Dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, I greet you today with the greeting of Paradise, “as-Salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu”.

First Khutbah – Main Points

اقترب للناس حسابهم و هم في ذلك غفلة معرضون

“The Reckoning is ever drawing closer to Mankind, yet they are woefully heedless of it, turning away.” [Q: 21: 1]

The times we live in are full of doubt, confusion and heedlessness.  Many people, having capitulated to the false demands of science, have decided to bury their heads in the sand.  Many varieties of philosophies abound about the nature of reality but none of them possess even the merest ability to launch out on this endeavor.  Science is not wholly equipped to look for God, though some of God’s Signs [آيات] are detectable by science.  One of the signs of this heedlessness is over the argument about the Hour, which for some has become either a joke or an unquantifiable determinacy.

One of the flaws that science has is that while it is capable of looking out, it cannot look in.  Even when applied in microscopic terms [which may seem like looking inward but in reality it is not], it is still looking out; a “horizontal” activity.  For Islam, the phenomenon of Revelation is a top-down one.  One may even say that Allah’s relationship with the creation is “vertical”, a top-down relationship.  Thus, for man, if he is to know his Lord, he must reflect, ponder, and use his heart and brain in tandem.  While this process does involve looking out to the cosmos or up at the heavens or at the wonders in creation, ultimately the human being must turn inward if s/he is to understand their role in relation to God. (continue reading here…)

إن الحمد لله نحمده و نستعينه و نستغفروه و عليه نتوكل
و نعوذ به من شرور أنفسنا و من سيئات أعمالنا
فمن يهده الله فلا مضلل له, و من يضلله فلا هادي له
و نشهد أن لا إله إلا الله, وحده لا شريك له, رب الأرباب و مسبب الأسباب, فاطر السماوات السبع و خالق كل شئ
و نشهد أن نبينا و إمامنا و أميرنا محمد ابن عبد الله, أبي القاسم, عبده و رسوله, خطم الأنباء و أشرف المرسلين
صلى الله عليه و على آله و أزواجه و أصحابه و أنصاره و ذرياته و سلم
إن لله و ملائكته يصلون على النبي, يا أيها الذين آمنوا صلوا عليه و سلموا تسليما, و بعد

Surely, all praise is due to God, we praise Him, we seek His Aid, we ask for His forgiveness and upon Him do we rely solely. We seek protection in Him from the evil that resides within all of us as well as from the mischief of our own actions.

As for the one that God chooses to guide, there is no misguider for him – and for the one that God misguides, there is no guidance for him.

We bear witness that there is no god but God, know as Allah in the Arabic language, completely alone and without peer or partner, Lord of lords, Causer of all causation, the Fashioner of the Seven Heavens and the Creator of all that is.

We also bear witness that out Prophet, our Imam, our leader, Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, father of al-Qasim, is his slave and messenger – the seal of the Prophets and most noble of the Messengers. May God abundantly send peace and prayers upon him and on his noble family, his wives, his Companions, his helpers, and his progeny. “Surely, God and His Angels abundantly send peace and prayers upon the Prophet – therefore O’ you who believe! Lavish peace and prayers upon him frequently.

As for what follows, the main topics of this khutbah will pick up on the last khutbah, which focused on looking at the psychology of the human being as Allah as laid out in His Book:

و لو يعجل الله للناس الشر استعجالهم بالخير لقضي عليهم أجلهم – سورة يونس

“And if God were to answer mankind in the same manner for their evil requests as they wish he would hasten on the good, they would be totally annihilated.” [Q: 10: 11]

Man often gets impatience when he feels he is under duress. But if God were to answer all of our requests equally, we would be finished. Therefore, God answers based on His Wisdom and judgment of what is really best. This is also a test – as we saw in suwrah al-Baqarah,

أم حسبتم أن تدخلوا الجنة و لما ياتكم مثل الذين خلوا من قبلكم مستهم البأساء و الضراء و زلزلوا حتى يقول الرسول و الذين آمنوا معه متى نصر الله

“Do you think that you shall waltz into the Paradise without such trials as those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with poverty and disease and they were shaken such that the Messenger and those who believed that were with him cried out, ‘When will the Help of God come?’” [Q: 2:214]

As we summarized, being tested is a part of life and how we react to those tests, how we react to God for being tested will determine the results of our test. This is all said to help understand and inculcate the proper adab or etiquette towards God. (continue reading here…)