Sermon Title: Freedom
Themes of the sermon :
1- The confusion of the true meaning of freedom for most people.
2- The freedom of a servant is ruled by the will of his Lord.
3- Human servitude to Allah is the epitome of honor for him.
4- Whoever refuses servitude to Allah becomes a slave to his desires, himself, and Satan.
5- Islam liberates humans from the abhorrent servitude to their desires.
6- Examples of deviations in the concept of freedom.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may Allah exalt and send peace to the best of prophets and messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions. To proceed:
O servants of Allah, fear Allah as He should be feared, and be mindful of Him in private and in your secret conversations:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
““O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims.” (Quran 3:102).
O Muslims:
Indeed, freedom has a beloved taste and a sought-after, delightful sensation. Every living being desires to do what he wants and refuses to have restrictions and limitations imposed upon him.
However, today the word "freedom" has become a subject of confusion and debate, to the point that it has become unclear to most people what it really is. This attractive, beautiful name has been used by those who follow their desires and lusts to justify the destruction of values, the stripping away of religious laws, and the abandonment of morals and virtues.
While we see the oppressed prisoner or the one whose rights have been usurped longing for and wishing for freedom, we also find the one with a sick heart using it as an excuse for corruption, the deviant leaning on it to justify debauchery, and the heretic calling for it to declare his disbelief and atheism.
How greatly does this freedom need to be liberated so that its purity may be purged from falsehood and weighed with the balance of divine law, which has no injustice or inequity.
O Servants of Allah:
No matter how much a human being tries to be independent of his Creator, there is no way for him to do so because he is a created being who needs his Lord for his existence. He is in need of Him for his sustenance, knowledge, wellbeing, and all his affairs. He cannot be independent from Allah in his provision or preparation, so he is always in need of Allah and dependent upon Him. He is inherently submissive to Him and reliant on Him. Allah says:
يَا أيُّهَا النّاسُ أنتُمُ الفُقَرَاءُ إِلَى اللهِ واللهُ هُو الغَنِيُّ الحمِيدُ
“O mankind, you are those in need of Allah, while Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy.” (Quran 35:15).
Servitude and neediness are inherent attributes of the created being, and it is impossible to imagine a created being ever being self-sufficient.
If that is true, then the freedom of the creature is limited and governed by the will of its master, who he is in constant need of, and he has no right to be his adversary, opposing his dominion. He is the one who created him from a lineage of clay, then from an insignificant drop of fluid, which is a sperm made in a secure place. How can he have this evident stubbornness?!
أَوَلـَمْ يَرَ الإِنسَانُ أنّا خَلَقْنَاهُ مِن نُطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُبِين
“Does man not consider that We created him from a [mere] sperm-drop - then at once he is a clear adversary?” (Quran 36:77)
The servitude of man to Allah is the utmost honor and dignity for him, for he submits to the Generous, the Great Creator, who calls him to the virtues of deeds, commands him with noble qualities, supports him with victory and aid, and guides him to success and accuracy. Then He grants him generous sustenance and great bounty and admits him to the Gardens of Bliss. In the providence of Allah, he moves from one honor to another and from one glory to another,
وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
“And to Allah belongs [all] honor, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites do not know.” (Quran 63:8)
But if he refuses to worship Allah and is too arrogant for it, he will not achieve the freedom he thinks, but rather fall into a miserable servitude, where he submits to his desires and his soul that is inclined to evil, and bows down to a wicked, rebellious devil, who commands him to do evil, and he obeys without resistance, and calls him to immorality and disgrace, and he follows him without denial.
Whoever does not submit to Allah submits to Satan,
يَا أيُّهَا الّذِينَ آمنُوا ادخُلُوا في السِّلْمِ كافَّةً ولا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَان
“O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan.” (Quran 2:208).
His state with Satan is from one humiliation to another and from one degradation to another. How miserable and wretched he is!
May Allah bless you and me with the great Quran and benefit us from its verses and the wise reminder therein. I say this and ask Allah for forgiveness for me, for you, and for all Muslims. So seek His forgiveness, for He is the Most-Forgiving, the Most-Merciful.
The Second Sermon
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah exalt and send peace to the Messenger of Allah, his family, his companions, and those who follow him. As to what follows:
O Muslims:
It is the responsibility of a Muslim to be wise and sensible, not to be deceived by words before understanding them or misled by claims before knowing their contents. Freedom has never been about breaking away from Islam and Allah. Instead, this is the freedom of Iblis who arrogantly refused to obey his Creator and said:
لَـمْ أَكُنْ لِأَسْجُدَ
“Never would I prostrate.” (Quran 15:33).
Thus, the cursed one became arrogant and rebellious against his Lord. Then he inspired his human followers not to obey their Lord and made them believe that this was freedom.
Thus, some of them revealed their nakedness in the name of individual freedom; some slandered Allah, His Messenger, and His Sharia (Islamic law) in the name of freedom of opinion; some raised doubts about the principles of faith in the name of freedom of thought and belief; and some approached the men of the worlds in the name of freedom of relationships and sexual choice.
Whenever they were called to obey Allah and adhere to His Sharia, they lamented over freedom. However, they were only lamenting over their enslavement to forbidden pleasures and obedience to Satan.
O brothers in Allah:
Islam came to liberate people from this lowly and humiliating servitude to the worship of the Great Creator. Allah does not want you to be a servant of your belly or your private parts, nor does He want you to be a servant of devils or blindly obedient to the tastes of disbelievers. They show you the ugly as good, so you find it appealing and obey them. They show you the good as ugly, so you find it repulsive and submit to their opinions. What Allah wants for you is not to be a slave to anyone but Him, for He is your Lord and Creator, who wants what is best for you, loves to guide you, and is the Most Exalted, the Most Great, the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful, the Generous, and the Most Honorable. To Him belong all praises; glory be to Him, the Most High.
The truly liberated person is the one who has Allah alone as his God and Islam as his religion. That is why the wife of Imran said:
رَبِّ إنّي نَذَرْتُ لَكَ ما في بَطْنِي مُحَرَّرًا
"O my Lord! I have vowed to You what (the child that) is in my womb to be dedicated for Your services (free from all worldly work; to serve Your Place of worship).” (Quran 3:35).
Dedicated, means beeing free and solely devoted to the worship of Allah, unoccupied with worldly matters. That is true freedom.
So, embrace the servitude of your Lord and enjoy this honorable and noble privilege, a privilege that distances you from the devils and places you in the company of prophets, truthful ones, martyrs, and righteous people. How excellent such companions are!
Then, pray and send peace upon our Prophet Muhammad. O Allah, exalt and send peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions, all together.
O Allah, we ask You for all good, immediate and deferred, what we know and what we do not know. We seek refuge in You from all evil, immediate and deferred, what we know and what we do not know. We ask You for Paradise and what brings us closer to it through words and deeds. We seek refuge in You from the Fire and what brings us closer to it through words and deeds. We ask You for the good that Your servant and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ asked for, and we seek refuge in You from the evil of what Your servant and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ sought refuge from. O Allah, guide our leader to what You love and are pleased with, and lead him by the forelock to righteousness and piety. Our Lord, grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the torment of the Fire.
O servants of Allah: remember Allah frequently and glorify Him morning and evening. Our closing prayer is, “All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.”
