Jumu`ah Khutbah at As-Siddiq Mosque
Alhamdulillah Who made us from the nation of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and enlightened us with the Light of His Beloved and the Light of Holy Qur'an and He made us to follow His Beloved Prophet (s) and said in Holy Qur'an:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Qul in kuntum tuhibboona 'Llaaha fattabi`oonee yuhbibkumullaahu wa yaghfir lakum dhunoobakum w 'Allaahu Ghafooru 'r-Raheem.
Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:31)
And the Prophet (s) brought us Islam, the Message of Allah, where He said:
إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللّهِ الإِسْلاَمُُ
Inna ad-deena `inda Allaahi al-islaam.
The religion in Allah’s view is Islam (submission to His Will). (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:19)
In a few days we have `Eid al-Adha coming and the Prophet (s), his last year that he made Hajj, it was the last year of his life. When the ayah came from Allah:
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا
Al-yawma akmaltu lakum deenukum wa atmamtoo `alaykum n`imatee wa radeetu lakum al-islaama deena.
This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. (Surat al-Maida, 5:3)
By that ayah, Allah has completed Islam and made it a perfect moon, no more and no less. Therefore, don't accept anyone that comes and tells you we have to renovate or reform Islam, or westernize Islam or ‘Americanize’ Islam! Islam is a complete religion and accepted by Allah.
So the Sahaabah (r) were very happy. If we were Sahaabah (r), would we not be happy? We learn from them and they are our teachers and we hope to be with them in Paradise. They were all happy except one, he was crying. They were wondering why is he crying (as they were thinking), “Mashaa-Allah, we entered Mecca and we entered Ka`aba and destroyed the idols and went to `Arafat for manasik al-Hajj.” They came to him and of course we want to know, who is that person? That was Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r).
Prophet (s) said, ma ba`d al-kamaali illa ’n-nuqsaan, “After perfection, there is nothing but decrease.” Based on that, he knew the Prophet (s) is leaving dunya and after that ayah came and he understood the deeper meaning, that Jibreel (a) will stop coming and the message is finished. And after that the Prophet (s) lived only eighty days.
Abu Hurayrah (r) said, as the Prophet (s) wants to make us happy, he told his Sahaabah (r), “You want to be on `Arafat with me?” and the Prophet’s (s) message is for everyone, “If you cannot make pilgrimage, then fast the Day of `Arafah.”
مَنْ صَامَ يَوْمَ عَرَفَةَ غُفِرَ لَهُ سَنَةٌ أَمَامَهُ وَسَنَةٌ بَعْدَهُ
Man saama yawma `arafa ghafar allahu maa taqadama min dhanbihi.
Whoever fasts the Day of ‘Arafah, his sins of the previous and following year will be forgiven.
(Sunan Ibn Majah)
So the Prophet (s) is giving us good tidings: if you cannot go for Hajj, then fast the Day of `Arafat, Allah will forgive your sins. That is why al-Hajju `Arafat, “the Hajj is `Arafat.” If you don't stand on `Arafat, your Hajj is null and void. So most important is to stand in that valley as the Prophet (s) did, and Allah sends His Rahmat over them and even if you are here and you are fasting on the Day of `Arafat or celebrating `Eid, you will still receive that rahmat. That is Allah's Generosity, not like us, as we are stingy. Don't be stingy. It is (only) good to be greedy for religion. To ask more from Allah is good znd to ask for more rahmah, be greedy and Allah will give you!
So Prophet (s) is asking for the benefit of the ummah.
عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ كِنَانَةَ بْنِ عَبَّاسِ بْنِ مِرْدَاسٍ السُّلَمِيُّ أَنَّ أَبَاهُ أَخْبَرَهُ عَنْ أَبِيهِ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ دَعَا لِأُمَّتِهِ عَشِيَّةَ عَرَفَةَ بِالْمَغْفِرَةِ فَأُجِيبَ إِنِّي قَدْ غَفَرْتُ لَهُمْ مَا خَلَا الظَّالِمَ فَإِنِّي آخُذُ لِلْمَظْلُومِ مِنْهُ قَالَ أَيْ رَبِّ إِنْ شِئْتَ أَعْطَيْتَ الْمَظْلُومَ مِنْ الْجَنَّةِ وَغَفَرْتَ لِلظَّالِمِ فَلَمْ يُجَبْ عَشِيَّتَهُ فَلَمَّا أَصْبَحَ بِالْمُزْدَلِفَةِ أَعَادَ الدُّعَاءَ فَأُجِيبَ إِلَى مَا سَأَلَ قَالَ فَضَحِكَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَوْ قَالَ تَبَسَّمَ فَقَالَ لَهُ أَبُو بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرُ بِأَبِي أَنْتَ وَأُمِّي إِنَّ هَذِهِ لَسَاعَةٌ مَا كُنْتَ تَضْحَكُ فِيهَا فَمَا الَّذِي أَضْحَكَكَ أَضْحَكَ اللَّهُ سِنَّكَ قَالَ إِنَّ عَدُوَّ اللَّهِ إِبْلِيسَ لَمَّا عَلِمَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ قَدْ اسْتَجَابَ دُعَائِي وَغَفَرَ لِأُمَّتِي أَخَذَ التُّرَابَ فَجَعَلَ يَحْثُوهُ عَلَى رَأْسِهِ وَيَدْعُو بِالْوَيْلِ وَالثُّبُورِ فَأَضْحَكَنِي مَا رَأَيْتُ مِنْ جَزَعِهِ
Anna ’n-Nabi (s) da`a li ummatee `ashiyyata `Arafat...
As related from ibn al-`Abbas ibn Mirdaas as-Sulami from his father, from his father that the Messenger of Allah (s) prayed for forgiveness for his nation one evening at `Arafat, and the response came, “I have forgiven them, except for the oppressor, with whom I will settle the score in favor of the one whom he wronged.” He said, “O Lord, if You will, then grant Paradise to the one who is wronged and forgive the oppressor.” No response came (that evening). The next day at Muzdalifah he repeated the supplication, and received a response to what he asked for. He (the narrator) said, “The Messenger of Allah (s) laughed,” or he said, “He smiled. Abu Bakr and ‘Umar said to him, ‘May my father and mother be ransomed for you! This is not a time when you usually laugh. What made you laugh? May Allah make your years filled with laughter.’ He said, ‘The enemy of Allah, Iblees, when he came to know that Allah answered my prayer and had forgiven my nation, took some dust and started to sprinkle it on his head, uttering cries of woe and doom, and what I saw of his anguish made me laugh.’” (Sunan Ibn Majah)
The night before `Arafat, not on the day, where there are too many du`a, the Prophet (s) asked for His ummah. That is what the Prophet (s) wants: he wants for his ummah! If you are from his ummah, you are safe! Say “laa ilaaha illa-Llah” and enter Paradise, but of course (we say), “laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadu rasoolullah.” Look how easy it is! And we are not saying you must not do your obligations (to reach Paradise), but Allah wants to tell us to say “laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” it is Maqaam at-Tawheed, (to acknowledge) “there is no Creator except Allah.” They say (it translates as) “there is no god but Allah” but it is “there is no Creator but Allah.”
So he called for his ummah, “Yaa Rabbee!” And whatever Allah opened to his heart, Prophet (s) asked and Allah answered to His Prophet, “I forgave them, all of them except one, the one who has this particular bad character. The rest I am forgiving them for you, yaa Muhammad!”
شَفَاعَتِي لأَهْلِ الْكَبَائِرِ مِنْ أُمَّتِي
Shafa`atee li-aahli ‘l-kabaa’ir min ummatee.
My intercession is for the people in my ummah who committed the major sins. (Tirmidhi)
Allah gives shafa`a to the Prophet (s) on Judgment Day, dunya and Akhirah, to intercede by Allah's Order and no one can say it is shirk, because Allah gave it to him!
So He said, “I accept all of them except the oppressor. Whatever I forgive, it is up to Me for the sins people make, but for the oppressor, there are also the oppressed and it is up to them. How do I forgive him when the oppressed will say, ‘Yaa Rabb! What is this? We want our rights.’ So first I take the right of the oppressed from the oppressor.”
And the Prophet (s) answered, in shi'ta `atayt al-mazhloom min al-jannah, “You are The Merciful and Generous One and if You want, You can give the oppressed from Your Paradises as You are The Generous One and you can give what You like. What can the oppressor give him? If he was able to give him in dunya, he would. wa ghafarta li ’zh-zhaalim, and You can forgive the oppressor! Give the oppressed from Paradise and forgive the oppressor.”
And Allah (swt) didn't answer him. That du`a was on the night of `Arafat. No answer came and they were in `Arafat and after that they go to Muzdalifa, and they spend the night there, and after Muzdalifa, after Fajr they go to Mina. Those who went for Hajj must remember. And in Muzdalifa, the Prophet (s) repeated the du`a and Allah accepted from the Prophet (s) what he asked, to give the oppressed Paradise and to forgive the oppressor! And the Prophet (s) was laughing and smiling, his face was shining. When Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) and Sayyidina `Umar (r) saw that, they knew there is something (special) and they asked him, saying, afrihnaa, yaa rasoolullah? “Make us happy, also.”
And the Prophet (s) said, inna `adoowuullah iblees lamaa `alima anna ajaab lee rabbee, kaana yahuth at-turaab `alaa raasihi, I was laughing because of seeing Iblees, when he heard that Allah accepted my du`a for the oppressed and the oppressor, he was upset and throwing dirt on his head and wailing!”
So see how important `Arafat is, how much masha`ari ’l-Hajj, and how all this-- `Arafat, Muzdalifa and Mina and Mecca--are important in the life of Muslims. And for that du`a of Prophet (s) in `Arafat and Muzdalifa, Allah (swt) has forgiven everyone from Ummat an-Nabi (s)! He forgave the oppressor and entered the oppressed into Paradise, and so we know it is important to fast on that day, and Prophet (s) recommended the fasting of the day of `Arafat, but which day do we have to fast? We see the Muslim community divided. There are hujjaaj that are standing on `Arafat and there are people in other countries that are fasting the next day.
Now `Eid is two days away and some people are saying we fast this day and `Eid is the next day. So in any case, there are two sayings: some say fast Monday and `Eid is Tuesday, and some say fast Tuesday and `Eid is Wednesday. But do according to your intention and Allah will reward inshaa-Allah. It might be that `Arafat is not Monday or Tuesday, it might be Allah has made it different. We are fasting, we fast according to our countries or they can make according to what the hujjaaj are doing on `Arafat. And may Allah grant us, in either case, the benefit of `Arafat.
Some might ask here where the name ‘`Arafat’ came from, and it comes from the word ‘to know’ and that comes from the story of Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) and Isma`eel (a) and the place where Allah (swt) informed Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) to slaughter Sayyidina Isma`eel (a). And on that day, Allah gave to four anbiya on the Day of `Arafat very generously: He gave Sayyidina Adam (a) forgiveness on the Day of `Arafat. and He gave Sayyidina Musa (as) to be Kaleemullah on `Arafat, and to the Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s) He gave the Perfection of Religion and for Sayyidina Ibrahim (a), He ordered him to sacrifice a ram in place of Sayyidina Isma`eel (a).
May Allah bless us on that day, coming on Monday, and it is not too hard to fast the day because it is not too long.
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