Brothers and sisters! The topic of my khutba today is a question that each one of us should be asking ourselves, and that is: “Are we good Muslims?” Allah tells us in the Qur’an:
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا
“Today I have perfected your deen for you and completed My blessing upon you and I am pleased with Islam as a deen for you.” (al-Ma’idah, 5:3). The Arabic word deen means way of life. Allah also says:
وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَن يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
“If anyone desires anything other than Islam as a deen, it will not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter, he will be among the losers.” (Aal “Imran, 3:85)
Allah has adopted this universal declaration because the guidance of Islam is universal, irrespective of time and space, and the only way to show a man his true submission to Allah. All commandments and prohibitions, the do’s and don’ts in Islam are meant for the benefit of the entire humankind.
It is generally misunderstood that religion is something which means following a set of rituals, and has nothing to do with this worldly life. Many people even if they do not say it, at least confirm it by their actions. This concept of religion is not in line with the teachings of Islam and is adopted from other religions where the church and state, or in other words, religion and the worldly life are two separate things. That is the reason why some believers, in spite of their faith, are involved in acts which are clearly against what Islam teaches.
For example, the accumulation of wealth by illegal means is strictly forbidden in Islam. However, bribery seems to be accepted even within many Muslim majority countries. Similarly, excessive greed for wealth, showing off, arrogance, following vain desires, telling lies, deception, contradiction between speech and actions, oppression, injustice….etc are some of the common evils found even in Muslim societies. We are told:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً
“O you who believe! Enter into Islam completely.” (al-Baqarah, 2:208)
Islam means total submission to the will of Allah. This means that once a person has entered into Islam, then he is not free to do anything he likes, but he has to do it in accordance with the guidance provided by the Quran and the Sunnah. If he does not do so and continues to follow his vain desires, and the footsteps of Satan, then despite his apparent declaration of faith, he is simply denying the message of Allah, at least by his actions.
Islam is a complete system of life which governs the social, moral, legal, financial, political, administrative, and all other aspects of this worldly life in addition to the prescribed modes of worship, i.e. Salat Siyam, Zakat and Hajj, and it teaches us how to live and prosper in this world.
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَآمَنُوا بِمَا نُزِّلَ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَهُوَ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ كَفَّرَ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَأَصْلَحَ بَالَهُمْ
“As for those who believe and do good deeds and believe in what has been revealed to Muhammad and it is the truth from their Lord – He will remove their sins from them and set their condition right.” (Muhammad, 47:2). At another place in Qur’an, Allah tells the believers:
وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ
“Do not be weak, and do not grieve, for you will have the upper hand, if you are believers.” (Aal ‘Imran, 3:139).
Allah promises the Muslims that they will remain on top in the world provided that they are true in faith. However, in spite of about 1.8 billion Muslims throughout the world, which is about 25% of the world population, the Islamic civilization for many centuries now is not the dominant civilization as it used to be for more than one thousand years.
Allah’s words being true, the only conclusion which can be drawn is that in spite of our apparent belief in Him, Allah does not consider us worthy as of now, and past several centuries to be given the leadership role of managing the earth. Allah has already warned the believers of this situation by saying:
وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوْا يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُم
“If you turn away, He will replace you with a people other than yourselves and they will not be like you.” (Muhammad, 47:38)
We see that many of the values and qualities of social life, as desired by Allah in the Qur’an, have been adopted by the non-believers and so, they are getting the benefit and reward of it, and many Muslims who do not generally care about these orders as defined by Allah, are facing problems worldwide despite their faith. So, the plight of Muslims is certainly a warning and punishment for not following the orders of Allah, believing the Qur’an only partly and not acting upon a good part of its message.
What then is the message of the Qur’an? Anyone who reads the Qur’an with a view to understand it can easily conclude that Islam is a combination of faith and righteous deeds. That is why in numerous verses of the Qur’an, in addition to faith, entry into Paradise is linked with or conditional upon performance of righteous deeds.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ كَانَتْ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتُ الْفِرْدَوْسِ نُزُلًا
“Those who believe and do good works shall have gardens of Paradise for hospitality.” (al-Kahf, 18:107)
وَمَن يَأْتِهِ مُؤْمِنًا قَدْ عَمِلَ الصَّالِحَاتِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمُ الدَّرَجَاتُ الْعُلَىٰ
“But he who comes to Him as a believer, having done good deeds, shall be exalted to the highest ranks” (Ta Ha, 20:75)
After reading such verses, if one believes that the righteous deeds mean just the four obligations, i.e. Salat, Fasting, Zakat and Hajj, then that person is neglecting or at least giving less importance to a large number of other commandments which control the whole life of the believers. The common man either remains unaware of these commandments, or even if he knows them, he never attempts to follow them. Just see how many Muslims know and follow this instruction given in the Qur’an:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ بِالْقِسْطِ شُهَدَاءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ الْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ
“O believers! Stand firm for justice as witnesses for Allah even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or close relatives.” (an-Nisa’, 4:135).
However, it is a common observation that persons tell lies and deceive others for a little benefit, and spend a lot of their time and energy in accumulating and hoarding wealth. Similarly, there are many other aspects of our social life which can be quoted and compared with the Qur’anic orders.
Generally, Muslims, do not care to get guidance from the Qur’an in their social life, and follow their vain desires thinking that such actions only relate to their worldly life. Let us see what Allah has said about following vain desires. He has already warned us in the Qur’an by saying:
أَفَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ
“Did you see the one who has made his own vain desire as his God.” (al-Jathiyah, 45:23). How a person can remain a true believer in the sight of Allah if he keeps on making gods by following his own vain desires?
Brothers and sisters! The importance of righteous deeds along with the Faith can be described by the example of a building whose foundations are kept on five things, i.e. Testimony of faith, Salat, Fasting, Zakat and Hajj, and the other righteous deeds constitute the walls and roof of the building which will protect us from the undesirable environment of sins and evils around us.
Obviously, no building can be constructed without a foundation, and that is why for the acceptance of our righteous deeds and to get the pleasure of Allah, the Faith, one of the foundations, is made absolutely compulsory. However, at the same time, it is quite illogical and absurd to believe that just making the foundations without making the building itself is enough to protect us. One can only be protected when he makes the foundation and then builds the walls and roof of the righteous deeds. So, adopting the Qur’an partly in Faith and leaving all other aspects is simply misleading. According to the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), on the Day of Judgment, will say to Allah:
“O Lord, my people had abandoned the Qur’an.” (Al-Furqan, 25:30)
Of course, in the above verse the Muslims who believe in the Qur’an are referred to, as the Prophet (PBUH) will say “my people” who have restricted the orders of the Qur’an to the four obligatory deeds, as mentioned above, and have practically abandoned all other orders.
So, when Allah has given so much importance to the righteous deeds, one must know what other deeds are which Allah wants us to do, and what the wrong deeds are which Allah prohibits us from.
In going over the list of Do’s and Don’ts mentioned in the Qur’an, one can easily judge how much he is following the orders of Allah, and how much he is disobeying Him.
