Jumu`ah Khutbah
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem.
Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
O Muslims! O Believers! Rasoolullah (s), our beloved, the guide of all humanity has said:
Kun fi ‘d-dunya ka ’annaka ghareeb. “Be in dunya as if you are a foreigner or a stranger.” Aw `abiru ‘s-sabeel, “or somebody who’s crossing through and moving on.” Mashaa-Allah, we are in Texas. In the wild west, people used to cross to Mexico. They did not stay in Mexico. They used to cross over. It is the same thing. It is said that `AbdAllah ibn `Umar (r) said Rasoolullah (s) took him by the elbow and said, kun, “Be.” It was an order to Sahaabah kiraam, the order of the guide to his disciples. Was the order, “Go open up and be as high as you can be in this dunya,” or was it something different? He said, “O my beloved companion, O my beloved disciple, O my beloved Ummah.” It is an address for the whole Ummah. Kun fi ‘d-dunya ka ’annaka ghareeb. Be in this lower world as an alien. They call it “illegal alien,” “legal alien” because you don’t belong here. You have come to this world as an alien. That means it’s not your home.
Take a lesson from the guide of humanity, from the Seal of Prophets. He is telling everybody, men and women, big and small, old and young, to be in this dunya as if you are a foreigner coming through. You’re not going to stay here. Aw `abiru ‘s-sabeel. You will cross and move over to the other side.
Our `ulama have said that before so many times. It is like you have an open ticket. You arrive in a city or a country with an open ticket. The departure date is not known. It can be any date or time. You don’t accumulate and work in that land forever. You know that you will leave so you take what you can. In dunya we are supposed to take what we need to take to reach the other side with full lights. Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
ٱلْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌ مَّعْلُومَـٰتٌ فَمَن فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ ٱلْحَجَّ فَلَا رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوقَ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِى ٱلْحَجِّ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَعْلَمْهُ ٱللَّهُ وَتَزَوَّدُوا۟ فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ ٱلزَّادِ ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ وَٱتَّقُونِ يَـٰٓأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ
For Hajj are the months well known. If any one undertakes that duty therein, Let there be no obscenity, nor wickedness, nor wrangling in the Hajj. And whatever good you do, (be sure) Allah knows it. And take a provision (With you) for the journey, but the best of provisions is right conduct. So fear Me, o you that are wise. (Surah Al-Baqara, 2:197)
Take your sustenance. You are on a journey. O Muslim, O believer, the one who has believed in Rasoolullah (s), know that you are not here to get a green card. This dunya is not the land of `iqamah, residence. This dunya is not a daar of jazaa`, reward. It is a place of mihnah wa balaa, tests and trials and difficulties. You are supposed to go through this dunya with your provisions to allow yourself to reach Allah (swt)’s Pleasure.
There is a Hadith and this is the meaning of what Awliyaullah have said about that Hadith. When you come out of your grave (...) okay, so you lived in this dunya, you struggled and worked and collected and whatever. At the end they put you six feet under. When you come out of that grave, who will welcome you? Your `amalu ‘s-saalih. When the mu'min gets out of his grave, his `amalu ‘s-saalih will welcome him and he will come in the best of shapes, the best of fragrances and say, “I am your `amalu ‘s-saalih, the good work that you always befriended in dunya.” What do we befriend in dunya? What do we take with us from dunya? Do we take the `amalu ‘s-saalih as a friend or do we take the bad `amal as a friend?
That `amalu ‘s-saalih will take you to Jannah. It will be a light for you in the darkness of Yawmu ‘l-Qiyamah and it will take you to Jannah. Vice versa is true. If we were bad ones, when we get out of the grave that `amal will welcome us in the worst of shapes, the stinkiest of smells and it will say, “Don’t you know me?” The person will say, “No. Who are you?” “I am your friend. I am the bad `amal that you did in this world.”
How many people are doing bad `amal in this world? Open the newspaper everyday. It’s all about bad `amal. Do you see any good `amal in there? Our teachers told us 20, 30 years ago, when you open the newspapers there is not one nice story, not a good `amal that is mentioned. Rather, it’s all the bad actions that human beings are doing. Every bad `amal will come on the Day of Judgement and will ride on the back of that person. Wa hum yahmiloona awzarahum `alaa zhuhoorihim.
قَدْ خَسِرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِلِقَآءِ ٱللَّهِ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَآءَتْهُمُ ٱلسَّاعَةُ بَغْتَةً قَالُوا۟ يَـٰحَسْرَتَنَا عَلَىٰ مَا فَرَّطْنَا فِيهَا وَهُمْ يَحْمِلُونَ أَوْزَارَهُمْ عَلَىٰ ظُهُورِهِمْ أَلَا سَآءَ مَا يَزِرُونَ
Lost indeed are they who treat it as a falsehood that they must meet Allah, until suddenly the Hour comes upon them, and they say: "Ah! woe unto us that we took no thought of it"; for they bear their burdens on their backs, and evil indeed are the burdens that they bear? (Surat al-An`am, 6:31)
They will carry their loads on their shoulders. People will come out of the grave carrying heavy loads. Alaa aa`a maa yaziroon. How bad they are carrying.
لِيَحْمِلُوٓا۟ أَوْزَارَهُمْ كَامِلَةً يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ وَمِنْ أَوْزَارِ ٱلَّذِينَ يُضِلُّونَهُم بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ أَلَا سَآءَ مَا يَزِرُونَ
Let them bear, on the Day of Judgment, their own burdens in full, and also (something) of the burdens of those without knowledge, whom they misled. Alas, how grievous the burdens they will bear! (Surat an-Nahl, 16:25)
Rasoolullah (s) is telling his disciples, his beloveds, his companions and the Ummah, to be a stranger in this dunya. Do good. Be well. Act kind. You are passing through. You’re going to cross to the other side.
In another Hadith, Rasoolullah (s) said, kamathalu rakiba. Like a rider, he came and found a tree, rested under the shade, took comfort from that shade, rested a little bit and then moved alone. This is dunya for the Muslim who has followed the path of Rasoolullah (s), for the mu'min who is following the Sunnah and the instructions of Rasoolullah (s). That one is looking for Akhirah, to find his good `amal on the other side. He knows he is not here forever. This is not daaru ‘l-`iqaamah. This is not a dwelling of residence, rather it is a passage to the other side. People enter this world as babies and they can exit at any time. It’s an open ticket. They can exit as babies, as toddlers, as adolescents, as tweens or teens--they can exit at any age! It’s a passage.
O mu’min! Please be aware of that. Don’t be heedless. Don’t be like the others. Allah (swt) has given you iman, belief. Allah (swt) has allowed you to accept Rasoolullah (s) out of His Rahmah and His Ni`mah. Know what you have been given. Rasoolullah (s) is telling you, Kun fi ‘d-dunya ka ’annaka ghareeb. Be in this world as if you are a foreigner or stranger. You are on a route and you will pass on to the other side.
Do your best in this dunya, act your best. Don’t look at the others and say, “They are doing it, so I will do it. He’s doing it so I can do it.” If he is doing good actions then do good actions. If they are doing bad actions then avoid them. Don’t be like them. There is a Hadith mentioned by Imam ad-Daylami in his Musnadi ‘l-Firdaws. There is an order to dunya, “O dunya. Serve the one who serves Me. Tire out, use to the extreme the one that serves you.”
Look at the ones who are running after dunya. Do they come back home comfortably? People who run after dunya are in the office until 8, 9, 10, 11 and then when do they start work, 4, 5? If you’re in the stock market, you’re up for 24 hours. “The stock markets of Tokyo have opened.” You start there and you are in America, so you’re awake when it’s dark at your place. How much do they work for dunya?
The order to dunya was, “O dunya! Serve the one that serves Me and tire out who serves you.” It is said that dunya comes to Awliyaullah. Have you ever seen how dunya comes to the feet of Awliyaullah? Others run after it. For Awliyaullah, for the mu'mins, for the Muslims, dunya will come to you and serve you if you are serving your Lord. Do you believe in what Rasoolullah (s) has said? Of course! We say he is as-Saadiqu ‘l-Amin. He tells the truth! If he tells the truth, why don’t you do that and be in the service of Allah (swt) and see how dunya will run after you? We have seen how dunya was at the feet of our shuyookh, `ulama, and the great Awliyaullah. Those who are running after dunya are getting tired and tired and tired. At the end of the day they come home and say, “I’ll try again tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get it.” They go running out of the doors of their houses into their cars, driving fast to get to their offices and at the end of the day they say, “We’ll try again one more time tomorrow. We have not gotten it yet. We did not reach what we wanted.”
O Muslim, O mu'min, take heed of the guidance of Rasoolullah (s). Serve Allah (swt) and Allah (swt) will send everything to you. Serve others and you will get tired. There is nothing to do. What do they do? They run after dunya. Again, Ad-Daylami in his Musnadi ‘l-Firdous mentioned another Hadith. Rasoolullah (s) said that Allah (swt) revealed to Dawud (a), “The example of dunya is the example of a dead carcass. Gathered on that dead carcass are a bunch of hyenas, wild beasts. Each one of them is chewing that carcass and pulling it to its side. The ones on this side pull it to their side. The one on that side pulls it to their side with their teeth and claws.”
Have you ever seen a hyena eating a dead animal in Africa? See how they drag that animal. What do they do? They bite each other, they fight with each other, they quarrel with each other for that dead flesh. He said, the example of the people who run after dunya is like the example of these wild beasts tearing apart, chewing, clawing, biting, barking or whatever. Why? Because they want that dead flesh.
The dunya is like that. You can see those who are running after dunya are like that. Are they a bunch of good ones, kind ones or are they quarreling? Everyone wants to drag it their way and this dead flesh that is dunya, kamathalu jeefa, “jeefa” means, “a rotten, stinky corpse.” They are after that. At the end they get tired and they get nothing.
A mu'min is not like that. A mu'min doesn’t run after dead flesh, rather if you serve Allah (swt), that will come to you and it will be at your service. Serve Allah (swt), O insaan. Serving Allah (swt) means keeping His Orders high and having compassion on His Creation.
As I heard from our `ulama, ta`dheemu Amrillah. Take the Order of Allah (swt) with high respect. For whatever He ordered you, say, “Yaa Rabbee. Sami`na wa ata`na. We hear and we obey.” You have to have compassion for creation. That is how you serve Allah (swt).
If you keep Allah (swt)’s Orders high and have mercy and compassion on Allah (swt)’s Creation then Allah (swt) will make this dunya run after you. It will serve you. But they are tossing away the Orders of Heavens and they are not merciful to the Creation of Allah (swt). They are running after dunya and all they get at the end is nothing. They leave this dunya and go.
Why do they run after dunya? Why is a Muslim not supposed to run after dunya and be in the service of Allah (swt)? In the Holy Qur’an, Allah (swt) called Salatu ‘l-Jumu`ah Dhikrullah.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا نُودِىَ لِلصَّلَوٰةِ مِن يَوْمِ ٱلْجُمُعَةِ فَٱسْعَوْا۟ إِلَىٰ ذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلْبَيْعَ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
Yā-ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū idhā nūdiya liṣ-ṣalāti min yawmi al-jumuʿati fa-sʿaw ilā Dhikri Allāhi wa-dharū al-bayʿa dhālikum khayrun lakum in kuntum taʿlamūn
O you who believe! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on Friday (the Day of Assembly), hasten earnestly to the Remembrance of Allah, and leave off business (and traffic): That is best for you if you but knew. (Surat al-Jumu`ah, 62:9)
O you who believe, if the adhan is given on Friday, run to Dhikrullah. Allah (swt) calls the Jumu`ah prayer, what we do here from durood, Dhikr and `ibaadah, Dhikrullah. Muslims, mu'mins are supposed to be after Dhikrullah.
Why are those who go to dunya going to dunya? What’s the missing link? The Qur’an tells you all of that. Allah (swt) has revealed everything in the Qur’an. Asta`eedhu billah:
وَمَن يَعْشُ عَن ذِكْرِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ نُقَيِّضْ لَهُۥ شَيْطَـٰنًا فَهُوَ لَهُۥ قَرِينٌ
Wa man ya`shoo an Dhikri ‘r-Rahmani nuqayid lahu ‘sh-Shaytana fahuwa lahu qareen.
If anyone withdraws himself from remembrance of ((Allah)) Most Gracious, We appoint for him an evil one, to be an intimate companion to him. (Surat az-Zukhruf, 43:36)
The one who neglects the Dhikr of ar-Rahman, the one who turns a blind eye on Dhikrullah, We will tie Shaytan to him or her. Those who neglect Dhikrullah, which means service to Allah (swt), We will tie Shaytan to them. Is Shaytan going to call you to Jannah?
Fahuwa lahu qareen. He becomes his friend. The Shaytan becomes the best friend of that person who has forgotten Dhikrullah. Where does Shaytan call you to? “Hurt him. Steal from him. Hurt her. Bother her. Injure this one. Maim this one. Run after this.” All of the bad whispers that come from Shaytan are for what? It’s like that hyena tearing into that flesh. “Tear them up.”
Everybody who is tearing others up, everybody who is gossiping others up, everybody who is harming others has a shaytan tied to him. Everybody who belittles others, demeans others, insults others, has a shaytan tied to him. Why? Because they have forgotten Dhikrullah. They say it by the tongue but they don’t mean it by the heart. That is also a Muslim problem, not only the non-Muslims. The Muslims have become munafiq, they say something by the tongue but the heart is not there!
A mu'min, a Muslim is the one who believes by the tongue and the heart. When he says Dhikrullah on this tongue, Dhikrullah is in his heart. He is not unaware of Dhikrullah. When he is continuously in Dhikrullah, that shaytan never approaches him. Isn’t that what Rasoolullah (s) said? When you make Dhikr, Shaytan runs away! When you mention Allah (swt)’s Name, Shaytan runs away! If you are a mu'min, Muslim who is busy with Dhikrullah, Shaytan never approaches you and dunya runs after you. But when you forget Allah (swt), when you for Dhikrullah, Shaytan is tied up to you, to me, to her, to him, to them and they run after that dunya and they start to quarrel and fight for it.
Look where you are, O man, Muslim or non-Muslim. May Allah (swt) forgive all of us. Remember what Rasoolullah (s) said, be in this world as a foreigner, as a stranger or somebody who is on the way out. Your `amal will meet you after you come out of the grave. Your `amal will meet you at the Scale. Be aware of that, O Muslim. Be busy with Dhikrullah. May Allah (swt) forgive us.
We are distracted with everything else that takes us away from Dhikrullah. Awliyaullah have said, if you are in Dhikrullah and you love to be in Dhikrullah, Allah (swt) will take away every distraction that comes your way. He will shoo them away so that you stay with Him because Allah (swt) says, “I am sitting with the one who mentions Me.” They say, “I’m lonely.” Why are you lonely? He never left you but you are blind. Why don’t you be busy with Him? Talk to Him. Mention Him. Read His Words. Ask from Him. They ask, “Who is it?” That is how heedless we have become. Muslims are the same. They ask, “Who is it?” “Who” is “Hu.”
When you say “Hu,” they do not have to assign something to “He.” “He” only means “Him.” They don’t have to say “car, house, friend, sky, heaven, earth.” They don’t have to assign something to that “He” pronoun that you have said because nothing is in existence other than Him! For Awliyaullah who are immersed in Dhikrullah, everything that is Hu or He is Him! There is nothing else in existence and that is the Haqqiqah, the Reality. What is Reality? You say, “I want to reach Reality. I want to reach Haqqiqah.” What is Haqqiqah? It means nobody is in existence. Everything is imagination.
If you are real, why do you disappear? That means you were a shadow. You were not real. What is Haqqiqah? He is existing. Hu. That is Fanaa’un Fillah, when you disappear from seeing yourself and others and you only remain with Allah (swt), by Allah (swt). That means you only see Him everywhere. Where are we from that? We are nowhere to be found but we are on the way. We are struggling to get there. Try to be in Dhikrullah, O insaan! Don’t be with something else. May Allah (swt) forgive us.
If you are with Him, He will stop everything that comes to distract you. If you are not with Him, He will send everything your way to distract you from finding Him again. Don’t let that Shaytan be tied up to you. Don’t forget Dhikrullah. In this dunya be from the dhaakireen. Everything will come to your feet. Be from the heedless ones and you will run after everything and nothing will stay in your hand at the end.
You have properties. What happens when you die? Are they yours? They were amanah as Awliyaullah have said. Allah (swt) has given you something and He is looking at what you do with it. He is telling you what to do with it. He is telling you, find the poor, find the orphan, find the needy, find the traveler, find the widow, find this and find that. Are you finding that? No, we keep it in the banks or we keep it in properties. Allah (swt) is looking. He is telling you, give.
Nothing remains in your hand. You are going to leave this dunya as is and as everybody else left. What Rasoolullah (s) is telling you is the truth. You are a traveler on this way. On this way you have to take sustenance and provisions that will benefit you in Akhirah.
وَتَزَوَّدُوا فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ
Fa-tazawwadoo fa-inna khayra az-zādi at-taqwā
And take provision, but indeed, the best provision is taqwā (God-consciousness). (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:197)
Take your sustenance. The best of sustenance is taqwa, that is worship of Allah (swt) and service of Allah (swt). Inshaa-Allah, we can be from them. Our intention is to be from them and if we are not able to do it by action, inshaa-Allah, Allah (swt) will allow that intention to become a reality.
[Du`a]
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