Khutba: Allah is the Sustainer, Al-Qayyum (English/Arabic Text and Audio – 29.06.18)

The life of this world constantly leads us to distraction. Allah says in the Qur’an:

وَمَا هَٰذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا لَهْوٌ وَلَعِبٌ وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ

The life of the world is but play and distraction, the true life is the abode of the Last Life, if you knew.
(The Spider, 29:64)

It distracts us from what is really important in our lives: remembering that everything that happens, happens by the will of Allah and that He is the One who maintains the universe at every moment, He is the Sustainer: Al-Qayyum.
Allah says in the noble Qur’an:

اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ

Allah, there is no god but Him, the Living One, the Sustainer.
(Baqarah, 2:255)

The Sustainer means that He is the One who maintains Himself, without need of anything or anyone, and on whom everything else depends for His existence. Allah says in the Qur’an:

كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ

Every day, He’s on some business.
(The Merciful, 55:29)

In a hadith narrated by Abu Dardaah, the Prophet (may Allah have His grace and peace upon him) said:

“Part of His business is to forgive a fault, to deliver from some affliction, and to lift up some by demeaning others.”

According to this, the verse is understood to mean that every day or every moment, Allah is deciding and acting on His creation.
That is, Allah is not separate from the process of existence.
Allah has not created the universe and established a series of rules and then separated himself from it and it runs on its own.
This is the belief of materialism, and materialism is a disease of the ‘Aquidah, of the belief, it is the effect of not having a correct understanding of how Allah has described Himself, through His revealed names and attributes.
And this affects both Muslims and non-Muslims, both people who have a religion and atheists.
Because materialism is the metaphysics of modern society, in which we are all involved in one way or another.
Being in this society and functioning in it correctly does not mean being part of it.
But for this we have to take into account this ultimate, unique and total reality.
This reality is that Allah is the Sustainer: Al-Qayyum.
He does not depend on anything or anyone, everything depends on Him to exist in every moment.
There is no reality outside of this truth.
When we say that the life of this world is play and distraction, as Ayyat says, we mean that it distracts us from this reality, and when it distracts us from this reality, life becomes a game that has no meaning.
Knowledge of this reality and understanding of it is the most important task of the human being.
Allah says in the Qur’an

I have not created jinn and men except to worship me.
(51:56)

They say the mufassirin that to worship in this context means to know.
Allah has created man to know and worship Him.
But we may be overwhelmed by the immensity of this task and by the reality of what it means.
For if everything happens by His will and He is the one who maintains everything in existence, what is our place?
How should we act and conduct our lives?
This is one of the most important aspects of the Prophets, they teach us, by their example, that it is possible to live in this world without forgetting the reality of it, without forgetting that Allah is the One, the Real, the Sustainer.
In this way they are a quiblah, a direction for our behavior and for our spiritual life.
Since we have to keep in mind that we cannot limit worship only to the moment in which we are praying.
Our whole life has to be part of worshipping and knowing our Creator.
This is the teaching of the prophets.
This was the teaching of the last of the prophets, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. Allah says in the Qur’an:

قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَٰلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِين

Say: Verily, my prayer, the sacrifice that I may offer, my life and my death are to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
He has no partner.
That is what I have been ordered.
I am the first of the Muslims.
(The Flocks, 6:162-163)

This was the way of the Prophet.
His prayer, his sacrifice, his life and his death, and by this we mean everything that happens from the birth to death of a person, was by and for Allah.
This is the goal.
We cannot separate our Salah and fasting from the rest of our life.
We cannot think that worshipping and knowing Allah happens only during prayer or fasting and that the rest of the time we can live in oblivion of the reality of existence, that He is the Living One, the Sustainer.
When we get up, talk to someone, work, shop, eat and even go to the toilet or have relations with our women, all this should be part of worshipping Allah and believing Him.
All this is part of the life that Allah has given us and He has given it to us for that purpose.
Therefore, everything in it is prepared to be a reminder for us of reality and not a distraction.
Since we only spend a very small part of our time doing prayer.
We may have spent as little as 1 or 2 percent of our lives in prayer, but what about the remaining 99 percent of the time?
Shouldn’t that be part of worship as well?
Shouldn’t we live all this time worshipping and knowing Allah?
So each of us, in that which Allah has given us in life, should strive to do so with the intention that it will be a part of our worship and knowledge of Allah.
Whoever is a mechanic, or a cook, or a painter, a musician or a merchant, let him do it with the right intention that it is for and for Allah, to know and worship Him, and all his actions will be part of his worship.
For as the Messenger said, peace be upon him:

Every action is by its intention.
(Bukhari and Muslim)

And as a wise man said: Take care of your thoughts because they become your intentions, watch your intentions because they become your words, watch your words because they become your actions, watch your actions because they become your habits, and watch your habits, because they become your character.
We ask Allah to purify our intention and in this way purify our whole life and to guide us in every moment to constant remembrance.

*****

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the famous Hadith Qudsi transmitted by Abu Hurirah, may Allah be pleased with him: Allah (the mighty and sublime be He) says: Whoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I will declare war on him.
My servant does not approach Me with anything more dear to Me than that which I have made obligatory to him, and My servant continues to approach Me with supererogatory works until I love him.
When I love him, I am his ear with which he hears, his vision with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks.
If he asked [algo]me, I would give it to him, and if he asked me for refuge, I would grant it.
I doubt nothing as much as I [apoderarme] doubt the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate to hurt him.
We have said in the first part of the Khutba that Allah is al-Hajju al-Qayyum, the Living One, the Tempter.
And we have said that this is the reality of existence, that everything that exists, exists because of Him and depends on Him, while He does not depend on anything.
And we have said that this is the ultimate reality and that the life of this world leads us to distraction; and that distraction is being distracted from this reality.
We have also said that the purpose of this life is to worship and know Allah, which means to be aware of this reality.
And we have said that the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and of all the prophets in general, and that the Sharia that they brought, is to teach us how to live in this world without forgetting the reality of what this world means and who is maintaining it.
And that what departs from this, from following the prophets, is play and distraction, since it has no meaning.
We have said that the life of the Muslim must be the whole of it, and not just a part of it, worship.
And in this hadith Allah teaches us how to make this happen and what is the result of it.
He tells us, start with what I have made obligatory on you, that is what is most dear to Allah.
But Allah does not need our actions or our worship.
That is what Allah loves the most since it is the best for us.
Every action that Allah has made obligatory is so that we do not forget the reality of existence, His reality.
And then he tells us that the servant continues to approach with the supererogatory.
For if the obligatory reminds us at certain times of the day of the reality of Allah and our own insignificance, then the servant who inclines towards the supererogatory remembers Allah at all times.
And when this happens, Allah loves him.
And let us remember that Allah is the one who maintains all existence at all times.
And when Allah loves you, as He says, if the slave asks Him for something, He gives it to Him, and if He asks for protection from something, He gives it to Him.
That is to say, for the servant who is in constant remembrance of the reality of existence, he lives subject to it, which is the only possible truth, his whole life, every moment, is part of adoration.
Your whole life is part of fulfilling your purpose in life.
And Allah loves him for this.
And in this way, the servant, the Muslim, can live in this society without being part of it. He can live like the ambushed, who moves through it and acts correctly in it, but who knows that reality is different.
For reality belongs only to Allah.
We ask Allah to make us people of constant remembrance of reality and to make us people whose entire life, at all times and in all places, in all states and in all seasons, is by and for Him.