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Khutbahs
Was It Really Worth It? Re-evaluating What We Fight Over | Khutbah by Dr Omar Suleiman
One day, everything we chase of wealth, power, or status, will lose its shine. The world will expose what we once thought was worth fighting over, and every argument, betrayal, and war will come down to one question: Was it really worth it?
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. And we bear witness that Muhammad (ﷺ) is His final messenger.
We ask Allah to send His peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in his blessed path until the Day of Judgment. We ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen.
Dear brothers and sisters, when you look at the pile of rubble in Gaza, what do you see?
This khutbah is not going to spend too much time with that particular question, but it does frame the hadith that we're going to be speaking about profoundly.
There are some people that look at the rubble of Gaza and in that rubble they see guilt and they see an imperative to rebuild the lives of people as much as they can,
to give the orphans, even if they're missing limbs, a home to live in once again, to try to restore whatever has been taken that can humanly be restored,
and an opportunity ultimately for all of us to invest whatever we have into the rebuilding and the restoration of Gaza.
But there are some people, they call them the investors, and you can look up the politics behind that term, that have been looking at Gaza and they see gas under its surface. They see gas in the water.
They see an opportunity to exploit. They see an opportunity to turn it into another dollar. They're talking about waterfront properties. And so how in line you see it with our enemies today,
they can barely coordinate amongst themselves when they sit for an interview, that this has always been the plan.
They see an opportunity to steal more, an opportunity to exploit more, and the people in that process become nothing but pawns, tools.
Things to be removed or things to be used in order to increase the bank account, get more money into it.
So the gas in Gaza is an opportunity. You look at Sudan. Like today I saw a video that was heartbreaking,
of a man that's being hung as his shoulders are dislocated by one of the RSF forces, and the person who's filming him, just like the Zionist soldiers in Gaza, is laughing uncontrollably.
What did they see in Sudan? They didn't see people, they saw gold. There are those that looked at Gaza and saw gas. There are those that looked at Sudan and saw gold. It's another opportunity for exploitation. What about us?
Do we see the imperative to rebuild, to restore, to be with them in their moments of destruction and havoc? This is a global current of greed.
But there is an incredibly powerful hadith that the Prophet (ﷺ) told us about, or told us will come to be, before the Day of Judgment. He said in this authentic hadith from Sahih Muslim,
قَالَ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَقِيءُ الْأَرْضُ أَفْلَاذَ كَبِدِهَا That the earth will vomit its pieces of liver out.
And he said (ﷺ), أَمْثَالَ الْأُسْطُوَانِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ And the liver of the earth as it vomits out, will be like columns of gold and silver.
All of that wealth hiding in the surface. All of that wealth hiding in the oceans. All that they mine for and try to find and try to remove people so that they can get some of it, more of it.
The new discovery of gold here. The new discovery of this there. The new currency that came out. The new way to make another dollar. All of it just vomits out of the earth or is vomited out of the earth.
And the Prophet (ﷺ) says,
فَيَجِيءُ الْقَاتِلُ فَيَقُولُ فِي هَذَا قَتَلْتُ The murderer walks up to all of this gold and silver that's been vomited out of the earth.
And he says, it was for this that I murdered. It was for this that I murdered. And he said (ﷺ) that after that man walks up to it, the next person who comes up,
وَيَجِيءُ الْقَاطِعُ The one who broke off. Broke off what? The ties of family. Will walk up to this wealth and say, فِي هَذَا قَطَعْتُ رَحِمِي I ruined my family relationships for this.
I cut off my brother for this. I pit myself or pit family members against each other for another dollar of inheritance, for an argument over land. I cut off family members because of this.
Looking at the vomit of gold and silver. And he said (ﷺ), وَيَجِيءُ السَّارِقُ Then the thief will come and say,
فِي هَذَا قُطِعَتْ يَدِي For this my hand was cut. Meaning I was penalized. He doesn't regret stealing. He regrets the penalty of stealing. He regrets the consequences that came to his life.
I ruined myself because I got greedy and I stole more. And the Prophet (ﷺ) says, ثُمَّ يَدَعُونَهُ فَلَا يَأْخُذُونَ مِنْهُ شَيْئًا Then they will leave it and take nothing from it. Incredible.
He said then they all walk away from it without picking up any of it. Like at that point, that gold and that silver and that treasure is so worthless. And the imagery of vomit is so worthless.
It's like I don't even want to try to get another dollar, get another piece of gold. Like just, it means nothing. The incredible thing about this hadith is that Ibn Hajar and An-Nawawi say,
this actually happens before the Day of Judgment. That there's a moment on the Day of Judgment, obviously, everything gives its secrets. The earth testifies. People come forward and things come forward. Your own limbs will testify.
All of the rubble, every piece of it in Gaza will testify to the crimes that are buried underneath. All that is there. But they say that this is referring to slightly before the Day of Judgment,
when greed has caused such an upheaval and so much chaos in the world that everything has broken down. And the Day of Judgment is about to come and people have kind of lost hope.
And they realize now that that gold and that silver cannot benefit them from what is about to happen. And so they look at the impending doom and they look back at wasted lives and they say, man, that was not worth it.
That was not worth it. Some of them talked about the loss of the currency of gold and silver, that it doesn't even matter anymore that these things, that global wars were waged over,
exploitation was waged over, that the value has already been lost at that point because of the complete breakdown of system. What was this for? What was it worth?
I killed somebody. I stole from somebody. I lost family. Was it actually worth it? And the term أَفْلَاذَ كَبِدِهَا, that its inner livers, the liver as the ulema mention,
is the most vital of the most vital organs. And usually while the poetry speaks about the heart, it keeps you functioning. And people don't recognize how precious it is until it stops functioning. Until it stops functioning.
That's when people recognize that that precious possession, what you once considered to be so precious but did not pay attention to, now has come back to bite you.
So the question becomes, was it really worth it? Was it worth the betrayal? Was it worth the lost relationships? Was it worth the punishment on the Day of Judgment? And imagine when the Day of Judgment actually happens now.
I'm like, now I've got to worry about this stuff too. Here's the thing. There is, on the Day of Judgment as the ulema said, another layer of exposure,
which is the agendas and the hidden motives. And those things will come out of the earth as well. So you have face value, and then you have what drove people to these crimes,
and what drove people to lose themselves. And this becomes the personal mirror. Now, we can talk about these global shifts, and we can talk about global greed,
but all of these are built upon personal manifestations of greed, and personal manifestations of evil, and personal manifestations of narcissism, and people that lost themselves and then took an entire community,
sometimes a whole country, sometimes the whole world with them, on that journey of self-destruction, and caused the world to destruct as well. There's a personal mirror.
Was the argument worth what it cost you? The argument between family, the argument between friends. I really want to stake my ground in this.
I want to win this argument so bad that I'm not going to give in. Because if I give in, then I'm going to lose. What are you going to lose? Was it really worth it? You know, subhanallah, on the Day of Judgment,
the Prophet (ﷺ) says that when the last stage of entrance into paradise are two brothers on a qantara, they just didn't want to forgive each other. They didn't wrong necessarily each other,
but they didn't want to forgive each other, hard feelings. How does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala do away with those hard feelings? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to the person, look at that palace in paradise, you want it? Let it go with your brother. Okay.
Do I have to see the house in paradise to know that it exists? And know that, مَنْ تَرَكَ الْمِرَاءَ وَإِنْ كَانَ مُحِقًّا like to leave off an argument even when you're right, is actually always worth it,
because I already believe that the reward is worth losing the arguments, but you really wanted to win that argument. Okay. You really, really wanted to get that business deal over. You have to cheat a little bit more.
There's this whole global scandal right now, or whatever, sports scandal, of millionaires that were gambling to make more money. You were already a millionaire. Why are you cheating people out? Why are you putting yourself through more of this so that you can get an extra dollar?
That's worldly consequence, but was that extra dollar of riba, that extra dollar, that extra thing that I cheated with really worth the loss of barakah in my life, the complete loss of blessing in my life?
And then meeting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and having to be punished for it? Was that ego worth your marriage? Was that ego worth your parents? Was that ego worth your brother, your sister?
Was it worth it to stake your ground in that? And you keep going on and on and on and discussing the opportunity costs that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives to you every single day.
Sometimes it's time. Was that extra time at work worth extra time away from family if I had a choice? Right? What was the trade-off in all of this?
And imagining yourself to be this person who comes up and who stands in front of it all once the earth spits it all out, vomits it all out and says, Yeah, I don't think it was worth it. The permanence of it,
the permanence of the consequences, the way that it will testify, the people I lost, the limbs I lost, the money I lost, the emotions I lost, it really wasn't worth it.
None of it was worth it. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not want for you to fall into the place of regret. In fact, before you get to the regret, Allah 'azza wa jal gives you the instructions
how to curb greed, curb the desire to betray, curb the desire to win an argument, curb the ego, curb it all, so that you don't find yourself standing in one of those situations saying,
This wasn't worth it. This wasn't worth it. Cut off the disease before it leads to the consequence. Cut off the individual consequences before it leads to global consequences. And take heed from what you're seeing
in the world around you and realize that if the only difference between you and global criminals and global schemes of exploitation is that they're able to do it, they're capable of doing it, and you're not, then you're no different in the sight of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala than that person. Because if you could, you would. So just like a person looking at Gaza right now and saying, If I could save everybody there, I would. Allah 'azza wa jal will write down that intention.
Likewise, a person of greed who looks at it and may Allah foil all of their plans. May Allah replace their waterfront properties with permanent chambers in hell. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala foil it all. But if I could, I would.
Hmm, that looks like a scheme I can get in on. Just because you fail doesn't mean Allah 'azza wa jal doesn't write it down against you. Analyze yourself. Relationships with parents, relationships with spouses, relationships with kids,
relationships with friends and brothers and sisters. Was it worth it at the end of the day? Finally, I end with this. On a practical level, one of the things that the Prophet (ﷺ)
showed us is that the shaheed on the Day of Judgment who lost everything for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the only regret that he would have is he'd want to come back to this world and lose his life over for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
over and over and over and over again. Because Allah 'azza wa jal makes everything worth it for us. There has to be this level of recalibrating what's valuable in your life
and putting it all on a sheet, mapping it all out and saying what's of greatest value to me. And does my effort, does my deed,
does my expression show a proportionality to what I say holds more value in my life? Because Allah 'azza wa jal will test us with our words just as He will test us with our possessions. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to not make us amongst those who have to wait for the earth to vomit to realize how lowly this dunya actually is. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to see the palaces of gold and ruby in al-jannah
and all that He promises so vividly with our hearts that we work towards it from now as if we can see it with our eyes. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to rescue our relationships from ourselves,
to rescue ourselves from our ego and to rescue us from the desire for wealth that destroys societies, that destroys countries, that destroys the world. May Allah 'azza wa jal not let us be amongst those who take part in its destruction.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst those who rescue it from that greed and from that individual destruction turned societal destruction. Allahumma ameen. أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ
وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَمَنْ وَالَاهُ اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالْمُسْلِمِينَ وَالْمُسْلِمَاتِ الْأَحْيَاءِ مِنْهُمْ وَالْأَمْوَاتِ إِنَّكَ سَمِيعٌ قَرِيبٌ مُجِيبُ الدَّعَوَاتِ اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَاعْفُ عَنَّا وَاعْفِنَا
وَارْزُقْنَا وَاهْدِنَا إِنَّكَ سَمِيعٌ قَرِيبٌ مُجِيبُ الدَّعَوَاتِ اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَاعْفُ عَنَّا وَاعْفِنَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا
لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّكَ عَفُوٌّ كَرِيمٌ تُحِبُّ الْعَفْوَ فَاعْفُ عَنَّا اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِوَالِدَيْنَا وَارْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانَا صِغَارًا رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّاتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ
وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا اللَّهُمَّ انصُرْ إِخْوَانَنَا الْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي غَزَّةَ وَفِي السُّودَانِ وَفِي الْيَمَنِ وَفِي كُلِّ مَكَانٍ اللَّهُمَّ عَلَيْكَ بِأَعْدَائِكَ وَأَعْدَائِهِمْ اللَّهُمَّ عَلَيْكَ بِأَعْدَائِكَ وَأَعْدَائِهِمْ اللَّهُمَّ عَلَيْكَ بِأَعْدَائِكَ وَأَعْدَائِهِمْ اللَّهُمَّ عَلَيْكَ بِأَعْدَائِكَ وَأَعْدَائِهِمْ
اللَّهُمَّ أَرِنَا فِي الظَّالِمِينَ عَجَائِبَ قُدْرَتِكَ اللَّهُمَّ آمِينَ عِبَادَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوهُ
عَلَى نِعَمِهِ يَزِدْ لَكُمْ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ
