Khutbah

Friday Khutbah (August 6, 2004) delivered by Shaykh Muhammad Taher

Nations are facing dangers and conspiracies, and are in need, constantly, of a doctrine, of that which is stable. For the doctrines of nations are the wings of soundness, and the fuel and provision of movement, like tools they need strength in order to turn and move and produce. Muslims have persevered time after time, and Islam is the doctrine that propels their movement. It directs them and gives deep meaning to their lives and awakens them in this life. The Sacred Law, the Shariah, is the rule and judge, decisive, organizing their activities and actions, their worship and everything they do. At the same time the Shariah is guiding beams of light, radiant and glowing, and enlightenment is sought from it. It is the guardian that watches over them, the gatherer that gathers them and unites them. 

The bounty of this deen and this doctrine (this belief) for the Muslims is like the bounty of water, air and light for plants and vegetation. Allah says: ‘This day I have perfected you religion for you, and completed my favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.’ (al-Maida, 5:3) 

Indeed, Islam created a nation that was fit and suitable and worthy of living and remaining, for Islam created them from nothing, and made them the possessors of an empire, and a message, and a civilization. So our principles, and our beliefs, our concepts and our ideas, our theories and our standards, our values, morals and law…all these are things that Allah, Exalted is He!, has ennobled us with. So we are not a springing nation, still in its infancy. Rather we are a nation with roots, its roots are in the depths of history, since the time when Allah, Exalted is He! created Adam, since the beginning of mankind. We have an ancient, deep-rooted relationship with the Prophets and Messengers, the monotheistic nations that worshipped and were committed to Allah, Exalted is He! 

Oh Muslims: 

The Muslims have experienced days of joy and days of sadness; days of success and days of disaster, and this is nothing strange or unusual. Those who know history and the chronicles of nations know very well that the illustrative line that nations follow, over the course of history, does not stay at one level. 

The Muslims have been in their tribulations and afflictions. They adhere to their beliefs and draw strength from their principles. If their affairs turned for the worst, and if their states were dragged down, if the circumstances became very difficult, they were not ignorant of the causes of the cure. 

“If you help the cause of Allah, Allah will help you, and He will plant your feet firmly.” (47:7)

“Verily Allah will never change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (13:11) 

So you see them hurrying to what returns them to their religion, and cling to its rope, adhering to its guidance. They seek success by it. They ask for aid and assistance from their Lord after returning in repentance. Allah says: 

“Oh you who believe, persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such perseverance; strengthen each other, and fear Allah; that you may be successful.” (3:200) 

In conditions such as the ones that encompass the Muslim Ummah today, and in the shadow of these schemes and conspiracies which are devised against Islam and the Muslims.

In the face of these plans that are conceived to turn the Muslims away from their principles and place doubts in their beliefs, and the rulings of their religion. In front of this penetrating attack, and domination, it is assumed that the Islamic world will shatter and chase away and humiliate and abase and do worse than what is done to it. It will abandon its principles and convictions. It will change in its culture until it tames this religion. Or the followers of the religion will leave it and abandon it, become ignorant of its rulings, and desist more than what is the case today, from disregard for the religion, to ignorance of it and its rulings and great objectives, its noble and high responsibility. 

All of this is embodied in what is termed the “The Great Middle East Plan”, a plan built on the obliteration of the identity of the Islamic Peoples, and the destruction of the morals and values of that region and the demolition of its principles. This is a plan of distorted nature. The followers and those who tag on to them do not understand a thing except what they are taught. They do as they are commanded and they love the dominant culture, and they detach themselves from their religion.

They want from this plan that the deen be something of merely the individual conscience. If it comes out of the individual’s heart and mind it must remain within the four walls of the mosque. As for the deen to be something that directs the lives of the individual, the family, the society, the ruler, and the ruled; this they don’t want. 

We have with us a deen that directs mankind from the cradle to the grave, from the day of birth to the day of death, that accompanies man throughout the journey of his entire life, in every time and place; in the mosque when he worships, in the street when he walks, in the house when he relaxes, in his office, his work, his school, his university, and in his factory. And it surely teaches him and he incorporates it in his eating and drinking, and in his dress and house, in his entire life, from the tiniest thing to the greatest thing. It tells him ‘don’t eat such and such, and don’t drink such and such’… Allah says:

“… and we have sent down to you the book as an exposition of everything, a guidance and a mercy and glad tidings for those who submit”. (16:89) 

They want us to leave what is contained in this deen, and that we make the deen nothing more than an individual belief, and that it does not rule our lives, and does to regulate the path of the individual, or the family, or the society. Indeed this is not Islam! 

Islam is embodied and applied, as Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“Say ‘verily, my prayer, my sacrifice and my living and my dying are for Allah Lord of all the worlds, He has no partner and it is with this that I am commanded, and I am the first of those who submit.” (6:162) 

We are Muslims that cling and adhere closely to this deen. We don’t look at life without this deen. There is no dignity without this deen. There is no power without this deen. There is no happiness without this deen. For this deen is our refuge. The deen is the foundation of our existence. This deen is the guardian of our survival. We will not abandon our religion. Even if they place the sun in our right hand and the moon in our left to make us give up even a small part of our belief we will not do it.

“… and they wish to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and Allah will not allow except they his light be completed, even though the disbelievers may hate it.” (61:8) 

Indeed it (The Great Middle East Project) is a kind of guardianship, for verily they are not content to merely impose their political guardianship all over the world. But rather, today, through this legislation they wish to impose an ideological and moral guardianship over the lives of the Muslims, and make them adhere to their values and morals.

We are Muslims, and our Islam commands us to be proud of our individuality, and be proud of our faith and values, and the rulings of or sacred law, and that we don’t forsake it. 

All Muslims must be aware and cognizant of what is expected of them from this deen. They must strive to understand it more and more. They must rectify their affairs and their lives in accordance with Islam and be prepared for the inundation that is coming upon them. They must be aware of what is going on around them. There is no greatness except by following this deen. There is no strength of power except in Allah, and Allah is enough for us to rely on. 

Alhamdulilahi rabbi l-‘alamin, wa salatu wa salaam ala rasuillah.

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