06/23/2000
IWDM Study Library 
Jumuah Norfolk VA

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
We praise G-d, we worship him only. We associate nothing in worship with him. We witnessed that Muhammad, to whom the Quran was revealed about 14 centuries ago, as the prophet and messenger of G-d mentioned in the Quran. He's also mentioned as the prophet that is given in the Bible as the prophet who would come breaking all the bonds of slavery, taking the heavy yolks off the people that had weighed them down. We witnessed that he is the messenger of G-d and G-d's servant. Prayers and the peace be upon him. And what follows of that salutation.
We are very pleased to be with you in this lovely city in Norfolk, Virginia and to see the work of Imam Fareed and those who are helping him of this community. We pray Allah be with you always and your good endeavors and help you to have all of the support that you need to accomplish what you want to accomplish for the Muslim community in this beautiful city of Norfolk and for your neighbors.
Jumuah prayer is the most important prayer for Muslims and the day of Friday. Jumuah is the most important day in the calendar year according to the teachings of Muhammad, the messenger of G-d. He said of this day, he said it is the day that Adam was created and no one dies or is resurrected except on this day. Now we know people die on all the days of the year, but this kind of death is not what this saying is referring to. It's not the flesh death. It's not referring to that. Not your blood, not your body that you're carrying around, it's not referring to that. Yes. And then again, it is because once the spirit dies in the body is virtually dead also. You are dead. If you are dead in spirit, or if you have no living spirit, you are dead.
So, we come to Jumuah prayer and we separate from other matters. Given this particular prayer priority on this day, G-d says in the Quran, when the prayer to the Jumuah worship, the worship on the day of Jumuah is made, leave off business. And hurry “fas’ow” means hurry to the Jumuah prayer. Our whole life is a life in worship of G-d. Though we have five daily prayers and we have this special congregational prayer on Jumuah day, Friday, we know that our whole life, the whole life is a life of worship. And in Islam, worship is obedience to G-d. That's what worship is. Worship is obedience to G-d. It comes from the word ibadah, which means to obey, to give service, to obey. The servant of G-d is called abd. Abd, he's the servant of G-d.
And we all are called abd. The plural of abd is an ebaad, ebaad. And we all are called by G-d, ebaad Allah, the servant of G-d. And our worship, I repeat, is service to G-d. 
Ya’buda Allah, the worship of G-d, a’bud Allah, I worship G-d, ta’bud Allah, you worship G-d from the same word ibadah, which means service or worship to give service or worship.
The best of worship then is obedience. Perfect obedience to G-d, which comes because of taqwa. Taqwa, another Islamic term or Arabic term, you may say, but Arabs didn't have these terms before Islam.
Another Islamic term, taqwa, meaning a certain attitude, disposition, and attitude of mind and heart and soul. It's a consciousness that includes everything in your life, not just your mind, but your emotions, your spirits, your soul, everything is agreeing in obedience to G-d. Agreeing in obedience to G-d. That you obey G-d. They are agreeing with your obedience to G-d. Everything. All things in you agreeing with your obedience to G-d. This is complete faith and complete obedience to G-d. And this is what Islam asks of us that we give G-d our whole life.
And Abraham is a model for us and all people, all nations. G-d made him a model for all people. And Allah says of Abraham, peace be upon the prophet Abraham in the Quran, that he gave himself completely to G-d. He gave his whole self to G-d. Not part of it, not his spirit, and his mind was somewhere else, but he gave himself completely. His whole self to G-d. And this is what is required in Islam and the condition that's in us for that is called Taqwa. Taqwa. And G-d says ittaqullah and have this consciousness for G-d. Ittaqullah and have this consciousness, taqwa, for G-d.
And everything is for G-d. Our religion is for G-d. And Allah says, G-d says that is in our holy book, and fight them to Muhammad who didn't want to fight. He was a man of peace. He was a man of life. He didn't love to see anybody lose their life or to have a miserable life. But he was attacked. He was attacked. He was persecuted. His life was sought. They sought to kill him. It killed many of his followers. The idol worshipers, the pagans, the heathens of that time, who worshiped the idol G-ds. It is recorded that they worshiped about 369 different G-ds. Household G-ds, all kind of G-ds, farm G-ds, agricultural G-ds, household G-ds, political G-ds, all kinds of G-ds, spiritual G-ds, many G-ds. They saw the G-d's, many. And Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, saw G-d as one. That G-d is one.
Yes. So, we have to understand that when we give our whole life to G-d, we then have G-d's protection, G-d as our patron friend, G-d in our life all the time, and his angels will be working for you all the time. Most of us can't come to that position where we say, yes, G-d, I want you to be the authority in my whole life. I want to make my whole life conform to your will and your plan for me for human life on this earth. Most of us can't come to that position. We'll have some little part that we want to keep outside of that. Some little area of our life that we want to keep outside of that. Well, G-d loves you for giving 60%. He's not going to abandon you if you give 60%, but if you give a 100%, you'll have G-d and his angels with you all the time.
Now, Islam is also a call to life. A call to the life, the life that G-d created us for. What kind of life he created us for? A life of peace. A life of peace where we will not be in misery and not be worrying and troubled, but will be in a good condition and in a good state of mind all the time. That's what G-d wants for us. We know he promises us that in the hereafter, when he finishes this world as we know it and creates another world, a new paradise again for us.
After creating man and putting him in the paradise, G-d promises that he will give us this freedom to live our lives as we choose and he will reward those who did the good job with their lives. And he will leave to Hell, those who did the bad job with their lives. So, we know that. And in that Heaven that is promised to us, and G-d keeps his promises, and that heaven that's promised to us, we won't have anything to disturb our peace. We'll have peace, perfect peace. And that peace will reign forever. Eternal. Eternal peace. Eternal peace.
But on this earth, we have to work, to increase the reign of peace, and also prosperity, growth. G-d says to the prophet, says, surely, we have given you abundance. Inna 'atainakal Kauthur, surely we have given you abundance. The prophet received abundance. Abundance of spiritual, spiritual gifts. Abundance of knowledge. Abundance of wealth, money.
But how did he live? He lived the life of moderation. He did not go to any extremes. He was not like the intellectual arrogance that arrogant people who stand tall over you because they have more knowledge than you. They have high degrees, high knowledge, high degrees. No, he was not arrogant in any sense. He was not proud as a prophet, the messenger of G-d, the highest office for any creature on this earth and creation, but it didn't make him arrogant. He still walked meekly in the earth, as the scripture says of the righteous. He walked meekly on the earth, a humble man, and kept the same relationship that he had with his family members and with his friends and with people. He did not change the way he walked with among people. He still walked as a humble man and ready to greet them with a friendly greeting and to even assist them if he saw them in need or in trouble with their lives.
This is Muhammad the prophet, the prophet of the Quran, the last prophet, the seal of the prophets. And this is the servant of G-d, the messenger of G-d, Muhammad. So let us be like him. And G-d says of him, and you are a mercy to all the world of Muhammad. G-d says he's a mercy to all the worlds. Well, then that means that his followers, if they want to be true followers, they have to also want mercy for all the worlds.
And G-d is the most forgiving G-d, most forgiving G-d. And over and over in the Quran, He says that, “surely, He is ready to forgive and show mercy. He's a merciful and forgiving G-d. And Muhammad said of him in the saying, peace be upon the prophet Muhammad. He said, if someone would come to G-d with his sins and every time he sins, he's aware that he has done wrong and he turns to G-d. And if he would come to G-d with sin, as big as the whole world, now that's a big sin, G-d has the capacity to forgive him. G-d's mercy. G-d's forgiveness is big to forgive him for a sin, even though that sin be as big as the whole world.
So let us live with awareness of that and never make ourselves the judge to execute ourselves upon what we think is the facts in our particular situation or the issue. No, don't judge yourself. Allah is our judge. Don't ever try to judge yourself or, "I'm a bad fellow." Never say that. No matter how bad a fellow you are always say, "G-d made me a good fellow and I'm going to be a better fellow." That's the attitude to have. Never put yourself in hell fire. The world is enough fire.
Yes. So, Islam is a call to life. The word of G-d is life. When you say, "hayya alas salah", it means come to prayer. Salah is the Quran. You're going to hear Jumuah prayer salah in a few minutes. And then the prayer is all taken from the Quran. I can't add anything to it. I can't take anything away from it. I have to give the Quran, the word of G-d, in prayer and nothing else. So, when we hear the words, "hayya alas salah", come to prayer, understand that it is saying, "come to the Quran", "come to the word of G-d", "come to the Quran". And it says, "hayya alal falah", come to success is translated. The word of G-d then, is also success for us.
It guarantees us a successful life. And the word falah comes from a word Falaha, which means to really literally it means to dig up the land, tend to the soil, plant something in it and grow something to support your life. That's really what it means literally. But the word has come to mean in time, it came to mean develop, cultivate. Develop, cultivate. So, G-d is telling us to come to worship and also come to cultivation. Come to cultivation, come to get your life developed so that you will have even a bigger and a better life and be responsible for your environment. So, your environment will be better and more beautiful.
So, this is a call. It's a call to the Quran. It's also a call to obey and follow the leader G-d chose for us, his messenger, Muhammad. Prayer and peace be upon him, salla llahu alayhi wa salaam. It's a call to accept him as our leader and follow him, knowing that he was appointed by G-d and not by man. He was appointed by G-d to be our leader. And Muhammad's way is life. He followed the word of G-d so strictly that his wife, Aisha, may G-d be pleased with her, she said of him, "he is as the word of G-d walking amongst you".
So, he is also the life. He's a life model of how G-d wants every human being to respect the authority, divine authority, G-d's authority, and live a life of worship and obedience to that G-d. So, we pray, prayers and peace be upon him, the model human person for anyone, as G-d says, who believes in G-d and the last day who have faith. The Quran invites all people to share and the responsibility for cultivating their environment, their own life, their own souls and environment. I keep referring back to the human person and to the environment because really when G-d calls us to success and development, he is calling us to success in development of the spiritual life and also the material environment. Both. We're responsible to cultivate our souls. G-d says, and spend on your own soul, spend for the beauty and growth of your own soul, that you become a more mature person, to respect important matters more, your parents, your community, your responsibility as a single person and as a married person. G-d wants us to grow in maturity.
Yes, and also, we have to understand that this cultivation means responsibility for material things. We can't leave it to others to manage our environment and provide material structures for us in our neighborhood and be the ones to maintain those structures and to keep our wealth, the wealth of that neighborhood. We have to accept. The residents of the neighborhood, if you are conscious believers in G-d, you have to accept responsibility for that. And that's what G-d wants. And G-d says the whole earth is his masjid. Isn't that wonderful? The whole earth is his mosque. So let us conclude with that and bend our minds and have more courage to take on bigger and more important responsibilities so that we will become a better and more valuable servants of G-d as G-d calls us. Yaa-ibadallah. Oh, servants of G-d. And G-d says, [...] be of people standing firmly for justice, as witnesses for G-d.
Allah will not accept that you say, "Well, I was in that community, but I couldn't help them. They didn't appreciate anything of any [...]They didn't appreciate good advice. Couldn't help." Allah says, "If you are persecuted, then you know my earth is spacious." If you can't help our community in a given place, or a given situation, go somewhere where you can help. Muhammad couldn't help humanity in Mecca, but he had a place to go, Medina. And because of that, we have this great society, the international Ummah of Islam. Thank you very much. As-Salamu Alaykum.



