Ask yourself, “Whose ‘abd¹ do you want to be?”

You are not created for this world. This world is created for you. You were created for God. #SeenFollowsTheUnseen

— Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (@UmarFAbdAllah) April 26, 2017

It’s not that Allah doesn’t get upset if you commit a sin: It’s that Allah is more upset that you forgot Him. How so?

فَذوقوا بِما نَسيتُم لِقاءَ يَومِكُم هٰذا إِنّا نَسيناكُم ۖ وَذوقوا عَذابَ الخُلدِ بِما كُنتُم تَعمَلونَ

“So suffer it! You forgot this appointed day of yours, so now We’re going to forget you! Suffer the eternal punishment for your deeds!” Qur’an, 32: 14

We become distracted like little children who point to others who are doing bad, as if that justifies them being disobedient!

وَلَو شِئنا لَآتَينا كُلَّ نَفسٍ هُداها وَلٰكِن حَقَّ القَولُ مِنّي لَأَملَأَنَّ جَهَنَّمَ مِنَ الجِنَّةِ وَالنّاسِ أَجمَعينَ

“If We had wanted, We could’ve guided every soul, but the truth of My sentence will come to pass: “I will fill Hellfire with jinns and people all together!” Qur’an, 32: 13

Go into Allah’s generosity, mercy, kindness.

يَا عَائِشَةُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ رَفِيقٌ يُحِبُّ الرِّفْقَ وَيُعْطِي عَلَى الرِّفْقِ مَا لَا يُعْطِي عَلَى الْعُنْفِ وَمَا لَا يُعْطِي عَلَى مَا سِوَاهُ

“A’ishah!, Allah is gentle and He loves gentleness. He rewards for gentleness what is not granted for harshness and He does not reward anything else like it” — Sahih Muslim, #2593

Allah doesn’t speak of most sins as “taking revenge” or repercussion, but when it comes to forgetting Allah, He responds, “We’re going to forget you” on that day.

وَمَن أَظلَمُ مِمَّن ذُكِّرَ بِآياتِ رَبِّهِ ثُمَّ أَعرَضَ عَنها ۚ إِنّا مِنَ المُجرِمينَ مُنتَقِمونَ

“So who’s more wrong than the one who is reminded of the signs of his Lord but then turns away from them? We’re indeed going to get retribution from the wicked!” Qur’an, 32: 22

For other khutbahs and podcasts, see the Middle Ground Podcast.

Notes

1. The term, ‘abd (عبد), whose verbal root, ‘a-ba-da, means to worship. It is also understood to mean slave, though for many, because of the transatlantic slave trade, it has come to take on that meaning almost exclusively. Here, we use it to mean, “worshiper (of)”.