The 3 Concise Legacies - Dr Ahmad Humood Al - Jassar

The Three Concise Legacies

Our speech today, my beloved brothers, is about a legacy — or three legacies — concise legacies of Rasulullah ﷺ to his companion Abu Dharr al-Ghafari, and then to his nation, to this ummah. These three legacies represent your three obligations — the three obligations of any Muslim. As a matter of fact, all your obligations in life are included in this legacy.

The First Legacy: Taqwa — Fear of Allah

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

Fear Allah wherever and whenever you are — whether you are with people or sitting alone, whether you are at home or outside, on the road or off the road. Fear Allah. Be of those who are called المتقين.

التقوى means protection. Make a shield — have a shield between yourself and the anger of Allah and the punishment of Allah. How do you have the shield? By having تقوى.

What is تقوى exactly? تقوى is every good deed that you do for the sake of Allah, and every bad deed that you leave for the sake of Allah. In summary, it is doing the good deeds and doing طاعة, doing عبادة — worship — على نور من الله, on the basis of knowledge. You don't worship Allah just whatever way you like. No — you have to follow the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ. He taught us how to worship Allah. Therefore, you have guidance from Allah through His Messenger ﷺ.

ترجو ثواب الله — for the sake of getting the blessings and حسنات from Allah. وتخشى عقاب الله — and for the sake of having a protection between yourself and the punishment of Allah. On the other hand, you leave all the sins — and you leave the sins because you know they are sins. How do you know they are sins? Because you have knowledge. Because you know this is a sin, because you know this is a wrongdoing, because you know that Allah doesn't like this. على نور من الله، ترجو ثواب الله — for the sake of getting the blessings and حسنات from Allah and the good reward. وتخشى عقاب الله — because you feel His punishment. This is Taqwa.

And when somebody says to you اتَّقِ اللَّهَ — don't take it as an insult. Actually, this is the best advice that you can get. You will not — and no one ever will — be better than the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Nobody walked on this earth from humans is better than Muhammad ﷺ. And yet Allah said in the first verse of Surah Al-Ahzab:

It is the legacy of Allah to this nation, to this ummah, and all the people before:

We have made this legacy and We have ordered the people before you, and you, to have Taqwa — have fear from Allah.

The Fruits of Taqwa

The fruits of Taqwa are endless. The best fruit you get is the acceptance of Allah — in this life, the acceptance of your deeds:

Allah accepts good deeds from those who fear Him. The fruits of Taqwa include having ease in this life — ease of every matter:

Allah makes your way in this life easy because of Taqwa, and gives you a way out from every problem and a way over every obstacle that you may have in this life:

You get a way out from a direction that you did not expect to get a solution from — and probably many of you have tried this before. And then another reward from Allah:

Those who fear Allah and have Taqwa — they will have their sins deleted, and their level among the Mu'mineen in the Hereafter is raised. وَيُعْظِمْ لَهُ أَجْرًا — your reward will be much. And the one who is saying "much" is not me — it is the Almighty Allah.

This is Taqwa. This is your first obligation. The first right on you is the right towards Allah — your obligation towards Allah is to fear Him, to have Taqwa, and to have protection between yourself and His anger and punishment.

The Second Legacy: Following a Sin with a Good Deed

The second legacy represents the second obligation — your obligation of yourself towards yourself. The right of yourself on yourself. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

Whenever you do a sin, follow it by a good deed — a worship, استغفار, ذكر, صلاة. And no one among us is free from doing a sin. So in order to fulfill this obligation of yourself towards yourself — whenever you commit a sin, don't follow it with another sin, but follow it with a good deed. Follow it with tawbah — going back to Allah, making istighfar. Istighfar means asking Allah to forgive you — asking for forgiveness and for deleting the sin and the influence of this sin on yourself. If you make istighfar and ask for forgiveness from Allah, Allah will forgive your sins.

وَأَتْبِعِ السَّيِّئَةَ الْحَسَنَةَ تَمْحُهَا — because if you don't do this, then your sins might not be forgiven, and you might be punished for this, and then you did not escape the punishment of Allah. So the obligation of yourself towards yourself is to do the things that will make you escape the punishment and earn the great reward from Allah — which is Al-Jannah. This is your second obligation.

The Third Legacy: Good Manners with People

Your third obligation is towards the people — the people whom you are living with. And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

All the people — all the people deserve good manners from you. خَالِقِ النَّاسَ بِخُلُقٍ حَسَنٍ. This is their right on you — to deal with people with good manners. All the people. And good manners can never be overemphasized.

As a matter of fact, the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 8952; al-Adab al-Mufrad, Hadith 273)

Allah sent me — the Prophet ﷺ says — sent me to complete the good manners, to complete the good manners of people.

And we will never reach the ideal manners of the Prophet ﷺ, but we can at least seek and have him as our model. Because Allah said to us:

You have a good model — the Prophet ﷺ is your good and best model. So follow his manners. And when Allah wanted to praise His Prophet ﷺ, He did not say he had the best roots and he is from the best Arab tribes — though he was. He did not say he was the best, nicest-looking man — though he was. But He said:

When Allah, the Almighty, wanted to praise His Prophet ﷺ, He said: وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ — you have a high standard of manners. And this praise is not from a human — it is not from a minister or a head of state — it is from Allah, the Almighty. This was in the beginning of Surah Al-Qalam.

As the poet said:

It is enough for a praise — to read the beginning of Surah Al-Qalam — and you will see the best praise of Muhammad ﷺ from his Creator, the Almighty Allah.

The Reward of Good Manners

Those who have good manners reach a grade or a level among the Mu'mineen that some people who pray Nafilah — more than the Fareedah, more than the five prayers a day — may not reach. Some people, with their good manners, have more reward than those people. And some people fast during the day, while others who do not fast but have good manners may surpass them in reward. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4798)

A true believer reaches the level of a person who fasts the day and prays at night — دَرَجَةَ الصَّائِمِ الْقَائِمِ. So what of a man or a woman who fasts the day and prays at night, and in addition has good manners? This is the benefit of having good manners in Islam.

And the people who have good manners are the best among Muslim people. This is said by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3559; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2321)

The best amongst you are those with the best manners. And he said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2018)

Among those whom I love the most, and those who are nearest to me in the Hereafter, are those among you who have the best manners. With good manners, you have the love of people, the love of the Prophet ﷺ, and above all, the love and satisfaction of Allah Almighty.

A Reminder of the Three Legacies

So I remind myself and my beloved brothers to fulfill those three obligations:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

As the Prophet ﷺ advised and guided us through this hadith, narrated by al-Imam al-Tirmidhi, may Allah have mercy on him.

Second Part of the Khutbah

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon His servant and Messenger Muhammad, and upon his family and all his companions.

Please always remember these three legacies of the Prophet ﷺ. And remember that you are all دعاة — you are all people who should guide other people to the straight path, to the path of Islam. Because the Prophet ﷺ did not exclude anybody from his saying:

He is asking you to convey his message — even if you convey one verse from what the Prophet ﷺ conveyed to the people from his Creator, the Almighty Allah. So please remember that you are all دعاة — you are all models to other people.

Fear Allah between yourself and your Creator. And whenever you commit a sin, please follow it with a good deed, with a worship — because good deeds, when you earn حسنات, they delete the سيئات. As Allah said in Surah Hud:

Hasanat delete siyat — good deeds delete the sins. So whenever you commit a sin, do a hasanat, do something good, do a worship.

وَخَالِقِ النَّاسَ بِخُلُقٍ حَسَنٍ — have good manners with all the people. Start with your parents, with your children, with your spouse, with the people at work, on the road, in the market. Let the people see the good image of Islam. Many nations entered Islam because of the good manners of Muslims — as you may know — and many people entered this great religion and were saved from the Hellfire because of somebody who treated them well.

So let's all be good Muslims. Let's all tell the truth. Let's all keep our word. Let's all love for each other what we love for ourselves — for this is a true Mu'min:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 13; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 45)

Let's all love for our fellow brothers what we love for ourselves.

Du'a — Supplication

I pray to Allah, Almighty — as He gathered us in this blessed place, to gather us in Jannah with our parents, spouses and children, and our beloved ones, without being held accounted for any sin. He is the best forgiver.

O Allah, come to our souls to strengthen them and purify them — You are the best, for You are their guardian. O Allah, forgive us and our parents, our spouses and children, our relatives, our sheikhs, and all Muslims. O Allah, forgive the Muslims and the believers, the living and the dead — You are the Hearer, the One who answers our supplications.

O Allah, forgive us our shortcomings towards our parents, O Lord of all the worlds. Make us among the righteous towards them, by Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful.

May Allah bless this mosque and these good faces. May Allah let us be with you in Your eternal heaven, O Lord of the worlds.