Avoiding Alláh’s wrath

Khalid Mustafa Abdul Kader/Royal Holloway College/Univ. of London /UK.

A-úthu billáhi minash shaytánir rajeem. Bisilláhir rahmánir raheem.

Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaani Ar-Raheem

Arabic introduction

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam,

In a previous khutbah, I explained why Allah, the Most High ended surat Al-Fatiha with the supplication not to follow the path of those who earned His wrath (anger) nor of those who have gone astray.  We saw how those who earned his anger were punished and why.  Today we shall, by the Grace of Allah, continue. 

‘And when Moses said unto his people: Lo! Allah commands you that you sacrifice a cow, they said: Do you make fun of us?  He answered: Allah forbids that I should be among the ignorant (fool)’

To put it bluntly, what they said to Moses, upon our prophet and upon him be peace, in today’s terminology: ‘You must be joking. What do you take us for?’  What language to use with a prophet and messenger of Allah but the Holy Qur’aan puts it as politely as possible.  But let us see why Allah commanded them to sacrifice a cow.  The tafseer relates a long story but briefly:  a man who was very poor had a very rich uncle who had no family to inherit him.  The former was not only materially poor but also morally bankrupt.  He therefore killed his uncle so that he may get the inheritance.  He then carried the body and placed it near someone’s house and accused them of murdering his uncle.  There were arguments and counter accusations and tempers were high until someone suggested that they ask Moses to judge in the dispute.  And that is when he told them:   Allah commands you to sacrifice a cow 

The command was simple and straightforward: sacrifice a cow.  Did they obey the command? Certainly not.  After accusing Moses of making fun of them, they started asking questions; needless questions and the more questions they asked the more difficult Allah, Most High, made it for them as we shall see.

  They said: Ask your Lord to make it plain to us what heifer it is.  He said: ‘He says the heifer should be neither too old nor too young but of middle age. 

Now do as you are commanded.’

Notice again they refer to Allah as ‘your Lord’ as if He, Glorified be He,  is only the Lord of Moses and not theirs as well.  Anyway, they persisted.

  They said: ask your Lord to make plain to us her colour’. ‘He said: He says a fawn coloured heifer, pure and rich in tone that pleases the beholder’.

 They said: ask your Lord to make plain to us what she is: to us all heifers are alike.

We wish indeed for guidance if Allah wills  

Now as they were not seeking information to clarify an issue because the issue itself was simple, Allah confused their minds, now they are seeking guidance.

 He said: ‘He says: a heifer not trained to till the soil or water the fields; sound and without a blemish’.  They said: ‘now you have brought the truth’.

They did not want to obey a command to sacrifice a cow; any cow.  Where are they going to find a heifer that will meet all these specifications? According to the tafseer, they searched far and wide before finding the required heifer.  Its owner refused to sell it insisting on a very high price.  So they brought him before Moses (pbuh) who ordered them to pay him the price he wanted – its weight in gold or its skin filled with gold. 

  It is only through stories like these that we Muslims realise the great importance of the Command of Allah, Subhanu, Who out of His boundless mercy and compassion taught all Muslims from Ibraheem (pbuh) to Mohammed (pbuh)  and their followers to always say  We hear and we obey

It is also out of the mercy of His Most Beloved Messenger (pbuh) for the Ummah that he kept reminding them not to ask useless and needless questions about matters that Allah, Blessed be His Name, did not wish to burden the Ummah with details thereof. 

 Arabic dua to close

Second Khutbah:

Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaani Ar-Raheem

Arabic introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam,

Then they offered her in sacrifice and scarcely they did’   ‘Remember you slew man and fell into a dispute among yourselves as to the crime.  But Allah was to bring forth what you did hide 

So We said: ‘Strike the body of the dead man with a piece of the sacrificed heifer.  Thus Allah brings the dead to life and shows you His signs. Perchance you may understand.

And that was the purpose of the Command.  When they struck the body of the dead person with a piece of heifer, by the Grace of Allah, he was brought back to life for a short while.  He was asked: who killed you?  He said, my nephew. And he died again.  Justice was done and the nephew was punished in accordance with the Law. And praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.

But we, the Muslim Ummah, whose land was usurped, whose some of its most holy places have been defiled, whose old men, women and children were savagely murdered, who offered thousands of martyrs and whose young men and women in their thousands are still imprisoned in We are still waiting for justice.  We neither seek nor want for the justice of man but pray for Divine justice from the Most Just, the Wise.  A small step in that direction has been achieved by the Grace of Allah….but we pray to Allah, Subhanu,  to aid the Ummah and return all our land to the Muslims.  Ammen.

  Arabic dua to close

Ameen!                     Aqeemus salaah!

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