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Prophet Muhammad (s) Represents Islam

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

31 January 2014 Chicago, Illinois

Jumu`ah Khutbah at Masjid al-Huda

(Opening du`a of khutbah.)

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Beneficent. Praise be to Allah, Who has guided us to this and we would not have found guidance had Allah not guided us. (7:43)

I have no success without Him and I rely on none other than Him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone and without any partner, without anyone similar to Him, and without anyone who may be compared to Him, an attestation reaching out until the Day of Permanence.

And I bear witness that our leader, our support and our master Muhammad is His Servant, His Beloved and His Messenger, Allah Most High having sent him as a mercy for the worlds. May Allah Most High bless him, his Family, Children, Wives, Companions and followers and his Rightly-Guided and guiding Khalifahs after him, and his Deputies perfected in his obedience, especially on the imams, truly the Khalifahs of the Messenger of Allah: the Commanders of the Faithful, their Excellencies Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman and `Ali, of glorious standing, and on the rest of the Companions and their successors, may Allah Most High be pleased with them all.

O Believers who are present here! Fear Allah and obey Him! Allah is with those who fear Him and with those who perform good deeds. Allah the Sublime and Most High said in His Book which He sent down to His chosen Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), "And We have only created Jinns and Mankind in order for them to worship us. I do not wish to have nourishment from them, nor do I wish for them to obey Me. Allah is the Provider of Nourishment, the Possessor of Firm Strength. Allah the Sublime has spoken truly.” (51:56)

I will not be too long, I will just give an advice as Prophet (s) mentioned:

الدين نصيحة

Ad-deenu naseeha.

Religion is advice.

We are still in the month of Rabi` ul-Awwal, the month of the birth of Islam. Islam was given birth through Prophet (s), which is the religion of Allah (swt). Our Islam is not perfect without love and respect to Prophet (s). If we need a perfect Islam, Allah says in the Holy Qur’an:

إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللّهِ الإِسْلاَمُُ

Inna ad-deena `inda Allaahi al-islaam.

The religion in Allah’s view is Islam (submission to His Will). (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:19)

To Allah, the reality of the religion of Islam is our Prophet (s) as Islam came through him and no one else, so the respect has to be for the Prophet (s), because he represents Islam. Who else can represent it? No one will be able to claim to represent Islam on the Day of Judgment except for Prophet (s), and all nations are following their prophets. That is why Prophet (s) said--for me, you and especially the youth, in a very subtle hadith with just two words, but full of meaning and if we follow these ahaadith of Prophet (s), we will find ourselves to be safe dunya and Akhirah--Prophet (s) said, Ad-deenu naseeha, “Religion is advice.” There is nothing else.

To whom do we advise people? To the nightclub, to the restaurant, to play soccer, to watch TV or for something that the Prophet (s) has mentioned in that hadith? No. We advise them to tell them, “Lillah!” Prophet (s) said, “Call them to Allah!” When Prophet (s) has been ordered to mention the Message of Allah, he was only telling them, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” which is Maqaam at-Tawheed: “Accept Allah (swt) and leave the statues; accept Him.” That’s why the hadith says, “Religion is advice,” and advice to (turn to) Whom? Lillah! Inna ad-deena `inda Allaahi al-islaam. And today, whom do we have to advise first? Some people might go and advise everyone and forget about themselves. The advice must be first to ourselves, to advise ourselves to (turn to) Allah and what Allah has said in Holy Qur’an:

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Qul in kuntum tuhibboona 'Llaaha fattabi`oonee yuhbibkumullaahu wa yaghfir lakum dhunoobakum w 'Allaahu Ghafooru 'r-Raheem.

Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:31)

Ittib`a an-nabi (s) waajibun `ala kulli muslimun wa muslimah, following the Prophet (s)--his ways, his steps, his message--is an obligation on every Muslim and Muslimah.”

النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال:االدين النصيحة، قلنا: لمن يا رسول الله؟ قال: لله ولكتابه ولرسوله ولأئمة المسلمين وعامتهم

Qaal an-Nabi (s): Ad-deenu naseeha, ad-deenu naseeha, ad-deenu naseeha. Qulnaa liman? Qaala lillah wa li kitaabihi wa li-rasoolihi wa li-a’immati ’l-muslimmeena wa `amatihim.

Where the Prophet (s) said: "Religion is advice." We said, "To whom?" and the Prophet (s) said, "To Allah and to His Book, (to advise the believers to follow the Book of Allah) then (he said to follow) His Prophet, then the leaders of the Muslims and their common-folk.

Because the Holy Qur’an is the constitution for the Muslims, the Perfect Moon: you cannot add to it nor can you subtract from it, it is Perfection. A moon, can you add more light to the moon when it reaches the 15th of the month (full phase)? No, it is finished. Islam is a Heavenly Message; there is no other perfect book like the Qur’an and there is no comparison of the Qur`an and any other book, whether it is a hadith of Bukhari or Muslim, as everything comes after the Holy Qur’an.

“Then, to (turn to) whom, yaa Rasoolullah, after Qur’an?” and in Qur’an you can find all advice. And Prophet (s) said, wa li-Rasoolih, “To the Prophet (s).”

It means to advise people to follow the way of Prophet (s), wa li-Rasoolillah (s), that we must tell people about the importance of Prophet (s) in our lives! How did we become Muslim? Through Prophet (s), through the Message! If Prophet (s) was not there, there would be no Islam. Islam came with Prophet (s), so we have to advise people to follow Prophet (s) because he came with the Message.

And Allah has said, “If you really love My Servant who is the best of Creation and you respect him highly, then you are loving Me, then I accept your love.” I was in a conference in Washington where the topic of discussion was this ayah:

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:31)

“If you really love Allah, follow Muhammad (s) in his ways and in his actions, then you love Allah.” This is very correct, but something came, something hidden there, that from the first time of reading the ayah people may not find, but when you are hearing you can find something that is in that ayah: in kuntum tuhibboona 'Llaaha fattabi`oonee yuhbibkumullaahu, “If you really love Allah, follow the way I am and Allah loves you.” So what is that, ‘following’ is what? When you follow someone, it is a sign of what? If a child follows his father, it is a sign of what? Of love. So when the father sees that love, he will protect him, he will take him into his arms, he will hug him and kiss him, he will not leave him to Shaytan to play with him.

So if we follow other than our actions, af`al wa aqwaal, and speeches, if really we follow Prophet (s) out of love, then he will show us tremendous love by taking us to his shafa`ah. What can save us on the Day of Judgment? What can save us? Don’t think about your `amal, because they will not save you, but you have to fulfill the obligations as they are obligations: to pray, fast, give charity, make Hajj, etc. Will that save us? No, it will not save us. Then what will? One thing: Shafa`at an-Nabi (s)! When Allah calls him on the Day of Judgment and gives him the right to make shafa`ah, everyone goes to Paradise!

When Sayyidina `Ayesha (r) was speaking to Prophet (s) about this explanation of the hadith, he said to her:

من حوسب عذب

(Yaa `Ayesha!) Man hoosiba `udhdhib.

Who will be judged will be punished for sure. (Bukhari)

Man hoosiba `udhdhib, an authentic hadith: yaa `Ayesha! Man hoosiba `udhdhib, anyone who will be picked up to be judged, he will be punished for sure! There is no way to find a way out through his `amal; his `amal will not save him! What saves him is to ask, “Yaa Rabbee, don’t judge me!” But if judgment was to happen to someone and Allah picked someone, for sure that someone, may Allah protect us, will be punished because when Allah checks, when He asks His angels to check in the notebook of that servant there will be too many sins! You cannot move out of your house or out of the masjid today, especially in the malls there are too many things that our eyes can see, is it not? Is it a sin or not? So for you, you are going to buy something in the mall and you saw something wrong and too much of that, which you understand what I mean, you will be a sinner. So man hoosiba `udhdhib, “Anyone who will be judged will be punished.”

What can save us? Rahmatullah, Allah’s Mercy that He gives to Prophet (s), and gives him at that moment, shafa`ah yaa Muhammad, “I give you shafa`ah for your ummah, so do what you want!” And what do you think Prophet (s) will do? When he shows you love he will take you in his arms, he will hug you, he will kiss you, he will takes you wherever he goes and this is what we want! Fattabi`oonee here means, “If you step one step behind me, that is ittiba`,” even one step! Step behind Prophet (s), as Allah said in Holy Qur`an:

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Qul in kuntum tuhibboona 'Llaaha fattabi`oonee yuhbibkumullaahu wa yaghfir lakum dhunoobakum w 'Allaahu Ghafooru 'r-Raheem.

Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:31)

“Follow me!” You can follow one step and Prophet (s) will hug you. When Prophet (s) hugs you, it is finished, you get his shafa`ah. Do you think when he sees that love from you that Prophet (s) is going to say, “Yaa Rabbee, punish this person,” or is he in the Day of Judgment asking Allah (swt) for shafa`ah for the ummah?

And it is mentioned in Adab ul-Mufrad of Imam al-Bukhari that Allah will give shafa`ah to Prophet (s): he will make sajda in Allah’s Presence and he says, “Allah (swt) opens for me du`as that He never opened before and through these du`as I ask, ‘Yaa Rabbee, He will inspire me with du`as,” that we never heard, prophets never heard...forget about us, about people, about ummah, to Prophet (s), they never previously came to his heart and Allah opens that secret to him!

Allah (swt) will say, “Yaa Muhammad, raise your head and ask and I will give you anything.” Prophet (s) will say, “I want my ummah.” Allah will say, “Take one-third of them without judgment.”

Then the Prophet (s) will go into sajda a second time and say, “I want my ummah.” Then Allah will say, “Take half of them,” which is another one third.” And then in the end, all of them will go, except for one person.Allah will say, “I am Ar-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. I am sending this one to Paradise.”

It is narrated by Sayyidina Anas (r) that the Prophet (s) said, as related in the book Adab al-Mufrad of Imam Bukhari:

The Prophet (s) will go into sajda on the Day of Judgment, and Allah (swt) will open du`as to him that were never opened to him before. Allah (swt) will then tell him to raise his head and ask, and Prophet (s) will raise his head and hands and ask for his ummah. Allah (swt) will say, “Go and take one-third of them.” The Prophet (s) will not be satisfied; he will go into sajda once more and make prayers that were never opened before. Then again Allah (swt) will say, “Ask and you will be given.” Prophet (s) will ask for his ummah and Allah (swt) will give him another third of the ummah. Then the Prophet (s) will go into sajda and new prayers will be opened to him that were never opened before. Allah (swt) will tell him to raise his head and ask. Prophet (s) will raise his head and hands and ask for his ummah. Allah (swt) will then say, “Take all of them, except for that one!” That person will be the worst of the entire ummah, and everyone must think it may be them, as we are all sinners from the Prophet’s (s) nation. Then Allah will ask, “Who gave My Mercy to Muhammad (s)? I did, as I am Arhama ‘r-Rahimeen! I am The Best, Rahmah on Rahmah! Go with Prophet (s) to Paradise without hisaab, giving any account!”

This is a very important point, to show that Allah is “Allah” and Muhammad (s) is “Muhammad,” that there is a difference between `abd and ilah. May Allah (swt) bless us and keep us under the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and the Love of Allah! Fatihah. Give thanks to Allah. It is waajib on all Muslims to love Prophet Muhammad (s).

Du`a.

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