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?