Jumu`ah Khutbah at Private Residence
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.” (Surat al-A`raf, 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, with no one similar to Him, and no one 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, the verified 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! “Verily Allah is with those who fear Him and with those who perform good deeds.” (Surat an-Nahl, 16:128) 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 feed Me. Verily Allah is The Provider, The Possessor of Firm Strength.” (Surat al-Ziyaraat, 51:56-58) Allah The Sublime has spoken truly.
O Muslims, believers, we have to pay attention to what the Prophet (s) has taught us. I will explain one hadith of the Prophet (s), which is a very important hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.
أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " إِيَّاكُمْ وَالْجُلُوسَ بِالطُّرُقَاتِ ". فَقَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَا لَنَا مِنْ مَجَالِسِنَا بُدٌّ نَتَحَدَّثُ فِيهَا. فَقَالَ " إِذَا أَبَيْتُمْ إِلاَّ الْمَجْلِسَ فَأَعْطُوا الطَّرِيقَ حَقَّهُ ". قَالُوا وَمَا حَقُّ الطَّرِيقِ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ " غَضُّ الْبَصَرِ، وَكَفُّ الأَذَى، وَرَدُّ السَّلاَمِ، وَالأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْىُ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ ".
Abu Sa`eed Al-Khudree (r) said that he heard the Prophet (s) say:
"Beware! Avoid sitting on the roads." They said, "Yaa Rasoolullah! We can't help sitting (on the roads) as these are (our places) where we have talks." The Prophet (s) said, "lf you refuse but to sit, then pay the road its right." They said, "What is the right of the road, yaa Rasoolullah?" He said, "Lowering your gaze, refraining from harming others, returning the greeting, and enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil." (Narrated Abu Sa`eed Al-Khudree, Bukhari 79:3)
Iyyaakum wa ’l-juloosa bi ‘t-turuqaat. “Be aware! I am warning you to be away from (avoid) sitting on the streets.” First of all, they answered back when they were not supposed to; they were supposed to say, sam`ina wa ata`naa ghufranaka rabbana wa ilayk al-maseer, “We hear and we obey.” They must not object or teach the Prophet (s), but this is for us to understand, so it is alright. If they would not have said that, we would never know that it is not allowed.
They said, “Yaa Rasoolullah, you are asking us to not sit on the streets when this is the place where we sit and meet.” I don’t want to say this to the youth, because then they will not be able to sit all their lives, but take it easy, as the Prophet (s) explains later, “take it into consideration”. There is something the Prophet (s) wants from us: not to sit on the streets. So the Sahaabah (s) said, “There is no way to cancel this from our lives. We have to sit on the streets, because it is the best place to sit and talk. We speak about issues and about our lives.” But then Shaytan can attract them and pull them to backbite and so, it begins to fall, “Yes, if you don’t backbite, then it is okay. If you think that you can reserve yourself from falling into the trap of Shaytan, then even if you sit in Hellfire, it will not burn you,” as was with Sayyidina Ibrahim (a). He was in fire by Nimrod and Allah said to the fire:
قُلْنَا يَا نَارُ كُونِي بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ
O fire! Be cool and peaceful on Ibrahim. (Surat al-Anbiyaa, 21:69)
So the fire changes from fire to a cool breeze, like the breeze of an air conditioner today, but a heavenly breeze. So there is adab, discipline for sitting on the streets, as the Prophet (s) is showing us. The Prophet (s) said, “If you have decided to not listen to my order, okay, I will make it less, I will lower the tone for you. If you did not accept not to sit on the streets, then give the street its right,” meaning, give the street discipline: you cannot spit, throw papers, banana peels, eggs or tomatoes, as they do today in demonstrations. All of this is not accepted in Islam. What is the demonstration for? If you do peaceful marches, such as for Mawlid an-Nabi (s), then it is okay, no problem, but you do not need to demonstrate for the government or politics, you should follow whoever people elect, show no opposition, otherwise why did you elect them? Go to the masjid and say, “Yaa Rabbee, change the heart of the person who is elected towards the Muslims,” that is better.
So the Prophet (s) said, “If you have decided that you want to sit on the street, then give the street its discipline.” The Sahaabah (r) asked, “What is the right of the street, what is its discipline?” The Prophet (s) said, “Lower your gaze,” meaning, don’t look up or stare. Today people look where the eyes take them and our eyes mostly take us to commit a sin: with the mini skirts and shorts in the malls or with the boys dying their hair blue, red or pink. So the Prophet (s) said, “Keep your eyes down,” meaning, don’t look, it is not your business. This is the discipline of the road, don’t focus on something that is going to be a sin. Do as much as you can, I am not saying that we are ma`soom, innocent or infallible. No, we sin, but try to avoid looking as much as possible. Then the Prophet (s) said, “Don’t try to harm, in any way,” such as backbiting, as I had mentioned in the beginning, as well as spreading false rumors or anything that makes you harm others. Do not do that, this is the right of the street.
And the Prophet (s) said, “When someone is passing and says ‘As-salaamu `alaykum’, you say, ‘Wa `alaykum as-salaam.’” The adab is that the one who is passing should be the first to give salaam, not the one who is sitting. When you pass by and see someone sitting, you say, “As-salaamu `alaykum,” and then the latter will reply, “Wa `alaykum as-salaam.”
Then the Prophet (s) said, “Call for what is good and permitted by Allah, and avoid anything that is not accepted.”
This hadith is muttafaq `alayh, agreed upon by Bukhari and Muslim.
O Muslims! If you want to sit on the streets, you have to keep its discipline as the Prophet (s) ordered us. May Allah (swt) forgive us.
[Du`a.]
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