Mufti Menk – Dhul Hijjah – Establishing the Remembrance of Allah

My brothers and sisters, Ibrahim alaihis salam sacrificed

so much for the sake of Allah. Allah

says, he's a friend of ours. We've taken

him as a friend. If you're ready to

sacrifice for the sake of Allah, you're ready

to fulfill his instructions and stay away from

his prohibitions.

You will also become a friend of Allah.

Allah says, behold

the friends of Allah.

They are the ones

who have no reason

to fear or to be sad. No fear

or sadness shall overcome the friends of Allah.

Oliya Allah, who are they? Those who believe

and

they do good deeds.

Those who believe and they develop their taqwa,

they develop their consciousness of Allah. Allah says

no reason to fear nor to be sad.

Those are our friends. Allah says we will

give them good news in this world

and the next. That's what Allah says. So

Ibrahim sacrificed

for the sake of Allah.

What are you prepared to sacrifice? What do

you sacrifice?

When there is haram to be committed, do

you stay away? When there is something that

will be displeasing to Allah, Do you delete

it? Do you stop it? Do you stay

away from it? Do you change your life

for the sake of Allah? Are you strong

on yourself? Are you hard on yourself when

it comes to bad habits?

Wow.

Well, we read about the prophet Abraham, Ibrahim

alaihis salam. What lesson do we learn? Let's

continue. My brothers and sisters, take a look

at the amount of remembrance of Allah the

prophets used to engage in.

You know, you read about the prophet Yunus,

may peace be upon him.

Jonah,

may peace be upon him. Allah says,

Had he not been from among those who

constantly remembered Allah and declared his praise, he

would have stayed in the belly of that

fish for until the day of resurrection. That's

what Allah says. So it helped him. Remember

Allah, Allah will remember you. These are the

days of remembering Allah. So increase.

The prophet

says,

whoever says this, it's the best statement that

has been said by myself and all the

prophets

before me. What does it mean? I've said

it before, let's repeat it. There is none

worthy of worship besides Allah, him alone.

There is no association,

no partner does he have.

He to him belongs entire kingdom,

to him belongs all praise. He gives

He gives life. He causes death

and He is all able, all capable, able

to do anything and everything. That's what it

means.

SubhanAllah,

you repeat that, that's the remembrance of Allah.

These are the ayaam of dhikr. These are

the ayaam,

the days of remembering Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

And that's why in one narration it says,

there are no

no days wherein which good deeds are more

loved by Allah more than these 10. So

therefore

engage in lots of dhikr. Dhikr means remembrance

of Allah. For your information,

one of the highest levels of remembering Allah

is simply to read the Quran,

recite it in a melodious voice, male and

female. Even if you're a female, some females

have asked, should we also recite it in

a melodious voice? The answer is yes. In

the most melodious voice, it's for Allah. We're

not doing it to show off, we're doing

it for Allah. And yes, you may teach

people, cause teaching people is a double, triple,

quadruple reward.

So engage in all of this. And remember,

the day of Arafa.

At the beginning of the day of Arafah,

we need to engage in an extra dhikr.

After every compulsory prayer,

all of us immediately after we've made salaam,

we should declare the greatness of Allah. From

the day of Arafah, that's the 9th of

Dhul Hijjah,

the 10th, 11th, 12th 13th. It ends at

salatul Asr. After Asr you read it and

after Maghrib it has stopped.

So it's 5 full days of dhikr.

This is taught by Allah. These are the

days of dhikr. Don't forget that. You say

Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.

Allah is the greatest. There is none worthy

of worship besides Allah. For indeed, Allah is

the greatest and to him belongs all praise.

That's the statement and the phrase we will

repeat

after every compulsory prayer. So 5 times a

day, the day of Harafa

and the days of tashrik

after that. So you have the day of

Arafah, the day of Eid and the 3

days thereafter,

5 days in total. May Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala accept this from us. Don't forget to

increase blessings and salutations upon the prophet Muhammad

sallallahu alaihi wasallam to pray a lot, to

actually,

pray for others as well. Supplicate,

ask Allah all your needs and keep repeating

them. You will never lose. Allah loves it

when you repeat the same thing over and

over again. May Allah bless you all and

grant us all our wishes.