Khutba on Fitr
الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي خلق الخلق بالحكمة والإتقان، وفطر الناس على عبادة الرحمان، 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 وأدٌى 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.
If you look at the world around us, you will see that everything, from the largest galaxies to the smallest protons and neutrons, has a role to play in existence. Everything is in harmony and balance and in the place and time where it should be. Indeed, the physicists tell us that were just one variable out of place, nothing that we see around us in this world and take from granted could have been possible. For instance, change the orbit of the earth and we would not have had air to breath or water to drink – life would have been impossible. Everything does exactly as it has been created to do, fulfilling its role to the letter. When Allah asked the heavens and the earth (and by extension everything in them) whether they would accept their role, they replied,
أَتَيْنَا طَائِعِينَ
the translation of which is, “We come willingly.” And that is true of everything, every stone, star, plant and animal. Simply by fulfilling their nature/ their fitra and doing what comes naturally, they obey Allah, and worship and glorify Him. Allah says,
يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ السَّمَوَاتُ السَّبْعُ وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ وَإِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَكِنْ لَا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا
the translation of which is, “The seven heavens and the earth and everyone in them glorify Him. There is nothing which does not glorify Him with praise but you do not understand their glorification. He is All-Forbearing, Ever-Forgiving.” And by doing so, they maintain that precious harmony that keeps the world in balance and good health. But there is one creature to whom Allah has granted the capacity of disregarding his nature, one creature who has the capacity to go against the natural order of things. That creature is man, who accepted the amanah when everything else rejected it. Allah says:
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنْسَانُ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا
the translation of which is, “We offered the Trust to the heavens, the earth and the mountains but they refused to take it on and shrank from it. But man took it on. He is indeed wrongdoing and ignorant.” This amana was free choice, the capacity to obey or disobey in exchange for reward or punishment. This amana was language and knowledge – the capacity to know the world in which lives. Allah says:
وَعَلَّمَ آَدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا
the translation of which is, “He taught Adam the names of all things.” But those gifts do not come without their dangers, for man can all too easily become distracted by all that sees and knows into forgetting what his original purpose was. He can become deluded by his unique role in existence into seeing himself as important and self-sufficient and everything else as subservient to his needs. For mankind was created weak, forgetful and susceptible to the whisperings of Shaytan. And that is why the angels were so astonished when Allah chose to make them his khalifahs on the earth, saying,
أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ
the translation of which is, “Why put on it one who will cause corruption on it and shed blood when we glorify You with praise and proclaim Your purity?” But Allah knew something about mankind that the angels did not. And that was that, despite the tendencies the angels and which we ourselves witness on a daily basis as men gradually destroy the world in which they live, poisoning its seas and polluting its atmosphere, when they remember and fulfil the role for which they were created they are the highest and most exalted of all God’s creatures, higher than the angels themselves. But what is this role for which we were created? What is our fitra/ our natural state/ our natural pattern of behaviour? It is the same as everything else in existence, we were created to glorify and worship our creator. Allah says,
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
the translation of which is, “I only created jinn and man to worship Me.” That is the essence of being human – that is the fitra upon which each and everyone of us was created, for 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.” And the fitra which each and every one of us instinctively knows when we are born, for the Prophet said:
كُلُّ مَوْلُودٍ يُولَدُ عَلَى الْفِطْرَةِ ، فَأَبَوَاهُ يُهَوِّدَانِهِ أَوْ يُنَصِّرَانِهِ
“Every baby is born upon the fitra – it is his parents who then make him a Jew or Christian.” This natural pattern is the essence of what it means to be human, but it is something that we as human beings tend to forget and cover over. We are unlike all other creatures who have their form indelibly stamped in them so that they have no need of external stimuli to bring them out of them. We human beings have the tendency to go beyond the bounds.
إِنَّ الاِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَى أَن رَآهُ اسْتَغْنَى
the translation of which is, “Truly man is unbridled seeing himself as self-sufficient.” In a sense, we have to consciously choose to be human. We have to choose the form that is in reality our true nature. We have to remember. But to do that we need a reminder. And that is why Allah sent the Messenger to us, for every teaching that he brought, every act that he did, every word that he said was but to show us what it truly means to be human. So Islam, far from being a suppression of human nature, is the ultimate celebration and fulfilment of human potential. Islam is the deen of fitra.
On this, the day of Fitr, we ask Allah to grant us the success to rediscover our humanity and follow the example of that most perfect human being, our noble guide and master, the Messenger of Allah.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيمالحمد 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: يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِئُواْ نُورَ ٱللَّهِ بِأَفْوَٰهِهِمْ وَٱللَّهُ مُتِمٌّ نُورَهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ ٱلْكَٰفِرُونَ
Allah says in His Mighty Book: “They desire to extinguish Allah’s Light with their mouths but Allah will perfect His Light, though the kafirun hate it.” And Allah says:
وَمَا يُخَادِعُونَ إِلَّا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ
the translation of which is, “They deceive no one but themselves but they are not aware of it.” And Imam Malik ibn Anas said,
القرآن كلام الله وليس كلام الله بمخلوق
“The Quran is the Word of Allah, and the Word of Allah is not something created.”
I have a message I would like to relay to you from Shaykh AbdalQadir as-Sufi concerning the proposed action of a deluded pastor in the United States and entitled The Sublime Qur’an and the Florida Fool:
The latest folly of a collapsed christianity is the eccentric preacher who imagines he can burn the Qur’an.
We have news for the poor creature. He cannot burn the Qur’an. It is impossible. The Qur’an is the uncreated word of Allah. When a Muslim asks another Muslim to hand it to him he does not say, “give me the Qur’an” but rather “give me the Mus-haf.” That is to say , “give me the copy.” At the opening of the Qur’an it declares:
“that book no doubt.”
Dhalikal-kitab. It does not say “this book” for the thing we hold in our hands is a copy.
The Qur’an is the uncreated word of Allah. That is why it is unassailable. Of course, we treat the Copy with respect. However this unbalanced peasant preacher, in copying Mao and The Red Guards simply displays his ignorance. “Allah uses the enemies of the Deen to advance the Deen.”
When word came to a remote Muslim village in China that Mao’s Revolutionary Guards were coming to burn their Mus-hafs, the Imam assembled all the children and began to teach them to recite the Qur’an. When the Guards finally arrived they were met by smiling villagers in front of a pile of Copies. As the Guards set fire to the books the sounds of a hundred children came from the Mosque reciting the blessed words of the Qur’an.
Allah says:
وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ
the translation of which is, “They plotted and Allah plotted. But Allah is the best of plotters.” We ask Allah to confound their plots and make their actions a means of increase for His deen. And we ask Him to increase us in love of Him and His Book, and love of the Messenger whom He chose to convey it to 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، 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 (3) 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.
اللَّهُمَّ لاَ تجْعَلِ الدُّنْيَا أَكْبَرَ هَمِّنَا وَلَا مَبْلَغَ عِلْمِنَا وَلَا تُسَلِّطْ عَلَيْنَا بِذُنُوبِنَا مَن لاَّ يَخَافُكَ وَلَا يَرْحَمُنَا
اللَّهُمَّ أَصْلِحْ لَنَا دِينَنَا الذِي هُوَ عِصْمَةُ أَمْرِنَا وَأَصْلِحْ لَنَا دُنْيَانَا التِي فِيهَا مَعَاشُنَا وَأَصْلِحْ لَنَا آخِرَتُنَا التِي إِلَيْهَا مَعَادُنَا وَاجْعَلِ الحَيَاةَ زِيَادَةً لَنَا فِي كُلِّ خَيْرٍ وَاجْعَلِ المَوْتَ رَاحَةً لَنَا مِن كُلِّ شَرٍّ
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.