My beloved brothers in Islam, A distinct feature which Allah () has bestowed upon the Muslim nation is being witness on mankind, on all other nations. Allah () says in the Holy Qur’an وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِّتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا And thus we have made you a just community that you will be witnesses over the people and the Messenger will be a witness over you. And it was narrated by Aby Said Al-Khodairy that prophet Muhammad () said " يُدْعَى نُوحٌ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَيَقُولُ لَبَّيْكَ وَسَعْدَيْكَ يَا رَبِّ. فَيَقُولُ هَلْ بَلَّغْتَ فَيَقُولُ نَعَمْ. فَيُقَالُ لأُمَّتِهِ هَلْ بَلَّغَكُمْ فَيَقُولُونَ مَا أَتَانَا مِنْ نَذِيرٍ. فَيَقُولُ مَنْ يَشْهَدُ لَكَ فَيَقُولُ مُحَمَّدٌ وَأُمَّتُهُ. فَتَشْهَدُونَ أَنَّهُ قَدْ بَلَّغَ " "Noah will be called on the Day of Resurrection and he will say, 'Labbaik and Sa`daik, O my Lord!' Allah will say, 'Did you convey the Message?' Noah will say, 'Yes.' His nation will then be asked, 'Did he convey the Message to you?' They will say, 'No Warner came to us.' Then Allah will say (to Noah), 'Who will bear witness in your favor?' He will say, 'Muhammad and his followers. So they (i.e. Muslims) will testify that he conveyed the Message. So dear brothers, we muslims have a huge responsibility that unfortunately many muslims don’t care about. So what is this responsibility about and how important is it. To answer these questions, let’s reflect upon the Surah in which this verse was revealed which is Surat Al-Baqarah. This Surat was revealed just after prophet Muhammad () migrated to Al-Madina. The Prophet () has moved to madinah and now his audience is different , the mushrikoon of Arabia were a different audience and now He () has come into contact with a Christian and Jewish community more, and in particular the Jewish community. One of the fundamental reason that the Jewish community of Arabia decided to reject prophet Muhammad () by large is that He () did not belong to the family, He () was not from the children of Ishaq (), He () was from the children of Ismail () so he was not from the “chosen group” ,He () was not one of them. When Allah () revealed the Quran and he revealed instructions, a lot of instructions were same which Allah gave to Musa () .The sharia we follow a lot of it is a continuation of the sharia of Musa ().So as part of it Muhammad () used to fast on the same days as the Jews, he used to pray in the same direction as the Jews did and even claimed the day of ashura the day of victory of Musa (A S ) as the day of fasting and celebration for the Muslims so there is a lot of parallel . Allah Azzawajjal exposes in surah baqarah that there was a knowledgeable group among the Jewish community of Madinah that have actually done their home work and they looked to this messenger(S AW) and they found that every single description that they were given about him in there books ,so they came to the conclusion that in fact this “IS THE Messenger of Allah(S A W) “. And at the same time they came to a very strange conclusion also that “NO MATTER WHAT WE WILL NOT FOLLOW HIM, WE WILL NOT ACCEPT HIM AS A MESSENGER OF ALLAH”. Because they were kind of mad at God (naaouzobillah) that how can he sent a messenger at the wrong address. So in this surah what Allah Azzawajal does is that he exposed them, they actually start blaming Jibreel (A S) that he must have gone to the wrong address. Allah defends Jibreel(A S) in this sura Say: Whoever is the enemy of Jibreel-- for surely he revealed it to your heart by Allah's command, verifying that which is before it and guidance and good news for the believers. They also said that since Muhammad () still prays in the same direction as us, He () still fast in the same days as we do, so Allah is still kind 0f on our side”. What does Allah do? He changes the qibla Before the prophet () moved to Al-Madina, He used to pray in Makkah to the kaaba in a way such that the kaaba is in front of Him(S A W) and Al-aqsa is in front of Him also ,they are lined up together. Although original instruction was to pray to Al-aqsa, He (S A W) still placed the house built by His father Ibrahim (A S) in front of Him(S A W). When He went to madina that is impossible because when he prays towards al-Aqsa His back is toward Makkah. Then Allah () gives Him the instruction to turn His back to Makkah and remarkably you know who is really offended by this? Bani Israel, the jews of the madina. Allah () mentiones in Surat AlBaqarah The fools among the people will say: "What hath turned them from the Qibla to which they were used?" Say: To Allah belong both east and West: He guideth whom He will to a Way that is straight. They said “What happened why you guys are praying in a different direction now” Here is very simple question if you believe that these muslims are not on the truth, then whether they pray east west north south why do you care??? You should not be offended at all. The fact that they get angry, they exposed the knowledge that they held within. After that, Allah added another salt on the wound after these verses, the next verses were about Ramadan. Allah () says: شَہۡرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانُ The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Quran So the month of fast of Bani israel stopped, so it completely known that one ummah that had that status (bani Israel) is gone and now a new ummah is being inaugurated by two major things 1. The change of the Kaaba. 2. The instillation of the month of Ramadan . These two things are identifying us as a distinct new nation completely separate from Bani Israel. Subhan Allah how Allah sets us apart and as a statement of setting us apart He honored us with the following ayah وَكَذَٲلِكَ جَعَلۡنَـٰكُمۡ أُمَّةً۬ وَسَطً۬ا لِّتَڪُونُواْ شُہَدَآءَ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ ٱلرَّسُولُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ شَهِيدً۬اۗ as We have appointed you a middle nation, that ye may be witnesses against mankind, and that the messenger may be a witness against you That is how we made you a balanced nation a middle nation .. what is the mean of being the middle nation It’s a very important thing for us to understand. There are two nations that Allah alludes to in surah Fatiha , when we are told to stay away from two paths that can go in the wrong way we are told to stay away from غَيۡرِ ٱلۡمَغۡضُوبِ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray So what do these two paths mean? Essentially our deen is truth, it is combination of two things One, it is knowledge, it’s good, accurate knowledge. But just because you have knowledge is not enough you must know take that knowledge and change your life I will call that Action. You have to have knowledge and that knowledge must transform into actions. These are the two fundamental of our religion. I will give you a simple example just to get the point across, just because you know fire burns it’s not enough !! now you must act and not touch it, it will be foolish to know something and act in contradiction to what you know, now you know the truth you must act upon it. These are the two conditions of a proper commitment to the straight path, the path we asked Allah for. now there is two kind of problems there is a person who knows a lot and does not act on it that’s one problem he has got one half of the picture. here is another problem there is person who really wants to act .wants to do good things but you know what the problem is He does not know much so he is doing things as best as his imagination tells him It’s not really based on knowledge. So you have two problems before you either you have knowledge without actions or you have actions without knowledge. Now if you pay attention to Jews and the Christians that Allah talks about extensively in the Quran the problem of the Israelites was that they have a lot of knowledge, Allah testifies to their knowledge, they understood the book Those to whom We gave the Scripture know him as they know their own sons. But indeed, a party of them conceal the truth while they know [it].
They even recognize this messenger ((SAW)) like they would their own children .if a kid starts crying in the back during the khutba you would know it’s mine that’s how well they recognize messenger ((SAW)) ,Allah testify their knowledge but their knowledge unfortunately did not transform into actions. What happened to the Christian side of things, Allah talks about them meaning well , doing good things and yet when it comes to even the most fundamental of knowledge the doors are closed, they are refusing to think, refusing to want to learn ,that becomes a problem on the other hand. We were made the middle nation, the nation that find the balance between two sides, the side of knowledge and the side of actions, that’s one of the many benefits of Allah calling us the middle nation . Now why were we made the middle nation, you would think that this is cause for celebrations, you are finally made a middle nation yes thats Awesome but Allah never gives an honor, He never gives a position except that He brings it with a lot of responsibility , so in the same ayah it’s not next ayah , you cannot even finish this ayah without getting to the responsibility, this ayah is not just about the honor وَكَذَٲلِكَ جَعَلۡنَـٰكُمۡ أُمَّةً۬ وَسَطً۬ا but Allah did not stop at the honor then He piled on us the responsibility the burden that comes with being an Ummah . You cannot just say Alahmdullilah we are the Muslim Ummah!! that’s not enough, by the way if that is enough you would be just like Bani Israel who said we are the chosen people that’s enough for us we do not need to take any responsibility because we already get the boarding pass to jannah now we are set. That’s not the case with us ,what did Allah say لِّتَڪُونُواْ شُہَدَآءَ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ ٱلرَّسُولُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ شَهِيدً۬اۗ I made you a nation so that you can be witnesses against all people, Dear brothers in Islam, you and I have been made a member of this Ummah and a fundamental task as an Ummah is that we became witnesses against humanity. I say this and ask Alláh Az w Gal for forgiveness for me, you and all Muslims for every sin. Invoke Him for forgiveness, for He is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful. Dear Brothers in Islam, We are witnesses against humanity. Do you know what that means? it means that we carry Islam whenever we open our mouth and we carry Islam with our characters. SubhanAllah!! this is a serious problem , and by the way(شُہَدَآءَ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ) this concept is so Heavy in our deen. It means that on judgment day when people that were around us , who have the ability to interact with us , our coworkers ,our friends , our neighbors even our non Muslim family, all of them will testify on judgment day that this Muslim who was my friend , my co worker , my neighbor, I never saw a glimpse of Islam in him , he never brought it up it’s not my fault. They will have a case against us. Even though they have their own responsibility but we also supposed to be witnesses against them because if we are not witness against them they will be witness against us, it’s either one or the other, we going to court either way , we have to decide which side we are going to stand on. So dear brothers in Islam, be aware of the responsibility you have as a muslim. Let’s go back to Allah’s revelation and learn more about it and learn what Allah () wants us to know in order to have peaceful lives in this life and the hereafter.
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