 We seek his forgiveness, his guidance, and his assistance. Let me take refuge with him from the evil within our souls, from the consequence of our misdeeds. Whatever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives guidance to, none can mislead. And whoever he misleads, none can guide. By witness, there's nothing in no one worthy of worship besides Allah alone. He has no partners, and by witness that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is a servant and messenger. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to extend to him on this blessed day, our salutations, and to grant him everlasting peace. Just as we ask him to forgive and show mercy to his righteous and purified family, his beloved companions, and all of those who follow in goodness, and so goodwill into the meeting and the reckoning of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If anyone reads the Quran on a regular basis, one will see many things of the Quran. And of course, one of the themes, and most important of them, is the theme of servitude and commitment to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and to the path of iman. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He reminds us in many different ways about the ultimate purpose for the creation of the human being. And perhaps no one has better articulated the reason for why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created us than the great scholar Arraba Asfahani, who not only highlights the fact that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created us for His worship, but also that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created us for what is called isti'amar, that is to populate the earth, to occupy and build, but also for the purpose of khilafa, of being God's steward and representative on this planet. So in other words, three things, worship, population or cultivation of the earth, and then for stewardship. And of course, we can place all of these under the general category for Ibada because service to creation is also service to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so, because we are here for those reasons, we find that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed in the Quran, He appeals to us in many different ways. Sometimes He does what is called targib, and He sort of encourages and entices us and gives us reasons why we should do what we do, what we're expected to do. And then targib, He scares us, He sort of discourages us from doing the opposite of those things. And so we find that, for instance, in the Quran, we have what they're called, or what they're called wa'id wa l-wa'id, that Allah, He gives us a promise of good fortune if we were to live for the reason we have been created, but also, He threatens us with punishments, not only the Muslims with everybody, every single person on the planet, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He threatens with punishment. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, ultimately, He wants the human being to choose Him willfully. To choose Him willfully. And this is why many times in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that if He had so willed and everyone would be a single nation, If He had been the desire of your Lord in every single person on the planet, every single person on the earth, that they would be believers, they would be people of faith. So you go ahead and compel people into faith and no soul can believe or achieve faith except by the permission of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Allah wants us to choose Him freely. It's really interesting like the source of eternal salvation is very simple. It's easy to achieve salvation in this life for any person. So often we reflect upon the fact that there's kufr, that there are people who don't believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala either they believe in another religion or they don't believe in God at all. But they may appear to be good people. They say, well, why would Allah punish those people when they're so good? They do give things to others. Why should He punish them? Well, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says the rules. And fundamentally, He's made it or declared that they shall be punished because they don't do good to Him. And all He wants us to do is to acknowledge Him. First and foremost, to acknowledge His existence and His oneness, His uniqueness. Then to serve Him, to worship Him. And to acknowledge Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is easy. It's a matter of the heart. But there are people who still refuse to acknowledge it. So you can have salvation by believing but not even publicly declaring your faith to people. There are people who die every day, who insha'Allah they go to Jannah. They're not even, otherwise we don't acknowledge them as Muslims. But because they themselves, they accepted Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we'll find out Yom Kiyamah who those people are. But we don't say that those people died as Muslims because of why they haven't come out publicly. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepts from them their shahadatain in those situations. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He's not pleased with Kufr. Although He gives us the opportunity, the freedom to reject. In Takfiru wa inallahu ghani wa nankun. If you are ungrateful, if you are an unbeliever, if you reject faith, then Allah, He has no need for you. And of course, Allah never has any need for anyone. Wa la yaghdali ibadihu kufr. And He is not content for His servants to reject faith or to be ungrateful. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He doesn't accept. He's not pleased with it. He's not happy with it. But He allows you, He gives you the freedom to reject faith. And Muslims used to understand this. We used to really understand this, this importance of this, the importance of Tawheed, the importance of commitment to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in His Messenger. We used to really believe this. Until recent times, it seems, 9-11 happened. And Muslims all over the world, Muslims all over the world, for some reason, especially those living in the West, we had a change of heart, a change of focus, that it was a great turning point for many Muslims, unfortunately, that Muslims, we accepted blame for what happened, as if all of us collectively did so. They said we did it collectively and say, well, no, some of us, but don't blame all of us, but at the same time, it is as if we accepted blame for it. Prior to that age, there were many Muslims in this country, in the West in general, who would constantly say, well, you know that you have to call to Islam, you have to invite to the way of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And they used to recite verses like, يريدون ليطفقوا ينور الله بأفواه والله متم نوره والله متم نوره ولو كريه الكافرون هو الذي أرصر رسوله بالهوداء ودين الحق ليظهروه على ديني كله ولو كريه المشيكون who was sent his messenger with the religion of truth, with guidance in the religion of truth ليظهروه على ديني كله In order to make it apparent or manifest over all other religions, even if the idolaters, they don't like it. Remember those verses? Remember people used to recite those verses? About Islam being uppermost وَكَلِّمُسَ اللَّهِ يَلَعُوا يَا Then something changed. We're just like everyone else. Nothing is special about being Muslims. We have bad Muslims. We have good Muslims. It's like you have bad Christians and bad Jews and good Christians and Jews. No. Allah SWT says You are the best ummah brought out for humanity. That you are the best ummah and when we abandon this understanding and we abandon the da'wah to Allah SWT then Allah SWT threatens us with punishment. He says Take guard against a tribulation which will not only afflict the wrongdoers among you. And we know the Hadith of the Prophet about you shall enjoy what is good and forbid what is wrong. Allah SWT will envelop all of you in punishment. That Islam has something to offer. If anything, it has the most important and the best of all things to offer. What happened to that understanding? But when Muslims are not calling to the way of goodness then society falls apart. When other people are not calling to the way of Allah SWT then society falls apart and when it begins to fall apart Allah SWT wipes out civilization. He's done it many times before. He reminds us of that over and over in the Quran the civilizations he wiped out they stopped doing the things for which they were created and Allah said let's start over again and each of them we punish them for their sins. So we believe in not only physical causation but metaphysical causation. People talk about climate change and why the weather is changing and carbon, all these things affect the carbon on the environment. Weather changes. We obviously did something physical and so that was what making things seem a bit different. But what about your sins? Allah sends punishment. He has sent punishment after punishment for people because of their sins. There's metaphysical causation too. For men who are sent there are those among them that we sent hurricanes or we rained down among them brimstone. And then there are among them those who Allah sent against them a great blast. And among them are those who we caused the earth to swallow up. And among them are those we drowned. But it wasn't Allah who wronged them. They wronged themselves. Why? Because this is the sunnah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You do wrong. You turn away from the path of God. Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He's going to bring His punishment down upon you. That's the way it goes. But Allah's punishment, it takes many different forms. He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, Say to them, O Muhammad, that Allah, He's the one, He's capable of sending upon you punishment from above you and from below you. And to also to split you up into factions. And leading to some of them, some of you feeling the harm of the others. So Allah sometimes, when people, we see division in society. You see civil strife. That in itself can be a sign of Allah's punishment too. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Who controls hearts? Allah, He's That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He curses you. He can make your heart turn black. You walking down the street and it just blows out your brains and takes your money from you. Are you walking to the mall and a bunch of people, they rush you and they beat you up. They paralyze you, whatever. They cause you serious harm. People with dark hearts. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That could be a sign of Allah's punishment. Why? Because people have turned away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now I just want to list a number of things. This is before I break for the first khutbah. There's a scholar who wrote a book called As Babu Halakil Umam The Reasons for the Destruction of Nations. Sheikh Said Muhammad Babasila And in his book he lists, after looking in the Quran doing an inductive survey of the verses of the Quran. He concluded that the Quran gives us nine reasons why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He destroys civilizations. And who better than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to tell us why civilizations are destroyed? He's the creator of the human being. And so the first reason he says is a shirk, idolatry. So he's punished people for idolatry. The second, a stick ball. Arrogance and bullying, tyranny. We have bullies. People going around and they're just attacking and invading and destroying and killing. You know, we're stronger than you. We do it because we want to show how strong we are. You should be afraid of us. It's a stick ball. The third reason, teqvib, rejecting the messengers, in other words declaring the prophets to be liars that that in itself could be a source of destruction. People say, there are people who want to say that Muhammad SAW is a false prophet. People say that, especially from certain religious groups. But Allah in the Qur'an, he's destroyed certain civilizations simply because of that. The fourth reason, it's to his daa, maaqeen, and making little a light of the signs of God, his messenger and their followers. They've been destroyed for that reason as well. Some people that make fun of the believers. Inna ladina ajarum wa wukanum, inna ladina amanu yadha hakum. That the criminals, they were, they laugh at the believers. Wa idha marrubihim yitaqa mazoon. And when they walked by, they passed by them, they would sort of wink at one another. But Allah says, don't worry about you're going to have your day, your moment too. You're going to laugh at them one day. Number six. Number five. Persecution of the messengers and their followers. Allah has destroyed them for that reason. Number six. Ingratitude for Allah's blessings. I mean we live at a time in societies of enormous ingratitude. It's the essence of kufr. People have everything. Still ungrateful. You're all, you're supposed to look at those who are less than you when it comes to the world, worldly matters. But there's so many of us who do the opposite. Seven. Violation of God's sanctities. It's just widespread sinfulness. Prostitution, drinking, drug usage, corruption, theft, etc. Number eight. Homosexual behavior. And we can add to that transgenderism, cross dressing, men trying to act like women, women trying to act like men, or behave like men, or take on their characteristics and their identities. And then ninthly, Naqsun Meezani, Manmukhial, which we can say legal and economic injustice. And there's a lot of that going on. There's a whole lot of that. That we don't live in a democracy. We live in an oligarchy. It's an oligarchy. As much as people would tell you this, American is established as a republic. A constitutional republic. It's not a democracy, but people say we're living in a democracy. No, it was established as a republic. It's claimed to be a democracy by many, but really is an oligarchy. Some people are above the law. They're super rich. The elites, and they're the ones who the politicians pay the most attention to. We ask Allah SAW that He protect us from any tribulation that may descend upon us. That Allah SAW will show us mercy even when He delivers His punishment upon others. I say, and the Muslim Saqf-ul Haleel will have to accept it. They have to accept it. And we must say, We will pray cervically for Allah. God於此 we ask Allah that for us to say that Allah is the best, but He is not the greatest, but He is. require. One, we have to have moral clarity and you cannot get moral clarity if you don't reach your book. You cannot have moral clarity if you don't believe in your book and you try to judge on the Quranic standard and the standard of the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. Not based upon the standards of popular morality or someone others moral philosophy but moral clarity given to us by our Creator through his books. Secondly, we require the courage to provide the same moral clarity to others that we can't just simply tolerate and endorse other people's lifestyles. You can't be a believer, a Muslim and claim that you support the right to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now people have the freedom to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But you don't, you can't support the right to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There's no Sestin supporting the right to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What's interesting is that when Yusuf A.S. was in the prison with those two men and they asked him, okay, we have we have this dream. What do you think this dream means? That before he gave them an answer, the first thing he began with is that Allah. Do you know who Allah is? Many guys better than one God. He didn't say, okay, what means this? No, no, you need to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm a messenger of God and I have to teach you. The most important of all lessons for any child, for any person in general is the lessons of ta'ala, of the belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because again, we have to, from the very beginning, connect our children with the reason for which they were created. Sulaiman, when he sent the message to Belqis, Sulaiman alaihi salam, that he sent her the message and said, come to me and surrender. Come to me and surrender after you heard that they worshiped the sun and the stars and she had the world at her feet. And no, come to me. It's what she did. She tried to entice him. She sends him a gift. What happened? No, it didn't deter him. No, I'm coming. I'm gonna come with a massive army. One like you've never seen before. But of course, ultimately his desire was for her to become a believer because, first and foremost, he's the Khalifa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's the messenger of God on the earth. Everyone needs to be obeying him. And if she's worshipping other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, she's not fit to be the Khalifa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That was his concern. Come to me. But again, he wanted her to willfully accept it. So he saw, show her some miracles on top of that. He threatened her, but also it was about her accepting and chores in. We saw her accept Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When the prophets in Mu'ad had been jabbled to Yemen, he told them, you're going to come across the people from the people of the book. That's the first thing you call them to be that they make Allah one. In other words, to heed the most important of all lessons. But there are just so many people who are lost. And Muslims need to be involved with trying to save people, save society. Because by saving society, we also save ourselves from tribulation. Maybe it's too late. We don't know. Maybe something will happen soon. We don't know. Maybe something won't happen. We don't know that. But we do have a responsibility. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he's shown us his sunnah in the Quran. And when we see a society that is rife with corruption, rife with sin, criminality, and there are not many people who are standing up and they're condemning those things and there are often people alternative ways to live. And especially if the Muslims are not doing it. The Muslims are following right along, we're tagging right along and say, hey, well I respect your right to do what you know. You don't have a right to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You may have the freedom, but you don't have the right. Because once we capitulate, then that's it. That's it. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's going to include us in the punishment. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to not do that. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to not do that.