Jumu`ah Khutbah at Masjid al-Abdul Razak
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. There is a great celebration, an event that happened in this month, the Month of Allah (swt), when the Prophet (s) said:
رجب شهر الله، وشعبان شهري، ورمضان شهر أمتي
Rajabun shahrullah wa sha`banu shahree wa ramadanu shahra ummattee.
Rajab is Allah's month, Sha`ban is my month and Ramadan is the month of the Ummah. (Abul-Fath ibn Abi Fawaris in his `Amalee from al-Hasan, mursalan).
In this holy month Allah (swt) directly raises up the deeds of His servants with no angelic intermediaries, as it is His month, in which He showed His servant the biggest miracle in this world and in the Hereafter, when He said:
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِي
Subhaan alladhee asraa bi-`abdihi laylan min al-masjidi 'l-haraam ila 'l-masjidi'l-aqsa 'lladhee baarakna hawlahu li-nooriyyahu min ayaatina, innahu huwa 's-sami`u 'l-baseer.
Exalted be He Who took His servant for a journey by night from al-Masjid al-Haraam (at Mecca) to the Farthest Mosque (in Jerusalem), whose precincts We did bless that We might show him some of Our Signs for He is the One Who hears and sees (all things). (al-Israa, 17:1)
Allah (swt) gave Prophet (s) the title “servant.” huw al-`abid, wa huwa al-`abd wa huwa fee maqaam al-`ubudiyya, “He is in the station of servanthood to Allah and he never stopped.” We pray and we stop but the Prophet (s) never stopped praising and praying to His Lord; his heart is always in sajda to Allah (swt)!
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ مَا أُرِيدُ مِنْهُم مِّن رِّزْقٍ وَمَا أُرِيدُ أَن يُطْعِمُونِ
Wa maa khalaqtu‘l-jinna wal-insa illa lee y`abudoo maa ureedoo minhum min rizqin wa maa ureedoo an yut`imoon.
I have only created jinn and men so that they may worship Me. No sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed Me. (Surat adh-Dhariyat, 51:56-57)
Allah (swt) is saying, “I don't need their worship, but believe in Me, in that great event where I made My Prophet pass through this dunya!” To travel from one place to another you need an airplane with a pressurized cabin and fuel. What kind of power did Allah (swt) gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) to move from Mecca to Madinah without being burned? If anyone did that today they will die. What did He gave the Prophet (s) Maqaam al-`Uboodiyya and no one can reach that station except him! Allah (swt) dressed him with that and called him "My servant." Prophet (s) said, “That was the happiest time in my life, when Allah called me His servant.”
ومَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَى
Wa maa yantiqu `ani ’l-hawaa. In huwa illa wahyun yooha.
Nor does he say (anything) of (his own) desire; it is no less than Inspiration sent down to him. (Surat al- Najm; 53:3-4)
Whatever Prophet (s) says is inspired by Allah (swt), which means he is the one responsible for human beings. No one else has been raised to that Station of Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa except Sayyidina Muhammad (s) .
And Allah said, laylan, “at night,” when everyone is sleeping and there is no activity; “At night I am moving My servant through that restful calmness and submission.” Some interpret this to mean, “I am moving him from the darkness of dunya to the lightness of Heavens,” because in darkness you cannot see anything. “I am moving him to light,” and, “I am moving My Prophet from Masjid al-Haram, where no sin can be committed, to Masjid al-Aqsaa.” That is why when you sin in Mecca it is like thousands of sins committed elsewhere, and similarly, when you worship in Mecca it is magnified thousands of times!
In Mi`raaj, Allah (swt) moved Prophet (s) to Palestine, from where most of prophets came, and he prayed there. The significance of Mi`raaj is very great; many years before Mi`raaj, the Prophet (s) faced great difficulties and torture, but he remained patient throughout, so Mi`raaj was a kind of reward.
O Believers! In our time we face only slight difficulty and we worry about it, but the Prophet (s) said, “I am the prophet most tortured by my people.” Today we are not patient; any problem that comes, we can’t face it. Prophet (s) was patient and thus was raised in Mi`raaj. How we say today he was raised in Mi`raaj, to the Station of Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa, which is not in dunya but is a place where time collapses. Don’t think time is real, it is an imaginary concept. In physics they went to smaller and smaller units of time and found at minus 10 to minus 22 (10-22) seconds, time no longer exists; there is only energy.
Today in space shuttles they go a hundred kilometres above Earth and enter the no-gravity zone, but the Prophet (s) went beyond the universe without a shuttle, only with Jibreel (a) and Buraq (a). Nothing happened to his body and he was able to take every power when he went where Allah wants him to go. For sure that was beyond Creation! This world is part of the vast galaxy astronomers discovered with 80 billion stars, each star bigger than this solar system. Where they are going no one knows. However, when Allah (swt) raised Prophet (s), he passed through all the galaxies, and in ‘Israa he saw caravans and camels coming and going and he described that.
When Prophet (s) ascended he saw all the Heavens, the first through seventh, where believers will be. See the greatness Allah (swt) gave him! Then he visited Hellfire and he stepped in it until the fire went down, and there he witnessed all kinds of punishments.
O Muslims! Good tidings are for whoever says, “laa ilaaha illa-Llah Sayyidina Muhammadun rasoolullah!”
The Prophet (s) saw Paradise and Hell, reward and punishment, and he said, “O my Lord! Don’t send my ummah to the Hellfire!” He returned from that Night Journey, ‘Israa and Mi`raaj, and his bed was still warm. He went all that distance, from here to no-where, and yet his bed was still warm!
O Muslims! We must be happy. Do you think the Prophet (s) didn’t ask on behalf of his ummah in his Mi`raaj? When he was born, he said, ummatee, ummatee, “My nation, my nation!” When he is resurrected on Judgment Day, he will ask Sayyidina Jibreel (a), “How is my ummah?” and Jibreel will say, “No one raised up but you, and they are waiting to be raised in Judgment Day.”
Judgment Day is coming. Allah (swt) doesn’t look if someone is `alim or not. He said:
وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ
w `ataasimoo bi hablillahi jamee`an wa laa taffaraqoo.
And hold fast, all together, by the rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves. (3:103)
The Prophet (s) will be happy on Laylat al-’Israa wa ‘l-Mi`raaj, to see his ummah united. Look what is happening now in the Middle East (social/political unrest), and be happy you are safe in this country, as so many others have been killed. Prophet (s) said there will come a time when:
وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ ، لَا تَذْهَبُ الدُّنْيَا حَتَّى يَأْتِيَ عَلَى النَّاسِ يَوْمٌ لَا يَدْرِي الْقَاتِلُ فِيمَ قَتَلَ ، وَلَا الْمَقْتُولُ فِيمَ قُتِلَ ، فَقِيلَ : كَيْفَ يَكُونُ ذَلِكَ ؟ قَالَ : الْهَرْجُ ، الْقَاتِلُ وَالْمَقْتُولُ فِي النَّارِ
wa’Lladhee nafseee bi-yadihi laa tadhhabu’d-dunya hatta yaatee `alaa’n-naasi yawmun laa yadree al-qaatilu feema qatl, wa laa al-maqtoolu feema qutil. fa-qeela kayfa yakoonu dhaalik? Qaala al-harju, al-qaatil wa’l-maqtoolu fi ’n-naar.
The Prophet (s) said, “By the One in Whose Hands is my soul, this world will not pass until there come upon the people a day in which the one killing doesn’t know why he killed and the one killed doesn’t know why he was killed.” They said, “How will that possibly be?” He (s) said, “al-harj. The killer and the one killed are in the Fire.”
The holy night of ‘Israa and Mi`raaj is in a few days, which must make us worry if we will be granted shafa`ah of the Prophet (s), as Allah (swt) will tell him, “You have shafa`ah, the power of intercession, so do what you like with your ummah.”
From this place we are asking, “O Allah! Grant that pemission to Your Prophet (s) to intercede for us, and take us to Paradise with no account, for if we are asked any question we are lost! May Allah (swt) support all Muslims around the world and may Allah (swt) support everyone and guide them to Islam.
(Du`a)
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