Khutbah of Feb 10 2006
My khutbah today is not about the Danish cartoons; in shaa Allaah, we will be having a discussion session this evening on that topic. My khutbah is not even about thermodynamics in Islam or metaphysics or anything complicated. Rather, it is about something very fundamental, something we should all be doing everyday, about which the Prophet(s) said that it is what separates a Muslim from a Non-beleiver and that is the Salah, or the obligatory prayers or Namaz.
In the very beginning of the Quran and in numerous other places, we find phrases like, ‘alladhina yuqimuna-Salaata….’ - those who establish prayer.
Allaah says in Surat-ul-A’la: Qad aflaha man tazakka, wa dhakarasma rabbihi fasallaa (But those will prosper who purify themselves, and remember the name of their Lord, and pray)
In a Hadith recorded by Muslim, the Prophet(s) is reported to have said:
“Between a person and idolatry and disbelief is the leaving of the prayer”. It’s a very serious matter indeed.
Furthermore, when Allah praises the believers, such as in the beginning of surah al-Muminoon, one of the first descriptions He states is their adherence to the prayers. Qad aflahal muminoon, alladhina hum fi salaatihim khashioon
[Successful indeed are the believers, those that offer their Salah with all earnestness and full obedience] - Al Mu’minoon 23/1-2
Then seven more verses into the same Surah, Allaah again says, walladhina hum al salaatihim yuhafidhoon: And those who strictly guard their prayers. Then Allaah goes on to say, they are the ones who will inherit Al-Firdaus. There are numerous other verses from the Quran that demonstrate the same point, but I won’t mention them all.
Another indication of the importance of Salah is the fact that Allah declared its obligatory status under majestic circumstances. For example, when Allah spoke directly to Musa (a.s), He said,
"And I have chosen you, so listen to that which is inspired to you. Verily, I am Allah! There is none worthy of worship but I, so worship Me and offer prayer for My remembrance." [Taha 13-14]
Similarly, the prayers were made obligatory upon the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) during his ascension to heaven (Meraj). The Prophet (peace be upon him) is reported to have said,
"The first matter that the slave will be brought to account for on the Day of Judgment is the prayer. If it is sound, then the rest of his deeds will be sound. And if it is bad, then the rest of his deeds will be bad."
Having established its importance, let us now consider the effects that our daily prayers should have on our lives. Allaah says:
Innas Salaata Tanha Anil Fahshaai wal Munkar.
(Verily the prayers restrain one from immorality and wrongdoing) 29:45
Now we should ask ourselves: Hey, I pray every once in a while. Do my prayers have that effect on me, i.e. do they have a retarding effect on my wrongdoing?
The Prophet(s) used to tell Bilal (r): O Bilal, make the call for prayer and give us comfort by it.
Do we feel the kind of comfort the Prophet(s) is talking about when we pray?
Allaah (SWT) says: Ya ayyuhal ladhina aamanusta’eenu bissabri was salaah
(O you who believe, seek Allah’s help with patience and Salah) 2:153
Is that what we do when we’re in distress, do we return to Allaah first or do we exhaust all other options before helplessly calling upon Allaah?
If the answer to any or all of those questions is ‘no’, then we have to check our prayer. Clearly there has to be something missing for our prayers to not have their intended effects.
The Prophet(s) has identified some of these faults for us.
In Bukhari and Muslim, from Abu Hurayrah - Radi Allahu Anhu, a man entered the Masjid and the Messenger of Allah - Sal Allaahu alayhi wa Sallam - was sitting. The man prayed (2 raka’) and then came to the Prophet - Sal Allaahu alayhi wa Sallam - and said salam. The Prophet - Sal Allaahu alayhi wa Sallam - replied the salam and then said, “Go back and pray for you have not prayed.” So the man went back, prayed (2 raka’) like he did the first time and then came back and repeated the salam. The Prophet - Sal Allaahu alayhi wa Sallam - replied the salam and then said, “Go back and pray for you have not prayed.” So the man went back, prayed (2 raka’) like he did the first time and then came back and repeated the salam. The Prophet - Sal Allaahu alayhi wa Sallam - replied the salam and then said, “Go back and pray for you have not prayed.” He said it three times until – on the third time the man said, “By He who sent you with the truth O Messenger of Allah, I do not know any better than this. Teach me.” The Prophet - Sal Allaahu alayhi wa Sallam - then said, “If you stand up for Salah say ‘Allahu Akbar.’ Then read what comes easy for you from the Quran. Then bow until you are comfortable in your ruku’. Then stand up until you are standing up straight. Then prostrate until you are comfortable in your Sujood. Then sit until you are comfortable in your Juloos. Then prostrate until you are comfortable in your Sujood. And do this in your entire Salah.”
Someone who short changes his Salah is nothing short of a thief. The Prophet - Sal Allaahu alayhi wa Sallam - said, “The most evil thief is he who steals from his Salah.” They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how does he steal from his Salah?” He - Sal Allaahu alayhi wa Sallam - said, “He does not perfect it’s ruku’ and Sujood.”
Along similar lines, the Prophet(s) in another Hadith forbade that someone should peck (in Salah) like a crow…”.
In the beginning of the khutbah I recited a few verses from Surat ul-Mumioon where Allaah (SWT) praised the believers and mentioned how they guard their prayers and how they inherit paradise. Through Salah, one can earn this lofty position in jannah, and on the other hand, one can also end up in the deepest pits of Hell through Salah, wal ayaadhu billaah. Allaah says in the Quran:
Fa waylul lil musaleen, alladhina hum an salatihim sahoon, alladhina hum yuraaoon… (So Wayl be to those who pray, and are neglectful of their prayers, and those who show off). So that’s one other thing we need to be careful about, whether we’re praying on time and who we’re praying for. Are we praying so we can become the next ISSU/MSAN president? Better not.
Now let us examine a few stories from the past to see how our predecessors used to pray:
Once, Ma’roof Al-Karkhee – Rahimahu Allah – stood amongst some of his students and one said to the other, “Please lead the Isha Salah.” The first student accepted but said, “I shall lead the Isha’ Salah on condition that you lead the Fajr Salah and not me.” Ma’roof Al-Karkhe was shocked at what he said and commented, “By Allah, if you think that you’ll be alive at Fajr then – by Allah – you have not yet perfected your Salah.” So it helps to treat each prayer as if it’s our last for only Allaah knows whether we will make it to the next.
Abu Al Aliyah said, "I would travel for days to meet a man and the first thing I would notice about him is his prayer. If he would establish the prayer perfectly and on time, I would stay with him and hear the knowledge he had. If I found him to be careless concerning the prayer, I would leave him and say to myself that for things other than the prayer, he would be even more careless."
When Ali bin Al Husain used to perform Wudu, his color would change. His family asked him why this happened to him every time he performed Ablution, he said, "Do you know before Whom I am about to stand (in prayer)?"
This is one of my favorite quotes from contemporary times: Our problem is one of spirituality. If a man comes to speak to me about the reforms to be undertaken in the Muslim world, about political strategies, my first question to him would be whether he performed the dawn prayer in its time. -Said Ramadan, son of Hassan al Banna
There are other famous stories of pious people, one of whom had his leg amputated while in Sajdah; others who stood still while the roof of the masjid would collapse; then there are examples from the Sahaabah and from the Prophet(s) himself, of long recitations, extra-long sajdahs and how they used to weep during their prayers, things we rarely witness these days.
Imagine the honor Allah has bestowed upon us by actually providing us with a time and a place for a private audience with Him.
How can a sane person allow himself to enjoy all Allah's graces: such as food, drink, clothes and life pleasures while not offering the simplest obligatory duty Allah commands him to do?!
Let us now think of a few ways in which we can improve the quality of our prayer, how we can beautify it, like we do to our resumes:
1) It is obligatory upon us to learn how to pray. Probably the most important thing we learnt after the kalimah was how to perform the Salah, how to recite the Quran, etc.? We should ask ourselves whom we learnt these things from? Did we ever pick up the books to see whether what we're doing is right? If we care enough about our careers to come to Stanford and get the best education we should be just as rigorous in learning our religion, should we not?
When was the last time we checked our wudu? Or our prayer?
For eg- one of the few times the Prophet(s) would raise his voice was to correct the wudu, so it's something serious.
Allaah (SWT) says: La taqrabus Salaata wa antum sukaaraa…. Don’t approach prayer when you’re in a state of intoxication and do not understand what you’re saying.
Today we’re not intoxicated and yet a lot of us don’t understand what we’re saying. Isn’t it a pity, that one could be praying for years and years and not understand a word of what he/she’s been saying? I was myself one of those poor people until recently.
2) There are people who delay their prayers until they return home from work or school, for fear of what people may think. Others are not comfortable making Sajdah on concrete or grass and need their prayer rugs from home. All these cheap excuses compared to what is at stake. We cannot neglect our prayers while trying to fit into society. It just doesn’t make sense.
3) Making a perfect Wudu, praying on time, with Jama’ah, repeating after the adhaan, all help in setting the mood for prayer.
4) Learning and reciting different Surahs from the Quran and memorizing the different dua’s recited by the Prophet(s) also add variety to our prayer.
4b) Dua during Sujud
5) Keep your eyes fixed at the place of Sujud. Just think how your boss would feel if you were looking around while talking to him
6) Last prayer
There is an important branch in Islam that is known as “tazkiyah” or “purification” and it involves the curing of what are known as diseases of the heart, such as
Jealousy, Kibr (arrogance), Riyaa (showing off), Anger, etc. and replacing them with their positive counterparts such as humility, sincerity, tolerance, etc.
Without the removal of these diseases, one cannot completely benefit from good deeds. If the container that you’re drinking from is dirty, it doesn’t help even if you fill it with the purest milk. In the exact same way, we can’t benefit from the Quran, or any beneficial knowledge, if we have a dirty heart. For eg- if you’re arrogant, or think too much of yourself, it is unlikely that you will experience the humility that a Mumin does in bowing down before Allaah, or in prostration. Similarly, if you don’t humble yourself and submit to the Infinite wisdom of Allah, you will not benefit much from the Quran.
Aqoolu qawli hadhaa wa astaghfirullaaha lee walakum, fastaghfiruhu innahu hual ghafoor ur raheem.
I say this and ask forgiveness from Allaah for myself and you, so ask for forgiveness, He is indeed Most-Forgiving, Most-Merciful.
SECOND HALF
Alhamdulillaahi rabil ‘Aalameen, wassalaatu wassalaamu alaa sayyidil mursalaeen, wa’alaa alihi wasahbihi ajmaeen, wa man tabi’ahum bi ihsanin ilaa yaum-il-deen.
Hajj urge: Last month, I had the privilege of performing the Hajj and being among millions of Muslims; you don’t realize how many we are until you go to the Hajj.
It’s a wonderful experience as any Haji would tell you. It’s a good test involving submission and sacrifices at different levels: physical, intellectual, financial.
It’s a very humbling experience and when you see all those people, you realize once again, that Islam does not need us, it is we that need Islam. You may come from Stanford or wherever, but you can keep your all that in your pocket, and walk the 7 rounds, like everybody else. You don’t need your scientific reasoning to tell you why you stone the devil, or kiss the black stone. The Prophet(s) did it, so just do it. It’s a great way to learn patience. And this year, it falls at an even better time, right in the middle of our winter vacation, the end of December. A lot of people wait till they’re very old before they perform the Hajj, when in fact one should hasten to perform it as soon as he or she can. I would like to urge each and every one of us to fulfill this obligation, IF you can afford it. Sisters who do not have mahrams are not obliged. Check this: if the journey to Hajj means that you will be missing fard prayers, then the fuqahaa rule that the fard prayers take precedence over the fard Hajj. Look at the importance of Salah!! If a fard Hajj is not worth the risk of missing fard prayers, then what is ???
One last reminder for myself first and everybody else here. You know how when it is Friday noon and we try to get that last email out of the way, or finish that one problem just before Jumuah and in the process end up coming to the musallaah after the khutbah has started. Allaah (SWT) says in the Quran: Ya ayyuhal ladhina aamanu idha noodiya lissalaati miy yaum il jumuati fas’au ilaa dhikrillaahi wadharul bay’, dhaalikum khayrul lakum in kuntum ta’lamun. (Surat-al-Jumuah)
Some people think that attending the khutbah is optional. It is narrated in a Hadith that there are angels at the door who record the names of everybody entering, and when the khatib ascends the mimbar, these angels close their books and listen to the khatib, meaning “no credit for late homework”. For a lot of us, the khutbah is the only dose of Islamic knowledge we receive during the week and it’s a shame if we cut corners even there. For those that are married, remember that you have the added responsibility of educating and providing for the spiritual nourishment of your spouse. In short, come early…..
DU’AA
Allaahumaghfiril mu’mineena wal mu’minaat, wal muslimeen wal muslimaat, al ahyaai minhum wal amwaat, innaka samiyyun qareebum mujeeb-u-da’waat. Birahmatika ya arhamar-raahimeen.
O Allaah, forgive the believers men and women, and the Muslims, men and women, the alive among them and the dead, indeed You are All-Hearing Ever-Close and Answerer-of-calls, with your mercy O Most Merciful of those who show mercy
Allaahumma, aati nufoosana taqwaaha, wa zakkiha anta khairu man zakkaahaa, anta waliyyuha wa maulaaha.
O Allaah! Give our souls piety, and purify them for you’re the best of those who purify (them), you’re the Master and Protector (of our souls)
Allaahumma, habbib ilayna eemana, wa zayyinhu fi quloobina, wa karrih ilaynal kufra wal fusooqa wa ‘isyaan, wa ja’alna minar raashideen.
O Allaah! Endear faith to us, and beautify it in our hearts, and make loathing to us disbelief, wrongdoing and contumacy, and make us of the guided.
Allaahumunsuril muslimeen fi kulli makaan….Allahum a’izza al-islaama wal muslimeen.. wa adhillash shirka wal mushrikeen.
O Allaah, help the Muslims in every place… O Allaah, elevate (in honor) Islam and the Muslims, and disgrace polytheism and the polytheists.
Allahumma inna nasalukal huda, wat tuqaa, wal afaafa, wal ghinaa
O Allaah, we ask you guidance, and piety/God-fearing-ness, and chastity, and self-sufficiency.
Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqawn warzuqnat tiba’ah, wa arinal batila batilawn warzuqnajtinabah
O Allaah, show us the truth as the truth and bestow upon us obedience (to it),
And show us falsehood as falsehood and bestow upon us refrain (from it)
Allahumma arinal ashyaa kamaa hiya
O Allaah, show me things to be the way they are (i.e. so I do not misunderstand / misinterpret / blow them out of proportion / underestimate them )
Rabba aatina fid dunya hasana, wa fil aakhirati hasana, wa qeena azaaban naar.
Our Lord, give us in this duniya that which is good, and in the aakhirah that which is good, and save us from the punishment of Hell-fire.
Qaalallaahu ta’aala: Innallaaha wa malaaikatuhu yusalluna ‘alan nabiyy, ya
ayyuhal lathina aamanu sallu alayhi wa sallimu tasleema, allaahuma salli wa sallim ‘alaa ‘abdika wa rasoolika Muhammad, wa ‘alaa aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam.
Allaah the All-High says: Indeed Allaah and His Angels send blessings upon the Prophet, O you who believe send blessings and peace upon him.
O Allaah, send blessings and peace upon Your servant and Messenger Muhammad, and on his family/people and companions.
‘Ibaad Allaah, innallaaha ya’muru bil adli wal ihsaani wa eetaaidhil qurbaa, wa yanhaa ‘anil fahshaai wal munkari wal baghy. Yaidhukum la’allaakum tathakkaroon, wa la thikrullaaahi akbar, wallaahu ya’lamu maa tasna’oon.
O Servants of Allaah! Verily, Allah enjoins justice and kindness and giving to kinsfolk, and Forbids lewdness/immorality, wrongdoing and contumacy. He warns you so you may remember/take heed, and indeed the remembrance of Allaah is greatest, and Allaah knows all that you do.
salam ya ukhti. keep ur good work! it's actually a really good post. but my dear ukhti, it's to small. i need to go close to comp screen(even i'm use 15 inch comp)^^ thanx for sharing.
ReplyDeletewassalam ya ukhti . :) firstly , salam ukhuwwah ya . :)
ReplyDeletesyukran for your reading , i'm trying my best to change it yah . :)
SW WR WB - Very nice post - And great job by including the Arabic transliteration.
ReplyDeleteKeep posting more good stuff.
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