Pre-Khutbah at Masjid Abdul Ghafoor
O Muslim brothers and sisters, if there are sisters here, but I believe there are none. We ask Allah that he will keep us safe from fitna, confusion, and that He keeps us living happily in a country in which everything is safe and productive. From experience of visiting here since 1987 and of my travels around the world, I didn’t find any other country which is peaceful like this, where there is no headache and everything works well.
We have a duty to become integrated in the community and society, and Islam wants us to be integrated, as He said:
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)
This means He wants us all to enlighten, educate and explain to others about the reality of Islam. What is Islam? If you ask anyone they say it is the Five Pillars, which is to declare the Shahadah, to pray, to fast, to pay zakaat and to make Hajj; this is the structure, without which this mosque would fall apart. So Islam is the structure.
But Sayyidina Jibreel (a) went on to ask the Prophet (s), “Yaa Rasoolullah! What is imaan?” So we have to be careful as it did not stop with Islam. Imaan is part of the Islamic religion, and Prophet (s) then told him the Six Pillars of Imaan. Then he asked him, “What is ihsaan, yaa Rasoolullah?” We must pay attention to that as well, because had the Five Pillars been enough, Jibreel (a) would not have asked about imaan and ihsaan. After Prophet (s) explained what is ihsaan, Jibreel (a) did not ask more. But most Muslims are focusing only the Five Pillars of Faith without perfecting thier `aqeedah which comes from imaan, nor are we trying to improve moral excellence, our behavior, which comes from Maqaam al-Ihsaan, the State of Moral Excellence, as the Prophet (s) described in the hadith:
أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه، فإن لم تكن تراه فإنه يراك
An ta`bud Allah ka'annaka taraahu, fa in lam takun taraahu fa innahu yaraak.
That you worship Allah as if you see Him, for, if you don't see Him, truly He sees you.
(Bukhari)
Here the Prophet (s) is telling us, “O Believers! When you say ‘Allahu Akbar’ and enter the prayer, you have to be aware that Allah (swt) is watching you and that you are not by yourself, free.” As soon as you say “Allahu Akbar” and enter the prayer, you will be under a very high-level scale, not a normal scale used to weigh bananas and potatoes, but a very sensitive, precise scale used by jewelers (that will measure) whatever gossips, bad thoughts or dunya-related issues enter your mind. No one can deny this and say nothing enters their mind during salaat, because we all experience this! As soon as we say, “Allahu Akbar,” Iblees runs with his army to spoil our prayers.
The Prophet (s) raised his Sahaabah (r) in order that they would be perfect. We have to admit we cannot be like them nor can we be called “Sahaabah,” we have to admit that, but we are from the last ummah, about which the Prophet (s) said:
افضل الامة اخر الامة اخير الامة
Afdal al-ummah aakhir al-ummah akhyar al-ummah.
The preferred of the nation is the last of the nation.
One time the Prophet (s) asked his Sahaabah (r), “Who from among all creations has the strongest imaan, faith?” The Sahaabah (r) replied, “The angels have the best imaan.” He said, “How would the angels not have strong imaan when they are worshipping in Paradise and seeing everything?” So the Prophet (s) asked again, “Who has the strongest imaan?” and the Sahaabah (r) replied, “The Prophets.” The Prophet (s) said, “How would the Prophets not have imaan when Jibreel (a) comes to them with revelation, messages from Allah (swt)?” Finally, the Sahaabah (r) said, “Then your Sahaabah, yaa Rasoolullah!” and the Prophet (s) said, “How can you not have good imaan when I am among you and you are seeing me receive revelation? There are others who have stronger imaan.” The Sahaabah (r) asked, “Who are these people, yaa Rasoolullah?” and the Prophet (s) replied, “They are a group of people who will come at the End of Time, and they will not see me but they still believe in me. They are my brothers, truly.” (Sahih Bukhari)
Allah (swt) gave us the rank of brothers of Prophet (s), such a great honor, that we believed in him, in the Qur’an and the Message without seeing Sayyidina Muhammad (s). For this reason, Prophet (s) wants us to raise ourselves with perfection, as he often emphasized:
أدبني ربي فأحسن تأديبي
Adabanee rabbee fa’ahsana taa'deebee.
My Lord perfected my good manners and conduct.
“Allah taught me discipline, adab, and he perfected my discipline.” Now a question comes to mind: does the Prophet (s) need to be disciplined when he is the Most Perfect One in creation and he was granted a perfect character, as mentioned in the Holy Qur`an? No, as Allah (swt) said, “You are of the highest, best character, yaa Muhammad:”
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِي
Wa innaka la-`alaa khuluqin `azheem.
You are of the most exalted character. (Surat al-Qalam, 68:4)
So the Prophet (s) has the Reality of Perfection, it is complete in him, but when he says, adabanee rabbee fa-ahsana ta'deebee, “Allah disciplined me and perfected me,” it means, “I want my ummah to be perfected through me! Yaa Rabbee! Perfect that ummah who are my brothers, who believed in me although they did not see me.”
Our honor comes from this! This honor did not come because we are Muslim, although we claim to be Muslim but we are not completing all the Islamic requirements. We want our Islam to be perfected, as Islam is a perfect full moon from which nothing can be added or subtracted. If you add or subtract anything from Islam then you will fall into a misunderstanding of the religion. There is no addition or subtraction in Islam! We follow Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah, who follow the footsteps of the Prophet (s), as Allah (swt) mentioned in the 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)
“If they follow you this means they love Me.” Are we followers of Prophet (s)? Inshaa-Allah we are. Are we perfect? We hope to be perfect for sake of Prophet (s). Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an:
وَأْتُواْ الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِهَا
Watoo ’l-buyoota min abwaabihaa.
Enter houses through their doors. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:189)
Come through the main door. This mosque has a door you must enter through, and the door to Allah is Muhammad (s). We said, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” and say it as much as you like, but to say “Muhammadun Rasoolullah” is the door to enter Islam! So Muhammadun Rasoolullah is the entrance to Paradise; say “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” as much as you like, but you are not fulfilling the requirement of Islam, which is to say “Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” The difference between us and other religions is that we say “Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” Yes they make shirk, we know that, but they say, “There is no god except God,” and what we need to know is, “Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” If we don’t say, “Muhammadun Rasoolullah,” our Islam is not perfect.
From time-to-time some fitna comes, which is for Muslims to check how much they react to what Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدَافِعُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ خَوَّانٍ كَفُورٍ
Inna ’Llah yudaafi`oo `anilladheena aamanoo. Inna’Llaha laa yuhibbu kulla khawaanin fakhoor.
Verily, Allah will defend (from ill) those who believe. Verily, Allah loves not any that is a traitor to faith or who shows ingratitude. (Surat al-Hajj, 22:38)
Allah defends the believers, mu’mins, then Muslims: “We have revealed the Holy Qur’an and are protecting the Holy Qur`an.” Can you protect the Holy Qur`an? No way! Allah (swt) said, “I am revealing the Holy Qur`an and I am protecting the Holy Qur`an, ” and, “I am sending the Best of My Creation to humanity, to Muslims and non-Muslims, and I am protecting him in dunya and Akhirah!”
No one can bring harm to the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! No way! Let them do what they want, don’t pay attention, only pay attention to yourself! This is a reminder of how much we don’t like to see and hear the great fitna that we are seeing today, which is to bring our awareness of how much we are following the orders of the Prophet (s) or not. We don’t like anyone to speak ill of the Prophet (s), for sure, and we don’t like our ego to speak gossips to us when we say “Allahu Akbar” and enter the prayer. How many gossips come to people when they want to read Holy Qur’an or pray? How much negativity is in us? We have to take it away!
O Muslims! It is all a reminder for us look at ourselves! You might be creating a wrong image in your mind about Islam in front of Allah and His Angels. Fix yourselves! There are, mashaa-Allah, people who have fixed themselves, alhamdilillah, but there are people like us, who must also try to fix ourselves. There are too many people around the world to whom Allah (swt) gave the honor of being awliyaullah, about whom He said:
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
Alaa inna awliyaaullaahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon.
Behold! Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve.
(Surat al-Yunus, 10:62)
ِنَرْفَعُ دَرَجَاتٍ مَّن نَّشَاء
Narfa`u darajaatin man nashaau.
We raise to (higher) levels whom We please. (Surat Yusuf, 12:76)
And then He (swt) said:
وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ
Fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `aleem.
Above every knower is a (higher) knower. (Yusuf, 12:76)
So we ask, yaa Rabbee, raise our level to know the reality of Your Prophet Muhammad (s), about whom You said:
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِي
Wa innaka la-`alaa khuluqin `azheem.
You are of the most exalted character. (Surat al-Qalam, 68:4)
We ask to learn about his character, to learn from him what we need for our life so that we will not be ignorant! We pray to You, we come to You, we want You to fill our hearts and our minds with Your Heavenly Knowledge!
And what did Allah say about Sayyidina Khidr (a)?
فَوَجَدَا عَبْدًا مِّنْ عِبَادِنَا آتَيْنَاهُ رَحْمَةً مِنْ عِندِنَا وَعَلَّمْنَاهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا عِلْمًا
Fawajadaa `abdan min `ibaadinaa aataynaahu rahmatan min `indina wa`allamnaahu min ladunna `ilma.
So they found one of Our Servants on whom We had bestowed mercy from Ourselves and whom We had taught knowledge from Our Presence. (Surat al-Kahf, 18:65)
That is the knowledge about which the Prophet (s) said:
أنا مدينة العلم و علي بابه
Anaa madinatu 'l-`ilmi wa `Aliyyun baabuha.
I am the City of Knowledge and `Ali is its Door (or Gate). (al-Haakim, Tirmidhi)
Let us enter where Prophet (s) is the City of Knowledge and `Ali is its door! Let us ask, “Yaa Rabbee! Open for us to enter that city!”
I will end with this. There was one waliullah, a sincere, pious person, who kept asking Allah, “Open Your door for me, I want to enter and learn from heavenly knowledge.” He was a famous wali in his time and there are many scholars who still follow his teachings and speak about him. One of them whom I like to mention, although you might not like to hear it, is Ibn Taymiyya, who was one of the followers of Abu Yazid al-Bastami (q), who studied him and endorsed him in his Fatawa, Vols. 2, 4, 10 and 11. Anyway, he was asking, “O my Lord!” and he heard in his heart an angel speaking. Anyone can hear in his heart, and we all feel that sometimes we are hearing something, and he heard voice in his heart telling him, “Be a dump for My creation. Be mazbala and carry My Servants’ difficulties, people’s garbage. First you must help My Servants if you want to come to Me.”
The Prophet (s) carried the garbage that his neighbor put on his doorstep daily for seven years and never once complained about it! For seven years, Prophet (s) did not react and took his neighbor’s rubbish to the garbage dump, and he didn’t say a word to anyone about the garbage thrown on his doorstep. What would we do if our neighbor put his garbage on our doorstep? We would sue him in court! For seven years he carried it, which is pure, exalted character!
Wa innaka la`alaa khuluqin `azheem.
And verily, you are on the highest character.
We cannot say we can reach that level, but we can follow this ayah:
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)
We follow Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah, yaa Rahmatan li ‘l-`Alameen! We follow and from here we are confessing that we need support to follow the footsteps of Prophet (s) and to keep Shaytan and Iblees away from us!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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