Fulfill All Obligations

Imam Abdul-Azziz (Guest Imam)

Masjid Ash-Shaheed, 400 W Sugar Creek Rd, Charlotte NC 28213

“O You Who Believe ! Maintain your obligations !”- Qur’an 5:1

Imam-Abdul-AzzizImam Abdul-Azziz began his khutbah by paying honor to the founders of the community, those who worked hard through the 50s, 60s and 70s to establish the communities and to lead the evolution of the community into the status that it is today.  Imam Abdul-Azziz reminded us not to dismiss the grey-headed brothers and sisters of the community, but to learn from them and honor and respect them to gain from the experience that they can give us. This is an obligation to respect the elders of our community.

The first obligation we have as believers is to God, that we worship nothing but Him, we rely on him, serve him and give praise to Him for all that we have and we do.  Every action of a Muslim is an act of worship. Even when we play ball we should do it in a way that elevates God. Imam Abdul-Azziz related an authentic teaching of Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him): The Prophet asked, “O Mu’adh! Do you know what God’s right on His slaves is, and what the right of His slaves on Him is?” I replied, “God and His Apostle know better.” He said, “God’s right on His slaves is that they should worship Him (Alone) and should not worship any besides Him. And slave’s right on God is that He should not punish him who worships none besides Him.” I said, “O God’s Apostle! Should I not inform the people of this good news?” He said, “Do not inform them of it, lest they should depend on it (absolutely).”

Imam Abdul-Azziz reminded us that It is obligatory upon every Muslim man and woman to know the religion of Islam. This is so that someone else can’t come along and tell you about your religion and claim to be an expert on Islam. He reminded us that there are many “Experts” on the news who have never worshiped as Muslims a day in their lives but they are allowed to tell everyone what Islam is all about. Why? Imam Abdul-Azziz says this is because we haven’t tapped into our true power, because we are dis-unified.

He continued expressing the other obligations that we have as Muslims:

We have an obligation to Muhammad, to follow him and to recognize that he is someone to be followed and emulated. We are reminded command from God,

“Say, [O Muhammad], ‘If you should love God , then follow me, [so] God will love you and forgive you your sins. And God is Forgiving and Merciful.'” – (Qur’an 3:31)

Our Obligations to family is so strong that God has said in the Qur’an, Verse 66:6, “O you who believe, save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is people and stones.” This is your obligation, to keep your family inside the faith of al-Islam and to keep them from getting sucked into society’s trap.

We are obligated to people in the community, not just this masjid, but every mosque in the area. All the Muslims are a community to one another. We fulfill this obligation by building and strengthening the community in every way we can.

Husbands and wives have obligations to one another. We are obligated to create a relationship of mercy and goodness to one another. We should treat one another in such a way that we always smile when thinking of one another.

Our obligations that we have over one another are the biggest. The average muslim-to-muslim relations obligate us to not only be well-wishers of one another but to be helpers of one another.

We have to ask each other if we are really giving the rights to each other. Are we fulfilling our obligations under God’s command?


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Editor@MuslimAmerican.com

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