MSH.10 SEP 2010.KHUTBAH.PREPOST.ENG

You Choose: Humility or Arrogance?
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
10 September 2010   Burton, Michigan
Jumu`ah Khutbah at As-Siddiq Mosque

O Muslims! O Believers!

لاَ يُكَلِّفُ اللّهُ نَفْسًا إِلاَّ وُسْعَهَا 

Laa yukallifullahu nafsan illa wusa`aha,
Allah (swt) does not burden anyone with more than he can bear. (al-Baqara 2:286)

And the Prophet (s) said,

كلكم راع وكلكم مسؤول عن رعيته 

kullukum ra`in wa kullukum mas'oolun `an ra`iyyatih
All of you are shepherds and you are responsible for your sheep.

It means as the father or mother of the house, you are responsible for those of the house. There is a house, there is a mosque, there is a community, there is a country, and everyone has a responsibility to shepherd what Allah assigned to him or her. You must always try your best to keep the fitnah down. Wherever there is fitnah, to run away is better. Don't burn your hands, as Prophet said about Signs of the Last Days:

ستكون فتن كقطع الليل المظلم 

Satakunoo fitanan kaqita`ti 'l-layli 'l-muzhlim
There is going to be turmoil like a chunk of dark nights.

This means there is going to be fitnah everywhere.
In another hadith:

ستكون فتن القاعد فيها خير من القائم والقائم فيها خير من الماشي والماشي فيها خير من الساعي ومن يشرف لها تستشرفه

Al-qa`idu khayrun feehi min al-qaa'im, wa 'l-qaa'imu feehaa khayrun min as-saa`ee wa man yusharrif lahaa tasharrafahu.
Who is sitting in his house is better than the one who is standing, the one standing  in it is better than the one walking, and the one walking in it is better than the one running, and whoever honors it, it will honor him.

That one is standing and watching. Why do you want to watch and make a burden to yourself, to think about what you are watching? Looking out of the window, this means everything you watch, including on TV and the Internet. Why do you want to mix yourself in something that does not concern you, but only brings darkness to the heart? Wa 'l-qa`idu feehaa khayrun min al-maashee, "And the one  who is standing is better than the one who is walking (to the fitnah)." Today you can walk easily, by phone, by Internet, by text messages. So you don't need to be part of it; let them burn their fingers with what they are doing, and we will sit back, watching ourselves from the back. It is not necessary to watch them.

May Allah (swt) keep us away from fitnah, because this is the fitnah of the Last Days, the fitnah of arrogance and, who is going to be stronger than the others. This is the sign of jabbaaroon, dictators, tyrants. Tyrants are stubborn and keep to their points.

‏ ‏تحاجت ‏ ‏الجنة والنار فقالت النار ‏ ‏أوثرت ‏ ‏بالمتكبرين ‏ ‏والمتجبرين ‏ ‏وقالت الجنة ما لي لا يدخلني إلا ضعفاء الناس ‏ ‏وسقطهم ‏ ‏قال الله تبارك وتعالى للجنة أنت رحمتي أرحم بك من أشاء من عبادي وقال للنار إنما أنت عذابي أعذب بك من أشاء من عبادي ولكل واحدة منهما ملؤها فأما النار فلا تمتلئ حتى يضع رجله فتقول قط قط فهنالك تمتلئ ‏ ‏ويزوى ‏ ‏بعضها إلى بعض ولا يظلم الله عز وجل من خلقه أحدا وأما الجنة فإن الله عز وجل ‏ ‏ينشئ ‏ ‏لها خلقا

The Prophet (s) said, "Paradise and the Fire (Hell) argued, and the Fire (Hell) said, 'I have been given the privilege of receiving the arrogant and the tyrants.' Paradise said, 'What is the matter with me? Why do only the weak and the humble among the people enter me?' On that, Allah said to Paradise, 'You are My Mercy which I bestow on whoever I wish of my servants.' Then Allah said to the (Hell) Fire, 'You are my (means of) punishment by which I punish whoever I wish of my slaves. And each of you will have its fill.' As for the Fire (Hell), it will not be filled till Allah puts His Foot over it whereupon it will say, 'Enough! Enough!' At that time it will be filled, and its different parts will come closer to each other; and Allah will not wrong any of His created beings. As regards Paradise, Allah will create a new creation to fill it with." (Bukhari)

It was related by Abi Sayyid al-Khudri (r), and narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, where the Prophet (s) said, "Heavens and Hellfire complained in the presence of Allah because they wanted people to be their inhabitants. Paradise wants people to inhabit Paradise, and Hellfire wants people to inhabit Hellfire."

So if you like Paradise follow this hadith, and if you like Hellfire, follow the Signs mentioned in this hadith!

Allah asked the Hellfire, "Why are you complaining, what do you want?" faqaalat an-naar awrithtu al-mutakabiroon, "The Fire said, 'We want inhabitants.'"
Allah said, "Okay, take the tyrants, the stubborn, arrogant ones who cannot move from their positions."

One says, "I am Nimrod," and the other one says "No, I am Nimrod!" Nimrod is the one that burned Sayyidina Ibrahim (a), he was an arrogant tyrant!

(Continuing the hadith) So Hellfire said, "Yaa Rabbee! Give me someone to fill my Hellfire!"
Allah said, "Okay, take the tyrants, the arrogant ones."

O Believers! We must not be tyrants, arrogant ones! Don't be stuck on your opinions, be easy ones; let it go!

Paradise said, "O Allah! Give me mine."
Allah asked, "What do you want?"

"Yaa Rabbee! Give me du`afa an-naas, the weak servants (the humble ones)."

Paradise doesn't want anyone arrogant ones; Paradise only wants everyone who is humble. Can two people be humble to each other? Check yourself. If someone makes you angry, can you be humble to say, "Forgive me, Allah made you say the truth about me, I am arrogant. Sorry." Or do you fight with him? You don't like it when someone says something to correct you and you say, "Don't interfere," as you can't accept the advice. So for those who are not humble, Hellfire is waiting for them, and for those who are humble, Paradise is waiting for them. 

Paradise said, "O Allah! Give me the ones that are humble and dervish, modest ones."

Allah judged between both of them, and Prophet is saying that Allah said, "You are My Paradise, and I will send My Mercy through you to anyone, as I like. I am going to give you inhabitants that I like to live in you. And you are My Hellfire, in which I will punish everyone I don't like."

It means those who are arrogant and stubborn are going to be the inhabitants of Hellfire; those who are modest and humble are going to be inhabitants of Paradise. The choice is ours! Be modest, be humble, and Allah will forgive your sins. All of us commit sins; don't say, "No, I didn't."

Young ones who have not reached maturity have no sins, and their worship is written to their parents. If you raise a child in Islam, it will be written for the parents. But when you grow up the responsiblity is on you.

فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ

faman ya`mal mithqaala dharratin khayraan yarahu wa man ya`mal mithqaala dharratin sharraan yarah.
Whoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant) shall see it, and whoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant) shall see it. (al-Zalzalah, 99:7,8)

Allah is merciful to you if you are modest, and He will punish you if you are tyrannical, so chose whatever you want. Even if someone comes and shouts in your face, what do you have to say to him? "May Allah forgive you and me, my brother." You have to forgive. So don't expect a reward from human beings. What are they going to reward you with, a watch, a ring?  But if you are patient and humble, Allah will reward you. Don't let it go into one ear and out the other ear. Let it enter your ear and stop there, in your inner ear. Sometimes the inner ear has a watery kind of infection and you go to the doctor, "Oh, I have some kind of pain." So he puts in a tube to drain it. In spirituality it is the opposite, don't drain it, take the advice, put it in your inner ear and keep it there, it will remind you one day, that Allah saved you because of your modesty and humility.

Prophet (s) said, "On the Day of Judgment, the men, ar-rajul, who are fat, sameen, who are in the presence of Allah (swt) with all their fatness and big bodies weighing like a 1000 tons, they don't have even the weight of the wing of a mosquito."

What does that mean? It means whoever was in dunya running after wealth, after tyranny, sins, arrogance, whoever is a big shot in dunya. Maybe people come to them to get business. It means those who are running their business in dunya, thinking they made it for themselves without Allah, they become  those big fat ones. Shaytan is pumping them with helium that makes them fly up, they think that they are rising, they think everyone must be a slave to them, they think they are the nearest ones, but they are the farthest ones! They come on the Day of Judgment thinking they will be the first in line, but to Allah (swt), all their worship doesn't weigh the wing of a mosquito because they were arrogant and tyrants!

O Muslims! We can't be arrogant and tyrants, or Allah will throw our `amal in the dustbin! Whatever you do of  `amal, you have to be a humble person in order that it will be saved to the Day of Judgment! But if you do it for show (to be seen), it is shirk because you are putting yourself with Allah (swt)!.

Prophet (s) said, and Abu Hurayrah (r) reported it:

رب اشعث اغبر لو اقسم على الله لأبره

rubba ash`ath aghbara law aqsama `ala allahi la-abbarah.

There may be a disheveled, dusty person who, if he swears an oath by Allah, Allah will fulfill it. (Muslim)

Sometimes there is one who likes to come and pray, to be part of the community, upon whom people look in a bad way because he has no nice clothes or he is dirty. People want to push him away, madfu`an bi 'l-abwaab, they don't like to see him in the front, they want him to sit at the door with his greasy hair, dirty clothes, stinky smell.  "He is so smelly!" Oh, I hear this a lot; what are you smelling, your ego? If Allah released the stinky smell of your ego, the whole world would faint from it! So that person who, in your eyes, is smelly, dirty, wearing dusty clothes, if he asks Allah for one thing, Allah will respond to him immediately because Allah looks at what is inside. rubba ash`ath aghbara law aqsama `ala allahi la-abbarah. People are pushing him outside saying, "O you, move!" And he moves, but if he asks Allah one du`a, Allah will take away his burden and grant his du`a. 

That's why if sometimes you see beggars on the street, don't turn them down; they might be a wali, a mu`min, and maybe Allah is testing you. Keep small change in your pocket; if someones asks for it, it's not your money, it's Allah's money! Don't say, "Go, I don't want you!" Sometimes they come to wash your car, even if you just washed your car let them dirty it, and Allah will forgive you. Someone may enter a mosque and he is stinky, never mind if he is smelly; it is better than the smell of Hellfire!

I will end with this hadith:

عن سهل بن سعد الساعدي رضي الله عنه أنه قال : " مرّ رجل على رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم - فقال لرجل عنده جالس : ( ما رأيك في هذا ؟) ، فقال: رجلٌ من أشراف الناس، هذا والله حريٌّ إن خطب أن يُنكح، وإن شفع أن يُشفّع، فسكت رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم -، ثم مرّ رجل فقال له رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم - : (ما رأيك في هذا ؟) ، فقال: يا رسول الله، هذا رجل من فقراء المسلمين، هذا حريُّ إن خطب أن لا ينكح، وإن شفع أن لا يشفّع، وإن قال أن لا يسمع لقوله، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: ( هذا خير من ملء الأرض مثل هذا) "، رواه البخاري

Ibn `Abbas (r) related, "Once Prophet was sitting with someone and a man passed, so Prophet asked the one he was sitting with (a Sahaabi), 'What do you think about this man who is passing?' (The one asked replied) 'He is one of the most honorable people in the community. Allah is my witness, if that person asked anyone for his daughter in marriage, they would immediately accept him! And if people seek him to be an intermediary for solving their problems, people will accept his arbitration and the problem will be resolved.' Prophet didn't say anything. Then another man passed. Prophet said, 'What do you think about this one now?' And the companion said, 'Yaa Rasoolullah, haadha rajulun min fuqaraa al-muslimeen, this is a man from the poor community of Muslims; (meaning: he has nothing, people give him charity.) If he were to propose to someone for his daughter, they would throw him out saying, 'How dare you!'..."

Don't you hear that a lot, if some poor people come to ask about marrying the daughter of a wealthy or upstanding member of the community, they throw them out exclaming, "How dare you ask me about my daughter?"

(Continuing the hadith) " ...'And if he asks someone to intercede for him if he has a problem, they will not do that because he is nothing in the community. If he says something no one listens to him, because in their eyes he is nothing.' And Prophet said, 'Even if this whole Earth were full of people like the first one (who is rich), that poor one is better to Allah! If he asks, his du`a will never be thrown down!'" (end of holy hadith, Bukhari)

So that is what Prophet (s) says: be humble, modest, be a dervish, don't be arrogant like a peacock, don't be jabbaar, mutakabbir, mighty ones. Don't look down on people as if they are your are slaves, as is happening everywhere now.

May Allah (swt) forgive our sins! Whatever sins you have, istighfaar makes your sins go, but if you are not remembering that you have to throw anger and tyranny from yourself, you are going to be judged for that on the Day of Judgment! Be humble. Prophet (s) was the most humble! Allah raised him to qaba qawsayni aw adna (two bows' lengths or nearer). Iblees was the most arrogant, and Allah cursed him to the lowest Hellfire. So it's your choice: do you want to be humble, or arrogant? May Allah (swt) make us humble!

(du`a)