Night of Power: Shed your veil at night

“We have indeed revealed this [Message] in the Night of Power. And what will explain to you what the Night of Power is? The Night of Power is better than a thousand Months. Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Alláh’s permission on every errand. Peace… this until the rise of Morning!”

Allah created heavens and the earth, and then created one being to stand out amongst all the others: mankind

Out of all the ways that were sent down of ages past, he chose Islam as a way for us “This day I have perfected your religion for you and given you Islam”

Out of mankind, he created one human being to stand out amongst all the humans: Muhammad “verily in the Messenger of Allah do you have a most excellent of example”

And for mankind, once in a lifetime, he has given us Hajj as an act of worship

And out of all the acts of worship, Allah has chosen one act for Himself and he will reward it without measure “assiyammu li”; fasting in the month of Ramadan

And out of the fasting that he has given us, He has chosen one night to forgive us our sins;

The night in which Allah opened up the heavens and revealed the Qur’an to a man whose named would encompass the annals of history; we cannot even imagine how the world would be without this one act of Mercy that Allah did for us:

Arabs would still be in jahiliyyah, many nations would still be in darkness, including Europe, science, technology, math, all would have stopped in their tracts as Islam was the religion that created geniuses that trailblazed history;

Movie came out a few years ago called Independence Day and in it, the President of the US, after seeing his country destroyed, gets up and makes a speech to the few of mankind that are left and says “this day we take back our humanity, we take back our country”

So this Night of Power is an independence night of sorts for all of humanity; the day when an independence for ignorance, tribalism, bloodshed, took root in the most backward of places; a night as we look back in History, we can easily say that it was a night when Allah “gave us back our humanity, and gave dignity back to mankind”

But like any other celebration that occurs in Islam, we honored it not with parties, dances, or any public occurances, but rather with solemness and gratitude to the One who gave us this opportunity: the Creater of the Heavens and the Earth and everything in between: Allah

But it is for us to take advantage of this night; to use it as an opportunity to get closer to him; so we are instructed to seek it out in the odd nights of the last ten nights of Ramadan; it is difficult: our bodies are tired from lack of energy, our mind is weaker because of lack of food, but if we did the first 20 days correctly, one organ is stronger and can rejuvinate the entire body and push us till the end: our heart

And so we need to seek it out at night during these nights that are upon us, and don’t let the opportunity pass us by; who knows if it will ever come again;

Abu Dah Daah was one of those who found an opportunity and won that which is greater than the heavens and the earth. An adult companion of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) cultivated his garden next to the property of an orphan. The orphan claimed that a specific palm tree was on his property and thus belonged to him. The companion rejected the claim and off to the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) went the orphan boy to complain. With his justness, the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) measured the two gardens and found that the palm tree did indeed belong to the companion. The orphan erupted crying. Seeing this, the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) offered the companion, “would you give him the palm tree and to you is a palm tree in Jannah?” However, the companion in his disbelief that an orphan would complain to the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) missed the opportunity and went away angry.
But someone else saw the opportunity, Abu Dah Daah – radi Allahu ‘anhu. He went to the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and asked, “Ya Rasul Allah, if I buy the tree from him and give it to the orphan shall I have that tree in Jannah?” The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) replied, “Yes.”
Abu Dah Daah chased after the companion and asked, “Would you sell that tree to me for my entire garden?” The companion answered, “Take it for there is no good in a tree that I was complained to the Prophet about.”
Immediately, Abu Dah Daah went home and found his wife and children playing in the garden. “Leave the garden!” shouted Abu Dah Daah, “we’ve sold it to Allah! We’ve sold it to Allah!” Some of his children had dates in their hand and he snached the dates from them and threw them back into the garden. “We’ve sold it to Allah!”
When Abu Dah Daah was later martyred in the battle of Uhud, Rasul Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) stood over his slain body and remarked, “How many shady palm trees does Abu Dah Daah now have in paradise?”
What did Abu Dah Daah lose? Dates? Bushes? Dirt? What did he gain? He gained a Jannah whose expanse is the heavens and the earth.
Abu Dah Daah did not miss his opportunity, and I pray to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) that we do not miss our opportunity of standing to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) on Laylatul Qadr.
It was narrated that in the days that Musa (Alahi salaam) wandered with Bani Israel in the desert an intense drought befell them. Together, they raised their hands towards the heavens praying for the blessed rain to come. Then, to the astonishment of Musa (Alahi salaam) and all those watching, the few scattered clouds that were in the sky vanished, the heat poured down, and the drought intensified.
It was revealed to Musa that there was a sinner amongst the tribe of Bani Israel whom had disobeyed Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) for more than forty years of his life. “Let him separate himself from the congregation,” Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) told Musa (Alahi salaam). “Only then shall I shower you all with rain.”
Musa (Alahi salaam) then called out to the throngs of humanity, “There is a person amongst us who has disobeyed Allah for forty years. Let him separate himself from the congregation and only then shall we be rescued from the drought.” That man, waited, looking left and right, hoping that someone else would step forward, but no one did. Sweat poured forth from his brow and he knew that he was the one.
The man knew that if he stayed amongst the congregation all would die of thirst and that if he stepped forward he would be humiliated for all eternity.
He raised his hands with a sincerity he had never known before, with a humility he had never tasted, and as tears poured down on both cheeks he said: “O Allah, have mercy on me! O Allah, hide my sins! O Allah, forgive me!”
As Musa (Alahi salaam) and the people of Bani Israel awaited for the sinner to step forward, the clouds hugged the sky and the rain poured. Musa (Alahi salaam) asked Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala), “O Allah, you blessed us with rain even though the sinner did not come forward.” And Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) replied, “O Musa, it is for the repentance of that very person that I blessed all of Bani Israel with water.”
Musa (Alahi salaam), wanting to know who this blessed man was, asked, “Show him to me O Allah!” Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) replied, “O Musa, I hid his sins for forty years, do you think that after his repentance I shall expose him?”
The night is a veil over the day, just like our clothes are a cover for us; use the night as an opportunity to expose your sins, open your hearts, and cry to Allah for He is the only one that can forgive, change our hearts, and make us be close to Him on the Day of Judgment.

Last Friday of Ramadan

Imagine a loved one coming to visit at your house for a little while. Before the arrival, there is much anticipation, a yearning for the days to go by fast until they arrive, preparation, etc. and the initial days are great, filled with talking, laughing, hanging out, etc. the middle period is a bit more awkward and thoughts begin to come into your head, although you don’t voice them, that when will this be over? And before you know it, it comes time for your friend to leave; you begin to wonder how quickly the time went by, how you could extend it a bit more, you know you have to, but you hate to say good bye, so you say “till next time”!!!

The month of Ramadan is that visitor, who comes but once a year, stays for a little while, and then departs; you hate to say good bye, so you settle with “till next time” not knowing, but praying that next year, you will be around for his visit;
So it is time for us, in this last Friday of the month of Ramadan to say farewell to this blessed visitor; it came with eager anticipation, filled our lives with blessings, and although we knew this day would come, we didn’t know it would come so soon!!! But this visitor is not leaving without a mark on our lives; because of its visit, Muslims got together and became closer; and this visitor is leaving some things behind for us to reflect upon, because it taught us a bit more about ourselves; most importantly being that we can do anything we set our minds to:

Following are some of the lessons that we learnt in Ramadan (borrowed from Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi):

1. Patience: Fasting in Ramadan taught us patience (sabr). It taught us self-discipline. Now we have to use this training. We avoided some permissible things during fasting, now we know how to control ourselves and protect ourselves from unlawful (Haram) things.

2. Control over passions and desires: Fasting taught us to control our passions and desires. Now we have to use this training and keep ourselves always pure. We must not be the slaves of our lusts and desires. We should not obey our desires, but we must obey Allah all the time.

3. Control over bad temper: Fasting taught us to control bad temper. It taught us how to avoid bad words. Now we have to use this training. We must not quarrel with others or use bad language. We should be a gentle and honorable people all the time.
4. Charity: Fasting taught us charity (muwasat). We paid our Zakat and our Sadaqat in this month. Now we know how to be good, kind and generous to those who are in need. Now we know how to help good causes always.

5. Nawafil: During Ramadan we prayed Tarawih during the night. Now we should be regular in our daily prayers. We should pray them on time and in a proper manner. We woke up for Sahur every night. Now we can get up for Tahajjud prayer. We should try to pray Tahajjud as much as possible.

6. Regular Visit to Masjid: During Ramadan we came to the Masjid every day. Now we should make a habit to pray at the Masjid as much as we can. We have our Friday which is known as the Sayyid al-Ayyam (the best day of the week). We should not neglect the Friday prayer. We should also take care of the Masjid. Those who come to the Masjid should be also those who maintain the Masjid.

7. Reading of the Qur’an: During Ramadan we read the Qur’an and we listened to the Qur’an. Now we should make a resolution to read the Qur’an every day. We should read one juz’ or half Juz’ every day. We should read with translation and try to reflect on the Words of Allah.

8. Family gathering: During Ramadan we spent more time with our families. We ate together and we prayed together. Now we should keep this habit. The families that eat together and pray together stay together. We should have good relations with our spouses. We should pay more attention to our children and our youth. We should give them more time and continue to help them to learn the principles and values of Islam. We must pay attention to their Islamic education and training.
9. Concern for the Ummah: During Ramadan we prayed to Allah to help the Muslims of Palestine, Chechnya, Muslims of Kashmir, Muslims of Iraq, Muslims of Afghanistan and Muslims who are suffering in many other lands. We should continue to know more about them and do whatever we can to relieve their suffering and to help bring justice and peace in the world.
10. More good deeds: During Ramadan we did a lot of good things. Now we should be in the habit of doing good all the time.
The purpose of ‘Ibadah (our acts of worship) is to make us Allah’s servants. Allah’s servants are the best human beings. Our challenge is to become the best human beings that we are supposed to be.

Beware the Ides of Ramadan

This past week, we had a very important analyst that came and visited us here at Saturna; but beside being an analyst, he was also a PhD in Shakesperean Literature and in his spare time had done a lot of research on him

During a conversation at dinner, I recalled in one of the plays of Shakespeare called Julies Ceasar; in one scene, a soothsayer comes up to Julius Ceasar and says “Beware the Ides of March” which in the play is a foreshadowing of his death that he pays no heed to; Ide in the context is referring to Middle, and thus “beware of March 15th”

I thought about this because we are now going through the middle of the month of Ramadan and it is appropriate to use the words “Beware the Ides of Ramadan”; of course I am not saying that we will die during this month, it is during this middle of the month that Muslims begin to get more tired, more sleepy, more frustrated, because of their service to Allah that is being performed during this month;

Another example one can use is that of a marathon; as a runner begins the race, he is excited and has energy and is ready to run; during the middle portion, he begins to feel pain, gets tired, is thirsty, and just wants to give up, mental and physically, but if he can hold out for a bit longer, then there is a tipping point, after which point he reaches a state of bliss; in this state, he feels very light, no pain, and feels he can run forever

The month of Ramadan is no different for us; as we begin, we are excited about many things: good food, fasting being accepted by Allah, seeing many Muslims around us; but it is during this time of the month that we begin to really feel Ramadan; the good food becomes a chore to make, you begin to doubt whether or not Allah will accept your fast or not, and you feel like staying home and sleeping rather than getting together with Muslims for iftar; but it is also during this time that we as Muslims have a tipping point as well; and it is right around the corner; and we need to be steadfast and have sabr:

Allah mentions in the Qur’an “Fasbir sabran jameel” – have patience with a beautiful patience and “Innallaha ma’as sabireen” -- Verily Allah is with those who are paitent

Allah also mentions in the Qur’an: “kulli nafsin dhaa’ikatil mowt….” (21:35) – Every soul shall taste death, and We will try you with evil and good, and to Us is your return;

So we need to be patient during this time when we don’t want to stay for taraweeh, when we don’t want to wake up for suhur; and give yourself an extra push to do these things; this is also another reason why I think, Allah left Laylatul Qadr in the last 10 nights of Ramadan; it is only through going the entire month of fasting, and then staying up at night when you are tired from a whole month of that that Allah will forgive you your sins; if the night which is worth a 1000 months was early in the month it would be too easy and if too easy, then where is the reward? Allah mentions how he made us believers, and he will test us in our wealth, family, and in ourselves;

We need to be strong during these “ides of Ramadan” and I can guarantee that if we push ourselves just a bit more, we will reach the tipping point feel as though we can fast the entire year, and next Friday, we will all be wondering, how did the month go by so fast?

And I want to close this first khutba with a hadith of the Prophet regarding trials and hardships, and how for the believers, they are both a blessing:

Abu Yahya Suhaib b. Sinan said that Rasulullah saw said : “Wondrous are the believer’s affairs. For him there is good in all his affairs, and this is so only for the believer. When something pleasing happens to him, he is grateful, and that is good for him; and when something displeasing happens to him, he is enduring (sabr), and that is good for him” ( Muslim )

Comments on Natural Disasters

Over the past week or two, we have had 2 natural disasters; a cyclone in Burma and an earthquake in China; from the disasters themselves to Burma not allowing any people inside it’s borders, the death toll might rise to over 100k people; because of these two and others that have happened in this decade, it is natural as human beings to ask why are these happening; what does Allah mean by them? Or even why would Allah bring this to happen?

All of these questions are valid and ok to ask, as long as one knows that we might not be able to come up with the answer, as our minds are limited and Allah’s knowledge and wisdom is unlimited; and with this understanding, a Muslim can venture out and ponder on these points and pray to Allah to guide him on the straight path

So the first answer can be summed up into scientific reasons; and there are two here; the first, that there is massive climate change going on and as the temperature of the oceans becomes warmer, more storms happen that are stronger and deadlier; we also have more people alive today that in centuries or mellenia before us, so more people will obviously die; or we can say that maybe there is not an increase, but news can travel faster and thus we has human beings around the world here about them more often;

But these scientific answers do not get to the heart of the theological question; why would Allah bring these things to happen and what does Allah mean by them;

So for the question of what does Allah mean by them, we must know that for everything that happens in this world, there is a reason, even if we don’t see it in our lifetimes; there is always a benefit from every harm or hardship, as individuals, communities, nations, or as human begins; as Allah mentions in Sura Inshirah:

Verily with the hardship, there is good
Indeed with the hardship, there is good


And Allah also mentions in the qur’an about things in this life of the world being examples for us in Sura Baqara, v. 26:

Verily, Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable even of a mosquito or so much more that it. And as for those who believe, they know that it is the Truth from their Lord, but as for those who disbelieve, they say: “What did Allah intend by this parable?” By it He misleads many, and many He guides thereby. And He misleads only those who are rebellious, disobedient to Allah”

And so the first part of this verse says that Allah can use an example of a mosquito, or something much bigger than that; like earthquake or tsunami, or cyclone, or hurricane; or something smaller, like even a stubbed toe; but in these examples is a test

The believers will always say, there is Truth in it from their Lord; here Allah is not saying that the believers understand the example or parable, but that they know it is a Truth; so it doesn’t matter if you question, but it matters as to the end result; many things in the world happen, and we don’t understand why, so why is this any different;

The disbelievers, however, ask the question “what did Allah intend by this parable?” meaning they ask the question, and then never come to a conclusion, always remaining in doubt; slowly this doubt can grow into a cancer that will eat away at a person’s faith;

And we find throughout the qur’an stories of generations that have gone before us, wiped out, for there disobedience; and all of them are examples; ‘Imad, Madyan, people of Nuh, and on and on; we can read them and use them as examples as to what not to do, or we can read them and say, wow, Allah destroyed all these people? Why? Its not fair!! And so on…. I ask Allah to protect us from disbelief and keep us on the straight path;


So as we have been mentioning, disasters around the world have happened throughout time and will continue to happen till the end of time; with the greatest disasters happening at the end; and we as believers, need to take them as examples and benefit from them; rather than keep questioning them and lose faith;


Also as I mentioned earlier, these examples are such that even if we don’t know of the benefit now, we might realize it in the future, maybe centuries, or thousands of years later; take a simple example as the oil and natural gas we consume, have consumed, and will consume in the future; aside from the what it is doing to our planet, no one can argue how beneficial it has been to the human race; and yet, imagine what type of a calamity, death, destruction happened millions of years ago for us to be able to benefit from it now?


So the best answers to questions about why did Allah allow this to happen is we don’t know; we know it is the truth from Allah, and He is the All-knowing, All-wise; but do know 2 things: first, for us as individuals, this is an opportunity; and second there are ways to prevent these disasters;

he opportunity is that through these types of disasters, millions of people get together and help each other; and this gets rewarded by Allah;

If you take the Tsunami for example, yes hundreds of thousands died, but billions of people were able to pool resources and help the ones that survived and the reconstruction effort is still going on today; so for us as individuals, we need to open up our wallets and give sadaqa for the people that are suffering;

And there are ways for us to prevent these disasters; a hadith of the prophet says:

'Abdullah ibn 'Umar said, "The Prophet, peace be upon him, came to us and said, 'O Muhajirun, (emigrants from Makkah to al-Madinah) you may be afflicted by five things; God forbid that you should live to see them.
If fornication should become widespread, you should realise that this has never happened without new diseases befalling the people which their forebears never suffered.
If people should begin to cheat in weighing out goods, you should realise that this has never happened without drought and famine befalling the people, and their rulers oppressing them.
If people should withhold zakat, you should realise that this has never happened without the rain being stopped from falling; and were it not for the animals' sake, it would never rain again.
If people should break their covenant with Allah and His Messenger, you should realise that his has never happened without Allah sending an enemy against them to take some of their possessions by force.
If the leaders do not govern according to the Book of Allah, you should realise that this has never happened without Allah making them into groups and making them fight one another

Best of Speech

As some of you know, I have just recently completed a documentary about an American Muslim who learns to fly called “On A Wing And A Prayer”. It is getting good reviews and in fact this past Monday, it was on the front page of the Bellingham Herald; there were many comments that were made; over 100 as I am writing this khutba

Some of them were supportive, while most were filled with hate, ignorance, and misunderstanding; and as the subject of the article, it is very easy to get depressed about the comments, let alone if you are a Muslim reading them; but one can look at it from the glass being half full empty (see, they do hate us), or can view it as the glass being half full (that we have an opportunity here to do good); give dawa, educate people about Islam; so this is what I would like to speak about in my khutba today; Allah mentions in the Qur’an:

And who is better in speech that he who invites to Allah and does righteous deeds and says: “I am one of the Muslims”

The good deed and the eveil deed cannot be equal. Repel (the evil) with one which is better; then verily, he, between whom and you there was enmity, will become as though he was a close friend

But none is granted it except those who are patient, and none is granted it except the owner of the great portion

And if an evil whisper from Shaitan trist to turn you away, then seek refuge in Allah. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower

And next week, the MSA is doing an Islamic Awareness Week and inviting their friends and fellow college students to get to know Islam from Mulims; and as we go out and call people to Allah, there are some rules we must follow;

And who is better in speech that he who invites to Allah and does righteous deeds and says: “I am one of the Muslims”

Allah is saying here that the best of speech is the call that one makes to Allah; during the time of the Prophet when he was in Mecca, and to a lesser extent nowadays, most people are not calling others to Allah; far from it, they are not even practicing Islam because it is dangerous to be Muslim; this first part of the verse is a reminder that there is nothing more important that to invite people to Allah; that we can friends with them, hang out with them. Be a good example to non-Muslims, but at the end of the day, there has to be an invite;

Many people have used the example of the people of Indonesia and how they came into Islam because of the trade that was established between the Arab Muslims and the Java people; and this is partly true, but at a certain point, even the Arabs had to tell the people “accept Allah”; in the same way, you have neighbors that you meet , say hi to, kids play with, but it is taken to another level when you invite them to your house!!!

But inviting to Allah is not enough, because in order to do it effectively, you have to yourself do righteous deeds; if you were evil, have vulgar speech, then nobody would want to follow what you are believing; and look at the example of our messenger and all the ones that came before him, they were all righteous, upstanding, outstanding human beings that made a call to Allah;

And finally, in the verse, Allah mentions that best person is one who says he is “…one of the Muslims”; we shouldn’t hide our identity, not be ashamed of it, practice our faith to its fullest and be proud yet thankful that Allah has blessed us with Islam;

The good deed and the eveil deed cannot be equal. Repel (the evil) with one which is better; then verily, he, between whom and you there was enmity, will become as though he was a close friend

Idfa’ billati hea ahsan: repel evil with something better; something we must as Muslims keep in mind; good and evil are not equal, so in the long run, cannot fight evil with evil; it must be with that which is better; good deeds, kindness; as mentioned earlier, with the comments on the article, very easy to respond to the vulgar comments with yourself writing vulgar comments, but that would not solve anything; if you respond with good, it might change the heart and mind of the person with Allah’s help;

The Prophet said “kindness makes things beautiful, violence makes them defective”; and in a hadith related by Abdallah ibn Mugaffal, the Prophet says, “verily Allah is kind and loves kindness. In return for it, a servant may receive what he will never receive through violence

So we have been talking about the importance of inviting people to Allah, and in Sura Fussilat in verse 33, Allah mentions the best of speech being that of inviting people to Allah, doing righteous deeds, and proclaiming that you are one of the Muslims; Allah goes on to mention a very important point that we, especially in this age, when we see violence being retaliated with violence, must keep in mind, that we have to repel evil with good;

Next Allah mentions that when you repel evil with good, something extraordinary happens; that your enemy will become a close friend; that hate will turn into love; what a powerful and beautiful phenomenon!!! We have many examples we can use here; Israelis and Palestinians; Al-Qaeda vs. the US; in all of these, imagine that rather than spewing hate and committing acts of violence, Muslims responded to the evils with good; would that change the tide of the war or the occupation? Allah says it will, but in the least, what do we have to lose? Whatever we have done has not worked!!!!

But none is granted it except those who are patient, and none is granted it except the owner of the great portion

This is not easily attained; we must have sabr; patience and perseverance; it is not easy to fight evil with good; our nafs tells us to fight back, to retaliate, but Allah is telling us differently; do good, be patient, and all will work itself out; Allah similarly says:

And if the ignorant approaches you, say to him a word of “peace”.

And finally, how do we do this? How do we not let our animal nature overtake our human nature?

And if an evil whisper from Shaitan trist to turn you away, then seek refuge in Allah. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower

We have to know that the evil is an act of Shaitan; evil done by others is an act of Shaitan, and our thoughts of doing evil is a whisper of Shaitan; and the way to stay away is to seek refuge in Allah; and the best way to do this, as I mentioned last week, is to hold fast to our prayers.

Checklist for Your Life

(Sura Mu’minoon,v. 1-11)

As we are going through life, one initially begins with a goal, and that for us as Muslims is to attain paradise; we do this by first submitting ourselves to Allah, and thus enter into Islam, but as we struggle to work on our souls and our sincere in attaining Allah’s pleasure, then we are blessed with the gift of Iman, or faith, and then can be one of the Mu’mins

Just like at work, when you have reviews, your boss has a checklist to see what your progress has been, how you are doing, where are you lacking or need improvement; in the same way, there must be a checklist that Allah or the Prophet left for us as well, otherwise how can we know we are headed in the right direction? Sure the Qur’an can be that checklist, but most of us don’t have time to go through the Qur’an and use as a checklist, it is just way too big;

Alhamdulillah, that He has given us such a checklist for life; Allah says in the Qur’an:

Qad aflahal mu’minoon
Successful indeed are the believers
Alladheena hum fi salaatihim khaashi’oon
Those who offer their prayers solemnly and full of submission
Walladheena hum ‘anil laghwi mu’ridhoon
And those who turn away from falsehood
Walladheena hum lizzakaati fa’iloon
And those who pay the zakaat
Walladheena hum lifuroojihim hafidhoon
And those who guard their chastity
Illa ‘ala azwaajihim aw malakat aymaanuhim, fa innahum ghayru maloomeen
Except from their wives and those their right hands posses
….
Walladheena hum li amaanaatihim wa ‘ahdihim raa’oon
Those who are faithfully true to their duties and covenants
Walladheena hum ‘ala salawaatihim yuhaafidhoon
And those who guard their prayers
Oolaa ikahumul waarithoon
These are indeed the inheritors
Alladheena yarithoonal firdausa hum fihaa khaalidoon
Who shall inherit the Paradise and live there forever

So this is the checklist we need to follow and constantly refer back to it to analyze how we are doing; here, Allah lays out the characteristics of a successful person, and even though Allah is mentioning the qualities of a successful believer in the hereafter, the also apply to the present life; if you can do these things, then you are also going to be successful in this life and the hereafter




Qad aflahal mu’minoon
Successful indeed are the believers
Alladheena hum fi salaatihim khaashi’oon
Those who offer their prayers solemnly and full of submission

The first thing that Allah mentions is the prayer to show how important it is; and it is the only one he mentions twice in this formula or checklist for success; here it is not about whether we perform, but how we do it; with concentration, understanding, reverence to Allah? Or just do the ritualistic actions to get it over with; and many people do the prayers and as soon as they say Allahu Akbar, they do everything, think of everything, but concentrate; that is why my grandmother used to tell me, if you can’t remember where you left something or forgot something, just pray 2 rakat, you will remember; I thought she was saying this cause if I prayed Allah would help me find or remember it, but really it was because she knew that people think of everything in their prayer even where they left their keys;

Walladheena hum ‘anil laghwi mu’ridhoon
And those who turn away from falsehood

And here, the falsehood that Allah is mentioning is all kinds of falsehood; and the goal here is a moving target in that the more you stay away from, the more you will find you will need to stay away from as falsehood is all around us in large and small firms; one begins by staying away from the large ones, backbiting, cursing; so the falsehoods are those things that you personally get yourselves involved with, but then from here a believer must move on the seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and speaking no evil; the hearing and seeing are very difficult, but not impossible; they way to begin to do this is what Allah says in the Qur’an in Sura Furqan:

Walladheena laa yash-hadoonaz zoora wa idha marroo billaghwi marroo kiraama
And those who do not witness falsehood, and if hey pass by some evil play or talk, they pass by it with dignity

That you stay away from it and as is life, you will encounter it some times, and dignity is that you don’t repel falsehood with falsehood, but falsehood with that which is better – repel evil with good

Walladheena hum lifuroojihim hafidhoon
And those who guard their chastity
Illa ‘ala azwaajihim aw malakat aymaanuhim, fa innahum ghayru maloomeen
Except from their wives and those their right hands posses

That a person is modest in their dress, and protects themselves, their bodies with from evil; staying away from fornication, is just the last step, and believer should not even find himself in a situation that would lead to this; that in this case, anything that leads to this, is evil in and of itself; similar to when Allah forbade Adam and hawa from even approaching the tree, let alone eating from you: laa taqraboo hadhihish shajaraa
But with certain people, letting down your guard, not only is it ok, but sometimes even encouraged, like your spouses; that you should take one another as a source of comfort for each other

Walladheena hum li amaanaatihim wa ‘ahdihim raa’oon
Those who are faithfully true to their duties and covenants

The biggest Amana we have to fulfill is the amana of the shahada; that when we say it as an oath, we are pledging to Allah and His messenger our devotion and to follow His way; but the duties and covenants are many others in our lives, from the covenant of marriage, to employment, to the everyday business dealing we have; we must always be fair, honest, fulfilling our pledges; and remember that even before our Prophet was a messenger, he was known as Al-Ameen, the trustworthy;

Walladheena hum ‘ala salawaatihim yuhaafidhoon
And those who guard their prayers

And finally a full circle is made, as we started with prayer, we end with prayer as well; and here Allah is mentioning that we, to be successful, must be protective our our 5 dialy prayers; and we shouldn’t let go of the importance of this issue of prayer;

1) it should be something we do no matter what; it is the only active pillar that we cannot leave; not fast if sick or on journey; no zakaat if no wealth, no hajj if no money; but prayer, no excuse; you must pray whether you are healthy or sick, rich or poor, tired or active;
2) that if we hold fast to our prayer, then we will naturally avoid the other things that Allah is mentioning; and even more importantly, going back to the khushoo’, if we have it, then we will taste a sweetness that we not only fulfill the other items on checklist, but we will do it, including prayer, with a sweet zealousness

last thing is that in order to make sure we hold fast to the prayer, we revolve our lives around prayer, and not our prayer around our lives; that the five prayers are the pillars in your daily life and everything else gets scheduled, around it; and if you miss a prayer or delay it, something inside your heart is missing;

Oolaa ikahumul waarithoon
These are indeed the inheritors
Alladheena yarithoonal firdausa hum fihaa khaalidoon
Who shall inherit the Paradise and live there forever

And if we do the above, then Allah promises us Paradise; one thing to note here is Allah uses the term inherit; which implies a rightful ownership; in Islam, when you inherit property, it is rightfully yours because it is stated in the Qur’an; similarly, if we do fulfill our checklist and are successful believers, then it is our right to get paradise; because it is a fulfillment of a contract;

Public Shame Law and Islam

• Recently there was a law that was going through the Washington State Legislature on shaming citizens who violate the certain laws; for example, currently in Ohio, they have a law that if you are caught driving drunk, you are mandated to have a bright yellow license plate as a form of public shame; WA was about to do something similar

• This brings up an issue that I would like to discuss in this khutba today; the role of shame as a deterrent in our lives; as we know from the Qur’an, there are three stages of the soul, and not necessarily are they one after another: nafs al amaara: desiring soul; nafsil lowwaama: the self reproaching soul, and nafssil mutu ma’inna: sould at peace/rest

• And it is the nafsil lowwaama that gives us, as humans, the aspect of shame; and we know it exists because Allah swears by it in the Qur’an:

“laa uqsimu bi yowmil qiyaama; wa laa uqsimu binnafsil lowwaama”
I swear by the Day of Resurrection; and I swear by the self reproaching soul

• It is the soul that is in between desire and peace; and Allah has put it there as a check for us; it is the one that feels guilty, embarrassed, shame; all things that will move us away from becoming animals; however if we keep ignoring this soul, then it becomes weaker and weaker; and if we listen to it, it becomes stronger and stronger until it transforms into the soul at rest; if you commit a sin for the first time, you feel really bad; bad enough to stop doing it; but if you continue, then each subsequent time, the feeling gets easier, until no remorse exist; and the opposite is true as well

• So this self reproaching soul is there because Allah knows we will make mistakes; this is in our nature as Allah created us:

“khuliqal insana dha’eefa” created mankind weak

• So we cannot all be good all the time, and this is not what Allah wants; what Allah is looking for from us is what we do after we make mistakes; do we remain arrogant and refuse to accept it, or do we seek forgiveness from Allah; and remember that it is a balance that is struck; if we were all, as humans, making mistakes and never asking for forgiveness, then we have many examples in the Qur’an of all can destroy us; and if we are never sinning and are perfect, then Allah will still destroy us and create a being that will make mistakes, and seek forgiveness

• But this idea of shame, in Islam, is something that is inward, not to be shown in public; that when someone commits a sin, (s)he should try to hide it and not make a public display of it; that is why a person who, say, drinks alcohol in the confines of his house (hides it) is still better than a person who does it publicly; similarly, if another person sees someone committing a sin, (s)he should try to hide it and not expose it; as in the hadith we find that if a believer conceals a sin of another in this life, then Allah will conceal his sins on the Day of Judgment; so this idea of public shame and humiliation is not in Islam and could have the opposite effect of making people worse;

• So in the example of the drunk driver who has a yellow license plate, although it might start of as a plate of shame, it might end up as a license to commit more acts; like a badge of honor;

• I ask Allah to keep our reproaching soul strong so that on the Day of Judgment, it is a soul at rest;


• So as I mentioned earlier, in my opinion, Islam does not want us to publicly humiliate people for their wrong actions, and on the contrary, there are benefits to hiding one’s sins and having others hide them for you as well

• So obviously, the question that comes to mind if I say that Islam is against this and it is not what Allah wants, is what about some public acts that are seen as humiliation in Islam; i.e. cutting of the hands, stoning to death, etc.

• The one thing to keep in mind is that in the current laws that are proposed or enacted, they are a form of humiliation and shame to make the person not do it again; if you don’t want them to do it, don’t give them a yellow license plate, take away their license

• Also, the public displays that happen in Islamic law are an evidence not of committing an act, but rather of having been forgiven by Allah; so the idea of the hands being cut is not so that everyone in public knows you stole something, that will happen anyway, but rather that by your hands being cut off, you have been saved from something worse in the hereafter;

• Furthermore, public shame usually implies that you are or have something less than normal; and thus the humiliation; again in Islam it is not that way; consider the story of the woman who committed adultery; she came to Prophet and he turned the other way, she came again, and he said you are carrying a child; after 9 months, she came again, and he said you have to wean the child; she came after 2 yrs and finally the Prophets gave her the punishment; and will it was being carried out publicly, again it was to show redemption of this woman and not to shame her; how do we know this? Cause as the companions were stoning her, some blood fell on one of them and he went aback in disgust; the Prophet noticed this and said publicly, that this woman had more faith than all present here combined, so don’t look down upon her; that she has been forgiven by Allah;