Sikander Hashmi – How will you be remembered KMA Friday Message
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So we can maximize the space inshallah. It's
like we're not there.
Respected elders, dear brothers and sisters, my young
friends, assalamu alaykumuarrahmatullahi
ta'ala wa barakatuh.
One day the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam
passed by a funeral
and he said,
mustarihun
wa mustarahum
min
relieved and relieved from. So you imagine Rasulullah
hsalallahu alaihi wa sallam
is passing by and he has some companions
with him and there is a funeral
and he just says, Mustariyyahun wa Mustarrahum min.
Relieved and relieved from.
So the companions who are with him they
say, You Rasulullah, o Messenger of Allah,
what is
relieved and relieved from?
What are you referring to? What does this
mean
relieved and relieved from?
So Rasulullah he sallallahu
alaihi wasallam said,
the believing servant
is relieved from the hardships and harms of
the world to the mercy of Allah
and the wicked
are those from whom are relieved the servants
of Allah,
the land,
the trees and the creatures.
So Rasulullah hissalallahu alaihi wasallam
divided people into 2 categories.
People who have departed from this world
into 2 categories.
Either relieved
from the hardships and harms of the world
and into the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
or relieved from meaning
the servants of Allah, the creatures of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and even the land and
the trees
are relieved by the departure of a person.
Na Ina Ina Allah. My brothers and sisters,
imagine the good fortune of the person who
leaves behind the trials and tribulations of this
world
and enters the loving mercy of Allah.
Many times when a loved one passes away,
of course it's a sad moment. It's a
grievous moment.
Even Sayyidina Rasulullah he sallallahu alaihi wasallam shed
tears.
It is a sign of love and mercy
that Allah has put in our hearts.
So there's nothing wrong with feeling grieved.
However, we should think positively
that our loved one has been rescued from
the trials and tribulations of this world
and has been put into the love and
mercy of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Rescued from this world and all the illnesses
and the challenges and relationships,
financial strains,
grief,
various types of pain, the suffering, the tests,
safe in Allah's mercy and protection,
Relieved from this world.
And then imagine the person who leaves
the world
and the weak
and the oppressed.
The faithful.
The people who are under their care and
their authority,
and even the land and the trees and
the creatures of Allah are happy and relieved
that this person is gone and they say
good riddance.
They say Alhamdulillah this person is gone from
our lives.
This person is gone from walking on top
of me leaving the land. This person is
gone
from
our company. My brothers and sisters,
what are we doing to ensure
that when our time comes, and indeed it
is going to come,
we are the relieved
and not the relieved from.
Today, my brothers and sisters,
the Muslims
of North America
and the UK
and beyond
are mourning the sudden loss
of Sheikh Mohammed al Sharif.
Sheikh Mohammed
was born in Winnipeg.
He was raised in Canada.
He memorized Quran
at Al Rashid Islamic Institute, which is the
same place where I studied in Cornwall,
and then he went on to Madinah University.
He returned
from there
and founded Al Maghrib Institute
and brought a generation of Muslims and especially
young Muslims
towards the dean
in a manner that was
revolutionary
on a tremendous scale.
To my knowledge,
and I could be wrong, but he is
one of the first, if not the first,
Canadian born and raised Islamic scholar
that has returned to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And and
while our hearts are saddened,
it is befitting
that this honor
goes to someone as special as special as
sheikh Mohammed.
He was about 7 years my senior
so I was a young child
who would visit,
weekly when he was studying
student years. You can talk to his teachers.
You can talk to our sheriff, to the
principal. You can talk to the students who
were there at his time,
and,
like,
it's legendary,
the stories that you will hear.
His parents and his in laws are right
here in Ottawa, not far from us, and
we offer our heartfelt condolences to them and
all of his friends and colleagues and students.
Ask Allah
to accept all of his efforts,
his tremendous efforts, and the tremendous impact as
sadaqa jariyah for him. Ameen.
SubhanAllah, my brothers and sisters,
online news feeds
are flooded
with duas
and good memories and good stories, good anecdotes
and words about him. And it reminds me
of a couple of things. Abu Huraira radiAllahu
anhu said that the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wasallam said,
when Allah loves a person,
when Allah loves a person he calls Jibril
alaihi salam and says,
I love so and so so love him.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells Jibril alaihis salam
I love so and so so love him.
So Jibril loves him
and then he, Jibril, calls out to the
people of heaven that Allah loves so and
so, so love
him. So the people of heaven
love him and he finds or she finds
acceptance on earth.
If Allah hates a person,
he calls Jibril and says, I hate so
and so, so hate
him. And so Jibril hates him, and then
he calls out to the people of heaven
and says,
Allah hates so and so, so hate him.
So they hate him, and he is hated
on
Anasur radiAllahu anhu reported
that if you know a procession passed
and the people
praise the deceased,
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said wajabat.
It has become certain.
It has become certain or it has been
affirmed.
And then another funeral procession passed
and these people didn't speak so positively. They
spoke badly, negatively of the deceased. And the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
prophet sallallahu
alaihi
wasallam said, wajabat, it has become certain. Umar
ibn Khattab radiAllahu anhu asked, what has been
affirmed, Ar
Rasulullah?
What is the meaning of this wajabat? What
has been affirmed?
What has become certain?
So he replied he said, you reply you
praised
this meaning the first one.
So Jannah has been affirmed for affirmed to
him, and you spoke badly of this.
So the hellfire has been affirmed to him.
You
people are Allah's witnesses on earth as reported
in Sahihayn
as reported in Sahihayn al Qari in Muslim.
There's a similar narration, Abu Aswad radiAllahu anhu
reported, I came to Madinah when an epidemic
had broken out.
I came to Madinah when an epidemic had
broken
out. While I was sitting with Umar ibn
Khattab radiAllahu anhu, a funeral procession passed by
and the people praised the deceased.
Sayna Umar radiAllahu anhu said,
same words, wajabat. It has been affirmed to
him or it has been it has become
certain. And another funeral procession passed by and
the people praised the deceased and Sayna Umar
radiAllahu
said, wajabad it has been affirmed.
A third funeral procession passed by and the
people spoke badly of the deceased
and he said, wajabad it has been affirmed
to him.
So he says, I, Abu al Aswad, asked,
Youmir al Momineen, o chief of the believers,
leader of the believers, what has been affirmed?
So he replied,
I said the same as the prophet
had said. That is if 4 persons testify
to the piety of a Muslim, Allah will
grant him Jannah.
We asked what if 3 persons testify to
his piety.
He sallallahu alaihi wasallam
replied even 3. Then we asked, if 2,
he replied, even 2. We did not ask
him regarding one witness.
So my brothers and sisters,
we benefit
from these ahadith that the remarks
of people, particularly the true believers,
the pious believers,
reflect their righteousness and integrity of character. If
they bear witness
to the purity of heart of a person,
to the character of a person, to the
iman of a person,
then insha'Allah that person is sure to go
to Jannah.
And if they comment on the evil mindedness
of somebody,
on the evil character of someone,
then that person is likely to be sent
to the hellfire. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
protect us all.
Of course, this doesn't mean
that people are the judge instead of Allah
Of course not. Allah
is the one who judges,
but it does indicate
that people are Allah's witnesses
on the earth.
If they testify
to the righteousness
or evilness of a person, it is likely
that Allah will
treat that person
accordingly.
Now, of course,
it does not mean
that there should be a popularity contest or
that we should be looking to please people
simply for the sake of pleasing them. But
the question is, my brothers and sisters,
that if you
and I were to die today and leave
this world,
how will we be remembered?
How will I be remembered?
How will you be remembered?
How will you be remembered by your spouse
and children?
Your parents, your relatives,
the people at the masjid,
your neighbors,
your coworkers,
your fellow
students,
and the land and the creatures of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
How will they be remembering you?
Because the way they remember you will impact
whether
they pray for you
or perhaps they pray against you
or they don't pray for you at all.
Will they miss you or will they be
celebrating?
And again, it doesn't mean that we just
try to make people happy. Right? That's not
the point.
But the point is
that we live our life according to the
guidance of Allah and His messenger
following the sunnah of Rasulullah
And we keep
people, our relations,
our
the people around us,
the creatures of Allah
on good terms,
that we have a relationship based on love
and mercy with everyone. Yes. Of course, everyone
has can have disagreements. Everyone can have some
misunderstandings.
So those things are part of human nature
and human conduct.
But what matters is how we respond to
those instances
and what we do after that.
So my brothers and sisters, our time is
also coming.
And the time coming for the believer
is not necessarily a bad thing as we
learned
because you can be relieved
from the trials and tribulations of this world
and be put in the love and mercy
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So that's not
necessarily a bad thing. That's actually a good
thing.
And the believer
yearns to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because
of their love for Allah
So our time is coming
because as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells
us, Right? Every single person has to face
it, and we don't know when. And we
get these reminders from time to time
that there's no certainty.
There's no certainty. There's no
guarantee for anyone.
So the time is also coming, but it
is not too late
yet
to seek forgiveness,
to
love, to care,
and to do our best to set things
right, at least to have the intention
and to make the effort.
I will end with a quote. Well, there's
many quotes for Sheikh Mohammed,
but I'll quote one which has been making
the rounds today.
He said or he tweeted or posted, this
world is temporary.
Death is real and the punishment of the
grave is quite serious.
So spend your days and nights in bettering
yourself and getting closer to Allah.
At the time of death, all the arguments
and needless word wars won't matter.
All the money you amassed won't matter.
All the sins you in you earned by
indulging in backbiting and gossiping or lying won't
matter. What will matter are your good deeds,
the amount of Quran that you read, how
you treated others,
how you helped others,
how much you prayed,
how often you sought repentance.
This is all that'll matter when your soul
is about to be taken away. May Allah
grant us all a good return to him.
May
Allah make us those who are faithful to
him, who leave behind
positive impacts and a positive legacy, and who
are kind to those around them.
May Allah grant us purity
of mind, body, and soul before our return
to him.
After,
after,
we offer the prayer, after salah, we'll be
offering
in absentia for, Sheikh Mohammed.
It's, you
know, an issue with, fiqh differences, but nonetheless,
there are valid opinions that when a great
personality has passed away who has served the
deen of Allah
that it is, permissible in that instance and
some others as well according to some, to
offer prayer,
without the the,
the the deceased being there. So we'll be
doing that after, our prayer today.
We'll give a few moments to offer some
of the prayers.