Second Khutba (TAWHEED)

Second Khutba

We do not ask you for provision.

We provide for you.

And the best end result

is gained by taqwa.

One important way in which knowledge of tawhid directly impinges on our day to day lives is in the whole matter of rizq – provision. Allah tabaraka wa ta'ala is ar-Razzaq – the Provider. He alone continually nourishes and sustains everything in existence – including us. This means that the energy we expend to gain a livelihood, whatever form that may take, is not in reality the cause of our getting what we need. It is Allah who provides for us. It is vital for us, as Muslims, to understand the implications of this.

The culture we live in, and it is now clear that the kuffar have created a system which covers every part of the globe, is completely governed by the economic imperative. As we know, this present of kufr system, which is certainly more wide-spread and dominant than any previous version of kufr in the whole of human history, has gained its hold by the unscrupulous use of usurious financial techniques which have now enmeshed the whole world in a web of banks, markets and financial institutions in which both nations and individuals are trapped in a spiral of unpayable debt. As a direct consequence of this human life everywhere in the world is now basically defined in economic terms and human aspiration in terms of ecomic goals.

Children are taught at school that their career, their future employment, is the only thing in their life that really matters and their whole education is geared towards that end. And the result is that anxiety about employment or lack of it, about income or shortage of it, is what in fact occupies most people's hearts and minds and what forms the subject matter of much of their conversation. And the whole way the kafir system has been able to hold everyone – Muslims as well as non-muslims – in its thrall is by convincing them that their livelihood is entirely dependent on the system as it is set up. It is only the sword of tawhid which can slice through the smothering web and set us free. We simply have to remember that our livelihood is dependent on Allah alone and on nothing else whatsoever. As the ayat I started with makes clear, we do not have to worry about getting what we need, that is Allah's business. What should concern us is our taqwa, our awrenes of and our obedience to our Lord.

At this point I can already hear people saying, 'Yes, but! What about...?" and talking about tethering camels and about not forgetting our portion of the dunya etc. etc. But in my experience this reaction , in the vast majority of cases, is due to the very anxiety we are trying to escape from. I am not saying that we should not work or do what ever is necessary to obtain what we need to feed ourselves and our families. What I am saying is that we must be aware in the very depths of our beings that doing that is not what brings us our provision. Only Allah does that. In fact the truth is the opposite of what most people think. Far from lying back and doing nothing, the people I have known with the deepest knowledge that Allah alone is their provider have been more active in worldly terms than anyone else I can think of.

The difference between those who really know that Allah is their Provider and those who don't is basically a hidden one although it is pretty well bound to make itself manifest at some point. Nevertheless it is what separates the true mumin from someone subject to hidden shirk and its crucial importance to our lives, and indeed to our destinies, is made very clear to us by what happened at the expedition of Hudaybiya. When the call to go came the muminun had no hesitation in dropping everything at a moment's notice and setting off with the Messenger of Allah. But what did those who did not go say? Shaghalatna amwaluna wa ahluna. 'Our wealth and families occupied us.' We should not be too quick to put ourselves with the first group because I have certainly heard many people say, when the call to go out fi sabili'Llah has come: 'I'm afraid I've got to stay and take care of business and look after the family.' And as Allah makes clear a few ayats later the fate of such people is one we should do anything to avoid.

No, our job as Muslims is to worship Allah and to establish His deen; any other project we have at work or at home must be subsidiary to this. If we do it, Allah will take care of our needs as He took care of the needs of all those who preceded us, when they undertook this task. But we will never be able to do this until and unless we really grasp and embody the meaning of la ilaha illa'llah, until and unless we really do come to depend on Allah alone and are able to say hasbunallahu wa ni'ma'l-wakil. 'Allah is enough for us and the best guardian,' from the very bottom of our hearts. But do it we will, by Allah's permission, for He has promised to preserve His deen till the Last Day and I ask Him to make us people whom He chooses for this task, which is the only object truly worthy of human aspiration and in which true human fulfilment and happiness alone lies.