Night of Power: Shed your veil at night

“We have indeed revealed this [Message] in the Night of Power. And what will explain to you what the Night of Power is? The Night of Power is better than a thousand Months. Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Alláh’s permission on every errand. Peace… this until the rise of Morning!”

Allah created heavens and the earth, and then created one being to stand out amongst all the others: mankind

Out of all the ways that were sent down of ages past, he chose Islam as a way for us “This day I have perfected your religion for you and given you Islam”

Out of mankind, he created one human being to stand out amongst all the humans: Muhammad “verily in the Messenger of Allah do you have a most excellent of example”

And for mankind, once in a lifetime, he has given us Hajj as an act of worship

And out of all the acts of worship, Allah has chosen one act for Himself and he will reward it without measure “assiyammu li”; fasting in the month of Ramadan

And out of the fasting that he has given us, He has chosen one night to forgive us our sins;

The night in which Allah opened up the heavens and revealed the Qur’an to a man whose named would encompass the annals of history; we cannot even imagine how the world would be without this one act of Mercy that Allah did for us:

Arabs would still be in jahiliyyah, many nations would still be in darkness, including Europe, science, technology, math, all would have stopped in their tracts as Islam was the religion that created geniuses that trailblazed history;

Movie came out a few years ago called Independence Day and in it, the President of the US, after seeing his country destroyed, gets up and makes a speech to the few of mankind that are left and says “this day we take back our humanity, we take back our country”

So this Night of Power is an independence night of sorts for all of humanity; the day when an independence for ignorance, tribalism, bloodshed, took root in the most backward of places; a night as we look back in History, we can easily say that it was a night when Allah “gave us back our humanity, and gave dignity back to mankind”

But like any other celebration that occurs in Islam, we honored it not with parties, dances, or any public occurances, but rather with solemness and gratitude to the One who gave us this opportunity: the Creater of the Heavens and the Earth and everything in between: Allah

But it is for us to take advantage of this night; to use it as an opportunity to get closer to him; so we are instructed to seek it out in the odd nights of the last ten nights of Ramadan; it is difficult: our bodies are tired from lack of energy, our mind is weaker because of lack of food, but if we did the first 20 days correctly, one organ is stronger and can rejuvinate the entire body and push us till the end: our heart

And so we need to seek it out at night during these nights that are upon us, and don’t let the opportunity pass us by; who knows if it will ever come again;

Abu Dah Daah was one of those who found an opportunity and won that which is greater than the heavens and the earth. An adult companion of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) cultivated his garden next to the property of an orphan. The orphan claimed that a specific palm tree was on his property and thus belonged to him. The companion rejected the claim and off to the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) went the orphan boy to complain. With his justness, the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) measured the two gardens and found that the palm tree did indeed belong to the companion. The orphan erupted crying. Seeing this, the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) offered the companion, “would you give him the palm tree and to you is a palm tree in Jannah?” However, the companion in his disbelief that an orphan would complain to the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) missed the opportunity and went away angry.
But someone else saw the opportunity, Abu Dah Daah – radi Allahu ‘anhu. He went to the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and asked, “Ya Rasul Allah, if I buy the tree from him and give it to the orphan shall I have that tree in Jannah?” The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) replied, “Yes.”
Abu Dah Daah chased after the companion and asked, “Would you sell that tree to me for my entire garden?” The companion answered, “Take it for there is no good in a tree that I was complained to the Prophet about.”
Immediately, Abu Dah Daah went home and found his wife and children playing in the garden. “Leave the garden!” shouted Abu Dah Daah, “we’ve sold it to Allah! We’ve sold it to Allah!” Some of his children had dates in their hand and he snached the dates from them and threw them back into the garden. “We’ve sold it to Allah!”
When Abu Dah Daah was later martyred in the battle of Uhud, Rasul Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) stood over his slain body and remarked, “How many shady palm trees does Abu Dah Daah now have in paradise?”
What did Abu Dah Daah lose? Dates? Bushes? Dirt? What did he gain? He gained a Jannah whose expanse is the heavens and the earth.
Abu Dah Daah did not miss his opportunity, and I pray to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) that we do not miss our opportunity of standing to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) on Laylatul Qadr.
It was narrated that in the days that Musa (Alahi salaam) wandered with Bani Israel in the desert an intense drought befell them. Together, they raised their hands towards the heavens praying for the blessed rain to come. Then, to the astonishment of Musa (Alahi salaam) and all those watching, the few scattered clouds that were in the sky vanished, the heat poured down, and the drought intensified.
It was revealed to Musa that there was a sinner amongst the tribe of Bani Israel whom had disobeyed Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) for more than forty years of his life. “Let him separate himself from the congregation,” Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) told Musa (Alahi salaam). “Only then shall I shower you all with rain.”
Musa (Alahi salaam) then called out to the throngs of humanity, “There is a person amongst us who has disobeyed Allah for forty years. Let him separate himself from the congregation and only then shall we be rescued from the drought.” That man, waited, looking left and right, hoping that someone else would step forward, but no one did. Sweat poured forth from his brow and he knew that he was the one.
The man knew that if he stayed amongst the congregation all would die of thirst and that if he stepped forward he would be humiliated for all eternity.
He raised his hands with a sincerity he had never known before, with a humility he had never tasted, and as tears poured down on both cheeks he said: “O Allah, have mercy on me! O Allah, hide my sins! O Allah, forgive me!”
As Musa (Alahi salaam) and the people of Bani Israel awaited for the sinner to step forward, the clouds hugged the sky and the rain poured. Musa (Alahi salaam) asked Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala), “O Allah, you blessed us with rain even though the sinner did not come forward.” And Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) replied, “O Musa, it is for the repentance of that very person that I blessed all of Bani Israel with water.”
Musa (Alahi salaam), wanting to know who this blessed man was, asked, “Show him to me O Allah!” Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) replied, “O Musa, I hid his sins for forty years, do you think that after his repentance I shall expose him?”
The night is a veil over the day, just like our clothes are a cover for us; use the night as an opportunity to expose your sins, open your hearts, and cry to Allah for He is the only one that can forgive, change our hearts, and make us be close to Him on the Day of Judgment.

Last Friday of Ramadan

Imagine a loved one coming to visit at your house for a little while. Before the arrival, there is much anticipation, a yearning for the days to go by fast until they arrive, preparation, etc. and the initial days are great, filled with talking, laughing, hanging out, etc. the middle period is a bit more awkward and thoughts begin to come into your head, although you don’t voice them, that when will this be over? And before you know it, it comes time for your friend to leave; you begin to wonder how quickly the time went by, how you could extend it a bit more, you know you have to, but you hate to say good bye, so you say “till next time”!!!

The month of Ramadan is that visitor, who comes but once a year, stays for a little while, and then departs; you hate to say good bye, so you settle with “till next time” not knowing, but praying that next year, you will be around for his visit;
So it is time for us, in this last Friday of the month of Ramadan to say farewell to this blessed visitor; it came with eager anticipation, filled our lives with blessings, and although we knew this day would come, we didn’t know it would come so soon!!! But this visitor is not leaving without a mark on our lives; because of its visit, Muslims got together and became closer; and this visitor is leaving some things behind for us to reflect upon, because it taught us a bit more about ourselves; most importantly being that we can do anything we set our minds to:

Following are some of the lessons that we learnt in Ramadan (borrowed from Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi):

1. Patience: Fasting in Ramadan taught us patience (sabr). It taught us self-discipline. Now we have to use this training. We avoided some permissible things during fasting, now we know how to control ourselves and protect ourselves from unlawful (Haram) things.

2. Control over passions and desires: Fasting taught us to control our passions and desires. Now we have to use this training and keep ourselves always pure. We must not be the slaves of our lusts and desires. We should not obey our desires, but we must obey Allah all the time.

3. Control over bad temper: Fasting taught us to control bad temper. It taught us how to avoid bad words. Now we have to use this training. We must not quarrel with others or use bad language. We should be a gentle and honorable people all the time.
4. Charity: Fasting taught us charity (muwasat). We paid our Zakat and our Sadaqat in this month. Now we know how to be good, kind and generous to those who are in need. Now we know how to help good causes always.

5. Nawafil: During Ramadan we prayed Tarawih during the night. Now we should be regular in our daily prayers. We should pray them on time and in a proper manner. We woke up for Sahur every night. Now we can get up for Tahajjud prayer. We should try to pray Tahajjud as much as possible.

6. Regular Visit to Masjid: During Ramadan we came to the Masjid every day. Now we should make a habit to pray at the Masjid as much as we can. We have our Friday which is known as the Sayyid al-Ayyam (the best day of the week). We should not neglect the Friday prayer. We should also take care of the Masjid. Those who come to the Masjid should be also those who maintain the Masjid.

7. Reading of the Qur’an: During Ramadan we read the Qur’an and we listened to the Qur’an. Now we should make a resolution to read the Qur’an every day. We should read one juz’ or half Juz’ every day. We should read with translation and try to reflect on the Words of Allah.

8. Family gathering: During Ramadan we spent more time with our families. We ate together and we prayed together. Now we should keep this habit. The families that eat together and pray together stay together. We should have good relations with our spouses. We should pay more attention to our children and our youth. We should give them more time and continue to help them to learn the principles and values of Islam. We must pay attention to their Islamic education and training.
9. Concern for the Ummah: During Ramadan we prayed to Allah to help the Muslims of Palestine, Chechnya, Muslims of Kashmir, Muslims of Iraq, Muslims of Afghanistan and Muslims who are suffering in many other lands. We should continue to know more about them and do whatever we can to relieve their suffering and to help bring justice and peace in the world.
10. More good deeds: During Ramadan we did a lot of good things. Now we should be in the habit of doing good all the time.
The purpose of ‘Ibadah (our acts of worship) is to make us Allah’s servants. Allah’s servants are the best human beings. Our challenge is to become the best human beings that we are supposed to be.

Beware the Ides of Ramadan

This past week, we had a very important analyst that came and visited us here at Saturna; but beside being an analyst, he was also a PhD in Shakesperean Literature and in his spare time had done a lot of research on him

During a conversation at dinner, I recalled in one of the plays of Shakespeare called Julies Ceasar; in one scene, a soothsayer comes up to Julius Ceasar and says “Beware the Ides of March” which in the play is a foreshadowing of his death that he pays no heed to; Ide in the context is referring to Middle, and thus “beware of March 15th”

I thought about this because we are now going through the middle of the month of Ramadan and it is appropriate to use the words “Beware the Ides of Ramadan”; of course I am not saying that we will die during this month, it is during this middle of the month that Muslims begin to get more tired, more sleepy, more frustrated, because of their service to Allah that is being performed during this month;

Another example one can use is that of a marathon; as a runner begins the race, he is excited and has energy and is ready to run; during the middle portion, he begins to feel pain, gets tired, is thirsty, and just wants to give up, mental and physically, but if he can hold out for a bit longer, then there is a tipping point, after which point he reaches a state of bliss; in this state, he feels very light, no pain, and feels he can run forever

The month of Ramadan is no different for us; as we begin, we are excited about many things: good food, fasting being accepted by Allah, seeing many Muslims around us; but it is during this time of the month that we begin to really feel Ramadan; the good food becomes a chore to make, you begin to doubt whether or not Allah will accept your fast or not, and you feel like staying home and sleeping rather than getting together with Muslims for iftar; but it is also during this time that we as Muslims have a tipping point as well; and it is right around the corner; and we need to be steadfast and have sabr:

Allah mentions in the Qur’an “Fasbir sabran jameel” – have patience with a beautiful patience and “Innallaha ma’as sabireen” -- Verily Allah is with those who are paitent

Allah also mentions in the Qur’an: “kulli nafsin dhaa’ikatil mowt….” (21:35) – Every soul shall taste death, and We will try you with evil and good, and to Us is your return;

So we need to be patient during this time when we don’t want to stay for taraweeh, when we don’t want to wake up for suhur; and give yourself an extra push to do these things; this is also another reason why I think, Allah left Laylatul Qadr in the last 10 nights of Ramadan; it is only through going the entire month of fasting, and then staying up at night when you are tired from a whole month of that that Allah will forgive you your sins; if the night which is worth a 1000 months was early in the month it would be too easy and if too easy, then where is the reward? Allah mentions how he made us believers, and he will test us in our wealth, family, and in ourselves;

We need to be strong during these “ides of Ramadan” and I can guarantee that if we push ourselves just a bit more, we will reach the tipping point feel as though we can fast the entire year, and next Friday, we will all be wondering, how did the month go by so fast?

And I want to close this first khutba with a hadith of the Prophet regarding trials and hardships, and how for the believers, they are both a blessing:

Abu Yahya Suhaib b. Sinan said that Rasulullah saw said : “Wondrous are the believer’s affairs. For him there is good in all his affairs, and this is so only for the believer. When something pleasing happens to him, he is grateful, and that is good for him; and when something displeasing happens to him, he is enduring (sabr), and that is good for him” ( Muslim )

Checklist for Your Life

(Sura Mu’minoon,v. 1-11)

As we are going through life, one initially begins with a goal, and that for us as Muslims is to attain paradise; we do this by first submitting ourselves to Allah, and thus enter into Islam, but as we struggle to work on our souls and our sincere in attaining Allah’s pleasure, then we are blessed with the gift of Iman, or faith, and then can be one of the Mu’mins

Just like at work, when you have reviews, your boss has a checklist to see what your progress has been, how you are doing, where are you lacking or need improvement; in the same way, there must be a checklist that Allah or the Prophet left for us as well, otherwise how can we know we are headed in the right direction? Sure the Qur’an can be that checklist, but most of us don’t have time to go through the Qur’an and use as a checklist, it is just way too big;

Alhamdulillah, that He has given us such a checklist for life; Allah says in the Qur’an:

Qad aflahal mu’minoon
Successful indeed are the believers
Alladheena hum fi salaatihim khaashi’oon
Those who offer their prayers solemnly and full of submission
Walladheena hum ‘anil laghwi mu’ridhoon
And those who turn away from falsehood
Walladheena hum lizzakaati fa’iloon
And those who pay the zakaat
Walladheena hum lifuroojihim hafidhoon
And those who guard their chastity
Illa ‘ala azwaajihim aw malakat aymaanuhim, fa innahum ghayru maloomeen
Except from their wives and those their right hands posses
….
Walladheena hum li amaanaatihim wa ‘ahdihim raa’oon
Those who are faithfully true to their duties and covenants
Walladheena hum ‘ala salawaatihim yuhaafidhoon
And those who guard their prayers
Oolaa ikahumul waarithoon
These are indeed the inheritors
Alladheena yarithoonal firdausa hum fihaa khaalidoon
Who shall inherit the Paradise and live there forever

So this is the checklist we need to follow and constantly refer back to it to analyze how we are doing; here, Allah lays out the characteristics of a successful person, and even though Allah is mentioning the qualities of a successful believer in the hereafter, the also apply to the present life; if you can do these things, then you are also going to be successful in this life and the hereafter




Qad aflahal mu’minoon
Successful indeed are the believers
Alladheena hum fi salaatihim khaashi’oon
Those who offer their prayers solemnly and full of submission

The first thing that Allah mentions is the prayer to show how important it is; and it is the only one he mentions twice in this formula or checklist for success; here it is not about whether we perform, but how we do it; with concentration, understanding, reverence to Allah? Or just do the ritualistic actions to get it over with; and many people do the prayers and as soon as they say Allahu Akbar, they do everything, think of everything, but concentrate; that is why my grandmother used to tell me, if you can’t remember where you left something or forgot something, just pray 2 rakat, you will remember; I thought she was saying this cause if I prayed Allah would help me find or remember it, but really it was because she knew that people think of everything in their prayer even where they left their keys;

Walladheena hum ‘anil laghwi mu’ridhoon
And those who turn away from falsehood

And here, the falsehood that Allah is mentioning is all kinds of falsehood; and the goal here is a moving target in that the more you stay away from, the more you will find you will need to stay away from as falsehood is all around us in large and small firms; one begins by staying away from the large ones, backbiting, cursing; so the falsehoods are those things that you personally get yourselves involved with, but then from here a believer must move on the seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and speaking no evil; the hearing and seeing are very difficult, but not impossible; they way to begin to do this is what Allah says in the Qur’an in Sura Furqan:

Walladheena laa yash-hadoonaz zoora wa idha marroo billaghwi marroo kiraama
And those who do not witness falsehood, and if hey pass by some evil play or talk, they pass by it with dignity

That you stay away from it and as is life, you will encounter it some times, and dignity is that you don’t repel falsehood with falsehood, but falsehood with that which is better – repel evil with good

Walladheena hum lifuroojihim hafidhoon
And those who guard their chastity
Illa ‘ala azwaajihim aw malakat aymaanuhim, fa innahum ghayru maloomeen
Except from their wives and those their right hands posses

That a person is modest in their dress, and protects themselves, their bodies with from evil; staying away from fornication, is just the last step, and believer should not even find himself in a situation that would lead to this; that in this case, anything that leads to this, is evil in and of itself; similar to when Allah forbade Adam and hawa from even approaching the tree, let alone eating from you: laa taqraboo hadhihish shajaraa
But with certain people, letting down your guard, not only is it ok, but sometimes even encouraged, like your spouses; that you should take one another as a source of comfort for each other

Walladheena hum li amaanaatihim wa ‘ahdihim raa’oon
Those who are faithfully true to their duties and covenants

The biggest Amana we have to fulfill is the amana of the shahada; that when we say it as an oath, we are pledging to Allah and His messenger our devotion and to follow His way; but the duties and covenants are many others in our lives, from the covenant of marriage, to employment, to the everyday business dealing we have; we must always be fair, honest, fulfilling our pledges; and remember that even before our Prophet was a messenger, he was known as Al-Ameen, the trustworthy;

Walladheena hum ‘ala salawaatihim yuhaafidhoon
And those who guard their prayers

And finally a full circle is made, as we started with prayer, we end with prayer as well; and here Allah is mentioning that we, to be successful, must be protective our our 5 dialy prayers; and we shouldn’t let go of the importance of this issue of prayer;

1) it should be something we do no matter what; it is the only active pillar that we cannot leave; not fast if sick or on journey; no zakaat if no wealth, no hajj if no money; but prayer, no excuse; you must pray whether you are healthy or sick, rich or poor, tired or active;
2) that if we hold fast to our prayer, then we will naturally avoid the other things that Allah is mentioning; and even more importantly, going back to the khushoo’, if we have it, then we will taste a sweetness that we not only fulfill the other items on checklist, but we will do it, including prayer, with a sweet zealousness

last thing is that in order to make sure we hold fast to the prayer, we revolve our lives around prayer, and not our prayer around our lives; that the five prayers are the pillars in your daily life and everything else gets scheduled, around it; and if you miss a prayer or delay it, something inside your heart is missing;

Oolaa ikahumul waarithoon
These are indeed the inheritors
Alladheena yarithoonal firdausa hum fihaa khaalidoon
Who shall inherit the Paradise and live there forever

And if we do the above, then Allah promises us Paradise; one thing to note here is Allah uses the term inherit; which implies a rightful ownership; in Islam, when you inherit property, it is rightfully yours because it is stated in the Qur’an; similarly, if we do fulfill our checklist and are successful believers, then it is our right to get paradise; because it is a fulfillment of a contract;

Public Shame Law and Islam

• Recently there was a law that was going through the Washington State Legislature on shaming citizens who violate the certain laws; for example, currently in Ohio, they have a law that if you are caught driving drunk, you are mandated to have a bright yellow license plate as a form of public shame; WA was about to do something similar

• This brings up an issue that I would like to discuss in this khutba today; the role of shame as a deterrent in our lives; as we know from the Qur’an, there are three stages of the soul, and not necessarily are they one after another: nafs al amaara: desiring soul; nafsil lowwaama: the self reproaching soul, and nafssil mutu ma’inna: sould at peace/rest

• And it is the nafsil lowwaama that gives us, as humans, the aspect of shame; and we know it exists because Allah swears by it in the Qur’an:

“laa uqsimu bi yowmil qiyaama; wa laa uqsimu binnafsil lowwaama”
I swear by the Day of Resurrection; and I swear by the self reproaching soul

• It is the soul that is in between desire and peace; and Allah has put it there as a check for us; it is the one that feels guilty, embarrassed, shame; all things that will move us away from becoming animals; however if we keep ignoring this soul, then it becomes weaker and weaker; and if we listen to it, it becomes stronger and stronger until it transforms into the soul at rest; if you commit a sin for the first time, you feel really bad; bad enough to stop doing it; but if you continue, then each subsequent time, the feeling gets easier, until no remorse exist; and the opposite is true as well

• So this self reproaching soul is there because Allah knows we will make mistakes; this is in our nature as Allah created us:

“khuliqal insana dha’eefa” created mankind weak

• So we cannot all be good all the time, and this is not what Allah wants; what Allah is looking for from us is what we do after we make mistakes; do we remain arrogant and refuse to accept it, or do we seek forgiveness from Allah; and remember that it is a balance that is struck; if we were all, as humans, making mistakes and never asking for forgiveness, then we have many examples in the Qur’an of all can destroy us; and if we are never sinning and are perfect, then Allah will still destroy us and create a being that will make mistakes, and seek forgiveness

• But this idea of shame, in Islam, is something that is inward, not to be shown in public; that when someone commits a sin, (s)he should try to hide it and not make a public display of it; that is why a person who, say, drinks alcohol in the confines of his house (hides it) is still better than a person who does it publicly; similarly, if another person sees someone committing a sin, (s)he should try to hide it and not expose it; as in the hadith we find that if a believer conceals a sin of another in this life, then Allah will conceal his sins on the Day of Judgment; so this idea of public shame and humiliation is not in Islam and could have the opposite effect of making people worse;

• So in the example of the drunk driver who has a yellow license plate, although it might start of as a plate of shame, it might end up as a license to commit more acts; like a badge of honor;

• I ask Allah to keep our reproaching soul strong so that on the Day of Judgment, it is a soul at rest;


• So as I mentioned earlier, in my opinion, Islam does not want us to publicly humiliate people for their wrong actions, and on the contrary, there are benefits to hiding one’s sins and having others hide them for you as well

• So obviously, the question that comes to mind if I say that Islam is against this and it is not what Allah wants, is what about some public acts that are seen as humiliation in Islam; i.e. cutting of the hands, stoning to death, etc.

• The one thing to keep in mind is that in the current laws that are proposed or enacted, they are a form of humiliation and shame to make the person not do it again; if you don’t want them to do it, don’t give them a yellow license plate, take away their license

• Also, the public displays that happen in Islamic law are an evidence not of committing an act, but rather of having been forgiven by Allah; so the idea of the hands being cut is not so that everyone in public knows you stole something, that will happen anyway, but rather that by your hands being cut off, you have been saved from something worse in the hereafter;

• Furthermore, public shame usually implies that you are or have something less than normal; and thus the humiliation; again in Islam it is not that way; consider the story of the woman who committed adultery; she came to Prophet and he turned the other way, she came again, and he said you are carrying a child; after 9 months, she came again, and he said you have to wean the child; she came after 2 yrs and finally the Prophets gave her the punishment; and will it was being carried out publicly, again it was to show redemption of this woman and not to shame her; how do we know this? Cause as the companions were stoning her, some blood fell on one of them and he went aback in disgust; the Prophet noticed this and said publicly, that this woman had more faith than all present here combined, so don’t look down upon her; that she has been forgiven by Allah;

The Process of Change

• Spoke a couple of weeks ago about Change and how it is a buzz word these days; that real change in history has never happened from the top down, but from the grass roots; and Allah confirms this in the Qur’an when he says:

“Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves”

• So if we want to change society, we need to change ourselves; and one thing to remember is that it is not a light that goes off or on in your head and you are changed; it is always a process; maybe the only time it is that dramatic is when Allah moves people towards change, then it is instant – companions accepting Islam, many in modern day having near death experiences and then accepting Islam; but even with this, after the initial change, the complete transformation is a lifelong process

• This process can be summed up into four different parts: muhaasaba (taking account), tauba, the change itself, and finally maintaining what has changed;

• Muhasaba: the first thing we have to do as we begin the process is to reflect upon, think about, take to account our lives; and we should be doing this constantly; that is why Allah mentions this over and over again in the Qur’an; afalaa tafakaroon, afalaa tadhakaroon, afalaa ta’qiloon?

• And in this process we have to be honest with ourselves; it is very easy to deceive ourselves, or be deceived by Shaitan into thinking we are doing just fine; there is no need to change; but keep in mind that if there was nothing to change then a) we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in today, and b) if you didn’t need to change then we would be perfect, which is only something that Allah has a right to claim; and if we were perfect without sin, then as the Prophet mentions, Allah would replace us with another creation that did make mistakes and then asked for forgiveness

• Tauba: Repentance; small word but large meaning; it is different that seeking forgiveness (istighfaar), which is only a part of taub; so tauba is not that you do things wrong during the day, go home, ask forgiveness from Allah, and then the next morning you go back to doing the same thing; that Allah may or may not forgive; but tauba is something that Allah says he will accept;

• So the two parts of tauba are istighfaar with a hatred of what you did was wrong; and then making a commitment not to do it again; if you do this, then acceptance from Allah is yours; more importantly, if you follow up this tauba with righteous deeds, then Allah promises to not only wipe the sins, but to take them and convert them into good deeds on the day of judgement:

“except those who repent and believe and do righteous deeds, for those, Allah will change their sins into good deeds, and Allah is oft-forgiving, Most Merciful”

• the next thing we have to discuss is the change itself; and here it is very important to realize that this will take time, and the best way to approach change is not revolution, but evolution; so if you have a whole list of things you want to change about yourself, then you don’t do all of them at once, but rather take them one at a time, the easiest one first, and work you way from there;

• and the Prophet has taught us that it takes 40 days to make a change, for some, maybe a bit less, for others, maybe a bit more; to paraphrase: “if two brothers are together for 40 days, one of them will change the other”;

• so many times I see brothers who take change as a revolution and not evolution and fail; grow religious, long beard, everything haram, mean look, and 6 mos. Later, everything is halal!!!! Why? They got burned out, their body could not handle the change, and neither could their mind, and so they gave up; but if they would have taken things slowly, then they would have continued

• story of frog put in boiling water jumps out; but if you put it in water and turn up the heat, it will die and never jump out. Why? Incremental change, the frog didn’t notice;

• finally we come to the last part of change, which is the maintaining the change; and so after you have picked out items to change about yourself, you begin to change them; but remember that it will always be a struggle; so if you take it one month at a time, then the second month, you should be focused on 2 things, the first one and the second; because if you just focus on the second, you will lose the first; third month, 3 things, and so forth; from the stories of the companions we learn that once they began to do something good, they hated to drop it:

• a companion came to the Prophet and said that he wanted to fast as a worship to Allah, the messenger said to fast the middle of the month; the companion said he could do more, and so the messenger said add Monday and Thursday to it; to which he said he could do more, and the Prophet said to fast every other day; later on in his life, the companion said he wished he had never started this fasting every other day because in his old age, it is very difficult; he didn’t give it up!!!!

• and remember the this process of change is on going for the rest of your life and does not stop; if you have bad, then change by getting rid of it slowly, but if you have no bad and only good, then one should change by adding more good to it;

• and one very important thing we have to remember is that no change is possible without the help of Allah; so we should make it a point to make du’a to Allah to help us change: maqalib al-quluub

Khutba Before Ramadan

Shahru Ramadan - The month of Ramadan

Shahr ul Bishara - The month of Glad Tidings

Shahr ul Burhan - The month of the Proof

Shahr ul Ghufran - The month of Forgiveness

Shahr ul Ibada - The month of the Worship of Allah

Shahr ul Ihsan - The month of Goodness

Shahr ul iman - The month of True Faith

Shahru Laylatil Qadr - The month of the Blessed Night of Power for night-long worship

Shahr ul Mahamid - The month of the Praises of Allah

Shahr ul Masabih - The month of Luminous Lamps

Shahr ul Masajid - The month of the Mosques

Shahru Nabiyyuna Muhammad alayhis salatu was salam - The month of our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him

Shahr ul Qiyam - The month of Standing-up for Prayer

Shahr ul Quran - The month of the Quran, when it was first revealed

Shahr us Saada - The month of Happiness, the month of Salvation

Shahr ush Shahada- The month of Witnessing

Shahr us Siyam - The month of Fasting

Shahr ut Tahara The month of Purification, of body, heart and soul

Shahr ut Tarawih - The month of Tarawih prayers

Shahr ut Tawba - The month of Repentance

Shahr uz Ziyada - The month of Increase (in Allah's Blessings)

As you know, the month of Ramadan is fast approaching, so I thought I would take the opportunity in this khutba to remind myself and you about some of the basics. We go through them every year, masha Allah, but nonetheless, it is a good reminder.

First of all, we must thank Allah for allowing us the opportunity to witness it’s beginning whereas there are some people, who did not live long enough from last year till this year. It is reported in stories that the companions used to make du’a during the month of Ramadan to make them complete it with acceptance, and then after it was over, they used to make dua that they would live to be blessed by another one. I pray to Allah that He allows us to live until this Ramadan begins and allows us the blessing of completing it with acceptance.

It is stated that the Ramadan comes from the root Ra ma da, ramida, arramad, which means to burn through scorching. It is said that Ramadan used to fall in the hottest month of the year during the time of the Prophet and before (August). So, for example, Allah made the cycle of forests in such a way that they have fires that burn everything to the ground, and from this lifelessness of the forest, you get richer and stronger growth. And the same can be said about the human body, that it needs a fast to cleanse itself of the impurities of this world. Some people call this detoxification, but interestingly enough, to all religions, Allah gave a certain kind of fast. It might not have the same fiqh rules as the fast of Muslims, but they were still given one, as it mentions in the Qur’an:

O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you attain righteousness (2:183)

And the last part of this verse is very important when it comes to fasting. We need to reflect upon it within the context of our own lives. For many of us, we have been through many fasts of Ramadan, so the question becomes, have we increased in God-consciousness. If we haven’t, then either we are doing the fasting perfectly and the Qur’an is wrong (that fasting does not increase God consciousness) or we are imperfect and need to improve our fasting.

So it is important to revisit, before the month begins, how we will fast to attain more God-consciousness. And the best way to do this is to practice how we will fast in Ramadan, by fasting in this month, of Sha’ban. These next few days are important for this practice, but also to get a running start on Ramadan. If you look at it like a race, say 100 meter. If you take the fastest time of the 100 meter and multiply by 4, it will still be more than if you took the 400 meter fastest time. Why? Cause 3 of the runners had a running start. Starting from a stand still means you have to build momentum and this takes precious time. Time we don’t want to waste in Ramadan, so get a running start by fasting for the next few days, insha Allah.

And this blessed month, because it is so blessed has many names, as I mentioned earlier:

Shahru Ramadan - The month of Ramadan

Shahr ul Bishara - The month of Glad Tidings, because it is a month that Allah has given to Muslims as a blessing in that Gates of Paradise are swung open, Gates of Hell are slammed shut, and the shayateen are in chains

Shahr ul Burhan - The month of the Proof, because it is a month when the above hadeeth is manifested before our very eyes

Shahr ul Ghufran - The month of Forgiveness, because it is the month where the Prophet said in a hadith related by Abu Hurraira: “whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan with sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s reward, then all his past sins will be forgiven”

Shahr ul Ibada - The month of the Worship of Allah because it is a month it is the only entire month where you can be in worship of Allah for the entire day, every hour, every minute, every second, if you are fasting

Shahr ul Ihsan - The month of Goodness because it is a month where you find people being more good, by inviting each other over, sharing meals, being happy and festive

Shahr ul iman - The month of True Faith because it is a month where if you fast properly, you will increase your Iman

Shahru Laylatil Qadr - The month of the Night of Power because it is the month that Allah has given us one night which is better than 1000 months

Shahr ul Mahamid - The month of the Praises of Allah because it is a month where you find during the day and night, many more servants praising Allah

Shahr ul Masajid - The month of the Mosques because it is the month when the masajid become full of life and people come who never came before

Shahru Nabiyyuna Muhammad alayhis salatu was salam - The month of our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him because it is the month in which he secluded himself even before Islam and then was honored with revelation during it

Shahr ul Qiyam - The month of Standing-up for Prayer because it is the month when Muslims stand for prayer at night in worship of their Creator

Shahr ul Quran - The month of the Quran, because it is the month in which it was first revealed, and later, in which it was compiled in it form today by Jibreel and the Prophet

Shahr us Saada - The month of Happiness, the month of Salvation because it is a month that even if you were bad the entire year, it is in this month that you can be happy that Allah will forgive you

Shahr ush Shahada- The month of Witnessing in that it is the Month wherein Allah opened up the heavens and delivered to humans the final guidance and criterion

Shahr us Siyam - The month of Fasting because it is the only month which Allah has made obligatory on us to fast the entire month

Shahr ut Tahara The month of Purification because it is in this month, through the fasting that you purify your body, heart and soul

Shahr ut Tarawih - The month of Tarawih because it is in this month that you stay up after the ‘Isha prayer, and pray some more, completing the recitation of Qur’an

Shahr ut Tawba - The month of Repentance because it is the month that brings an opportunity to reflect on the past, ask for forgiveness, and move on with your life with a new beginning

Shahr uz Ziyada - The month of Increase (in Allah's Blessings) because it is the month when Allah increases all the good actions that one performs for 70 fold



The Sermon given by the Most Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam on the last Friday of Sha'ban on the reception of the month of Ramadhan. I could not find it’s chain of narration, but it has a good message, and I found it on Shk. Google:


"O People!

Indeed ahead of you is the blessed month of Allah.

A month of blessing, mercy and forgiveness.

A month that, with Allah, is the best of months.

Its days, the best of days; its nights, the best of nights; and its hours, the best of hours.

It is the month that invites you to be the guests of Allah and invites you to be one of those near to Him.

Each breath you take glorifies Him; your sleep is worship, your deeds are accepted and your supplications are answered.

So, ask Allah, your Lord; to give you a sound body and an enlightened heart so you may be able to fast and recite His book, for only he is unhappy who is devoid of Allah's forgiveness during this great month.

Remember the hunger and thirst of the day of Qiyamah (Judgement) with your hunger and thirst; give alms to the needy and poor, honor your old, show kindness to the young ones, maintain relations with your blood relations; guard your tongues, close your eyes to that which is not permissible for your sight, close your ears to that which is forbidden to hear, show compassion to the orphans of people so compassion may be shown to your orphans.

Repent to Allah for your sins and raise your hands in dua during these times, for they are the best of times and Allah looks towards his creatures with kindness, replying to them during the hours and granting their needs if he is asked...

O People! Indeed your souls are dependant on your deeds, free it with repentance, lighten its loads by long prostrations; and know that Allah swears by his might: That there is no punishment for the one who prays and prostrates and he shall have no fear of the fire on the day when man stands before the Lord of the worlds.

O People! One who gives Iftaar to a fasting person during this month will be like one who has freed someone and his past sins will be forgiven."

Some of the people who were there then asked the Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam: "Not all of us are able to invite those who are fasting?"

The Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam replied:

"Allah gives this reward even if the Iftaar is a drink of water."

"One who has good morals (Akhlaq) during this month will be able to pass the 'Siraat'...on the day when feet will slip...

One who covers the faults of others will benefit in that Allah will curb His anger on the day of Judgment...

As for one who honors an orphan; Allah will honor him on the day of judgment.

And for the one who spreads his kindness, Allah will spread His mercy over him on the day of Judgment.

As for the one who cuts the ties of relation; Allah will cut His mercy from him...

Who so ever performs a recommended prayer in this month, Allah will keep the fire of Hell away from him...

Whoever performs an obligatory prayer, Allah will reward him with seventy prayers [worth] in this month.

And who so ever prays a lot during this month will have his load lightened on the day of measure.

He who recites one verse of the Noble Qur'an will be given the rewards of reciting the whole Qur'an during other months.

O People! Indeed during this month the doors of heaven are open, therefore ask Allah not to close them for you;

The doors of hell are closed, so ask Allah to keep them closed for you.

During this month Shaytan (Satan) is imprisoned so ask your Lord not to let him have power over you."

“Thank you for Saving my life”…. He said

Khutba delivered on March 2, 2007:

• As I was thinking last night about what I wanted to speak about today, I had come up with a fairly good topic; but this morning, I heard a story on the radio that I think is important to touch upon and I will save the other one for next time
• One of the reasons why this story appealed to me was because, as you know, I am getting my pilot’s license; so in this one, in the mid 70s, a TWA flight took off from NYC and an American Airlines took off from St. Louis, I think. They were on a collision course and the Air Traffic Contoller, after realizing this, told one of the planes to lower altitude; on the way down, the plane somehow got stuck nose down heading straight for the ground; everything happened in 90 seconds; by asking the pilot to move left and right, the ATC person was able to guide the airplane to a safe landing;
• On this radio station today, they had connected the ATC person and the pilot of the aircraft and his daughter; they had never met and this was the first time they were talking to each other after the incident; what I would like to speak about in this khutba is specifically what the daughter of the pilot said to the ATC person: “thank you for saving my father’s life; because of you he has lived 30 more years, is 82 and has 3 children and 4 grand children”
• I thought this was a very interesting comment and as I began to think about it, I thought about what I would think and say in this situation; Allah mentions in the Qur’an that “every soul shall taste death” and we know from the hadith of our Prophet that there are things that are decided for you when we are in the womb of our mothers, one of which is the time of your death, or put another way, how long you will live; so lets break her statement down, and analyze it from a Muslim perspective
• The first part is when she thanked the ATC person which is a basic instinct that all humans have; that we show appreciation for the good things people do in our lives, sometimes to us directly and other times to us indirectly; and showing gratitude is a good thing to do and can be considered an act of charity; in fact I think one can argue that we, as Muslims, don’t do it enough; sometimes saying thank you for the simple mundane things that people (mothers, fathers, children, wives, and husbands) do go unnoticed and uncomplimented; but when the are done, even if the appreciation is in the form of a smile, it can go a long way and do wonders in a relationship
• Now the second part of what the daughter said to the ATC is what I would like to focus on next: because of you, he has lived 30 more year, is 82 and has 3 children and 4 grand children; would I have said the same thing were I in that situation? Most likely not, because as a Muslim I know that no one person can control my destiny, that is up to Allah; and since the time and place of my death is written for me, then I could never attribute my long life to any one person, no matter what they did for me;
• So even in this situation, where you see a direct cause and effect – ATC did something to avoid plane disaster and saved pilot and 150 other passenger lives, we must know that a higher power is acting on our lives and it wasn’t the act done by the ATC; put another way, even if that plane would have crashed, and all the passengers would have died, the pilot would have lived, would be 82, with 3 children and 4 grand children because that is what was written for him before the time of his birth when he was in his mother’s womb;
• How can I be so sure? Because the Hadith of the Prophet is very clear: On the authority of Abdallah ibn Abbas who said: ‘One day I was behind the Prophet (SA) and he said to me: young man, I shall teach you some words of advice: be mindful of Allah, and Allah will protect you; be mindful of Allah, and you will find Allah in front of you; if you ask, ask of Allah, if you seek help, seek help of Allah; know that if the nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something Allah had prescribed for you; and if they gathered together to harm you with anything, they would harm you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you, the pens have been lifted and the pages have dried”
• So if you go to the part of the hadith where the Prophet says: know that if the nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something Allah had prescribed for you; and if they gathered together to harm you with anything, they would harm you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you… based on this, I know with certainty that that ATC was not the cause of the man living that day 30 years ago but rather it was Allah who had already written for the pilot how long he would live; that day 30 yrs ago, it was not his time to meet Allah and so he survived;
• Many times in our lives we are faced with situations where it seems that because of your own actions, or of someone else’s actions, you survive death; and colloquially, people say “cheated death” as an expression; sometimes, it is in an accident, other times it is a doctor performing surgery, and yet other times it might be a disease we have and we take medicine for it and seek treatment; As Muslims, however, we need to be clear in understanding that the giver and taker of life is Allah, and Allah alone; many times in the Qur’an, it says “He creates life and creates death, and he has power over all things”
• So the next time we hear of someone being saved, or you save someone, or someone saves you, it is important to thank that person, but at the same time, we should be thankful to Allah, because he allowed that person to be a vehicle for saving us because it was not our time for death; more importantly, we should reflect on the the fact that Allah has given us more time in this world to do good and stay away from evil; in the story I gave earlier about the pilot who survived a near crash, besides having on the radio the reuniting of the ATC and the pilot, which was very touching and heart-warming, I think a better story would have been to find out what the pilot did for the next 30 years of his life; did he use this experience to do good, to become better, or did he just blow it off and did nothing, which would have been a complete waste;
• So as we go through these experiences in our own lives, we should know that all of us, one day will die, that Allah is the creator of life and death, and that this experience should be used as a learning experience that we become better Muslims by;
• On the other side of this thinking, however, is that we begin not to care about life, because it is with Allah anyway; yes, our life and its span is with Allah, but even then, as Muslims, we are encouraged to live our lives to the fullest; a quote by Ali ibn Abi Talib says: “live your life as if you will live forever, and practice your deen as if you will die tomorrow” and in a hadith of the Prophet, he mentions that if a farmer is planting his harvest and the day of judgment arrives, he should continue to plant.
• As such, we should not take the idea that Allah is the creator of life and the creator of death to be a fatalistic message, but rather a message of inspiration; not as a message that no matter what we do, it doesn’t matter in the end because it is all with Allah anyway, but rather, knowing that all matters, including life and death are with Allah, are with Allah, we should go about our lives not afraid of bad consequences when we stand up for justice and truth;

The Ugliness in Iraq

Khutba given on 2/23/2007

• Recently, more so that before, there has been a talked about topic that I wanted to touch upon in my khutba but didn’t really know how to convey it because there are so many different aspects to it: the war in ‘Iraq
• Every time you turn the news on or listen to the radio, or read a newspaper, there is a story about how many people have died in ‘Iraq by a roadside bomb, a suicide bomber and many other ways; and in this regard, I can speak about many different facets of the war and draw lessons from it for our perspective
• Today I will focus on a few, and insha Allah, in future lessons, focus on other aspects as they come to mind; so the first thing I would like to touch upon is based on the hadith of the Prophet, “Allah is beautiful and he loves beauty” and the concept that everything in Islam that is encouraged is beautiful, that is acceptable is tolerable, but everything that is rejected is ugly;
• Superficiously, one can play the relativity game and talk about something ugly to one person is beautiful to another, but here I am not speaking of simply the material; a sense of rejecting ugliness is something that is born within us, one can say it is part of our fitra, like belief in God; Fakhruddin Al-Razi one time gave an anecdote about the belief in God being a part of our fitra and said that if you place a child in an open area, hide behind something, and then throw a stone or rock, the child will automatically start looking for the source of where the rock came from; it will never just assume that it just appeared out of nowhere;
• Similarly, I child has an innate sense of things that are ugly vs. things that are beautiful; for example, when a child is ready to be potty trained, a parent knows because the child automatically goes into hiding to go to the bathroom; the parents didn’t teach the child that? And this ability of distinction stays with us throughout our life and it is never forced out; like belief is just covered with unbelief, beauty is just covered with ugliness, but we never lose the sense of what is beautiful
• So throughout the ages, Muslims have been trying to create beauty and not destroy; so if you look at architecture, art, calligraphy, they are all pleasing to the eye because Muslims, through beauty have been trying to find a sense of Allah through it; likewise, when faced with a situation of choosing right vs. wrong, all we need to do is look inside ourselves to find the truth; that is also why the Prophet once said something to the effect of “A Mumin who follows his heart will never do anything wrong”.
• When looked at through this background of beauty, one needs to ask oneself, what is beautiful about the situation in ‘Iraq? Or even in general, what is beautiful about war? What is beautiful about killing other people? Other Muslims? Nothing and as such it is haraam
• But you do find people in the Muslim world, so called scholars, and even some in America (although on the down low) that will say what is happening in ‘Iraq is justified and more so now than before, people are being recruited to go to ‘Iraq and fight alongside the Sunnis; I for one, say, we need to reject any talk like this, and more importantly, speak out against; these people remind me of an ayah in the Qur’an where Allah is describing the hypocrites:

“and it is said to them: do not cause mischief of the earth; they say: verily we are only the righteous does. Verily, they are the ones that make mischief, but perceive it not”

• And I want to be very clear when saying this, that I am relating these people to hypocrites, because I can’t find any justification for blowing up a car in a marketplace, beheading people by the hundreds, etc. Maybe the followers are misguided, but the so called scholars who do the recruitment, the justification, they are definitely to blame and they remind me of another hadith of the Prophet wherein he said “beware of the hypocrite with an eloquent tongue”
• And insha Allah, in the next khutba I will discuss what we can do regarding this situation
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• I need to clarify myself in saying that in no way am I justifying what we, as Americans, have done in ‘Iraq and I have been against it from the beginning; but I also want to be clear in that the insueing sectarian violence that came about after the war is nothing better and arguably much worse; because as mentioned in my earlier khutba, there is no beauty that can be found in these violent acts against other Muslims and since there is no beauty in it, I cannot accept it and must reject;
• Even if the most eloquent and most knowledge person came to me and tried to convince me it is right, made arguments that I had no rebuttal for, I would still reject it because my heart is drawn away from it in disgust, and Allah would not make something so disgusting so righteous; becaue He has put into the heart of human beings goodness and beauty and the ability to move towards goodness and away from ugliness;
• But to reject ugliness and stay away from it is one thing, and to do something about it is something better; for a hadith of the Prophet says: “if you find something wrong, change it with your hands, if you can’t, then speak against it, and if you can’t do that, then at least reject it in your heart, and that is the weakest of faith;
• So in this situation that we find ourselves in, in ‘Iraq, it is not likely that we can change anything with our hands and I don’t think that Allah will hold us to account for not doing so; Steven Covey in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” wrote about the Sphere of Influence and Sphere of Control. What he said was that people should focus on their Sphere of Control and only marginally worry about their Sphere of Influence; however when the focus more and more on their Sphere of Control, it grows bigger and encroaches into the Sphere of Influence
• The lesson here is that Allah, on the Day of Judgment, will only ask us about our Sphere of Control and what we did about it and so with the situation in ‘Iraq, we need to ask ourselves, what is our Sphere of Control; speaking with Sunnis and Shias in ‘Iraq and telling them to stop is unrealistic; but speaking to the people around us, letting our disgust be known, is something we can do; within your circle of friends, your neighborhood, and your community, no person should be left saying or thinking that you as a Muslim would be for this type of violence or in any way would Islam condone it; and we should pray for the people ‘Iraq that Allah delivers them from this trial and gives victory to those that are fighting for justice
• One last thing we can do is to let our voice be heard to our government; we have to admit that our tax dollars are going towards the ongoing violence so the least we should do is voice our objection; what do we say? Well, historically, we have to keep in mind that Muslims have been always against the destablization of governments; Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal put it best when he said that a tyrant who drinks, fornicates, and does other things but allows the people to carry out their Islamic duties is better than an unknown future that could result in anarchy and cause the people not to be able to practice Islam;
• When I look at the invasion of ‘Iraq, no words ring more true and as such, I, for one, would call my congressman and tell him to vote for a troop escalation; you might not agree with me, and that is fine, but since we as Americans caused this mess, and we know that if we leave it will get messier, it is our duty to not leave and finish off what we started;
• Like most experts said before we invaded that this would be a disaster, most experts are now saying that if we pull out, it will be a disaster; a situation of ethnic violence not seen since the Bosnian War; and so the blood of those who died in the invasion and the resulting violence is on our hands, do we also want the blood of those that die after we leave on our hands as well?
• In closing, as mentioned earlier, you might not agree with my conclusion of what to do for ‘Iraq, but it is clear that something must be done; so do something; and as mentioned, not to diminish its importance, but we at least need to pray for the people in ‘Iraq and pray for the violence to end

Importance of Salah

• Today, I would like to speak about a basic in Islam but people will be surprised how many people take it for granted
• when the Prophet was on his death bed, he called his close companions into where he was lieing on Aisha’s lap, and right before he passed away, he said 2 words. Do you know what they were?
• Imagine a very high person of influence that you are in contact with and any time they want to communicate with you, they either call you or send a messenger to tell you what it is; so if you were the President of the MSA and the President of the University wanted to tell you something, they might send you an email, call you, or tell someone else to tell you: do this, don’t do that, do it this way, not that way; but if it was really important, something that needed to be conveyed in detail, or they wanted you to realize its importance, they would ask you to come see them in person
• So in the same regard, when our beloved Prophet became a messenger, Allah used a messenger to convey to the Prophet the do’s and don’ts of Islam; in every occasion, whether to cheer him up, tell him if he could do something better, teach him about the laws of Islam, Jibreel would come down and reveal to the Prophet what needed to be revealed;
• But again on one topic, no messenger was used; Allah asked the Prophet to come directly and speak to him in what is known as the Isra’a and Mairaj; and so when the Prophet crossed the Sidratal Muntaha, the point where no creation had ever crossed before, what did Allah say to him?
• Similarly, on the day of Judgment, when we are standing before Allah about to be judged, what will be the first question that Allah will ask us about? He will ask us about our Salah and if it is complete, then he will not move on from there
• In the mairaj, Allah spoke to the Prophet about Salah, and the last words of the Prophet were Salah!!!!
• A very important act that we must perform and we must live up to; it is the second pillar of Islam and the four schools of thought are unanimous in stating that if you leave salah, you are no longer a muslim; Abu Hanifa is the most lenient wherein he says if you have to not just leave it, but deny it as a part of Islam
• So if it is so important, why do people neglect it so much? During the mairaj, initially the order was given that to the Prophet Muhammad that we should pray 50/day; it was Musa that told the Prophet to try to reduce it; Musa even asked him to reduce it from 5 to something lower, but the Prophet said he was too embarrassed to go back and ask
• So now we know how important it is, let us define it and then see how much of a benefit it is; then in the next khutba, lets look at how we can implement it in our loves; So Salah, means contact in Arabic, so it is not merely a prayer, although that is how it is most commonly translated; when you look at it from the perspective of “contact” then you know the seriousness of it, because it is a state in which you are in contact with Allah; not just in prayer, or talking to him, in which it could be a one way conversation; my wife often complains that she is talking to me and I am not listening; but if I make ‘contact’ with her, then she knows I am; and this is also why the Prophet said: Salah is the Meraaj of a Momin.
• And as for the benefits, there are many that one can think of; let me start by saying that salah is mentioned over 500x in the Qur’an and it is a means of shedding sins; the Prophet said that the in-between sins of a person who makes two salats are forgiven; also the Prophet one time picked up a dry branch and shook it until all the leaves fell off, and then said: The sins of those who pray Salah, drop off as the leaves of this branch fell off.
• And another benefit is that a person is constantly in contact with Allah; one of the greatest forms of remembrance of which Allah says “O you who believe, remember Allah often, so that you may become successful”; and this remembrance will keep you away from sins because I have never met a person that right after finishing to pray, says “lets go ….”; or for example, people are sitting around and backbiting, and then get up for prayer, finish, and then go back to backbiting;
• So not only will prayer shed your sins, but it will keep you away from them all together

• Bros and sisters, over and over again, Allah mentions in the Quran, “wa yu qeemas salaat” which translates as “establish salah” and as we mentioned in the earlier khuba, the better translation is “contact” rather then “prayer”
• And so we have looked at the importance of it and the benefits; but still we find that many people around the world, Muslims, neglect it altogether; so what can we do to establish it within our lives?
• The Qur’an says: “And truly Salah is hard save for the humble minded”
• So today we have to make a commitment and intention to begin to establish prayer within our lives; the biggest way to do this is to be humble about it by putting Allah back in our lives; and this humbleness is a humility of the intellect because intellect in the human brain lies on the forehead, and most human beings are not willing to put their intellect on the ground; which means that there is a higher being and our intellect is nothing compared to that;
• So if you are a person that never prays, then just begin by doing one, and if you are only occasional in your prayer, then begin by focusing on the ones you do and then work on increasing them
• One thing to keep in mind is that the a believer revolves his life around prayer, not prayer around his life; and this is a fundamental shift in attitude; that you don’t schedule something in conflict with prayer, and if it is unavoidable, then you make the prayer in advance of the time, or make it up afterward, knowing that the best is to make it on time
• And one place to begin the establishment of prayer is the Jumma prayer as we are here today; make it something you do every week no matter what happens; remember that the jumma is something that should motivate you for the following week and is also where sins are forgiven; and some people might have this idea that it is not a requirement but only a strong recommendation; this is a myth; in fact there is a sura named after this: Surat al-Jumaa and in it Allah tells us that when the call to prayer is made, leave whatever you are doing and come to it;
• When I was in college, many people used to skip jumma because there was a scheduling conflict; I had many opportunities to do this but decided against it, and Allah found a way for me to finish my BA on time; when I got to the workforce, many people didn’t go to jumma because they were afraid to ask their employer for a break or their employer said no to taking one; alhamdulillah, I have never missed a jumma for that reason and if fact, I always mentioned it in my interviews that this is not negotiable;
• So if you make Salah, and in this case, jumma a priority, then Allah will make it easy for you to attend
• And the last thing on jumma prayer is that there is nothing wrong with going back to work after jumma, in fact this is what is the sunna of Allah; in the verses where Allah mentions to stop what you are doing and come to prayer when the adhaan is made, he follows up by saying that when you are done, then go out and seek the bounties of Allah, and Allah is the one to give bounties; so if you have to go back to work, go back to class, or go back to whatever it is that you were doing, then go, and know that Allah will not make the break that you took bad for you;