Khutba: Brotherhood and friendship.

Allah has created the human being and made him a creature who seeks life in community.
Moreover, without community life, the human being cannot be complete.
It is only through interaction with others that human beings can become perfect and know themselves. Allah says in the Qur’an:

Men!
We created you from a male and a female, and We made you distinct peoples and tribes, that you might recognize one another.
And verily, the noblest of you before Allah is the one who fears Him the most.
Allah is Knowing and perfectly informed. (49:13)

Our Deen cannot be complete if we do not live in community.
The pillar of Zakat cannot be put into practice when you are alone.
Many of our Din’s obligations involve interaction with others and companionship.
Prayer in community is 27 times more valuable than solitary prayer.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, established Medina and as a legacy he left men and women of integrity, noble and dignified as an example, men and women who lived in community and in this was his strength and his secret.
It is through companionship that we can come to know ourselves and through it, we know our lord.
Prophet Muhammad said:

The believer is a mirror for his fellow believer.
Protects you against loss and defends your back .
(Bujari, Adab al Mufrad)

And the people of knowledge have said, “He who knows himself knows his master.”
This meaning is reinforced by the verse in the Qur’an that says:

And do not be like those who forgot Allah and He made them forget themselves. (59:19)

That is, the believer sees himself reflected in the rest of the believers.
That which he observes in others that pleases him is because he finds it in himself, and that which displeases and bothers him, is for the same reason.
The first step towards perfecting our character is intention, and the second is knowledge of ourselves, and this is obtained by interaction with others.
Today’s society calls us to individualism, self-centeredness and association for material interest.
Part of the individual’s form of control is to isolate and frighten him, to make him afraid of everything and everyone and not to trust anyone.
The individual, alone and frightened, is easy to control.
Fear, and above all, fear of provision, with all the different forms in which it manifests itself, is what isolates people the most.
When the individual is isolated, he cannot make an effort to improve his character, nor can there be a civic and collective response to the evils that afflict him.
The Messenger of Allah said:

You must establish the Jama’, since the wolf eats the lone lamb. (Abu Dawood, 547)

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, established a society based on trust.
The whole Deen thing is based on trust.
The Sahaba trusted the Messenger who conveyed the entire Message to them.
The Tabi’in trusted the Sahabas, and the Tabi-tab’in trusted the tab’een.
And so on to this day, until us.
Not only did they trust for the transmission of the Deen, but they trusted each other, they trusted each other.
The Messenger of Allah said:

“The trust, trust, came down from heaven and settled in the hearts of men. The Qur’an was revealed, and they read it in the Qur’an and learned it from the Sunnah.”
(Bukhari and Muslim)

When we live in a community we relate to other human beings and the relationships that occur can be of different types.
There is the relationship of familiarity, of parents with children and vice versa, and relationships with those with whom we have blood ties.
About this Allah says in the Qur’an:

Men!
Fear your Lord who created you from a single being, creating from him his mate and generating from both many men and women. And fear Allah, by Whom you ask one another, and respect the ties of blood.
Verily, Allah is watching you .
(4:1)

The relationship with those who teach us is also important: the relationship of the student with the teacher and the teacher with the student. Allah says in the Qur’an:

Allah will raise up in a degree those who believe among you and those who have received knowledge.
Allah knows perfectly well what you are doing. (58:11)

These are some of the relationships that Allah and His Messenger call us to honour and maintain, and each of them has its own conditions, rights and adab.
In addition to these, relationships with the rest of the believers can be of three types.
The relationship with those we don’t know, the relationship with those we know, and the relationship with whom we have friendship.
Each of them requires a behavior and an adab, but given the importance that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave to friendship, the corruptness of the understanding of friendship in our time and its importance for our well-being, as a community and as individuals, in this life and in the Hereafter, We are going to mention some of its benefits and conditions.
It is important to mention that this friendship to which we refer here is the deep bond that unites people and that unites them, not the most common and superfluous current definition that unites people based on momentary joint interests, interests of this world that perish.
The Messenger of Allah said:

“Allah says: ‘My love is obligatory for those who love each other for my sake, who sit together for my sake, who visit one another for my sake, and those who spend on one another for my sake.'”
(Musnad Ahmad)

And he also said:

“Verily, Allah will say on the Day of Resurrection: ‘Where are those who love each other for the sake of my glory?
Today I will shelter them under my shadow on a day where there is no shadow but mine ’”.

Allah has shown us the firm foundations on which to establish relations of brotherhood and friendship.
And we have to be careful with whom we take as a friend and companion, since the Messenger of Allah said:

A man is based on the Deen, the religion, of his close friend, so look at whom you take as a friend. (Sunan Abu Dawood)

And Imam al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy on him, tells us that the qualities that we have to look for in whom we take as a friend are five.

• The first quality is intellect, intelligence, since there is no benefit in the company of a fool.
• The second is good character, don’t be a companion of someone who is not able to control himself when he is angry and who gets very excited when he wants something.
• The third quality is Taqwah, do not be a companion of one who persists in the unlawful and do not shy away from serious faults, for this will drag you down too.
• The fourth is the absence of greed, since the greedy will only look out for his own interest and his greed will increase yours.
• And the fifth is truthfulness, since whoever lies will make you see what is far away and what is near far away.

Allah says in the Qur’an: And be constant in the company of those who call upon their Lord morning and evening longing for His face, do not turn your eyes away from them for the sake of the life of this world nor obey the one whose heart We have caused to be neglected of Our remembrance; he follows his passion and his business is loss.
(18:28)
O Allah, make us to be among those who are minded about your affairs and give us the company of those who are minded about your affairs.
We have to be aware of whom we take as friends and companions because in doing so we have to consider this relationship as an amana, a trust and loans from Allah to us and we have to be respectful of it.
When this relationship of brotherhood has been established, it requires certain rights and obligations.
The Messenger of Allah said:

The example of two brothers is like two hands, washing each other. (Al-Ghazali: “The Principle of Guidance.”)

And he also said:

The people most loved by Allah are those who are of the greatest benefit to the people.
The dearest action to Allah is to make a Muslim happy, or to remove one of her problems, or to forgive her debt, to satisfy her hunger.
Accompanying a brother to (help him with) a need is more dear to me than withdrawing for a month in this mosque in Medina.
And whoever swallows his anger, Allah will cover his faults.
Whoever restrains his anger, although he could act for it if he wished, Allah will assure him of his heart on the Day of Resurrection.
Whoever walks with a brother to help him with a need until he has done so, then Allah will make His steps firm on the Bridge on the Day when the feet will tremble .
(Al-Muʻjam al-Awsaṭ 6192)

The rights that we must observe once the relationship of brotherhood has been established are:

• Helping our partner financially, even when our needs are not met.
  If we are not able to do this, then help us with our excess once ours are covered.
  You also have to help him spontaneously, before he has to ask.
• To keep their secrets and cover their faults.
• Do not transmit the disdain of others towards him, saddening him, but transmit the praise of others, this being a reason for joy.
• Listen to him with total attention when he speaks and do not argue.
• Call Him by the name you like best, praise Him by mentioning His actions that you know, and express gratitude in His presence for the good deeds He has done.
• To defend one’s companion in his absence when accusations are hurled at him about his reputation, as one would defend oneself.
• Kindly and ambiguously admonishing him when he needs admonition.
• Forgive their faults and mistakes and don’t blame them.
• To pray to Allah for our friend, in life and after death, when we are alone.
• Take care of our partner’s wife and her relatives when she has died.
• Choose to make things easy for him, and not burden him with the satisfaction of our needs.
• Give peace of mind to your mind by eliminating the causes of distress.
• Express our happiness with theirs and our sadness when adverse things happen to them.
• Greet him first when he approaches, make room for him in meetings, go to meet him outside the house, accompany him when he leaves, keep silent and do not interrupt him when he speaks until he has completed what he says.

In short, we must behave towards him as we would like him to behave towards us.
The Messenger of Allah said:

Whoever wants to be protected from the fire and enter the Garden, then let him die with belief in Allah and the Last Day and treat people as he would like to be treated. (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1844)

And he said:

The way you love people to treat you, do it too.
And don’t treat them the way you hate them, they treat you. (al-Mu’jam al-Kabīr 15833)

And he said:

“None of you will have believed until he wants for his brother what he wants for himself.” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī)

 Jutba of Luqman Nieto JimenezSeville August 26, 2016