https://www.khutbah.info/the-bond-of-faith/ If iman (faith) is established in someone’s heart, it fills with mercy and kindness. Then they feel empathy for their fellow believers, wish good for them, and are pained by what afflicts them. This is because the bond of faith is unrivaled by any other bond. For they remember the words of Allah Almighty: At-Tawbah (9) 71:The believing men and believing women are allies of one another.
إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ ,نَحْمَدُهُ ,وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ , وَنَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا ,مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ , وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ , وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ
Verily, all praise is for Allah. We praise Him, we seek His assistance and we ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Him from the evils of our selves. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide. Whoever He misguides, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and I bear witness that Mohammad is His slave and messenger.
يَا أَيُّهَا الّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ – آل عمران:102
Al Imran 102 : O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam.
Oh people:
If iman (faith) is established in someone’s heart, it fills with mercy and kindness. Then they feel empathy for their fellow believers, wish good for them, and are pained by what afflicts them. This is because the bond of faith is unrivaled by any other bond. For they remember the words of Allah Almighty:
وَالمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ-التوبة 71
At-Tawbah (9) 71:The believing men and believing women are allies of one another.
And His words,
إِنَّمَا المُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ-الحجرات 10
Al-Hujurat (49) 10: The believers are but brothers.
And they turn this into a practical reality in their lives. If they see a sick person, they are pained by their suffering and strive to alleviate it. If they see a poor, destitute person, they offer help. And if they hear of an afflicted Muslim, they are bothered and supplicate for them. And if they notice a change in the weather, be it scorching heat, or biting cold, or torrential rain, they worry about their fellow Muslims and remember the conditions of the weak and helpless. How remarkable is this heart filled with iman (faith), overflowing with mercy and benevolence, untainted by the filth of corrupted thoughts.
The feeling of brotherhood in faith is the greatest of all feelings. Because it is for the sake of Allah Almighty only.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
مَن أَحَبَّ لِلَّهِ، وَأَبْغَضَ لِلَّهِ، وَأَعْطَى لِلَّهِ، وَمَنَعَ لِلَّهِ، فَقَدْ اسْتَكْمَلَ الْإِيمَانَ
Whoever loves for the sake of Allah, hates for the sake of Allah, gives for the sake of Allah, and withholds for the sake of Allah has indeed perfected faith. [Sunan Abi Dawud 4681, Grade: Sahih]
One who possesses this love tastes the sweetest and most enduring matter – the flavor of iman (faith) – whose love is the most lasting and whose pleasure is the most enduring.
Contemplating the prophetic hadiths, we find them filled with the cultivating of this feeling in the hearts of the believers towards one another. For the Prophet ﷺ linked the perfection of faith to the perfection of the relations between believers. The Prophet ﷺ described believers as a strong, solid, lofty structure, and stated that what befalls some of them is as if it befalls all of them. So both the afflicted and unafflicted are pained. For their pain over their brother’s affliction is no less than their brother’s pain over their affliction. This is indicated in many hadiths, including:
لا تُؤْمِنُوا حتى تَحَابُّوا
You shall not believe until you love one other. [Muslim 54a]
And:
لَا يُؤْمِنُ أحدكم حتى يُحِبَّ لِأَخِيهِ ما يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ
None of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2515, Grade: Sahih]
And:
المُؤْمِنُ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ كَالْبُنْيَانِ يَشُدُّ بَعْضُهُ بَعْضًا
A believer to another believer is like a structure, each part supporting the other.[Bukhari 2446, Muslim 2585]
And:
مَثَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ في تَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ مَثَلُ الْجَسَدِ إذا اشْتَكَى منه عُضْوٌ تَدَاعَى له سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى
The example of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever. [Bukhari 6011, Muslim 2586]
The Prophet ﷺ practically implemented this love. The Messenger of Allah ﷺwould go hungry so that others could be fed, never reserving anything worldly for himself unless he shared it with his companions. Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, reported:
لَمْ يَجْتَمِعْ لَهُ غَدَاءٌ وَلا عَشَاءٌ مِنْ خُبْزٍ وَلَحْمٍ، إِلاَّ عَلَى ضَفَفٍ
He ﷺ never had a lunch or dinner of bread and meat unless it was shared with others. [Ahmad 13859, Grade: Sahih (Arnaout on the condition of Muslim]
He never allotted anything for himself without sharing it with the believers.
And on the Day of the Trench, when the signs of hunger were evident upon him ﷺ, some Companions offered him food. He then called the people to share the food that he had been given individually.
When the delegation of Mudar came to him barefoot and unclothed, his face ﷺturned red upon seeing their poverty. So he urged the people to give charity. As contributions flowed in and their needs were met, his face brightened with joy. What great mercy he ﷺ had for those in need and how he felt their plight!
When the Quran reciters were martyred at the Well of Ma’unah, he ﷺ deeply felt their affliction and grieved greatly to the point that Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
فما رأيتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- حَزِنَ حُزْنًا قَطُّ أَشَدَّ منه
I never saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ grieve more intensely than that. [Bukhari 1300]
Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, summarized this by saying:
إِنَّا وَاللَّهِ قَدْ صَحِبْنَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي السَّفَرِ وَالْحَضَرِ وَكَانَ يَعُودُ مَرْضَانَا وَيَتْبَعُ جَنَائِزَنَا وَيَغْزُو مَعَنَا وَيُوَاسِينَا بِالْقَلِيلِ وَالْكَثِيرِ
By Allah, we accompanied the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in travel and residence. He would visit our sick, attend our funerals, participate in our campaigns, and comfort us with whatever means he could. [Ahmad 504, Grade: Hassan]
Indeed the Prophet ﷺ was empathetic, loving and merciful towards the believers and strived to support and aid them.
The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, adopted this noble character from him ﷺ. Each one of them would prefer their brothers over themselves, favor others over their own family, feel the affliction and plight of their brothers and stand with them in their hardships and adversities.
Muawiyah sent Aisha, may Allah be pleased with them both, a hundred thousand dirhams. She distributed it before the end of the day. Her servant said, “If only you had bought some meat for us with a dirham.” Aisha replied, “If only you had reminded me.” She had forgotten about herself in her concern for others, even though she was fasting that day and had nothing to break her fast, having distributed the entire hundred thousand dirhams to the poor keeping nothing for herself to break her fast.
Salman al-Farsi, may Allah be pleased with him, used to work with his hands. When he earned something, he would buy meat or fish and invite the lepers to eat with him.
When the price of clarified butter rose at the time of Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, he sufficed with oil, causing his stomach to gurgle. He said, “Gurgle all you want, by Allah! You will not eat clarified butter until the people eat it.
Ibn Umar fell ill and desired grapes. When they were bought for him, he heard a beggar asking for food. He preferred him to himself and offered him the grapes despite being ill.
Those who followed the Companions and those who followed them, carried on with this great legacy. Their hearts were filled with the spirit of brotherhood and they comforted others through their afflictions.
Uways al-Qarni, may Allah have mercy on him, used to give away the surplus food and clothing in his house every evening, then supplicate Allah to not hold him accountable if someone were to die of hunger or cold.
Fatimah, the wife of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on them both, recounted visiting Umar to find him sitting in his prayer area, with his cheek resting on his hand, tears streaming down his beard. She asked, “O Commander of the Faithful, has something happened?” He replied, “O Fatimah, I have been entrusted with the affair of the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. I thought of the hungry poor, the sick, the exhausted guardsman, the oppressed, the stranger, the elderly, those with many dependents but little wealth, and their likes across the earth and the corners of the lands. I knew my Lord would question me about them on the Day of Judgment, and that Muhammad ﷺ would be their defendant . I feared that I would have no excuse, so I had mercy upon myself and wept.
Likewise, when the Mongols invaded the Muslim lands, history books document the grief of those who recorded the incidents and misfortunes that befell Muslims, even though they were far away from them in space and time. They felt the plight and afflictions of their Muslim brothers, even though they were separated by space and time. Allah Almighty said:
إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ * وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّ اللهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا فَإِنَّ حِزْبَ الله هُمُ الغَالِبُونَ-المائدة 55-56
Al-Ma’idah (5) 55-56: Your ally is none but Allah and [therefore] His Messenger and those who have believed – those who establish prayer and give zakah, and they bow [in worship]. And whoever is an ally of Allah and His Messenger and those who have believed – indeed, the party of Allah will be the predominant.
أَقُولُ مَا تَسْمَعُونَ وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
I say what you have heard and I seek forgiveness from Allah for me and you from every sin. So seek forgives from Him, Verily He is Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
Second Khutbah
الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ , وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَاْ إِلَهَ إِلَّاْ اَللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَاْشَرِيْكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدَاً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُوْلُهُ
All praise is to Allah, and peace and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and I bear witness that Mohammad is His slave and messenger.
Oh Muslims:
Whoever contemplates our reality will find that selfishness has taken hold of hearts, and that self-love has taken over souls. Therefore, many are not affected by the affliction of their brothers, and are indifferent to what befalls them. This is despite the fact that their plights are transmitted moment by moment and their hardships and distress are portrayed vividly.
Why has the state of Muslims changed to the point that each individual lives for themselves, indifferent to others? Has luxury distracted them? Or has abundance made them arrogant, thinking that it will last forever? Or has the plentitude of news de-sensitized them to the point of losing empathy? Indeed all of these have an effect, but the main reason is the weakening of iman (faith).
When iman (faith) decreases, the bonds of faith weaken and deteriorate. Values and morals decline and mercy and kindness vanish, and individualism becomes enshrined among people. One becomes indifferent to others as long as their worldly needs are fulfilled. They live their lives and enjoy themselves while many others suffer.
When iman (faith) decreases, the driver for seeking reward from Allah weakens. Comforting and consoling others decreases, let alone benevolence. When iman (faith) decreases, the bonds of iman (faith) are replaced by self-love. How much are we in need to boost our iman (faith) and apply the words of Allah Almighty:
وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا * إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنْكُمْ جَزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا-الإنسان 8-9
Al-Insan: 8-9: And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive, [Saying], “We feed you only for the face [i.e., approval] of Allāh. We wish not from you reward or gratitude.
So revive your iman (faith) and revive the bonds of iman (faith). Prefer your brothers in faith over yourselves. Show mercy to your fellow believers, for Allah the Almighty shows mercy to those who show mercy. Support the poor, destitute, and weak for Allah supports those who support others.
We ask Allah Almighty to strengthen our iman (faith), revive the bonds of faith and to make our loyalty to Allah Almighty, His Messenger, and the believers. Indeed Allah is All Hearing, Answering.
هَذَا وَصَلُّوا وَسَلِّمُوا عَلَى نَبِيِّكُم كَمَا أَمَرَكُمْ بِذلِكَ رَبُّكُمْ , فَقَالَ
I conclude with this and send prayers of blessings and peace upon your Prophet as your Lord commanded:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ ۚ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Al Ahzaab (33) 56: Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [ Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [ Allah to grant him] peace.
اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِنا فِيمَنْ هَدَيْتَ وَعَافِنا فِيمَنْ عَافَيْتَ وَتَوَلَّنا فِيمَنْ تَوَلَّيْتَ وَبَارِكْ لنا فِيمَا أَعْطَيْتَ وَقِنا شَرَّ مَا قَضَيْتَ إِنَّكَ تَقْضِي وَلاَ يُقْضَى عَلَيْكَ وَإِنَّهُ لاَ يَذِلُّ مَنْ وَالَيْتَ تَبَارَكْتَ رَبَّنَا وَتَعَالَيْتَ
O Allah, guide us with those whom You have guided, grant us well-being among those You have granted well-being, be an ally to us along with those whom You are an ally to, and bless what You have bestowed upon us, and save us from the evil of what You have decreed. For verily You decree and none can decree over You. He whom You support can never be humiliated. Glory is to You, our Lord, You are Blessed and Exalted.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ كُلِّهِ عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ مَا عَلِمْنا مِنْهُ وَمَا لَمْ نَعْلَمْ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الشَّرِّ كُلِّهِ عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ مَا عَلِمْنا مِنْهُ وَمَا لَمْ نَعْلَمْ اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ خَيْرِ مَا سَأَلَكَ عَبْدُكَ وَنَبِيُّكَ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا عَاذَ بِهِ عَبْدُكَ وَنَبِيُّكَ اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَا قَرَّبَ إِلَيْهَا مِنْ قَوْلٍ أَوْ عَمَلٍ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ النَّارِ وَمَا قَرَّبَ إِلَيْهَا مِنْ قَوْلٍ أَوْ عَمَلٍ وَنَسْأَلُكَ أَنْ تَجْعَلَ كُلَّ قَضَاءٍ قَضَيْتَهُ لَنا خَيْرًا
O Allah, We ask You for all that is good, in this world and in the Hereafter, what we know and what we do not know. O Allah, we seek refuge with You from all evil, in this world and in the Hereafter, what we know and what we do not know. O Allah, we ask You for the good that Your servant and Prophet has asked You for, and we seek refuge with You from the evil from which Your servant and Prophet sought refuge. O Allah, we ask You for Paradise and for that which brings one closer to it, in word and deed, and we seek refuge in You from Hell and from that which brings one closer to it, in word and deed. And we ask You to make every decree that You decree concerning us good
عِبَادَ اللّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
Servants of Allah. Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.
اُذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ واشْكُرُوهُ يَزِدْكُمْ واسْتَغْفِرُوهُ يَغْفِرْ لكُمْ واتّقُوهُ يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مَخْرَجًا وَأَقِمِ الصّلَاة
Remember Allah, the Great – He will remember you. Thank Him for His favors – He will increase you therein. And seek forgiveness from Him – He will forgive you. And be conscious of Him – He will provide you a way out of difficult matters. And, establish the prayer.
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