Khutba on Fitr and Blessing of Islam
الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي أنعم على الإنسان وجعل أحسن نعمه الإسلام، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير، ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر.
Today is the Eid al-Fitr, a day for celebration and rejoicing, for taking pride in what Allah has enabled us to do and what He has given us. And He has given us a great deal – everything that we have and everything that we are and everything that we have been able to do is down to Him and Him alone. Everything without exception. Incalculable and uncountable blessings, many of which even we are unaware of. And for all of it we owe Him our thanks and undying gratitude. Alhamdulillah wa shukrillah. Many of these blessings we share with the rest of mankind, showing our Lord’s unparalleled generosity, giving abundantly to even those who reject Him, but there is one gift that is ours and ours alone. And it is on account of that gift that we raise our voices in takbir on this day. Allah says,
وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَى مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
the translation of which is, “You should complete the number of days and proclaim Allah’s greatness for the guidance He has given you so that hopefully you will be thankful.”. Allahu akbar. That guidance is Islam, the deen of Allah, and we are extraordinarily blessed to have been granted it. You are the select few, for not everyone has the honour to receive it. Look around you at the rest of mankind, the vast majority of them flounder in darkness and wander around lost, but not us. We have the light of Islam to guide our way.
We live in incredibly difficult times. Injustice and corruption have become the norm rather than the exception. Countries are bankrupted and their populations put to work to pay off gamblers and speculators from the banking world, wealth is siphoned off into the coffers of a smaller and smaller group of people while more and more people enter the vicious cycle of unpayable debt and poverty, people are massacred openly on the streets or surreptitiously with drones without any proof or sometimes even suspicion of wrongdoing, sexual misdemeanours that threaten the health and psyche of the human being are ignored and encouraged in legislation, and the private lives of human beings are made public without their consent and approval. Corruption is everywhere, and mankind only has himself to blame. Allah says,
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ
the translation of which is, “Corruption has appeared in both land and sea because of what people’s own hands have brought about” This world has been brought to its knees by the actions of misguided men and women who think they have the answers, and other misguided men and women who follow them, and no actions of and such men and women can bring it back to its feet. When not tempered by submission to the Divine, ignorance and injustice is their default position. Allah says,
إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا
the translation of which is, “He (Man) is indeed wrongdoing and ignorant.” And when the angels heard that Allah was going to put humans on the earth, their immediate reaction was to fear the corruption they would cause. So man will not find the answers within his own ideologies, philosophies and laws – they will only ever make things worse, as the current world situation proves, and as the Egyptians have learnt all too painfully from putting their trust in them. As the flood waters rise, all their structures, constructs and techniques will fail them. And unless they board the ship of the Sunna, they too will be swallowed up, as Nuh’s son learnt when he refused the deen and look to his strength and efforts to protect him. Allah says,
لَا عَاصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَنْ رَحِمَ
the translation of which is, “There is no protection from Allah’s command today except for those upon whom He has mercy.” With Him lies the only refuge.
لَا مَلْجَأَ مِنَ اللَّهِ إِلَّا إِلَيْهِ
the translation of which is, “There is no refuge from Allah except in Allah.”
This world can only be healed by us, by the Muslims. Those submitted to Allah and obedient to His Messenger. Those who on this day of Fitr remember and understand what Fitr is, the natural form of the human being upon which Allah created us, the form that must be realised for us to have any success and put right any of our affairs. Allah says,
فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًا فِطْرَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا
the translation of which is, “So set your face firmly towards the Deen, as a pure natural believer, Allah’s natural pattern on which He made mankind.” That natural patterning is preserved in the deen of Islam, the final and perfected form of Allah’s Message and Guidance sent to the Prophet Muhammad and passed down from generation to generation until it reached us. We have it and with the knowledge and understanding it grants us, we alone have what it takes to put things right. To every woe that faces the human being, we have the solution.
We have sanity in a time of madness, for our intellects do what they are supposed to do. They classify what is true as true and what is false as false. They see what is necessary as necessary, what is impossible as impossible, and what is possible as possible. Whereas as the dominant ethos of the present day inverts this and ascribes reality to what has no reality and declares what is real as mythical and illusory. They believe in the banking system, phantom numbers on computer screens and think them solid and lasting even though they can and do vanish almost as fast as they appear. And declare Allah to be a myth and a fairy tale. Their connection to the real has been severed and their entire reality is based on insubstantial illusion. They live in a make-believe world no different really from the make-believe world of those they term mentally insane, such as the bipolar and schizophrenic. And indeed, open themselves up to those self-same mental illnesses as a result. Mental illness has become so rife, so prevalent according to one report I read, that almost one million people in the UK hear phantom voices – that is one in every fifty people. Depression has become so common that one no longer needs a prescription to get the drugs to alleviate it, and suicide rates continue to rise in many of the developed countries. The doctors have no answers and the laws brought in to combat the problems exacerbate rather than alleviate. The only relief for many is to be found in the bottle. As for us, we have Islam and dhikr Allah to keep sane and safe. Allah says,
أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللهِ تَطْمَئِنَّ الْقُلُوبُ
the translation of which is, “It is only with the remembrance of Allah that hearts are made tranquil.”
We have certainty in a time of doubt. And that is what scares them – we know, we do not merely think, or guess as they do. Allah says,
إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ
the translation of which is, “They do nothing but guess.” We stand on solid ground, while the ground beneath theirs crumbles and falls away and they constantly have to scramble to remain on their feet. All we have to do is push gently and they and their entire ethos will fall over.
We have jamaa’at and brotherhood in a time of loneliness, alienation and chaos, for our connection to one another is based on the Haqq, the Real, not something transitory and impermanent. For it is our Lord who has joined our hearts together. Allah says,
وَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِهِمْ لَوْ أَنْفَقْتَ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا مَا أَلَّفْتَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ أَلَّفَ بَيْنَهُمْ
the translation of which is, “He joined their hearts together. Were you to spend all that is in the earth, you could not join their hearts together, but He joined them together.” In these times when even families can no longer bear to look after their own, sending their elderly parents to soulless homes, when companies view people as resources and numbers, and next-door neighbours can remain total strangers to one other, it is only Islam that keeps this essential part of the human condition alive. We go in and out of each other’s houses, we maintain the ties of kinship and visit each other when we are ill. We care for one another, not because we support the same team, work in the same company or drink in the same coffee shop, but because we are brothers. Allah says,
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ
the translation of which is, “The believers are brothers,” And we will continue to be brothers, we will continue to be a jamaat, so long as we continue to affirm Allah and His Messenger. So, rejoice, take pride. We are the happy few, the strangers of the present age. The Prophet said,
إن الإسلام بدأ غريباً وسيعود غريباً كما بدأ فطوبى للغرباء
“Islam began as something strange and will once again become something strange just like when it began. So glad tidings to the strangers!” We may be strangers, but we are never alone. We have each other and we have our Lord as a friend and unwavering ally, and for Him nothing is impossible. His promise is true and His promise to us is victory. Allah says,
وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَى لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا
the translation of which is, “Allah has promised those of you who have iman and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors and will firmly establish for them their deen with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security.”
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولك ولسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيم.
الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين. أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته الحمد لله على نعمة الإسلام وكفى بها نعمة
“Praise be to Allah for the blessing of Islam, it is enough of a blessing.”
Islam is truly a wondrous gift and the most complete of blessings. And it is the most complete of blessings because it provides us with guidance for every aspect of our lives without exception. And that guidance is preserved in the books of fiqh. I have said that Islam has the solution for every one of the woes and problems of the modern age, indeed the problems of any age, but to access those solutions and restore health to society, we have to put it all into practice. We can never accept a partial incomplete deen as being enough, even if its individual parts far outstrip anything that anyone else has, for that is to accept the alternative as being okay and it is not. The alternative is kufr and it is hateful to Allah. Allah says,
وَلَا يَرْضَى لِعِبَادِهِ الْكُفْرَ
the translation of which is, “He is not content with kufr in His slaves.” And if our Lord is not content with it for us then how can we be content with it for ourselves? We cannot believe in some of the Book and disregard other parts of it as the Banu Israel did. That brought their destruction and let to them sharing the fate of those who disregarded the Book in its entirety. No, we must enter into the deen fully, as our Lord commands us to do when He says,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً
the translation of which is, “O you who believe, enter into as-salm completely.” As-salm is interpreted as meaning Islam by many of the mufassirin.
We mentioned that the world today is in the grip of a total economic meltdown, where the vast majority live their lives in debt from the moment they are born, working themselves to the bone, often two or three jobs at a time, simply to meet their obligations and get enough to put food in their mouths and a roof over their heads But despite their best efforts, their debts grow and their overheads increase. They can never do enough to escape the cycle. They are slaves in every sense of the word, forced to live a life they do not want to live to support an existence with which they are neither happy nor content. And we mentioned that the money they spend their entire lives working for has no value of its own, being mere numbers on a computer screen. In one night, it can all be rendered worthless by a decision made in a room on the other side of the world, as happened in Zimbabwe and Argentina when rich people were turned into paupers overnight, and what might have bought a car one day could not even buy a loaf of bread the next.
We mention this not to fill you with despair, but rather to show you the incredible power and value of what you, and you alone, have – the deen of Allah. For within your books of fiqh, in the sections dealing with muamalat and those dealing with zakat. With their correct implementation lies the return to equity, and the human being recovering his dignity. With the restoration of gold and silver, real wealth will be put back into the hands of the people, with the re-establishment of the free market people will be rediscover what it means to work for themselves and earn their own living, and with the return of zakat and the awqaf the wealth of the rich will be purified and the poor will get what they need without giving their lives over in perpetual servitude to others. And money, the lifeblood of any healthy society will cease to be hoarded and locked away in the vaults of the rich and will instead flow through all levels of that society, restoring it to life and giving people back their sense of worth.
We mention this to remind you that Islam is not just ibadaat, it is not limited to the mosque, it impacts every aspect of our lives and every form of interaction and transaction with our fellow man, whether that be at home, at work or in the marketplace. It is ibada abd muamala, the deen as practised by the Prophet and his Companions in al-Madinah al-Munawarra, a deen that transformed every society with which it came into contact and empowered those who took it on. This is the Islam that we have been given and for which we must thank our Lord, that is the fadl that is the cause of our rejoicing. This is the deen that will integrate us with the wider society and get us out of our ghettos, but they will integrate with us not we with them, because they will want and need what we have. The restoration of this full and complete deen must be the goal of every Muslim.
We thank Allah for the gift of Islam and for placing us among the ranks of the Muslims. And we ask Him to give us the success and the capacity to put his deen fully into practice in this time and in this place. We ask Allah to once again make us the best of nations by restoring our leaders, for without leadership there can be no jama’a as Umar ibn al-Khattab famously said, laa jamaa’a bilaa amir. And we ask Him to enable us to command the right and forbid the wrong. We ask Allah to make us love with His love and hate with His hate, and make us only pleased with that with which He is pleased.
إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُهَا الذِينَ آمَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ. وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ، وعن أم المومنين عائشة التي أمرنا الله في سورة النور أن ندافع عنها، وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ أَجْمَعِينَ، خُصُوصاً اِلأَنْصَارَ مِنْهُمْ وَالمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَعَنِ التَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.
اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ وُلَاةَ أُمُورِ المُسْلِمِينَ لِمَا يُرْضِيكَ وَلِاتِّبَاعِ سُنَّةِ نَبِيِّكَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَهُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ المُسْتَقِيمِ، وَأَصْلِحْهُمْ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى شَيْخِنَا، وَعَلَى أَمِيرِنَا، وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ أُمَرَاءِ وَزُعَمَاءِ المُسْلِمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى المُسْلِمِينَ فِي هَذِهِ المَدِينَةِ، وَوَفِّقْهُمْ لِمَا تُحِبُّهُ وَتَرْضَاهُ يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسِْلمِينَ، وَاخْذُلِ الْكُفْرَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ، وَانْصُرِ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ. وَاجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وَكَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلَى.
رَبَّنَا ءَاتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقَِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ.
إِنَّ اللهَ يَامُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَّكَّرُونَ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَقُومُواْ إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يَرْحَمُكُمُ اللهُ.