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Friday Sermon: How To Strengthen Ummah’s Brotherhood, By Imam Murtadha Gusau

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5 days ago

January 31, 2025

Hammed Tajudeen

Friday Sermon: How To Strengthen Ummah's Brotherhood, By Imam Murtadha Gusau

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

All thanks and praise are due to Allah, from Whom we seek help and forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and the evil consequences of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides will never be misled and whoever strays from Him will never find a guide. I bear witness that there is no god except Allah. Likewise, I bear witness that Muhammad is the servant and the
Messenger of Allah.

Dear brothers and sisters! Undoubtedly the Muslim Ummah is suffering from many problems. Analyses for these problems are many. However, as Muslims, we should depend on the texts of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Why do Muslims hate, attack, fight and kill one another? Islamic scholars attack Islamic scholars, Nigerians attack and fight against Nigerians, Palestinians fight against Palestinians, Lebanese against Lebanese, Somalis against Somalis, Sudanese against Sudanese, Yemenis against Yemenis, etc. There is a verse in the noble Qur’an that provides the reason. The Qur’an declares:

“…They forgot a good part of the Message that was sent to them: so We estranged them, with enmity and hatred between the one and the other, to the Day of Judgment.”

So they forgot part of the message. They do not follow the whole of Islam. They seek official positions, fame and high status. They are interested in worldly pleasures, wealth and property. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) warned Muslims in his last speech (Farewell speech) against such fighting and attack, saying:

“Don’t be unbelievers (kuffar) after me by fighting against one another.”

Here, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) described enmity, hatred and fighting amongst Muslims as a kind of unbelieve (kufr).

Dear brothers and sisters! Another analysis is that human nature usually contradicts divine obligations. For example, human nature always prefers to keep money whilst the divine obligation is to spend it. Human nature always encourages one to look lustfully at women whilst the divine obligation encourages one to lower his gaze, and so on. One must face the human self that encourages that which is prohibited. The proof of this in the Qur’an is as follows:

“And for such as had entertained the fear of standing before their Lord’s (tribunal) and had restrained (their) soul from lower Desires, Their Abode will be the Garden (Jannah/paradise).” [Surah An-Nazi’at]

The reward for facing that is paradise. The divine obligations are collective whilst human nature is individual. By acting according to the former and cooperating with you brothers, you will be the winner. By following your desires at the expense of your brothers because of weak faith, you will be the loser. Be gentle with your Muslim brothers and sisters, do not be harsh or severe. Allah guided the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) to do that:

“It is part of the Mercy of Allah that you do deal gently with them. Were you severe or harshhearted, they would have broken away from you: so pass over (their faults), and ask for (Allah’s) forgiveness for them; and consult them in affairs (of moment).” [Surah Ali Imran]

Dear brothers and sisters! There are many challenges facing the Muslim Ummah. The most serious challenge is material relations amongst people. Nowadays, some people sacrifice everything, even their religion, for the sake of wealth, fame or position. Muslims today are in urgent need of the moral teachings of Islam. The
Muslim Ummah urgently needs to know and learn the value of Islamic brotherhood, how to treat one another, how to understand one another, how to excuse one another, how to forgive one another, how to respect one another and how to make dialogue with one another for the sake of Allah and Muslim unity; not for the sake of any position, fame or wealth. I mentioned in the previous sermons that the disasters afflicting the Muslim Ummah and the wars they fought and defeated through history were because of differences, hatred and enmity amongst themselves.

The Qur’an emphasises the importance of Islamic brotherhood and the importance of mutual love
for the sake of Allah, Who said:

“The Believers are but a single Brotherhood: so make peace and reconciliation between your two (contending) brothers…”

The Islamic brotherhood is a favour from Allah as mentioned in Surah Ali-Imran:

“And hold fast, all together, by the Rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided amongst yourselves and remember with gratitude Allah’s favour on you; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, you became brethren.” [Surah Ali-Imran]

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) also focused on the importance of brotherhood and mutual love. He said:

“Whoever gives for the sake of Allah, prevents for sake of Allah, loves for the sake of Allah or hates for the sake of Allah fulfils his faith.” [Collected by At-Tirmidhi]

He said also:

“The Muslim is a brother to another Muslim. Do not be unjust to him, abandoning him to the enemy…etc.”

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) also emphasised the rights of a Muslim over another Muslim.

There are many ways to make this love grow and develop. The first is to love for the sake of Allah. The second is to remove rancour, enmity, hatred, envy, hostility, ill-will and to think good of your brothers as the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) mentioned in the Hadith. Thirdly, do not boycott your brother for more than three days as the
Prophet (Peace be upon him) mentioned in the Hadith. Fourthly, offer sincere advice. Fifthly, know the value and bounty of brotherhood. Sixthly, be clear and honest. Seventhly, be forgiving and tolerant. Ninthly, recognise the etiquette of dialogue. All these means are quoted from authentic Hadiths of
the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

Dear brothers and sisters! What are the fruits of the Islamic brotherhood and love for the sake of Allah? The most important fruit is the unity and coherence of the Muslim Ummah. As a result,
no one can corrupt relations amongst the Muslim Ummah. Among other fruits is to feel that you are not facing life’s challenges alone. So, Islamic brotherhood is part of faith (Iman). You have to believe in that.

Dear brothers and sisters! Muslims have to understand that the most destructive and dangerous thing for them is to differ or fight amongst themselves as we have seen. We must return to the teachings of Islam and of our Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) by strengthening the relations amongst ourselves, supporting, forgiving and loving one another. Wallahi this is the way to a successful Ummah.

Maintaining the status quo of Muslims requires forgiveness, agreement, co-operation and closeness.

Respected brothers and sisters! Finally, I will close my today’s sermon with the saying of our great Sheikh, Muhammad Salih Al-Uthaimin, may Allah have mercy upon him, where he said:

“Verily, Al-Hasad (Envy, Jealousy) is an awful trait which is unfortunately found mostly between the Islamic scholars and (between) the students of knowledge. It is (also) found between the businessmen and the leaders with regards to each other. Everyone who possesses an occupation is envied by his colleague in it. But sadly, the Hasad (envy) between the Islamic Scholars and between the students of knowledge is more severe while they should have been the first (of the people) and the most worthy that they, the people of knowledge, be furthest of the people from Hasad and to be the closest (of the people) towards [having] the best of characters.” [See The Book of Knowledge, page 54, print: Darul Minhaj]

I ask Allah the Almighty to reform all affairs of Muslims, to provide us with strong will to change our situation for the better and to provide the entire Muslim Ummah with glory, strength and unity. I ask Him also to accept our deeds, prayers, and supplications.

I also pray, may the Almighty Allah remove all our tears, all our worries, all our sorrows and all our pains and replace them with complete happiness, complete smiles and complete good health, ameen Ya Mujib!

All perfect praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad (Peace be upon him), and upon his family, his Companions and his true followers.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of: Nagazi-Uvete Jumu’ah Mosque; and Late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okene Mosque, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com; or +2348038289761.

This Friday sermon (Jumu’ah Khutbah) was prepared for delivery today Friday, Sha’aban 01, 1446 AH (January 31, 2025).