In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
BEING THE FIRST SERMON FOR THE MONTH OF JUMAADAL AKHIRAH DATED, 4TH JUMAADAL AKHIRAH, 1443 (7TH JANUARY, 2022)
TITLE: FIGHTING CORRUPTION WITH HONESTY AND INTEGRITY
All Praises belong to Allah. We praise Him and thank him. We seek His Guidance, we believe and trust in Him. Indeed whoever that Allah guides, none can mislead him. And whoever is let to be misled, no one can guide him. I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah alone. He has no partner. I bear witness also that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger, He fixed His earth for His slaves and prohibited them from corrupting it, and He made the leaders custodians of a big trust. He said: (إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَنْ تُؤَدُّوا الْأَمَانَاتِ إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهَا وَإِذَا حَكَمْتُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ أَنْ تَحْكُمُوا بِالْعَدْلِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ نِعِمَّا يَعِظُكُمْ بِهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا) “Allah commands you to return (discharge) trusts to their owners, and if you judge between people, you must judge with justice. Allah admonishes you with what is excellent. Indeed Allah hears and sees”. I beseech the Peace and Blessings of Allah on the Mercy unto mankind who said: “There is no faith in the person who has no honesty and there is no religion in the person who doesn’t keep a promise.” (Ahmad)
My dear listeners! I enjoin you and myself to fear Allah the Almighty and Most Majestic, because it is with the fear of Allah that any deed becomes good, and sins become forgiven. So whoever desires success and good fortune in this life and the Hereafter, he must fear Allah and obey Him. Have you not heard the Words of Alah Ta’alah? (يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا ﴿٧٠﴾يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا) “Oh you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice.He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment.”.(Ahzaab: 70-71)
Today, corruption has become much on the land and we see it in its many forms: lies, bribery, kidnapping, banditry, injustice, killing and assassination in all parts of the world with no difference anywhere. (ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُمْ بَعْضَ الَّذِي عَمِلُوا لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ) “Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He [i.e., Allah] may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]” (Ar-Ruum: 41). And all this is after Allah Ta’alah had bestowed safety and sustenance. (وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا قَرْيَةً كَانَتْ آمِنَةً مُطْمَئِنَّةً يَأْتِيهَا رِزْقُهَا رَغَدًا مِنْ كُلِّ مَكَانٍ فَكَفَرَتْ بِأَنْعُمِ اللَّهِ فَأَذَاقَهَا اللَّهُ لِبَاسَ الْجُوعِ وَالْخَوْفِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَصْنَعُونَ) “And Allah presents an example: a city (i.e Makkah) which was safe and secure, its provision coming to it in abundance from every location, but it denied the favors of Allah. So Allah made it taste the envelopment of hunger and fear for what they had been doing” (An-Nahl:112).
Fairness is a huge trust on the neck of those in authority, and their positions of authority are obligations rather than honour, so they will be asked on the Day of Resurrection about it.
The people in authority and leaders must take care of the trust because Allah is going to ask them about it.. “No one is put in charge of the affairs of Muslims and he dies while cheating/betraying them, except that Allah forbid him from Paradise” (Bukhaari)
The fulfillment of trust leads to justice and indeed is about justice, Sheikhul-Islaam (may Allah’s Mercy be on him) said: “The affairs of people would be upright in this world if there is justice even while participating in and mixing it with all kinds of sins, more than it would be upright if there is injustice with people’s rights, even if it does not indulge in sins” And for this it was said: “Allah uplifts a just nation even if it is an infidel nation, and He does not uplift the unjust nation even if it is a Muslim nation”, And it is said: “The world lasts with justice and unbelief, but it does not last with injustice and Islam.” (Honesty raises the nation).
Justice is the order of everything, so if the affairs of the world are established with justice, it will rise, even if its custodians have no portion in the Hereafter. And when it is established with justice, it cannot rise, even if the people have faith that will be rewarded in the Hereafter.
The Integrity of the Prophet And Those After Him
The integrity of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) and his followers has no equal in human history. We remember well what happened in Madeenah when Faatimah al-Makhzuumiyyah stole, and the companions sent one of them and the closest of them to him to intercede for her with the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) for her hand not to be cut. Then the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said, with his face turned red: “O Usaama! Are you interceding for one of the punishments of Allah? Then he got up and addressed the people and said: “Verily the people before you were destroyed because if an honorable one among them stole, they would leave him, and if the weak among them stole, they uphold the punishment upon him, and I swear by Allah, if Faatimah, the daughter of Muhammad stole, I would have cut off her hand.” (Abu Daawud)
The Ameerul Mu’mineen, Umar ibn Khattab, and the owner of the horse took their matter to Shuraih, the judge. When Shuraih heard the case of the desert Arab, he turned to Umar and said: “Did you take the horse in good condition, Oh Ameerul Mu’mineen?” He answered “Yes”. Then Shuraih ruled, saying: “Keep what you bought, Oh Ameerul Mu’mineen, or return it as you took it”. Umar looked at Shuraih, astonished, and said, “Is (good) judgement anything other than this!? A statement of justice and a just ruling. Proceed to Kufah, I have appointed you to be judge over it.” Shuraih did not shy away from the truth, and Umar did not shy away from raising Shuraih’s position!
Shuraih rejected the testimony of the son of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) in the courtroom under Islam’s jurisdiction, and while it was clear that the shield that he and a Jew approached the court of Shuraih to adjudicate upon belonged to Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). Shuraih said “..but the testimony of a son to his father is not permissible, Oh Ameerul Mu’mineen!.”
One of the masterpieces of Shuraih also is that his son said to him one day: “Oh, my father, there is a dispute between me and some people, so look at it and advise me, so that if the right belongs to me, I will sue them, but if the evidence is in favor of them, I would make peace with them.” So he (Shuraih) said to his son, “Go and sue them.” When Shuraih heard the case and had listened to both parties, he ruled and gave judgement to the people against his son. When he and his son returned home. The son said to his father: “Father, you exposed me!, By Allah, if I had not consulted you before, I would not have blamed you.” Shuraih said, “I was afraid to tell you that the right was theirs, and you’d then make peace with them, and some of their rights would be lost to them, so I told you what I said.”
THE SECOND SERMON
All praises are due to Allah, who has entrusted mankind (with a trust), so He says: (إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنْسَانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا، لِيُعَذِّبَ اللَّهُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ وَالْمُشْرِكَاتِ وَيَتُوبَ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا) “Indeed, We offered the Trust1 to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man [undertook to] bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant. [It1 was] so that Allah may punish the hypocrite men and hypocrite women and the men and women who associate others with Him and that Allah may accept repentance from the believing men and believing women. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.” (Suratul Ahzaab: 72- 73) May the best of blessings and salutations be upon Muhammad, (peace and blessings be upon him) who said: “Allah cursed the one who bribes and the one who takes a bribe.” (Ibn Hibban).
Dear honourable listeners, we have heard the announcement of the 2023 General Elections from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it will begin on February 18, 2023 for the President, Vice President, members of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly. The Gubernatorial elections and members of the state house of Assembly will take place on March 4, 2023, while the oath of office will be administered for all winners on May 29, 2023. We pray to Allah to help us elect the best candidates for our country and to grant us security, safety and success for all the best.
O people, fear your Lord and prepare good deeds for your future, and certainly, the matter, depends, after Allah, on your thumbprints, therefore perform this duty on the basis of integrity only.
This is my message, and kindly send blessings and salutations upon whom you have been commanded to send blessings and peace upon, especially on this day of yours- Friday. May Allah bless you and me.
Oh Allah, grant succor to every Muslim passing through difficulty, and a way out for every oppressed person, and comfort for everyone in grief. O Allah, grant happiness to every one experiencing sadness, and also grant answer (to the request of) every asker, and healing to every sick, O The Ever Living, O The Self Sustaining, O The Lord of the worlds, O The Most Merciful. May Allah grant peace and blessings upon our master Muhammad, his family and his companions.