IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICIENT, THE MERCIFUL
BEING THE THIRD KHUTBAH FOR THE MONTH OF MUHARRAM, DATED 17TH MUHARRAM 1445AH (4TH AUGUST, 2023CE)
TOPIC: ISLAM: A CREED AND A LEGISLATION
THE FIRST SERMON
All Praises belong to Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help and His forgiveness and we repent to Him. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides, there is no one that can mislead him, and whomever is let go astray, there is none that can guide him. I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah. He has no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger; May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, his family and all his companions.
Thereafter… Believing brothers! Fear Allah the Most High, and be mindful of Him, the Exalted in His Glory, the mindfulness of someone who knows that His Lord hears and sees Him. Allah Ta’alaa says: (يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ) “O you who believe! Fear Allah (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islam (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allah.”
Dear servants of Allah! Our topic today revolves around: Islam: a creed and a legislation.
Islam is submission, obedience, and complete acquiescence to Allah Ta’alaa. Islam became a flagship of the religion that Allah Ta’alaa sent down to mankind, from the time of Adam to Muhammad (upon them be the best peace and blessings), as Allah Ta’alaa says: (إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ ) “Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam.” (Aal-Imraan: 19). And Allah Ta’alaa said to Ibraaheem, peace be upon him: (إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ أَسْلِمْ قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ) “When his Lord said to him, “Submit (i.e. be a Muslim)!” He said, “I have submitted myself (as a Muslim) to the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists).”” (Al-Baqarah: 131), and he said about Nuuh, peace be upon him: (وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ ) “And I was commanded to be of the Muslims” ([Yuunus: 7]), and Yuusuf, peace be upon him, said: (تَوَفَّنِي مُسْلِمًا وَأَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ ) “make me to die as a Muslim (the one submitting to Your Will), and join me with the righteous.”” (Yuusuf: 101), and the Queen of Saba said: (وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ) “..and I submit (in Islam, together with Sulaiman (Solomon), to Allah, the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists).”(An-Naml: 44), and the magicians of Firaoun said when they accepted Islaam: (رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَتَوَفَّنَا مُسْلِمِينَ ) “Our Lord! pour out on us patience, and cause us to die as Muslims.” (Al-A’raaf: 126), and the disciples said to Al-Maseeh (Isa ibn Maryam), peace be upon him: (آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ ) “we believe in Allah, and bear witness that we are Muslims (i.e. we submit to Allah).” (Aal-Imraan: 52), which indicates that Islaam is the religion of all the prophets and their followers since ancient times, historical to the era of the Muhammad’s prophethood, and the belief of the prophets is one. Allah Ta’alaa, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says the Truth: (وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِ ) “And We did not send any Messenger before you (O Muhammad SAW) but We inspired him (saying): La ilaha illa Ana [none has the right to be worshipped but I (Allah)], so worship Me (Alone and none else).” (Al-Anbiyaa: 25).
Islamic Belief
They are the things that your heart should believe in, and your soul should be reassured about, and that you should be certain with, neither doubt nor uncertainty should be mixed with it. The Prophet collected them in his answer to the question of Jibreel, peace be upon him, when he said to him: “What is faith? He said: “Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in Qadar, its good and its bad”. (Muslim, Tirmidhi and Nasaa’i)
And belief is the greatest aspect that Islaam gave a great attention to first in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, and it is the stage of preparation, education and formation for a period of thirteen years.
The Islamic Sharee’ah is the systems legislated by Allah, in order for man to guide himself by it, in his relationship with his Lord, his Muslim brother, in his relationship with other people, and his relationship with the universe and life itself. It is the system that emanates from and is based on those credal principles, and it makes these principles a realistic form represented in the real life of human beings.
And Allah made for each prophet a law commensurate with his time and place. Allah Ta’alaa says: (لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا ) “To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way. “ (Al-Maa’idah: 48). Thus, animal fat may be forbidden for one ummah, and for another ummah it is lawful, but acts of worship are found in every ummah, such as salaat and zakat. The Almighty said about His Prophet Ismaeel, peace be upon him: (وَكَانَ يَأْمُرُ أَهْلَهُ بِالصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ وَكَانَ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِ مَرْضِيًّا) “And he used to enjoin on his family and his people As-Salat (the prayers) and the Zakat, and his Lord was pleased with him.” (Maryam: 55), and fasting, as in Allah’s saying: (كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ ) “As it was ordained for those before you” (Al-Baqarah: 183), and the pilgrimage in the time of Ibraheem. The Almighty said: (﴿ وَأَذِّنْ فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ ) “And announce to the people the pilgrimage” (Al-Hajj: 27), and with the raising of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, as a prophet, Allah has singled him out with a complete righteous Law (the Sharee’ah) for every time and place, and he commanded all people to follow that law, and to leave what they used to follow from the laws of the previous messengers, and he judged whoever sought any religion other than Islaam as losers. Allah Ta’alaa says: (وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ ) “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.” (Aal-Imraan: 85), so Islaam became a creed and a law.
The system and the law are solutions for life’s affairs. That is: how the one charged with duties works in religious matters, in the social system, the economic system, the system of governance, the system of penalties, and the system of morals. Law and order are the areas that Islaam paid attention to when rulings started to be sent down on the ummah in Madeenah, after it had had an actual existence, an independent entity, and an established state. Thus, it becomes clear that Islam is a creed and a law. The creed is about cognitive knowledge while the law is practical. The creed is the foundation/root of religion, and the law is the offshoot.
The relationship between belief and order (an organized system):
Islam has made connections between belief and order, between faith and moral, between the fundamentals and the offshoots, tight connections, including his saying (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him say what is good or keep silent, and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him honor his neighbor, and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him honor his guest (Bukhari and Muslim). We can see how he linked faith in Allah – which is the creed – and honoring the neighbor – which is a law and a system – and it is not possible to separate them. He, may He be exalted, says, addressing the Messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his ummah following him in that: (ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَى شَرِيعَةٍ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ فَاتَّبِعْهَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ) “Then We have put you (O Muhammad SAW) on a plain way of (Our) commandment [like the one which We commanded Our Messengers before you (i.e. legal ways and laws of the Islamic Monotheism)]. So follow you that (Islamic Monotheism and its laws), and follow not the desires of those who know not” (Al-Jaathiyah: 18).
The social system in Islaam discusses the issue of the relationship between a man and a woman, and established in it legal provisions in engagement, marriage, divorce, woman-initiated divorce, waiting period, and taking back, and it forbids adultery, being alone (with a woman), and a woman traveling without a mahram, and a woman being the head of the state.
It sets rules for women’s adornment, preventing intermingling except for necessity or need, and specifying that a woman’s original work is that she is a mother and a home manager, and that a woman’s original work does not prevent her from engaging in work in public life to earn money with restrictions and limits, so that she does not lose her femininity, and be deprived of her children, and cause harm for her husband.
The economic system in Islaam discusses the issue of the right of ownership. So, the real owner is Allah, and that Allah has delegated the ownership to man with certain restrictions. It is permissible to acquire money through work, brokerage, zakaat, inheritance, alimony, will, and gift.
It is forbidden to own money through: the payment for prostitution, the money for a fortuneteller, usury, borrowing with interest, and forbidden transactions such as fraud, cheating, bidding, selling after the call to prayer on Friday, selling weapons to the warmonger, and selling juice to those who take it as wine.
And the penal system in Islam deals with the issue of crime, namely: murder, adultery, slander, theft, drinking alcohol, robbery, prostitution and apostasy. It established the precise rules that organize them to achieve the interests of the people. The punishments are a mercy for the individual and the society. And prohibitions and rewards are prohibitions that Allah put in place to deter from committing what he prohibited, and abandoning what he commanded, and prohibitions from sin.
The system of government in Islaam discusses the issue of the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. The ruler is Allah Ta’alaa: (إِنِ الْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ ) “The judgment is only for Allah” (Al-An’am: 57), and the khalif or president is only an executor and implementer of Allah’s rulings with justice, and that obedience is obligatory to Allah and His Messenger, and to the Muslim ruler as long as he does not contradict Allah and His Messenger, as there is no obedience to a creature in disobedience to the Creator. And that consultation (Shuura Assembly) is a right for all Muslims, the ruler and the ruled, man and woman, and that Islamic Shuura and Western democracy are two opposites that do not meet. The choice of the ruler is the choice of the nation. The nation is the one with the authority to appoint the ruler of her own free will.
So, Islaam is a creed and an organized system. Creed is cognitive and Sharee’ah is practical.
Creed is the foundation of the religion, and Sharee’ah is the branches of religion, and both are linked to each other like fruits are linked to trees, or effects are linked to causes, and results to premises. It is for this close relationship that work is associated with faith in most of the verses of the Noble Qur’an: (وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ ) “And give glad tidings to those who believe and do righteous good deeds, that for them will be Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise). (Al-Baqarah: 25).
This interdependence between belief and order results in an Islamic personality. The fundamental of the components of the Islamic personality are two things: the Islamic creed, which is represented in the pillars of faith, and the Islamic Law, which is represented by submission and surrender to the rulings of the Islamic Law (Sharee’ah) in all systems of life.
THE SECOND SERMON
All Praises are due toAllah, the All-Wise, the All-Aware, and prayers of blessings and peace be upon His faithful Messenger, his family, and all his companions, and thereafter:
Servants of Allah, if imbalance occurs between the faith and the Shari’ah (the law), such person would be at a loss, and his personality would become a secular one; ie: non-religious. Man is either a Muslim or a secularist. Secularism has three forms:
The first: atheistic secularism: it is secularism that does not believe in religious creed, nor in the religious system, and one of its advocates was Marx and Hegel, and we could find some of its icons in our current society.
The second: non-atheist secularism: it believes in religious belief, but rejects the religious system, and calls for the isolation of religion from the worldly matters.
And the third: Religious secularism: its people are Muslims and live among Muslims, and they are of those with ugly thoughts and an ignominious orientation. They knew nothing of Islam except its name, and nothing of the Qur’an except its writing. Allah honored them with Islam, so they chose the West as their direction, and secularism as their profession.
For example: they advocate for women freedom through free-mixing, adultery, concubinage, and friendship, and in reality, do not accept the existence of Islamic rule, and call for taking usury and taking (interest-based) loans, and reject Islamic penalties, and consider them as backwardness and narrow-mindedness.
Is it reasonable to find a Muslim – who embraces Islam as a religion – saying: I am a secular Muslim?! Islam is a perfect religion, and a clear methodology, which does not accept or allow another methodology or system to mingle with it. Allah, the Exalted says as He explains the kufr of those who take a part of the methodologies of Islam and reject the other: (أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ إِلَّا خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ) “Do you believe in some of the Scripture and reject the rest? Is there any reward for those who do so among you other than disgrace in this worldly life and being subjected to the harshest punishment on the Day of Judgment? For Allah is never unaware of what you do.” (Al-Baqara: 85). There are numerous Islamic evidences explaining the misguidance of those who deny something that is necessarily known in Islam.
Dear Muslims, the United Nations commemorates World Breast Feeding Week between 1st – 7th August and it calls for an exclusive breast milk for the first six months. Dear honoured listeners, Islam preceded the UN to educate humanity about the benefit of breastfeeding in the holy Qur’an for more than fourteen hundred years ago and specified two years for those who wish to complete the breastfeeding period. Allah says: (وَالْوالِداتُ يُرْضِعْنَ أَوْلادَهُنَّ حَوْلَيْنِ كامِلَيْنِ لِمَنْ أَرادَ أَنْ يُتِمَّ الرَّضاعَةَ) “Mothers will breastfeed their offspring for two whole years, for those who wish to complete the nursing ˹of their child”
Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. Breastmilk is the ideal food for infants. It is safe, clean and contains antibodies which help protect against many common childhood illnesses. Breastmilk provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of life, and it continues to provide up to half or more of a child’s nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, and up to one third during the second year of life.
Supplication: Oh Allah, protect our sons and daughters, and protect them from evils, both apparent and hidden, O Allah, honour Islam and Muslims, humiliate polytheism and polytheists, destroy the enemies of the religion, and protect the territories of the religion, O Lord of the worlds. Oh Allah, secure us in our homelands, reform our imams and leaders and those in charge of our affairs, and make our guardianship among those who fear You and follow Your pleasure, O Lord of the worlds. Oh Allah, heal the sick among us, heal the afflicted ones, and have mercy on our deceased souls, O Lord of the worlds. Oh Allah, protect our soldiers, protect our borders and frontiers, O Lord of the worlds.