Jumu`ah Khutbah at Masjid al-Huda
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. Alhamdulillah, it’s another Friday, another holy day, Allah (swt) accepted us in His Presence today. A lot of people are not fortunate to come to another Friday or to pray Salaat al-Jumu`ah, where we all come to Allah's House and ask forgiveness for the sins we have done, and Allah (swt) is so gracious that He is accepting us five times a day in His Presence. Prophet (s) said that during these five prayers, Allah (swt) will cleanse you from sins, the same way if you had a river next to your house and you took a bath in it five times a day, you would have nothing left from your sins. So Allah (swt) is so gracious that He gives us this chance to come in His Presence and ask for forgiveness.
Allah (swt) has taught manners in Qur'an, and the one who perfected the manners is Sayyidina Muhammad (s), as Allah (swt) says in the Holy Qur’an:
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِي
You are of the most exalted character. (Surat al-Qalam, 68:4)
“Certainly, you have the highest, most magnificent manners, characteristics, adab.!” Prophet (s) had the most pious adab, as Allah (swt) mentioned. So when we are in the Presence of Allah (swt), must we have manners before we enter? Allah teaches us manners in the Holy Qur’an and when we are trying to be in His Presence the first thing that we have to do is say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem.” It’s asking permission from Allah (swt) to enter His Presence, like when we go to a king’s or president’s palace or a mayor’s office, first we call ahead of time, then we knock at the door and ask permission to enter their presence for some issue we have. When Allah (swt) is inviting us to His House, or in your house when you are praying five times a day, the first thing we have to do is say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem.” Why? Because we are going to start reading Qur’an and Allah (swt) says you have to start with this.
فَإِذَا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمَ
Now whenever you read this Qur’an, seek refuge with Allah from Shaytan, the Accursed.
(Surat an-Nahl, 16:98-9)
It’s an order, so before we enter Allah's Presence we have to say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem.” It’s asking permission to enter, because we cannot pray, fast, or be obedient without His Permission, He has to permit us, give us imaan and Islam so we can enter His Presence. So why do we say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem”? Because our tongue has been polluted with lying, cheating, gossiping, cursing, with dunya stuff, going around the whole day gossiping about others, plotting against them, hurting and lying to them. When we enter Allah's Presence, we have to clean our tongue that has been lying all day long and is going to start to recite Qur’an. Allah (swt) says, “Before you read Qur’an, say, ‘A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem’.” Adab, manners! Allah (swt) teaches manners in the Holy Qur’an, and Prophet (s) is the one to teach us, so we follow his Sunnah.
When we are entering Allah's House, or entering prayer or starting to read Qur’an, we have to say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem,” because now we are getting ready to make du`a. What is prayer? Ihdina ‘s-siraata ‘l-mustaqeem, that is du`a asking Allah for something. When we read Qur’an, so many verses are du’as, prayers, so when we are entering the Presence of our Lord to ask Him for His favors, we have to say, “O my Lord! A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. I want to clean this tongue first before entering Your Presence and I’m seeking Your Help.” ‘A`oodhu’ means, “I am seeking a shelter, help, support.” From whom? From the Lord, Allah, so when we say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem,” what do you think Allah is going to do? When we say, “O my Lord, I am seeking Your Support,” do you think Allah 's going to say no? When you say, “O my Lord, I am afraid of what’s going on inside myself and outside of myself, and I ask for Your Support,” do you think Allah is not going to send support? Yes, He will! So when we say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem,” as if we are knowing what’s going to happen: we say, “A`oodhu, I seek Your Support, I know that You are going to give me the support.”
That is the best and the quickest way to get Allah's Help. Anyone who has a problem, is under difficulty, has whispering of Shaytan in his ear, has difficulty anywhere outside, all they need to do is to say, “A`oodhu billahi, asta`eedhu billah, I ask for support from my Lord, because surely He will give me the support I need.” Allah (swt) says:
وَأَوْفُواْ بِعَهْدِي أُوفِ بِعَهْدِكُمْ وَإِيَّايَ فَارْهَبُونِ
Fulfill your promise to Me and I will fulfill My promise to you, and fear none but Me.
(Surat al-Baqara, 2:40)
“You fulfill your contract with Me, I will fulfill My contract with you.” What is our contract with Allah? We are His servants, `abd. When we say the two words, “A`oodhu billah,” we are declaring, “O my Lord, I am Your servant! I am coming to You! I’m taking refuge in You! I’m taking shelter in You! I’m asking support from You!” That means, “I am Your servant, O my Lord, and You fulfill Your contract with me. You are my Rabb, Lord, my Caretaker, my Provider.” So, the minute we say these two words, “A`oodhu billah,” Allah will immediately shelter us from whatever is going on and will send His support in the way He knows what is best for us, we don’t know how. It can be through another human, angels, or unknown means, but Allah will send support. From what?
We say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem.” We ask Allah for support from Shaytan. What or who is Shaytan, what does Shaytan represent? There are two major categories in deen we have to know, and if these two things are sound then you have good deen: it is your `ilm, knowledge, and your `amal, deeds. Al-`ilmu wa ’l-`amal. We have to pay attention to these two things. If your `ilm and your `amal is sound and clean, then you have got good deen, good knowledge and good deeds. Shaytan represents the bad knowledge and bad `amal as he had the knowledge in himself, “I am better than Adam.”
قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِينٍ
(Iblees) said, "I am better than him: You created me from fire and You created him from clay!”
(Surat Saad, 38:76)
He said, “I am better than...” whicih was falsehood: Shaytan had false knowledge and information, his `ilm was not sound, he thought that Allah made a mistake. He said, “How can You ask me to prostrate, to make sajda to Adam?” as if he is telling Allah, “You are wrong!” That is false knowledge of His Lord. So when someone has false `ilm and someone has false action, these are representative of Shaytan, which is very easy to determine. What is their `ilm and `amal? Shaytan had false knowledge of Allah (swt). He said, “O my Lord, Rabbi, make me wait until Judgement Day!”
قَالَ رَبِّ فَأَنظِرْنِي إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ
(Iblees) said: "O my Lord! Then give me respite ‘til the Day the (dead) are raised." (Surat al-Hijr, 15:36)
He used the word “Rabbi, Lord,” but he had wrong knowledge about his Lord and when Allah (swt) ordered him, he disobeyed, so he had false deeds and false knowledge. Shaytan represents falsehood in all of his aspects; Satan, Diablo, Sadanas, the devil, whatever you call him, he is against the order of his Lord, he disobeyed and that’s Shaytan. Anyone who has false knowledge and false deeds is representative of Shaytan, from which we are trying to seek shelter in Allah. When we say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaan,” that means, “O my Lord, I seek shelter and support from You from my having false deeds and false knowledge like Shaytan,” and that is all around us.
The Prophet (s) said:
ستفترق هذه الأمة على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة
This Ummah will split into 73 sects. (Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi)
“My Ummah will be seventy-three,” and another Hadith says that it is more than seventy sects or groups. Prophet (s) said, “My Ummah is going to split; only one has the right knowledge, the rest have the false knowledge.” So anyone who is following the false knowledge, which is not Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah, we have to be careful as anyone who does not follow the Sunnah of Prophet (s) is on the wrong track. Following his Sunnah is the way, and deviating from it is the false way, so when we are asking Allah (swt), “We seek support and refuge in from You from Shaytan’s falsehood,” that means we don’t want to be from the people or groups with false knowledge about deen and our Lord, and that is in the above Hadith.
And the false `amal, action, is endless. If we count how many false actions of a human being, it’s endless. In deen and in dunya we can do false `amal outside of the deen: in our worldly affairs and in religious affairs, so when we say, “A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem,” we are asking Allah for His protection from all of that, from any falsehood in `ilm and `amal. Allah says what? “Okay, then ask for My support.” We are asking for Allah's support from falsehood, we want to be away from what is false! So what do we do, O our Lord? What does He say? “If you want support from Me, Iqra!” The first order that came to Prophet (s) is, “Read My Book!” What is in His Book? Each word in His Book is a treasure! I’ll read one verse.
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
إِذَا ٱلشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ وَإِذَا ٱلنُّجُومُ ٱنكَدَرَتْ وَإِذَا ٱلْجِبَالُ سُيِّرَتْ وَإِذَا ٱلْجِبَالُ سُيِّرَتْ وَإِذَا ٱلْعِشَارُ عُطِّلَتْ وَإِذَا ٱلْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ
When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up; when the stars fall, dispersing; when the mountains vanish (like a mirage); and when full-term she-camels are neglected; and when the wild beasts are gathered. (Surah Takwir, 81:1-5)
Allah is speaking about the Signs of Judgement Day, one of which is wa idha ‘l-wuhooshu hushirat, when the wild animals, beasts and monsters, will be gathered. What is a beast? It is a creation that does not come next to people, it lives in jungles, prairies and they are loners, they don’t mix with their kind, nor with people, they are wuhoosh, wahsh, wahshi, wahshaat, words that describe these people as untamed, they cannot mix with its own kind or another. Allah says, “When these beasts are gathered.” What are characteristics of a beast? It devours, kills, maims, hunts, sheds blood. Did the angels witness that we humans will shed blood on Earth and object to Allah, saying, “How could you make somebody that will corrupt and shed blood?”
قَالُواْ أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاء وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ
They said, “Will You place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood while we celebrate Your praises and glorify Your Holy (Name)?" (Surat al-Baqara, 2:30)
So human beings are wuhoosh, wild animals, beasts. That’s why deen came, to teach us adab and manners. If you let in a wild animal without deen, a human being not exposed to any religion, as all religions came from Allah (swt), if you allow them to live by their instincts [without rules that serve everyone] you can see what will become of him: he can kill for money, to eradicate enemies. Humans do that, but deen says, “No, no, no, you can’t do that!” Religion and Prophet (s) came teach us adab. Allah is teaching Prophet (s) adab, so “When the beasts are gathered,” do you see anywhere in the world nowadays where the beasts are all gathered? Allah tells the truth. Qur’an speaks each time not only to the Sahaabah (r), but to all humans until the Day of Judgement; however, we have to hear, we don’t hear! We became:
صُمّ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لا يَعْقِلُونَ
Deaf, dumb, and blind, so they do not understand. (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:171)
We became deaf, blind, mute and we don’t understand! The Qur’an is in front of us and the beasts are gathered all together, devouring, killing, maiming, hunting, shedding blood, and if we continue further in the same surah:
وَإِذَا ال صُّحُفُ نُشِرَتْ
When the scrolls are laid open. (Surat Takwir, 81:10)
“When the suhoof, papers, scrolls, Record of Deeds are spread, printed, like newspapers today in which we see the names and images of beasts and most of what they write is bad actions between humans, which is represented by Shaytan, the first one to commit a bad act in front of his Lord! We ask Allah that we not be beasts, that He make us learn adab from Prophet (s), khuluq al-adheem, best character that he (s) acquired and Allah (swt) witnessed for him. We ask Allah to bless and forgive Ummat an-Muhammad (s) and make us better! Astaghfirullah.
[Du`a.]
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