Friday Sermon by: Rashad Khalifa, Imam of Masjid Tucson

Summary:

In this Friday sermon, Rashad Khalifa explains that God’s kingdom brings perfect happiness while Satan’s kingdom is plagued with problems, and that we can join God’s kingdom right now through sincere repentance and by following the commandments, leading the congregation in a covenant with God. He then speaks of God’s mercy, seen in the 40-year age of accountability and the law of equivalence, and shows that God never commanded Abraham to kill his son.

Video Transcript:

We praise God, and we bear witness that there is only one God, Allah. I want to talk today about the whole idea behind our existence here. It is very important to define our goals. The distinction between God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom is the whole idea in this world. We read in the prayer that God is “Maliki yawmid-deen”: God is the Master of the Day of Judgment, the eternal Day of Judgment.

And it is because God has given permission to Satan to set up a kingdom in this tiny, tiny speck in God’s dominion, the planet Earth, to show him that he is not competent to be a god besides God, which is the thought that crossed his mind. So the whole idea is that this is a test for Satan, to show that in God’s kingdom there is perfect happiness (and by perfect happiness I mean perfect health, perfect wealth, perfect joy), while Satan’s kingdom is plagued with problems. So this is what I want you to always remember: the whole idea is the distinction between God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom. God’s kingdom has no problems, once you pass all the required tests and come to this point of perfection, when you are in God’s kingdom. And Satan’s kingdom is plagued with problems.

Our soul grows and develops, and this constitutes the secret of perfect happiness in this world. As you see on the wall there, that’s the theme of the new translation: the secret of happiness in this world is a fed, nourished soul. You ate breakfast today, or lunch, or a snack. You ate something today; you gave your body something today. And the people who did not feed their soul have a starving soul, without feeling the pain. The pain will show up all at once, when the separation happens between the body and the soul. Right now the soul is obscured by the body, and the pangs of starvation and pain and hunger are not felt. They are felt later on, when it is too late, when it is eternal, and when it is called Hell.

So the whole idea is setting up a distinction between God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom. How do we join God’s kingdom? We have to do the things that are ordered by God. We have to follow the commandments and abstain from the prohibitions. It’s very simple. It’s listed in the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Final Testament, the Quran.

You remember the famous statement in the New Testament, when somebody went to Jesus and asked him, “How do I attain salvation?” And Jesus said, “Follow the commandments.” A very simple instruction. And now the commandments are listed in detail, with a built-in proof telling you: this is from God; this is what you should do for your own good, and this is what you should not do for your own good. This is how you join God’s kingdom. If you don’t, you’ll have a starving soul, a shrunk, weak, unnourished soul that cannot be happy, no matter how much the body achieves of money or fame or success, whatever.

We can join God’s kingdom any time we want to. It’s wide open, and you can join it right now, in order to guarantee this perfect happiness, to guarantee success in this world, with no problems, no headaches, no diseases. We can do this any time; anybody can do this any time. And after you join, for a while, there is a period when you may step out of God’s kingdom. And then God pinches you, if He loves you, if He cares about you, and you come running right back to God’s kingdom. But as long as you’re inside God’s kingdom, there is perfect happiness.

You will be in God’s kingdom only if you know God, recognize God, believe in God as He is. Mainly, the most important point is that He’s doing everything, that everything is done in accordance with His will. It boils down to this statement: God is doing everything. It is much too complicated for most people to understand, but you must know that. If you know God, you will know that He’s doing everything. Then nobody will bother you. Your supervisor at work will not bother you, because he’s not doing anything. And you look at him, whether he’s promoting you or reprimanding you, as God’s work. And if you’re perfectly in God’s kingdom, you know that whatever is happening is for your own good. You’ll understand it, and you will be perfectly happy.

So we can join God’s kingdom right now, through something that’s called repentance. You can make a pledge right now that you will join God’s kingdom, that you will be firmly in God’s kingdom, that you will follow His commandments, not because you’re doing Him a favor, but because you are doing yourself a favor. You can pledge to join God’s kingdom right now by doing the five prayers, because you need to feed your soul.

The Quran makes a very important point about showing off. Some people may pray because they’re showing off, or some people may not pray because of peer pressure; they’re embarrassed to pray in front of their friends. What this person is doing is cheating himself. It’s exactly like continuously eating no-calorie food for the body. If you eat no-calorie food exclusively, you cannot live; your body will die. And the same goes for the soul. We cannot cheat ourselves by showing off, or by not praying because of peer pressure, because we are embarrassed in front of our friends. You will never be too embarrassed to eat lunch or dinner or breakfast. So your body is getting its rights fully, but not the soul, if you are affected by peer pressure or showing off.

So when I say “repent” now, I want all of us collectively to join God’s kingdom, to pledge to be in God’s kingdom for our own good. You want to pledge that you will never tell a lie, that you will never sin, and you mean it, as of now: that you will be in God’s kingdom; that you’ll carry out the five nourishing meals for your soul; that you will follow the commandments in the Quran; that you are going to fast the month of Ramadan, which comes on April 17, by the way (you must be ready as of now); that you will not backbite anybody; that you will not hurt anyone, unless they are fighting you in the cause of God, which doesn’t happen here; this is a free land. That you will simply follow the commandments. And you make this solemn pledge now.

There is a commandment in the Quran that says, “Ya ayyuhal-lazeena amanu”: O you who believe (this is directed to those who believe), “tubu ilallah”: repent to God, meaning enter into a covenant with God, “tawbatan nasuha,” which means an irrevocable repentance. Irrevocable. So you mean it, as you repent now and as you pledge now to enter God’s kingdom and attain perfect happiness. And God will believe you; He will take your word for it. When you make a covenant, He will accept the covenant. And God says in the Quran, “You carry out your part of the covenant, and I will carry out My part of the covenant,” which is this: the perfect happiness. So we’re now going to collectively enter into a covenant with God: that we will repent, that as of now there will be no sin, that you’re going to be a perfect human being. And then you’re going to keep your part of the covenant.

We praise God, and we bear witness that there is no other god besides Him. Congratulations. We probably shook the galaxy, just this group of us, pledging, entering into a covenant with God. And God accepts you with open arms.

As we recite Al-Fatiha in the prayers, we say, “Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim… Al-Rahman Al-Rahim,” the Most Gracious, Most Merciful. And God’s mercy is beyond our imagination. God is merciful beyond our imagination, and I feel this a lot in discovering the Quran. For example, when we learn that Allah, may He be glorified, gives the human being 40 years to make up his or her mind (40 years of research, looking around, studying, and then deciding), people say, “No, what do you mean, 40 years? That’s too long.” Because people are mean; they are not as merciful as God. And many people, when I tell them that a person who dies at the age of 35, and didn’t pray, didn’t fast, didn’t do anything, is going to Heaven, say, “No, send him to Hell. Why does he go to Heaven?” You know, God is merciful beyond our widest imagination. And God decided that He wants to give us 40 years to look around and study. And thank God, you know, thinking of myself and many of my friends, who barely made it before the 40 years were up. God is merciful, because we would be in deep trouble if it were shorter than 40 years.

There’s a law in the Quran, the law of equivalence, the law of qisas, which is detailed in the Quran. It goes beyond what was dictated in the Torah, and it says, “the male for the male, the female for the female, the slave for the slave, the free for the free.” And this restricts capital punishment, and it is followed by a recommendation to substitute compensation for capital punishment.

But when I ask people, even the gentlest and kindest of friends, “A male killed a female; what is the punishment?” they say, “Kill him!” Why? God says the male for the male, the female for the female. Where do you get the male for the female? I say, “A female killed a male. What is the punishment for this murder?” They say, “Kill her! Kill her!” Why? I mean, look at the law. But when I discuss it with them and they look at the Quran, they see that God’s mercy is there, and that we cannot violate these laws. We are mean. God’s mercy is beyond our widest imagination.

This verse, “the male for the male, the female for the female,” and so on, is followed at the end of the verse by “anyone who transgresses after this,” which indicates that this is a new law, “will suffer a painful retribution.” So it is very clear in the verse, and everyone who discussed this matter with me finally agreed with the Quran. They could see God’s mercy there: the verse leans favorably towards compensation rather than capital punishment. So God’s mercy, Al-Rahman Al-Rahim, is beyond our imagination.

I’m going to go into another subject now, and this is: how do you act on behalf of your friends? You have a very dear friend, and somebody says something unkind about your friend. What do you do? Do you just sit and take it, or do you defend your friend? If you know that your friend is not a cheat, for example, and somebody tells you that this friend of yours is a cheat, you will become upset on behalf of your friend, and you will defend your friend. You say, “No, he’s not a cheat.”

So, I come from a background with a lot of garbage that I must get rid of. We all do, and God teaches us through examples. One brother, Dr. Mansour, mentioned in one Khutbah the thing that we all came from; we all believed this at one time: that God ordered Abraham to kill his son, his only son. We learned from our research, looking at the Quran in detail, that the Quran never says that God ordered Abraham to kill his son. There is a law in the Quran that God does not command vice: “Inna Allaha la ya’muru bil-fahsha’.” This is a rule. And knowing this about God’s mercy, do you think He would tell somebody, “Go kill your son, your only son”?

You know, I expected many of us to go to Dr. Mansour, for example, and say, “We studied and did research; we looked in the Quran, and we discovered that God never told Abraham to kill his son.” You must stand up for your friend. God wants solid friends, who will not accept any statement that contradicts God’s qualities.

If somebody accuses you of being a cheat, and you are in a position of power (you are forming a cabinet, a government, for example, or you are the president of some company, chairman of the board or something), and you know that this person, even though he or she loves you, wrongly thinks that you are a cheat, how will you act towards this person? If you think of God that He commanded somebody to kill his son, a vicious, merciless command, how will He feel about you on the Day of Judgment, if you feel that way?

I discussed the matter with Dr. Mansour, and we looked in the Quran, and he said, “That’s right.” He read the verses, and it said, “I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you.” I said, “That’s right. God didn’t order Abraham to kill his son. It doesn’t say that anywhere in the Quran. He believed his dream, if you look at it.” But you see what they put in our heads as we were growing up, all of us. It comes from some distortions in the Bible, that God ordered Abraham, “Take your son and kill him.” And it affected all of us, so we have to look in the Quran and derive our information from the Quran. Had God ordered Abraham to kill his son, He would tell us. But He wouldn’t, because God laid down the rule: He does not command fahsha’, vice, gross matters. God would not be afraid to tell us if He did do that. I would accept it if He did, but He didn’t. God’s mercy is beyond our widest dreams.

Abraham thought that he received a command from God in that dream. But you see, the crime is magnified, because they tell us that the dream of a prophet is the truth, which makes them not human. I mean, it turns into idolization of the prophets. So it’s a gross crime from many, many angles.

There are a few other things that I need to say about this. Let me see if I remember. I know there’s something that I’m forgetting to say, so maybe I’ll remember it in the prayer. It has to do with Abraham thinking that he was killing his son. So he went ahead, and God intervened. It’s exactly the other way around, contrary to what most people believe. God only intervened to save Ishmael, Abraham’s son. So not only did He not order Abraham to kill his son, He intervened to save the son, because Abraham was a sincere believer. He was in God’s kingdom, and God would not let him… God will not allow you to fall and sin. God will not allow you to do something wrong when you are in His kingdom. He will not let you do it. And you made the pledge; you are in God’s kingdom.