Sermon's Title: The one nation
Themes of the Sermon:
Your community is one nation.
The manifestations and causes of unity.
The fruit of unity.
The evils of division.
All praise is due to Allah, Who grants honor to the believers with His might, and humiliates the disbelievers with His power. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah alone with no partner, and I bear witness that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him in abundance.
To proceed: Fear Allah, servants of Allah, with true fear of Him, and remain mindful of Him in secret and in open, for He says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
“O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims” [Āl ʿImrān: 102].
Servants of Allah:
Has your eye ever complained one day, and your whole body felt pain for the sake of that eye? The Prophet ﷺ said: “The Muslims are like one man: if his eye complains, the whole body complains; and if his head complains, the whole body complains.” Narrated by Muslim.
All Muslims across the earth, despite the differences of their peoples, tongues, and colors, are like one body—because they are one nation.
This Muslim nation is a single nation whose roots extend deep into human history, from the time of Ādam (peace be upon him) and those of faith who came after him, until Allah inherits the earth and all that is upon it.
Have you not heard what Allah said in Sūrat al-Anbiyā’? After mentioning fifteen prophets, from Nūḥ to ʿĪsā (peace be upon them), He said:
إِنَّ هَذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ
“Indeed, this community of yours is one community, and I am your Lord, so worship Me” [al-Anbiyā’: 92].
One creed, one religion, united upon by the prophets and their followers, ending with their seal, Muḥammad ﷺ, and all who believed in him and what he brought. They are all one nation, one body.
Servants of Allah:
Our Islamic nation has been plotted against by its enemies. The powers of the earth have gathered against it, rabid dogs snapping at it—violating its lands and skies, destroying its crops and people, killing whom they wish, bombing whom they wish, plundering the wealth of whom they wish, caring nothing for covenants or treaties.
And rabid dogs are not silenced except by the leap of a fierce lion that cuts off their barking and their breath.
But Muslims cannot become that lion while they remain as a mutilated body. They can only do so when they unite as one nation, one body.
Two billion Muslims, sixty countries—most of them Muslim-majority—with resources and capacities without limit. Yet in the eyes of their enemies they are like a feather blown about by the wind.
The unity of Muslims as one nation is not a luxury or an optional matter; it is a divine obligation, a religious reality that must be. Allah commanded us to hold firmly together and unite when He said:
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنْتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُمْ بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا
“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together, and do not be divided. And remember Allah’s favor upon you—when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together, so you became, by His favor, brothers” [Āl ʿImrān: 103].
It is a command to the entire nation: hold firmly to the rope of Allah—which is His religion and His Book—as if they were a people fallen into a pit of weakness and humiliation, and that rope lifts them together from the depths of disgrace to the height of honor. That rope is their unity upon the true religion of Allah.
What were the Arabs before Islam except warring tribes? The strong among them devouring the weak, wars erupting for forty years over a camel, bloodshed lasting between Aws and Khazraj for one hundred and twenty years in vile tribal ignorance.
Then Islam came and gathered them all under its banner as loving brothers. The Prophet ﷺ made bonds of brotherhood between the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār, between Aws and Khazraj. ʿUmar the Qurashī would sit next to Bilāl the Abyssinian, Ṣuhayb the Roman, and Salmān the Persian. All of them children of one faith, bricks in a single nation. No difference between Arab and non-Arab, white and black. The banner of their love was Allah’s saying:
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ
“The believers are but brothers” [al-Ḥujurāt: 10].
The Prophet ﷺ described them as one man, one body: “You see the believers in their mutual mercy, love, and compassion as one body: when one limb complains, the whole body responds with sleeplessness and fever.” Narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.
But how can the nation be one when their races, tribes, peoples, customs, and dialects differ?
The one nation is gathered first and foremost by the sound creed. The Muslim nation’s creed is the truth: they worship one God—Allah, the True, there is no deity worship but He. To Him belongs all perfection, the One, who neither begets nor is begotten. There is nothing like unto Him. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. They believe in all the prophets and in their seal, Muḥammad ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “O people! Indeed your Lord is one, and your father is one. Indeed, there is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab, nor a red over a black, nor a black over a red, except in piety. Have I conveyed (the message)?” Narrated by Aḥmad.
They are united by the divine Sharīʿah, whose source is the infallible revelation: the Qur’an and the purified Prophetic Sunnah.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “The Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is the rope of Allah. Whoever follows it is upon guidance, and whoever abandons it is upon misguidance.” Narrated by Muslim.
This is what united the nation after division and loss. For this reason, the Prophet ﷺ reminded the Anṣār of it, saying: “O assembly of the Anṣār! Did I not find you astray, and Allah guided you through me? Were you not divided, and Allah united you through me? Were you not poor, and Allah enriched you through me?” Narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.
Among the greatest causes of division and disagreement is abandoning this great religion, differing in it with innovations and newly-invented matters, and following desires.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ drew a line for us, then said: “This is the path of Allah.” Then he drew lines to its right and to its left, then said: “These are other paths”—Yazīd said: scattered paths—“upon each path is a devil calling to it.” Then he recited:
وَأَنَّ هَذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ﴾
“And indeed, this is My straight path, so follow it, and do not follow other ways lest they separate you from His way” [al-Anʿām: 153]. Narrated by Aḥmad.
This Sharīʿah contains all that calls to unity and gathering, and prohibits division and disagreement.
Muslims across the earth all pray facing one qiblah, standing in aligned rows, in one form, behind one imam. So much so that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Straighten your rows, or Allah will cause your faces to differ.” Narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. And he encouraged and commanded men to pray in congregation, saying: “The prayer in congregation is better than the prayer of one alone by twenty-seven degrees.” Narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.
In the month of Ramaḍān, Muslims all fast together, then comes ʿĪd and they all rejoice together. For this reason the Prophet ﷺ said: “Fasting is the day you all fast, breaking fast is the day you all break fast, and sacrifice is the day you all sacrifice.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhī.
Then comes Ḥajj, when Muslims arrive from every distant valley, heading to the Sacred House, then performing the rites at the same time, in the same manner, humiliating Shayṭān and his allies.
The aḥādīth reported from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ are numerous in calling to holding fast to the community, wherein lie mercy, blessing, victory, and strength.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “The community is mercy, and division is punishment.” Narrated by Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim.
And the Prophet ﷺ said: “The hand of Allah is with the community.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhī.
He even made gathering upon food a reason for blessing and goodness. His Companions once said: “O Messenger of Allah, we eat but do not feel satisfied.” He said: “Perhaps you eat separately?” They said: Yes. He said: “Then gather together for your food, and mention Allah’s name upon it; you will be blessed in it.” Narrated by Abū Dāwūd.
O brothers in Islam:
What prevents Muslims from being united in word, defending one another, supporting one another?
Nations that once declared each other disbelievers and fought bitter wars until they violated each other’s honor and blood—such nations later abandoned their disputes and established commercial, military, and political unions. Are not Muslims more deserving of that?
Did not the Prophet ﷺ say: “The believers’ blood is equal, they are united against others, and the least of them may grant protection on their behalf”? Narrated by Abū Dāwūd.
May Allah bless me and you in the Great Qur’an, and benefit me and you with what is in it of verses and wise remembrance. I seek Allah’s forgiveness for myself and for you, so seek His forgiveness. Indeed, He is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
The Second Sermon:
All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, his Companions, and those who follow him. To proceed:
Allah has forbidden division, disagreement, and dispute. Our enemy only gained power over us when he tore us apart with artificial borders, with jāhilī nationalisms, sectarian strife, and partisan factions—following the criminals’ principle: “Divide and rule.” Just as Pharaoh once divided the people of Egypt into factions, so he could drive the flock like cattle. Did not Allah, the Exalted, say:
وَأَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَلَا تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلُوا وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ وَاصْبِرُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ
“And obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not dispute, lest you lose courage and your strength depart; and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient” [al-Anfāl: 46]?
The ravenous wolves only leap upon the stray sheep. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Adhere to the community, for the wolf eats the sheep that strays away.” Narrated by al-Nasā’ī.
And he ﷺ said: “Do not differ, for indeed those before you differed and so they perished.” Narrated by al-Bukhārī.
Indeed,
Spears refuse to break when bound together,
But if separated, they shatter one by one.
The disbelievers and their hypocrite allies stir up hatred and enmities within the Ummah. They ignite the flames of jāhilī tribalism to divide Muslims, just as the first hypocrites did when they built Masjid al-Ḍirār. Allah exposed their plot and revealed concerning them:
وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا وَتَفْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
“And [there are] those who took a mosque for causing harm, disbelief, division among the believers…” [al-Tawbah: 107].
How greatly we need today—for individuals and states alike—to hold fast altogether to Allah and His Book, to judge by His Sharīʿah in every matter of our lives, binding ourselves together, sharing each other’s concerns, joys, and sorrows, until we become one body, one Ummah. For Allah is our Protector, and what an excellent Protector He is, and what an excellent Helper.
O Allah, grant victory to Islam and honor the Muslims, and destroy the disbelieving criminals. O Allah, send down tranquility into the hearts of those who strive in Your cause, deliver Your oppressed servants, and raise high the banner of the religion, by Your might, O Mighty, O Strong.
O Allah, grant us security in our lands, rectify our leaders and those entrusted with our affairs, and place our leadership in the hands of those who fear You, are mindful of You, and follow Your pleasure.
Our Lord, grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.
