IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICIENT, THE MERCIFUL
BEING THE SECOND KHUTBAH FOR THE MONTH OF RABI’UL AWWAL, DATED 14TH RABI’UL AWWAL 1445AH (29TH SEPTEMBER, 2023CE)
TOPIC: THE NECESSITY OF FOLLOWING THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH (ﷺ) IN ALL SITUATIONS AND DEALINGS.
THE FIRST SERMON
All praises belong to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. O Allah! Praise be to You for the blessing of Islaam and Faith. Praise be to You for making us part of the Ummah of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. I testify that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah alone. He has no partner. And I testify that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. O Allah! May Your Benedictions, Peace and Blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his family and all his companions.
Thereafter…
O people! Fear Allah, worship Him, and give thanks to Him. Unto Him, you will be returned. You should know that a good role model is the basic foundation of society, and it is an indispensable necessity in life. Allah Ta’alaa made the Messenger (Peace and Blessings be upon him) a role model and an example that embodies the religion with which he was sent, so that people could live with this religion in reality, far from just impractical, abstract ideas. The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings be upon him) is the best role model for the ummah in practising this religion. He combined words and actions, linked theory to application, and presented the ideas as living facts. He was guided by his deeds before his words, and by his actions before his knowledge. He was before his companions, a living embodiment of his call, and a clear example of his principles, as well with Allah Ta’alaa, in performing acts of worship and obligations, or with one’s soul and purifying and training it in virtuous morals, or with one’s wives and children in order to build a cohesive family, or with the community around one both in religious and worldly matters. And Allah Ta’alaa spoke the truth when He said: ((لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ) “Indeed in the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad, Peace and Blessings be upon him) you have a good example to follow for him who hopes in (the Meeting with) Allah and the Last Day…” (Al-Ahzaab: 21).
Ibn Hazm said: “Whoever wants the goodness of the Hereafter, the wisdom of this world, just conduct, embodying all the good morals and behaviour, and deserving of all the favours, let him follow the example of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings be upon him) and adopt his morals and conduct as much as he can.
The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings be upon him) did not leave out any of the matters of life, whether big or small, except that he has explained to us the principles of dealing correctly with it, so that we tread straight on the straight path, and so that our feet would not deviate from it and we would slip and perish. Therefore, the topic of our sermon today is: the necessity of following the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings be upon him) in all his situations and dealings.
Dear brothers! He is the Messenger of Allah, the humble worshiper who is submissive to his Lord – the Almighty in His Highness. He has an attachment to Allah and constant submissiveness before Him. Every night, he would commune with his Lord by praying eleven rak’ahs and cry during them. Allah said to him: “Rise up,” so he rose up for twenty-three years! He spent the night until his feet became cracked!
He prays the nawaafil after the obligatory salaat, which are twelve rak’ahs, apart from the obligatory salaat, every day and night. He fasts until someone would say: ‘He does not break his fast.’ He remembers Allah a lot. Aisha says about him: “He used to remember Allah at all times. He often asks for forgiveness, in one sitting he says a hundred times: “My Lord! Forgive me and accept my repentance. Indeed, You are the Acceptor of repentance, the Most-Merciful”.
During Hajj, he was seen raising his hands praying to Allah while riding his camel from after Zuhr until sunset, with all submission and reverence. He entered Makkah victorious and as a conqueror, but he entered it with his head bowed in humiliation and thanks to Allah Ta’alaa. Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him.
He is the Messenger of Allah! He loves perfume and smells good of it. He wears beautiful things without extravagance. He guides us to take care of good looks and says: “Allah is beautiful and loves beauty”, and he says: “Allah loves to see the effect of His Favour on His servant.”
He urges us to particularly take care of ourselves, saying: “These are part of instinct nature: trimming the mustache, clipping the nails, and shaving the pubic hair”. He orders us to perform ghusl (wash) every Friday, so as to be in the best image and the most beautiful appearance. Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him.
He is the Messenger of Allah! He grows up as an orphan without a father, then his mother dies when he is young. Regardless of that, he grows up in good manners and far from shortcomings. The days of his life pass and he succeeds in every ramification. This is a message to every orphan and to everyone who has lost his parents: Let the Messenger of Allah be your role model in success, excellence, and ambition, for he is the master of the successful people, despite not having parents.
He is Allah’s friend! He smiles at everyone he meets, he is humble with people, he visits the sick and prays for them. A man came to his gathering and says: “Which of you is Muhammad?” He was not distinguished by a certain dress. He says the tasleem to boys. Little girls take his hand and says: I need something from you, then he says: “Take me along to any of roads of Madeenah, and I will go with you”. He – (Peace and Blessings be upon him) would hear a boy crying and hurries with the salaat for fear that his mother would be worried. He (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) would carry his daughter’s daughter while praying with the people, when he stood, he would carry her, and when he prostrated, he would put her down.
He is the Messenger of Allah! At home, he washes his clothes and mends his shoes. He jokes with his household, drinks from the same place his wife drinks from, sleeps on his wife’s thigh and reads the Qur’an. He plays with his wives; On the authority of ‘Aaishah – may Allah be pleased with her – she said: I went with the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) on some of his travels, and I was a young lady and I was not having a lot of flesh nor was I fat, so he said to the people: “Come forward” and they came forward, then he said to me: “Come, let me race with you”, so I outran him. He was silent about it to me, until when I had gained some flesh and became fat. I went with him on some of his travels, and he said to the people: “Come round”, so they came round. Then he said to me: “Come, let me race with you”, then he outpaced me, and he started laughing while saying: “This cancels that other time.” (Ahmad).
He is the Messenger of Allah! If he finds a mistake in his home, he admonishes kindly, removes the evil and does not let his emotions get the better of him.
He places the little boy on his thigh and kisses him and it seems like the little boy urinated on his clothes. He does not become violent. Rather, he just sprinkles water on the place where he urinated. Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him.
He is the Messenger of Allah! His entire life was spent in doing Da’wah (calling to Allah). He lived the Da’wah every moment of his life, every hour, taking advantage of the situation he was in in order to deliver the message of his Da’wah. He speaks in the best manner, argues the in best manner. A bedouin enters and asked him for something rudely, and the Messenger says to him: “Ask whatever you like.”
The unbelievers made him some tempting offers for him to abandon his call and stop his message, saying: If you want a wife, we will marry you to the most beautiful of women, if you want money, we will give you. He (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) was insistent on his goal, saying: “Say: ‘There is no god worthy of worship except Allah’, and you will succeed”. The unbelievers of Quraish besieged him among the people, and deprived him and the muslims that were with him of food and money, until severe hunger and great anxiety befell them. Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him.
He is the Messenger of Allah! That young man comes in and says: I want to commit adultery. He pulls him closer to him, as if he were a lover to him, and says to him with all kindness: “Would you like it for your mother? Or for your sister? Or for your daughter?”, and the young man says: ‘No. no.’ Then the Messenger (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) places his pure hand on the young man’s chest, and prays for him with all mercy and tenderness and says: “O Allah! Purify his heart and protect his chastity.” The young man comes out detesting indecency the most. O you caller! Do you see kindness in correction and what it does to the one who is corrected?
O teacher! O caller! Borrow from the morals of the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) in your kindness and calmness when confronting a person who makes a mistake, and consider the words of Allah, the Almighty in His Highness: ((فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ لِنْتَ لَهُمْ وَلَوْ كُنْتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ الْقَلْبِ لَانْفَضُّوا مِنْ حَوْلِكَ) “It was by the Mercy from Allah that you were lenient with them. Had you been rough and harsh-hearted, they would have dispersed from around you…” (Aal-Imraan :159).
He is the Messenger of Allah! He is close to the young people, and sometimes, he gives them a ride behind him. He sits with young people, and one of the young men says to him one day: “I ask you for your company in Paradise, and he says to him: ‘Help me in your request by doing lots of prostrations’”. He assigns an entire army to be led by Usaama ibn Zayd, while he is not yet twenty years old. He ordered Zayd ibn Thaabit, when he was sixteen years old, to learn the language of the Jews in order to read their letters. He sent Mus’ab ibn Umayr as a caller to Madeenah when he was a young man. He sent Mu’aadh to Yemen as a caller to Islaam, when he was a young man. Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him.
He is the Messenger of Allah! The one with a large pardoning heart. He never avenged himself. He goes out to Taaif to invite them, then they welcome him with expulsion and stoning. He comes out worried and sad, not because they expelled him, but because they did not accept his invitation. After a few moments, Jibreel (Peace be upon him) comes and says: “O Muhammad, indeed, Allah heard what your people said and what they responded to you with. This is the angel of the mountains, so if you want, that the two mountains would collapse on them?” The Messenger (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) only said: “No, perhaps Allah will bring forth from their loins someone who will worship Allah and not associate anything with Him.”
One ignorant man comes and grabs the Messenger (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) from behind his turban and says: ‘Give me some of Allah’s wealth that you have. The Messenger (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) smiles at him and orders for him to be given. Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him. My blessed brother: Imbibe from your Messenger (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) the ethos of overlooking faults and forgiveness. Pardon your friend, your servant, your wife, and the employee under your control.
He is the Messenger of Allah! The one who speaks good words. History did not record a harsh word from him. He is the one who said: “And the good word is sadaqah.” Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, served him for ten years and he (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) never once said to him: ‘Uf!’ (a harsh word). Subhaana-LLah! Ten years and he tolerates the servant’s mistake and shortcomings. How direly we need the kind word that expands the chest and soothes the heart!
Yes, by Allah! We are in great need of kind words at home, at work, in dealing with the servants, drivers, and workers with whom we associate. How we need kind words with our parents! Especially as they grow older: ((وَقُل لَّهُمَا قَوْلًا كَرِيمًا) “And speak to them words of honour” (Al-Israa: 23).
He is the Messenger of Allah! He is wise in his dealings with others. He puts people in their positions, and recognize the status of other people. He sends a message to one of the kings, saying: “To Heraclius, the Great King of Rome”.
He keeps quiet and listens to whoever asks him or converses with him and says to him: “Have you finished?” Then he starts talking. Taking into account people’s different understandings and different intellect, he answers the questioner to the extent he needs, to endear him to the religion. He would not prolong the sermon to the people so that they would not get bored of it. He would blame his companions when they made a mistake with the common people, and he once said to one of them: “Are you tempting people?”, because he prolonged the prayer with the people until they became bored. Peace ad Blessings of Allah be upon him.
He is the Messenger of Allah (Peace ad Blessings of Allah be upon him)! He did not deceive anyone, and he never lied in a conversation. Even in pre-Islamic times, he was called Al-Ameen. He kept the trust and did not betray it. He is honest in his dealings, even with those who they disagree. It is a wonder that among those who claims to love him are traitors to his trust, deficient in religion, betraying the trust entrusted to him by the owner through tricks, deception and dishonesty!
He is the Messenger of Allah (Peace ad Blessings of Allah be upon him)! The Imaam of the patient. All kinds of calmities befell him, and he tasted many kinds of trials in his life, but he did not falter for a single moment. He was exposed to assassination attempts about thirteen times, but he was patient. They strangled him near the Ka’abah and put impurities on his back while he was praying, but he was patient. They spoke about his honour and described him as a liar, a madman, and a wizard, but he was patient. They surrounded him and stoned him until blood flowed from his feet. He was patient. They tortured his companions in front of him, and he was unable to support them with anything except words of affirmation. Our Messenger is a teacher of patience, so whoever follows the path Da’wah, the path of calling to people to Allah, put on the cloak of patience, “…And Be patient! Your patience is only with Allah.”
THE SECOND SERMON
All praises are due to Allah who sent His Messenger with guidance and the true religion to manifest it over all religion and Allah suffices as a witness. I bear witness with full acknowledgement and assertion, that there is no god except Allah alone, He has no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Dear people, verily islamic work is a great duty and huge responsibility and a lofty act of worship which is handled by the best people among the servants of Allah. May Allah make us among them. It is the job of the prpphets and the legacy of the messengers.
Those who call to Allah with their wealth, lives, time, efforts, and talents are truly the heirs of the Prophets among their followers. Through them, the religion spreads, Muslims become victorious, and the banner of Islam rises.
In order for a Muslim to fulfill his duty to this religion, he must learn and understand Islam, then act according to what he has learned, live by Islam and then live for Islam.
What Islam faces in these climes is the ignorance of many Muslims and their indifference to learning this religion. Many of those who learned it did not apply it in their lives. Islam is in a world and they are in another world except he saves by Allah, the exalted.
Allah has blessed us and granted pride to Islam by raising preachers for his religion who have being spreading it in all ages and countries until it reached us. He has also prepared some others to renew and correct what people have corrupted or correct what people’s error, regardless of whether these Du’at are individuals or groups.
One of the most prominent groups in this country is the The Muslim Congress. The Muslim Congress is one of the Ahlu Sunnah Islamic organizations in Nigeria, which have spent 30 years in the field of Da’wah. The organization have spent during these periods the most precious things in their service to this religion and still waxing strong on the path, with slogan of living and dieing for the cause.
Allah’s willing – their similitude is like those described by Allah Almighty thus; (من المؤمنين رجال صدقوا ما عاهدوا الله عليه، فمنهم من قضى نحبه ومنهم من ينتظر وما بدلوا تبديلا )
“Among the believers are men true to what they promised Allah. Among them is he who has fulfilled his vow [to the death], and among them is he who awaits [his chance]. And they did not alter [the terms of their commitment] by any alteration.) Al-Ahzab: 23
So we ask Allah to accept these efforts from them and grant them sincerity and salvation.
As we implore you to support and cooperate with them in these activities dear servants of Allah, for it is a worthy endeavor to spend ones life upon. In the same vein, we have all been invited to the special Annual lecture in the various states, so respond to the invitation of your brothers and seek reward from Allah.
May Allah bless you and me, and accept it from us and from you.