Unity is the Key to a Strong Ummah
Jumuah khutbah at Durham University 26/5/2023 InshaAllah
Prepared by: Muchammad Taufiq Affandi, S.H.I., M.Sc
(Lecturer, University of Darussalam Gontor / PhD Student, Durham University)
Reviewers: Muhammad Wahyudi, M.Pd., Ahmad Kali Akbar, M.Pd.I.
Duration: Approx 15 minutes

إِنّ الْحَمْدَ ِللهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِيْنُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوْذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُوْرِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَسَيّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا
مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلاَ مُضِلّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ
الحمد لله رب العالمين القائل : إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌۭ فَأَصْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلهَ إِلاّ اللهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنّ مُحَمّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُوْلُهُ
صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَى أَشْرَافِ الأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالمرْسَلِيْنَ نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ أجمعين
أما بعدُ
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي

All praises are due to Allah, the Creator and the Lord of the entire universe. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah. And I bear witness that our Prophet, Sayyiduna Muhammad SAW, is His Messenger. Ya Allah, send Your peace and blessings upon him and upon whoever follows him in guidance until the Last Day. Amma ba’du…
To continue: I advise myself and everyone here, with the Taqwa of Allah, for verily Allah says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
O you who believe, be in the state of taqwa to Allah, in its fullest sense,
and do not let yourself die unless you are Muslims.
My beloved brothers and sisters…
The beauty of the ummah is when we see the richness of culture and background that every Muslim bring to the ummah.
The ummah won’t be beautiful if everyone looks the same, everyone speaks the same language, everyone has the same face, the same skin tone, the same tongue, the same job, and the same way of thinking. In fact, not only it makes the ummah weak; the ummah will not function.
Throughout the history of Islam, we’ve seen how the ummah thrives with the richness of characteristics everybody is contributing.
Just to mention some, Uthman bin Affan, one of the richest men among Quraysh, one of the most important tribes in Arab, contributed to Ummah, with all he had from wealth and wisdom
Salman Al-Farisi, with his Persian background, culture, and know-how, contributed his idea of digging a trench during the battle of khandaq
Bilal bin Rabah, was a slave before being freed by Abu Bakr. Later he was chosen to be the first muazzin.
Imam Al-Bukhari, born in Bukhara, and I don’t even have to explain his contribution.
Regardless of their cultural background, all of them contribute to the ummah.
But then, often time, sadly, in many places of the Muslim world, that difference creates division in the ummah. Our big ummah is being torn into smaller clusters of groups. This is really unfortunate.

My brother and sister…
Imagine so many things we can do we our ummah unite. We can provide a better economy for our ummah, better education for our children, and we can build a better civilisation we can leave as a legacy for future generations.

But what’s the precondition of unity? At least there are four conditions to achieve that.
The first and the foremost, is having the same vision and mission
قال الله تعالى في القرآن الكريم:
وَٱعْتَصِمُوا۟ بِحَبْلِ ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًۭا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا۟
And hold firmly to the rope of Allāh all together and do not become divided. (Ali-Imran 103)
In one of the tafsir, it’s explained, the reason for the use of the word rope/cable (habl) is that it both establishes a bond between man and God and joins all believers together. To take a firm hold on this cable means that the believers should attach profound importance to their religion: this should always be the centre of their concerns; they should continually strive to establish it; and the common desire to serve it should make them cooperate with each other.

The Second key is empathy
قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏”‏ مثل المؤمنين في توَادِّهِمْ وتَرَاحُمِهِمْ وتَعَاطُفِهِمْ، مثل الجسد إذا اشتكى منه عضو تداعى له سائر الجسد بالسَهَرِ والحُمَّى” ‏(‏‏(‏متفق عليه‏)‏‏)‏ ‏.‏

Rasulullah (ﷺ) said, “The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever”.
Each of the individuals in the ummah understands that they shouldn’t hurt each other, either by words, by a physical attack, or by any means. The right hand is not going to hurt the left hand or the feet, or the head, ‘coz in the end, we are in the same body. And any pain experienced by one part of the body is transferred to the whole body, creating a virtually instantaneous response to it

The third key for the unity of ummah is what’s called as al-itsaar
I’m struggling to find an English word that’s equivalent to al-itsaar. But it’s best described by this ayah, surah Mujadilah ayah 11

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمْ تَفَسَّحُوا۟ فِى ٱلْمَجَـٰلِسِ فَٱفْسَحُوا۟ يَفْسَحِ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۖ
وَإِذَا قِيلَ ٱنشُزُوا۟ فَٱنشُزُوا۟ يَرْفَعِ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مِنكُمْ وَٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ دَرَجَـٰتٍۢ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌۭ
We tend to cut off this ayah by quoting the second half of it and forgetting the first half. We frequently hear ۟ يَرْفَعِ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مِنكُمْ وَٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ دَرَجَـٰتٍۢ which is translated to “Allāh will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees.” But we sometimes forget that this phrase is jawaabussyarti, this is the result in a conditional sentence.

Marratan ukhara, hadzihil jumlah hiya jawaabussyarti, famaa huwa assyart?
What’s the condition that needs to be met for this result to manifest?

The condition is, looking to the pattern of this ayah
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمْ تَفَسَّحُوا۟ فِى ٱلْمَجَـٰلِسِ فَٱفْسَحُوا۟ يَفْسَحِ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۖ
O you who have believed, when you are told, “Space yourselves” in assemblies, then make space; Allāh will make space for you.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ ٱنشُزُوا۟ فَٱنشُزُوا
And when you are told, “Arise,” then arise;
These are the conditions before Allah will grant a noble rank to the believer and the one with knowledge.
On the surface, this Ayah is explaining the etiquette for an assembly or a meeting. But the deeper meaning of this Ayah is that we need to give space to others, make everyone feel welcome, make everyone understand they have a place in our community, in our ummah. When we realize this, everybody will engage with the ummah. Everybody will feel ummah as their home; Ummah as their homeland. Organically, unity will grow in this kind of ummah.

And finally, if we want our ummah to be strong and united, everybody should be willing to reach out and try to get to know each other.

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَـٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍۢ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَـٰكُمْ شُعُوبًۭا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌۭ
Allah says:
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may (get to) know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allāh is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allāh is Knowing and Aware. (al-Hujurat: 13)

My beloved brothers and sisters,
I am just a drop of water, what can a drop of water do? But each of us too, is a drop of water, of course with some beautiful difference in size and magnitude. And each person in our ummah is a drop of water, too. But together, we can be an ocean.

بَارَكَ اللهُ لِي وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيْمِ، وَنَفَعَنِي وَإِيَّاكُمْ بِمَا فِيْهِ مِنَ الآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيْمِ. أَقُوْلُ قَوْلِي هذَا وَاَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِيْنَ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ، فَاسْتَغْفِرُوْهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُوْرُ الرَّحِيْمُ.

Second Khutbah
الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله، نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه ومن والاه
وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أنَّ محمّداً عبده ورسولهُ
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ… اَمَّا بَعْدُ
My beloved Muslim brothers and sisters
Unity is a favor from Allah
ۚ وَٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَآءًۭ فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِۦٓ إِخْوَٰنًۭا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلنَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
Remember Allah’s favors upon you when you were enemies; He united your hearts, so by His favor you became brethren; you were at the brink of the fiery pit and He saved you from it. Thus Allah makes His revelations clear to you, so that you may be rightly guided. (Ali ‘Imran 103)
Thus, we need to keep praying to Allah may Allah give us here, and anywhere in all part of Muslim world, unity, to make to our ummah strong.
And again, as a drop of water, nothing each of us can do. But together, as an ocean, we can be waves, we can be a tsunami, biidznillah… inshaAllah

فَيَااَ يُّهَاالنَّاسُ …اعْلَمُوْا اَنَّ اللهَ اَمَرَكُمْ بِأَمْرٍ بَدَأَ فِيْهِ بِنَفْسِهِ. وَثَنَّى بِمَلاَئِكَةِ قُدْسِهِ.
فَقَالَ تَعَالىَ وَلَمْ يَزَلْ قَائِلاًعَلِيْمًا اِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلاَئِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّوْنَ عَلىَ النَّبِىْ يَاَ يُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ آمَنُوْا صَلُّوْا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوْا تَسْلِيْمًا
اَللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيْمَ وَعَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ
وَبَارِكْ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ كَمَا بَارَكْتَ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيْمَ وَعَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ، إِنَّكَ حَمِيْدٌ مَجِيْدٌ
اللهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِلْمُسْلِمِيْنَ وَالمسْلِمَاتِ وَالمؤْمِنِيْنَ وَالمؤْمِنَاتِ الأَحْيَاءِ مِنْهُمْ وَالأَمْوَاتِ إِنَّكَ سَمِيْعٌ قَرِيْبٌ مُجِيْبُ الدَّعْوَةِ
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ الهُدَى وَالتُّقَى وَالعَفَافَ وَالغِنَى
رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ.
رَبنا أَدْخِلْنا مُدْخَلَ صِدْقٍ وَأَخْرِجْنا مُخْرَجَ صِدْقٍ وَاجْعَلْ لنا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ سُلْطَانًا نَصِيرًا
رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّاتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
وَصَلَّى اللهُ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِيْنَ.
سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُوْنَ. وَسَلاَمٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِيْنَ. وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِيْنَ.
عباد الله، إن الله يأمر بالعدل والإحسان وإيتاء ذي القربى وينهى عن الفخشاء والمنكر والبغي يعظكم لعلكم تذكرون.
فاذكروا الله العظيم يذكركم واشكروه على نعمه يزدكم وادعوه يستجب لكم ولذكر الله أكبر.
أقم الصلاة
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Tags: Jumuah Khutbah, Khutbah Jumat bahasa Inggris, Friday Sermon