Keys We Are Given

“إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ ، وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْهِ ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا ، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْهُ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ . يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا ، يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا . يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ . يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا . أَمَّا بَعْدُ”

In the fifth year after the Hijrah, with an army of 10,000 marching on Madinah, the Muslims dug a trench around the city by hand, hungry and exposed to a bitter cold. When they struck a rock that would not break, the Prophet ﷺ took a pickaxe, said "bismillah", and struck it. As a third of the rock shattered, he ﷺ said, “اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ ، أُعْطِيتُ مَفَاتِيحَ الشَّامِ” — Allahu Akbar, I have been given the keys of ash-Sham. By Allah, I can see the red palaces at this very moment.

Hearing this, the hypocrites mocked him. “وَإِذْ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ مَا وَعَدَنَا اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا” — Sham? The marvellous and mighty and sought-after Sham? We're in the middle of a ditch. Allah and His Messenger has nothing to offer us except delusions. Yet 12 years later, the keys of the holiest city in ash-Sham were offered to one of his companions.

A key in and of itself decides nothing. Everything depends on the hand that holds it. Besides the keys to our own homes and cars, each of us hold keys of another kind: a confidence shared by a friend, a responsibility entrusted to us, and children who become largely what we make of them. When Allah ’Azza wa Jal places those keys in our hands, what do we do with them?

When the Muslims surrounded the city in the 16th year of the Hijrah, the Muslims waited outside the walls until the patriarch agreed to surrender the keys on the condition that he hands them to the khalifah in person. ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu thus set out from Madinah to Jerusalem.

What ‘Umar did with those keys offers us three lessons. The first of which is ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu's honour and humility stemmed from his Islam, but not from his position. Whilst on his way to Jerusalem, he wore a woollen shirt that was patched and torn from his sides. At a river on the road, he removed his socks, placed them over his shoulder, and crossed through the water leading his camel by the reins. And Abu ‘Ubaydah radiyallahu ‘anhu said to him, "O Commander of the Believers, it would not please me that the people of this land should see you like this." The, i.e., the dignitaries of an empire are used to the glitz and glamours of leaders. And ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu thus replied: “إِنَّا كُنَّا أَذَلَّ قَوْمٍ فَأَعَزَّنَا اللَّهُ بِالْإِسْلَامِ” — we were the most humiliated of people, and Allah honoured us with Islam. “فَمَهْمَا نَطْلُبُ الْعِزَّةَ بِغَيْرِ مَا أَعَزَّنَا اللَّهُ بِهِ فَأَذَلَّنَا اللَّهُ” — and if we were to seek honour through anything other than Islam, other than what Allah ’Azza wa Jal has given us, Allah will humiliate us.

He said this whilst standing in a river, in a mended shirt, before meeting the dignitaries of an empire who are expecting the ruler of the mighty Muslims. Allah ’Azza wa Jal says: “مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا” — whoever desires honour, the greatness, then to Allah belongs all honour.

We tend to treat honour and humility as opposites, as though a person must spend one in order to acquire the other. To have more honour, let me puff out my chest and focus on the me. Yet Allah ’Azza wa Jal measures otherwise: “إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ” — indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most conscious of Him. Honour in this verse is taqwa, a consciousness that humbles the one who possesses it. Whoever knows Allah sees him lowers himself before his Creator and can no longer look down upon the creation around him. And so his humility is the mark of his honour.

Every other mark of status is on loan to us for a set period of time. The job title goes at retirement. The house passes to the heirs, and within a generation, no one remembers the head of the house. Taqwa is the badge of honour that goes with us into the grave and is still worn on the Day of Resurrection. That is how ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu, as the khalifah, could walk through a river lowly and honoured at once.

For many of us in this country, the more common temptation is to blend in, to shorten our names so they sound less foreign, to let a prayer pass at work rather than ask for a room, to blur the lines of gender interactions. Acceptance bought at the cost of our principles is the very humiliation ‘Umar warned of, however much it resembles success. To be known as a Muslim is an honour Allah ’Azza wa Jal has given us, and it requires no apology.

The second lesson we learn is ‘Umar's inheritance to be a mercy of all of mankind regardless of their background. Once inside of the city, ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu's first act was to write a covenant for those who held different beliefs to him. It guaranteed their lives, their property, and their churches, and declared that none of them shall be compelled in matters of religion, nor shall any of them be harmed. The people it protected rejected the essence of his faith, yet he ensured all of their due right because his Lord commanded: “وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَى أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا” — and do not let the hatred, the disagreements of a people prevent you from being just. “اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَى” — be just, that is nearer to righteousness.

This weekend, marches are planned not far from this city by people who wish to see our communities divided. Yet the believer responds not with hatred, but with the quality Allah ’Azza wa Jal prescribes his Messenger ﷺ with: “وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ” — and We have not sent you except as a mercy to the worlds.

Yet mercy and justice are tested closer to home as well. If ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu protected people whose belief differed so profoundly with his own, what about our colleagues at work, our neighbours we have neglected, or family whom we've not spoken to for years? If a Christian of Jerusalem could rely on ‘Umar's justice, can our fellow Muslims and our own blood rely on our own?

For many of us, we find it easier to be gracious to a stranger than our own family. Why may that be? With a stranger, there is no history, no old wound, no unmet expectations, no grievances kept in history. Kindness to a stranger is quickly rewarded with an expression of gratitude or simply the pleasant feeling of being a good person, and the nafs feeds on that reward. Those closest to us offer none of this. They know our faults. They do not thank us for what they regard as their due. And to show them grace, we must first overcome resentments that have built up over the decades. This is why the way that we treat them is a truer measure of our sincerity than anything that we do in public. The Prophet ﷺ said: “خَيْرُكُمْ خَيْرُكُمْ لِأَهْلِهِ وَأَنَا خَيْرُكُمْ لِأَهْلِي” — the best of you are those who are best to their families, and I am the best of you to my family. Generosity shown in public whilst others at home receive our impatience is just a performance. Let not our disagreements limit the mercy and compassion we show with one another.

And the third lesson we benefit from ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu's entry into Jerusalem is ‘Umar returned what was not his, and he held up the trust given to him. When the time of prayer came, the patriarch invited ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu to pray inside the Church of Resurrection. ‘Umar declined and prayed on the steps outside, lest the Muslims after him seize the church on the grounds that ‘Umar had prayed there. He held every key of that city, yet he made sure this door remained with its people, as the Prophet ﷺ on the day Makkah was opened returned the key of the Ka'bah to 'Uthman ibn Talhah, the rightful owner: “إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَنْ تُؤَدُّوا الْأَمَانَاتِ إِلَى أَهْلِهَا” — indeed, Allah ’Azza wa Jal commands you to return trusts, al-amanat, to their rightful owners.

An amanah is anything placed in our care that belongs to someone else. One such trust is the conversations we have in privacy. The Prophet ﷺ said: “إِذَا حَدَّثَ الرَّجُلُ بِالْحَدِيثِ ثُمَّ الْتَفَتَ فَهِيَ أَمَانَةٌ” — when a man tells you something and then looks around him, that is a trust. No oath of secrecy is required.

The same trust governs the way we say of other people in their absence, the trust of another's honour. And the Prophet ﷺ described and defined backbiting as: “ذِكْرُكَ أَخَاكَ بِمَا يَكْرَهُ” — your mentioning your brother in a way he dislikes.

Another trust is the work we are paid to do. The hours in the contract are owed to the employer. The quality promised to a customer is owed to that customer. And every word spoken about goods offered for sale is owed to the truth. Of every trust we hold, we should ask ourselves, the way ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu asked himself on those steps of the church, "To whom does this belong, and am I keeping it faithfully on their behalf?"

“أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ”

“الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ الْأَمِينِ ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَيَا مَعْشَرَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ ، أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ ، بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ”

O servants of Allah, when the companions were gathered in ash-Sham, ‘Umar asked Bilal to give the adhan. Bilal had not given the adhan since the death of the Prophet ﷺ, for he could not bear it. Yet he stood and called, and it was described that the companions wept until their beards were wet, ‘Umar most of all, for just for a few moments, they were in Madinah once more.

‘Umar then led the prayer in the place where the Prophet ﷺ had led the prophets on the night of the Night Journey. In the second rak'ah, he read Surah al-Isra. In the first, he read Surah Sad, which contains the verse: “يَا دَاوُودُ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاكَ خَلِيفَةً فِي الْأَرْضِ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعِ الْهَوَى” — O Dawud, indeed We have made you a khalifah, a successor, upon the earth, so judge between the people in truth and do not follow your desires. The khalifah of the Muslims standing in the land of Dawud reciting the verses that tell every khalifah what the keys are for: to follow the truth and not one's desires.

None of us will be handed the keys of a city, but each of us will be questioned about the keys we were given. Let us recognise a place where we have been seeking the approval of people at the expense of our faith, a relative, a neighbour, a colleague to whom we ought to rebuild bridges, or a trust we have been consistently keeping carelessly, whether a confidence, some work, or the reputation of someone absent. Nor should we attempt this alone. On his way to al-Aqsa, ‘Umar delivered a khutbah in which he reminded the words of the Prophet ﷺ who said, hold fast to the jama'ah, for Shaytan is with the one who is alone and is further with two.

Soon we'll be marking 109 years since a group of men in London with no authority over Palestine pledged it to others, and wrote of its people to a third party without once addressing them. Thirteen centuries later, a man who held every key to that land wrote a different document, and he addressed it to the people themselves. It guaranteed their lives, their homes, their churches. And whilst ‘Umar's covenant returned a trust to its rightful owners, the letter from London gave away what was never Britain's to give. Let us remind ourselves of what Musa ‘alayhis-salam said to his people at the lowest point of their oppression: “إِنَّ الْأَرْضَ لِلَّهِ يُورِثُهَا مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ” — indeed, the earth belongs to Allah, He causes to inherit to whom He wills of His servants, “وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ” — and the best outcome is for the righteous. The keys belong to Allah, and the end He gives it to the people of taqwa.

We ask Allah to grant us the honour that comes through Islam alone and free us from seeking it anywhere else. We ask Allah to make us faithful to every trust that has been placed in our hands, to guard our tongues from the honour of others, and forgive us for the trust we have neglected.

“إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا . اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَعَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ . اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ كَمَا بَارَكْتَ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَعَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ . اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِنَا فِيمَنْ هَدَيْتَ ، وَعَافِنَا فِيمَنْ عَافَيْتَ ، وَتَوَلَّنَا فِيمَنْ تَوَلَّيْتَ ، وَبَارِكْ لَنَا فِيمَا أَعْطَيْتَ ، وَقِنَا شَرَّ مَا قَضَيْتَ ، فَإِنَّكَ تَقْضِي وَلَا يُقْضَى عَلَيْكَ ، إِنَّهُ لَا يَذِلُّ مَنْ وَالَيْتَ ، وَلَا يَعِزُّ مَنْ عَادَيْتَ ، تَبَارَكْتَ رَبَّنَا وَتَعَالَيْتَ ، يَا ذَا الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ . عِبَادَ اللَّهِ ، إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ . اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَى نَعْمَائِهِ ، وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى آلَائِهِ ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ ، وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ . وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ”