09/16/1997
IWDM Study Library
Jumu'ah Khutbah

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Al?amdulill?hir Rabbil Aalameen. The praise is for G-d, the Lord, the cherisher and sustainer of the world. He cares about all of us, He cares about all of His creation and all of His human beings, His dependents. We witness that He is one. We witness that He is one and there is none with Him as a partner, helping Him. We witness that Muhammad. We witness that Muhammad, the messenger of G-d, prayers and peace be upon him and what follows of that salutations or salute to the last prophet, the seal of the prophet mission in the Torah and in the Injeel.
As one coming to relieve the misery on the people, to break the bond of slavery. And in the words of the Quran, the words of G-d in the Quran, to take from their back, their heavy yoke, which oppress them or weighs them down. This is the promise of a liberator. And his method of liberating, we know is a method of peace, invitation, to faith in G-d and a life of peace. Peace with your creator and peace with your fellow man and peace with one's self. This is Al-Islam, the religion of peace.
In the Quran, it is revealed that the people of faith and they witnessed Muhammad inviting to the way of G-d, they said, they replied, they responded and say, "We have heard our caller, calling to faith saying, "Believe in your Lord," and we have responded, we have believed." Muhammad the prophet is a caller to faith. Muhammad the prophet is the leader who has the leadership over the whole community of Muslims internationally. He is the leader. G-d chose him to be His servant and His messenger, a mercy to all the worlds, a benefit that is, in the life of all people.
But he is to be seen by us as a leader of the international community of Muslims. The leader. The leader leads the community. Muhammad was a friend of individuals. He comfort individuals in his own family and in his own household, those of his friends and his acquaintance and even strangers. He would comfort them. He would give them the best advice, as a servant of G-d. But he is to be seen more importantly as a leader of the whole community of Muslims. We make up in our numbers and in our locations or geography, we make up a world all to ourselves.
That's why the language is given, the Islamic world. There is a Christian world and there is an Islamic world. There are other worlds. Muhammad is the leader of a new world. We should see this leader and why G-d has selected him to be our leader. G-d says of Muhammad, peace be upon him, that he should say to the people, "I have already lived a lifetime among you." Meaning before G-d called him to be prophet and messenger, they already knew him. He had lived forty years among the people and they knew him to be Al-Amin, the honest, the trustworthy person.
They knew him to be as-sadiq, the truthful person. The person who speaks the truth, never lies. They knew him to be that. They knew him to be in childhood, a beloved child, an admired child and the most respected tribe of the Arab before Al-Islam and after, the tribe of Quraysh. They knew him as a family man to be honorable, truthful, speaking always the truth. Trustworthy, never betraying the trust. They knew his morals to be of the best. As one writer in a book that he has written on Muhammad recently, he says, “that Muhammad was one of those people who were called, the Hunafa people.”
They didn't behave in an ignorant fashion. They were of high moral standards. They were excellent human character. They were upright in the excellent mold of humanity, or human nature that G-d wants for all of us. It was Muhammad, one of the most excellent of them. The most excellent of the Hunafa. The Haneef people. He was the most excellent of them. And G-d selected him to be what a model human person, to be put in focus for all of us to see what Allah wants us, what G-d want us to strive for in our own behavior, in our attitude, in our own human makeup. Allah gave him as a model to us, "This is what I want you to strive for."
This excellent Uswah of Muhammad. You will find in him the most excellent model for any person. Didn't say for Arab, didn't say for Muslims. For any person who believes in G-d and the last day. Any people of true faith, of real faith, because, you can't just believe in G-d and not believe you're accountable to G-d. That's not the faith. You have to believe in G-d and believe you're accountable to G-d. This is how the people are described, that will appreciate Muhammad.
They believe in G-d and they believe in the last day. That is to say, they believe in G-d, the creator of the heavens and the earth and man and all things. And they also believe that they are accountable to that G-d. That one day, though they die and leave this earth and put in the grave and gone, one day, they will have to answer before that G-d. For any people like that, he is the most excellent model for them. So, G-d has created us on this earth, human beings, to worship Him. He says, “He did not create the human beings or the genes for that matter, except to worship Him.”
Not to worship yourselves, not to worship the gods you make with your imagination or with your hands, but to worship the real G-d. He created us to worship us to worship the real G-d. Worship the real G-d who is taken from a word in the Arabic language that means, slave “abd”. It comes from a noun means, slave. You're not really slave in the worldly sense when you give your whole self in obedience to G-d. You're a servant because slave carries bad meaning. The slave of a slave master is really a despicable creature if he accepts slavery, he's a despicable creature. He is to be despised if he loves his slavery to his worldly master.
But the slave of G-d is the most dignified creature. So, we say servant, the proper word is servant, not slave in that old sense or in the worldly sense. But just as a slave is expected to give complete obedience to his master. He doesn't have the freedom to say, "Well, I don't want to sleep in this room, I'll sleep in the room upstairs." He doesn't have the freedom to say, "I don't like this kind of food you're feeding me. I want steak today." He doesn't have the freedom to say, "I'm going out and vote today. This is voting day. We're going to elect the mayor today, I have to go and vote."
He can't say that. He has no say so over his own self, over his own freedom, over his own time, over his own movements. All of it is in the hands of his master. Allah chose this word in revealing the Quran to Muhammad and to us. Allah chose these words so that we would fully understand that the obedience that you give to man is to be given to G-d. You don't give your whole life to anything, except G-d. This is the meaning of worship in Al-Islam. G-d has evolved the human model. He has evolved that model to show us more and more. The full model, the full picture in all of his features and in full dimension, show it to us, so we will aspire to be the greatest person possible while we live on this Earth.
And G-d has also evolved the community life. For the most evolved community life, we need the most evolved human person. Allah has given us the most evolved human person so that we will be successful following the road into the destination, where we would be the most evolved of all communities. G-d says, “You are best community, society, world society, international society, international community. You are the best community raised for the benefit, for the good of all people.” In conclusion for this particular thought, G-d has placed us on this Earth, to shoulder, to carry responsibility for community life.
We can't do it alone. Al-Islam is freedom and justice and equality before G-d. We can't do it alone. Muhammad, though he was the messenger of G-d. When he spoke, he spoke what G-d wanted us to hear. But he wouldn't let himself be seen as a dictator. He would invite his companions to have to say so in things. He would invite their opinion. Not a dictatorship, not a despotic rule. Freedom, justice, equality before G-d. This is Muhammad, the prophet. And then Muhammad the prophet wanted to make sure that when he's gone, all the Muslims of the community, especially the men who were out in the field, who were out in the public, who were really shaping the public life. Not the women, it's the men that have shaped the public life for all of us.
He put that responsibility on all of us. He passed a responsibility for the future of the Ummah, not to a certain leader, not even to Abubakar who may G-d be pleased with him, Raadi Allahu anhu. But to all the conscious Muslims, he passed on that responsibility. So, understand what we are all about and, let your responsibility begin right with your own souls. G-d says, “Oh Believers! Save your own souls and your family from the hell fire.” That responsibility begins with my own soul, with myself and extends to my family and to my brothers, my sisters, my neighbors and to the ummah, the world. Thank you very much.
We praise G-d. We say, Al-hamdu lillahi rabbil 'alamin. Praise and thanks is for G-d, the Lord, cherisher of all the world. We witnessed that He's one, we worship none but Him and we witnessed that Muhammad is a seal of the prophet mentioned in the Torah and in the Injeel, Allahu Akbar.
Audience: Allahu Akbar.
Bismillah rahman rahim, Al-hamdu lillah. Praise be to Allah, the merciful benefactor, the merciful redeemer. We seek Him for forgiveness, we seek Him for guidance, we put our trust in Him, our complete trust in Him and we do not depart from faith. We pray the prayers in the feast, upon the noblest and most excellent of all human creatures, the seal of the prophet, Muhammad. Sallahu alaihi wa sallam, wa bai’.
We are called as Muslims, to believe in the unseen. G-d describes the people of faith, the believers as those who believe in the unseen. They believe without evidence for their physical eyes. They believe without evidence for the eyes of their rational mind. They believe in that that exists, that is too big to be fully digested by human appetite. Whether it's the appetite of the body or the appetite of the internet or the appetite of the spirit. He's too big to be fully digested by human appetite. We believe in the unseen and we believe in what He has revealed to us and what He has created that is unseen.
The angels and G-d and His promises that we trust because He is the G-d, we trust His promises. They have not yet materialized. He says, He's going to give us life after we're dead. We believe in these things. The unseen. In the conclusion of this Khutbah, I want to leave you with this. It is only the unknown that can explain all of the known. Only the unknown can explain all of what's known or what is knowable. We will always be evolving. Thank you very much.
We praise G-d, we ask Him for guidance always. For mercy and for guidance always, that we remain steadfast in the faith. And that we love one another and practice loving one another and demonstrate our love for one another and learn to trust the believers. Trust the believers and be strengthened by joining your numbers, the believers. Joining hands together and joining efforts together. The believers. That's the answer, so that we can have a great future serving G-d on this world, in this life, on this Earth and after. Ameen

