Commitment to Allah requires self-restraint
“Islam is not a buffet; you don't get to pick and choose.”
A Muslim's commitment to Allah must rest on conviction rather than convenience, built through two personal disciplines from Surah an-Nazi'at, fearing one's standing before Allah and restraining the nafs from desires, because individual moral failure weakens the entire structure of family, community, and ummah.
The khutbah in 8 steps
- Islam must be implemented bottom-up, starting with the individual's own practice
- Surah an-Nazi'at gives two components: fearing your standing before Allah, and restraining the nafs from desires
- Valuing the deen cannot be taught or downloaded; commitment must be based on conviction, not convenience, Islam is not a buffet
- Deen and dunya's full pleasures are a zero-sum game; society now celebrates what the sharia forbids (adult entertainment, alcohol, gambling)
- Modern example: normalized sports betting and prediction markets (Kalshi), with billions wagered on the World Cup final, a slippery slope designed to profit off you
- Hadith of the believers as a structure of bricks with interlaced fingers: weak individual bricks compromise the whole
- Hadith 'all of you are shepherds': everyone is responsible for others, so personal sin harms family and community
- Closing exhortation to value the deen against the propaganda that it is regressive, followed by standard duas and salawat
In the khateeb's words
“Islam is not a buffet you don't get to pick and choose it's wholesale take it or leave it”
“no amounts of lectures, conferences, podcasts is going to help you value the deen nobody can make you value the deen you have to take it upon yourself”
“you can't have both you can't have the deen and dunya as in you can't expect all the pleasures and riches of the world and a hundred percent benefit of the deen it's a zero-sum game”
“this past final had if I'm not mistaken 8.5 billion dollars worth of bets placed on it insane amount of money”
For the dinner table
Today the khateeb spoke about what it really means to be committed to Allah. He explained from Surah an-Nazi'at that two things protect a person: fearing the moment we stand before Allah, and holding ourselves back from our desires. He said Islam is not a buffet where we pick and choose what we like, Allah wants our commitment out of conviction, not convenience. He warned that things like gambling and other vices have become normal and are now right on our phones, designed by people who only want to make money off of us, so we have to be the ones who hold the line. Finally, he reminded us that believers are like bricks in one structure, and that each of us is a shepherd responsible for someone else, when one of us falls, our family and community feel it too.
- The khateeb said Islam is not a buffet, what's one part of the deen you find easy to practice, and one that's harder to stick with?
- If gambling and betting apps are made to be fun and easy, what would you say to a friend who calls it 'harmless fun'?
- If our family is like bricks in one building, what's one thing each of us could do this week to make the whole structure stronger?
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