Jumu`ah Khutbah
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem.
Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
O mu’mins! O believers! Alhamdulillah. We always start the Jumu`ah khutbah with praise, thanks and expressing our gratitude to Allah (swt), the Lord of Heavens. He pulled you to His side. Allah (swt) turned your faces from darknesses to light, Anwaari ‘l-Qidam, Pre-Eternal Lights until Post-Eternal. He has turned you from Zhulumati ‘l-Hudooth, from the Darknesses of Occurences, from the Darknesses of New, to the Lights of the Ancient, to the Lights of the Ever-Lasting, The One Who is before beginning and after ending. He is Awwal qabla kulli shay`, The First before everything. Wa ‘l-Akhir ba`da kulli shay, and He is The Last after everything. He has no beginning and no end. Allah (swt) is Da’im.
May Allah (swt) allow us to continue this way. He turned your face. He turned your heart to Him and He allowed you to come into His Presence, so we say, “Alhamdulillah, yaa Rabbee. It is Your Favor.” Wa mā kunnā li-nahtadiya law lā an hadānā ’llāh. And we would not have been guided if Allah had not guided us.”
وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِى صُدُورِهِم مِّنْ غِلٍّ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمُ ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ وَقَالُوا۟ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى هَدَىٰنَا لِهَـٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِنَهْتَدِىَ لَوْلَآ أَنْ هَدَىٰنَا ٱللَّهُ لَقَدْ جَآءَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَنُودُوٓا۟ أَن تِلْكُمُ ٱلْجَنَّةُ أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
And We shall remove from their hearts any lurking sense of injury; beneath them will be rivers flowing; and they shall say: "Praise be to Allah, who hath guided us to this (felicity): never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of Allah. Indeed it was the truth, that the apostles of our Lord brought unto us." And they shall hear the cry: "Behold! the garden before you! Ye have been made its inheritors, for your deeds (of righteousness)." (Surat al-A’raf, 7:43)
It is said that when people arrive at the door of Jannah, they will recite this verse. “Yaa Rabbee, thank You. You have guided us to this.” What is this? The door of Jannah. Wa mā kunnā li-nahtadiya law lā an hadānā ’llāh. “We would have never, ever found the way unless Allah (swt) guided us.”
Allah (swt) has guided you to the way of Jannah, so you have to be grateful. Understand the favor that Allah (swt) has given to you, ni`matu ‘l-iman, the favor of faith. It is above any and every favor. Every favor that Allah (swt) has bestowed on you becomes little compared to the favor of believing in Him and asking to have more of His Divine Light. Allah (swt) will give you from His Divine Light.
What is the Order to Rasoolullah (s)? At the beginning when he started his prophecy, one of the first verses that came down was: Yā ayyuhā ’l-muzzammil. The one who covered himself, qumi ’l-layla, wake up at night. Wake up in the darkness.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْمُزَّمِّلُ قُمِ ٱلَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا نِّصْفَهُۥٓ أَوِ ٱنقُصْ مِنْهُ قَلِيلًا
O thou folded in garments! Stand (to prayer) by night, but not all night. Half of it, or a little less. (Surat al-Muzzammil, 73:1-3)
Some people sleep all night long. Some people sleep half the night. Some people sleep three-quarters of the night. Some people don’t sleep at all. Allah (swt) is The One Who wakes you up at night. In the past there were no alarms, it was the rooster, nature. Or if Allah (swt) sent your soul during the night, you wake up alert and awake.
Sahaabah kiraam (r) tried their best to wake up at night. Allah (swt) told him (s):
وَٱللَّهُ يُقَدِّرُ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ عَلِمَ أَن لَّن تُحْصُوهُ
Wa ’llāhu yuqaddiru ’l-layla wa ’n-nahār. ʿAlima an lan tuḥṣūhu . (Surat al-Muzzammil, 73:20)
Allah (swt) destined for you the day and the night. Sometimes the nights are short. Sometimes the nights are long. Allah (swt) knows. ʿAlima an lan tuḥṣūhu. He knew that you would not be able to calculate when to wake up. Leave it to Allah (swt). He will wake you up and you do wake up at night sometimes and you say, “It’s still early,” or you say, “Forget about it,” or you say, “Oh, let me sleep a little bit more.” You know yourself.
Why does Allah (swt) wake you up at night? He wakes you up from ghaflah. Sleep is heedlessness, unawareness. Sleep is the same as ghaflah. You don’t know exactly what’s going on. You are sound asleep. Allah (swt) is waking you up to turn to Him.
It is the same thing with the hearts. It is said that when you wake up at night, spiritually it is the awakening of the heart. Physically you wake up, “Oh, it’s time to pray.” Spiritually the heart wakes up, “Oh, time to turn.” What does “qalb” mean? “To turn.” Muqqalib, qalliba, yaqlibu, yaqtalibu, however you want to phrase it, it is “turning.”
Your face, your body, your physicality turns out of bed and you say, “I am ready, yaa Rabbee. I am physically coming to Your Presence.” Your heart is the same. Allah (swt) turns it from the darknesses of this world, from the darknesses of the distractions of this world.
Driving by Hill Road you see a dermatology clinic. Great. “Wow. What am I doing here? I should be working.” That is the pleasures of dunya because you accumulate wealth. What does wealth provide to you? Why is it one of the most important things in zuhd not to run after that wealth? Because wealth will give your ego the opportunity to enjoy itself.
Ask the homeless, ask the poor guy. He has no money, so he cannot enjoy himself. He cannot get food let alone enjoy himself. There is nothing. Ask the rich ones. Where do they play? Monaco or Monte Carlo or Cannes or whatever they call it, the place where the rich play. What do the rich play with? They play with the darknesses of this world.
When you are asleep and you wake up physically, also know that Allah (swt) has turned your heart to Him. Wake up from the darknesses of this world, O Muslim. You said you are a Muslim. Qumi ’l-layla. The order to your Prophet (s) is, “Wake up at night.” Why don’t you follow, O Muslim? How many Muslims are there around the world? Two, three billion. How many of them wake up at night? Some do but few. Why don’t you follow your Nabi (s)? Qumi ’l-layla. Wake up at night. It means turn your heart from the darknesses of this world, which are pitch dark like the night and turn your heart to the Light, to the Noor of the Divine Presence, the Noor of the Divine Messenger, the Noor of the Divine Message.
Why don’t we do that? Qumi ’l-layla illā qalīlā. Allah (swt) is Fair. “Except for a little bit.” Why? Because you need to be in this dunya to be able to accumulate what you need to eat, drink, wear and for your children, your family, your relatives. That’s why, illā qalīlā, you are allowed to be in the darknesses of this world. Move in the darknesses of this world. Stay in the darkness to collect what Allah (swt) has given you, but most of the time your heart should not be turned towards dunya, it has to be turned toward Mawla.
As He ordered you, “Stand up at night physically in My Presence as well as by heart spiritually.” Where are we from that? You see the businesses. “Oh, dermatology clinic. What am I doing here?” What are you doing here? Ask yourself. They do not come to the Noor of the Heavenly Message. Maybe some of them do but most of them don’t. They are busy. “We have no time to take a break.” Why? “We’re collecting the means of pleasing our egos and desires.”
You wake up at night. What is the next thing you do? Tahara, purification. What is purification? Wudu. “Yaa Rabbee, I am standing in Your Presence physically. I am cleansing myself to be pure in front of You.” Your heart is the same. Your heart is awakened. It has turned away from the darknesses of this dunya to the Noor of the Divine Presence. What’s the next step? Tawbah. Tawbah is the cleansing of the heart. Repentance is the cleansing of the heart. You’re rinsing your arms, your face, head, whatever, and how about your heart? Are you rinsing your heart from not going back? “Oh dermatology clinic. I’m not going back.”
That is tahara. That is repentance. “Yaa Rabbee. I turned away from the darknesses of this world. I am coming to Your Light. Accept me.” Take wudu. Your heart has repented. Your heart has cleansed itself from the dirtiness of the darknesses of this world. Monte Carlo, the playground of the rich and famous. Do you want to be rich and famous? You have to play. Your heart says, “No. Yaa Rabbee, as I am standing in the pitch of darkness in Your Presence physically, my heart has turned to You, yaa Rabbee, spiritually. I went out from ghaflah, heedlessness.” That bed represents heedlessness and sleeping. “I am awake physically. My heart has also understood this dunya. What is the value of this dunya in front of You? Nothing. Less than the wing of a mosquito. My heart has turned to You, yaa Rabbee. I have taken wudu. I have asked for tahara, to be able to be in Your Presence physically. I also told my heart, tawbah is Your Way. Tawbah is Your cleansing.”
What is the third thing you do after you wake up and take wudu? “Allahu Akbar.” You start your prayer. How do you start your prayer? “Yaa Rabbee. Physically I am in Your Presence. I am clean and You are the Greatest. Yaa Rabbee, my heart is awakened. I have turned away from dunya to Your Noor. I have asked for repentance.” Of course Allah (swt) is At-Tawabu ‘r-Raheem. He forgives and He accepts repentance. And I say in my heart, “Dunya is not bigger, Akhirah is not bigger, You are. There is nothing in my heart.”
There is a nasheed. It says, fattish-shooni, “Search my heart. If you find in my heart anyone other than You then You have the right to take me away from You.” I forgot how it goes in Arabic. When you say, “Allahu Akbar,” by heart, the spiritual entity that you have, first you are claiming but it has to be real. “Yaa Rabbee. You know what is inside the hearts and minds. You know everything that has not yet come to the hearts.” Not only does He know your intention, He knows when that intention will come. A week later what kind of intention will come to your heart? “Yaa Rabbee. You can look into the heart. I am asking that nothing in my heart remains except You.”
This is the way of messengers. This is the way of the Divine Message. The Divine Message is to turn away from what perishes. In front of your eyes this dunya will perish. When Qiyamah is established, this dunya is gone. This dunya disappears for everyone who dies. No matter how wealthy or rich and famous they are, dunya disappears for everybody who passes on to the other life. Your heart understood. Yaa Rabbee. I am coming to You. Allow me to be in Your Noor. Give me from Your Noor. That is the holy verse. Asta`eedhubillah. Awwaman kaana maytan fa ahyaynahu.
أَوَمَن كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَـٰهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُۥ نُورًا يَمْشِى بِهِۦ فِى ٱلنَّاسِ كَمَن مَّثَلُهُۥ فِى ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِّنْهَا كَذَٰلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلْكَـٰفِرِينَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
Can he who was dead, to whom We gave life, and a light whereby he can walk amongst men, be like him who is in the depths of darkness, from which he can never come out? Thus to those without faith their own deeds seem pleasing. (Surat al-An’am, 6:122)
The one that was dead. The spiritual meaning is the dead heart. fa-aḥyaynāhu. “We revived that heart. We brought that heart back to life.” wa jaʿalnā lahu nūran , “And we gave him Light. We gave him Noor.” yamshī bihī fī ’n-nās , “Walking among the people with that light.” Walking among the doctors with that light. Walking among the lawyers or whatever your profession is, whatever your career is, you are walking among these people with your Light and they are in dhulumaat as Allah (swt) said. Ka-man mathaluhu fī ’ẓ-ẓulumāti laysa bi-khārijin minhā.
Like the example of the one who is continuously in darkness and not getting out of it. Allah (swt) revived your heart. O Muslim, understand the value of that Noor. That Noor is what will allow you to reach Jannah on Qiyamah. On Yaumu ‘l-Qiyamah is the darkness of the darknesses, dhulumaat ba’duha fawqa ba’d. There will be so much darkness on that Day. The only thing that will show you the way is the Noor you have. Munafiqs have no Noor. Mushriks have no Noor. They will say to the mu’mins, “Give us some Noor so we can find our way.” Naqtabis min noorikum.
يَوْمَ يَقُولُ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقُونَ وَٱلْمُنَـٰفِقَـٰتُ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱنظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ قِيلَ ٱرْجِعُوا۟ وَرَآءَكُمْ فَٱلْتَمِسُوا۟ نُورًا فَضُرِبَ بَيْنَهُم بِسُورٍ لَّهُۥ بَابٌۢ بَاطِنُهُۥ فِيهِ ٱلرَّحْمَةُ وَظَـٰهِرُهُۥ مِن قِبَلِهِ ٱلْعَذَابُ
One Day will the Hypocrites- men and women - say to the Believers: "Wait for us! Let us borrow (a Light) from your Light!" It will be said: "Turn back to your rear! then seek a Light (where you can)!" So a wall will be put up between them, with a gate therein. Within it will be Mercy throughout, and without it, all alongside, will be (Wrath and) Punishment! (Surat al-Hadid, 57:13)
What do they say? “The place for getting Noor, Light from Allah (swt) is dunya.” Faltamisu Nooran. Turn back to dunya and find that Noor, Nooru ‘l-iman.
That Noor increases with ta’a, as our `ulama have said, and decreases with ma’siya. It increases with obedience and decreases with disobedience. When a mu’min does a disobedience, his Noor decreases. When he or she is in obedience, their Noor increases. Be busy with that. Allow your heart to turn away from the darknesses of this world to the Noor of the Eternal, to the Ever-Lasting One. Allow your heart to cleanse itself by repentance. As you take wudu physically to stand in prayer, when you say, “Allahu Akbar,” allow your heart to know and understand what it means. It means dunya is not akbar and Akhirah is not akbar. Yaa Rabbee, there is nothing in my heart except You. Reach that. That is the summary of all Heavenly Messages from beginning until the end. Turn away from the darknesses to the Noor. Who does that to you? Allah (swt), the Lord of Heavens. Asta’eedhu billah. Allāhu waliyyu ’lladhīna āmanū.
ٱللَّهُ وَلِىُّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ إِلَى ٱلنُّورِ وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ أَوْلِيَآؤُهُمُ ٱلطَّـٰغُوتُ يُخْرِجُونَهُم مِّنَ ٱلنُّورِ إِلَى ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَـٰبُ ٱلنَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَـٰلِدُونَ
Allah is the Protector of those who have faith: from the depths of darkness He will lead them forth into light. Of those who reject faith the patrons are the evil ones: from light they will lead them forth into the depths of darkness. They will be companions of the fire, to dwell therein (For ever). (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:257)
Allah (swt) is the Guardian of the believers. Allah (swt) is the Supporter of the believers. Allah (swt) is the Protector of the believers. Allah (swt) is the Sustainer of the believers. What does He do? Yukhrijuhum mina ’ẓ-ẓulumāti ilā ’n-nūr. He takes them out from the darkness to His Light.
May Allah (swt) allow us to continue our way as we said when we started. He gave us iman. May He allow us to not go back to the darknesses but rather continue in the Noor of iman, the Heavenly Message that came through messengers and through Rasoolullah (s). Continue your way, O Muslim, O mu’min. Don’t turn back. You see what happens to everybody. They all leave and go. What do they find over there? Whatever they looked for here. If they look for badness here, they will find it there. If they look for goodness here and they commit to goodness here, they will find it over there. If your work is to find Allah (swt)’s Love and to increase your Noor, you will find it there. If your work is to find the love of something else, you will not get it here or there. It’s going to leave you and go. May Allah (swt) forgive all of us.
[Du`a]
https://sufilive.com/Benefits-of-Rising-for-Night-Prayers-8769.html
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