{"id":6802,"date":"2015-03-06T23:01:04","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T23:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/?p=6802"},"modified":"2015-03-06T23:30:19","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T23:30:19","slug":"stop-blaming-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/2015\/03\/06\/stop-blaming-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop blaming others!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"stop<\/a><\/p>\n

TO HEAR THE AUDIO VERSION OF THIS KHUTBAH, PLEASE CLICK HERE:\u00a0AG Stop blaming others<\/a><\/p>\n

Stop blaming others and making excuses for yourself! <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Arshad Gamiet\/Royal Holloway University of London 6th<\/sup> March 2015<\/p>\n

Al hamdu lillahi nahmaduhu wanasta\u2019eenahu, wanastagh-firuhu, wanatoobu ilayhi, wana\u2019oothu Billaahi min shuroori an-fusinaa, wamin sayyi aati a\u2019maalinaa. May- Yah\u00addillahu fa huwal muhtad, wa may- yudlill falan tajidaa lahu waliyan murshida. Wa ash-hadu an Laa ilaaha ill-All\u00e1h, wahdahoo laa shareeka lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan \u2018abduhoo warasooluh<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

All Praise is due to All\u00e1h, 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 All\u00e1h, 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 All\u00e1h, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, peace and blessings on him, is His servant, and His messenger.<\/p>\n

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem! Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena \u2018aamanut taqul-laaha, haqqa tuqaatihee wala tamu tun-na, il-la wa antum Muslimoon.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

O You who believe, \u2013 Be aware of Allah, with correct awareness, an awe-inspired awareness, and die not except as Muslims.<\/p>\n

Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena \u2018aamanut taqul-laaha, wa qooloo qawlan sadeedaa. Yuslih-lakum a\u2019maalakum wa yaghfir lakum thunoobakum, wamay yu-til-laaha warasoolah, faqad faaza fawzan atheemaa.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

O You who believe, \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

In the opening verse of Sura An-Nisaa\u2019, Allah says:<\/p>\n

O mankind! Show reverence towards your Guardian-Lord Who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, his mate and from the two of them scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;\u2015 Be conscious of Allah, through Whom ye demand your mutual (rights) and (show reverence towards) the wombs (that bore you): for surely, Allah ever watches over you.<\/p>\n

My Dear Sisters and Brothers,<\/p>\n

These days, we Muslims are constantly in the news, and mostly for the wrong reasons. If it\u2019s not about the beheadings of \u201cJihadi John\u201d in Syria or the massacres of Boko Haram in Nigeria, then it\u2019s about Muslim Pakistani men abusing underage girls, or some other bad news. Unfortunately, many of us refuse to acknowledge that there are serious problems we Muslims have right here within our own community, within our own families, and even within our own individual hearts. Some of us live in denial. We blame the sensational media. We blame dark conspiracies against Islam. But few of us will sit up and ask, what role have we Muslims played in creating the mess that we\u2019re in?<\/p>\n

For example, did you know that we Muslims are only 3 percent of the British population, but we are 10 percent of the prison population? That\u2019s 3 times more than non-Muslims! Real Muslims should have zero percent in prison! When I first heard this, I thought, that it\u2019s because too many young Muslims are arrested as terrorist suspects. But I was wrong. The offences range from burglary and fraud to drug dealing and every other crime you can think of, and some you dare not even imagine. And, it\u2019s not only the men. Our sisters also have a problem. Muslim women account for 30 percent of the inmates at one of London\u2019s prisons for women! The crimes range from shoplifting to domestic violence. Sad to say, it\u2019s mostly domestic violence, between mothers in law and daughters in law, but there are other examples. You\u2019ve probably heard of this horrific case of a mother beating her 6 year old child to death because he couldn\u2019t read the Quran properly. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many cases of domestic violence and child abuse in Muslim families that we don\u2019t hear of. It\u2019s all hushed up in the name of \u2018honour\u2019 \u00a0to protect the ‘honour of the family. Meanwhile, the crimes carry on. What kind of honour is that? This isn\u2019t Islam! Our warped sense of ‘family honour’ \u00a0has nothing to do with Islam!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s gone wrong? How do Muslims get into such a mess? What can we do to put things right? We cannot simply shrug our shoulders and say it\u2019s not our problem. We can\u2019t just look away and walk away and do nothing.<\/p>\n

Some Muslims even claim welfare benefits that they are not entitled to. They know all the tricks and and loopholes. They could probably write up a doctoral thesis on \u2018benefit fraud.\u2019<\/p>\n

My dear brothers and sisters, can you see why the Muslim world is in such a mess? It\u2019s because we<\/em> are in a mess. Our personal lives are in a mess. Our family situation is simply a model in miniature of what happens out there in the wide world. If we want to put things right out there, we must begin with ourselves. We must begin by clearing up the mess inside our own hearts. We must stop massaging our selfish egos. playing games of smoke and mirrors, stop our self delusion. Stop \u00a0Our desires, our passions, our hopes and longings that exclude Allah, desires that displease Him. Desire is a powerful driving force, and we must tune it in the right direction. We must turn our desires towards Allah’s good pleasure. We have to change from within, change our heart’s desires. The Holy Quran warns us that:<\/p>\n

\u201cAllah will never change the condition of a people, until they change what is within themselves<\/span>. i.e. what is within their hearts.\u201d (Sura Al Ra\u2019d 13:11)<\/p>\n

This change will only happen when we stop making excuses and blaming others. Excuses come from Shaitaan. Please, remember that: Excuses come from Shaitaan. We must take ownership of our actions: Caliph Omar, Radiyal-laahu anhum, advised his people: \u201cHold yourself to account, before you are brought to account<\/span>.\u201d Don\u2019t wait till Al Yawmul Qiyaamah, <\/em>(The Day of Judgement) when it\u2019s too late for tears. Do it now!<\/p>\n

Before we start any new task, we must ask ourselves:\u00a0 Why am I doing this? What impulse is driving me? Is it fear, greed, envy or vanity? Am I doing this to impress someone, to show off, to massage my ego? If so, stop! Don\u2019t do it! I\u2019m only going to harm my own soul!<\/p>\n

We must have full presence of mind, so that, in big and small things, we begin every new action in Allah\u2019s Holy Name: Bismillahir rahmanir raheem:<\/em> \u201cIn the Name of Allah, the most kind, the most merciful<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever we do, whether it\u2019s brushing our teeth or tying our shoelaces, or answering the phone or going to meet our friends; let\u2019s always begin with Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem! <\/em>Let\u2019s focus on the meaning, and we\u2019ll find it impossible to do a sin or a shameful deed at the same time. We cannot do any injustice, either to others or to ourselves, if we really and seriously understand the meaning and internalise Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.<\/em><\/p>\n

We must internalise our faith. It\u2019s easy to look like a Muslim on the outside. It\u2019s much harder, and more important, to be a good Muslim on the inside. We have to think and feel and behave like real Muslims. Stop judging others. Stop criticising Muslims who don\u2019t have beards or hijabs, or whose beards are too short and whose hijabs aren\u2019t the right colour. We must purify our hearts. That\u2019s the key. We must learn to control our desires, to tame the lower passions and to always refer to the higher and nobler qualities within us.<\/p>\n

It takes time. Sinners and criminals aren\u2019t made overnight. It starts with forgetfulness, distractions, small deviations, small acts of mischief that are\u2019nt stopped in time. They grow bigger and bolder. It\u2019s a struggle, a jihad of the lower nafs that Prophet Muhammad described as the Greater Jihad. The guys who pose with their weapons on YouTube, and who kill innocent civilians in the name of Islam are bringing shame on Islam. That’s not Jihad. They\u2019re fooling themselves. Most of them haven\u2019t sorted out the mess inside their hearts, that\u2019s why they make a mess outside. The real jihad, <\/em>the real struggle is the one that you and I and every Muslim must engage to take control of the demons that lurk there inside the deepest corners of our own hearts. We must turn ourselves away from what pleases our animal instincts, to what pleases Allah. And we cannot do so without Allah\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

Prophet Muhammad sws was fond of this du\u2019ah. It\u2019s a short and powerful plea for help:<\/p>\n

\u201cYa muqallibul quloob; thabbit qalbee ala deenik!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cO Turner of hearts, please turn my heart towards Your religion<\/span>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dear Brothers and sisters, let\u2019s learn this duah by heart. Let\u2019s say it with meaning and feeling, and let\u2019s be prepared to exchange our old bad habits for new good ones. One scholar said that the longest journey is from the head to the heart, from what we know, to what we feel, what we desire, what we long for. We know what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong, but we choose to deviate from the straight path, the siratul mustaqeem, <\/em>to explore the crooked roads that lead to the hellfire. Beware of that, as the Quran warns, beware the fire whose fuel is men and stones. {Sura Al Baqara 2:24)<\/p>\n

Let Allah hear and accept our heartfelt pleas:<\/p>\n

\u201cYa muqallibul quloob; thabbit qalbee ala deenik!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cO Turner of hearts, please turn my heart towards Your religion<\/span>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil \u2018Aalameen. Was-salaatu was-salaamu alaa Khairil mursaleen. Muhammadin-nabeey-yil Ummiy-yee, wa-\u2018alaa aalihee, wasah-bihee, aj-ma\u2019een. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ammaa ba\u2019ad:<\/em><\/p>\n

Innall\u00e1ha wa malaaikata yusall\u00fana alan nabi. Y\u00e1 ay yuhal latheena \u00e1manu sall\u00fa alayhi wasalli m\u00fa tas leema. Allahumma salli al\u00e1 Muhammad, wa ala \u00e1li Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim. Allahumma barik ala Muhammad, wa alaa \u00e1li Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Fil \u00e1la meen, innaka hameedun majeed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

All praise is due to All\u00e1h, 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amma ba\u2019ad, And, after this,\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Behold, All\u00e1h and his angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O you who believe! Ask for blessings on him, and salute him with a worthy greeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

O All\u00e1h! Send your greetings upon Muhammad and his family,\u00a0 just as you sent your greetings on Abraham, and his family. O All\u00e1h, send your blessings on Muhammad and his family, just as you blessed Abraham and his family. In both worlds, you are praiseworthy and exalted.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Part Two:<\/p>\n

Sub’ hanallahi wal hamdu lillah, wala hawla wala quwwata illah billah yu althi yual theem.<\/em><\/p>\n

“All glory is for Allah, and all praise is for Allah; There is no power and no strength except with Allah.<\/span>”<\/p>\n

My dear sisters and brothers,<\/p>\n

Please remember that the khutbah is an essential part of the Jumu\u2019ah. Prayers have been shortened to 2 raka\u2019a to allow for the khutbah. Do not talk to each other or play with your mobile phones during the khutbah. If you miss the khutbah you\u2019ve missed Jumu\u2019ah. Please try to get here on time. All our khutbahs are on our website and you can get the address on the tables in front.<\/p>\n

To summarise: We Muslims are in a mess because we\u2019ve forgotten the core ethical values of Islam. These values are eloquently described in one of my favourite hadith, <\/em>when Prophet Muhammad sws declared:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA Muslim is someone from whose tongue and hands other Muslims are safe; and a Mu\u2019min (a true Believer) is someone in whom all humankind is safe with their life and property<\/span>.\u201d [repeat]<\/em><\/p>\n

My dear brothers and sisters, can we imagine the great responsibility? It\u2019s awesome, to be responsible for the lives and property of all mankind! In another narration, Prophet Muhammad said, three times: \u201cHe is not a true Believer!\u201d When the Companions asked: Who is not a true Believer? The Prophet replied: \u201cThe one whose neighbour is not safe from his mischief, from his sins!<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

How safe can our neighbours feel when we Muslims are 3 times more likely to be in prison for all kinds of mischief, for all kinds of sins? Why should our neighbours have to fear the arrival of another Muslim family next door, or down the street?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stop the lame excuses and blaming others. Let\u2019s follow the example of Prophet Adam. He didn\u2019t make excuses. He didn\u2019t blame Shaitaan for his actions. Shaitan is there to misguide us. That\u2019s his job. But we should ignore him. We are responsible for our own actions. Every Hajji knows the prayer of Nabi Adam. When we stand on Arafat, we recite the same duah, the same timeless plea that Prophet Adam and his wife made to Allah:<\/p>\n

\u201cRabbana thalamna an fusana, wa il lam tagh fir lana, wa tarhmna, lana koonan na minal khasireen<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Lord, we have truly wronged our own souls, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, then we will be among the lost ones<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This clearly tells us that wrongdoing is not an injustice towards others or towards Allah; it\u2019s an injustice towards ourselves, to our own souls.<\/p>\n

We should never allow Shaitan to deceive us into thinking that we can profit from our own wrongdoing. Allah has already decreed the risq, <\/em>the provision, for every one of us. On the night of nisf-e-Shaban, <\/em>about two weeks before Ramadan, Allah decrees the provision of every human being. Nothing that we do can change that. All we can do is make sure that our provision is earned the halaal <\/em>way, the way that pleases Allah, not the haraam <\/em>way, the way that rouses divine anger. The one who cheats, who steals and thinks he is increasing his wealth is really just fooling himself.<\/p>\n

How can we avoid deluding ourselves? It begins with the purification of the heart. We must tame the anger, the greed, the envy, hatred and egotism, the vanity within our own hearts. These are wild beasts that must be subdued. We have a whole zoo inside ourselves and we must become good zookeepers! Take control of those animals and Allah will illuminate our hearts with His merciful Light. Let\u2019s not be like those whom the Quran describes as:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Those who forgot Allah, so Allah caused them to forget themselves<\/span>.\u201d (sura Hashr 59:19).<\/p>\n

We should be mindful of Allah at all times. In the Hadith of Jibreel: \u201cIhsaan, excellence in faith is to worship Allah as if you can see Him. And if you cannot see Him, remember that He sees you<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dear Sisters and Brothers, I want to end this khutbah and a positive note. it\u2019s all about Dhikr, Fikr and Shukr:<\/em> Loving remembrance of Allah; contemplation of His love and mercy towards us; and showing our gratitude to Allah through big and small acts of kindness to others. Especially when you have the upper hand, try to be merciful.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe merciful to those on earth; and He Who is in heaven will show mercy to you.<\/span>\u201d It\u2019s all about action and transaction; give and take. Whatever we sow today we will reap tomorrow. Let us sow seeds of good deeds that will blossom in Allah\u2019s garden, Al Jannah firdaws, where you and I, insha-Allah, Ameen, will live forever!<\/p>\n

Brothers and sisters, to conclude our khutbah:<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely Allah commands justice, good deeds and generosity to others and to relatives; and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, so that you may be reminded.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cand remember Me: I will remember you. Be grateful to Me, and do not reject faith.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cand without doubt, Remembrance of Allah is the Greatest Thing in life, and Allah knows the deeds that you do.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>InnaAllaha, Yamuru bil adel, wal ihsaan, wa eetaa-i zil qurba; wa yanha anil fuhshaa-i, wal munkari walbaghi; ya-idzukhum lallakum tathak-karoon. (Sura 16:90),<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fadth kuroonee adth kurkum, wash kuroolee walaa tak furoon [2:152].<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 wala thikrul-Laahi akbar, Wal-Laahu ya\u2019lamu maa tasna\u2019oon.\u201d [29:45].<\/em><\/p>\n

Ameen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aqeemus salaah!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Arshad Gamiet
\n“… did you know that we Muslims are only 3 percent of the British population, but we are 10 percent of the prison population? And did you know that in one of the Women’s prisons in London, Muslim women number 30 percent, that’s nearly one third of the total?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,42,41,45,46,11,47,43,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-audio-khutbah","category-beliefs-and-practices-of-islam","category-building-good-character","category-current-affairs-and-politics","category-inspiring-feel-good-khutbahs","category-khutbah-type","category-noble-companions-and-muslim-heroes","category-short-khutbah","category-text-khutbah","column","twocol","has-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6808,"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802\/revisions\/6808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}