What is Unity

Auto-generated transcript:

As-salamu alaykum.
My dear respected brothers, sisters, elders, what is unity?
I know all of us talk about it. I can probably say that almost every Muslim, if not every Muslim, if you ask him today anywhere in the world, what is the number one problem of this Ummah, he will say lack of unity.
Right? Everyone. Lack of unity. We should be united. What is unity?
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala described what is unity. In the Ayatul Karima which I just recited from Surah Al-Ali Muran, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala defined what is unity.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala told us how to get this unity, how to become united. Allah said,
Allah said,
Allah said,
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala told firmly to the rope of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala together and do not be divided, do not become divided.
Allah did not say,
Allah did not say do not disagree on any matter, you can have difference of opinion. Allah did not say this is haram.
Allah said,
Allah said,
On the basis of the difference of opinion, don’t say my brother is no longer my brother.
I will hate you, I will not pray behind you, I will form my own masjid, I will form my own group.
No, I can disagree with you. No problem. Any matter.
But you are still my brother.
I will still stand by you.
If you are attacked, I will still defend you even at the cost of my life.
I do not agree with you.
But I will not allow you to go down as long as I am standing.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala defined.
The definition of unity is,
No divisions.
Find for me one ayah, find for me one hadith,
where the definition of unity was to have Eid-ul-Fitr on the same day.
Find me one.
I will take this ammama of mine and put it at your feet.
You can play football with it.
Find me one thing,
that the whole Muslim community in the entire world must have Eid on one day,
and if they don’t have that, there is no unity.
Truly, we are the architects of our own demise.
We are the architects of our own problems.
We give ourselves an impossible definition,
and then we fight and we destroy what Allah told us to keep together.
We destroy the things that are not in our control.
Then we fight and we destroy what Allah told us to keep together.
We are forming divisions on the basis of our nafs.
We must have Eid on the same day, and because we cannot have Eid on the same day,
just read some geography for God’s sake.
Then I found divisions. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala prohibited.
La ta farraku.
Brothers and sisters, remind myself and you that we are Muslim.
What is a Muslim?
A Muslim is somebody who submits without question to the Amr of Allah,
to the Hukam and the command of Allah,
in the way of Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
This is the definition of a Muslim. Who is a Muslim? This person.
A Muslim is not somebody who was born in Pakistan or India or Saudi Arabia or Syria or somewhere.
A Muslim is not somebody who does that and the other ethnicity, nationality, name.
No. A Muslim is the one who submits to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala’s command without question.
Not blindly, without question because he knows who Allah is.
He has a ta’alluq with Allah.
Al alamatul muslima al azima.
Al alamatul azima alaka bayna Allah wa bayna abdullaha.
This is the great sign.
Alaka bayni wa bayna rabbi.
Bayna ka wa bayna rabbu ka.
The sign of a Muslim is the connection between him and his Rabb.
That is what Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said in the ayah which also here in the Qutba.
It is said today also.
Ya ayyuha allatheena amanu taqullaha wa qulu qawlan sadeeda.
All you who believe have taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and speak the truth.
And what will happen if you do that?
Yuslih lakum a’malakum wa yaghfir lakum dhulubakum.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will bless your deeds, will correct your deeds, will beautify your deeds,
will raise the darjaat and the honor of those deeds and He will forgive your sins.
Yaghfir lakum dhulubakum.
And then a conditional statement.
Wa main yut’i Allah wa rasoolahu faqad faza fawza nadima.
The one who obeys Allah and His Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
only that person, faqad faza fawza nadima, only that person will achieve ultimate success.
Nobody else.
This is the authority of the Sunnah.
The Sunnah is the field book, the road map to the book of Allah, the Quran.
The Quran commands the what?
The Sunnah shows the how.
Allah said, taqim is salaat al idhikri.
Establish salaat for my remembrance.
We say yes, we accept.
How?
What is the method?
What is the meaning of salaat?
Where do you find that?
In the Sunnah of the Habib alaihi salatu wassalam.
In the Sunnah of Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
if I want to know how should I pray?
He said, sallu kamar aaytumuni usalli abu kamar qal.
He said, pray as you have seen me pray.
Allah SWT said very clearly, only those who obey Allah and His Rasool alaihi salatu wassalam are successful.
And for those who obey and follow the Sunnah,
Allah SWT said, qul atiwul laaha wa atiwul rasoola
fa in tawallaw fa innama alaihi alaikum.
wa in tawallaw fa innama alaihi maa hummila wa alaikum maa hummiltum.
wa in tuti’u hu tahtadu.
wa maa ala al rasooli illa al balaagul mubeen.
Allah SWT said, say, ya Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, tell them,
obey Allah and obey the Messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
But if you turn away, then he, yani Rasool alaihi wa sallam,
is only responsible for his duty and his duty is to convey.
And you are responsible for your duty, we are responsible for our duty, which is to obey.
And if you obey him, you will be guided.
wa in tuti’u hu tahtadu.
Look at the grammar of this ayah, he refers to who?
To the Rasool alaihi wa sallam. Allah is saying, if you follow him, you will be guided.
And the Messenger’s duty is only to deliver the message clearly.
Allah SWT clearly stated the condition for guidance, which is obeying Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Obey Allah and His Messenger, and if you obey the Messenger alaihi wa sallam,
you will be guided.
Which automatically means any such conditional statement that the opposite is also true.
Meaning, if you obey him, you will be guided.
And therefore if you don’t obey him, what will happen?
You are misguided. Simple. You don’t have to say that. Automatic statement.
If you obey him, you will be guided. Means that if you do not obey him, you will not be guided.
You cannot have guidance to Allah SWT in any way other than the way of Muhammad Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
No matter how clever or how intelligent or how wise or how whatever the other way may seem to be,
if that is not the way of Muhammad Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, it cannot guide you and me to Jannah.
And that is the thing we need to decide. Do I want to go to Jannah?
If I want to go to Jannah, then we have the way. And that way is called the Sunnah of Rasool Rasool.
Allah SWT guarantees that whatever Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says is from him Jallah Jallalahu.
And that the one who obeys the messenger has obeyed Allah because the messenger only conveys what Allah commands him to convey.
Allah said in surat an-Najm,
Finally Allah SWT commanded us, blanket command, to take whatever Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam gives
and to leave whatever Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam commands us to leave.
Blanket statement, anything. Allah did not say take whatever He tells you to or do whatever He tells you to do with regard to your worship.
Allah did not say take whatever He tells you to or do whatever He tells you to do with regard to your worship.
Or with regard to how you run your masjid or how you run your house or how you…
Rest of it you can do your business, you can do your own way, no?
Whatever He tells you to do, do it. Whatever stops you from, stop from that.
What taqullah?
Inna allaha shadeedu liqaabin surat al-Hashr Allah said,
wa maa ataakum al rasoolu faquduhu, wa maa nahaaakum anhu fanthahu.
Again the grammar, maa ataakum, whatever He tells you.
maa nahaaakum, whatever He stops you from.
wa antaqullah, have fear of Allah, have taqwa of Allah.
Inna allaha shadeedu liqaabin surat al-Hashr Allah SWT is severe in punishment.
This is the most beautiful, most clear definition of followership that you can ever hope for.
Obey whatever He tells you to do.
Keet, clear.
And I say that, I mentioned this in the last khutba also.
Our biggest ailment, our biggest problem is not leadership.
It’s not lack of leadership.
It’s lack of followership.
We’ve got a serious followership problem.
We don’t trust our leaders.
And believe me, no leader can lead you if you don’t trust him.
Nobody.
Nobody.
And this is what fake news has done.
This is what social media has done to society.
It has destroyed credibility of everyone.
Today, children don’t believe their own parents.
Patients don’t believe doctors.
Let me get a second opinion.
Okay, so get a second opinion.
Then I think I’ll go and see a doctor on the moon.
And then of course, meanwhile there is Google and meanwhile there is AI, so this is constantly moving.
No trust. No faith.
Obviously, we don’t trust our political leaders with good reason.
Students don’t trust teachers.
You don’t trust your own religious leaders.
You ask an opinion.
No, no, but I asked the other sheikh.
Then if you ask the other sheikh, why did you come to me?
Go with the sheikh. MashaAllah, no problem. Alhamdulillah.
You came to me because what the other sheikh told you, you didn’t like.
So now you come to me hoping that I will say something you will like.
And since I say the same thing with the other sheikh, now you go to some other sheikh.
Until you find someone who tells you what you…
MashaAllah, MashaAllah, MashaAllah. Wallahi suwanam daya sheikh.
Please understand this.
This is what has happened to society.
Find me one role in which somebody trusts somebody else.
Husbands don’t trust wives. Wives don’t trust husbands.
There is a complete breakdown of trust in society.
And you know who that serves? Who benefits? The manipulators.
That is where manipulators can make you believe anything they want because you believe nothing.
Where you believe somebody or somebody… I don’t care what it is.
Believe me, if you are a committed atheist, as far as I am concerned, you are a man of integrity.
I don’t agree with you.
But you are a man of integrity because you are standing on something.
You are saying there is no God. You are completely wrong.
But you are standing on that. I have respect for you for your wrong opinion.
But you are a person of integrity because you stand on something.
Today we stand on nothing.
On nothing.
And that is the reason why anybody is like a sheep.
Anyone can put a rope around your neck and take you to his abattoir.
As far as you are concerned, the result is the same.
Sheikah.
Please don’t do this to yourself.
Alhamdulillah, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has given us a beautiful religion.
Ours is a divine faith. It comes from Allah.
And if it comes from Allah, by definition, there will always be, no matter how wise we think we have become,
no matter 20-25, no matter 30-25, no matter 5025,
there will always be something in the Kitab of Allah and in the Akhwal al-Kareemah of Muhammad s.a.w.
which you and I of that time and this time will not understand by definition.
That is the definition of a higher level of knowledge.
That people who do not have that higher level of knowledge will not understand that knowledge, that piece of information.
Trust means that you still believe, not because you understand what is being said,
but because you trust the one who is saying it.
Right?
I’ve got two of my dearest friends and brothers here, Dr. Hazarji and Dr. Kareem, both are neurologists.
I have various conversations with them in neurology.
They are both very kind. They explain things to me and they tell me.
But they know and I know that half of the stuff they explain to me goes overhead.
Because I am not a neurologist. My expertise is in something else.
So what do I do? No, no, no, sorry, excuse me, Dr. Kareem, I don’t believe you. Why? Because I don’t know.
He will tell me, please, first of all, don’t respect him. You’re coming and asking me.
You don’t believe me, then why did you come to me?
Second thing is, by all means, go, get a degree in neurology.
Then you will understand, but do that. No, no, no, I can’t do that. You know what?
Dr. Kareem, I watched this YouTube video that also on TikTok. So 30 seconds.
Inna lila hiwa inna lila hiwa.
The man will say, excuse me, please don’t insult me.
I spent all these years studying neurology. I’ve got all this practice.
Dr. Hazarji said, I have all this and you are telling me about TikTok?
Inna lila hiwa. You’re insulting me, man. Why are you insulting me? Please, what did I do to you?
Please, sister, this is a beautiful religion. This is minallahi ta’ala from Allah.
Through His Habib Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Respect it.
Stand firmly on it. Stick to that.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing everybody everywhere because they’ll take you to the…
I told you, the destination is the same thing, the avatar, the slaughterhouse.
No sheep ever dies a natural death. You know that, right?
Do you know any sheep that dies a natural death?
No. No chicken dies a natural death.
The ones who die natural deaths are golden eagles.
And lions.
Not chickens and sheep.
Decide who you are.
Allah did not make us chickens and sheep.
Allah gave us a beautiful religion. Let us stick to that. Let us stand firm.
Define unity the way Allah told us to define unity, which is don’t fight.
Do not fight. Don’t form divisions. That is unity.
Not having Eid on one day.
I say this, astaghfirullah lila lakum wa li sa’il muslimeen.
First of all, innahu huwa l-ghafuru r-raheem.
Alhamdulillah.
Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya’
Muhammad rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wasallam tasliman kathiran kathiran.
And what’s next?
My brothers and sisters, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said
Ya ayyuha allatheena amanu atiullaha wa atiur rasula wa awlillahi muliminkum
fa intana za’atum fee shayin farudduhu ila Allahi wa rasulihi
in kuntum tu’minun billahi wal yawmil akhiri
zadika khayrun wa ahsanu ta’awilah
Allah said, O Believers, obey Allah and obey the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And obey those who are in authority among you, obey your leaders.
Should you disagree on anything with you and your leaders,
then refer it back to Allah and His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Refer it back to the kitab and the sunnah.
If you truly believe in Allah and the last day,
conditional statement, if you believe, do this.
This is the best and fairest solution.
Let me give you some signs.
It’s a total fallacy because I’ve heard this again.
The problem is people don’t read history
and then they make these very authoritative statements.
Oh, you see, this is a modern, we are living in a modern world.
We now have modern methods of calculating the birth of the moon.
Let me tell you how modern that system is.
The first lunar calendars date back to the Paleolithic age.
The Paleolithic age is 32,000 BC, which is 34,000 years ago.
That is how modern astronomical calculation is.
So don’t fool yourself.
There’s nothing whatsoever modern about calculating the birth of the moon.
Human beings have done it from the beginning of time
because this is how they calculated seasons,
this is how they calculated their planting of crops and so on and harvesting.
This is what they used when they were sailing.
The Mayas, the Celts, the Incas, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks,
the Romans, the Chinese, the Hindus, they all have calendars which are thousands of years old.
Anyone who reads history knows very well that calculating the lunar cycle
and predicting the birth of the moon was well known long before,
thousands of years before Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Everyone knew that.
But think about this, yet, and I give you the hadith, I give you all the evidence you want.
He said, look for the moon, search for the moon, and that is an act of Ibadah.
It’s a means of earning reward from Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
First evidence of this from the Quran.
In Surah al-Baqarah, Allah said,
فَمَنْ شَهِدَ مِنْ كُمُ الشَّعْرَ فَلْيَصُونَ
Allah said, whoever among you sights the crescent, the moon of Ramadan,
he must fast for that month.
Allah used the word Shahidah, which means to see something with the eye, not to calculate.
It is the Sunnah of our Rasul allaihi wasallam, to see.
The Sunnah is seeing, not merely having knowledge of the moon’s existence above the horizon.
We need to realize that the month of Ramadan does not begin with the birth of the moon.
But according to the Sunnah of Rasul allaihi wasallam, it begins with the sighting of the moon.
It does not begin with the birth of the moon.
Don’t fall into this argument.
It begins with the sighting of the moon.
And Abdullah ibn Umar radiallahu anhu maqal,
anna rasulullahi sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sallam,
zakara ramadana,
faqala,
Now listen, Abdullah ibn Umar radiallahu anhu maqal narrated that Rasul allaihi wasallam spoke about Ramadan,
and then he said, faqala,
laa taasumu
Now, what does this mean?
Those of you who know Arabic,
if I say laa taaqul, what am I saying?
Don’t eat.
Right?
This is the command.
Do not eat.
laa taasumu
Do not fast.
hatta
until
yaraul hilal
until
tarawul hilal
until you have seen.
Until you have seen the moon.
laa taasumu
hatta
tarawul hilal
wa laa tuftiru
And do not make futur.
Do not break your fast.
Do not stop fasting.
hatta
tarawuhu
Until you see it.
In Arabic we say hu.
Until you see him.
Because the moon is
gender,
linguistic gender, masculine.
There is no it in Arabic.
hatta
tarawuhu
fa’in
hum
alaykum
What more clarity do you want?
fa’in
hum alaykum
faqdurulah
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar,
r.a.
Rasulullah s.a.w.
mentioned Ramadan and said,
Do not start fasting.
Do not fast unless you see
the moon, the crescent.
And do not stop fasting
till you see the crescent of Shaval.
And if the sky is overcast,
if there are clouds,
if you cannot see it,
then complete the 30 days.
Act on estimation.
He did not say calculate and see
if it is born, not born.
Seeing.
And he knows you can’t see
if there are clouds.
What’s the complication?
Second hadith
and that’s in Bukhari, this one is in Muslim.
Anabiyuhur R.A.
Anna al-Nabiyah
s.a.w.
qal
sumu liruiyatihi
wa aftiro
liruiyatihi
fa’in
hum alaykum
fa’akmilu adada
Abu Hurayr R.A.
narrated
and he said that Nabi S.A.W. said
start fasting on sighting it
and break
your fast meaning stop fasting
on sighting it, the new moon for the Shaval.
But if the sky is cloudy
for you, see the
language
hum alaykum
He is not saying if there are clouds in every
country on the face of the earth.
If you cannot see it, if there are clouds for you
then complete the number of 30.
We have the
another hadith
where the man came from
Sham
what is called Syria, but Sham was much
bigger than Syria.
So he came from Damascus
and when he came to Madinah
he met Abdullah Ibn Umar
no he met
Abdullah Ibn Abbas
and he asked him when did you start
fasting, he told him a certain day
and Abdullah Ibn Abbas
said we started fasting the following day
the day after that.
So he said when will you have your Eid, he said according to that
on such and such a day.
He said oh but in Sham
they will have Eid the day before that.
He said okay.
He said no but we saw the moon
then.
He said we saw the moon this day.
So the man specifically he said is
muawiyah sighting not enough for you?
He said no.
Because Rasool Rasool
sallallahu alaihi wasallam told us see the moon and start,
see the moon and stop.
This is how he taught us sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Finally
for those of you who
are fatwa addicted let me give you
fatwa from two of the greatest
of the shu’yukh
of today’s time.
Both of them
Rahimaullah Ittala both of them have passed away.
Sheikh Abdullah Ibn Abbas
Rahmatullah Ali and Sheikh
Al-Husaymin
Rahmatullah Ali.
They said praise be to Allah
and I am going to
They said praise be to Allah
the shari’i method of proving
that the new month has begun is
for the people to sight to see the
crescent moon. That should be
done by people whose religious commitment
and their ability to see strong eyesight and so on
and you can also use
binoculars and stuff
are to be trusted. If they sighted
then it is obligatory to act upon
that sighting by fasting if it is the new
moon for the month and breaking the fast
if it is the new moon for shawwal.
And they said it is not permissible
to rely on astronomical
calculations.
Now, the all math
this is a clear fatwa you can see it
whichever language you want.
And the fatwa goes on and finally it ends
with this statement with regard
to calculations it is not
permissible to act
upon them or to rely on
them.
What they
do give us they give some
consideration they say that if somebody
says they saw the
moon
then you can use calculations
to ascertain whether this was
actually possible.
Because sometimes somebody
claims I saw the moon
but maybe that is even the 28th day of the month
there is no way this person could have
seen the moon. So either he is hallucinating
or god knows what.
So for that to confirm
the sighting you can use
calculations to see well is it
could this have been possible?
But to rely purely
on calculations
this is not permitted
in the sharia either from the fatwa
or the quran or the sunnah.
Having said all of this
let me say this clearly and on record
that if anybody in this madjid anybody
in the world if they say
we will go by
calculations only I say
to you Alhamdulillah no problem
tell me when is your Eid I will come to your
house and eat some shirkha.
If they say
we will follow Saudi Arabia I say most
welcome follow Saudi Arabia follow Iraq
follow Iran follow Pakistan follow
Hindustan follow whichever
stand you want no problem
please go ahead do whatever you like
tell me when is your Eid and I will come to your house
and give me some sweets.
No problem you
and I are still brothers.
You and I still stand together.
I will not criticize
you I will not
say I will not come to your masjid
if you say you had your Eid yesterday
but today we are having our Eid
will you come I will say of course
I will come I will not lead your
Eid salaam obviously I can’t do that.
But if you want me to come to your masjid
take part in your celebration
most welcome.
I am saying this from this member
next time you have a dispute and you have
to eat on some other day other than this masjid
invite me and see if I don’t come.
To sight the moon is
Ibadah to sight the moon
is Sunnah to sight the moon
is as per the Quran al-Karim
to sight the moon is not
old fashioned calculations
are not modern
to make Eid or
to start fasting or to stop fasting
relying purely on calculation
is not the Quran is not the Sunnah
is not the fatwa
but the biggest thing
is
to form divisions
in the Muslims
this is haram
haram haram
so please
let’s be very clear
unity is
as defined by Allah
unity is not as defined by some
silly
condition we placed on ourselves
and defined ourselves and all kinds of problems
tying ourselves up in knots
because we put this condition. Who told you
that it should be on one day?
Please do not form
divisions. Let us
be together. The last thing
in the world we need is divisions. Do you
agree with me?
We don’t need divisions. We have enough.
Let’s not start some more.
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to bring our hearts together.
I ask Allah to keep us together.
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala
to save us from the pit of fire
that He told us He saved us from.
Allah said you are on the pit of fire
and Allah saved you. We ask Allah
yaraab continue to save us from the pit of fire
and the pit of fire is
the division among the Muslims. We ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala not to
enable us to
divide ourselves. We ask Allah to
stop us from dividing ourselves. We ask Allah
to give us the wisdom not to divide
ourselves. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to
keep us together and united
loving each other for the sake of Allah.
And Alhamdulillah if there are
any differences of opinion, most welcome
no problem whatsoever.
But no divisions.
Please differentiate
between iqtilaf
ur rai
and forming divisions.
No divisions. Iqtilaf ur rai, most
welcome, no problem.
Thank you.

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