Alhamdulillahi Rabbil
A’alimeen, Wal Aaqibatul Muttaqeen, Wasalaatu Wassalamu Ala
Rusoolihil Kareem,
Amaa Baad
Assalam o allaikum Wr Wb.
My dear respected brothers, sisters and elders of the community,
The mufassireen have
mentioned that Luqman AS did not have a very pleasant outlook but he
was greatly and highly respected among the people. At a point in his
lifetime he used to graze the herds of sheep. Once a colleague of
Luqman AS who also used to graze the sheep, happen to pass by a big
gathering in which there was so many people who were gathered around
a person in a particular discourse. When the colleague went closer he
saw Luqman AS sitting among them who were benefiting from the
teachings of Luqman AS. He goes upto to Luqman AS and says to him
that, ‘Aren’t you the same person with whom I used to graze sheep
together?’ Luqman AS said, ‘yes!’. He asked, ‘ Then how is it
that Allah SWT has blessed you with such a status among the people
that so many people are benefiting from your discourse?’ Luqman AS
replied, ‘ That the acceptance, the qubooliyat of a human soul is
in the hand of Allah SWT but outwardly, it appears to me that my
qubooliyat is because I have never been careless with my tongue’,
meaning that Luqman AS kept his tongue safe from any kind of evil and
kept other people safe from the evil of tongue.
Almight Allah SWT mentions
about Luqman AS as a person with wisdom, who was known as Hakeem
Luqman, and six advises or words of wisdom are mentioned in Quran.
Allah SWT says,
وَلَقَدْ
آتَيْنَا لُقْمَانَ الْحِكْمَةَ أَنِ
اشْكُرْ لِلَّهِ وَمَن يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا
يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ
اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ
And,
indeed, we granted this wisdom unto Luqman: “Be grateful unto
Allah - for he who is grateful [unto Him] is but grateful for the
good of his own self; whereas he who chooses to be ungrateful [ought
to know that], verily, Allah is self-sufficient, ever to be praised!”
Almighty Allah SWT is
absolutely independent and Allah is worthy of all praises. Allah SWT
is not in need of our shukr to Him, rather we are in need of
expressing our shukr to His greatness.
If the entire world had to
get together and they were to worship together to Allah SWT, every
creation and every part of the world falls into sajda, then too, that
will not increase the Izzat and greatness of Allah SWT and if all of
mankind decides to leave Allah SWT, that too will not decrease even a
fraction of the respect of Allah SWT.
Allahumma La Uhsi
SanaAn A’leyk Antaka Ma Asneyka
Ala Nafsik
This is the dua of
Nabi SAW that ‘ We cannot encompass
fulfilling the haq of your praises. You are as You have praised
yourself, we do not even know that.’
Allah has bestowed
us with naymah and bounties so it is our duty to express the shukr of
those bounties.
Allah mentions to us in
Quran Al Kareem:
وَإِن
تَعُدُّواْ نِعْمَتَ اللّهِ لاَ تُحْصُوهَا
…And
should you try to count God's blessings, you could never compute
them.
I just want to think
of one bounty of Allah SWT, leave aside all that Allah SWT has
blessed us with. Allah SWT has given us this aql, the brain, the
intelligence. Even after years and years of research, human being
today cannot claim that he understands the way in which our brain
works. Scientists now claim that they know more about the brain than
they did 100 years ago, but what they know of the brain is not even a
scratch compared to the knowledge of the being that created this
brain.
In one hadeeth, Rasulallah
SAW mentions, that Allah SWT says, ‘ I will reward people and I
will punish people based on the aql that I have given to the people.’
This aql through which man
today has built the entire infrastructure of the world, through which
insaan has designed a way of life today to suit his nafs and desires.
Did we ever sit back and ponder, as to how much we know about this
very aql? Did we ever used our aql to realize that we forget every
day to say shukr to Allah SWT for this aql.
Rasulallah SAW has
said, ‘ ManLLAM YashkuriNaas Lam
Yashkurillah’
That person who does
not make the shukr of the people has not made the shukr of Allah SWT.
This is the first advice,
that when people make some Ihsaan upon us, we should recognize it,
appreciate it and we should thank them. So the first advice from
Allah SWT to Luqman was that Wisdom was bestowed upon Luqman and
allah SWT asked Luqman to be thankful to Allah SWT for that.
The second advice that
Allah SWT gives to Luqman AS is:
وَإِذْ
قَالَ لُقْمَانُ لِابْنِهِ وَهُوَ
يَعِظُهُ يَا بُنَيَّ لَا تُشْرِكْ
بِاللَّهِ إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ
عَظِيمٌ
Behold,
Luqman said to his son by way of instruction: "O my son! join
not in worship (others) with Allah. Verily, ascribing partners with
Allah SWT is Shirk al Adheem.”
If we ponder about the
greatness of Allah SWT and the majesty and grandeur, we cannot even
begin to comprehend to associate any partners with Him. How can we
equate anyone to Allah SWT. He is the one and Unique. He is alone and
complete in His zaat.
What bigger injustice will
it be to associate a partner to such a Being, the Creator who is not
dependant on anyone, but everything is dependant on Him.
The third advice Luqman AS
was given:
وَوَصَّيْنَا
الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ حَمَلَتْهُ
أُمُّهُ وَهْنًا عَلَى وَهْنٍ وَفِصَالُهُ
فِي عَامَيْنِ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِي
وَلِوَالِدَيْكَ إِلَيَّ الْمَصِيرُ
“And
[God says:] ‘We have enjoined upon man goodness towards his
parents: his mother bore him by bearing strain upon strain, and his
utter dependence on her lasted two years: [hence, O man,] be grateful
towards Me and towards thy parents, [and remember that] with Me is
all journeys’ end.”
See that after the mention of the
Tauheed of Allah SWT, the rights of parents are mentioned.
Mufassireen have mentioned that there is a close link between the
Rights of Allah SWT and the rights towards one’s parents. Allah has
created us through the means of our parents and that is why, after
the haq of Allah SWT the huqooq of parents are mentioned.
Rasulallah SAW has mentioned in one
hadeeth, ‘ The pleasure of Allah, the happiness of Allah SWT lies
in the pleasure of father and the displeasure of Allah SWT lies in
the displeasure of father.’
One day a father, he asked his son, ‘
O son, what is the time?’ The son told the time. The father asked
again after a few seconds, ‘ O son, what is the time?’ The son
got irritated and said , I just told you the time, whats wrong with
you?’ Father said, ‘ O son, I was asking, what is the time?’
The son said, ‘ O Father, I just told you the time, how many times
will you ask me?’
Father said, ‘ I remember the day,
when you asked me about a toy dozens of time, but not a single time
you saw a cliché on my forehead.’
We need to understand, that today we
get irritated by the demands of our parents. We get annoyed at their
wishes. Didn’t they have their chance to be annoyed at us? The
difficulty that we feel with our parents today, is not comparable to
the difficulty of a mother that stays up all night to make sure her
child doesn’t remain hungry. Allah SWT says to us, never say even
‘UFF’ to you parents. The mufassireen have mentioned that if
there was a word smaller than Uff Allah would have mentioned that.
Rasulallah SAW says in a hadeeth :
AL JANNATU TA7TA AQDAAMI UMMAHAAT
The Heaven lies beneath the feet of
the mothers.
Meaning if you displease your mother,
you displease Allah SWT and if you please your mother, you please
Allah SWT.
INCIDENT OF MUSA AND BUTCHER
The fourth advice given was:
وَإِن
جَاهَدَاكَ عَلى أَن تُشْرِكَ بِي مَا
لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ فَلَا تُطِعْهُمَا
وَصَاحِبْهُمَا فِي الدُّنْيَا مَعْرُوفًا
وَاتَّبِعْ سَبِيلَ مَنْ أَنَابَ إِلَيَّ
ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأُنَبِّئُكُم
بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
"But
if they strive to make thee join in worship with Me things of which
thou hast no knowledge, obey them not; yet bear them company in this
life with justice (and consideration), and follow the way of those
who turn to me (in love): in the end the return of you all is to Me,
and I will tell you the truth (and meaning) of all that ye did."
If the parents put you in a condition
where they forcefully make you associate partners with Allah SWT,
then do not obey them in this matter but even in this matter refuse
them politely and gently. It is not acceptable even in this state to
be verbally abusive to one’s parents.
That is why Allah SWT gives us the dua,
Rabbir HamHuma Kama Rabbayani
Sagheera.
O Allah have mercy on my parents,
as they did when they raised me from my childhood.
يَا
بُنَيَّ إِنَّهَا إِن تَكُ مِثْقَالَ
حَبَّةٍ مِّنْ خَرْدَلٍ فَتَكُن فِي
صَخْرَةٍ أَوْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ أَوْ
فِي الْأَرْضِ يَأْتِ بِهَا اللَّهُ
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَطِيفٌ خَبِيرٌ
"O
my son!" (said Luqman), "If there be (but) the weight of a
mustard-seed and it were (hidden) in a rock, or (anywhere) in the
heavens or on earth, Allah will bring it forth: for Allah understands
the finest mysteries, (and) is well-acquainted (with them).
Luqman AS says that even if you hide
small pride in your heart, Allah will bring it forth on the day of
Qayyama. There is no reason why a human being should have any pride.
We know what we are inside, look at our Nafs and we will recognize
Allah SWT. How weak, feable, minute in our stature we are, that we
forget the One who deserves the real honor and pride.
And lastly we are told:
وَلَا
تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا
تَمْشِ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا إِنَّ
اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ
فَخُورٍ
“And
turn not thy cheek away from people in [false] pride, and walk not
haughtily on earth: for, behold, God does not love anyone who, out of
self- conceit, acts in a boastful manner.
Luqman AS tells us here that do not
spoil the glow of your face for people. You may not agree with
people, but you must agree to disagree. We may have difference of
opinion, or disagreement with the people, but that does not give us
the ijaazat or permission to treat people in a disrespectful way.
When we are agreeing that we are humans and not angels, that we have
weaknesses then we are also agreeing that we have difference of
opinions. If we hear an opinion contrary to ours and we get angry,
then it means there is something not right inside our heart and there
is need for Islah or correctness.
May Allah SWT give us the taufeeq to
understand these beautiful advices and to understand them for if we
truly bring into practice these advices, they can be means of nijaat
in aakhira.
Wa Ma Taufeeqi Ilallah
Billah.
~Khutbah given at Muslim Association of New Brunswick -February 22, 2013
