[0:00]The worst thing you can do to your enemies is not show them that you were impacted by them. That's the worst thing you can do. They hate it. With, they'll keep throwing whatever on you, you keep washing it off and going back. They throw it, wash it off and they'll start thinking, my attacks have no effect. I called him Majnoon, it didn't work. Then I called him Saahir, it didn't work. I told him Kazzab, it didn't work. What do I I call him Shatir, it didn't work. What do I do now?
[0:39]Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.
[3:02]In today's khutbah, we'd like to contemplate only two small ayaat of Surah Al-Muddathir. And those are towards the end of the ayah that I recited. But in order to understand them, we have to get some introduction to what's happening in the beginning of these surah, that this surah, because these are these are ayat number four and five, and there are three ayat before and it's a continuous conversation. And so, just like in any speech, if you take the middle of the speech, you won't understand the purpose until you connect it to the beginning of the speech. There's a continuity. To start that off very briefly, the word daththar in Arabic is used in covering something. So when the sword gets covered with rust because it was out in the rain, they say daththara as-saif. The sword got covered with with rust. When a tree, they describe a tree, they say daththarat ash-shajar. Or daththarat ash-shajara. When a tree is covered with leaves, you don't even see any branches anymore. Then that covering is called daththar also. When a house is covered in dust, the Arabs used to have sandstorms. So the whole house is covered in sand. You can barely see any roof anymore. This is daththar al-bayt. From this word we get a description of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, yaa ayyuhal muddaththir. That same word is used to describe the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. This word was used normally when someone went out in Arabia, they went out in the desert, they're covered in clothes, but because of the sand and the wind and the weather, they are covered in dust, they're covered in dirt, they're covered in the weather, they're covered in sweat. And then they come home and they have to detox, they have to clean up. So this word is very loaded. It's describing not just the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam covered up in a blanket, because diththar is also a blanket. It's also describing that when the Prophet goes out Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to perform his mission, that he is just like when you go out and you see extreme weather, in the work of dawah, in the work of standing up for the message of Islam, you you experience extreme weather. You experience the dirty language of people. You experience the way they look at you, the way you the way they push you away, the way they resist you. You're constantly met with different kinds of negativity. Just like when you go out in the desert, the sun never becomes calm. It's constantly hitting you. Or the sandstorm is constantly hitting you. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has to perform this mission, but he's constantly being hit. And he's covered, he's completely covered in these attacks. So the word muddaththir isn't just about him being covered, is also he's actually being told, you're going to be constantly covered in attacks. And just like the weather and the dust and the sand, it affects you. It it takes a toll on you. The same way it's going to take a toll on the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now, what happens if there's too much wind, too much rain, too much snow, too much sand and somebody runs inside? Because I I don't want to be out in the sun. It's too extreme. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is told, qum fa anzir, go stand up and warn. Go to the opposite. The weather is really bad. Normally, when you say the weather is really bad, it means go inside. The Prophet is being told Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the weather is really bad, go outside. Go, qum fa anzir, go stand up and warn. Get up and warn. You have to you have to face this. You have to experience even more of it. And why should you do this? Wa rabbaka fa kabbir. Qum fa anzir, wa rabbaka fa kabbir. Declare the greatness of your Rabb. Only your Rabb. My Rabb is too great for me to stay at home, be afraid of the weather. I have to go face the outside. And when he goes outside, even though this is a very heavy ayah by itself, just a few things about that. When you, you know, sometimes you're speaking to someone who's making fun of Islam. The Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is speaking speaking to someone who's calling him insane, calling him a liar, calling him a poet, et cetera. When you and I have a disagreement, it's easy that I will become upset. You'll become upset. And when you become upset, you start getting a little angry. And then your voice changes. Your voice changes. And because now you're not just debating ideas, now you are clashing personalities. The clash of ideas is something else. The clash of personalities is something else. When you start clashing personalities, I need to feel victorious. I need to raise my voice or I need to give you an argument that will shut you up. It will put you in your place and then I will feel bigger. Your argument made me feel smaller. Now I have to win the argument and then I will feel bigger. Rasulullah is told Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you have the most powerful argument that ever existed. You have the Quran. And you will always win the argument. No matter how much they try to attack you, their attack is just like dust. You can wash it off. There's nothing. It won't make you bleed. And their their attacks, they have no real attack that can penetrate your defenses, but you have the word of Allah, so you will always win. But that victory should never become a victory of your personal self, your nafs. It will always be to make the greatness of Allah happen. wa rabbaka fa kabbir. This is not about you, this is about your Rabb. Separate your personality from the message. From the message. You know, sometimes you imagine there's a debate happening between a Muslim and a non and an atheist, for example, there's a debate happening. And there's a huge crowd of Muslims. And the atheist speaks and everybody's booing him. And then the Muslim speaks and gives a counter argument and everybody says, Takbir, Allahu Akbar. And the speaker smiles. For that one second, this was not about Allah. This was about his victory. That's not okay. This is wa rabbaka fa kabbir. Now, after teaching the Prophet all of this, then Allah says. He says to Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, wa thiyabaka fa tahhir. Pure keep purifying your clothes. Keep purifying your clothes. Obviously, the image was when you go outside and you get hit with the dirt and the dust and things get dirty and you come and you have to purify your clothes. But now we know the ayah is saying a lot more than just purify your clothes. This is actually imagery to describe a concept. And the concept is, every time you engage in this work, you will meet two two or two kinds of people. When you when the Prophet does dawah, they will meet two kinds of people. One kind of people will oppose him, the other kind of people will agree with him. Right? And every time someone opposes you, it affects you. And someone every time someone agrees with you, it also affects you. It affects you, right? So I'm here giving a khutbah, you're listening to me. You're you're agreeing with me. You might come and say salam to me. I'm a human being, it will affect me. One of you gets up and starts yelling at me, starts throwing your, you know, finds a shoe out there and starts throwing it at me, it'll affect me. I'm a human being. The good will affect me and the bad will affect me. But this dawah, this dawah is not public speaking. This dawah is not a social exercise. This dawah is an act of ibadah. It's an act of ibadah. And in ibadah, you have to make wudu, and you have to stand in front of Allah, and if there's a million people praying behind you, or nobody's praying behind you, it doesn't affect your salah. Because it's only for Allah. Because you purified yourself only for Allah. You purified yourself from thinking about people. Even in the work of dawah, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is being told, once you come from the outside and you've you've dealing with people all this time, you have to make sure you undo the effect of your opposition and you undo the effect of your followers. You're not doing this for your followers and you're not doing this against your opposition, you're only doing this for Allah. Keep purifying yourself. Keep purifying your clothes. Your clothes will keep getting the effect of the people and you'll keep washing the effect of the people off. wa thiyabaka fa tahhir. wa thiyabaka fa tahhir. It's so incredible. That the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is being given a lesson that he he doesn't even need. We're the ones who need it. But the Prophet is being given this lesson Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, so we learn that even if Allah is telling him that the Prophet can be affected and he has to purify his clothes. He has to let go of the effect of people. And I and you and everyone else has to let go of the effect of people. We have to cleanse ourselves. We have to think about ourselves. This is wa thiyabaka fa tahhir. But then the ayah that I really want to focus on today with you and take some time to explain, wa rrujza fahjur. Rujz in Arabic, ar-rajaz, naqatun rajza, they they used to have a camel that is sitting for a long time. And when you sit for a long time, sometimes your muscles go to sleep. And so when you're when the camel is trying to get up, it's not able to get up. Its muscles are locked up. And it takes two, three times before it can actually stand up. This was called naqatun rajza. Naqatun rajza. Meaning it felt really its legs felt heavy, it couldn't move and finally it was able to move. This is the same word that's used for example, qadarun rajz, or rajaz. When you have a a suitcase or a bag or a container, but it's too heavy. You try to lift it and it's it's you can barely lift it, then it's extreme heaviness is called rajaz. Rajaz. So it's this word has to do with heavy weight. It has to do with what, you know, a doctor might call muscle atrophy. Your muscle stops working properly. You're not able to move or you're not able to walk. This is how it's used. And this is also used when, for example, uh, you know, they used to have these things they put on top of the camel. The dollies they put on top of the camel for the king or the queen or the princess to ride inside, but sometimes it would break and it's falling on one side. So they would hang rocks on the other side, so it gets it gets balanced with a heavy weight. So it's always has to this word always has to do with heavy weight. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is being told, in the previous ayah he was told, purify your clothes. Let go of the influence. Keep cleansing yourself. Which we'll come back to it. Now he's being told that the heavy burdens, the heavy burdens that come, you have to keep letting them go. You have to keep letting them go. You know, you remember, I remember some many years ago someone I used to think he was my friend, he said something very cruel to me. It deeply hurt me. Every time I see him, what do I remember? What he said five years ago? What he said seven years ago? He didn't say it after that. He even said he's sorry. Everything changed. But the burden of those words is still there. It's still there. I can't forget. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is going to go do dawah, Abu Jahl will make fun of him. Abu Lahab will make fun of him. Right? Abu Sufyan will will curse him. There all these things are going to happen in front of him. When he comes the next day and he sees them, he will remember yesterday. You're human. You will remember what you said yesterday. It hurts still. If you remember what they said, if I remember what you said yesterday, will that affect my behavior towards you today? Yes. Will I be as kind with you today? Or am I as motivated to speak to you? Or am I trying to get away from you? Or keep a little bit of distance from you because I know you're dangerous. Your tongue is very sharp. You're not a safe person to be around. I can't trust you. I have to move away from you. But Allah is telling the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, just because these people were cruel with you yesterday and that put a burden on you, you cannot carry that burden today and go back and do that. You will not be able to do it. You will have too much baggage. Literally, too much baggage. You won't be able to do it. You have to keep letting the burden go. You have to let the impurity go. You have to let the burden go. And speak to them as if this is the first time you're speaking to them. Give dawah like it's the first time. This is an extremely high standard Allah set for Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. That he has to deliver this message in a way that, you know, truly it is only and only for Allah. I'll give you a comparison. You're standing in salah, in jama'ah. Yeah? Maghrib began. You stand you join the Imam. And you had a legal problem with somebody and they took you to court, you took them to court. You're fighting in court for five years. And then you realize the person next to you in salah is the guy that took you to court. But salah already started. You know? Now the rest of the salah, I don't know, I don't know if you're doing subhanallah or you're trying to stretch your elbows out a little extra. Get some revenge. But actually, you are in salah, which means if your best friend is next to you or your worst enemy is next to you, makes no difference. Because you're here for Allah and none of that. The court will deal with court when salah is done. But in salah, you're my brother, I'm standing next to you, shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot. And you're going to say to him, in the court, you say, I hope you burn in Jahannam, et cetera. No, no. As-salamu Alaikum wa rahmatullah. As-salamu Alaikum wa rahmatullah. Your personality had to disappear. Your baggage had to be let go, because you're in salah. You can't you can't carry it over. This was the expectation from Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, when he was delivering his message. The ayat aren't just about the purity of our clothes when we make salah and when we make wudu and when we stand in front of Allah. This is about what it means purely to do dawah. Purely. How you have to not be influenced by the praise of people or the attacks of people. How you have to let go of past experiences. This is actually this one place in the Quran, if somebody says, I want to I want to do dawah. I want to call people to Allah. I want to call my family to Allah. I want to call my friends to Allah. I want to start a YouTube channel where I do dawah, et cetera. My advice to them is, study the opening of Surah Al-Muddathir. The Prophet was just starting his mission Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and everything he needed to prepare himself as a Da'ee, as a Da'ee is in Surah Al-Muddathir. Starting with qum fa anzir, wa rabbaka fa kabbir, wa thiyabaka fa tahhir, wa rrujza fahjur. And it keeps going. It actually keeps going. So in these two statements, wa thiyabaka fa tahhir, wa rrujza fahjur, I'll leave you with one more reflection. There are so many more lessons in these few ayat, but we have to be selective in the khutbah, right? So I'll give you one more lesson here. When you're wearing pure clothes, when you wear clean clothes, you know what that means? Imagine you came, yeah, you saw me yesterday, I came in from outside. My clothes were dirty because of the weather. And then you saw me the next day, but my clothes were clean. My clothes were clean. It means that I washed up, I recharged, I refreshed myself, and then I came back. Yeah? If I go out with the same dirty clothes, then you say, man, he still hasn't changed from yesterday. He was very impacted by yesterday and he is still in the same situation. Somebody comes to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and attacks him and insults him and humiliates him, which is a kind of dirtying his clothes. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam cleans his clothes. Comes fresh again. And the one who was attacking him gets frustrated. I thought I made him dirty. I thought I attacked him. Why is he clean again? Why is he acting, why is he looking like nothing happened? Why is he looking his best? The worst thing you can do to your enemies is not show them that you were impacted by them. That's the worst thing you can do. They hate it. With, they'll keep throwing whatever on you, you keep washing it off and going back. They throw it, wash it off and they'll start thinking, my attacks have no effect. I called him Majnoon, it didn't work. Then I called him Saahir, it didn't work. I told him Kazzab, it didn't work. What do I I called him Shatir, it didn't work. What do I do now? He keeps washing it off. He keeps staying clean. Subhanallah. This actually shows you the way we have to carry ourselves. The way I have to carry myself, if I'm a Da'ee, if I'm following the Sunnah of my Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, then just because somebody threw dirt at me, I do not throw dirt back or show that I'm dirty. I actually clean myself up and act like I'm not impacted. I have to develop the strength of that personality, that composure, that I'm not reacting. I'm not yelling and screaming. Anybody from a distance will see someone wearing dirty clothes and someone wearing clean clothes. Yes or no? You can see from a distance, clean clothes, dirty clothes. The same way, when someone is carrying themselves with maturity and somebody else is yelling and screaming and raising their voice. Even if you're 50 ft away, you're seeing it from a distance, you can see which one is acting like an animal and which one's acting like a human being. So even if you didn't see, he didn't hear the dawah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, but you saw all these people yelling and throwing rocks and screaming and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is composed and speaking calmly. You're from a distance, you'll say, man, what is this man saying? He's so calm and everybody else is shaken up. He must have something very powerful to say. And these guys are losing their minds. I want to hear what he has to say. The fact that he can keep his clothes pure, keep his composure, not be impacted by the outside actually makes the dawah even more powerful. wa thiyabaka fa tahhir. And that's why wa rrujza fahjur. The attacks will come, the burden will come. The you will say and again, this is the last reflection of the next ayah, the fifth ayah, wa rrujza fahjur. When you have a lot of burdens, if I'm walking right now, I can walk at a certain speed. If I have a bag, slow me down 1%. If I have a very heavy bag, slow me down 20, 30, 40%. If I have an extremely heavy bag, it might slow me down where I'm barely walking. Because the heavier the burden, the less I can move. Yes? So Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is being told, if you carry the burdens of the pain that has been caused to you, you will not be able to move. You need to let go of these burdens because you have an important mission. Don't live in the past. Don't live in what happened before. Look at everything they did to him. They did to him, to his family, for so many years. Wars, expelling him from his home. Wars, killing his loved ones. And then he's standing in front of them at Fath Makkah. And he lets all of those burdens go and says, there's no harm on you today. He could he could do that. He lived wa rrujza fahjur. We cannot move forward in life if we don't go let go of the burdens of the past. We can't. And especially if we're looking to serve the the beautiful, powerful message of this deen, we cannot do so without internalizing this wisdom that Allah Azza wa Jall has given us.
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