Sadullah Khan – Jumuah 22 Dhul Hijjah 1443 22 July 2022
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And we just ask the brothers inshallah,
to sit closer, pull the gaps inshallah,
so that people who come a bit late,
they can just fill in at the back
and don't climb over the shoulders of someone
else inshallah.
And it's,
inshallah.
Try to fold the masjid from the front
inshallah.
Just to introduce our guest speaker for the
day who doesn't need any introduction,
none other than
In the name of Allah, most gracious, most
merciful,
all praise is due to our creator, our
cherisher,
our nourisher, and our sustainer.
We bear witness. There's none worthy of worship
but Allah.
We bear witness, we believe in all the
prophets who came throughout history.
And we bear witness that prophet Muhammad
Abdullah. He is the final of all the
emissaries of Allah.
Rest
of
the
elders,
educators,
learners,
rest of the elders and youth,
I greet you with the Islamic universal greeting
of peace.
May the peace, the mercy, and the blessings
of Allah be upon each and every one.
At this present,
at this hour of Jum'ah,
present here in this house of Allah
Among the obvious lessons
that were taught to us
through the period of the pandemic,
are the many things that we have been
taking for granted.
A period in
hopefully
in which we have learned to appreciate
everything we do have,
and perhaps learn to ride the wave of
life
with its ups and downs,
its moments of joys and tears of gains
and losses.
Realizing that
Allah did not make this world
a permanent place.
That this world is a world
of temporary provisions.
And everything
in this world, including ourselves,
are finite.
And all things besides Allah have a time
limit.
Neither are the good things of this world
everlasting,
nor are the bad things eternal or forever.
In the process,
we have lost so many dear people over
the past 2 years in particular.
Whether through sickness or pandemic or otherwise,
I don't think and I cannot recall in
my life
But we have witnessed
or been aware or been informed
of so many people whom we personally know
that have lost. They've left the world and
been lost to us.
And we have become
far more aware of our own mortality.
We're dear friends of ours,
young people,
colleagues who have passed on.
So suddenly we can be more aware. We
do know that life is
eventually leading to death. We
know all of that, we read it and
so on. But we become more cognizant of
our own mortality
and conscious
more so of the reality of death.
As Said Na'ali so aptly reminded us
People are asleep.
They are awakened by the reality of death.
I want us to
realize 2
significant points inshallah.
One is
life is a continuous flow of unfolding reality.
Each one of us our own lives and
each one our own story but together we
contribute to an integrated story.
Many of us
parts of the life story of other people.
And since life is a continuous flow of
unfolding reality for each one of us,
it provides us an opportunity
for ihsan and ihsan.
2 things that a Muslim and a mummin
always should try to manifest.
Allah has prescribed excellence in everything you do.
Goodness in everything you do. And
Allah wants that whatever you do, do it
to the best of your ability. Do it
with excellence. Goodness
and excellence to the best of our ability.
Allah does not hold us accountable for more
than we can do.
Allah doesn't put a burden upon you more
than you can be.
So
this ihsan and ihsan is aiming for ihsan
ihsan through our life, which is a test
by the way.
This test of life is for us to
express our goodness
and to manifest that and
that excellence of it.
But what many of us don't realize that
life is not that he has so. Some
people are assuming some people live the week
and then the weekend they live live it
up.
Or they go through the year, the end
of the year they go for holiday, that
is the life. That is not the life.
End of the year may come, you may
not be there. Holiday may come and you
may not be alive.
And you look at even Hajj nowadays, it's
so uncertain you don't even know if you're
going or you don't even know if you're
coming or going for that matter.
So life is not a rehearsal for some
future show. This is it. What we are
doing now is it.
We will not reach our cars after salah.
We may not go for the next janazah.
It may be ours.
So life is not a rehearsal for some
future show. It is the act which we
are living right now. The world is a
stage and today is the event.
So as they say,
sees the moment.
Make every day, make every hour, make every
minute, make every occasion and every second count.
For we do not know how many more
moments there will be
before our time is up and there are
no moments or time left.
We have because we have become accustomed in
our times,
in this age
to a degree of false invincibility.
Yeah. You know, we become the more we
collect, the more we have.
We think it makes us invincible.
No.
We have become accustomed in our times to
a false degree, a false sense of invincibility.
We have surgery to make us look younger,
diet pills to make us look thinner,
and medication
to make
a seemingly
live longer.
But even if you haven't assumed
prolonged life,
you are merely postponing
the ultimate reality of death.
Because
Wherever you are,
death will eventually come infect you.
As the poet says
We are born
sentenced to life without our choosing
and the destination of the living
have no alternative,
but to pass through the avenue of death.
Everyone
will have to pass through the avenue of
death. The very fact that you're alive,
this time you
to the avenue of death sometime in the
future.
Eloquently
eulogized
the passing of the prophet in
the following word when the Rasul passed away.
He said this,
He said,
death
spares neither the parent nor the child.
And this is how the reality is till
the end of time until no one will
exist anymore.
Death will take each one that exists, that
lives.
The prophet lived. This greatest of all people
but even he did not remain eternally for
the ummah.
If Allah had ever kept anyone alive forever,
the most worthy person of preservation
would have been the prophet.
The arrow of death
never misses its target.
The arrow of death never misses its target.
If it passes you by today,
someday it will hit you.
As we have witnessed,
everyday someone leaves the world behind
and we are all in the same line
but very few of us pay attention to
it.
We are in the line of life towards
the grave.
We never know how many people are before
us
and we cannot move to the back of
the line
nor can we avoid the line.
So we have no choice in our birth.
I wasn't born out of choice. Nobody asked
me if I want to be born.
I didn't have a choice in which family
or which town or which time or which
age or which country I was born.
So there's no choice of birth.
At the same time there is no avoidance
of death.
Whether you're a believer or a kafir or
a Muslim or atheist, death is a reality.
It's got nothing to do with Aqeedah. It's
a reality of life.
So there's neither there's no choice of our
birth nor is there an avoidance of death
except for us to utilize
the interval between our birth and our death
effectively. In other words,
live life
effectively.
Abuayib al Ansari, companion of Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam said, a man came to the Prophet
and said you Rasool Allah.
Some people were very rough. He said you
Rasool Allah tell me something, teach me something
but keep it short.
Tell me something but be concise.
In the sun of ibn Majah.
When you stand for your prayer,
pray every as if it's your last prayer.
In other words, you do a deed, there's
no guarantee that you're gonna do a deed
again. So when you stand for prayer for
salah,
pray as if it's your last prayer
and do not say anything
for which you may have to apologize.
In other words,
we learn from this response of Rasulullah
to seize the opportunity of life. We can
do something,
do it. But make sure it's something good
and do not do things
that you will regret.
The second thing besides learning of the reality
of life, awareness of our own mortality,
valuing every moment, conscious of our passing eventually
as we witness the death of so many
people.
Besides our own lives, our own mortality,
there's also the element of reflecting
on those
who have passed on, those whom we have
lost.
You see, we are never as aware
of life
as we are of it when you go
to the funeral of
people. The prophet,
salallahu alayhi wasalam, he should pray at the
graveyard.
From among
us who have preceded us, who have who
have passed away before us
and by the will of Allah,
eventually
we will be following them.
Allah's mercy on them and on us, but
they preceded us
in life towards death, but we will be
joining them.
So these people who have passed on before
us
are gone never to return.
But besides realizing
their permanent departure
from this world,
do we ever regret?
And I can tell you I do.
Regret the missed opportunities that we had
to think that now they are not there
what we could have done.
Have we expressed our appreciation
of them for enriching our lives with their
presence?
Be it a mother,
be it a
father, be it a brother or a sister,
a grandparent,
a teacher, a neighbor or friend.
Have we said I love you to those
who nurtured and cared for us?
Have we acknowledged those who have empowered us?
Have we said thank you to those who
helped us?
Have we asked forgiveness for those whom we
have hurt?
And have we paid back those whom we
have owed?
You see, we have a tendency to be
awakened about our appreciation
of people
after they die.
When they die
then too we wake up. Not only when
we see the reality of death, but we
also wake up now. Oh, I should have
done this. I should have visited them.
We realize the opportunities that we have missed.
How often do we say great things about
people who have died,
but we never said it to them in
their lifetime.
Personally for me,
in the last year,
just a year now last week, that my
father, my beloved father, pastor and
all the deceased Jannah.
About 50 days ago, a dear friend of
mine, the founder of Nakhlistan,
the shukur mawz passed on.
And this week, we lost
this man, Omaruddin
Omaruddin
Don Matera
who came from a life of crime,
a gang leader who embrace Islam,
but yet eventually left a lasting legacy
as an outstanding poet,
as a journalist,
a journalist by excellence.
A social activist,
a freedom fighter,
an exemplary
voice, an excellent
eloquent voice of conscience.
A literary icon
whose poetry we studied when we were in
high school.
A man who helped mentally, he was a
gang leader by the way. Criminal initially
of Sofia Town. That's from Sofia Town.
But look how Allah invaded him like Malcolm
X.
He helped many many youth
achieve greater heights.
He took gang members and made them sportsmen.
He took,
youth from broken homes
and made them leaders.
It took violent kids and molded them to
become healers of the communities.
He inspired multitudes of young people who lived
in despair and he empowered many people in
many different ways.
Though he was not fully
appreciated.
You see?
You know, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, if you look
in any mosque where there's English Quran anywhere
in the world,
is the Quran of Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
The most famous translation of the Quran in
any language.
I know it's English, but no other translation
into any other language from Arabic is more
popular
than that of Yusuf Ali.
Despite his political
political affiliation or his mother be inclination,
Generations of muslims in the english speaking world
all over the world have grown up including
myself reading Yusuf Ali's translation of the Quran.
So popular that 200 editions
they printed then they print another edition.
200 editions were printed of use of Ali's
Quran.
Making the most read translation
of the Quran in any language.
Yet, Abdullah Yusuf Ali died in the streets
of London,
impoverished and poor.
He died in December,
10th December, 1953.
He was found by Christian policeman,
half conscious,
slumped on a chair
in a bench in in the Westminster area
of London.
He died
December 10, 1953.
When the Pakistani embassy heard the arrest for
his funeral, didn't have money to bury him.
Yet, on every shelf of every mosque, we
have his labor of love,
his contribution to the world.
Anyone ever say thank you to him?
You see we live in a world of
critics.
Everyone
proud to to see and point out the
flaws and faults of other people,
and we are so preoccupied with this negativity
even amongst our ulama,
finding faults with everyone else among themselves even,
it prevents us from appreciating
the good in others and acknowledging the value
of people.
Was once such person.
Icon. Poet.
But very really appreciated by own.
Do you know there was a time I
remember I was in high school.
He was working for a Muslim organization putting
stamps
on envelopes and sorting out mail.
At times he lived on charity
and he he personally told us once how
he had to read the Kalima to some
people
to make sure that he was still Muslim.
This is very Don Matheira who received 2
doctorates
and numerous international
awards for his literary
and humanitarian contribution.
Point is
how often indeed do we say great things
about people who have died but never said
it to them in their lifetime?
How often do we praise the impact of
people after they are gone? But never the
decency to acknowledge the worth while they were
alive in our midst.
We write eulogies and tributes about the dead
for others to read
but never accord to them the privilege
of our appreciation of them.
Our accolades for them are reserved for the
ears and the eyes of others
But how much more valuable will it be
if you give a tribute to them personally
to touch their hearts and if you ever
conveyed that to them personally?
Rasulullah
said,
If you have someone whom you love and
care for appreciate,
let them know.
Tell them. Too many dear ones and important
ones
in our lives have passed on
And every day, we still keep missing these
opportunities.
It can be a mother. It doesn't have
to be a great personality.
Outside our lives, it can be our parents
in our home.
Words are left unsaid
and emotions
remain unexpressed.
We tend to focus more on the death
of the person who has died
then we focus on the person while he
or she was still alive.
It seems that we have a pro dead
rather than the pro living culture.
We attend the funeral of the dead and
make sure we go for the janadu salah.
Just to show our face to the family
can see we were there.
So we attend the funeral of the dead
but will not visit them on the death
bed when they are sick.
We make sure to pay respect to the
janaza
but not respect to him while he or
she is alive.
We put flowers to adorn their graves and
the adornment is not for them. They can't
see it. It's for those who come to
visit the graves, the living ones.
We write warm soft words
on hard cold gravestones.
We write warm, soft words
on hard, cold, gravestones.
How much better would it have been had
we said loving words
to a love living heart. Loving words to
a living heart that could appreciate
it. So express appreciation of people while people
are alive.
So people can hear them and
feel acknowledged.
Recognize
the incredibleness
of people we love while they are vibrant
and while they are in our midst.
Share their beauty and their wonder and their
immense gift to our lives before they are
gone.
I conclude by reminding ourselves to live fulfilling
lives
as upright,
positive,
appreciative and beneficial
social beings.
Rasulullah reminded us, and I'd like to remind
you what this hadith I often say,
it's documented by
Tibrani is marginal also he said,
Live as you please, but someday you will
die.
Love what you love,
someday you will be separated from it.
And do what you want.
Someday you'll be paid back for what you
do.
We all realize eventually the best of people
are those
who are most beneficial
and firmly in
us. So there's a dire need for us
to cultivate positive emotions in ourselves
and to manifest
love and gratitude in our daily lives
specifically to those who have enriched us.
Learn to realize the value of seemingly little
things
that may mean
so much to others.
Rasool said,
so that we may appreciate
the bigger things.
Otherwise,
we may not value anything and end up
learning nothing from our experience whether through pandemic
or witnessing the lives and the deaths of
people.
And we'll find eventually
when you look back at life,
the moments we will cherish the most
are the moments
when we have appreciated the little things.
Done what we were supposed to do.
And shared our care and compassion
and lived in the spirit of love. May
Allah granted those who have passed away, Allah
grant
And those among us who have parents and
family and friends and teachers and so on,
say
thank you.
Don't speak about them in the graveyards.
Alright. Tribute you can. Right? Nothing wrong with
it.
But
do it when they are alive.
Value people.
Allah will value us for
that.
This
is
to Sheikh Sadullah for the beautiful reminder.
May Allah
grant the information to cause a transformation in
our lives.
May
Allah
to carry on with the good duties that
they are always doing.
One second to
We make dua for Hajj Zaynah Bayat, the
wife of, our late mister Bayat who passed
on, a year ago, and mister Bayat also
passed on 40 days after his wife.
And we also make dua for Hajah
Salasunde,
the mother of,
Muhammad Shafi Sunde, the one who build the
Majid.
May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala all
as
with our beloved Nabi Muhammad
and we make duas may we make du'a
for all those who suffer with different calamities
all over the world, and Allah
is the is the calamities.
And may Allah
grant them ease and safety as well.
Let me just ask about this to stand
and to fill all the gaps.
Just to stand up and fill the gaps.
Just state in the Rosemond Fondly.
Stand shoulder to shoulder. Fill all the gaps.