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Lecture By Ustaad Nouman Ali Khan / Transcript by ILoveAllaah.com Team
A wonderful advice from Ustaad Nouman Ali Khan to the Muslim Youth about their Response to the people who insult Our Religion.
"To My Angry Young Muslim Brother !!!"
(After remembering Allah and sending proper salutations to the messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), and after salam to the audience, he - Ustaad Nouman Ali Khan - started the lecture.)Today I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I am really happy to be back at this community. I am really grateful for this opportunity to see the familiar faces again. And I pray that this visit of mine is acceptable to Allah azza wajal and brings good for myself and all of you. At the same time these are also times of great tribulation for Muslims. And every few weeks something happens that really darkens all of our hearts. And makes all of us upset. And this is one of those weeks.
If you are keeping up with the news, you know what I am talking about. You know about the protests that are happening all over in many parts of the Arab world, and probably in the Muslim world by extension in response to certain inflammatory production of very poor quality.
Even though that is my topic of khutba today from the Quran’s perspective, I want to start by saying that those videos or that video in particular had not even 30 hits before the Muslims started paying attention to. And so the fact that Islam took the attention that it has gotten, we have become the best advertising agency for that ridiculous stupid film. We’ve done that, nobody else. Nobody was paying attention to that.
Anyhow, I am dedicating today’s khutba To my angry young Muslim brother.
If you don’t already know, 62% of the Muslim ummah today, that is alive, is 30 or under the age of 30. The vast majority of this ummah is youth. And so I am dedicating this particular khutba in this time of anger and reaction to my young angry Muslim brother. And that young angry Muslim brother of mine who feel that when the prophet of Allah (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) is insulted, then he is insulted, and he should do something about that, and his blood boils when the Messenger of Allah (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) is spoken of in a way that did not deserve to be spoken of. Even the slightest insult to our Messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) is Enough to take all the happiness and joy out of your life and make you forget all of it, because our love for him is that intense.
People of other religion ask- why are you Muslim so crazy? When people make fun of Jesus on Fox TV even though they claim to love Jesus, and they also show ‘Family Guy’ on Jesus; when they make fun of Jesus on TV, Christians don’t go crazy! People make fun of Moses all the time, Jews don’t go crazy! People make fun of Hindus and that certainly does happen, Hindus don’t go crazy! What is with you Muslims, can’t say anything to you people. Don’t you understand the concept of freedom of speech? Why do you people go crazy?
And our usual response and you might think this was given being my response in this khutba is that- You don’t know what love is, you don’t know. You think you love Jesus, but we love Muhammad (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) way way way more, and that’s why we go that crazy. But that is not my response today.
My first response when that question is asked to me is that- how
come I don’t get angry when Isaa (Alaihi sallam) is made fun of? How
come I don’t get angry when Musa (Alaihi sallam) made fun of?Musa (Alaihi sallam) is The most mentioned messenger of Allah in The Quran. Muhammad is mentioned four times and Ahmad is mentioned once. That is the messenger of Allah (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) mentioned by name in the Quran. Musa (Alaihissalam) is mentioned seventy plus times in the Quran.
When Musa Alaihissalam is poked fun at, and he is poked fun at a lot, A Lot. When Jesus is made fun of, he is made fun of a lot. Where is my anger? ‘Oh that’s your problem.’ It’s their problem, that’s not my problem. So first of all, there is something even problematic about the way we emotionally respond. The things that we find offensive, there is something already problematic. But you could say- no no no, but Allah gave a special honor to Muhammad Rasulullah (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). I agree, yes, Allah did give the messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) a special honor. But it is the same Allah, who says-
سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ ۞
وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ ۞
"Exalted is your Lord, the Lord of might, above what they describe. And peace upon All the messengers!" [surah as saffat : 180-181]
Allah is the one who said peace upon All of the Messengers.
The angry young Muslim brother of mine, I want to start this conversation with one thing.
The honor of our messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), the nobility, the respect, the love of our messenger, the status of our messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), is not something we give him; is not something that comes from human beings. It came from the sky. It came from Allah. Nobody on the earth can take it away. Because it comes from the sky.And so this conversation first of all shouldn’t bother you. You shouldn’t be angry with the people who insulted Allah’s messenger. You should feel sorry for them. You should feel sorry how stupid, how sad they are. They cannot hurt Allah messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). They can’t even hurt our Deen. The only one they can hurt is themselves. That’s the only one they can hurt.
The Quran has come from the sky. People can burn copies of it, people can make fun of it, people can make pieces of it; it will not insult the Quran; because the Quran is in Laohe Mahfudh. It can not be insulted. It is above these insults.
Our messenger’s honor is above them. When Allah azawajal in Suratul Israa has given our messenger ‘Makaamal Mahmooda’; Allah has given that to our messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). Not a human being.
But I want to go further in this khutba. And I am angry today, I am really angry. But I am angry at my young Muslim brothers. I really am. You want to defend Allah’s Deen? You want to defend His messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam)? Just learn a few thing about him first.
Who is going to insult the prophet of Allah, (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) MORE then the people that were spitting at his face? Than the people that were cursing in front of him? Then the people who were calling him all kinds of names TO HIS FACE every single day. And who was listening to those insults? It’s not just the messenger of Allah, (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). It’s every one of these companions who believes, is sitting next to the messenger, listening to the messenger being insulted. And what’s more, is that Allah mentally prepared you and me for something. That you should know that as much as we love, and honor and respect our messengers, get used to the fact that humanity can hate messengers. And that so much of humanity can insult messengers. And say hurtful, mean, vile, disgusting things about their messengers. And so much so, that we recite those insults with Tajweed in that Quran.
وَيَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُ لَمَجْنُون
and they say: "Surely he is mad!" [surah al Qalam: 51]
سَاحِرٌ كَذَّابٌ
a magician telling lies [surah ghafir (40): 24]
Those are insults against our messenger and other messengers (Alaihiwa sallaatu wassalam). But Allah recorded them in the Quran. We recite them with beautiful Tajweed. So we know this is not something new- ‘how dare they insult the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam)!’ what do you mean? That’s been happening since day one man! Where have you been? What Quran are you reading? And what was the reaction of those companions? How did they respond? I’ll remind you of a famous incident that’s got a couple of different narration.
The prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) is sitting next to Abu Bakar Siddique (radiallahu ta’ala ‘anhu). And some people come and they start insulting Abu Bakar. And one narration says they insulted him not once, they insulted him twice, three times. Third time Abu Bakr Siddique got up, he couldn’t take it anymore. Cause they insulted him, the family, the mother, the sister, the daughter. You know the filthy people, they don’t have any respect. So he got up.You and I love the messenger of Allah (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). But we are not going to compare it to the love that Abu Bakar Siddique had. We are not going to compare.
Another narration said that he kept sitting. He didn’t get up. And he only got up when they said, this guy is not budging, this guy has got lot of patience. Maybe we should start insulting his prophet, that will get him. So they start cursing of the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) in front of Aby Bakar Siddique.
Abu Bakar Radiallahu ‘anhu will not take it. He got up. He got up and the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) got up. The moment he got up, the prophet got up (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and walked the other way. And now Abu Bakar siddique is in a dilemma, that I go after these guys, these idiots, or should I go after my messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam)? So he goes after the messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) of Allah. And said- did I said something wrong? Did I do anything wrong? And there are couple of versions of this. ‘So long you were sitting, there were angels surrounding us. And so long you got angry and got up, the angel left and Shayateen came. And I don’t sit where angels don’t sit.’That’s what the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said. That is the prophet’s (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) training to his companions. This is how you deal when I am insulted. Be patient. Be patient.
I am reminded of the incident of Tha’if. These people didn’t just hurt the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) with the words. They almost killed him. They are stoning him; they are taking young hoodlums from the streets. And are having the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) followed, pelting him as he goes. And the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) bleeding as he is, takes his hand and grabs the blood before it hits the ground because he knows if it hits the ground, Allah’s anger will come. He didn’t want this earth to be a witness that they shed a messenger’s blood. The prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) is not worried about himself, he is worried about these people, he grabs the blood from falling on the ground. And finally when the offer is made, he says – ‘No, may be from their offspring and children somebody might say “Laa Ilaha illallah”.
And do you know the fact of it - after the passing of the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), when the ummah was in turmoil, and there were some people supporting Islam, and some people were not supporting Islam; the two tribes that held on through everything, was Makkah, and Tha’if. The biggest support of holding Islam together at the time of Abu Bakar Siddique came from Tha’if. Which was a fundamentally crucial thing. From the people who almost killed the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). Because the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said- no, I shouldn’t be angry at them, I just feel sorry for them. So he made dua for them. That’s my attitude towards them. This is the attitude of an ummah that has mercy. This is the attitude of the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) when he got many insults from Abu Jahl. And he still made Dua. SubhanAllaah!
I want to share something else with you. While we are on this topic, the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) was himself mentally prepared- you don’t get angry, ok? Allah tells him over and over again in the Quran- when they insult, you don’t get angry.
فَإِن كَذَّبُوكَ فَقَدْ كُذِّبَ رُسُلٌ مِّن قَبْلِكَ
‘Then if they deny you, [O Muhammad] - so were messengers denied before you’ [surah al- Imran: 184]
They lied against you, other messengers were lied against too; its ok, you are not the first one.
وَاصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا يَقُولُونَ وَاهْجُرْهُمْ هَجْرًا جَمِيلًا
"And be patient over what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance." [surah muzammil: 10]
It is very powerful Arabic statement ‘maa ya qulun’, ‘be patient over WHAT EVER they say’.
The linguists say ‘maa’ is more ambiguous word. If you say, ‘Alladhee’, it is more specific. So if the ayah was talking about one particular thing that the kuffar said, the ayat would have been ‘Wasbir ‘ala ALLADHEE ya qulun’. But it says, ‘wasbir ‘ala MAA yaqulun’- ‘What Ever they come up with’.
They are insulting you with something today, they will insult you with something else tomorrow; doesn’t matter, you just be patient. And this ayah has got the present and the future in it. So whatever they are saying today, and what ever they come up with in the future, don’t you worry about it. And these insult against the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), are not just limited to him. We know that when the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) moved to Madina, that his family is insulted, there is an acquisition made against ‘Aaisha Radiyallahu ta’ala anha.
The Quran is full of accounts of the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) being attacked by non Muslims, and even by Munafikoon (hypocrites). It is not becoming of a prophet to be worldly, and to have greed, and to want more acquisition. Because the hypocrites said- he goes into battle because he wants more. Hypocrites were insulting the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). The Kuffar (non believers) were insulting the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). They were insulting the family of prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). What protests were then happening? The Sahaba in the Madina, the Muhajireen and the Ansar- don’t they love the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam)? Don’t they see the insults? What houses are they burning down? What cars are they footing over? They grab any non Muslim did they see in the street – I see a Jew. The Jews said insulting things, so lets kill him, I see a Jew over there.
What has become of us? What have we become? That’s what you call defending this Deen? I am not angry. If you really want to be angry, then you don’t know Quran. If you really want to be angry, then you don’t know this messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). You don’t know the Sahaba; you don’t know these people. What are you angry about? It’s shocking.
At the end, I really want to clear distinction for all of us about Anger itself. Because there are ayah in the Quran, wallahi when you read them, you’ll get ravage. You’ll just get ravage. And I want to share a perspective with you.
When Allah's messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) is insulted, Allah tells his messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) - that’s not an offence against you. They are not making fun of you. They are doing wrong, they are disbelieving in the ayah of Allah. What they make fun of you as a messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), you didn’t come up with the Quran, you shouldn’t be insulted, you didn’t become a messenger on your own decide one day that I am going to be a messenger; I made you a messenger, I gave you this Quran; I have the right to be angry, not you; This is insulting me ; Allah takes the anger himself. Anger is deserved by Allah.But some of my young Muslim brother might think that if it makes Allah angry, it should make me angry too. If it makes Allah angry, then I have the right to be angry too. Let’s explore that a little bit. I’ll just give one small incident. We live in a country of United States, we are surrounded by Christian community. And then you meet the Quran, and there Allah says – “They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!" Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous! At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin, That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious.” (Sura Maryam 88-91)
Now I want you to imagine, a church of Christian is outside of this building, right outside. And he says- God has a son. Could you hear that? NO. This voice cannot travel through the wall. Can it? NO.
Allah says, every time these words are uttered, the voice travels the entire skies and the earth. The entire universe hears this. And it is about to tear open. They can’t take it. It is almost destroying. That’s how offended the entire creation of Allah is when it is said that Allah has taken a son. We don’t hear it. But in the Ghayeb, entire skies are about to tear open. That’s how offensive Allah finds when somebody says that Allah has taken a son. That’s the anger of Allah.
And now keep the anger of Allah in mind. A group of Christians come to meet with our messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), they hear he is a messenger and he claims to be fulfilling the word of revelation that came before. So they come to meet with him. And these are people that worship Eisaa alaihiwa sallam at the point when these discussion are happening.
And you know what, back in the day they did not have the Holiday Inn, Hilton. Where this Christians going to stay? And these are Christian ministers, priests, these are representatives of their religion. These are ambassador of the Christian faith. Where are they going to stay? The prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) decides, they will stay in Al Masjid An Nabawi. Where are they going to pray? They are going to pray in Al Masjid An Nabawi, the prophet’s (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) masjid. They are going to pray in the first university of Islam. The university, that teaches Islam. They are going to pray, to whom? Inside their teachings. The one place that now becomes the center of learning; at that point in Madina, for preaching Tawheed. A bunch of people are staying inside and they are calling on Jesus as lord.
That makes Allah happy or angry? Extremely angry. But who is supposed to be soft, lenient, courteous, understanding, and not be upset, and be generous? The prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). Allah has the right to be angry. You and I don’t. Allah is the master, he owns you and me. He has the right to be angry with his slave. Other human beings are not my slave. They are Allah’s slave. If anything I can be, is worried about them. Allah never said to the prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) - don’t be mad at them. Cause the messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) is never MAD at them, because he knows Islam’s place. Allah says don’t be SAD over them, don’t grieve over them, don’t worry about them so much. That’s what he tells his messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam).
What has happened to our ummah? An ummah of reaction, after reaction, after reaction. And I argue with people say- why are Muslims so reactionary? Why do you people get so worked up? And people give different kinds of reasons. I started my khutba with that. We say we love our messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) so much, that’s what drives us so crazy. That’s why in Pakistan, in Libya, in Egypt- we are going to roll off, foot over the cars, burn one guy’s store - cause we love the messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). That’s your love for the messenger? That’s where you’ve come to? And there are people here who’ll also say- yeah, off course! You know there are so many other things are happening.
I know, there are other social, economic, political turmoil. These people aren’t just protesting because of one issue, there’s lot more depth to this problem. But when you and I, or any of the Muslim for that matter, starts saying that -‘this is part of Islam’, then this is something that should make us angry. Say that the Muslims are protesting, fine. Say that they have economic issue, social issue, political issue, social justice issue, fine! Don’t bring Islam into it then. My Deen is free of these. Don’t drag hatred to it. It doesn’t deserve this. It deserves to be honored for what it is.
In this final break, I want to share one thing, before I let you guys go. For my young Muslim brother, once again. Our job in this world today, is to be ambassadors of this Deen. Is to let people know what Islam is. Do your neighbors know what Islam is? No. There are people who live next door to the masjid for 20 years, and they don’t know what Islam is. “The Muslims come and park in our lawn, they go and pray and they leave. One thing we just know that they hate their neighbors and their neighbors hate them back”. That’s all they know about Islam. They don’t know anything about us.
And you know what’s even more sad? They are same youth that all over the world is watching this ridiculously stupid film, are the same youth that have never even read the entire Quran. They have never even read the book of Allah. You have time for those video and you don’t have time for Allah’s book? You don’t see there is the problem? The real issue isn’t that we love our messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) more. Real issue is we don’t have a fundamental education in our own Deen. That’s the real issue.
We don’t know that our Deen makes us civil, makes us decent, makes us patient, makes us not reactionary, it gives us control over our emotion, it doesn’t let us run by our emotions, it doesn’t turn us into these Lab Rats. Its not like- you know these people, they want to make money, that’s all of this to them. So they know, Make something offensive about Muslim; watch it – we are going to go big. Cos we know what the Muslims are going to do. They are like the bunch of Lab Rats; you can play with them. Just poke them a little bit and they go crazy. And we play right into it every time. And the only one that benefits from these, are the people who started the events that we get angry with.
And by the way, if there’s any thing that is harmed is the effort of Da’wah. Now if I talk to somebody about Islam, I can't talk to them about Allah, I can't talk to them about our messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), I can't talk to them about our Quran, I first have to talk about that all the Muslims are not that crazy.
‘I have seen on CNN what the Muslims do, they are doing fierce things with the cops, or something…’- the conversation is changed. I can’t talk about my Deen anymore, cause I have to talk about the stupidity of the Muslims. Of a young immature Muslim who’s easily manipulated. We are irresponsible to educate our youth and the youth across the Ummah. To hold their emotions back, to respond intellectually. To respond with thought.
Allah azzawajal took the most insulting things that were said about prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and gave the most intellectual responses in the Quran. This is our religion. Two thirds of the Quran is a conversation with the people who didn’t even believe in it. What was prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) doing? Reciting it to people who don’t even believe. And they were insulting it back, criticizing it back; and there was a discussion happening, without anybody trying to kill anybody else. And when they tried to kill Muslims, Muslims kept it cool. And actually Allah referred to that entire era, that decade of conversation between Muslims and Mushrikoon.
Refers to that decade back when the Muslims moved to Madina, and reminds the Muslims. Do you remember when the policy was ‘kuffu aidiyakum’ or “HOLD YOUR HANDS BACK” ? You remember those days, when your instruction were - DO Not to fight, just discuss? Remember that? We have to remind ourselves when Allah himself said so, Subhanawata’ala. We have to stop being so reactionary. We have to stop thinking one thing from the Quran, one thing from here, one thing from there. Look at the whole. Look at the entire picture that Allah has presented in this Book. I pray that Allah azwajal allow us, give the proper education in this book. These things will not go away; these reactions and these ignorance will not go away until we get a proper education in Allah’s book. That doesn’t just affect our minds, it gives peace to our hearts.
May Allah educate ourselves, our family, our entire Ummah, the way it suppose to be educated. May Allah lift the Ummah from the darkness that it suffers from. May Allah make us of those who can speak the word of truth courageously and be able to engage with each other in civil, respectful disagreement when the time comes. And may Allah make us of those who truly represent the beauty of this Deen to their neighbors and to the world around us. ~ Aameen!
