Abdullah Oduro – Jummah Khutbah 12-04-2024
AI: Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of not cutting off relationships and not giving up on promises in order to achieve better health and well-being. They also emphasize the need to strive for better things in every situation and not give up on promises. The importance of learning to fulfill aational goal and pray for one's brother's health is also emphasized. The speakers stress the importance of educating oneself about Islam and setting up a time to stand in solidarity for them. Prayer, praying, and being strong are essential for achieving better health and well-being.
AI: Summary ©
Allah,
who acts about
Alhamdulillah, we praise Allah. We seek his aid
and forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from
the evil of ourselves and of our bad
deeds.
Whomsoever
Allah guides, none can misguide.
And whomsoever Allah allows to be led astray,
none can guide aright.
And I bear witness that there is no
one worthy of worship except Allahu Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, Allah the exalted,
and that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, peace
and blessings be upon him as his last
messenger and servant. Oh, you who believe,
be mindful of Allah and die not except
in a state of submission to him alone.
Of humanity, be mindful of Allah who created
you from a single soul, and from that
created its mate, and from that scattered many
men and women.
Oh, humanity be mindful of Allah and do
not cut off relations with your kin.
Indeed, Allah is al Raqeeb. He's a monitor
over you.
Oh, humanity be mindful of Allah and speak
Allah is Allah is al Raqeeb, is a
monitor over you. Oh, humanity, be mindful of
Allah and speak the truth in order for
him to accept you of your deeds and
forgive us of our shortcomings. And whoever obeys
Allah and his messenger
has indeed achieved the greatest achievement.
Book of Allah,
and the best guidance is that of Muhammad,
peace and blessings be upon him.
And of the worst affairs in our doctrinal
system of Islam
are the newly invented ones. For every newly
invented affair in this situation
is an innovation,
and for every form of innovation is a
form of going astray,
and for every form of going astray
is in the fire of *.
I promise.
I
promise.
I
promise.
These two words, one letter and one word,
I hope
and pray
that we have at least said this one
time
in the past month.
Let's be honest.
Each and every single one of us, young
and old,
have said this
to someone,
to ourselves,
and we have not fulfilled it.
Let's be honest.
We probably said it not having the intention
to fulfill
the promise.
Let's be honest.
We've probably said it to someone
that believed
our promise.
Let's be honest.
Because brothers and sisters,
each and every single one of us
has had
a a euphoric moment in our life. Meaning,
an a moment in our life
that we cannot even explain.
That has happened to each and every single
one of us.
And guess what? It doesn't have to be
in the month of Ramadan.
But if
we've struggled
and we made an effort
to taste that moment that we've had from
before,
Oh, Allah. Give me that moment that I
had from before, that one moment where I
was in Mecca,
or
that one moment that I was in my
car home coming home from work, and it
was just a moment that I felt close
to Allah.
Struggling
and asking Allah for that moment again is
what is needed,
especially in the month of Ramadan.
That time where I cried sincerely
because I got into an argument with my
mother, my husband, my grandmother, my coworker, the
brother that I've loved for so much,
and he or she betrayed me. Or
I betrayed them, and I felt terrible about
it. It. That feeling
is what we should search for. And I
use the word should because we, as human
beings,
want to strive for something better at all
times. This is what I hope for myself
in each and every single one of you,
that we want to try to be better
for Allah's sake. Meaning, that we want to
be better in fulfilling
what Allah has given us from his bounties
that which we recognize
and hoping to recognize many of the other
bounties that we don't
or that we haven't
recognized.
Hopefully, in the future, we will. That feeling
in the month of Ramadan,
I hope that we have
said, oh Allah,
I promise.
Just one.
Just one.
In Arabic, they call this another.
Another is when you make an oath to
Allah.
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes in the
chapter of Al
Insan, that they you they fulfill their oaths
that they've had with Allah.
Some of us have been in it through
a near death experience,
and we have said internally, oh, Allah,
if you get me out of this.
Each and every single one of us or
some of us have had that moment,
a near death experience. Some of us have
had the moment,
oh, Allah. If you allow me to pass
this test or this exam,
dotdot
dot. I promise
dot dot. Whatever it is.
Making that promise to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
This is what we hope in this beautiful
month of Shawwal,
the month after Ramadan, the 10th month of
the Islamic calendar,
that we are trying our best to review
what happened in Ramadan.
The good things that we've done in Ramadan.
The the the the experiences that we felt
very uncomfortable
in sending the text message to the brother
or sister that we've had an argument with.
The beautiful feeling that we've had of going
in in our communities and speaking with people,
our community members, that may not know what
Islam is about. Representing
Islam
and who you are and your communities.
The uncomfortable
moments
and the motivation behind the uncomfortable
moment was to please Allah.
Those moments
that you went outside of your normal self,
quote, unquote,
to do something better for the self,
to further enrich
the self in the month of Ramadan.
But brothers and sisters,
let each and every single one of us
remember that moment that we had in Ramadan.
Maybe it's in Eid,
maybe it's today,
But hopefully, Insha'Allah, if Allah willed
that it was in the month of Ramadan
and even more than it was in the
last 10 nights, and even more than it
was in Leila till Qadr,
that we said, oh Allah, I promise I
will do this one thing. I promise I
will do this. Because, subhanAllah,
you
know, the early Meir, when they speak about
fasting,
whether you make the intention to fast in
the beginning of the month, or should you
make the intention every single night,
they say,
If you were do you have to make
the intention every night to fast on the
following day? And many scholars say, you know,
you make it in the beginning of the
month,
that it will continue on for the duration
of the month. You don't have to make
the intention every day unless
you broke your fast for particular reason, traveling,
etcetera, then you have to make your intention
again for the remainder of that month. The
reason I am mentioning this
is because sometimes, we in in Ramadan,
we have the and which is good, which
we need, the generic intention.
I'm gonna be good in Ramadan.
This is needed.
This is praiseworthy.
This is a key to being better than
you were yesterday
or yester month.
But what Allah will always want from
us is to go deeper.
Allah will always want from us
more healthy, intense introspection,
to look deeper inside yourself.
Last week, I looked I said I mentioned
to look in the mirror.
Not to fix your face, to fix your
makeup, to fix your hair,
to fix your soul.
To look deep in the mirror at yourself
and to ask those crucial questions,
and to answer with the sincere
answer.
And when you make that answer,
when you answer that question,
you say what?
Oh, Allah. I promise.
I promise I will be better to my
mother.
Oh, Allah. I promise.
I promise I will spend more time with
my children.
Oh, Allah. I promise.
I promise I will give back to the
community. Oh, Allah. I promise.
I promise that I will send that text
and apologize
to my uncle.
I promise.
That promise,
this is what we want to think about
in this month of Shawwa.
The promise that we made to Allah
in the month of Ramadan.
Living up to that promise in the remaining
11 months.
Living up to that promise.
Always asking myself,
am I fulfilling that promise?
Whatever it may be. And brothers and sisters,
I'm just saying one.
One deed that you can start to do
or one d that you can abstain
from. Make no mistake.
Abstaining from a bad deed
or initiating a good deed are both good
deeds.
It is even mentioned
that what is much more difficult Ibn al
Qayyim mentions
he mentions that al kaf,
withholding,
abstaining
from doing the haram act
is more difficult than initiating
a good deed, although they are both good.
But abstaining from a habitual practice, that could
lead to an evil act.
Let's use a practical example. If we are
watching is
not
something or do something that is not beneficial
for them as a Muslim man, a Muslim
woman, a Muslim.
This can compromise
the integrity
or the richness
of what we have faced
in the month of Ramadan, or
it can pull us away from that moment
that we were chasing.
Remember the moment we talked about earlier? The
moment that we were chasing.
The moment when you're standing at the bedside
in the hospital of a loved one, and
you make du'a from, oh, Allah, if you
get him out of this. Those
moments, brothers and sisters.
That's what literally
the prophet when he said to search for
laylatul other in the last ten. Search for
it to where you can enter the realm
of searching for that moment
and to embrace that moment and then to
be vulnerable to Allah in that moment and
to cry in that moment and have full
regret in that moment, have a broken heart
in that moment,
and to feel terrible at that moment.
But know that Allah is the only one
that can enrich your soul
at that
moment,
hoping that it will carry on
for the rest
of our
lives.
Alhamdulillah.
Just these 2, the letter and the word
that I mentioned, I want us to leave
today
and to fill
or to finish this sentence.
I promise.
I promise that I
that's even it. I promise that I
just finish that sentence for yourself personally
and ask Allah to make you firm and
fulfilling it.
And I hope
I hope it's just not one thing. For
instance, I promise to
to do a one particular act on this
day, which is good,
but let's make it something that's consistent.
I promise to pray salatul witter the majority
of the week.
I promise to pray salatul fajr on the
weekends
at the Masjid.
I promise to pray salatul fajr.
This is okay
that you're making the intention to be better.
We all have our limits or excuse me.
We all have our handicaps
That can be repaired.
That can be repaired, and that can be
improved.
By the permission of Allah.
But brothers and sisters,
there's one more promise that I request from
us collectively
at
least,
to make dua for our brothers and sisters
in Raza. Wallahi.
To make dua for our brothers and sisters
in razzah.
The fact that people were
asking the question, how can we celebrate on
Eid?
The fact that they're asking that question
stems from iman and Allah.
It stems from sympathy. Putting
yourself in their shoes. Brothers, if you could
up, inshallah, and make space for the ones
that are entering, inshallah.
Putting yourself in their shoes,
fasting the month of Ramadan,
sitting and looking at the dates, waiting for
your adhan, the adhan clock to go off,
you know, because you have electricity and light,
and the ceiling, you know, let's turn the
AC. You know, the weather was hot. Let's
put the AC on. The weather is cold
and at nighttime, we have to turn the
heater on. All of those little, minute, shade
that we take for granted,
you're looking at it with a bird's eye
view,
and you're saying, subhanallah,
they don't even have this.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he said
that there will never cease to be a
nation.
There will never cease to be a nation
that will not be disturbed.
Beautiful hadith.
He said there will never be a nation
that will cease to be disturbed that they
are whether they are from the ones that
that they had been betrayed.
And it's interesting how he said
Those that betrayed them
and those that fought against them, differ with
them, fighting against them.
There will never cease to be a nation.
Another hadith, when he mentions this type of
these types of people,
they asked Manhum.
He said, those that are on Baytul Maqdis
or Akfaf or those that are around Baytul
Maqdis.
The prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam ensured that
la yadur and, I mean, we see this.
Let's we see this.
How many people around the world,
whether they're known publicly or not,
that are embracing Islam because they see
They are not affected by this.
What do we mean they are not affected?
This is the question we have to ask
ourselves.
So when we say, well, no. People died.
They're affected.
It doesn't inflict upon their faith in Allah.
Their trust in Allah,
their allegiance
to Allah
that would that is which is not tampered.
Maybe shaken at times,
but it is not totally eradicated.
That is what is important.
So when we're talking about the Eid and
the celebration, know it's what Allah has legislated
for you to practice it is from the
deen of Islam.
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, loves that. So when
you raise your hands to him by doing
what he loves, this is what is beloved
to Allah.
That does not indirectly that does not directly
mean or indirectly mean
that there is no there is no sympathy
or empathy, however you want to term it,
for our brothers and sisters in Palestine and
around the world, particularly in Gaza now.
When we make du'a for them, we stand
in solidarity
with them
and understanding
their struggles.
And we here
educating ourselves and educating each other. When I
say educating ourselves, it doesn't only mean that
we talk about the historical context.
This is great.
But most importantly,
educating
ourselves
about Allah
Educating
ourselves
about predestination
and what Allah has chosen.
Educating
our selves about our nafs, our desires,
and making the choice of why I am
standing up for Palestine.
Why?
Why I am doing this?
Is it a religious
initiative?
Is it that which it shows worship of
Allah
that I'm coming closer to Allah
with this?
And these are Allah's servants,
and oppression of people is what Allah
doesn't love. And I love Allah, so I
stand for the religion of Allah by standing
against any type of oppression.
I stand with this.
This is what is important.
This is our motivate motivating
factor, initially, and there could be other ones
as well. But most importantly,
the seed and the anchor is this.
When we stand outside and we may protest,
we do it for the sake of Allah
because, the servants of his in the holy
places that that's been desecrated
or the land,
we stand for that.
We do it in a fashion that still
still
calls people to understand what Islam is about.
But at the same time, we don't get
slapped and then turn the other cheek.
This is Islam.
Again,
brothers and sisters, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam
spoke about our people.
Our people.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam spoke about
a people.
It's important for us for us
to make that promise as well.
As a community,
I promise,
individually, we each have the demons inside of
ourself or that influence
to look inside of yourself
to make that promise. Oh, Allah. I will
leave this off. Oh, Allah. I will initiate
this.
To make that promise, brothers and sisters.
And also, to make that promise, my humble
suggestion,
to make that promise
to make dua at least for your brothers
and sisters in Gaza.
We can easily say that's the least that
we can do.
But what's so beautiful about Islam is when
we look at the dunya,
the reason Allah
despises the dunya to that degree because it
can cause you to forget about the. Meaning,
it can cause you to forget about the
deeds and the actions that remind you of
the actions of the.
To where we forget to pray for them
at least. We forget to sit and to
wonder if we were in that situation, what
would happen?
If we were in that situation, what would
happen?
So remember, brothers and sisters, in this beautiful
month of Shawwal Shawwal as well,
fasting on the 6 days of Shawwal, the
prophet of Allahu alaihi wasallam, he said, whoever
fast the month of Ramadan, then he follows
it up with 6 days from Shawwal
It is as though he or she has
fasted a whole year.
Fasting in these 6 days better to be
one after the other or it can be
separate,
but preferably after finishing your 30 days of
Ramadan.
We ask Allah
to make us stand in solidarity for our
brothers and sisters in Palestine, in. We ask
Allah
to make us stand in solidarity for our
brothers and sisters in Yemen and in China
and
and in Kashmir
and the east and western parts of the
earth
We ask Allah to make us of those
that are consistent
with our promises.
The most that we are able to we
ask Allah to make us of those that
are mindful of him as much as we
can be. If there's a lost if Allah
says
Be mindful of Allah as much as you
can.
He will increase you. And the remembrance of
Allah is the greatest thing, and Allah is
well aware of what you do.
She's very active in the community. He just
suffered in in an accident and he's in
the ICU. Please make du'a for him that
Allah blesses
his family with patients and brings him through
safely inshallah.
And his name again name again is brother
Hashim Suleiman, mister Hashim Suleiman, Jizak Malohira.