What does it look like when a community lets go of the rope?

 - By Ibrahim Aweda Abdulrahmon 

الخطبة الأولى (The First Khutbah)
  • By Ibrahim Aweda Abdulrahmon
As-salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.
الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء المرسلين، نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين. أما بعد:
My dear brothers and sisters, if we are to truly cure the disease of division that plagues our communities today, we must look at the divine medicine Allah has prescribed for us. We cannot build true unity based on our own political ideas, our social philosophies, or our cultural agreements. Human systems are fragile; they will always crack under the weight of ego and self-interest. True unity requires an unshakeable, divine anchor.
Turn your hearts to the direct command that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala lays down in the Holy Qur'an. Listen to what He says in Surah Ali 'Imran (3:103):
وَٱعۡتَصِمُواْ بِحَبۡلِ ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعٗا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُواْۚ وَٱذۡكُرُواْ نِعۡمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيۡكُمۡ إِذۡ كُنتُمۡ أَعۡدَآءٗ فَأَلَّفَ بَيۡنَ قُلُوبِكُمۡ فَأَصۡبَحۡتُم بِنِعۡمَتِهِۦٓ إِخۡوَٰنٗا وَكُنتُمۡ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفۡرَةٖ مِّنَ ٱلنَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنۡهَاۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمۡ ءَايَٰتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَهۡتَدُونَ
"And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together so you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided."
Look at the powerful visual image Allah is painting for our minds today. He commands us: Wa'tasimu bi-habli Allahi jamee'an—"Hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together."
But what is this "rope of Allah"? Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) explicitly defined it for us so we would never be left guessing. He ﷺ said: "The Book of Allah is the rope of Allah extended from the heaven to the earth." (Sahih Muslim).
To comprehend why Allah uses the metaphor of a rope, imagine a massive group of people who have fallen into a deep, pitch-black, treacherous canyon. The walls are smooth rock; there is absolutely no way to climb out by yourself. Left alone in the dark, people will panic, fight each other for space, step on one another to try and get higher, and eventually perish.
Suddenly, the King lowers a single, massive, unbreakable rope from the very top of the cliff all the way down into the depths of the canyon. What is the only way for those people to survive? Every single person must grab onto that exact same rope. If one person tries to climb using a weak piece of string they found on the floor, they will fall and break their neck. If another group decides to fight over who gets to hold the rope instead of actually climbing it, they will remain trapped in the dark forever.
My dear congregation, this Dunya is that dark canyon, and our daily sins, confusion, and desires are the depths pulling us down. The Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah are that solid rope lowered from the heavens. Allah did not throw down millions of different ropes; He threw down one. When we all hold onto the Qur'an and Sunnah, we are naturally pulled together into the light. The closer you get to the rope, the closer you automatically become to your brother who is holding the exact same rope next to you!
Look at the historical reality Allah reminds us of in the verse. He reminds the companions of the Prophet ﷺ of their dark past before Islam: Idh kuntum a'da'an—"When you were bitter enemies." Before Islam, the Arab tribes were locked in brutal, bloody civil wars that lasted for generations over the smallest arguments. They were filled with tribal pride and blood feuds. They were literally standing on the very edge of a pit of hellfire.
But what changed them? Did a politician change them? Did a financial deal unite them? No! Allah says: Fa-allafa bayna quloobikum—"He brought your hearts together." True unity is a miracle that only Allah can perform. When they dropped their tribal egos and grabbed onto the rope of Islam, those who used to kill each other became brothers who were willing to sacrifice their lives for one another.
My dear brothers and sisters sitting before me today, let us look at our own hearts honestly. If we abandon the rope of Allah—if we stop studying the Qur'an, stop implementing the Sunnah, and start following our own opinions and cultural biases—we will slip straight back into that dark canyon of division.
Let us leave this first part of the sermon with a firm commitment to hold tightly to the Book of Allah. When disagreements happen, return to the rope. When tribalism or racism tries to creep into our minds, look back at the rope. Let the Qur'an be the ultimate judge of our character and the glue that binds our hearts together.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم.
الخطبة الثانية (The Second Khutbah)
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ. الحَمْدُ للهِ حَمْداً كَثِيْراً طَيِّباً مُبَارَكاً فِيْهِ كَمَا يُحِبُّ رَبُّنَا وَيَرْضَى، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لا إِلَهَ إِلا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ. صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيماً كَثِيْراً إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّيْنِ. أَمَّا بَعْدُ:
My dear brothers and sisters, welcome back your hearts to this reminder. Let us dive even deeper into this command to hold onto the rope of Allah. We must understand that grabbing onto this rope is not a passive action. You cannot hold onto a lifeline with a loose, lazy grip while a storm is raging around you. You must hold onto it with all your strength.
What does it look like when a community lets go of the rope? The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ warned us about the exact symptoms of a society that abandons divine guidance. In a striking Hadith narrated by Imam Abu Dawud, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
يُوشِكُ الأُمَمُ أَنْ تَدَاعَى عَلَيْكُمْ كَمَا تَدَاعَى الأَكَلَةُ إِلَى قَصْعَتِهَا
"The nations will soon summon one another to attack you as people invite others to a dish of food."
The companions were shocked. They asked, "O Messenger of Allah, will it be because we are few in number on that day?"
The Prophet ﷺ replied: "No, you will be many on that day, but you will be like foam on the surface of a flooding river. Allah will remove the fear of you from the hearts of your enemies, and He will cast Al-Wahn into your hearts." They asked, "What is Al-Wahn, O Messenger of Allah?" He ﷺ said: "Love of the world and dislike of death."
SubhanAllah! Look at how accurately the Prophet ﷺ described our modern reality. We are over two billion Muslims on this earth today. We have numbers, we have wealth, we have resources, and we have geographic power. Yet, because many have let go of the rope of Allah to chase worldly status, we have become like the foam on top of a river—light, scattered, powerless, and easily blown away by the slightest wind of worldly temptation.
When you love the Dunya more than you love the truth, your grip on the rope slips. You start compromising your values to fit into secular circles. You allow pride, jealousy, and tribalism to sever your relationship with your fellow believers.
Let us fix this trajectory today. Holding onto the rope means making the Quran the absolute standard of your daily choices. It means that when Shaitan whispers to you to harbor a grudge against a Muslim brother, you remember the favor of Allah that made you brothers, and you forgive him for the sake of Allah. It means when toxic trends on your phone try to pull you into immodesty or doubt, you pull yourself back up using the firm handle of the Sunnah.
Let us stand together as one solid, unbroken wall of faith. Purify your heart toward your brothers. Protect the honor of your fellow Muslim. Let us leave this masjid today determined to be anchors of unity, holding fast to the divine rope, until it safely pulls us out of the trials of this world and deposits us into the eternal peace of Jannah.
عِبَادَ اللهِ، إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَى نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ، وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسْلِمِينَ، اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسْلِمِينَ، وَأَذِلَّ الشِّرْكَ وَالمُشْرِكِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلِ القُرْآنَ العَظِيمَ رَبِيعَ قُلُوبِنَا، وَنُورَ صُدُورِنَا، وَجَلَاءَ أَحْزَانِنَا، وَذَهَابَ هُمُومِنَا وَغُمُومِنَا. اللَّهُمَّ أَلِّفْ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِنَا كَمَا أَلَّفْتَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِ صَحَابَةِ نَبِيِّكَ، وَاجْعَلْنَا هُدَاةً مُهْتَدِينَ.
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ.
عِبَادَ اللهِ، اذْكُرُوا اللهَ العَظِيمَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ، وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى نِعَمِهِ يَزِدْكُمْ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ، وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ
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