The Virtue of Special Times and Places in Islam

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Hafez Mohsin

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

And I pray and send salutations upon the one sent as a mercy to the worlds. Our master Muhammad and upon his family and all his companions. O Allah, teach us what benefits us, and benefit us with what You have taught us, and increase us in knowledge and deeds.

O Allah, enlighten us with religion and teach us interpretation. O Allah, open my heart and ease my affairs, and free me from my tongue, so that they may understand my speech.

Allah says in the Glorious Qur'an — I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan:

Indeed, Allah and His angels send salutations upon the Prophet. O you who have believed, send salutations upon him and salute him with a worthy salutation.

And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: most of the people on the Day of Resurrection are more worthy of prayer than I am. Or as he ﷺ said.

We ask Allah to make this day of Jumu'ah a day of rejuvenation of our Iman, a day of strengthening of our Iman, a day of increase in our Iman. Allahumma ameen.

The Special Status of Yawm al-Jumu'ah

Dear brothers and sisters, it is of no doubt that Allah has allocated every single week a special day for all of us — a day which even the Prophet of Allah ﷺ observed every single week, performing many different acts and ways of worship. This day of Jumu'ah is like a day of Eid for us every single week.

There is this way of thinking in our minds — and it is also emphasized in the Sunnah — that in certain moments, in certain places, in certain times, we can be performing some actions, but other actions have a little bit more of a fada'il to them. What do I mean by this? Certain actions have more virtue according to the time and place in which they are done.

For example, in our daily lives — I'll give an example so it's easy to embed the concept in our minds, and then let us apply the Islamic framework and lens to it. When it comes to working out, training our muscles, training our stamina, there is one way to do it where we attempt to do it at home, and this is successful at times. But oftentimes we hear of the idea that environment makes it best. This is why we get memberships, this is why we try to go to the gym, this is why we go to workout facilities — because the environment is created over there, and it's easier to propel yourself to get to that intensity and the workout you desire, where you can, quote-unquote, break a sweat. Doing it outside of the gym increases in difficulty, but doing it inside the gym itself helps in that workout.

Consequently, if we want to study for a major exam or a test that is coming up, no one said that you can't study in a crowded place. But where is it easier, where is it more conducive? The environment of a quiet area — like a library, a school, the confines of your house or room, or with nature sounds playing. When you create the mood and the environment all around you to propel yourself for an activity you want, it makes it easier.

The Islamic Framework: Time, Place, and Virtue

Now let us apply the Islamic lens and framework to this. I ask Allah to give us the ability and the blessing of doing this action every single year, every single moment, whenever we can — but if we were to go to Umrah, for example, or even to the blessed cities of Makkah and Madinah.

In Makkah, there are many actions which are multiplied — tenfold, hundredfold, seven hundredfold, thousandfold, millionfold. For example, praying one salah in Makkah al-Mukarramah, in the masjid of Allah, in the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ — this of course increases the reward. But what is the action of that place which you cannot do anywhere else? It's tawaf. There is not one place upon the earth, other than circumambulating the Ka'bah, where you can perform tawaf. So in that area, at that time, the best action to do is to perform multiple tawafs. While doing tawaf you can of course read the Qur'an, make different du'as, call out to Allah. But there is nowhere else you can do that action except over there.

What is an action that you can only do in Madinah al-Munawwarah? Visiting the grave of the Prophet ﷺ. You cannot do that anywhere else. There is nowhere upon this earth that you can do it except in that blessed area, because that is where the grave of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ is.

Now, take the example of salah. Salah can be done anywhere — at home, on the road, in the grass, in a standby place. But where is it multiplied and preferred? In the masjid. Salah at home is one thing, but it is multiplied 27-fold when prayed in the masjid.

Fasting in Ramadan — fasting can be done at any time of the year. But where is it multiplied, preferred — rather, obligatory for us? It's in Ramadan. So the action of Ramadan is to fast, because that is where fasting is obligatory and multiplied.

Similarly, Allah has given us a very special day in the week, which we call Yawm al-Jumu'ah. What is the action of Jumu'ah? What is one of the most amazing and most virtuous actions you can do on the day of Jumu'ah?

The Best of Days: Friday and the Command to Send Salawat

The Prophet of Allah ﷺ says in a hadith:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1047; also reported in Sahih Ibn Hibban)

The Prophet of Allah ﷺ said: among the most excellent of your days is Friday. On it, Adam ﷺ was created. On it, he died. On it, the last trumpet will be blown. And on it will be Yawm al-Qiyamah. A very special day. So what did the Prophet of Allah ﷺ tell us to do on that day? He says: "Send salawat upon me on that day — on Yawm al-Jumu'ah." He says: فَأَكْثِرُوا عَلَيَّ مِنَ الصَّلَاةِ — send salawat upon me. For your blessings will be submitted to me on this day.

There are many days on which we can send salawat. But the Prophet of Allah ﷺ distinctly said that on this day, the salawat we recite will be presented to him. The angels will come and carry the salawat upon the soul of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.

So of course the companions asked:

The companions said: "O Messenger of Allah, how can it be that our blessings will be submitted to you while your body will be decaying?" So the Prophet of Allah ﷺ replied:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1047; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1636)

That Allah has prohibited the earth from consuming the bodies of the Prophets ﷺ. This emphasizes the fact that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ will receive our salawat on this day — and we firmly believe he will reply to each one as well.

Allah and His Angels Send Salawat: A Continuous Action

This is why Allah in the Qur'an says — in an ayah which is recited almost every single Jumu'ah:

That Allah and the angels send their peace and blessings, their mercy and their forgiveness upon the soul of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ. This is an action which reverberates in the heavens. This is not something that only happens upon the earth. Not only human beings, but Allah Himself and the most blessed of companies — the most blessed of creations, the creations which have no sin upon their shoulders, the angels: Jibreel ﷺ, Mikail ﷺ, and the entire fraternity of angels — continuously do this.

Now in Arabic, we have these three different tenses. We have madi, which means past tense. We have something called present tense, mudara'. And we also have something called future tense, mustaqbal. But in Arabic, it's very specific and interesting that the present tense form of a verb also carries the meaning of future tense. For example, fa'ala in the Arabic language — a very primer word that we use to teach students how Arabic morphology works, the science of verbs. Fa'ala means "he did." And yaf'alu means "he is doing," but also it has a meaning of "he will do." So it shows this idea of continuity — something that is happening right now and will continuously happen into the future. There is no end to it.

Allah in this ayah specifically said يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ. يُصَلُّونَ comes from the word صَلَّى يُصَلِّي, which means to pray. It has many different meanings. In this context, it means to send blessings or mercy — and when it comes to the angels, it means sending forgiveness. And it is in the present tense because it continuously happens. While we are sitting here right now, it is continuously happening in the heavens. It didn't happen in just one specific moment. It will continuously happen. There is no end to it.

Then Allah gives the command to human beings, to those who believe: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — O you who believe. And know very well that when Allah in the Qur'an says يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا, whatever He says after that is a means of increasing the faith already inside our hearts. Allah is speaking to you and I. And this is a ni'mah of Allah that He has given us iman inside of our hearts. But iman is like a fluctuating meter — it can go up and it can go down in its perfection, up and down in its sincerity. So we always look for ways of increasing this iman inside of our hearts. Allah is giving us an antidote to this. How can we increase the iman inside of our hearts?

Allah says: O you who believe, send salawat upon my messenger, Habib Mustafa Muhammad ﷺ. صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا — continuously send it. And the Prophet of Allah ﷺ is saying that this is the best day to do it. If we didn't have a chance yesterday, and if we may have forgotten the day before, today is the best way to start.

And the most easiest method of doing this — صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا — this is one salawat upon the Prophet of Allah ﷺ. And we know from the hadith that the salawat may be a couple of words, but it is very weighty on the Day of Judgment. There are only a couple of adhkar about which Allah Himself says that they will elevate you and will be very weighty and heavy on that Day of Judgment.

The Prophet of Allah ﷺ says: whoever sends salawat upon me once, Allah will send 10 mercies and blessings upon the one who says it.

So is this a favor that we are doing upon the Prophet of Allah ﷺ? Already Allah, in His correct majesty as we understand Him, and all of the angels are sending salawat. What good will it do if you or I send it as well? Who are we compared to the plethora of human beings that have come in the past — six billion, seven billion, all of the humankind that have come in the past, that are here in the present, that will come in the future? Who am I and who are you in this figment of human history, sending salawat upon the Messenger ﷺ?

The Prophet of Allah ﷺ is saying that sending salawat upon him is not a favor, not a blessing, not a means of elevating only him — but rather it is a means of elevating us. Because Allah Himself will send it upon us as well. He will alleviate any type of difficulty, anxiety, sadness, grief, or anything that is going on inside of our lives. So this salawat is not just for the Prophet of Allah ﷺ — it is for us as well. It's an honor. It is already an honor to be included in the same company, in the same verb, in the company of Allah and the angels who are doing this action — but Allah gave us the honor of being included in that action as well. An action that Allah is doing, yet He is also calling us to do. How honorable is the human being, how honorable is the mu'min who participates in this action of sending salawat upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Umar's Love for the Prophet ﷺ

The reason why we can increase our faith in doing the salawat is by increasing the love that we have for him. And there is an incident that happened in the life of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ. Umar رضي الله عنه narrated:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6632)

The companions were in the company of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, and the Prophet of Allah ﷺ grabbed the hand of Umar رضي الله عنه. Umar رضي الله عنه said to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ: "O Rasulullah ﷺ, you are more beloved to me than anything else that walks, that talks, that is upon this earth — except myself. I love you, but I love myself a little bit more."

The Prophet of Allah ﷺ took an oath by the One in whose hand my soul is, and said: "You have not truly believed until I am more beloved to you even above yourself." So Umar رضي الله عنه thought about this for a moment. And then he said: "Now, by Allah, you are more beloved to me than myself." The Prophet ﷺ replied: "Now, O Umar — now."

Umar رضي الله عنه, at that moment, took into account: if the Prophet of Allah ﷺ had not come and propagated the message of Islam to me, where would I be right now? Umar رضي الله عنه was one of the most staunch disbelievers. When he was a disbeliever, he was one of the most staunch ones. Without the guidance of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and the guidance of Allah entering inside of his heart, where would he be? He contemplated — thinking that at this moment I would be on my way to Jahannam, and I would not even know or have news of Jahannam inside of my mind. But it was because of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ that now I understand what is right and what is wrong — what I need to do to stay away from Jahannam.

And this is something that we also need to ask ourselves. If it wasn't for the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, the message of Islam wouldn't have come to us. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ made it his duty to the point that Allah says in the Qur'an:

In many places in the Qur'an, Allah talks about the condition of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ regarding conveying the message of Islam: "It is as if you are about to kill yourself that these people will not believe." The feeling and the heaviness that he had inside of his heart, knowing that someone was not believing in Allah, was so hard on him. But he would continue to do it. And because of his mercy, his compassion, and his consideration — we are here today sitting in the masjid, in the house of Allah, listening to the adhkar of Allah, listening to the Qur'an of Allah, listening to the words of the Prophet ﷺ. We owe it all back to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.

The Dangers of Neglecting Salawat

One thing that I will end off with for today is that there are many virtues mentioned regarding sending salawat upon the Prophet of Allah ﷺ — being honored so that we can be included with the action of Allah, as He is fit, and of the angels. But there are also dangers. Believe it or not, there are also dangers in not sending salawat upon the Prophet of Allah ﷺ. And Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه says:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, reported as a statement of Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه)

Umar رضي الله عنه says, in a very emphatic narration, that a du'a from a human being is suspended between the heavens and the earth — it has not reached the court of Allah. It is suspended. And nothing will bring it up to Allah except sending salawat upon the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.

We should contemplate — whenever we make du'a, one of the etiquettes is that we begin by praising Allah:

Many different ways of praising Allah. But right after that, what do we do? We send salawat upon the Nabi ﷺ. Because this is a du'a that is for sure accepted — there is no du'a more accepted than the du'a of sending salawat upon the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, because Allah Himself is doing it. And then we end off our du'a as well with the salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ. Sandwiching our du'a with two accepted du'as is hopefully a good omen that whatever is in between will also be accepted.

But this is an emphatic warning — a very emphatic danger given to us — that our du'a will not reach the Arsh of Allah unless we send salawat upon the Nabi ﷺ. Sending salawat upon him is a means of our du'a being accepted.

The Three Amins of Jibreel ﷺ

In another hadith — and this is a hadith often recited in the time of Ramadan — narrated by Jabir رضي الله عنه: the Prophet of Allah ﷺ ascended the minbar, and at every step he ascended, he said Ameen — and he said this three times. The companions asked:

(Sahih Ibn Hibban, Hadith 409; also reported in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat of al-Tabarani)

"We heard you saying Ameen three times." He said: "When I ascended the first step, Jibreel ﷺ came to me and said: cursed be the one upon whom Ramadan comes and passes, and he is not forgiven. So I said: Ameen. Then he said: cursed be the slave who has one or both of his parents alive, and they do not cause him to enter Jannah — meaning he does not honor them in their old age. So I said: Ameen. Then he said: wretched is the slave in whose presence you are mentioned, and he does not send salawat upon you. So I said: Ameen."

When the name of the Prophet ﷺ is mentioned, Jibreel ﷺ made a du'a that the one who does not send salawat upon him at that moment is cursed by Jibreel ﷺ. So whenever we hear the name of the Prophet ﷺ, let us try our best to send salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ.

We ask Allah that on this blessed day, He gives us the ability to continuously send salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ. And let the salawat be a means of our darajah — our rank — being elevated in Allah's eyes. And let it be a means of us getting closest to Him.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Announcements

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right. Bear in mind those that are still praying their salah. Please donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ has said that charity given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day.

Parking announcements: Please do not park on the curbs behind the seminary building or on the roadway that leads to Swift Road. We have a lot of parking spots, alhamdulillah — not only in our parking lot but also in our used car lot. We also ask all brothers and sisters please do not park in the condo's parking lot.

Sisters' Sunday Dars is this Sunday, October 8th, at 12 o'clock noon, followed by lunch right after Dhuhr salah, inshallah. This Sunday's dars will be given by Alimah Naqid Muqeem Abba.

Please also save the date for our Seerah Conference, which will be next week, inshallah, on Friday and Saturday. We will be covering many different aspects of the life of our Prophet ﷺ. A very new and novel thing we are doing this year is that we have two side-by-side programs — one for the men and one for the women, with two different topics covered, inshallah.

A very good way of at least preparing ourselves for talking about the Prophet of Allah ﷺ is to continuously send salawat upon him ﷺ. We have salawat cards — these cards are meant to make it easy for us to count, inshallah. Every box is counted as 100 salawat. We have 50 boxes, so inshallah we'll cover about 5,000. This way we can do at least 5,000 every single day.

Join us for the exclusive Sisters' Seerah Conference as mentioned, running parallel with the Brothers' Seerah Conference. Again, this will be next Friday.

Weekly programs: Team Fajr will continue tomorrow, Saturday. Fajr iqamah is at 6:15 a.m. Tafsir will be on Tuesdays after Isha salah, covering the Tafsir of Surah al-Furqan, which begins at 8 p.m.

Registrations are still open for our Sunday School. This program is designed for youth to learn the essentials of Islam in an environment that seeks to nurture and develop a deep love of and connection to Allah and His beloved Messenger ﷺ. All information about our programs is on our website: masjidds.org.

Community Center programs: Tuesday — Women's Basketball, 7–9 p.m. Wednesday — Men's Volleyball, 8–10 p.m. Thursday — Men's Basketball, 8–10 p.m.

We have brothers from Harvey who are here to raise funds for the American Muslim Cemetery — the first exclusively Muslim cemetery in Illinois with fully Shari'ah-compliant burials, without the need for cement liners and caskets. The cemetery will be run on a masjid model, completely free of charge for all Muslims. It has 25,000 to 30,000 graves, valued at $82 million based on current cemetery costs. For more details, there are brothers in the lobby and outside at the archway entrance.

We also have a du'a request for Sister Wasila, who has been in the hospital for the past three weeks and yesterday had an emergency surgery. We ask Allah to give her shifa' kamilah, 'ajilah, mustamirrah.