Orphans of the Islamic Council for the
Development and Humanitarian Services
2010 Africa Tour Series
Introduction:
As-salaamu `alaykum. I will not be long, but Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani came from his home in America to see you. He came at the invitation of the national chief imaam. Mawlana Shaykh said that more important than meeting presidents, emperors and rulers for him was to meet the young people of Ghana because you are the future of the country. So he is very happy to come and see you and visit you, and inshaa-Allah he hopes that he will see you many, many times to come in the future. And it is his intention after he leaves here to go and visit you at the hotel. So with that, Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, along with the group he brought with him, are coming from all over the world. Mawlana is a world scholar, teacher and lecturer, as well as a shaykh, but most important to him is to be a servant of people and that is why he says, “As-salaamu `alaykum,” and he is looking forward to seeing you later.
(Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar!)
(Recitation of Holy Qur'an.)
(Mawlana makes du`a.) Fatihah. Allahu akbar, allahu akbar, allahu akbar. Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. (Mawlana stands for salawaat and sits.)
Address of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani to assembled guests, orphanage staff and students:
Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbi 'l-`alameen, wa 's-salaatu wa 's-salaamu `ala ashrafa 'l-mursaleen. Sayyidina wa nabiyyina Muhammadin wa`ala aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.
Mawlana, Chairman Shaykh Moustafa Ibraheem, thank you for accepting and hosting us here in this beautiful gathering of young boys and young girls. Your council is taking care of them and it is a big honor for us to see your great work. We only can say may Allah (swt) reward you and reward those council members and the chief imaam, and everyone looking after the orphanage and the orphans, and the Muslims and human beings in general.
Mashaa-Allah all of you know English? (Children reply, ‘yes.’) Very good, very good, very good! How many of you have fathers? No one has a father? Does anyone have a mother? (Mixed acknowledgment.)
Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem. I would like to say that Prophet (s) said in one of his ahadeeth that any one raised Islamically, if he has two girls and he has raised them in the way of Islam, Allah (swt) sends their mother or their father to Paradise with no account. So here we are seeing that this Islamic Council and the chairman, Mustafa Ibraheem, are trying their best to raise you as good Muslims in this community, to do your best when you grow up inshaa-Allah, to be diplomat and to carry the flag of Islam everywhere, and to try to show the best character like Allah said to Prophet (s), "You are of the best character and manners." So when you grow up you must grow on Islam, and you must know that Islam is a religion of good manners. It’s a heavenly religion, that Allah (swt) will support you during your life if you are following the right way.
Dunya is short, people come and go, but ahkirah is forever. It's not going to be that people come and go from there; it's one ahkirah and one dunya. In that ahkirah you live forever. If you are living in dunya as a good person, you will be living forever in Allah’s (swt) heavens, as long as you are a good person in the community.
And I would like to say to Chairman Mawlana Shaykh Mustafa Ibraheem, that Sayyidina Muhammad (s) said that after they die, everyone's `amal is finished. They can no longer do good or bad, their deeds are finished when they die, except for three conditions and three exceptions from which you will still be receiving rewards in your grave until the Day of Judgment. This is an authentic hadith of Prophet (s) and no one can deny it, no one can say it is not accepted. It is a strong hadith of Prophet (s) that your `amal will be stopped as soon as you die, except for the three conditions and three exceptions when your `amal still continue in the grave.
First of them is sadaqatun jaariya, to give a flowing donation in the way of Allah (swt) to build an orphanage, a masjid, an educational system or school, or a hospital for people in need, for those who have nothing. So that’s why these people who are looking after you are giving a lot of their time for you, in order that you can be raised well. That’s why their `amal is not going to be cut in their graves. Allah (swt) is going to reward them for their donations. A donation can be time and it can be money and they are giving time and money, to make you to live in happiness and in good way.
Second, Prophet (s) said that the other exceptions for which you will get a reward in your grave is making a book or providing a knowledge that you can teach and leave behind you for new generations to learn. You are the new generation, and they are giving you books and teachings and they are giving you `ilm (knowledge) that you are going to work accordingly and benefit from it. So everything you read, it will be written for those who are taking care of you. Inshaa-Allah even after they have a long life, after everyone will die, still their rewards will come to them in their graves. When you are read, Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem, it is enough for them to get it in their grave as a reward, or when you are learning, or when you are studying, or if you become teachers and teach others in the future.
The third condition or exception is to leave a child behind you that will pray for you. How many of you lost your father, or mother, or you lost both parents, or you didn’t lose them but they left you behind, or still you have your parents? If you read anything it will be benefiting them because Allah (swt) will send that reward to them in their grave.
O young Muslims! Study well and show your appreciation to those who already opened their arms for you, like this Islamic Council. We are trying to come to this country to make a relationship with you and with the national chief imaam, that we might be able to work in the future between the United States and you here. There are lots of things that can be worked on together, and there are lots of things that can help and inshaa-Allah there are ways that you can help. As I was telling some friends the first day I arrived and we met with the American ambassador, there are ways to get support and funding from USAID, an American organization which helps all over the world, but you need to write the necessary documents and fill the necessary papers and inshaa-Allah you might get benefit. But in any way, we will see what we can do inshaa-Allah in the future, between your organizations and our organizations in America. We have many different organizations all over the United States, and not only in America, but in England and all over the world.
May Allah (swt) bless you, bless your chairman, bless those who are working with him, bless all the imaams and bless the country where you are living, and keep peace, because Ghana is a peaceful country. May Allah keep it peaceful and keep you peaceful, and make you happy and make them happy!
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
Moderator:
Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah Almighty that you listened actively to our shaykh and the advice he gives us. He told us that if a man dies, all the good deeds are finished. These three things he has said are very very important. Alhamdulillah, you must learn hard, hard, hard and to pray for our parents because they are gone. He told us that if one dies all the good deeds are finished, but only three things that will be of benefit. First, if you have money and you dig a well for people, you build schools, orphanages, and you take orphans to them, these things will help you forever. Second, the knowledge you are taught, that too will benefit you even when you are dead. Third, a good child, a good son. So he wants you to be a very good child, a good son, a good girl, so that you will pray for your parents because those prayers will also benefit them. So we have to thank the shaykh for this advice and we thank him so much! He has no time, but since he has arrived in the country he wanted to see you, just to share ideas with you, to show his concern. He is thinking of how to help you because you cannot be a full, complete Muslim unless (you help others). So now what about you, your state, what can he do to help you? You should pray for him, for Allah (swt) to help him and for him to also help you inshaa-Allah. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you so much.
Children's tilaawat of Holy Qur'an commences.
(Speaker to the children: "The shaykh is very happy with you, very happy!")
(Shaykh Hisham personally distributes money to the children who recited Holy Qur'an.)