By Imam Murtadha Gusau

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation—may He extol the Messenger in the highest company of Angels and send His peace and blessings upon him—likewise upon his family, Companions, and true followers.

Dear brothers and sisters! Today, if we are to discuss the problems and issues faced by the Muslim Ummah, we shall see that many of them are related to personal lives. Collectively this is what can be observed and this is becoming the leading cause to a social decline in Muslim societies. The need of the hour is for everyone to self-introspect and rectify. At a locals, states and national levels, the leaders need to fulfill their responsibilities and roles assigned to them. Today’s sermon (Khutbah) is an attempt to highlight those areas which are leading to our destruction and decadence as an Ummah (nation).

Respected servants of Allah! When the people, especially the leaders, both individually as well as collectively begin to worry about self-analysis, weaknesses, responsibilities and how to rectify them, automatically there will be positive results that will be observed, In Shaa Allah as follows:

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1. Complete Iman, Righteous Deeds, Fear of Allah and the Worry for the Day of Judgement (Akhirah):

Our beloved Prophet, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) reformed the society and raised a foundation for the Companions (Sahabas) as examples for all. This reform was of a nation who were deep in the depths of ignorance and misguidance. Murder and robbery were the norm. The society was so engrossed in the wrong that no one wanted to be their leader. Our beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him) completely reformed these people to perfect their faith, lead them to righteous deeds and the fear of Allah Almighty. He instilled in them the worry for the Day of Judgement (Akhirah). The entire society and its mindset changed. The very same people who were involved in looting and murder became leaders. Their society became an example of what was to be followed. They became successful against strong international forces such as Qaisar and Kisrah.

Whether it be our leaders or the nation, whether we speak of individuals or community as a whole, discipline is the power. The effectiveness of sound character along with the fear of Allah Almighty is the key to success. This is the sustenance that is essential. We are deprived of these basics individually as well as an Ummah (nation). The most important areas that need to be addressed are that we are far from sincerity, weakened in terms of righteous deeds and exemplary character, free from the worry of accountability and heedless of the life after death which is to follow. All of these are the very foundation, if not strengthened with Iman (faith), we cannot expect our building to be dependable.

2. The Disease of Weakness:

The Muslim Ummah today is surrounded by the whirlpool of injustice. Muslims are being massacred everywhere. Every dawn brings a greater number of chaos and problems. Our Enemies (from within and outside) are attacking the Muslims in all aspects and are bloodthirsty to eradicate the entire Muslim nation from the face of this earth. Our beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him) not only warned us of this degeneration but also gave us the reasons for this decline. In a Hadith we learn that when a nation is inflicted with a disease of “weakness,” and here ‘weakness’ is referred to the too much love of this world and the dislike of death, then such problems shall arise. This is the time when a strengthened belief, righteous deeds, fear of Allah Almighty and the worry for the Hearafter is the need of the hour. Additionally, there is a need for us to look at the lack of collective discipline within us. We have to eradicate the too much love of this world and the dislike for death as they are the foundation of all evil. Fear of death becomes a reason for a weak heart and enslavement. Once we overcome this, then we will be able to come out from many vices, In Shaa Allah.

3. Preaching Unity and Consensus:

At this time, the Muslim nations face many issues due to the lack of unity and consensus. There have formed many a groups, sects and factions based on various beliefs, geographical locations as well as cultural variances leading to hatred and enmity. The slogan of “divide and rule” has caused split in the Muslim Ummah and many walls have been erected amongst us Muslims. The link that bonded the Muslims together has been broken. We have left the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) which has led us astray and this divide. The split into factions, prejudice and extremism has taken face which is leading to a non-ending war and corruption. If the entire Muslim Ummah comes together with unity and the end to such divides, there is no reason for problems to continue to evade us. Imagine how the world consisting of the many Muslim nations will change if it can come together as one force by holding on the rope of Allah Almighty with the prescribed instruction.

Today if the European Union (EU) exists with blocks of the European countries alleged together under a single umbrella, why cannot the Muslim nations do the same? If we continue with the divergence, problems will continue to rise.

4. Lack of concrete and strong Education:

One of the main issues faced by the Muslim nations is the lack of education. Leaders, Individuals as well as the society is to be held responsible for the lack of this. The government is also to carry this burden of responsibility. Ironically, this is the Muslim Ummah (nation) upon which the first commandment to be sent through the form of revelation was “iqra,” – read. This is the nation upon which the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was sent with the supplication:

“O Allah, increase me in my knowledge.”

This is the very nation, the identity of which is education. What a shame it is if such a nation is left behind in the race of knowledge and education.

Where the leaders are to be blamed for being negligent to provide the infrastructure for high quality education through setting an appropriate budget, the individuals are also heedless of wanting to work hard to excel in any field whether it be technology or innovation. Whether it is the field of medicine, engineering or science, we love to speak highly of the developments. Do we ever stop to think that why are Muslims no longer leaders in these fields of excellence? Why are Muslims dependent on others? Why is there a lack of literacy in the Islamic world today? Why aren’t the prestigious universities and observatories in Islamic regions?

This definitely is a time to stop and reflect. There is a dire need for us to speculate and derive some concrete conclusions leading to action plans, otherwise the future of the Muslim Ummah will continue to look darker than ever before.

5. Indolence, Sedentary Lifestyle and a Laid Back Attitude:

Our indolence is one of the prime reasons for the problems at hand. This laid back attitude is both at the individual level as well as the collective level. We prefer laziness over constructive plans and a comfortable lifestyle allowing to stay in our comfort-zones rather than “go out there and achieve” attitude. Our leaders are enjoying their royal way of life along with the politicians and head of states. The Muslim youth do not want to work hard and are happy with being sedentary. They have left the spears and arrows and found their passion in music and suchlike. All of the above has lead to the decline of the Muslim nations as a whole. We have become almost a laughing stock in front of the world. The poison of obscenity and lewdness has encompassed our generations. Wasteful and unnecessary activities and discussions have left us nowhere.

Those people who are empty of the wealth of knowledge and Iman (faith) are not promised the help of Allah. Only when people will adopt a path with a concrete direction and focus to pleasing Him, will they find success. Yet, we are deprived of this because of our own choices. We must understand and recognise this major problem and work towards trying to become more goal-oriented and productive to please Him.

6. Waste of Resources and Over-spending:

Not only do we waste human resource, but we also waste natural resources. Allah Almighty has blessed the Muslim nations with a variety of resources such as gold. We have minerals in abundance. Whether we look at it with respect to agriculture, mineral or seasonal produce, the Muslim nations have an overflowing wealth of resources. Yet, we are not able to plan the efficient use of these blessings.

The enemies have taken out oil from the Muslim countries. The contracts for gold extraction has been given to others and negotiated at a lesser value than what they are actually worth. We do not have ability to build dams on our own rivers. And the command of preparing against the enemy was given to us through these words of the Qur’an:

“And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war…” [Surah Al-Anfal: 60]

We are even unable to look after our own necessary resources, lest prepare against enemies!

Moreover, the waste of resources and over-spending has made us brothers to Devils (Shayatin). As it is stated in the Qur’an:

“Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils (Shayatin).” [Surah Al-Isra: 27]

Our wealthiest of people are loaded with gold which is greatly manifested through ceremonies and clothing in celebrations of weddings. We are drowned under the love of material wealth and spending excessively on food to utilities as compared to an ordinary man who is unable to afford even one meal for the day. We are so occupied in spending, it is unbelievable! This is a weakness and we need to change.

Please, let’s adopt the way of Prophet Yusuf (AS) who was wise enough to teach us how to pace the spending through a mediocre way of managing the resources when he did the same for Egypt. He intelligently managed the resources for an entire nation and spread it out in to save the people of famine and provide relief. He was able to do this by adopting three (3) means. What were they?

1. Sincerity

2. Moderate Spending

3. Planning

And the nation was saved from a decline that would have finished it all.

7. Corruption and Wrong Intention:

Corruption and ill will is one of the major underlying issue. This is found at all levels of the Muslim societies. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) predicted this for the very same reason. In a Hadith we learn, the gist of which is that close to the end of times, sincerity will be lifted. People will say there is one man who is sincere and trustworthy. This implies the scarcity of both trustworthiness as well as sincerity close to the end of times. We see this happening today.

Today, if our judicial systems, societies, countries, organisations and each individual becomes free of the curse of corruption and adopts sincerity, the Muslim world will take a new order.