How a Pearl Develops: A Khutbah for Muslim Women

Salam... A nice khutbah for us dear sisters. You can read the below transcript of the khuthba or you can listen to it on the link below.

http://www.al-mizaan.org.uk/Audio/Lectures/Muhammad%20Alshareef/How%20a%20Pearl%20Develops.mp3



How a Pearl Develops: A Khutbah for Muslim Women


by Muhammad Alshareef



When news of the Christian army that had prepared on the horizons to
wipe out Islam reached Abu Qudaamah Ash-Shaamee, he moved quickly to
the mimbar of the masjid. In a powerful and emotional speech, Abu
Qudaamah ignited the desire of the community to defend their land –
jihaad for the sake of Allah. As he left the masjid, walking down a
dark and secluded alley, a woman stopped him and said, "As salamu
alaykum wa Rahmatullaah!" Abu Qudaamah stopped and did not answer. She
repeated her salam again, adding "this is not how pious people should
act." She stepped forward from the shadows. "I heard you in the masjid
encouraging the believers to go for jihaad and all I have is this…" She
handed him two long braids. "It can be used for a horse rein. Perhaps
Allah may write me as one of those who went for jihaad."


The next day as that Muslim village set out to confront the
crusader army, a young boy ran through the gathering and stood at the
hooves of Abu Qudaamah's horse. "I ask you by Allah to allow me to join
the army."

Some of the elder fighters laughed at the boy. "The horses will trample you," they said.


But Abu Qudaamah looked down into his eyes as he asked again, "I ask you by Allah, let me join."


Abu Qudaamah then said, "On one condition; if you are killed you will
take me with you to Jannah amongst those you will be allowed to
intercede for."

That young boy smiled. "It's a promise."


When the two armies met and the fighting intensified, the young boy on
the back of Abu Qudaamah's horse asked, "I ask you by Allah to give me
3 arrows."

"You'll lose them," said Abu Qudaamah.


The boy repeated, "I ask you by Allah to give me them."


Abu Qudaamah gave him the arrows and the boy took aim. "Bismillah!" The
arrow flew and killed a Roman. "Bismillah!" The second arrow flew,
killing a second Roman. "Bismillah!" The third arrow flew, killing a
third Roman. An arrow then struck the boy in the chest, knocking him
off the horse. Abu Qudaamah jumped down to his side, reminding the boy
in his final breaths, "Don't forget the promise!"

The boy reached into his pocket, extracted a pouch and said, "Please return this to my mother."


"Who's your mother?" asked Abu Qudaamah.


"The women that gave you the braids yesterday."


Think about this Muslimah. How did she reach this level of taqwa where
she would sacrifice her hair and her son? Indeed, she spent her life in
the obedience of Allah, and when exam time came, she passed. Not only
did she pass herself, but her children shone with that same beauty of
eman; children that she herself raised.


Most often the lectures, khutbahs, and talks are all directed
to the Muslim men. We forget that from the hady (guidance and way) of
RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam was that he would allocate a
specific day of the week to teach the women. Women would come up to him
in Hajj, in the street, and even in his home to ask him questions about
the deen. At the Eid salah, after addressing the men, he would take
Bilal and go to the women’s section and address the women. Allah
revealed an entire surah by the name of An-Nisaa’ (The Women), another
by the name of Maryam (Mary), and yet another by the name of
Al-Mujaadalah (The Woman Who Pleads). It is in enlivening this Sunnah
that today this speech shall be addressed to the believing women –
al-mu'minaat.


Dear sister, dear mother, and dear daughter, everyone is
looking for happiness and fun, and I am sure that you are not excluded.
Where is that happiness and fun though? And where and when do you want
that happiness? Do you want to have ‘fun’ in this life at the expense
of the hereafter? Or is it in the hereafter, when you meet Allah, that
you want to be happy?


Everywhere you go you shall find a swarm of people, media, and
culture swearing to you that happiness is the happiness of the dunya.
Is it really happiness though? On the Day of Repayment, Allah shall
take the most ‘happiest’ kafir of the dunya and dip him in Jahannam
(Hellfire). Then He shall ask him, "Have you ever seen any happiness?"
The Kafir will say, "Never!"


Nay, the happiness is only the happiness of the hereafter no
matter what happens in this dunya. Allah shall bring on the Day of
Repayment the most tested human and dip him in Jannah (Paradise). He
shall then ask him, "Have you ever seen sadness?" And that person shall
say, "Never!"


And don't think that this happiness and fun is exclusive to
the Hereafter. It is very much tied to this life as well. Listen and
understand the words of Allah:


Whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, while he
[or she] is a true believer, verily to him We will give a good life [in
this world with respect, contentment and lawful provision], and We
shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what
they used to do [i.e. Paradise in the Hereafter] (An-Nahl 16/97).


Dear sister, you have to understand that you or anyone may
enter Hellfire. By Allah, we are not better than Fatimah, the daughter
of Rasul Allah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam. And he said to her, "O
Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, ssk me whatever you wish from my
wealth, for I shall avail you nothing to Allah." Meaning that it
doesn't matter if you're my daughter; if you don't work for Jannah,
saying to Allah that my father is so and so will not help you in any
way.


Islam is filled with many mu'minahs who completed their taqwa
of Allah. When the other girls put up posters of kafir singers,
athletes and actresses, you should put up posters in your heart of
Fatimah and many other mu'minahs.


One of these women was Aasiyah, the wife of Fir'own. Her eman
in Allah thrived under the shadow of someone who said, "I am your Lord,
Most High!" When news reached Fir'own of his wife's eman, he beat her
and commanded his guards to beat her. They took her out in the scalding
noon heat, tied her hands and feet, and beat her perpetually. Who did
she turn to? She turned to Allah! She prayed, "My Lord, build for me a
home with you in Paradise, save me from Fir'own and his deeds, and save
me from the transgressive people."


It was narrated that when she said this, the sky opened for
her and she saw her home in Paradise. She smiled. The guards watched
astonished – she's being tortured and she smiles? Frustrated, Fir'own
commanded a boulder to be brought and dropped on Aasiyah to crush her
to death. But Allah took her soul before the boulder was brought and
she became an example for all the believing men and women till the end
of time:


And Allah has set forth an example for those who believe: the
wife of Fir'own [Pharaoh] when she said, "My Lord, Build for me a home
with You in Paradise, and save me from Fir'own and his deeds, and save
me from the transgressive [disbelieving people] (At-Tahreem 66/11).


When we talk about jihaad and shuhadaa' (martyrs), do you know
who the first Muslim in Islam to be killed in the path of Allah was? It
was Summayah, the mother of Ammar. When Abu Jahl heard of her, her
husband Yaasir, and her son Ammar’s Islam, he whipped them all and beat
them, so much so, that RasulAllah would pass by them as they went
through this test of their eman and would say to them, “Be patient, O
Jannah!”


One day, as Abu Jahl beat Sumayyah, she refused to recant her
deen; something that enraged Abu Jahl. He took a spear as she lay on
the burning sand looking up to the sky, and he speared through her
midsection. She was the first of her family and the entire ummah to
meet Allah as a martyr.


Dear sister, our role models come from the Qur’an. You may
have heard the story of the boy and the king. When the entire village
became Muslim by the death of that young boy, the king ordered that an
enormous fire be kindled and all those who would not recant their
religion be burned alive. A mu'minah, stood with her baby over the
fire. She looked at her baby, and seeking her child's weakness and
innocence, she considered turning her back. The baby said to her, "What
are you waiting for mother. Go forward, for you are on the truth!" She
nodded. Then, with her baby in hand, she was pushed to her death.


And they ill-treated them for no other reason than that they
believed in Allah, exalted in power, worthy of all praise! / Him to
Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth! And Allah is
witness to all things (Al-Buruj 85/8-9).


And dear sister, your role models can also come to you from
today. As her son tells us, a senior woman in a Muslim land decided
that all the vanity that normally happens in the gatherings of women
was not for her. She turned to salah and praying at night, and in her
old age, she found herself calling to her son one night from her prayer
room. He son says, "I came in and she was in sajdah saying that she was
paralyzed!" Her son took her to the doctors and she began a cycle of
rehabilitation, but there was little hope. She then commanded her son
to take her back home, back to her prayer room, back to that sajdah. As
she prayed to Allah in her sajdah, the night came and she again called
to her son. "Astawdi'ukallaah alladhee laa yadee'u wa daa'i'uh," which
means, "I leave you in the trust of Allah, and whenever something is
left in Allah's trust it is never lost." She passed away in her sajdah.
Her muscles froze in that position and so they had to wash her body as
she was in sajdah. They prayed janazah for her as her body was in
sajdah. They carried her to the graveyard as her body was in sajdah.
They buried her as she was in sajdah. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa
sallam said that we shall all be resurrected on what we died on; she
shall be resurrected on the day of Judgment in sajdah to Allah – jalla
jalaaluhu wa taqaddasat asmaa'uhu - because that it how she lived and
died.


There are many other stories that we know about of powerful
believing mothers, wives and sisters, and many that Allah only knows
about. Whenever a halaqah is going on, the Muslim women outnumber the
men. Go to an Islamic teachers or schools conference, attend a lecture
and you shall see the mismatch of sisters to brothers. Sometimes it is
sad to see all these brothers lacking the motivation that many
muslimahs have. But if there is a beautiful sign in all this, it is
that, in sha Allah ta'aala, those sisters are going to raise an army of
believing men and women in the coming generation, wAllahu Akbar!


When Imam Ahmad was still young, his father died. He would
tell his students of the work his mother went through in raising him,
and he would pray for her. In the cold Baghdad nights, she would wake
long before him to warm the water so that her son Ahmad could make wudu
for Fajr. Then she would wrap him in blankets, she herself cloaked in
her jilbaab. She would guide him through the dark, cold alleys to reach
the main masjid long before Fajr so that her son could get a good seat
in class. Her son Ahmad, at that age in grade 2 or 3, would sit all day
long studying Qur’an and Sunnah, and she would wait for him to finish
so that she could drop him home safely. At the age of 16, she prepared
money and food for him and told him, "Travel for your search of
knowledge." He left for Makkah and Madinah and many other places, and
met many great scholars. She raised Ahmad to become one of the four
greatest imams in Islam.


PART II


Dear sister, after all this, ask a non-Muslim what it is that
he wants from you. Does he want you to be liberated? Liberated from
what? From Allah and his Messenger? From the Qur’an and the Sunnah?
From Jannah? From this deen that Allah chose for you?


And what is he going to give you in return? Happiness? By
Allah, he does not own any happiness to give. Is he going to give you
love and protection from punishment in the grave and from the
gatekeepers of Hellfire and from death? Why is it that they want to
liberate young beautiful women? Why don't they liberate the seniors?
Why don't they liberate the indigenous? Why don't they liberate the
inmates? Why is their target audience a young, skinny and tall woman
(their definition of beauty) between the ages of 13 – 28? And why is
their first call for you to take off your hijab?


Remember that friend – if you consider him so – carefully, for
without any doubt, by Allah, he shall be your bitterest enemy on the
Day of Repayment.


Friends on that day will be foes, one to another – except the Righteous (Al-Zukhruf 43/67).


One kafirah summed up exactly what they think of women, "It's
not who you are, it's what you wear and what you look like!" And listen
to Fabian, a French 'model,' as she spit on the fashion industry.
"Fashion houses made me into a mannequin, a wooden idol. The mission:
to manipulate hearts and alter minds. I learned how to be worthless,
nothing on the inside, but cold. We lived in a world of filth."


When the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam stood on the
plain of Arafah and gave his farewell speech, he said to the ummah,
"Treat the women kindly!" History records that in Europe, in the same
year, at the same time that Islam was saying this, the Christian clergy
were arguing whether a woman was a human or an animal! Those clergymen
are the ancestors of the kuffar that now want to 'liberate' you.


There is much more than can be said. I shall conclude with the
advice of RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam to every Muslim
mother, daughter, and wife:

"If the woman prays her five (salah), fasts her month (of Ramadan),
protects herself (from committing zina), and listens to her husband, it
will be said to her, that from any door you wish, enter Paradise!"

O ye who believe! Give your response to Allah and His Messenger, when
He calls you to that which shall give you life; and know that Allah
cometh between a man and his heart, and that it is He to Whom ye shall
[all] be gathered (Al-Anfal 8/24).


Allah and His Messenger are calling you to life. Dear sister, reply!