for this ilm and want to pass it down and live in accordance with it? It's both. There's a human component to it. And earthquakes being frequent, there's a human component to that as well. And when it comes to time passing quickly, there's a loss of barakah, a loss of blessing in time. Why is that? As Ibn Hajar Rahim Allah says, because of the insertion of sin into that time. Sins deplete barakah, they deplete the blessing that we have in our time. Until tathahar al fitan, until affliction starts to appear. And then murder increases, and people don't even know why they're killing anymore.
That's certainly a human component. We don't say to the murderer, you murdered because Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala told you to do so. Even as we hope for the reward for the murdered. There's a human component. And money spreads through greed. All of these things are interconnected, and they all have a human action involved within them. And so when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, dhahar al fasaadu fil barri wal bahri bima tasabat aydi al nas li yudheekahum ba'da allathee amilu wa la'allahum yarji'oon Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says that corruption has appeared on the land and on the seas because of what man's hands have earned. And in the process, they taste some of what they have earned, so that they may return to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So that the place where we are all compensated for our good or our evil, may Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make us people of righteousness, is a place where we are entirely compensated for good and forgiven for the harm that we have. But this ayah is profound, because extreme weather is a response to extreme human behavior and negligence. Whether you speak of our sins collectively, or the sin of the greedy sabotaging the climate, all of it is connected. And also the idea of the earth quaking is a reminder of what? Of a day that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, idha zurzeeratil ardu zilzaalaha The thing that you consider the most stable in this dunya is the earth beneath you. When there comes a day when people cannot even look down and depend upon the earth being stable anymore, then what hope do they have in the stability of dunya as a whole? Except that they come back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So it's a reminder. idha zurzeeratil ardu zilzaalaha wa akhrajatil ardu athqaalaha wa qaala al insanu maa laha yawma idhin tuhaddithu akhbaaraha The day that that ultimate quake comes, and everything is expelled from within, and then all the secrets and the deeds are put forth. Remember that you are not in control like you think you are.
Remember that you are more vulnerable than you think you are. You never go to sleep thinking that I might wake up in the middle of an earthquake. No one went to sleep that night thinking that that was a possibility. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala have mercy on them all. That's a reminder for all of us. na'alluhum yamji'oon To turn back to our Creator because He is inevitable. He is inevitable, and our meeting with Him is inevitable as well. So we come back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala collectively to make sure that He is most pleased with us when we do go back to Him, and we leave His wisdom to Him while focusing on attaining His mercy. Leave His wisdom to Him, focus on attaining His mercy. And subhanAllah there is a hadith that's been going around in these last few days, which is a beautiful hadith, and when you pull back the context of it, it's even more beautiful. So there is a whole story to the narration of this hadith. Abi Burda, rahimahullah, says, bayna ana waqifun fissuq fee imarati ziyat He said, I was walking in the marketplace one day, idh darabtu bi ihta yadaiyya alal ukhra ta'ajjuban And I started, like I clearly looked bothered, as I was clasping my hands together. So a man came up to me, and he told me that his father was a companion of the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam. So Abu Burda is a tabi'i, and he's walking in the marketplace, and he's bothered, and a young man comes up to me and says, I am a son of one of the companions of the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam. mimma ta'ajub? What's causing you stress? Why are you doing that? Why are you looking around so disappointed with the state of the world around you? What's happening? Listen to what he says. He says, a'jabu min qawmin dinuhum wahid wa nabiyuhum wahid wa da'watuhum wahida wa hajjuhum wahid wa ghazwuhum wahid yastahillu ba'duhum qatla ba'd He said, you know what I'm disappointed by? You know what's making me do this? I am amazed by a people
who have one religion, one prophet, one hajj, one da'wah, one qibla. They're supposed to be one ummah, yet some of them are making the blood of others halal. I can't understand how we got to this point. We're one generation removed from the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam being amongst us, and already you have Muslims turning on each other, and allowing the killing of this person and the killing of that person, and coming up with these extreme ideas. What happened to us? And then the young man said, fala ta'jab Do not be amazed. fa inni sam'i'tu walidi I heard my father, who is his father? Abu Musa al-Ashari radiAllahu anhu. This is the son of Abu Musa al-Ashari. I heard my father Abu Musa al-Ashari radiAllahu anhu say, anahu sam'i'a rasoolAllahi sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam yaqul ummati hadhi ummatun marhuma laysa alaiha azabun fil aakhira azabuha fid dunya al-fitanu wal-zalazilu wal-qatil He said, I heard my father say that the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam said, that my ummah, this ummah of mine, is an ummah that has Allah's mercy. Why? Its trauma, its punishment is not in the aakhira. The hardship that this ummah will face is not the hardship of the hereafter. Its hardship is in the tribulations, in the dissension, and in the earthquakes, az-zalazil. Now, the earthquakes part, that part is just like if a natural medical condition comes to you, right? You know, for the most part, right? These are things that we have no control of. What's the part that's bothering Abu Burda? He's bothered by the people that are self-inflicting harm on this ummah. The Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam is saying, the real harm is in the aakhira. The real harm is in the hereafter. And the one who meets Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala clean there is going to be okay. But he's also saying that the tests of this ummah are primarily self-inflicted.
And Abu Huraira radiAllahu ta'ala said as much. Abu Huraira narrates authentically, إِنَّ هَٰذِهِ الْأُمَّةُ مَرْحُومَ لَا عَذَابَ عَلَيْهَا إِلَّا مَا عَذَّبَتْ هِيَ أَنفُسَهَا SubhanAllah. He said this ummah is an ummah that has been showered with Allah's mercy. No punishment comes to it except with the way it punishes itself. And they said how is that? And he started to cite the fitna. He said look at the people. People turning on each other. The same la ilaha illallah muhammadun rasulullah. The same deen and they turn on each other. Why? Why are they turning on each other? So it's self-inflicted. And that was the part that bothered the companions. That was the part that bothered the tabi'een. Because they understood that everything has divine recourse. But if I am part of that self-inflicting harm on this ummah, I better be ready to answer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for that. Because that has akhira consequences. That has consequences in the hereafter. The hereafter is nothing but mercy for the believers. It's nothing but misery for the manufacturers of misery in this life. And I need to make sure that I'm in the former category. Not in the latter category in any way. So we take ownership of ourselves. We leave the divine to the divine. And we look to perfect our human responses as pious believers. Poverty, al-faqr is evil. And how many conditions that the Syrian people in particular were already living in our pre-existing conditions that are inflicted by aggression and neglect. Don't just look at that and say, oh, astaghfirullah, la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. Where were we? And it's strange, subhanallah, some of the strangest people, and I don't usually like to bring politics to this khutbah, but the strangest people are those that will whitewash Bashar al-Assad's crimes against his people. Hundreds of thousands of people. Gassing them and killing them. And then will turn around and feel sorry for them after the earthquake.
Where were you? You're whitewashing that crime? You're saying that's okay? But now you're upset? Now you're concerned? So let's not try to abdicate our responsibility now. If you have gross theology or gross politics, you're not going to have a healthy intervention into this. And those two things often go together, and they come from a place of a aqidah problem. The last thing I'll say, dear brothers and sisters, is that people in devastation don't need your philosophy, they need your empathy. They don't need you to unravel this in your mind and figure out, how did God let this happen, and can I go have a two-hour session with a sheikh so they can help me understand how? They need you to be there for them right now. And wallahi, sometimes the people in devastation have the most clarity, despite their trauma, and the people that are furthest from them have no clarity, despite their privilege. You talk to people that have suffered in these conflicts, and they have iman and yaqeen that you envy. And people far away are questioning why this happened to them, and are paralyzed into inaction, because I don't know why this happened to them. That's not going to help anyone. Evil doesn't need you to understand why it's happening. Evil needs you to eradicate it. And in the same way, when personal tragedy strikes us, we spend less time focused on why it happened, the impossible answer to why Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala allows specific things to happen to us. We spend more time on what specific things we can be doing to make this tragedy favorable for us in our dunya and in our akhirah. Spend less time on the why, more time on the what. The people need us to look for ways to support them bi'idhn Allahi ta'ala. How can I help? How can I not harm? How can I help? How can I not harm? May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala expiate from us any sins that bring about hardship upon this ummah, and any sins that cause us destruction in this dunya or in the akhirah. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala be
with our brothers and sisters in Syria and in Turkey, and all of those that are struck by disaster, that which is obviously caused by the hands of man, and that which sometimes is more subtle. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala help our brothers and sisters and allow us to be a means by which he helps them. Allahuma ameen. Aqoolu qawli hadha wa astaghfirullah wa li barakum wa risala al muslimeen, faistaghfiru innahu wa alghfurur raheem. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasoolillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Rabbana la tuakhidna in nasina wa akhta'na. Rabbana wa la tahmil alayna isran kama hamaltahu aladhina min qablina. Rabbana wa la tahamilna ma la taqata lana bih. Wa'fu anna wa khfir lana wa rahamna. Anta mawlana fa nsurna ala alqawmi alkafirin. Ibadullahana Allah ya'muru bil adli wa al ihsan wa itaadil qurba wa yanha al fahsha'i wa almunkari wa albaghi. Ya'idukum la'alakum tathakkarun. Fathkuru Allah yathkurukum wa shukuruhu ala ni'ma yazid lakum. Waladhikru Allahi akbar. Wallahu ya'num tasna'oon wa aqeemassalam.
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