07/05/2000
IWDM Study Library 
Jumuah Atlanta, Ga

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Aslaam Alaikum Alhamduillai Raabil al Amin Nasta inahu Wa Nasta Firahu Wa Mu'minun Wa Ali Wazjahal Ash Hadu An La Ilaha Il Allah Wa Ashadu Ana Muhammadan Rasul Alah.
Dear Muslims, G-d says to us, in the last revelation, the Qur'an, that if someone holds onto faith in G-d, believing that G-d is Only One, existing without any assistance from anything that He has created or that exists, that "La Ilaha Il Allah, that Kalimah will pull that person out of hellfire, that that's His decision alone to pull someone out of hellfire.
And we know that the Kalimah of Islam, the Kalimah of the Muslims is "La Ilaha Il Allah: "There is but One G-d, and Muhammad is The Messenger of G-d."
And G-d says of the help that He can give, any soul, any person, any soul, of all the people all together on this Earth, the whole of creation, that "He is enough. G-d suffices. G-d is enough. G-d is sufficient by Himself. G-d is sufficient by Himself."
But to have a human life, and the direction we want in human life, and the order of society that we want, that's what Jumu'ah is all about. The Jumu'ah is all about making us more conscious and keeping us aware of the order of society in Islam. The order of society in Islam is called congregation prayer. It's the main congregation prayer, and Muhammad the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be on him, he has said of the Jumu'ah, that "It's the best day in the year."
He makes the Jumu'ah more precious, more significant that even the Eid al-Adha, which is the major Eid, or the Eid al-Fitr. This is the fasting Eid, after the fasting. So, the Prophet made this Friday more important than even the two Eids.
And we know that the Eids never suffice or never is a substitute to prayer. The Eid prayer is never a substitute for the Jumu'ah prayer. So, on Eid, if the Eid is on Friday, we still have to do Jumu'ah, whether it's Eid or not. So that tells us something about the importance of the Jumu'ah.
And again, I want to repeat that the Jumu'ah is mainly to keep the Muslims in the mold of organized society. So, we can have the benefit of our collective numbers, the benefit of our numbers. And man has not achieved very much in the way of industry, or in the way of construction, or in the way of education or anything, without organized effort and group participation. So, this is the way of civilization, this is the way of progress, that we have organized society, organized life. The Jumu'ah are so very, very important.
Going back to our Kalimah, which is the focus for this Jumu'ah, our Kalimah: "La Ilaha Il Allah, Muhammadan Rasul Allah".
And G-d said, "He suffices. He is enough. He is enough for us, for any soul." But then He gives us Muhammad the Prophet as a model human person, so that we can always refer back to our Prophet's life, how he lived, how he managed problems, issues, etc., how he managed home life. He's a complete leader.
He's a leader for everybody: how he managed his home life; how he managed his life as a leader of a nation, not one nation, but an international nation or nations within nations, a nation comprising of other nations; how he led the Ummah, the international community. We have his life. We have his history. We can always refer back to it.
As a common man, with the job of just taking care of my wife and my children, and coming to the Jumu'ah, and supporting the community, I can look at Muhammad. I can refer back to Muhammad and I have enough. G-d says, "Muhammad is enough too." So, G-d says, "He's enough," and G-d says, "Muhammad is enough too."
I have enough in the model life of Muhammad to give me all the support I need to answer all of my questions. All of my questions! How should I treat my wife? Here's the answer. How should I relate to my children and support my family? Here's the answer.
So, this is what we should know. And it makes it very easy for us to keep the focus, keep the right focus, seek faith, seek direction, and live our life with ease.
Islam comes to make it possible for us to live our life in Islam with ease. G-d said, "Surely, with difficulty comes ease." Where's the difficulty? The difficulty is coming from the mind of the world to the mind of faith in G-d and in His Messenger. That's the difficulty. Once you accomplish that, the rest is easy. You have accomplished that, you have come from the mind of the world to be now a believer in G-d and a believer in His Messenger, the rest should be easy.
And it is easy. The Islamic life is easy for the Muslim of faith. Yes! It's difficult until you have that faith. Once you have that strong faith, there's nothing difficult. It's easy. It's smooth-sailing. You're rolling on your own. You don't even have to max out on the accelerator. Just have faith, correct faith in G-d, the One G-d that created you and everything, and in Muhammad, the model human person. You see?
I've never seen Hell, the Hell that the scriptures tell us you'll go to for sinning, for major sins, but I've seen this world. And if La Ilaha Il Allah, believing it correctly and believing it sincerely and wholly, will pull a soul out of the hellfire, then it will pull us out of the fire of sin in this world.
So just live a life of faith. That's the answer. And know that the focus for your life is to see G-d as One and One alone, depending on nothing, existing without any aid, or assistance, or help from anything.
And that means G-d doesn't need to read the Qur'an with you. You need to read the Qur'an. G-d doesn't need to know the history of Muhammad and follow the Sunnah. You need to follow the Sunnah! G-d gave us the Qur'an for ourselves. He gave us Muhammad for ourselves. Allah does not need the Qur'an. Allah does not need Muhammad the Prophet. No! We need him! G-d wants the Qur'an for us, and G-d wants Muhammad for us!
But what does He need from us? Nothing but our obedience. Nothing but our obedience, our Taqwa. Nothing but our disposition to obey Him above all other authorities.
And that's why we're called Abds. The Ibads of G-d, the plural for Abd. Servants of G-d. That's all of us. The best name for Muhammad is what? Abd, but that's the common name for all of us. We're all the Abds of G-d. He is the highest. He is exemplar. He's the model Abd for all of us, but all of us are the Abds of G-d! We're the servants of G-d. Ibadalah, the servants of G-d.
And G-d says, "I have not created you, except to be My servants." It's translated, "except to worship Me." And it's translated again, "except to do service or to serve G-d." You see? Abd.
Muhammad is enough for us. Not only us, for all mankind. G-d says that, "Any who believe in G-d and in the last days, they have in Muhammad an excellent model." And G-d also says of that excellent model Muhammad the Prophet, Sa ala Alahi Wa Salaam, that he suffices. He is enough. His model is enough."
We don't need it to be more saintly. Just like Muhammad had. We only Muhammad. We don't need it to be more pragmatic. No, only like Muhammad. That's enough. We don't need it to be more militaristic. No, just like Muhammad. That's enough. We don't need a leader that is more domesticated. No, just like Muhammad.
A balanced model, doing just enough in every area. A complete man with all the facets of the human being that G-d wanted him to have, that G-d wanted the human being to have. A complete man with all the facets, like a great jewel, so many facets contributing to his great beauty, his brilliance that he had every facet there that G-d intended for all humanity, and he is enough for us.
"La Ilaha Il Allah, Muhammadan Rasul Allah. That's why we should promote that Kalimah, but we should promote it also with the understanding that G-d saves us from servitude and slavery to forces, not just people. We always think it's personal enslaver, or a nation of enslavers, or a race of enslavers. No, it's all those things removed.
What enslaves you is the wrong disposition towards things: toward an influence, toward a desire of a thing that you want, towards your wife, and towards your husband's sister. The wrong disposition will enslave us.
The right disposition frees us, because when you see, everything as Allah wants us to see it, and that it's all relegated in His praise, under the authority of G-d, that G-d is uppermost, that G-d is always superior, and that G-d authorizes my relationship with this thing, with this concern. G-d authorizes my relationship, and G-d authorizes then how far am I to go in indulging that thing or obliging it. Whether it's a physical thing or an abstract thing, whether it's an idea or a concrete thing, G-d authorizes how I am to relate to it and how far I am to go.
That's salvation! When you come to that idea, that's what "La Ilaha Il Allah" is! Muhammad has taught us that. Prayers and Grace for him. Thank G-d for him. Thank G-d for him, and the Prayers and the Peace be upon him.
He has taught us that and he has given us the key for our salvation. "La Ilaha Il Allah". The key for our salvation. That's what it is, the key for our salvation! Believe in it and live it, and you have salvation!
We pray to Allah for guidance. We pray to Allah for His forgiveness. We pray to Allah for mercy. And we know that without the guidance Allah has provided in the Qur'an and in the model of Muhammad, the model human Muhammad, we have no guidance. Ameen.
Bismillah Ar Rahman Nir Raheem. The Praise and the Thanks is for G-d, the Lord, Keeper, Sustainer of all the Worlds. We seek Him for guidance. We turn to Him for forgiveness. We ask that He always grants us His mercy, for He is the Most Merciful, the best to grant Mercy. The Most Merciful of all that is Merciful, G-d.
And that His Mercy extends, and His forgiveness extends beyond His wrath, He is not a G-d looking to see who's gone wrong to punish them. He is a G-d, firstly, looking to see who deserves His kindness, who deserves His Mercy, who deserves His love, who deserves His help. That's what He's looking for.
And when He finds someone needing punishment, then He doesn't punish them like we would think the punisher punishes. He slow to punish, and then again, quick to punish, depending on our own condition.
If we have something in us to warrant G-d helping us, forgiving us, or being gentle with us, then the punishment comes very slow. He hates to punish that person. G-d dislikes punishing such person. Punishment comes very slow.
But if you are an unconscious, callous, insensitive, reckless, careless person, punishment comes quick. But then He doesn't punish like we think the punisher punishes. He leaves you to suffer the consequences of your actions. That's the punishment. He leaves you to suffer the consequences of your actions.
The angels take over. It is not G-d directly doing it. The angels take over and they do the job. And you are suffering the consequences of your actions. And all you have to do to make them retreat and withdraw is change the state of your mind.
Stop thinking the way you think and start thinking for Islam, start thinking for La Ilaha Il Allah, start thinking for Muhammadan Rasul Allah, and your situation will change, the angels will withdraw, and you will have a normal life again. Allahu Akbar.
Now, in conclusion, G-d says, "The soul that is strained and distressed or persecuted, mistreated, dominated by forces that the individual can't master, can't control, can't find a release from, G-d wants to know those who are responsible for that condition of that person, that He is never out of the reach of that person.
G-d says, "Not even a curtain stands between G-d and that person." Not even a curtain. And G-d says, "He answers the crier who cries out for help, He answers the caller when the caller calls on Him. And He is sufficient. He is enough by Himself. G-d is enough by Himself."
So, know this and know the power of La Ilaha Il Allah, that Kalimah, in our life. Muhammadan Rasul Allah. Know the power of the Kalimah and trust it, live according to the knowledge of it. Don't just hear it. Learn what it means in your life. Live according to the knowledge of it and you will have salvation.
And not only that, you will be a generator of light and love, correct passions in the community. You will be a generator. We need generators in this community to generate the correct human passions, to generate love, appreciation for one another. Not just for G-d and His Messenger, but love and appreciate for one another, cooperation for the advancement of all of us.
And let us pray to G-d for that state. The Prophet Muhammad said, "You will never get into Paradise, into this Garden of Paradise, until you have faith." And he said, "You will never have faith until you practice loving one another."
Thank you very much. It's a wonderful pleasure for me to come here to Atlanta and see that you are growing still. I know you're growing and you have grown, but now I see you've grown even beyond the numbers that I witnessed the last time I was here. That growth, that tells me that you have something very worthwhile here in this Masjid in Atlanta.
This leader, Imam Plemon, and those who work with him, the brothers and the sisters, Imam Pasha and the others that I know, , and all of you working together, you represent something very worthwhile, and I pray on this Jumu'ah for your leadership, that your leadership remains faithful to G-d, and to Muhammad, the Kalimah, and that they will remain in the light of Islam, the light of truth and salvation, and remain in that so that you will be taken to the destination. And the destination is to have honor, respect as a community, not just as individuals.
Alhamduillahi Raabil Al Amin.
Ameen.


