Khutbah: Our Global Responsibility

Arshad Gamiet/Royal Holloway Univ. of London/ 17th February 2006.

“As-salámu 'alaikum wa rahmatul láhi wa barakátuh!”  

“A-úthu billáhi minash shaytánir rajeem.  Bismilláhir rahmánir raheem.

Al hamdu lillahi nahmaduhu wanasta’eenahu, wanastagh-firuhu, wanatoobu ilayhi, wana’oothu Billaahi min shuroori an-fusinaa, wamin sayyi aati a’maalinaa. May- Yahdillahu fa huwal muhtad, wa may- yudlill falan tajidaa lahu waliyan murshida. Wa ash-hadu an Laa ilaaha ill-Alláh, wahdahoo laa shareeka lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhoo warasooluh

  All Praise is due to Alláh, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Alláh, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Alláh, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, sws, is His servant, and His messenger.

   Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem! Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, haqqa tuqaatihee wala tamu tun-na, il-la wa antum Muslimoon.”

O You who believe, - Fear Allah, as He should be feared, and die not except as Muslims.

 Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, wa qooloo qawlan sadeedaa. Yuslih-lakum a’maalakum wa yaghfir lakum thunoobakum, wamay yu-til-laaha warasoolah, faqad faaza fawzan atheemaa.”

O You who believe, - Be aware of Allah, and speak a straightforward word. He will forgive your sins and repair your deeds. And whoever takes Allah and His prophet as a guide, has already achieved a mighty victory…

My respected Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s khutbah is based on a talk I attended last week. It was entitled, One Faith, many voices: Why differences of opinion make us stronger. The speakers were Imam Zaid Shakir and Shaikh Hamza Yusuf from the Zaytuna Institute in California, and Shaikh ‘Abdullah bin Bayyah from Mauritania. They also addressed the ongoing controversy about offensive cartoons depicting our beloved Prophet Muhammad, sws and the response to it. How should we express our anger and outrage and how should we uphold the honour of Prophet Muhammad, without damaging the honour and dignity of Islam?

 Time is short so this khutbah will be brief. I’ll try to highlight the main points,. We invoke Allah's blessings on all those who seek to make the world a better, safer place for everyone. And we ask that Allah may facilitate all that He will be pleased with.

There is a wrong way and a right way to handle disagreements. The wrong way is to be arrogant, dismissive and aggressive towards others believing that you must be right and only your opinion has any value. This is the way of Shaytaan. Remember that Allah ordered Shaytaan to bow down to Adam, but he refused. Ana khairun min…” “I am better than he is. I am made of fire, and he is made of clay,” was Satan’s reply. This is the point of departure of every racist and every bigot, every arrogant person. People who believe they are superior. Those who believe that they alone are right and everyone else is wrong, have a disease of the heart. This false pride leads to acts of injustice against others. Prophet Muhammad sws warned us not to look down on one another, not to despise one another, not to lie or slander, but to love one another as brothers and sisters. “Every Muslim is the brother and sister of every other Muslim,” he said.

We need to have a common understanding that disagreements on minor details are a part of being human. Wherever the Qur'an and Sunnah are explicit on some matter, there is no need for discussion or debate. But there are many things that are not mentioned in the Qur'an and Hadith, or they are mentioned vaguely. These matters are open for debate and interpretation. We should therefore accommodate differences of opinion on the minor issues. It is well-known that great jurists like Imam Shafi’i, Imam Hanbal, Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Malik had differences of opinion, yet they had the utmost respect for one another.

Having respect for different opinions is a sign of maturity. It also shows that we ultimately rely on Allah, He alone knows who’s right and who’s wrong. He is the All-knowing, All-wise. If we happen to have the right answers now and again, it’s because He has guided us, so the credit is His, not ours.

We should also remember that beneath all the apparent misfortunes that we see around us, Allah is still firmly in control. We must not be so distressed with what we see as the strength of some people, and the weakness of others. We are sometimes too inclined to see life only on the physical and materialistic level. We forget that there is a spiritual law that underpins everything.

Brothers and Sisters, when we look around us at the abuse of power that is being visited on those who are weak economically and militarily, it is easy to feel a sense of frustration and despair. But, we must never let feelings of despair and helplessness drive us to acts of desperation. “We must never say, as some do, that we want power, we want revenge, by any means necessary…” This is not the way of Islam, this was never the way of Prophet Muhammad. Never forget, that Allah is All-seeing, All-knowing, and nothing happens at any moment, without His permission. He tests individuals, and nations, with power and prosperity. And He removes it when He wills: In sura Al-‘Imran, ch3:v26 we read:

“Qulila humma maalikal tu’til mulka man-tashaa’. Wa tanzi’ul mulka min-man-tashaa’ Wa tu’izzu man tashaa, wa tuzillu man tashaa’, biyadikal khair. Innaka alaa kulli shay-in qadeer!”

“Say, O Allah, Lord of Power and Dominion, You give power to whom you please, you remove power from whom You please. You raise high whom You please, you bring low whom You please. In Your hand is all good. You have power over all things.”

Brothers and sisters, history is in safe hands. We are all in Allah’s loving care, and he is testing us in good times and hard times. America is being tested like the Soviet Union was tested. And when Allah decides that enough is enough, no one can hasten or delay Allah’s decree. We Muslims should not do anything outside the limits of Shariah. The limits or wudood that Allah has prescribed, are that we always think and act within His law. We must patiently and graciously accept what He has decreed for us, while we work, within the limits He set for us, to remove injustice and to improve the world we live in.

. “Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen. Was-salaatu was-salaamu alaa Khairil mursaleen. Muhammadin-nabeey-yil Ummiy-yee, wa-‘alaa aalihee, wasah-bihee, aj-ma’een. 

Ammaa ba’ad:

Innalláha wa malaaikata yusallúna alan nabi. Yá ay yuhal latheena ámanu sallú alayhi wasalli mú tas leema. Allahumma salli alá Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim. Allahumma barik ala Muhammad, wa alaa áli Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Fil ála meen, innaka hameedun majeed.”

All praise is due to Alláh, the Lord of all the Worlds; may the greetings and peace be upon the best messenger, Muhammad, the unlettered prophet; and upon his family and upon all of his companions.    Amma ba’ad, And, after this,  

Behold, Alláh and his angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O you who believe! Ask for blessings on him, and salute him with a worthy greeting.

 O Alláh! Send your greetings upon Muhammad and his family,  just as you sent your greetings on Abraham, and his family. O Alláh, send your blessings on Muhammad and his family, just as you blessed Abraham and his family. In both worlds, you are praiseworthy and exalted."

Part Two:

 Sub' hanallahi wal hamdu lillah, wala hawla wala quwwata illah billah yu althi yual theem.

 "All glory is for Allah, and all praise is for Allah; There is no power and no strength except with Allah."

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the second part of our khubah, based on last week’s talk by eminent scholars Imam Zakir, Shaikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson and Shaikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, we look at the issue of identity. We Muslims, too, have fallen into the bad habit of branding ourselves and wearing Islam as if it was some new designer label. We don’t have to wear Islam like a Nike or Reebok tracksuit. Our faith is not a fashion accessory. Some of us even become arrogant towards others, treating others scornfully as though we are ‘better than them.’ Islam does not teach an ‘us and them’ attitude. We Muslims are an integral part of the human family, not an exclusive and isolated part from the rest. On the really big issues, Allah addresses us as not as Muslims or Believers, but as Mankind, or the children of Adam. The Holy Qur'an says in Sura Al-Hujuraat Sura 49.13:

O Mankind, We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other, not that you may despise each other.”

We must wear our Muslim identity inclusively and not exclusively. In other words, we are not simply Muslims, and nothing else. We are also, and firstly, human beings, along with all the other children of Adam. The Holy Qur'an frequently says, Ya ayyu han naas, Ya bani Adam. O mankind, O people of Adam. We are constantly reminded that Prophet Muhammad sws did not come as a mercy only to Muslims, but as a Mercy to Mankind, a Mercy to All the worlds.

“Wamaa arsal naaka illah Rahmatal lil’Aalameen.”

And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], but as a Mercy unto all the worlds.”

We are also reminded in Sura Al-‘Imraan, 3:v110:

“Kuntum khayra ummatin ukhrijat lin-naasi wa ta’muroona bil ma’roof, watan hawna ‘anil munkar, watu’minoona bil-Laah…”

You are indeed the best community that has ever been brought forth for [the good of] mankind: you enjoin what is right and you forbid what is wrong, and you believe in God…”

Note that the Qur'an does not speak about the good of Muslims or even the good of Believers. It speaks widely and inclusively about the good of mankind. Therefore our main preoccupation must be to serve all humanity as Allah decrees. If we ignore this and narrow our concerns only towards Muslims, then we disobey the clear orders from Allah. Remember that every Christian, every Jew, every Hindu and Sikh, every atheist and agnostic, is also a creature of Allah. It behoves us to treat them with kindness, out of love for Allah.

Here is an interesting point made by Imam Shakir. All the deaths in Palestine, Bosnia, Chechnya and Kashmir, added together, do not total the deaths in Rwanda and the Congo. We always pray for our brothers in the Muslim parts of the world, but rarely to we give a thought to Rwanda, the Congo and other places where non-Muslims suffer unspeakable hardship. Allah wants us not be so selfish and partisan in our humanitarian concerns. We must adopt a global view. Problems that face the human species are our problems also, and we must be an active part of the solution. There are many life-threatening issues where Muslims can make a big impact: Global warming, disease and hunger, social problems and so forth. We do not live in a vacuum. We can and must be part of the solution. We must urge all Muslims, as individuals and communities, as well as our wealthy Muslim countries, to do more for the common good of mankind.

How did our role-model par excellence Prophet Muhammad, [peace and blessings on him] deal with insulting and offensive behaviour? An authentic narration tells us that once a Jewish man walked into the mosque and urinated on the floor. The Companions were so incensed that they wanted to beat the man. But Prophet Muhammad sws told them to leave him, and just to wash the area with clean water. Just let him see that his behaviour was unacceptable, said the Prophet. The honour of Islam cannot be upheld by returning insults with violence.

Instead of throwing childish temper tantrums, burning flags and burning embassies to the ground, imagine if we could defend the honour of Prophet Muhammad sws by mobilising our immense resources to eliminate hunger and poverty in Africa. What an eloquent and elegant statement of our love for Nabi Muhammad, sws, if we could be in the forefront of the battle to save the environment for future generations. If we could be leading the fight against disease and poverty around the world, if we could be in the forefront of fighting drug abuse, alcohol abuse, family disintegration and other social problems in our country. What would it do for the honour of our beloved Prophet if we Muslims could be seen as the trustworthy and noble community in whose hands all mankind can feel safe and secure? Today when people think of Muslims they think of fear and terror. This is partly due to the media, but let’s be honest, it’s also considerably due to some of our own actions. We have a lot of work to do, and we must begin by putting our hearts and our homes in order.  Brothers and Sisters, if we can tackle the really big problems that face humanity as a whole, we will find that many of our lesser internal problems will take care of themselves. Perhaps we can all start by becoming more active in our wider neighbourhoods beyond the Muslim community. Let’s stop complaining and start working. The results will speak for themselves. “By their fruits shall ye know them,” said Prophet Jesus, Nabi Isa. Let us work hard to improve the quality of life for all people in this beautiful country that has become our home also.

Let us pray and seek Allah’s help us in this important task.

“Rabbana aatina fid dunya hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan waqeena athaaban naar.”

O My Lord, give us good in this world, and good in the life to come, and keep us safe from the torment of the fire.

“Rabbana la tuzigh quloobanaa ba'da ith haday tanaa, wahablanaa milla dunka rahma. Innaka antal wah-haab.”

O My Lord, do not let our hearts deviate from the Truth now that we have been guided, but grant us Mercy from Your very Presence; for You are the grantor of bounties without measure.

Rabbana la tu-akhithna in naseena aw akhtana Rabbana wala tahmil ‘alayna isran kama hamaltahu AAala allatheena min qablina Rabbana wala tuhammilna ma la taqata lana bihi wa’fu ‘anna wa’ghfir lana war-‘hamna anta mawlana fun-surna ‘alal qawmil kafireen.

"Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which You laid on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. You are our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith." (2:286)

Ameen.                   Aqeemus salaah!

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