Regret of the non-believers in the hereafter
The imam began with the three ayat from Sura As-Saba which is translated to say:
The disbelievers vow, “We will never believe in this Quran, nor in those ˹Scriptures˺ before it.” If only you could see when the wrongdoers will be detained before their Lord, throwing blame at each other! The lowly ˹followers˺ will say to the arrogant ˹leaders˺, “Had it not been for you, we would certainly have been believers.”
The arrogant will respond to the lowly, “Did we ever hinder you from guidance after it came to you? In fact, you were wicked ˹on your own˺.”
The lowly will say to the arrogant, “No! It was your plotting by day and night—when you ordered us to disbelieve in Allah and to set up equals with Him.” They will ˹all˺ hide ˹their˺ remorse when they see the torment. And We will put shackles around the necks of the disbelievers. Will they be rewarded except for what they used to do?
Dear brothers, we return back to the houses of Allah SWT today for the first Jummuah in a month in this country. However, we can see that life is far from normal as it is the case for most people in the world today. However, this test should not distract us also from the injustices that we are seeing being done at the hands of oppressors.
From the Uyghurs to Yemen, from France to Palestine we hear still of brothers and sisters that are being persecuted, even in these times. And we don’t need to look at just Muslims or so far away, in this country for example the needs of the less fortunate has exponentially risen due to the injustices of the social systems in place.
Unfortunately, it is the leadership that encourages the injustices and so as Muslims we need to be patient in the justice that will be served by Allah SWT. The imam referenced ayat 21 of Sura Ibrahim in which Allah SWT addresses the conversation of those who are causing injustices in the world and when they return to Him. It’s translated to say:
They will all appear before Allah, and the lowly ˹followers˺ will appeal to the arrogant ˹leaders˺, “We were your ˹dedicated˺ followers, so will you ˹then˺ protect us from Allah’s torment in any way?” They will reply, “Had Allah guided us, we would have guided you. ˹Now˺ it is all the same for us whether we suffer patiently or impatiently, there is no escape for us.”
And so dear brothers, todays message concludes with the point that we need to exercise patience, especially in the times that we are living in and also that this is really the time to shine and step up as Muslims for all those around us.
In these difficult times, people are feeling lost and they are looking around for role models. Let us be those role models in our manners, our conduct and our interactions with one another. Now, more than ever before, we show others what it means to be the followers of Prophet Muhammad SAWS and be the examples of kindness, compassion and charity onto others.
Dear brothers, injustices and tests will always exist. That is the simple truth of this life. What we need to remember is that when we return to our Creator, we will be asked not on the tests and the injustices but how we dealt with them. Did we return to our Creator in prayer and thanks or did we lose our way when the going got tough?
