Islamic center of Tucson
In the Name of Allah the most Gracious the most Merciful
All praise be to Allah and peace and blessing to his messenger, our Prophet Muhammad.
Dear Muslim brothers and sisters
Our khutba today will be entitled 'holding firm unto the rope of Allah, and keeping away from division'. Allah says: {Believers, have fear of God as you should and die only as Muslims (having submitted to the will of God), all of you united hold fast to the rope of God}}
Albukhari narrated that Abd Allah said 'the Prophet said 'to have fear of Allah as you should means to obey him and never disobey him, to mention his name and never forget to, and to thank him and never be unthankful to him'. Annas said that 'a servant of Allah never fear him as he should unless he holds his tongue (from saying bad things).
Ibn Abbas said: it is to refrain from disobeying him for a blink of an eye, and the location of Taqua is the heart.
Oh, servants of Allah you should know that God orders us to love each other, which is an outcome of good character. And He forbids us to be divided because if we were divided we would be destroyed, which happens as a result of bad manners. Unity is strength and unity is safety, and Allah help united people'. Ibn Almubarak says 'unity is the rope of Allah so hold to it… hold to the firmest handle. {do not be disunited} following your different interests and desires and be brothers in the religion of Allah. That will prevent us from conflicting with one another. Allah says { remember the favor of Allah on you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts so by His favor you became brethren}.
Disagreement is always possible as long as the fundamentals are not concerned. Disagreement can happen because of different interpretations of the texts. The companions of the Prophet would disagree about some issues but they loved each other. Disagreement is forbidden when it leads to conflicts, whereas it should not affect love toward one another.
We should be united, love each other and be sincere in our intentions. Disagreement should not lead to malice and hate of others, but we should seek a justification for one another when we disagree about issues that are not related to the principles of Islam.
Imam Muslim reported that Abu Hurayra narrated 'the Prophet said: Allah desire three and hates three for you. He desires for you to believe in Him without associating any partners with him, to hold fast by his covenant and not to be disunited. And he hates for you to ask too much, to waste your money….
{ O you who believe! obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those in authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to Allah and the Apostle, if you believe in Allah and the last day; this is better and very good in the end}
Allah made it obligatory for us to hold by Qura'n and Sunnah and to ask the people of knowledge, who are the scholars, when we disagree. Allah asked all of us to believe in Quran and Sunnah and to do according to them, which will unite us. He ordered us not to be disunited the way the people of the book were disunited. {remember the favor of Allah on you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts so by His favor you became brethren; and you were on the brink of a pit of fire, then He saved you from it} Allah asked us to remember his favors the best of which is Islam. He also asked us to follow his messenger to erase rivalry amongst us and replace it with love (this aya is about Aus and Khazraj) and the meaning of {so by his favor you became brethren} is that you became brothers thanks to the religion of Islam.
Allah says { No good is there in much of their private conversation, except for those who enjoin charity or that which is right or conciliation between people} this aya includes honor, money, and everything that Muslims can disagree about. Everything a person says can be against him unless it is to a remembrance of Allah , forbidding an evil act, or calling for good deeds. But if anything is being said just for showing off there will be no reward for that. Umar sent a message to Abu Musa Alasha'ari saying 'ask the two sides (in a law suit) to conciliate because the judicial decision will bring about hatred.
