 إن الحمد لله نحنده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونتوب إليه ونعرضه بإعادي من شهور أنفسنا ومن سيئات عمالنا ويحله الله فلا مدلله ومن جدل فلا هاليا له وعشدوا لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وعشدوا أن سيدنا محمدا عبده ورسول يا إله الذين آمنوا تقول الله حقا تقاته حقا تقاته ولا تبوتوا إلا وانتوا المسلمون يا إله الناس التقوا ربكم بلدي خلقكم النفسه واحدة وخلق منه وخلق منها زوجها وبكتل منهم رجانا كثيرا ولساءة واتقوا الله الذي تساءذون به والأرحام إن الله كان عليكم رقيبا يا إله الذين آمنوا تقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم عملكم ويوفلكم ضلوبكم ومن يطع إله ورسوله فقل فازا فوزا عظيما أما بعنوا فإن أستقل حديث كتاب الله وخيرا هديوهد وخيرا هديو محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وشرط أمور محباتها فكل محببة بلعة وكل بلعة بلالة وكل بلالة في النار الحمد لله الحمد لله الذي أنزل على عبده الكتاب ولم يجعله إوجاء الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنهتب إلا أن هدام الله الحمد لله رب العالمي رب العالمي our praises due to Allah the Lord of all the worlds our praises due to Allah who has guided us to this path and we would not have been able to guide ourselves and not Allah guided us our praises due to Allah who has revealed the scripture unto his slave servant and has made no crookedness therein الحمد لله we are winding down the season of the Hajj many of the Hajj have returned most if not all have returned from the sacred priests and as the month winds down and the Hajj season comes to an end and we enter the new year by the first of Muharram we do well to reflect on the character the figure who really is at the center of the rituals of the Hajj and that figure is our great spiritual patriarch إبراهيم عليه السلام وإبراهيم peace be upon him إبراهيم عليه السلام إبراهيم is described in the Quran many different places إيش مان شديد ايونيك لائق or perspective on an aspect of his character his religious and spiritual significance peace be upon him so we begin reflecting on just a few points related to Abraham peace upon him based on what Allah تعالى mentions in the Quran so Allah تعالى describes Abraham إبراهيم عليه السلام إن إبراهيم كان أمة قانية لله حليثه ولم يقوم من المشركين شاكرا عن عمي اشتباهه وهداه إلى سراط المستقين إبراهيم عليه now will just say an umma just a literal repetition of the Arabic phrase إبراهيم عليه was an umma إن إبراهيم كان أمة قانية لله was devoutly deeply obedient to Allah حنيفا he was naturally inclined towards manufism so the innate nature that we've all been created with the propensity to recognize the oneness of God this innate quality was extremely strong in ibraheem ولم يقوم من المشركين he was not amongst the idolaters شاكرا عن عمي he was deeply appreciative and grateful for the gifts of his Lord اشتباهه he was chosen or he chose him وهداه إلى سراط المستقين so time does not allow for us to examine these two verses for me سوف نتحدث about two things first the umma إن إبراهيم كان أمة قانية this means several things او افسيزتوه of the meanings here one is a leader so umma alith meem meem is the same who is from the same who derived from the same who as imam alith meem meem imamun um alith meem meem إبراهيم كان أمة and as our exemplar we should all strive to be leaders فار too many Muslims are content with being followers and it would be one thing if many of us were following the best of what other traditions other ways had to offer but often times we follow the worst we follow consumerism materialism nationalism many of these isms that are tearing our world apart we follow right along a leader sets a sterling example a leader sets an inspiring example that inspires others to follow them so people who are inspired to follow Ibrahim's example of monotheism and as a result the great fakes the monotheistic fakes of judeism christianism islam are all inspired at their root by Ibrahim it takes courage to be a leader it takes courage far too many people just go along to get along just follow the leader someone else's lead if they dress this way the Muslims dress that way they wear their pants falling off their rear end you'll find a lot of Muslims running around with their pants falling off their rear end if they have a baseball cap designed to shade your eyes but they turn it backwards and they're squinting because the sun's in their eyes you'll find a lot of Muslims with baseball caps turned around backwards squinting because the sun's in their eyes if they throw spandex on the women so they're naked without being naked you'll find a lot of Muslim women running around in spandex trying to halalify it some kind of way just going along to get along if they throw up these characters running around in skinny jeans you'll find Muslim men a fair number running around in skinny jeans can't even do salat properly but gotta go along to get along Ibrahim was a leader and we should endeavor to be leaders and one of the principle qualities that is required for leadership is courage شجاعة is courage Ibrahim was courageous and if you look at the descriptions of Ibrahim and other courageous individuals in the Quran you see often times the courage is a function of their youthfulness because youth don't have anything to lose so a lot of times the youth will take a courageous stand because they're not worried about who's going to pay the rent or how I'm going to pay the car or what about my future I might get on somebody's list no a youth often times because they haven't lived long in the world and therefore they haven't become deeply entangled in the world they are very easy to display courage in situations that someone who's much older will hesitate and be hesitant so this youth won't courage we have a tradition that's called the tradition of Futua so the courageous young person who is self-sacrificing who is willing to sacrifice for others who is willing to jeopardize their own personal interest for the sake of others so Ibrahim is described as a fatah as a courageous young man so when the people came and they found that idols had been smashed قالوا من فعلها فعلها بيالي هتنا إنه لمن امباليمين so they saw them so who's done this to our idols verily this is an oppressive wrongdoing person قالوا سمعنا ثتا يتكورهم يقالوا له إبراهيم they said we heard a young man قالوا سمعنا ثتا يتكورهم يقالوا له إبراهيم he's known as Abraham so he had the courage to smash the idols and smashing idols is a courageous endeavor because a lot of times people have a lot of things invested in their idols we know the idols of the courageous there was a lot of business invested in that there was a lot of tourism to use a modern term that was invested in that there was a lot of revenue that was invested in those idols there was personal security that was invested in those idols there was a feeling a sense of stability that this is the tradition of our forefathers they worship these idols and by assuming and taking on that worship ourselves there is a sense of continuity and a sense of stability it takes courage to go against that we have to have that courage brothers and sisters the idols before us nowadays particularly in this country they're not the idols of wood and stone like the people of the Quraysh and other Arabian tribes were worshiping they're the idols of the self which is brilliantly or we should say is fittingly captured in this era of the selfie myself I'll make sure I look good enough for this picture that I take myself selfie selfie نفسي نفسي the worship of the self and Allah تعالى warns us افرايت من تقدر إله و هواه have you not seen the one that takes his very inclination as his guide whatever the whims of this soul suggests he's ready to follow that it takes courage to challenge that because in challenging it it can challenge our entire identity our entire sense of self and a lot of people don't have that courage because they might end up in no man's land or in no woman's land without the normal supports they become accustomed to but that position of insecurity is the first step in conquering ourselves as our school is مخالفة حوات عينو دواتي أبوزي نفسي is the very essence of your cure is the very essence of the cure because the nefs wants us to stay in the comfort zone to stay in that comfort zone to enjoy that warm and fuzzy feeling and when it's challenged and when it's made uncomfortable that's when we begin to overcome it the nefs are the items of our day of racism and look how persistent this idol is in our society if anyone looking at the events of today and it's not just a one-sided affair just white racism there's racism on all sides you find people from many different sides there's racism in the Muslim community that's an idol that we have to have the courage to smash and we have to have the courage because in doing that we might go against the prejudices accepted and acknowledged or unaccepted or unignored of our parents of our relatives our friends our neighbors our coworkers but this is an idol that has to be smashed if this country is going to fulfill its full potential America will never feel live up to its full potential until the idol of racism is smashed never and it's a consistent and enduring problem that we should be as Muslims endeavoring to shine a new light on it and although the very fact that we have many different races and ethnicities in this congregation doesn't indicate that those races and ethnicities are always coexisted in a harmonious fashion the fact know that many cannot be on race as Malcolm X know it when he went to his hajj and Malcolm was not a stupid person to see how Islam had that power as Arnold Toynbee know it in his discussion of Islam in western civilization two things Islam can offer to the western world a solution to the race problem and to the problem of the toxicians look at our country we're being inundated with alcohol inundated with opiates we're the market for cocaine we drive all those murders in Mexico they're killing each other to see who will control who will have access to the American market of illicit drugs of cocaine and marijuana that's the driving factor between those 100,000 deaths in Mexico but what percentage of Muslims there are Muslims that drinking but what percentage it's a small percentage that have a drug problem an alcohol problem that's the power of Islam and that's the power we can offer to our fellow citizens but we have to have the courage first of all to believe that it works secondly to implement it within ourselves and not be like the person a poet pointed out that عارن عليك يدفع عظيمه don't condemn a characteristic and then you engage and embody it yourself it's a tremendous shame upon you for you to do so and we can go on but you get the idea we have to be courageous people brothers and sisters the coming period in the history of this country is not a period that will be kind to cowards it will not be kind to cowards and a person might think they can live through their cowardness but as they say a courageous person dies one death and a coward dies 100 100 times every day so it's choosing a dignified death or it's choosing many undignified deaths and situation after situation after situation that calls for courage Abrahamic courage Mohammedan courage we don't stand up now I'll make it easy now I'll give us Taufiq now I'll give us Tessir in the Ibrahimakan Ummah the meaning of Ummah is a moral a compositoria a repository of moral qualities in other words Ibrahim or Abraham combined within himself qualities that would be epitomized amongst the various members of a national community so this sister is known for her truthfulness this sister is so honest this sister is so courageous this sister is so faithful this brother is so trustworthy those qualities that epitomized in different individuals were combined in Ibrahim to an exalted degree they were combined in him and so again we should strive to be a repository of lofty morals lofty character refined manners we should strive we should not try to get on the race to the bottom with everyone else there was a time in this country no one used foul language except people who were foul themselves four letter words as they said many of us who grew up in a bygone era in this country we would say something and we would get our mouths washed out with soap we would get physically disciplined when that was still legal to do and you couldn't get out of it what did you say boy I said gosh darn it I didn't say gosh darn it I know what you said my ears are working get over here and there was and it wasn't whole food designer soap it was ivy that's some nasty stuff it was live soap but that's there was a time people dressed in a dignified fashion there was a time if this mess didn't wear a church everyone in here would be wearing a suit everyone in here would be wearing a suit there was a time when people held doors for the elderly there was a time where people carried groceries out of the grocery store for someone not necessarily elderly maybe someone with a lot of children they're trying to manage I'll take your groceries you take care of the children where people thought of each other now we have philosophies of life that are dominant that encourage selfishness and it permeates throughout our entire country from the top to the bottom people thought of others people consider others before they thought about themselves there was an altruistic spirit now we have the likes of Ayn Rand arguing and many people agreeing that altruism is a human weakness and a despicable characteristic and you have people in the united states congress who are saying we shouldn't be assisting poor people who are saying we shouldn't have any mercy for people who aren't necessarily born here but came here as children and therefore this is the only home they know they don't know any other home we shouldn't have any mercy for them people are saying we shouldn't have any mercy for people overseas whose resources we might have taken because we consume a disproportionate share of the world's resources people growing the bananas in the banana republic are suffering from potassium deficiency because the bananas in the banana republic are coming here gear around so we can eat them people growing tomatoes so we can have tomatoes in the middle of the winter on our tables aren't eating the tomatoes they're picking them and if they eat any of them they'll be fired and won't even have access to the meager wages that allow them to buy some crop we don't think about these things because we've been conditioned to only think about ourselves the kinwa craze everyone kinwa is healthy we never think this is not mine there's a major expose about 5 years ago in the new york times how the native people and the andes who grow the kinwa now since so much we went man they sell the kinwa which was a staple of their diet and gave them protein and everything they needed to get cash and they take the cash and buy white rice and now they're suffering from malnutrition so we have to think about ourselves and serving ourselves and having the whole world serve us and when someone stands up and protests we bomb them you can bomb the world to pieces but you can't bomb it into peace we have to have the courage we have to have the moral fiber we have to have the compassion the sense of mercy to say there's enough resources for everyone in this world to be adequately fed there are enough resources for people who are suffering in a place like bangladesh we see people suffering in houston and we're motivated to provide relief but we should there are neighbors but we don't consider the fact that at the very same time floods in bangladesh have inundated one third of the country just imagine all of the united states east of the mississippi river underwater one third of the country underwater the whole agrarian system washed away in floodwaters who's going to provide relief we have to be the people think of relief we have to be the people that have a global scope the financial markets are global the capital markets are global the resource networks are global why isn't our thinking global why is our thinking narrow and local we have to have the vision and that vision has to be fueled by mercy that vision has to be fueled by compassion that vision has to be fueled by a sense of responsibility to those who are less fortunate than ourselves even in our misfortune we're blessed even our misfortune we're blessed people in houston people are sending water they have fresh water you haven't read of too many people who are dying of thirst in a place like bowmont florida or bowmont texas rather where the whole water system was knocked out there was water in there no one's those people in bangladesh aren't going to have access to clean water there's food available people sending truckloads of food those people in bangladesh aren't going to have access to food those muslims rohingya muslims fleeing from the oppressive genocidal campaign in leon mart or burma they're not going to have necessarily access to fresh water or food anytime soon we have to have the compassion and especially the young people and the courage of abraham and the moral substance of abraham to begin working and dedicating their lives to putting the institutional and structural mechanisms in place to see that people all over this world can have a chance at a dignified living starting with our own country but looking beyond the shores of our country ما الله تعالى give us توفي ما الله bless us with strong morals and strong character ما الله تعالى bless us inspire us to build as one of the poets said about that courageous young person ليس اللهم صلى الله عليه وسلم ليس فتا من خالح كان أبي ولكن فتا من خالح أنا ذا من خالح one who said my forefathers did this and that a lot of us like this all the Muslims we did this and we did that and we built the Taj Mahal and the Hamra Palace and we built this and this and that and we had this great civilization and this great empire that stretched from Spain to the wall of China ما شاء الله that sounds very good what are we doing now what are we building now what are we contributing now ليس فتا من خالح كان أبي ولكن فتا من خالح أنا ذا a courageous young person is one who stands up and says here I am we have to have that courage to say here I am I'm not perfect I have my flaws but I'm willing to stand up and take responsibility despite my flaws in spite of my shortcomings because if I don't who will if I don't who will so in conclusion just to be appreciative a lot of us we're not appreciative because we do the opposite of what our great spiritual masters have instructed us to do they instructed us to look up to those above us in religion and look down to those beneath us in the world in other words look up to those who are better than us in religion so we can be inspired I want to memorize the Quran I want to study the prophetic biography more I want to have the ability to benefit from the Quran like that brother that sister I want to know the Arabic language I want to have the character the patience and the refined qualities that I observe in this brother this sister so it's inspiring us to do more and look down on those beneath us in the world who have less than us why because we're appreciative as we said if you're in Houston and your house has just been destroyed up to the four foot level above four feet it's salvageable and you're blessed to have insurance not everyone is and you have water and you have food you have a shelter to go to despite the hardships despite the difficulties of that situation we're not trying to minimize the hardship the difficulties involved in that situation but if you look down at those people in Bangladesh who don't have a shelter who don't have food who don't have potable water all those people in India or Nepal whose landscape have been ravaged by floods then you say what you said how do we not praise the lord I'm doing good even some of you might have seen the guy in saint martin that hurricane almost drift you look at the satellite image of all these islands before and after green before brown now completely defoniated completely wrecked they're in a man in a mess smiling and laughing but he was really cheerful and the reporter was like how can you be cheerful he said I still have my life I have my life so he's appreciated شاكرا لأمي ألداود الشقور ألداود الشقور ألداود الشقور وقليل من عبابي الشقور oh family of god embody in your actions faithfulness faithfulness goes beyond the tongue wish it be an embodiment of sugar despite the situation or the phobia or the this or the that or the other we have our day we have our lives we have food, we have potable water we have shelter we have family we have friends we have community we should be an embodiment of sugar وقليل من عبابي الشقور and very few of my servants are truly thankful because they look up to those in Dunya oh I don't have a Lexus I don't have a Tesla well you have a Mercedes you should be happy you have a Lexus but I want an electric car that doesn't make noise when it pulls up look at the man who doesn't have a car so you can thank Allah you can have a car no matter what brand it is الحمد لله it gets you from point A to point B الحمد لله but too many of us who are inundated who are Allah's talents blessings flow over us we're not appreciative because we're looking up to those above us in Dunya and I don't have my house is only 10,000 square feet they have a mansion that means over 20,000 square feet I should have mentioned I work harder than they work you should downsize from your 10,000 square feet قليل من إبادة شكور you know what شكور is إبادة شكور إبادة شكور and إبادة شكور is a camel that gets fat from very little grass that's an ideal camel as opposed to a camel eats all the grass for the other camel and he's still skinny but the شكور is the camel he eats a little and gets fat real easy and nice and plump that's شكور in other words a person who's appreciative for the smallest blessing they're overwhelmingly appreciative for the smallest blessing you know those people right you loan them $5 just have a lot here but you need $100 I only have $5 this $5 is going to be like seed money it's going to have the barakah I'll get the other $95 so easy that's شكور you get them a little bit overwhelmingly appreciative then you know the other person right you give them $100 then they say you could give me $1,000 just $100 that's all you ask for I know about you man you're sitting on millions man come on you know you can do $1,000 you only need $100 I know that's before I ran into you no شكور but the other $5 out of this $100 oh mashallah you like a maze you still got $95 to go yeah that'll be easy now because the barakah is in the first of the gift and mashallah Allah says if you're thankful I'll just thank Allah tonight when I go to bed that's شكور very few of my servants are truly thankful we should be overwhelming we should be being with thankfulness we should be joyous people people moving around we should be joyous people خل بفضل الله و برحماته يفرحوا و قيروا مننا يا جمعون say in the grace of Allah and in His mercy in this let them rejoice it is better than anything that can gather from this world so you don't have anything from the world but your life in your life your recipient of the grace and mercy of Allah Ta'ala of Almighty God you have everything you should be joyous و الحمد لله رب العالمي و صلى الله عليه وسلم و على آله و صحمه السلام الكثير أقولوا قوي هذا و استغفر الله لي و لكم و ليسائر المؤمنين يقول استغفر الله استغفر الله بله رب العالمي و الصلاة و السلام على سيد المرسنين إن الله و ملائك أتأهوا بصدول على النبي يا آقي يخلدين آنبوا عليه وسلم و تسليه إيه ما الله مصلي وسلم أبارك على سيدنا محمد و على آله وسلم و تسليه الكثير أقول so brothers and sisters rejoice be thankful be courageous be Abrahamic have that youthful courage and if you are young in age be young at heart so everyone is eligible may Allah bless us may Allah bless all the other people who relate to Abraham as their patriarch other faiths may Allah bless us to come together to shine the light of good on this world may Allah bless us to come together to realize that Abraham peace be upon him that we have a mission we have a mission and it's a good mission it's a mission of caring and sharing it's a mission of guidance and direction it's a mission of challenging those persistent idols that continue to erode and undermine our future viability not just as a people as a species may Allah give us taufi may Allah give us Muslims and Muslims may Allah give us