Honorable Muslims!
Living by Islam duly means to both fulfill our duties towards Allah and to take the life-centered messages of our religion as the guide in our relations with people. It is not a proper attitude to isolate ourselves from the society and prefer a selfish and lonely life.
Dear Muslims!
In the modern age, we are unfortunately trapped in our own lives. We have become individualized and isolated. We have become selfish and unable to think of anyone but ourselves. While our homes have gotten closer to one another, our hearts have drifted apart. Our friendship and neighborly relations have weakened.
The digital world offers us many opportunities. However, we lost ourselves to the lure of the virtual world. We have become prisoners of computers, tablets and smartphones.
Dear Muslims!
Addressing to the Prophet (saw), Allah the Almighty states in the Holy Qur’an as follows: “So by mercy from Allah, (O Muhammad), you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude (in speech) and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you.…”[１]
So, let us take the morality of our Prophet, whose ummah we are honored to be, as an example. Let us adopt compassion and mercy, self-sacrifice and contentment, sweet words and smiling faces as principles. Let us seek peace and happiness not in loneliness and selfishness but in attaining the pleasure of our Lord (swt) and in the du‘as of our brothers and sisters.
I would like to conclude this Friday’s khutbah with the following hadith of the Messenger of Allah (saw) describing the believer: “The believer is friendly and befriended, for there is no goodness in one who is neither friendly nor befriended.”[２]
[１] Al-i ‘Imran, 3/159.
[２] Ibn Hanbal, II, 400.