6 July 2016 Burton, Michigan
As-Siddiq Institute & Mosque (ASIM)
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. [Du’a of khutbah.]
O Muslims, mu’mins, Believers! Alhamdulillah that Allah gave us support to fast Ramadan. Today we celebrate, and Allah and His Prophet (s) know best, that Allah freed us from Hellfire, `itqun min an-naar. We are happy with that. May Allah forgive us and we must always ask forgiveness from Allah (swt), which is easy, but to ask for it consistently is difficult. We have to ask for maghfirah in every moment of our life! When we fall into a sin, Allah (swt) is `Ghafoor ar-Raheem, but we must immediately turn to Him and ask His forgiveness:
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
Say, "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, for Allah forgives all sins for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surat az-Zumar, 39:53)
“O My servants, Believers! Don't lose hope of Allah's Forgiveness,” but ask for it, laa taqnatu min rahmatillah, “Don’t lose hope of Allah’s Mercy,” which is to forgive us, so run for it!
فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ
Run to Allah (from all that is false and evil)! (Surat adh-Dhaariyaat, 51:50)
Allah (swt) gave us many instructions through Prophet (s), to notify us that running to Him is safety and running to ourselves is difficulty. Is there anyone in Creation better than the Prophet (s)? [No!] Of course not. Alhamdulillah, that this is our belief, that he is The Best of Allah's Creation. I did not say he is the best of human beings; rather, he is The Best of Creation. If all Creation came together it would not be equal to a drop of the love of the Prophet (s) to Allah or to his mercy, so we must run toward that love that Prophet (s) has for his Lord. It is not like our love to Allah and to Prophet (s): he is more advanced because he knows the Reality as Allah created him from His Light:
رواه عبد الرزاق بسنده عن جابر بن عبد الله بلفظ قال قلت: يا رسول الله، بأبي أنت وأمي، أخبرني عن أول شيء خلقه الله قبل الأشياء. قال: يا جابر، إن الله تعالى خلق قبل الأشياء نور نبيك من نوره،...
When Jaabir (r) asked, “Let my father and mother be sacrificed for you, oh Prophet of Allah! What is the first thing that Allah (swt) created?” the Prophet (s) said, “The first thing that Allah (swt) created is the Light of your Prophet from His Light, O Jaabir.” (Musannaf `Abdu ’r-Razzaq)
The first that Allah created is the Light of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). That means a lot! That means that anyone who wants to reach Allah (swt) must first reach Sayyidina Muhammad (s) in order to be, fafirroo ila ‘Llah, running to Allah. Allah is saying to Ashaab al-Kahf, “Run to Him!”
We are people of the cave, we didn’t come out of the cave yet, as we say in Arabic, “He did not hatch yet.” We are still inside the egg. We have to come out and run to Allah (swt) and the Prophet (s). Prophet (s) showed us many ways to run to Allah, by following him (s) and his Sunnah. Sayyida `Ayesha (r) said:
كان يقوم من الليل حتى تتفطر قدماه فقالت عائشة لم تصنع هذا يا رسول الله وقد غفر الله لك ما تقدم من ذنبك وما
تأخر قال أفلا أحب أن أكون عبدا شكورا
“He used to stand the night in prayer until his feet would swell.” She said to him, “Why are you doing that O Messenger of God when Allah has forgiven you everything from before and after?” He said, “Should I not be a grateful servant?” (Bukhari)
Prophet (s) woke up for his night prayer and stood worshipping Allah (swt) until his feet were swollen. Tatafadar means “break into wounds,” that marks showed on his feet. Are we doing that? No! I saw one group in Hijaz pray Taraweeh in Madinatu ‘l-Munawarrah. I joined them one time, I didn’t know, they caught me. So when the imam of the Haram finished his Taraweeh, they began their Taraweeh, it was a big group and it’s allowed. The imam stood up and began Taraweeh, he had entered into prayer and did not finish until after five hours standing, he was reading six juz`u and finished the entire Holy Qur’an in five days. Your feet swell to the point that you cannot stand anymore. Most of the people with him were from Africa and Bukhara; they stood in prayer and didn’t care about whether their feet were swollen or not, they stood for Allah’s and Prophet’s Love! Do we do that? In Taraweeh, if we read a half or one juz`u everyone says it’s too long! Prophet (s), who has been forgiven everything, stood in prayer every day and night asking for more. When we sit and stand for Taraweeh we ask for the imam not only to read one or two aayaat, but also to speed up and finish quickly, but Prophet (s) wanted to stretch it, he didn’t want to finish quickly. Like Sayyidina Musa (a) lengthened his answer, when Allah asked him:
وَمَا تِلْكَ بِيَمِينِكَ يَا مُوسَىٰ قَالَ هِيَ عَصَايَ أَتَوَكَّأُ عَلَيْهَا وَأَهُشُّ بِهَا عَلَىٰ غَنَمِي وَلِيَ فِيهَا مَآرِبُ أُخْرَىٰ
"What is that in your right hand O Musa?” He said, “It is my cane, I lean on it, and I beat down leaves for my sheep, and I have other benefits in it too.” (Surat Taha, 20:17-18)
“What is in your right hand?” and he said, “My cane,” which is the normal answer, but then he added more as if he is teaching Allah (swt). “That is my cane. I lean on it and I guide my flock the way it needs to move and I have many other things to do with it,” and he expressed the many things for hours and hours. Imam al-Ghazali (q) explained this in a long story, I am cutting it short. Sayyidina Musa (a) asked Allah, through His power of spirituality, to show him one of Ummat an-Nabi (s) and Allah showed him Imam al-Ghazali (q).
In that vision, Sayyidina Musa (a) asked Imam Ghazali (q), “What is your name?”
He said, “My name is Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad Abu Hamid al-Ghazali.”
Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “What kind of stupid answer is this? I asked your name and you gave me seven generations of it?”
Imam al-Ghazali (q) said, “Yaa Sayyidi, yaa Rasoolullah, I answered like this to be honored more in your presence, like you did when Allah asked you what is in your hands: you didn’t just say, ‘It is a cane,’ but you stretched it.” So that was the wisdom of Sayyidina Al-Ghazali (q) speaking to Sayyidina Musa (a) in a vision or dream.
So the Prophet (s) stood in prayer most of the night until his feet were swollen, cracking. Out of love, Sayyida `Ayesha (r) asked him, “When Allah has forgiven you all your sins and because of you He has forgiven all your Ummah, why are you doing this to yourself?”
He answered two words, alaa akoona `abdan shakoora? Don’t you want me to be a good, thankful servant to Allah (swt)? If I stand all my life asking for Allah’s forgiveness it is not enough, so for me it is a blessing.”
But when we try to pray quickly and then run, we are not giving the prayer it’s right. Allah (swt) sai in a Hadith Qudsi in Bukhari and Muslim, , “The best worship is to pray for Him.”
أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم طرقه وفاطمة بنت النبي عليه السلام ليلة فقال ألا تصليان
[Sayyidina `Ali (r) said:] The Prophet (s) came to his and Fatima’s door one night and said, “Are you not praying?” (Bukhari)
Prophet (s) urged them to wake up at night and pray. We need not one alarm, not one reminder, but we need hundreds of reminders to stand up at night and pray! So do your best to pray two raka`ats in the middle of the night, for it is khayrun min ad-dunya wa maa feehaa, better than dunya and all it’s wealth. So when you get up at night, make wudu and pray two raka`ats, then go to sleep, even those two raka`ats are very precious to Allah. “Good tidings for the man that stands up at night and prays two raka`ats.” Salim ibn `Abdullah bin Sayyidina `Umar (r) said that nothing is better than praying two raka`ats during the night, and after that Hadith was revealed he never slept but stayed up all night and prayed until Fajr.
فقال نعم الرجل عبد الله لو كان يصلي من الليل فكان بعد لا ينام من الليل إلا قليلا
“Blessed is `Abdullah if he would pray at night.” After that Abdullah did not sleep at night except a little. (Bukhari and Muslim)
ذُكِرَ عِنْدَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ رَجُلٌ، فَقِيلَ: مَا زَالَ نَائِمًا حَتَّى أَصْبَحَ، مَا قَامَ إِلَى الصَّلاَةِ، فَقَالَ ذَاكَ رَجُلٌ بَالَ الشَّيْطَانُ فِي أُذُنِهِ
It was mentioned in the presence of the Prophet (s) that a man stayed sleeping until dawn and did not arise for prayer and he (s) said, “That is a man in whose ears Shaytan has urinated.” (Bukhari)
So if you want Shaytan to urinate in your ears, don't wake up at night; otherwise, we must wake up at night and ask Allah’s forgiveness and pray at least two raka`ats, which is better than all the wealth of dunya!
I will end with this Hadith:
وأفضل الصيام بعد شهر رمضان صيام شهر الله المحرم
The best of fasting after the month of Ramadan is the month of Muharram. (Muslim)
Therefore, fast in Muharram as much as you can, like you fast in Ramadan or less, or in Sha`ban, as these are all holy months:
Rajab is Allah's month, Sha`ban is my month and Ramadan is the month of my Ummah.
(Abul-Fath ibn Abi Fawaris in his `Amalee from al-Hasan)
The best month to fast in after that is Shahr ul-Muharram. That is why the Prophet (s) fasted `Ashoora, 10th Muharram, and said, “If Allah gives me life next year, I will fast the 9th and 10th.” Also, “The best of prayer you can pray after the obligatory prayers is two raka`ats at night.”
أفضل الصلاة بعد الصلاة المكتوبة الصلاة في جوف الليل
The best of prayer after the obligatory prayer is prayer in the middle of the night. (Muslim)
So wake up at Fajr and pray two raka`ats! I can continue, but I think some people have work and others want to eat, so we make it short, it’s enough, celebrate your `Eid.
[Du`a.]
[End of khutbah.]
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