Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask for His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we ask for His guidance. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no one who can misguide Him, and whomever He guides, there is no one who can guide Him. And I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, there is no partner for Him, there is no example for Him, and there is no example for Him. A testimony that will save us from the punishment of the Fire.
وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ سَيِّدَنَا وَسَنَدَنَا وَمَوْلَانَ مُحَمَّدًا مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَحَبِيبُهُ وَرَسُولُ أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ لَحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدِي هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمُ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُ
وَكُلَّ بِدَعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّهْرِ قَالَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَ فِي كِتَابِهِ الْمَجِيدِ بَعْدَ أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
وَقَالَ تَعَالَى يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا يُسْلِح لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا وقد قال عز وجل وَمَا أَهْلَكْنَا مِنْ قَرِيَةٍ إِلَّا لَهَا مُنذِرُونَ
ذِكْرًا وَمَا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ وَقَالَ تَعَالَى إِنَّ أَخْذَهُ أَلِيمٌ شَدِيبٌ وَقَالَ تَعَالَى لَا ظُلْمَ الْيَوْمِ أي يوم التلاق
وقد قال نبيه الكريم صلى الله عليه وسلم فيما يرويه عن الله عز وجل في حديث مشهور عن أبي ذر الغفاري رضي الله تعالى عنه قال الله عز وجل إني حرمت ظلم على نفسي وجعلته بينكم محرما فلا تظالم أي فلا تتظالم
And the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, used to call upon his Lord in the morning and in the evening. O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the evil of my soul, and from the evil of the devil and his polytheism. And I seek refuge in You from making my soul evil or against others. Or as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said,
أَنْ يَجُرَّ الذُّلْمَ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ إِذَنَ الْإِنسَانُ يَظْلِمُ نَفْسَهُ وَيَظْلِمُ غَيْرَهُ وَهُنَالِكَ فِي مَا بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ رَبِّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ أَلَا إِنَّ أَحْسَنَ الْكَلَامِ وَأَبْلَغَ النِّظَامِ كَلَامُ اللَّهِ الْمَلِكِ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلَّامِ
كَمَا قَالَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَ فِي نَظْمِ الْكَلَامِ وَإِذَا قُرِئَ الْقُرْآنُ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ وَأَنصِتُوا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُّونَ Indeed, we praise Allah SWT. He is the one who created us and told us in the Holy Quran the very purpose of our creation.
But many people can’t see it. They can’t understand. What is the point of life? Is the purpose of living to accumulate wealth and so much of it? Or perhaps is the real purpose of life to dominate others? To exhort power? To accumulate power? And then show how powerful and mighty we are and ruthless.
Or maybe the purpose of life is actually to become humble. To submit to the power that there is no power above it. La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. Don’t we continuously repeat this phrase of our beloved messenger upon whom salawat and salam of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala are. Indeed, if you and I don’t realize by now, that the true example, the role model that we ought to follow in all of our life affairs is in difficulty. Easy and difficult times, calamities, troubles, conflicts, violence. Is the Rasul, the beloved one, al-Habib, the chosen one, al-Mustafa, then I am not so sure if we will be able to come out of any difficulty and any trial and calamity. Indeed, the entire world is looking at what is happening in the Holy Land of Palestine with so much anxiety and worry.
And rightly so, because we do live in the time of disparity, great disparities as our Sheikh Abdul Hakim often says. Hafizahullah. And also, we also live at dangerous times. We live in dangerous times. The times are dangerous because we have let the obvious enemy and the subtle enemy in. And we have become prey. And I really don’t know, when I reviewed the annals of history, when the human life was cheaper than today. When we seem to live in utmost luxury, and when we seem to be at our smartest moment in human development in time, we also seem to be the most oppressive, ruthless, and cruel people, and even unjust. Why? The question is why? How many universities are there in the world? There’s one here, two in Cambridge, but one really old and famous, over 800 years old. I cannot accept that hatred is taught at Cambridge University. I just can’t. Or impartiality, or any kind of discrimination. That’s not acceptable. At any college or school, and how many mosques are there, and churches, and synagogues, and temples, and et cetera, et cetera. Do they spread the light, and wisdom, and true knowledge, and tolerance? Or basically, they all try to incite one against the other, just not thinking beyond the self.
Me and me and my own safety and my own prosperity and my own luxury and my own this and my own that and that and that. For how long is the human race going to compete in these terms? Well, the longer we do that, we will see very sad scenes on the screens that we have available nowadays to us. But maybe not on the screens. You might see them with your own eyes, just like our fellow brothers and sisters are. Have no choice but to see and feel and smell blood. In front of their own eyes. And that’s why one wise man, he said recently, you guys journalists and people from distance, you can’t smell any difficulty and blood on the screen or paper that you read the reports, but we are there and we can see.
Can’t bear what is happening. Things falling on them. Their bodies falling apart, etc. Not knowing the next minute if a shell is going to drop on their head. That’s what some people are living in. But what do we do? How do we come out of difficult times? Where do we draw inspiration from? Who is our role model? Who is our real teacher in the most of difficult times? In times of atrocity and violence and severe persecution? No other but Rasulullah, the chosen one, the beloved one. I remember reading one book about the Prophet and the book clearly said, no matter in what types of calamities or difficulties you had to go through in your own life. Remember that the Prophet had to go through tougher than that. And I said to myself, okay, let me see. This kind of difficulty in life, like being an orphan. He was an orphan. Being kicked out of your homeland. Now people are asked, 1.1 million people are asked to leave their homes. Where are they gonna go? live on boats in the Mediterranean Sea, all the border crossings are closed. There’s no way for them to go. What is this appeal? Does it make any sense, really? And all they have is 24 hours. Pack all the most precious things that you have, and you have 24 hours to simply disappear. Jump in the air, swim in the Mediterranean Sea if you can survive that. But if you don’t move, don’t blame us later on if your life was gone.
I don’t know if that’s fair appeal. It doesn’t sound at all fair. It’s all but fair. So our Rasul ﷺ had to go through so many difficulties on a personal level, and then him and his community as a whole. And then him as Allah’s chosen one, chosen representative on the face of this earth, to deliver the mankind from the darknesses of misguidance and falsehood onto the light of guidance and truth. People misunderstood him. His own him, his own blood fought against him.
And they couldn’t wait the moment when they could slap him, insult him, and injure him to the point when they said, that’s it, we’re just going to get rid of him, whatever is the price. We no longer care even about his life. He’s a human being. He’s from among us, actually, but we don’t care anymore. And I’m sure we all know the stories from the Sira. Don’t need to repeat it. I don’t even have the time to mention. But just think of the three years of boycott that Quraysh imposed on Bani Hashim.
Those were arguably the most difficult years of the prophet’s life, okay? And the weak and vulnerable companions of his, followers of his who had no real protection, no tribe to hide in, no thick wall to hide behind, plain. Slaves, servants, no extended family, no money, owned by people, et cetera.
But when they could not bear, even though the Quran told them, bear, bear the insults, bear all the persecution, bear patiently, do not retaliate, never attack, never show aggression. When those very weak and unprotected could not bear it anymore, and it was coming at the expense of their own lives, because every human life has its own sanctity and dignity.
The Prophet ﷺ tells them, you ought to leave now. Make the first hijrah to Abyssinia. There is a ruler who is just, who is not blinded by his own egotism, by, I don’t know what else, materialism, imperialism, whatever else, hegemony. I don’t know. People are blinded for different reasons. Go there and you’ll find shelter. The enemy didn’t accept this solution that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam had found by inspiration from God Almighty. They went chasing them and did everything they can to persuade the king, that just king, to send them back, to hand them over basically for more persecution, and most probably nothing but death. I’m telling you. But Allah Almighty had other plans. It didn’t happen. They were treated with dignity that they deserved all the way long. They did nothing wrong.
They were driven out of their homes just because they testified there’s only one true God. And they wanted to follow the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and his good teachings. He told them that everyone has a right over another. There’s nothing wrong with orphan children. If they lost their parents, you need to extend a more helping hand to them. They have perhaps more right over you than others who have their parents. Even animals. But they used to mock the Prophet. Can you believe it? He gave animals rights. The camel has some rights. You cannot overload your own camel. Well rightly so. But now we understand. That is the only way out of deep trouble.
The only way out is to show tolerance. But believe me, brothers and sisters, and dear children, it is very, very hard for the human ego to excuse and to pardon when you are under attack. When someone is really technically attacking you, eating you up. And I have to tell you this. It’s very difficult for me to speak today, I have to say. On my way back from the holy pilgrimage, I’m waiting, more or less exhausted, I don’t know when I slept last, in Cairo Airport for my next flight to London. And there comes a group of youth, quite tall, the most handsome men I’ve seen in recent times. And they sit next to me where we are waiting. They’re waiting for their own gate. They were going to go to Algeria. And they start talking. And I’m just like, I’m home, I can’t even stay awake properly, but I’m trying to do some zikr, I think, or something. And they start talking, and they spoke in the most beautiful Arabic language. And first I thought, these men must be basketball players, because they’re so tall, but they’re so handsome, beautiful, so young. Nada, in Arabic you say nada. So fresh and beautiful. And I asked them, Who are you? Because they understood that I could pick up what they are saying. I understood what they are saying. And they turned to me and I asked them. And they told me that they are playing the national club team playing for Palestine. Volleyball. There were no basketball players, but volleyball also needs tall players. And they were going for some qualification match against Algeria, I think. And Subhanallah, in this month of Rabi’ al-Awwal, all I was trying to do with this series of khutbas is to raise awareness for you and I. Where do we stand with our own love and also loyalty towards the messenger of Allah, the beloved one. And this man takes out a phone and he shows me a picture of his.
He actually was, all of them were from Gaza itself, not the West Bank, Gaza itself. When he performed his own standing by Kaaba and also in Medina by the beloved Prophet . And I entered the conversation with them. Their coach came and he told me back then, this was more than two months ago, he said, the Gaza Strip is on the brink of collapse. And he was older than the players. He was like their coach. I didn’t know what to say, I had no words. I was absolutely speechless. Just like now, I can’t tell you anything proper or wise about the violence that we witness, that we are witnessing. But let Mahmoud Abbas and those who have been living their 80, 70, 60 years of their lives dealing with the difficulties there, tell the international community and the United Nations and everyone else what it is that they need and they deserve as human beings. Above all. It’s not my position to ask anyone or appeal anything, but I can share this. It’s personal. So I asked this guy, I said, did you ever play in any league outside? He’s a professional volleyball player. And you know, nowadays, sportsmen who are very successful can become very rich and famous celebrities.
He said, I played one year in Saudi Arabia in a league. And he had so many offers in Italy. Italy is a famous league for volleyball, I understand. In this and that country. He said, I’m not gonna leave my holy land. And my beautiful, loving family. And all of them said the same. They had nothing, they were not probably even paid at all for representing their land, representing their nation. And that really stood with me and taught me so many lessons. I really truly pray to Allah that they are safe and okay. But I’m not so sure. Most probably they are not. And then just very recently.
Rabi al-Awwal is coming. A lady from Gaza who happened to work and live in Cambridge came to the masjid and brought the most beautiful cakes that you can imagine and gave us in her own sign and display of true sincere love towards the Prophet. Now her family is back in Gaza and I already was told that her brother was injured. So there are, of course, many great people that I personally know who work at Cambridge University and many great institutions across the globe who are of Palestinian origin, even from the Gaza Strip itself. Indeed, it saddens us to see that there is not much that we can do to bring two arguing people, disagreeing people to come to an agreement that doesn’t resort to any sort of violence. Or killing. It hurts myself. But I said to myself, I’ll do what the Prophet did. When he tried in Mecca, and it didn’t work. And then he proclaimed the final year after the boycott, the year of grief and sorrow. And lost two biggest allies, right and left hand, so to speak. His beloved wife, Khadija, and his uncle Abu Talib. He went to the nearby town of Taif and tried there. He had some relatives there. But regardless, he just tried there.
What did he receive? We all know. More insults. Not only that, physical attack. He was stoned even by children. They were made to attack the Prophet. He’s leaving, basically running for his life out of that town and finds some shelter leaning on a wall as we know in the story. An angel comes to him and says, everything is at your display and offer, Ya Rasulullah. You just say what you want us to do. Allah is there. He’s ordered the angels already to do the job that you probably want and need. What does he say and do? He said, Oh Allah, it is to you that I complain the lack of power that I have and the lack of resources, and all this shame and insult that I am seeing at the hands of people, my own people. But as long as you are not angry with me, you don’t show your wrath on me, I don’t care. It’s like, yeah, it’s hurting me, I’m bleeding, but in all honesty, all I want is your pleasure, like I said last week and that’s how he prayed. And that led me to think, what is the best prayer I can do? To whom are we going to complain truly and honestly?
And this is what one poet, I’ll read to you to finish the khutbah, said. I believe it’s Ibn Farid, but some scholars say it was Shirazi. I don’t know. Maybe both of them said it differently. So he said, أشكو إليك أمورا أن تتعلمها And in one version, أَشْكُو إِلَيْكَ هُمُومًا أَنْتَ تَعْلَمُهَا O Allah, to you I plea and make this complaint about concerns that you know better than I do. Worries that you know and understand better than I do. مَا لِي عَلَى حَمْلِهَا صَبْرٌ وَلَا جَلَدٌ Indeed, I don’t have patience or enough stamina or power to bear those concerns and difficulties and calamities. You know that. So what do we do then? He said, so therefore I raise my hands to you with the utmost humility. This is what I am trying to tell you. It’s enough arrogance. Show some humility. To you, the best, indeed, the best Lord, the best one towards whom the hand could be raised. Oh my Lord, don’t return my hand or my prayer unanswered. For indeed, the sea of your generosity is so vast, it’s so big, that it can easily entertain everyone who wants to fetch something from it. So I pray to Allah indeed,
in the conclusion that Allah protects and shelters and looks after those innocent, pure souls in the Strip of Gaza right now and anywhere else in the world and anywhere else in the world, regardless of their religion, regardless of their race, or nationality, or gender, or color, whatever. Anyone who is innocent and oppressed, may Allah SWT deliver them from that oppression and difficulty. And everyone who is sick and in pain, may Allah relief them of that pain and sickness and give them some cure and relief. And of course, I would be foolish not to make this prayer as well. I pray to you, O Allah, from this special place, in this beautiful masjid, that you soften the hearts of those who have become blinded of those who can’t discriminate between truth and falsehood, of those who do not value the sanctity of human life. O Allah, open their hearts, soften their hearts, and make them realize that the decisions that they are making are awful and horrible and bring no good to anyone on this earth. And of course, I pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. To instill deep into our hearts the love of our Lord Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and his beloved messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and every single believer. And we pray to Allah that he removes any hatred or grudge from our hearts towards any single believer, male or female, whatever they may be, on the face of this beautiful earth. أقول قولي هذا واستغفر الله العظيم لي ولكم فاستغفروهنه هو الغفور الرحيم
Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah,
Allahumma ya Rabbana ya Rabbil Alameen
اللهم أصلح أحوال المسلمين اللهم وحد كلمة المسلمين اللهم اجمعنا على كلمة الحق والدين يا رب العالمين ويا أرحم الراهمين اللهم إنا نعوذ بك من شرور أنفسنا ومن شرور الشياطين وشركه يا رب العالمين ويا أرحم الراهمين اللهم إنا نعوذ بك من أن نظلم أو نظلم
وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ مِنَ الظُّلْمِ كُلِّهِ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ أَعْلَىٰ أَنفُسِنَا أَوْ فِي مَا بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكَ أَوْ فِي مَا بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَ عِبَادِكَ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَيَا أَرْهَمَ الرَّاهِمِينَ اللهم هدينا إلى الحق وإلى صراط المستقيم اللهم وفقنا لما تحبه وترضاه من صالح القول
وَوَفِّقِ اللَّهُمَّ وُلَاتَ أُمُورِنَا إِلَى الْحَقِّ وَالْعَدْلِ وَالْقِسْطِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَالْجُودِ وَالْكَرَمِ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَيَا أَرْحَمَّ الرَّاهِمِينَ اللهم ربنا إنا نسألك العفو والعافية والمعافاة الدائمة في الدين والدنيا والآخرة اللهم إليك نشكو يا رب العالمين أمورا وهموما وكربا
أَنْتَ أَعْلَمُ بِهَا يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ فَرِّجِ اللَّهُمَّ عَنَّا وَعَنِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فِي كُلِّ مَكَانٍ وَخَصَّةً لِإِخْوَانِنَا فِي قِطَاعِ غَزَّ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ فَأَنْتَ أَعْلَمُ بِهِمْ وَبِأَحْوَالِهِمْ اللَّهُمَّ انظُرْهُمْ بِعَيْنِ الرَّحْمَ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَأَي
يَا رَبَّنَا بِالْمُصْطَفَى بَلِّغْ مَقَاصِدَنَا يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاهِمِينَ وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا مَا مَضَى يَا رَبَّنَا مِنَ الْخَطَايَ وَالذُنُوبِ بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاهِمِينَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدَّلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِتَأِذِ الْقُرْبَ وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَ