Khutbahs
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Allah’s Guidance | Khutbah
In this khutbah, Sh. Abdullah Oduro speaks about Allah’s guidance. Guidance is only from Allah, it is a blessing from Allah upon us, and when Allah guides us, it is from His wisdom.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide. And whomsoever Allah allows to be led astray, none can guide aright. And I bear witness that there's no one worthy of worship except Allah the Exalted, and that Muhammad is his last messenger and servant. O you who believe, be mindful of Allah and die not except in a state of submission to Him alone. O humanity, be mindful of Allah who created you from a single soul, being Adam, and from that created his mate, being Eve, Hawwa, and from that scatters many men and women. O humanity, be mindful of Allah and do not cut off relations with your relatives. Indeed, Allah is the Raqib, he's the ultimate monitor over you. O humanity, be mindful of Allah and speak the truth in order for him to accept you of your deeds and forgive you of any shortcomings. And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger has indeed achieved the greatest achievement, the greatest success. As to what follows, brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, indeed the best speech is the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Qur'an. And the best guidance, the one to actualize, to act out the Qur'an is the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him. And of the worst affairs in our doctrinal system of Islam, how we believe in Allah and how we act out that belief are the newly invented ones. For every newly invented affair in the situation of our doctrine, of our belief system is an innovation. And for every innovation is a form of going astray from the Sirat al-Mustaqim. And for every form of going astray is in the fire of hell. We seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from that. Brothers and sisters, what was just recited, you probably hear it with some khateebs, with some people that give sermons. This is known as the khutbatul haja, the sermon of need. The Prophet peace and blessings be upon him used to give this sermon of need many times. Before his lessons, before giving any admonition or reminder. There's one portion that I want to capitalize on and it has to do with every single one of us. Those of you that were not Muslim before. See when I say not Muslim before, you're thinking,
oh yeah, the Jew, the Christian, the one that was atheist. Hold up, slow down. What about the 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 30 year old born Muslim? Born Muslim, but there's a time in their life some doubt struck their heart. Something happened, some disaster in their country. They look up and they ask why. They have a doubt of what's going on in their religion, the basis of their faith, they ask that question. What is Islam really about? Why am I a Muslim? Why does all of this even matter? So when we hear someone coming into Islam, let's not only think it was someone like myself that used to be Christian and became a Muslim. It could be your son, it could be you. It probably is you now and we ask Allah to guide all of us. And that's what the portion of khutbatul hajj that I want to capitalize on with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he said, مَن يَهْدِ اللَّهِ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ Whoever Allah guides, there is no one or nothing, internet, online, offline, that can misguide them. What's interesting here is how in the Arabic, he says, لَا مُضِلَّ, he has the fatha at the end of مُضِلَّ, the a sound. It's the same sound that we say لَا إِلَهَ which is negating any fathomable item of that noun, any fathomable manifestation of that noun, of that thing. So when we say لَا إِلَهَ, there is no perceivable deity, no perceivable God, nothing at the level of your creator that amounts to Allah. لَا إِلَهَ, money, ego, stature, statue, there is nothing that is at the level of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Whenever there's the fatha, it's a negation of the genus of any of that type. So when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, لَا مُضِلَّ, when Allah guides you, there is no form of misguidance. What do we mean by that guidance? One of the names of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is Al-Hadi. So when we hear the name Abdul Hadi, this is a beautiful name, the servant, the slave of the one that guides. But we see in Islam throughout the text of Islam, throughout the Quran, throughout the Sunnah, one could probably misunderstand the manifestation of guidance and what is mentioned in certain verses of the Quran. We see that guidance as scholars have mentioned three, some mentioned four types of guidance. The first one of them is that Allah gives you the faculties for guidance. One could say he gives you that anchor, that element within the creation that causes you, if you will, to do certain things, dare we say, naturally. When a baby is born, they seek the sustenance from their mother naturally. The mother doesn't have to take the child to feed them. Naturally, the child comes to that area and receives its sustenance. Animals, predators, and prey. What made this a predator? What made this a prey? Allah hada hu li dhalik. Allah created them upon that fitra. As when Moses was asked by Pharaoh in the chapter of Taha, when Moses was asked by Pharaoh and Moses is literally giving da'wah, he's literally telling him about Islam. He's telling him about the purpose of creation. When Firaon asked him, qala wa mar rabbukumma yaa moosa Firaon asked him, who is your Lord? He said, rabbukumma, I shouldn't be because it's Moses and Harun. Yaa moosa, who is your Lord? What did Moses say? qala rabbunallathee a'ta kulla shay'in khalqahu thumma hada Moses said, Allah or our Lord, our Lord. Notice he says, our Lord, you and me.
He is the one that has given them their creation, i.e. created them, and he has given them the hudah, the faculties of guidance. That which is needed, the instruments, the tools that you are needed to be guided, the raw wiring, the ingrained characteristics that allows you to be guided. For us, the receptor, the heart, the spiritual receptor, the mind, that which can sift out certain things, the feelings, the emotions that we have, the spirituality, what we see nowadays. Now we hear meditation. It's getting in tune with those unseen elements that are present within us. That's the first kind of guidance that Allah has given us that. He has given you the wiring to be guided. You're ready as a human being. Those characteristics in which you have. The second type is that he shows you the way. He shows you the way of guidance. And this is the category of all of the prophets, that they came to show you the way of the truth. They came to remind you of the truth from generation to generation. We as parents try our best to guide our children. We as brothers, as sisters, as community members, as employers, as employees, et cetera. In society, there is a level of responsibility that we may have towards someone else to at least call them to that which is good. The generic responsibility is you as a human being or a human being that is trying your best should serve as a rippling effect to be a good influence of positivity. That's the second type where you're shown the way. And Allah mentions this throughout the Quran. When he talks about the people of Thamud, the people of the Prophet Salih. When he says,
Allah says here, as far as the people of Thamud, the nation of Prophet Salih, we guided them, i.e. we shown them the truth, i.e. via Salih. Salih came to tell them, worship your Lord. There is no other God, no other deity except Him. But what does Allah say? And it's so interesting the verb he uses here. They preferred something else. They inclined towards that. They wanted that. They wanted blindness. Upon guidance. Stop and ask yourself this question. When did you know there was the right thing to do, but your desires called you to go towards that other thing? And you know it's wrong. And you continue to do it. Online, you press send. Online, you click enter. Offline, you speak badly about someone. Those times that you know that it's wrong, but you keep doing it. That's choosing the blindness. And what's going to happen? It can only get darker and darker unless you make the effort. And that's the third type. That Allah enables you to go the way. Allah enables you. He makes it easy for you. He gives you the passion to do it. To get up and pray for Fajr in Ramadan. Inshallah, outside of Ramadan. He gives you the passion to be honest to this person. To be nice to this person. That's the Hidayat al-Tawfiq. He enables you to do something. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the chapter of Yunus.
Allah is the one that calls the people. Invites the people to Dar al-Salam. To the place of peace. The home of peace. The abode of peace. Some can mention Jannah. And he guides those to the Sirat al-Mustaqim. He guides them. He enables them to do the things that will make them, make him pleased with them. And that's when we say, Din al-Sirat al-Mustaqim. In the opening chapter of the Quran in which we all recite, O Allah, guide us to the straight path. Guide us to the straight path. So when Allah calls you, what is that calling to you? Calling you to being a better person. I.e. calling you to initially fulfilling the five pillars of Islam within your heart. And your life. And also understanding what Allah is mentioning in the Quran. Initially to believe in Allah. And believe Allah when he speaks in the Quran. When he articulates that through the message of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Understanding the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him. That place in your life. Where is that in the receptor? Your heart. Where is that? How important is that to you? How important is this religion and this way of life that can transform you? But it ultimately, after the guidance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, there's a small window for you just to try.
It's important for us to understand this concept of Tawfiq from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wanted to guide an individual that was his uncle. That we know was supporting him. That was supporting him. But didn't believe in the message of Islam. When primarily and only rather, the purpose of the Prophet Muhammad's existence after the age of 42 was to call, 40 was to call people to worshipping God by himself. And to leave off polytheistic practices, beliefs and practices. His uncle didn't fully agree with him but he supported him economically, politically. His wife Khadija supported him emotionally, spiritually. But Abu Talib, his uncle, when he was on his deathbed, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, what do you think he did? What do you think he did? How many people do we see maybe on their deathbed and there's something we've always wanted to tell them and we whispered in their ears and said, you know what, I love you. I know I've never told you this. You were my idol. I looked up to you. I never told you this. How many of us have been told that? By someone, an elder. You were my favorite. I've never mentioned that to you. They pour their heart out. This is what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did at this moment. When he was calling his uncle Abu Talib to Islam. Calling his uncle to Islam. I don't know if any of you have, if any of you have ever had that opportunity to call someone to Islam, to call someone to what you are passionate about when they're on their deathbed. You're going to pour your heart out. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did this. And Abu Talib refused. He said he is on the millah upon the people, the forefathers. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with the integrity, and this is so beautiful. It doesn't matter who you are.
The integrity of Islam must remain. The integrity of the monotheistic practice will remain whether you like it or not. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Verily you, he's talking to who? The Prophet, Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. You cannot guide whom you love. Notice he says whom you love. Your heart inclined towards them. You only want what's good for them. Noah wanted what's good for his child. But when the water came and they were on the ark, his own, listen closely. His own son did not accept the message of Islam. What did his son say? He said, no, I got it covered. I'm going to go to this mountain. That's going to protect me from this ark. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told Noah at that moment, He's not from your family. Subhanallah. From the family of the believers of the one that made the effort to believe in the oneness of Allah. So when Allah told the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, He said you cannot guide whom you love. It's not up to you. You have no ultimate authority. Those are some of the guidelines we have to understand. When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was in the battle of Ahzab and he had some of the earth and he was transferring it to make the ditch. And Ibn A'iz Ibn Sa'ihain he mentioned that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was chanting, He said, Oh Allah, if it wasn't for you, we would not be guided. We wouldn't give charity nor would we pray. So send the tranquility upon us. If it wasn't for you, ya Allah. Remember the source is your Lord, your maker. He has ultimate authority, which leaves us with three guidelines. Three, that's it.
The first one is that guidance is in the hands of Allah. Let's stop for a minute. Many of us right now we're hearing this. We say, yes, I know that. I understand that. But when you have someone that you love, a friend of yours, a relative of yours, a co-worker of yours, a distant friend that you've been communicating over a while and you don't understand why they're not accepting the message or the goodness that you've been calling them to. They even say, you know what? I like what you're doing, but it's not for me. How many of us have encountered that? We just say, just take that step. Just try this. Know that guidance is ultimately from Allah. It is not up to you parents. As soon as you think, yes, alhamdulillah, because of all of my duas, my son passes his board exams and he's a doctor or my son is a sheikh now. That is because of my duas only. We say your duas is an effort that you made, but ultimately it's up to Allah. As soon as you think you had some influence over what you wanted in this life, that could be a path to destruction because we may subconsciously and hopefully not consciously think that Allah did not have full authority over that decision. That it's only from Allah. The second thing is that it is al-fadl al-mahd min Allah. That it is virtue from Allah upon you. Why is this important? It is not for us to think that it is a reciprocal relationship, meaning I do this, Allah gives me that. Therefore, I what I deserve it. Stop and think today about how many sins that you've committed. Make an effort and think, do I really deserve what Allah has given me? Just think about it. How many times have we wronged someone?
You know you've wronged them over the years. Let's start with our mothers, brothers, sisters. Let's start with our mothers. That we've wronged them. We were disrespectful to them and they're still patient with us and they raise us. A close friend, a close relative, you think of how many times you've wronged them and they still treat you with respect, honor, love. What about Allah? All the things that we've done that we know were wrong. We know it and we keep doing it. And we deserve this virtue from him because we gave charity and we had ikhlas, we had sincerity, it was a good deed. But did you deserve all of that? Remember, it's al-fadl and al-ni'mah from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is a virtue and a blessing from him. Lastly, that when Allah guides you and me, inshallah, it is from his knowledge and wisdom. His knowledge and wisdom. This is so important because there will be people that we want to be guided to Islam, to goodness, and we don't understand why they... We know, we know they're a good person. But who knows the reality? Only Allah. As hard as that may sound, only Allah. A family relative that is not praying and they could care less about praying. They had a bad experience in their life and they've given up, despair. They're human, they are human. We need time. That is why it's important for us to give advice and not to expect to see the results at that moment as though we have authority and control over their guidance. That is very important for us to understand. Allah knows the reality of the hearts of the ones that were guided and he knows the reality of the hearts of the ones that are not. The ones that are guided could be very arrogant,
very arrogant, very culturistic, very racist, and they're Muslim. But are they guided in this aspect? Someone that may not be praying. They may not be of the category of the social ills, but the guidance of Tauheed is not there. The oneness of God is not there. So understanding that reality is important for us. That Allah has ultimate control over guidance. That Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, the guidance that he gives us is strictly from his virtue. We don't deserve it. And lastly, that it is with his knowledge and wisdom. And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala combines all of that in the beautiful chapter of Hujurat, chapter 49, in the book of Surah Al-Baqarah. Verse 7 and 8. Where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he being amongst the believers, reminding the believers that you have a messenger of Allah amongst you. And if he was to obey you in all of your affairs, you would be misguided, meaning your desires. He has the guidance. Then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one that has made Iman beloved to you. May Allah guide our children. May Allah protect our children. May he guide our children. May he guide our children. May he guide our children. In this age. Because it is not up to you, fathers and mothers, as much as you want for your children to be guided. Allah has to place that within them. Subhanallah. That does not mean we do not make dua. He made Iman beloved to you and he made disobedience and mischief disliked to you, hated to you. So that is the first kind of guidance. Then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, That is a virtue and a blessing from Allah. That is the third type. He is the all-knowing, the all-wise. So when Allah chooses to appropriate his knowledge, it is on his terms, not on our terms. When you think in that manner, that makes you humble.
Regardless of what people say about you. No one has the right to judge you. It is your connection with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Remember that, brothers and sisters, because as you came in this world alone, وَلَقَدَ جِئِتُمُونَا فُرَادًا كَمَا خَلَقَنَاكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرًّا Allah says, you have come to us alone as we have created you the first time. You will go back to Allah alone. So where in this element of guidance are we making the effort? And that is the last thing we want to mention. Even though we understand guidance is in the hands of Allah, there is a small window for you to make the right choice. And guess what? Today you will make some wrong choices, but guess what? Allah is Al-Ghafoor. He is the All-Forgiving. Allah is Al-Hakeem. He is the All-Wise. Allah is Al-Afuw. He is the one that pardons you for your mistakes. That small window of a choice that you have to make. When you make the right choice, Allah knows your intention. When you had the intention to come here as you have, may Allah bless you for coming and wanting to hear a message. That intention you will be rewarded from it. How? That's up to Allah. But you will be rewarded, insha'Allah ta'ala. When you leave you have a sense of tranquility. You may just go and do a good deed because you've been motivated. Then you've been disciplined to do that consistently. And you've created a new habit with your sincerity. And only Allah needs to know. No one else. That's the relationship that we should try to solidify. So understanding, brothers and sisters, when we hear may yahdi Allah falamu dillalah that whoever Allah guides, there is no misguider for him or her. Understanding that it is in the hands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but there is a level of responsibility to where when we do a good deed, that guidance will increase. Remember that we have to make the effort to the best of our ability and that's all Allah wants from you. Do not look to the left
at Ahmed or Khadija. Don't look to the right at Jabir or Hind. And see what they're doing. You with Allah. When you do that, that is a form of guidance. Asking Allah to guide you. ila al-sirat wa fi al-sirat When we ask him, ih din al-sirat al-mustaqeem Let's remember these words when we say, ih din al-sirat al-mustaqeem Guide us to the straight path and while we're at the straight path while we're in the straight path. ila al-sirat wa fi al-sirat at the same time. May Allah make us of those that are rightly guided. May he allow this guidance to shine in our hearts, in our actions to be a rippling effect on those around us to be guided as well. May Allah make us of those that come close to his beautiful, beautiful book of Quran al-Kareem. Allahumma ja'ala min ahl al-Quran al-dheen hum ahluka wa khasutuk Ya rabbal alameen. wa tuba alaina innaka anta tawwab al-raheem. Ya rabbal alameen. Allahumma surul islam wa al-muslimin. Allahumma surul islam wa al-muslimin. Allahumma surul al-mustaqeem fi kulli makana wa zamana. Ya rabbal alameen. Allahumma kufr lana dhunubana wa kafir ana sayyiatina wa tawaffana ma'a al-abrar. Ya ayyuha al-mu'minoon. Inna Allah ya'mur bil-adli wa al-ihsani wa ita'i dhil-qurba. wa yanhaa anil-fahsha'i wa al-munkari wa al-baghiy. Ya'idhukum la'allakum tathakkaroon. Fadhkuru Allah yadhkurkum. Remember Allah, he will remember you. Washkuru wa ala ni'mihi yazidukum. And be thankful to him, he will increase you. wa ladhikru Allahi akbar. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest thing. Wallahu ya'nimo ma'tasnaoon. And he is well aware of what you do. Aqeem al-salat.
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