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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 Strong Principles of a Muslim

By Ali El Hanandeh

إن الحمدَ للهِ, نحمده و نستعينه و نستغفره و نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا و سيّْئات أعمالنا.  من يهـده الله فلآ مضل له و من يضلل فلا هـادي له. 

و أشـهـد أن لا إله إلا ألله و حـده لا شـريك له, و أشـهـد أن محمّدا عبده و رسوله, بلّغ الرساله و أدّى ألأمانه و نصح ألأمه فَتَركها على المحجَّة البيضاء ليلها كنهارها لا يزيغ عنها إلا هالك.  اللهم صلّي و سلم و بارك على سيّدنا محمّد و على آله و صحبه و من سـار على نهجـه.

أمّـا بَعدُ: فإنّ خير الحديث كتـاب الله, و خير الهـدي هدي محَمّـد, و شرّ الأمور مُحدثـاتـهـا و كلّ بدعـة ضلالة.

عباد الله, أوصيكم و نفسي بتقوى الله و طاعته, فقد فاز المتقون.

My dearest brothers and sisters,

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهم عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لا تَكُونُوا إِمَّعَةً تَقُولُونَ إِنْ أَحْسَنَ النَّاسُ أَحْسَنَّا وَإِنْ ظَلَمُوا ظَلَمْنَا وَلَكِنْ وَطِّنُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ إِنْ أَحْسَنَ النَّاسُ أَنْ تُحْسِنُوا وَإِنْ أَسَاءُوا فَلا تَظْلِمُوا .

Prophet Muhammad (saws) said:

“Do not be blind followers.  Do not say: if people do good I will join them in doing good and if they do bad we join them, but be of principle.  When people do good you do good as well but when people do wrong you should not join them”

Yes, my beloved brothers and sisters, a Muslim is not a blind follower.  A Muslim is not a person who does not use his brain wisely to judge each matter that faces him.

How often, do we just follow our emotions or just follow the crowed.

How many times, we base our decisions on our cultural or national bias?

My, beloved brothers and sisters, our beautiful religion of Islam is the religion of logic.  It is the religion that calls each Muslim to be a critical thinker.  It calls on each one of us to activate his analytical minds before taking any decision or action.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

لَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ دَعَا إِلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ وَلَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ قَاتَلَ عَلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ وَلَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ مَاتَ عَلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ *

“He is not one of us whosoever calls for blind following or fights on blind following or dies having blind following in his heart”

Islam, my dearest brothers and sisters, respect individuals and their rights.  Each Muslim is an important member of the community.  عَصَبِيَّة (blind following) on the other hand kills individual rights and kills creativity.  Muslims in general, and we (Muslims living among non-Muslims) in particular, can not afford losing the creativity of any individual because that will lead to marginalizing our significance as a community.

عَصَبِيَّة can take different forms, based on race, language, nationality, or regional alliance.  It does not really matter what do you call it, at the end it is the same.

My dearest brothers and sisters, as Muslims living among non-Muslims, we are bound in many cases to face situations in which our religion and our moral and ethical views are than the majority of people.  It is natural that as humans we do not want to be seen going against the main stream.  We do not want to be seen as the odd ones out.  But remember, that as a Muslim you are trusted to do the right thing.  Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

وَلَكِنْ وَطِّنُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ

“Have strong principles”

My dearest brothers and sisters, Allah (swt) has given the human race something that no other creature have, that is the ability to distinguish between right and wrong Allah (swt) says:

"إن السمع و البصر و الفوْاد كل أولئك كان عنه مسوْلا"

“Indeed! Hearing, sight and reasoning about all these (you) will be questioned”

You will be questioned about your hearing, sight and reasoning because these are the three major channels of learning.  First, you learn by hearing sounds, this starts very early even before birth.  Then the second method of learning is by observing things and then we start to reason and use our eyes and hearing to link thing together.

No one will be able to take the right decision each and every time.  But everyone is expected to do his best to find the right decision and be independent rather than just following the crowed or as they say “go with the flow”

My beloved brothers and sisters as much as Islam respects individuals, Islam does not leave matters entirely up to personal opinions.  Islam lays the foundations and established the foundations upon which we Muslims should refer in our judgments against or for things.  Therefore, my dearest brothers and sisters, what is right – is what Allah (swt) has declared it to be right and what is wrong is what Allah (swt) has judged to be wrong.  But for these matters that there is no clear cut in the Quran or Hadith or opinions of our great scholars, in other words, things which was left up to our own judgment, prophet Muhammad (saws) gives us a guide on how to judge right from wrong, he (saws) said:

عَنْ وَابِصَةَ بْنِ مَعْبَدٍ الْأَسَدِيِّ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهم عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لِوَابِصَةَ جِئْتَ تَسْأَلُ عَنِ الْبِرِّ وَالْإِثْمِ قَالَ قُلْتُ نَعَمْ قَالَ فَجَمَعَ أَصَابِعَهُ فَضَرَبَ بِهَا صَدْرَهُ وَقَالَ اسْتَفْتِ نَفْسَكَ اسْتَفْتِ قَلْبَكَ يَا وَابِصَةُ ثَلَاثًا الْبِرُّ مَا اطْمَأَنَّتْ إِلَيْهِ النَّفْسُ وَاطْمَأَنَّ إِلَيْهِ الْقَلْبُ وَالْإِثْمُ مَا حَاكَ فِي النَّفْسِ وَتَرَدَّدَ فِي الصَّدْرِ وَإِنْ أَفْتَاكَ النَّاسُ وَأَفْتَوْكَ *

“On the authority of Wabisah that Prophet Muhammad (saws) told him, he said:  O Wabisah, did you come to ask about good and evil.  I said: Yes.  Prophet Muhammad (saws) gathered three figures and he tapped on his chest and said: Ask yourself.  Ask your heart, O Wabisah, he repeated it three times.  Then he said:  Good is what your heart feels comfortable with and yourself is proud of it.  Evil is what causes suspicions in  your heart and you feel uncomfortable that others should know it about you.  Even if people told you it is fine.”

Then Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) said in another Hadith:

"دع ما يريبك الى ما لا يريبك"

“Leave what makes you feel uncomfortable to that which makes you comfortable”

My dearest brothers and sisters, as a Muslim community we need to portray the right image about Islam- to convey the right message of islam to others because that is the right thing to do – moreover, it is the way for our community to succeed and progress.  Our Prophet Muhammad (saws) said:

"إحرص على ما ينفعك و استعن بالله و لا تعجز"

“Be aware of what brings you good and seek Allah’s help but do not be lazy”

عباد الله أقول قولي هذا و استغفر الله العظيم لي و لكم فيا فوز المستغفرين و يا نجاة التائبين.

الحمد لله ربّ العالمين, حمد الشاكرين , حمدا كثيرا طيبا كما أمر.  و صلى الله و سلم و بارك على سيّدنا محمد و على آله و صحبه.

My dearest brothers and sisters,

The message in the Hadith is very important and we need to understand it well.  So let me repeat the hadith one more time for our benefit:

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهم عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لا تَكُونُوا إِمَّعَةً تَقُولُونَ إِنْ أَحْسَنَ النَّاسُ أَحْسَنَّا وَإِنْ ظَلَمُوا ظَلَمْنَا وَلَكِنْ وَطِّنُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ إِنْ أَحْسَنَ النَّاسُ أَنْ تُحْسِنُوا وَإِنْ أَسَاءُوا فَلا تَظْلِمُوا .

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

“Do not be blind followers, that you say if people do good then we too will do good and if people do bad then we too join them in doing evil,  but be have strong principles that if people do good you too do good but when people do bad you refrain from doing bad”

May Allah help us to train ourselves, our families and children to do good and be of strong principles.

May Allah help us to follow His teachings and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Brothers and sisters,

أللهم إجعلنا ممن يستمعون القول فيتبعون أحسـنه

عباد الله,

إن الله العظيم الجليل امركم بامر كريم, بدأ به نفسـه و ثنى بملائكته المسبحة بقدسه و ثلث بكم من إنسه و جنه, فقال و لم يزل قائلا حكيما, تنبيها لنا و تعليما:

"إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا"

لبيك اللهم صلي و سلم و بارك على سيدنا محمد و على آله و صحبه و من إهـتدى بهديه و أقتدى بسنته إلى يوم الدين.