Khutba on Fairness and Rectitude
Alhamdulillah, praise be to Allah Who has granted His servants periods and times of gathering, of joy and goodness, in order to forgive them their faults and to bestow on them His gifts. He causes from among His slaves He wants, to succeed in obeying Him and have taqwa of Him. And He causes others to disobey His commands . I praise Him, be He exalted and glorified, I thank Him, and I ask His help and His forgiveness.
And I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, alone, there is no partner with Him, He completed for us our life transaction our Deen, He perfected His blessings us He is satisfied with Islam as our Deen.
And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, and to his noble and pure family and his luminous and excellent Companions and all those who follow them till the Day of Retribution.
Muslims! I caution you and myself to be aware of Allah and to have taqwa of Him. That is the caution of Allah for the people of the beginning and for the people of the end.
He says in His noble book, the translation of which is: “We exhort ed those who were given the Book before you, and you, that you should be aware of Allah (have taqwa) “
Slaves of Allah! Allah, exalted and glorified, be He says:
“Whoever has a weighty balance, are the successful ones, and whoever balance is light those are the ones that have lost themselves, for having done injustice to Our signs”. (that is, not having paid heed to them and not believing in them) Surat Al Araf, 8.
Allah, may He be exalted, by His wisdom, He chooses, He prefers, whoever He wants from among His angels, and from among His messengers and from men. He also chooses and prefers some times over and above others and some places over and above others.
Our Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Seek goodness during the entirety of your time, and be expectant of the gifts and the bounty of Allah, for Allah has gifts and bounty, from His Mercy, and He grants them to whomever He wants of His slaves. And ask Him to cover your secrets, and to grant you safety and security from fear”. Hadiz narrated by Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, and transmitted by Al Baihaqi.
Whoever is eager and expecting the gifts and the bounty of Allah; and he sees them coming to him, while he is pure both internally and externally, he has high aspiration and he is present with his heart, he obtains in one single time much more than all other blessings and gifts that are obtained through long periods of time.
This refers to our moment and to our situation since we are now in the days that are the best days of the entire year: those are the first ten days of the month of the Hajj, Dhul Hijjah, been also one of the sacred months. Allah glory be to Him, ordered those sacred months (al Ash-hur al Hurum) to be respected and given sanctity, while at the same time He forbade to make injustice to oneself during those months.
An indication of the enormous value of these days is the fact that Allah makes an oath by those ten days in His Noble Book. He says:
“By the dawn and by the Ten nights!”
Our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “There are no days in which righteous action is more beloved to Allah than these ten days.” He was asked: Not even fighting in the way of Allah?, he replied: “Not even the struggle in the way of Allah, except a man who left with his person and his wealth and he returned with none of them” Hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, and transmitted by Imam Al Bukhary, may Allah have mercy on him.
Bu the same token ,as righteous action includes all the forms of worship such as salat, zakat, al Hajj, al Umrah, fasting and giving sadaqah, equally, righteous action encompasses the acts of worship by means of transaction in a preeminent position and there is a very close and strong interrelation between the two of them, so much so that one cannot replace the other and none of the two is enough by itself. Only if the acts of worship in transactions are sound and correct then are the rituals acts of worship accepted. That is the upright life transaction. (Ad Dinu Al Qayyim), the Deen of Fitr (the original and natural disposition of creation) and Rectitude (istiqama).
Allah, subhanahu wa ta ala, says in His Noble Book:
“So set your face upright to the Deen; that is the original disposition upon which Allah originated mankind. …” Surat Rum, 30.
As a reminder, it is enough for us to listen to the declaration made by Jaafar ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, in front of the King of Ethiopia. He exposed with clarity that there is no difference between these two: the acts of worship and the acts of worship in the transactions and he made it clear that the Deen is being in communication with the Creator and doing good, acting with Ihsan, to the creation, and none of the two is valid and sound unless if accompanied by the other. Jaafar ibn Abi Talib said:
“ Oh you the King! We were a people that lived in ignorance, we worshiped idols, we ate the meat of dead animals(carrion) we committed indecencies and we cut the bonds of blood,we wronged our neighbors, and the strong oppressed the weak. That was our condition. Then Allah sent to us a Messenger from among ourselves. We knew his family and his ancestors, we were well/aware of his truthfulness, of his trustworthiness and of his abiding honesty.
He called us to Allah the exalted, to worship Him alone with no partners and to leave behind all that we were worshiping other than Allah: idols and stones.
He commanded us to be truthful when we speak and to fulfill the trusts taken and to honor the bonds of blood, to treat our neighbors well, to leave the forbidden things and to stop the shedding of blood. He forbade us indecencies, taking false oaths and devouring the wealth of the orphans and slandering people. He commanded us to worship Allah alone and not to bring any partner or associate alongside with Him. He ordered us to pray salat and to pay zakat and to fast”. The narrator added: he explained to the King the pillars of Islam. “ We confirmed him and truthful, we declared our belief in him and we followed him in what he brought to us from Allah. We worship Allah alone and do not associate anything with Him, we avoid that which he declared haram forbidden for us and we take as licit and lawful that which he declared halal permitted for us.”
Whoever takes transactions lightly and fails to be upright in them, even if he pretends to fulfill well his obligations of ritual worship, he in in great danger of finding himself bankrupt in the Day of Raising.
Our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked: “Do you know who the bankrupt is?” The sahaba said: “Among us the bankrupt one is the one that does not posses a dirham nor a merchandise”. He said, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,: “The bankrupt in my Ummah is the one who will will came in the yaum Al Qiyama, with his salat and his zakat and his fast and then he will also bring with him his insults to some, he slandered others, he devoured unjustly the wealth of others, he hit others, he shed the blood of others. And then each one of these will take away the merit of his good acts of worship until all of the recompense of his good deeds will be depleted and he will be unable to compensate all of them. At that point their wrong actions will be taken away from them and given to him and will finally end up thrown in the Fire”. Hadith narrated by Abu Huraira and transmitted by Imam Muslim.
Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
“Very seldom did the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, address us, but that he would say: “The one that has no Amana (trust) does not have Iman (faith); and the one that does not fulfill the promise does not have Deen.” This was transmitted by Ahmed ibn Hambal.
Muslims! The prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked: “Which deeds are more beloved to Allah?” He said: “Believe in Allah an His Messenger”. And he was asked: “then which?” He replied: “Treating your parents well”. “Then?’. He said: A hajj with no blame (hajjun mabrurun)”. This is a hadith narrated by Abu Huraira and transmitted by Imam Al Bukhary.
Whoever does good in the days that are special and preferred; he has taken a shortcut to his Lord. Imam Al Bukhari transmitted that Ammar ibn Yaasir, may Allah be pleased with them all, that he said:
“There are three characteristics that, whoever has them all three, has a complete Iman: being impartial in what concerns his own person (and his own personal interest), extending salam to the world, and spending at the time of scarcity”.
These words gather in them the best of actions, and the roots of goodness, and its branvhes; and around them encompasses Iman entirety.
Among the aims and purposes of the science of tasawuuf and suluk (the conduct in the way) is healing the human self from the sickness of its passions (hawa), preventing him from deviation and purifying it from aberration and training it in perfection, noble qualities and impartiality (insaf). That state of impartiality has a dimension with Allah, a dimension with one self and one dimension with all the rest. That consists in implementing Allah’s commands and avoiding that which He has prohibited, not staining and polluting one’s own self with acts of disobedience and pretending for his self that which does not befit or does not belong to it and to deal with people as he would like them to deal with him.
I the hadith Qudsi: “Ibn Adam! You have not been impartial with Me!. My goodness to you descends without interruption and from you much wrong ascends to Me. How many times have I approached you with loving blessings –while I am independent, not in need of you- and how often have you approached me with acts of disobedience which cause anger –while you are in need of Me- . Ibn Adam! You have not been impartial to Me. I have created you and you worship others. I have provided for you and you thank others”
Hadith narrated by Mu’adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him and transmitted by Al Haakim.
Impartial, objective, unbiased and fair is the one who knows what is his due and he gives it, before he has to be asked and that is the path to victory, power and dominium.
Al Ahnaf ibn Qais, one of the wise people of the Tabi’in, the second generation of the sahaba, said: “ Whenever impartiality is offered to someone and he accepts it, then I feel in awe and respect of him; on the other hand, whenever someone rejects it then I know I will overpower him”.
It is because of this that we have mentioned that all we see and we hear about, that is happening today, disputes, conflicts, troubles, turbulence and blood shedding… it is all a consequence of the lack of impartiality and the pretensions of the ego that are contrary to the truth. It was said in the old times: “ If people were impartial, the qadi will have no work.” However, the instinct of man inclines him towards injustice, unless if he is tied up to truth and fairness.
Impartiality is at the very core of Iman. Extending greetings encompasses the noble qualities of character, as well humility and lack of despise towards others, and by it, affinity and collaboration between people grow. As for spending in the times of scarcity, that is the manifestation of generosity and expresses its aim and purpose, because the one who is able to give when having little, if he is rich, he will be even more splendid. Giving in times of poverty is a sign of trust in Allah, of detachment from this world and of harboring few vain hopes… and of other characteristics that will give fruits in the Akhira.
This is the essence of the knowledge of tarbiyya and that is the core of tasawuf.