Khutba on Safety
الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي جعل الأمان في الإسلام، وحفظ المسلمين من فتن وأزمات الزمان، 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. قال الله عز وجل في كتابه العزيز وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَـذَا الْبَلَدَ آمِناً وَاجْنُبْنِي وَبَنِيَّ أَن نَّعْبُدَ الأَصْنَامَ
Allah says in His Mighty Book, the translation of which is, “When Ibrahim said, ‘My Lord! Make this land a place of safety and keep me and my sons from worshipping idols.’” In surat Ibrahim, Allah mentions Sayyiduna Ibrahim and a long series of duas that he made. This is the first of them. And as we can see, the first thing he asks for, even before asking for tawhid, is safety, is for Allah to keep him and his people safe and make the land they live in safe and secure. This has always been one of the primary purposes of the deen of Allah, not just to preserve the deen of the people, but to protect their lives, wealth, health and reputation. And it has been one of the primary responsibilities of our leadership, to keep the people safe and ensure their well-being, and provide circumstances and situations in which the mustad’afin, the weaker amongst can live their lives without having to constantly look over their shoulders.
In this, modern secular governments fail spectacularly, as has been amply demonstrated in recent times by the response of the French government to the Charlie Hebdo killings, where its response has created a situation that is even more volatile than the one the preceded it, one that fanned the flames and led to heightened levels of fear, distrust, distress and violence.There have been hundreds of attacks on its citizenry in the wake of the attack, much of which could be avoided if they had fulfilled their obligations towards their people and made their well-being their primary concern. And I do not just mean the well-being of the rich and wealthy, but the well-being of every strata of society, including the weak and downtrodden. But that will never happen in this modern so-called democratic system where countries seek to keep their people cowed and compliant rather than safe, where every new law they make and every policy decision they take serves some ideal and abstract concept rather than the people, to maintain the illusion of wealth and a strong GDP rather than looking after the true needs of their people. The recent drive to austerity is all the proof anyone needs of that.
The office of leadership in the deen is called imamate maslaha, the imamate in charge of well-being and best interests. The primary concern of any leader must be to look after the interests of his people. They are shepherds, as the Messenger of Allah mentioned in a famous hadith, and they are,
مسؤولون عن رعيتهم
“Responsible for every sheep in their flock.” They don’t just look after a chosen few and let the wolves get the rest. This is why the hijra was first instituted, to keep the weaker elements of the community safe. When Quraysh threatened their lives, the Prophet sent them to take refuge first in Abyssinia and then later in Madina, thereby removing fear and terror from their lives. This was the first instinct and the very step, when – we have to be safe and secure. Forget every other consideration, this is where the entire affairs starts. You cannot have deen without it. It is incumbent that we create situations for ourselves wherein we are safe, secure and protected, physically and financially, so that we are then free to live our deen unmolested. We cannot put ourselves in, or remain in or engineer a situation which brings danger upon us, our families or our communities. Their well-being is paramount.
Our communities must have a certain degree of self-sufficiency, we must be reliant on one another and not the state. We must have true jama’a and the leadership that makes that possible. We must have land, we must have means of food production and distribution and we must have wealth. We must have people of knowledge, and not just of the deen but of the dunya – doctors, traders and farmers. That is why all of these things are considered fard kifaya in our deen. They ensure our community’s well-being and continuation, and give us protection against the vicissitudes of the age. The dunya and the akhira will be ours if we take these steps. The Prophet said,
من أصبح آمنًا في سِربه، مُعافًى في جسده، عنده قُوت يومه فكأنما حِيزَت له الدنيا
“If you wake up in the morning safe in your flock, healthy in your body, and with enough provision for the day ahead, it is like you have gotten the whole of the dunya.” Society is on a knife edge, and the only ones who will be safe are those who have polity and community. And the only glue that will hold such a community together is the deen. Once Allah has joined our hearts together, none can rip us asunder. Our bond is the only one that can survive such an upheaval. We are a single body, a strong and well-built wall. The Prophet said,
إِنَّ الْمُؤْمِنَ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ كَالْبُنْيَانِ يَشُدُّ بَعْضُهُ بَعْضاً
“Believers are, to one another, like bricks in a well-built wall, each one strengthening the other.” We ask Allah to make our communities strong and safe and make the lands in which we live safe havens.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله العظيم لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو التوّابُ 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 قال الله عز وجل في كتابه العزيز الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَلَمْ يَلْبِسُوا إِيمَانَهُمْ بِظُلْمٍ أُولَئِكَ لَهُمُ الْأَمْنُ
Allah says in His Noble Book, the translation of which is, “Those who believe and do not mix up their iman with any wrongdoing, they are the ones who have safety.” And amongst the promises that Allah makes to those who believe and do right action is,
وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا
the translation of which is, “He will give them safety in the place of fear.” The only way to achieve this safety and security of which we have spoken is to believe in Allah and adhere His deen. Sometimes compromising on certain aspects of your deen seems like the only possible path, but it is not. It rarely if ever brings safety and security, all it brings is further compromise until the entirety of the deen has been left behind. Allah says,
وَلَنْ تَرْضَى عَنْكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ
the translation of which is, “The Jews and Christians will never be content with you until you follow their ways.” Once you accept one part of their milla, they will keep on pushing you until you accept it all. And still they will not accept you or give you peace. Those who attack Muslims in France or America do not differentiate on the basis of how integrated a person is, they consider them all fair game. To them, we are all the enemy, the other. And we cannot expect the security apparatus, the police, to help us, as was demonstrated recently in Soweto, where following attacks on hundreds of Somali and Ethiopian businesses, the police continued to lay the blame solely at the feet of the victims.
Man-made laws will never look after the well-being of the entire community – men are inherently selfish and will look to safeguard their own personal interests before anyone else’s. This is clear to any but the most blind. Allah says,
إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُوماً جَهُولاً
the translation of which is, “He (man) is indeed unjust and ignorant.” And He says,
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتَ اَيْدِي النَّاسِ
the translation of which is, “Corruption has appeared in both land and sea because of what people’s own hands have wrought.” The only way to ensure safety is to hold fast to the rope of Allah and follow the Laws of Allah. Proof of this can be found looking at the history books. The only time the Muslims, and indeed the Christians, Jews and other peoples of the world, knew safety was when they were living in lands ruled by the Muslims and governed by the laws of Allah. Al-Andalus and the Ottoman Caliphate are two of the most striking examples, and since its abolishment, the world has known nothing but war, with whole generations of men wiped out and entire societies living in perpetual fear and terror. We will not achieve safety and security by casting aside the laws of Allah in favour of the laws of man in order to integrate and fit in, we only achieve it by restoring the sunna of the Messenger and following his example.
Perpetual fear and unease has become the norm in many of our societies and is being actively encouraged and engineered by our governments. We feel like we can no longer trust anyone and look at certain types of people with alarm and suspicion. We don’t even feel safe in our own houses. Fear and disquiet have made their home in our hearts and will not leave. And one can never truly be safe until one feels safe. So what is the solution? Again it is the deen of Allah, and in particular the remembrance of our Lord. Allah says,
أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ
the translation of which is, “It is only with the dhikr of Allah that hearts will know tranquility.” There can be no safety and no peace without the deen of Allah, and is only through establishing it, not abandoning it, that we can realise it in our own communities. But that does not imposing it all at once, but rather forming communities with leaders who serve us and look after our interests and well-being, and letting the deen fall into place organically as it did with the first community. For the deen was not revealed all at once but in stages in a manner easy to digest and implement. Thus will we, and the peoples who live around us, see the hikma in each and every one of the rulings of the deen. We must start with the intention of keeping our people safe and everything else will fall into place.
We ask Allah to join our hearts together, and bring the deen of Allah and the sunna of His Prophet to life in us, by us and around us.
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