Do We Really Need Each Other?

I have a question. Do we us here in this room right now, not some pie-in-the-sky abstract we. Not the ideal we. Speaking about us right now in this room. Do we need each other? Huh? That's a question. Do we need each other? Does Allah need us? Do we need Allah? Do we need each other? We absolutely need each other. We need each other more than we need our own flesh and blood. We need each other more than we need the air that we breathe and the food that we eat. Because with each other, we could battle hunger and starvation. We could battle famine. We could battle Iblis himself and all of his troops. But, alone, can any of us battle all of these things? Absolutely not.

[Silence]

Our prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam tells us, "The believer to the believer is the analogy of a building. Not just a wall, a whole building. That is complete in its symmetry and geometry. Why, oh messenger of Allah? He says, "Each Each strengthens and holds up the next. Strengthens and holds up the next." Now, this is only if you are planning to go to paradise. If your ultimate goal is to reach paradise, you need your brothers and you don't have enough to just give away or squander. You need every single one of them. However, if your goal is to, you know, live comfortably, just you know, leave me be, leave me with my big screen TV, and leave me with my with my chrome-plated toaster oven and and leave me with my nice fancy car and you know, I don't want to rock the boat. I don't want problems with anybody. Anything that comes up or arises, I just don't want to hear about it. I'll just excuse myself. That kind of thing. Well, then brotherhood might be a little bit difficult to keep up with for that. However, if you are planning to get to paradise and get through the gates of paradise, you need your brothers. You need your sisters and you don't need of them their mistakes. You need of them the best that they can be and the best that they can offer. If we were to say right now, does a person need a mother, need a father in order to survive, in order to live? Not necessarily. As a matter of fact, our prophet Muhammad was was an orphan, right? He had lost both both of his parents. But he turned out how he turned out. Many scholars, some of the greatest scholars, a Shafi was an orphan. Right? However, we need our Muslim brothers and our Muslim sisters. And if our mother and our father are Muslims and our children are Muslim and our siblings are Muslim and our family members are Muslim, then we need them doubly. We need them twice folds. One for their the Islam that is in their heart and two for the rahim and blood that courses through their veins. Listen to this narration. So, Sa'd ibn Malik, do we know who Sa'd ibn Malik is? All of us know Sa'd ibn Malik. I'll I'll use a different name. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. Do we know Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas? Yes. One of the 10 people mubashareen bil Jannah. So, as the Battle of Badr concluded and finished, of course, there are, you know, the fallen troops of the opposing army.

[Arabic recitation]

Came with all this fancy equipment, right? State-of-the-art armor, state-of-the-art swords and spears and And so, you know, for someone who is planning to spend the next decade in combat, these are important tools, and these are very exciting tools. So, Sa'd ibn ibn Malik, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, he found a sword that he really liked. I mean, he really was captivated by this sword. So, he took it, and he raised it, and he said, "Ya Rasul Allah, ij'al hadhihi li." Now, the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam goes way back with Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, even before Islam. And their lineage also also meets. And so, he said, "Please give me this sword. Make it for me." And so, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala sent down the verse. And he had a a bit of a squabble with some other companions over this sword. You know, it was a nice sword, so they were kind of you know, in conflict with each other. They were arguing over this sword. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent down the verse.

[Silence]

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responded to this squabble here. And he said, "They ask you for the spoils of war. They ask you about the spoils of war. They ask you how they will be divided. They ask you for this and that. Tell them the spoils of war belong to Allah and his messenger. Not this to this one and this to the No, all of them belong to Allah and his messenger. Have we settled that? He says, "So obey Allah He says, "So fear Allah. Obey Allah. Revere Allah and correct, make amends. Not just between one another, but get to the core of the issue between each other and weed it out.".

[Silence]

[Arabic recitation]

What I said to you what I said to you that I mean What I said to you mean and make amends with one another, right? Squash your problems with each other. However, what I said to you that I mean to you it means don't just superficially topically resolve issues while they are simmering underneath because the underlying issue has not been corrected or addressed. Rather, get to the root of the issues between you and weed those issues out. Right? There is a big difference between those two statements. If we were if this were a medical issue we would say the difference between between what I said to you what I said to you that I mean to you would be someone who is suffering from a virus or a flu, let's say, and as a result they have a fever. What I said to you what I said to you that I mean to you would be to put and a cool rag and take some, you know, Tylenol or something to get the fever down. That is what I said to you what I said to you that They still have the flu. They still have the virus. They're still sick. But they've remedied the immediate fever. What I said to you what I said to you that I mean to you would literally be to course through the and purged of its underlying illness. That is the difference between these two. Right? We are very good at what uslihu baynakum. We're really good at maybe not really good. We're pretty good at what uslihu baynakum. Right? Topically addressing issues. We wait until brothers are at blows with one another. Then maybe we'll sit them down and we'll try to get them to reconcile and we'll just say, "Okay, guys. You know, you Whatever. Don't worry about it. Just Just shake hands and let's be okay with this." And so they get up and reluctantly shake hands and they leave and then they are from that point on more times than not their relationship is irreparably damaged. And they just don't want to get into it and it's just not worth it. And And this is very similar to the kind of workplace peace that we make with one another. At my workplace, let's say we work in a factory together. I have two factory workers that are conflicting, that are fighting with each other. I don't need them to agree and make peace deeply at the deepest level. I just need them to get along enough to make the factory work. I just need them to get along enough to make the assembly line run. That is a topical addressing of the issue. However, we notice here in this verse that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said yas'alunaka anil anfal. Qulil anfal lillahi wal rasul. So Allah didn't begin with make peace with one another. What did he begin with? Addressing the real the real source of the problem. The source of the problem was this sword. The source of the problem was this and fell these spoils of war. And so, what did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala do? He took it all away. Neither of them got it. And they learned a lesson that when we fight, we all lose. Everyone loses when we fight. And so, this isn't the first time that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam addressed conflict amongst the companions in this way. And sahih al-Imam Muslim, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was it was the last 10 nights of Ramadan. And you know, his hujra was very close to the the minbar and the front of the masjid. Any of us who've been to Medina masjid, we see the the the distance the distance isn't much farther from here to that wall, right? And so, when they would pray together, he would get up and go into his hujra, and the companions would still be there where they prayed, and they would have a conversation, they would talk, they would discuss things, and he could hear them. And so, one night, they were in the last 10 nights, they were discussing a very important issue, and that is which night is going to be Laylatul Qadr. Right? And so, they were discussing this, debating this with one another. Each has his evidence, each arguing his point. And then they started to get personal about it. And they started to get upset with each other. And they started to fight with each other, two of them. And so the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came out and he said, "I knew which night Laylat al-Qadr was going to be this year. And then Allah lifted that knowledge from me. He took it back. Why did he took it take it back? What was the reason he took that knowledge back? It wasn't knowledge, you know, of the legislation. It was knowledge of that particular year. He took it back because of their argument. When they argued, when they disagreed, when there was animosity in their hearts, they were all punished together because the Muslimin are whole. Could you imagine imagine how big of a deal that is. Imagine we were sitting with the the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he would was going to identify for us which night is Laylat al-Qadr. That's some pretty important information, right? What would you do if you knew for a fact Laylat al-Qadr is going to be tomorrow night for a fact? Allah himself has informed us that tomorrow night is Laylat al-Qadr. How valuable would that information be? However, that was taken back. Why? Because of the argument. And so the companions learned a lesson. What was that lesson? When we when we turn on each other, even slightly, immediately we all suffer and there are no winners. We are all losers when we turn on each other. That is the lesson that is learned. Yes, they're asking you about al-anfal. Tell them that al-anfal belong to Allah and his messenger. Don't worry about that. None of you is going to get this. What you were fighting about, it's now been taken away. You're not going to get it. Someone else who had nothing to do with this will eventually get that. And this was before the, , rulings of the division of the spoils of war were was revealed. This is the first major battle. This is the first battle that they had spoils of war. And so, the point here that is is being made is, "Well, that be me come." It is not an option. This verse is not saying, "You know, it's better if you make peace with your brother." That's not what the verse says. It is positively obligatory upon you. And if you do not, and if you make just some superficial, , thing, you know, superficial remedy for the situation with one another, but you don't remedy the, the, the real underlying core issue, this will affect both of you. In the 15th night of Sha'ban, Allah looks upon his creation and forgives every single Muslim except for two. Who knows these two? Two brothers that are mutashahhinan ash-shahna. Right? Two Muslims that are at odds with each other. Allah says, "These two they are not forgiven on this night. Wait until they make peace with each other." How long could that be? Well, if it's until they die, then it's until they die. They missed out. That's gone. And the other one is is who? Huh? A mushrik? A very specific type of mushrik. A sahir. Someone who deals with magic or shirk. There's varying narrations, but these are all involved. On Thursdays and the person's deeds are raised and exhibited to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If two people are at odds with each other, Allah does not accept to see their deeds until they make peace. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that if you boycott if you abandon your Muslim brother for a year you are guilty of shedding his blood. You are guilty of killing him. How guilty is that? It's very guilty. Because this is exactly the kind of things that will break us down make us into bite-size pieces for our enemies to come by and just swallow us up very easily. Right? We needed each other. And the fact that we have each other is a blessing. We don't do this, well, I can find someone else. I can replace him. I can get someone else. I don't need this one. I don't need that one. We need each other. We have to make this work. If we were on a life raft with each other, and it was not the ideal life life raft, and it had holes in it, and it was rickety, we will fix it. We will make it work. That is the situation that we are in. This is not a suggestion in Islam. This is one of the greater obligations upon every Muslim.

[Silence]

I mean. What do you mean? Do you mean the thing we'll go through it the same way?