الحمد لله رب العالمين.  الحمد لله الدي انعم علينا فارسل إلينا خير الانبياء و سيد الرسل سيدنا محمد (صلى الله عليه و سلم)  أعظم نعمة و أكمل كرامة.  اللهم صلي و سلم و بارك على سيدنا و حبيبنا محمد و على اله و صحبه أفضل الصلاة و اتم السلام.

 

اما بعد: فاوصيكم عباد الله بتقوى الله و طاعته.  فقد فاز المتقون.

 

My dearest brothers and sisters,

 

While we remember the birth of our greatest Prophet Muhammad (saws) in these days, we pause to think of our state.  It is truly strange the things that we are faced with these days.  And many of us would remember this conversation which occurred between our greatest Prophet Muhammad (saws) and his companions when he said:

 

"تكاد ان تتداعى عليكم الامم كما تتداعى الاكلة الى قصعتها.  قالوا : أو من قلة نحن يومئد, يا رسول الله.  قال: لا, بل انتم كثير ولكنكم غثاء كغثاء السيل.

“There will come a time in which nations will gather against you, in the same manner in which hungry people gather on their food.”  The companions inquired: “Is it because we are few on that day?”  Prophet Muhammad (saws) replied: “No! In fact you will be many.  But you will have no weight, just like the scum which gets carried on the surface of flood water.”

 

And most of us will stop at this and would say how accurate is this description when applied to the current state of Muslims?!  But what we tend to forget is that this hadith has a continuation.  That the hadith in this format is incomplete.

 

Yes, it is true and accurate.  Yes, it is a great prophecy of our greatest Prophet Muhammad (saws).  But what is missing, is yet more important.  What is missing is the reason for our weightlessness and what is the cure for it. 

 

Prophet Muhammad (saws) explained the reason when he said:

يزرع في قلوبكم الوهن

“Wahan will grow in your hearts!”

 

Obviously!  People wanted to know what is ‘wahan’ so they asked?

و ما الوهن, يا رسول الله

“What is wahan? O Prophet of Allah!”

Prophet Muhammad (saws) replied:

حب الدنيا و كراهية الاخرة

 “The love of this world and the hearted of the hereafter”.   Then Prophet Muhammad (saws) further explained what happens when ‘wahan’ becomes a character of the ummah.

و لينزعن ا لله هيبتكم من قلوب اعدائكم

“And Allah shall remove your respect from the hearts of your enemies”

 

The love of this world! That is the first symptom of the disease.  When, a person loves this world more than anything else, to the point that he or she would sell himself for worldly gain; small or large.  That he or she would not care if his actions hurt other Muslims or even hurt a whole community.  That is my beloved brothers and sisters when the second symptom appears; when the Satan adorns for them their views and creates for them justification of why they should not care about hurting other Muslims. As a result they become strongly opinionated and see that they are right and all others are wrong.  They cannot see the wrong they are doing because the Satan had blinded their eyes, sealed their ears and cast a shadow over their hearts and minds. 

 

لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ لاَّ يَفْقَهُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ لاَّ يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ آذَانٌ لاَّ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا

“They Have hearts with which they fail to grasp the truth, and eyes with which they fail to see, and ears with which they fail to hear.”

 

Then what happens, my dearest brothers and sisters?  Envy and hatred spread and burn whatever is left of good.

This is what Prophet Muhammad (saws) warned us from when he said:

 

كيف انتم و يغدى على احدكم بقصعة و يراح عليه باخرى؟  قالوا: و يكون دالك يا رسول الله؟!  قال:  نعم.  فقال احدهم: او نحن اليوم خير أم غدا خير.  فقال النبي (ص):  بل انتم اليوم خير.  اليوم انتم متحابون و غدا متباغضون.  اليوم انتم مجتمعون و غدا متفرقون.

 

“How will you be when one of you will have a large plate of food brought to him in the morning and another brought for him at noon?  The companions said: “Will that happen!  O Prophet of Allah?  Prophet Muhammad (saws) replied: “Yes!”  But one of the companions had a concern, so he asked: “ Will we better then or are we now better?”  Prophet Muhamamd (saws) answered: “You are now better.  Now, you love each other and then you have hatred to each other.  Now, you are united and then you will be divided.”

 

My dearest brothers and sisters, Prophet Muhammad (saws) would never tell us negative news without letting us know what the reason is and how to treat it.  So, what is the solution to what we are in now?  The solution is simple my dearest brothers and sisters and it lies in what Prophet Muhammad (saws) taught when he (saws) said:

 

لا تجسسوا و لا تحسسوا و لاتناجشوا و لا تدابروا و لا تباغضوا و كونوا عباد الله اخوانا.  المسلم اخو المسلم لايظلمه و لا يسلمه.  كل المسلم على المسلم حرام:  دمه و ماله و عرضه.  بحسب امراء من الشر ان يحقر اخاه المسلم

 

“Do not eavesdrop on each others, do not spy on each others, do not argue with each other, do not harbour hatred against each other, do not quarrel with each other and do not fight against each others.  But be, servants of Allah, Brothers.  A Muslim is a brother of a Muslim.  He does not transgress against his rights, he does not degrade him and he does not let him down.  The rights of a Muslim are forbidden for other Muslims; his blood, his property and his honour.  It is a great sin that a Muslim should look down upon his Muslim brother.”

 

Our greatest Prophet Muhammad (saws) very carefully presented to us the solution, starting with stopping the problem before it starts and then going through the stages which the disease escalate through until it reaches the most serious stage when a Muslim does not feel for other Muslims.  Then, Prophet Muhammad (saws) makes it clear what is right and what is wrong when it comes to relations in a Muslim community.  Prophet Muhammad (saws) explains:

لن تدخلوا الجنة حتى تومنوا و لن تومنوا حتى تحابوا.  الا ادلكم على عمل ادا انتم عملتموه تحاببتم: افشوا السلام بينكم

“You will not enter Jannah until you attain Iman but you will not attain Iman until you love each other.  Shall I tell you about a deed which if you adhere to, love will spread among you?  Spread ‘salam’ amongst you.”

 

My dearest brothers and sisters, there is nothing that I can think of that would be more powerful or effective in changing our state than true love to Allah and true love of Prophet Muhammad (saws) and a true following of the Quran, the Sunnah, the rightly guided khalifah’s and Awlia of Allah.

الحمد لله حمدا كثيراطيبا مباركا كما امر.  و الصلاة و السلام على سيدنا محمد و على اله و صحبه و من سار على نهجه

 

My dearest brothers and sisters;

 

We have seen that the essence of all diseases in our ummah is the extreme devotion to this worldly life and we have seen what our greatest Prophet Muhammad (saws) had prescribed the medicine which cures our hearts.  We ask Allah (swt) to grant us the humility through which we can see our mistakes and grant us the courage to admit them and help us to fix them.

 

And I would like to conclude with this beautiful story about a bedwain companion of Prophet Muhammad (saws).  His name is Zayed Al Khair.

قدم على النبي (ص) رجل أعرابي زيد الخيل.  فوافى النبي (ص) و هو يخطب.   فساله النبي (ص) عن امره.  فقال:يا رسول الله, امضيت رحلي و أضمأت نهاري و اسهرت ليلي مخافة ان تموت يا رسول الله و لا اراك.  و عندي سوال احب ان اسألك اياه.  فقال له النبي (ص): سل.  فقال: ما علامة من اراد الله و ما علامة غير دلك.  فقال له النبي (ص): كيف اصبحت يا زيد؟  فقال زيد: أصبحت أحب الخير و اهل الخير و اسعى الى الخير و افرح لما اصابني من الخير و احزن على ما فاتني من الخير.  فقال له النبي (ص): هده علامة من اراد الله و لو اراد بك غير دلك ليسره اليك.

 

 “Zayed Al Khail heard of Prophet Muhammad (saws) and he wanted to meet him.  When he arrived in Madinah Prophet Muhammad (saws) was giving a khutbah.  When Prophet Muhammad (saws) saw him; he asked him: what is the matter?  He said: “O Prophet of Allah!  I have exhausted my camel.  I walked all through the day without stopping even for a drink and all night with little sleep.   Zayed then explained his action: “For the fear that you might die before I see you.”  Then he said: “And I have a question which I would like to ask you?”  Prophet Muhammad (saws) said: “Ask!”  Zayed asked: “What is the sign for those whom Allah has chosen and the sign for those whom Allah left astray.”  Prophet Muhammad (saws) answered with a question: “How did you find yourself this morning?”  Zayed answered: “I woke up to find myself on a state in which I love good, and love the people who do good and that I feel happy for doing good and feel sad when I miss on doing good.”  Prophet Muhammad (saws) said: “That is the sign of one whom Allah has chosen.  And if Allah wanted other than that for you, He would have caused to act accordingly.”

 

We ask Allah (swt) to make us among those whom he had chosen.

 

اللهم انا نسألك حبك وحب نبيك محمد (ص) و حب من يحبك و حب كل عمل يقربنا الى حبك

 

O Allah! We ask you; your love.  The love of your Prophet Muhammad (saws).  The love of those whom you love and the love of every action or deed that bring us closer to you love.