Friday Khutbah 5/22/09: Shaytan Is An Open Enemy to Mankind

Today's Khutbah at the 96th street masjid was delivered by a guest Shaykh. The shaykh delivered a powerful khutbah on shaytan and his only goal to destroy all of mankind by taking them away from their fitra of obeying their Creator. He warned us of the dangers of shaytan and how skilled he is and how he has improved his techniques over the years sins he had never taken one day off, no vacation, from working at leading mankind astray. Shaytan doesn't use only one tool and technique to get you to disobey Allah, and if that doesn't work then he stops trying to corrupt you. Rather, shaytan will use technique A, then B, then C, and if all those fail he will continue on and on until he gets what he strives for. --->That is why the best of believers had the worst of hardships because shaytan works harder and even harder to bring someone who is so high in eman, all the way down in sins. For shaytan this is a great success to bring someone so strong in eman to crumble down and drown in sins.<--- Allah has stated that Shaytan is an open, mutual, enemy. The shaykh told us to imagine an enemy we have, and how we would treat him. Then he told us shaytan is a mutual enemy between us and Allah. We must treat shaytan as he is, the worst enemy to us, ever. Shaytan will lead the people astray and on the Day of Judgment he will stand infront of the people he had corrupted and tell them that Allah had made a promise and He kept it, and he(shaytan) had made a promise yet he lied and deceived the people. He will claim that he has nothing to do with the people he lead astray. He had no control over them, he only whispered to them, enticing them on their desires. -->Shaytan is nothing but a trickster. He promises you so much, he entices you and leads you to commit sinful actions to gain some temporary pleasures, yet at the end he will leave you and have nothing to do with you and leave you to be judged by Allah and to be punished for the sins that you committed. So shaytan will play with your head until he is successful and causes you to commit sins then he will leave you when its time for you to face your actions. Verily shaytan is the worst of the worst enemy to us all. Here is an interesting dialogue the shaykh quoted, I believe it is a hadith from the prophet (pbuh), but I am not positive, I will paraphrase the dialogue.<-- A young man came to the prophet and asked him to encourage him to stop committing sin. So the prophet told the young man to go commit the sin somewhere that doesn't belong to Allah. The man said that is impossible, everything belongs to Allah. So the prophet said how can you commit a sin somewhere that belongs to Allah. Then the man asked the prophet to remind him more. The prophet then continued to tell the man go and commit sin where Allah cannot hear you. The man said that is impossible, Allah hears everything. So the prophet said how can you commit a sin and disobey Allah knowing that Allah can hear you anywhere. The man began to cry and asked the prophet to continue. So the prophet continued and said go commit a sin and disobey Allah somewhere Allah cannot see you. The man said that is impossible, Allah can see everything. The prophet responded how can you commit a sin somewhere knowing that Allah sees you. The crying man pleaded the prophet to continue. The prophet then said when the angel of death comes to take your soul tell him to go away. The man said that is impossible, I cannot stop the angel of death from taking my soul at the appointed time. Then the prophet continued when you are in your grave and the angel of the grave comes to punish you for your sins tell him to go away. The man said that is impossible, I cannot tell the angel of the grave to go away. The prophet continued to tell the man on the Day of Judgment when Allah is going to judge you according to your actions in the dunya tell Allah to not judge your actions. The man said that is impossible, I cannot tell Allah not to judge me on the Day of Judgment. The prophet continued and said then when the angels take you to the hellfire for your sins tell the angels to go away. The man said that is impossible, I cannot tell the angels to not take me to the hellfire if that is Allah's decision. Then the prophet strongly warned the crying young man to remember this conversation before he feels he wants to commit a sin and that shaytan is an open enemy to mankind and he wants nothing else but the destruction of mankind.
-->I believe the above dialogue is very vital to remind everyone including myself that committing a sin is a serious transgression against Allah. This dunya and everything it contains belongs to Allah so how can we carelessly commit sins in what has been created by Allah and belongs to Him. How can we carelessly commit sins while our Creator hears and sees us? How can we carelessly commit sins when the angel of death and the angel of the grave will come to us by the order of Allah and we will have no power nor strength to turn them around? How can we carelessly commit sins when we will have to stand and face Allah in our naked states and He will judge us according to all the deeds we had committed, good and sinful, and we will have no power nor strength nor voice to tell Allah not to judge us on the longest day ever, when all the people of all history will stand and wait and be judged by Allah? How can we carelessly commit sins when if Allah has decided to send us to the hellfire for our sinful actions and we will have no strength nor power to stop the angels from dragging us to the hellfire after they have received the decision by our Lord? Brothers and Sisters of Islam this is a strong warning!! Remember who we are, remember who Allah is, remember that we have no power against Allah. We can never overpower Him. We must not be disobedient to Allah and think we are higher than His Law. We are His creation and we were created for one purpose and that purpose is solely for the worship of Allah. We were not created in this world to roam it freely and act out on any instincts we have. We were not created to do what ever we please. No, we were created to do what pleases Allah. And what pleases Allah is that we worship only Him and no other. When we commit sins we disobey Allah and His Laws, we listen to shaytan, and displease Allah. Why do we want to put ourselves in this state? Why, When Allah has told us how beautiful the mo'mineen are and how much He loves them? Oh Brothers and Sisters of Islam don't disobey Allah and commit sins just for some temporary pleasures. Obey Allah, worship only Him, obey Him and His prophet (pbuh), do as they have told us to do. For when we do this for sure we will enjoy the ultimate, eternal pleasures, we shall enjoy the pleasures of Jannat alFirdous. That is the best pleasure anyone can have, better than any temporary pleasure we will gain at the expense of committing a sin here in this world. Let's all take this advice to heart next time we feel the urge to commit a sin, and strengthen ourselves so that we shall not be of the losers; rather, we will shall be of the winners inshallah. May Allah have forgive and have mercy on all of us and protect us from Shaytan, the outcast. May Allah guide us to the straight path and to success in this dunya and in the hereafter. Amen.

Shukr and Sabr

http://www.ummah.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-4386.html

"Strange is the affair of the Mu'min (the believer), verily all his affairs are good for him. If something pleasing befalls him he thanks (Allah) and it becomes better for him. And if something harmful befalls him he is patient (Saabir) and it becomes better for him. And this is only for the Mu'mmin " (Muslim)

Ibn Al-Jowzee said,

"If this Dunya was not a station of tests it would not be filled with sicknesses and filth. If life were not about hardship, then the Prophets and the pious would have lived the most comfortable of lives. Nay, Adam suffered test after test until he left the Dunya. Nuh cried for 300 years. Ibrahim was thrown into a pit of fire and later told to slaughter his son. Ya'qub cried until he became blind. Musa challenged Fir'own and was tested by his people. Eeasa had no provision except the morsels his disciples provided him with. And Muhammad (Sal Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam) met poverty with patience, his uncle - one of the most beloved relatives to him - was slain and mutilated and his people disbelieved in him ... and the list of Prophets and the pious goes on and on."

What happens to us happens by the will of Allah. It is an article of our Eeman in Qada' and Qadr that we are pleased with Allah's choice, Good or seemingly bad it is all the test of this Dunya. How could we imagine that we shall not be tested when those who were better than us suffered what they suffered. They however came away with the pleasure of Allah, Subhaanahu wa Ta'Aala.

Ways to Paradise

Here is a beautiful speech by Imam Siraj Wahhaj given in the UK. This speech really makes you think about your current situation and if you are actually doing enough for yourself to get into Jannah. This will definitely open your heart towards returning to Allah.

Shakyh Alpha in need

The Shaykh needs help! I need a job. I'm looking for a job at an Islamic organization/institute. I want to be apart of the new wave of promoting and spreading Islam to the West. I want to be with the movement to revitalize the Muslim youth living in the West to become reislamisized. I feel that over the next couple of years Islam and Muslims will gain significant grounds here in the West, therefore I feel it is my duty to help reguide the youth (and the young at heart) to the true message of Islam that our Prophet (peace be upon him) preached at the dawn of Islam. So if anyone has any connections that could allow me to get such a position I would gladly send that person more information about myself. Thanks all and please include me in your du'a to ask Allah to give me the tools to help Muslims in the West (and everywhere).

Jumma Khutbah May 1st

This week's jumma khutbah (friday sermon) was delivered by Shaykh Sa'ad at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York located at 96th st and 3rd Ave. Here are some points from his khutbah. Lessons from the stories of Prophet Musa. 1) Our Lord, Allah, is only one. We must worship Him alone. 2) Establish salat to remember Him. No religion is without salat; they work hand in hand. 3) The Day of Judgement is very near. Allah has kept it almost hidden, therefore prepreation must be made. The one who doesn't prepare for it will enter the Hellfire. A da'i must have an open/wide heart and a clear tongue. When truthood and falsehood confront eachother face to face, truthood always wins because it is from Allah. Allah does what He wants, He will always allow truthood to overcome falsehood.

Deadliest Warrior

So it seems that in a one v. one battle between a pirate and a knight, the pirate would win. I had predicted the other way. I thought that the knight's armor and trained fighting skills would allow him to beat the pirate. However, the pirate won in large part because of two weapons he had: the grenada(a primitive grenade) and a blunderbuss(a primitive shotgun). I felt that the knight's armor would be able to protect himself from these two weapons. Although this did happen, these two pirate weapons were able to severely hurt and weaken the knight causing him to respond and fight slower. This allowed the pirate to take advantage of the slow moving knight, who while injured is slowed down even more due to his heavy armor, and go in for the final kill. Next week Yakuza vs the Mafia. This shall be an interesting match up. I'm predicting the Yakuza will win, due to their ruthless stlye of taking out their opponents, but we will just have to wait and see what is in store from both sides.

Knowing God: Reason, Revelation, and Intuition - Yasir Qadhi

Here is a recent lecture by a shaykh I greatly respect, Shaykh Yasir Qadhi. He delivered this speech, Knowing God: Reason, Revelation, and Intuition, at the School of Oriental and African Studies at University of London.