Recharging Our Iman: The Virtue of Jumu'ah and Sacred Deeds

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Hafez Mustafa Ali

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 69)

Dear respected brothers, elders, dear mothers and sisters, respected friends, dear students — As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

We begin by thanking Allah for giving us this opportunity to come to His house, the masjid, which the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said:

The best places upon this earth are the masajid, the houses of Allah.
(Sahih Muslim, Book 5, Hadith 1215)

And on this blessed day, Allah has given us the opportunity to come and rejuvenate our iman.

Yawm al-Jumu'ah: A Day of Recharging Our Iman

See, the day of Jumu'ah is a day of happiness, a day of greeting, but also a day of rejuvenation and a day of charging. Just as the phone needs a charge at the end of a day, just like that a believer needs a charge at the end of the week. And this is a charge that we use to fulfill all of our obligations throughout the week.

The iman that is necessary inside of our hearts — Yawm al-Jumu'ah is one of the best days to recharge that iman. Yawm al-Jumu'ah is like our Eid because it's a day of happiness, because Allah gives us an opportunity to come closer to Him.

A day and an opportunity to believe in Him, just a little bit more, to increase the perfection in our belief in Him. So we ask Allah to give us the opportunity to increase the perfection of iman, the faith and the belief that we have in Him, to give us affirmation in our faith, to allow us to not waver in our faith, and to erase any doubts in our mind from our faith. Ameen, Ya Rabbal Alameen.

Actions Elevated by Time and Place

Respected brothers, elders, and sisters, there are specific actions which are allocated and increased in their reward, increased in their virtue, according to the time and place in which they are conducted. For example, if we take the act of salah — prayer to Allah — our daily five prayers, we can easily do this in our homes. We can easily do this when we're traveling on the side of the street, or in a rest area.

But this very action, when done in a certain place, the reward and virtue of it increases. When it is done in the masjid, when it is done in the house of Allah, the reward and the gift which is wrapped for the salah is increased and presented to Allah with more reward for us — 27 times more reward. If the same salah is done in the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ, well, it's increased even more than that — tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold. And then if the wudu is done properly, it is increased even more. So that same action which is done in the home will be increased when it's done in the masjid.

Another example of this is fasting. Now, fasting done in Ramadan is a very virtuous act. That same fast done outside of Ramadan is a little more difficult. Everyone in Ramadan is fasting, so there's an ease to it. But when times become difficult, and even then the believer sticks to fasting, that fasting increases in its reward. Because now there is the aspect of difficulty attached to it. And through that difficulty, if the mu'min still performs his fasting — for example, Monday and Thursday fasting, or ayyamul bi'id, the 13th, 14th, and 15th of the lunar calendar in each month, or on Muharram, Ashura, or the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah — then the reward is increased just a little bit more.

Just like that, there are certain actions that can only be done in certain places. You cannot do them anywhere else. For example, when you go to Mecca and when you go to the Kaaba, we can pray salah over there, but salah can be prayed here as well. We can do adhkar over there, we can read Quran over there, and that's all amazing. But what's one thing that we can only do over there? This is tawaf. There is nowhere else upon this earth that a Muslim can do tawaf except in the vicinity of the Kaaba, circumambulating the Kaaba. This is the only place that a mu'min can do tawaf.

When we go to Medina, lots of virtuous actions can be done. But what's one action that can only be done over there? This is visiting the grave of the Prophet ﷺ. There is nowhere else upon this earth where one can visit the grave of the Prophet ﷺ except when they are in Medina, the Masjid of the Prophet ﷺ.

The reason I preface our discussion today with these aspects — that certain actions can be elevated, increased, or only can be done in certain times and places — is because Allah has allocated one day in the week for increasing our iman. But also one day in the week in which an action can be increased tenfold, and there's a certain virtue attached to that action as well.

The Virtue of Jumu'ah and the Command to Send Salawat

The Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith that the best day of the week is the day of Jumu'ah. On it, Adam alayhis salam was created. On that day, he died. On it, the last trumpet will be blown. And on it, the shout will be made by the angel.

So on this day, because of the virtue that is given to it, the Prophet of Allah ﷺ prescribed something for us. He said:

On this day, send abundant salawat upon me — for indeed on this day, the salawat will be presented to me.
(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1047; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1636)

Every single day we can do salawat. On Friday, the salawat of the whole week will be presented to the Prophet ﷺ. So it behooves us as mu'minoon, muslimoon, that throughout the week while we do salawat, on Friday we should increase. The Prophet ﷺ didn't say "do salawat on this day." He said فَأَكْثِرُوا — meaning increase salawat. So there's already an implicit meaning that salawat is done throughout the week. But on Friday, increase the frequency of the salawat as much as you and I can.

Allah and His Angels Send Salawat Upon the Prophet ﷺ

How does Allah address the commandment of doing salawat upon him, i.e. the Prophet ﷺ? Allah says:

This ayah is recited almost every week in the khutbah, in the Arabic khutbah. A very amazing, profound ayah because it gives an honor to the mu'minoon actually.

Indeed, Allah and His angels — the sinless creatures that Allah has created — send salawat upon the soul of the Prophet ﷺ with continuity. Why do I say "with continuity"? It's because this is implied when Allah says يُصَلُّونَ. In the Arabic language, this means continuously sending salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ, because the verb used is in the present tense. And in Arabic, when the present tense is used, there is an embedded meaning of continuity — meaning it keeps occurring into the future as well.

So when Allah says إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ, it means that Allah till the end of time will continuously send salawat, and the angels will continuously send salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ.

Then Allah says يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — now Allah speaks to us. And when Allah says يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا, "O you who believe," know very well that what is to come after is a means for us to increase in our belief. This is why Allah specifies it as يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — because whatever comes after will increase the belief in those believers. He says صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ — partake in this activity. Partake in the activity which Allah Himself does, as He is befit in His majesty, and which the sinless angels continuously do as well.

And this is an honor for us. Anytime we send salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ, this is an honor. Not only do we need to and should send salawat, but we're also included in the fraternity of the angels — sinless creatures who continuously send salawat. Who am I and who are you? In the figment of history, billions of people have passed upon the earth — in the past, the present, the future. Yet Allah, by one act, is elevating our status. By sending salawat, you're included in what Allah does. By sending salawat, you're included in what the angels do. So this is a means of honoring us.

The Benefit of Sending Salawat

But it is more than that as well. It's actually a benefit for us to send salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ. It's not something that we should merely do — it's also something that we will benefit from. Because sure, it's hard to inculcate the proper love that we should have for the Prophet ﷺ. But we begin our first step by continuously sending salawat, thinking that this is actually beneficial for me.

The Prophet ﷺ says that the one who sends one salawat upon me, Allah will send ten upon him. Allah will alleviate all of his anxiety, his sorrows, anything that's going on in his life — his hardships, his trials. Allah will alleviate all that with salawat. Allah will increase the rank of the human being who sends salawat. One salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ, Allah raises the ranks of him in Jannah ten times.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 808)

So this is a benefit for us. That's the first step — we think of it as a benefit for us. But the second step is that we do it because we have love for the Prophet ﷺ.

The Story of Umar and the Completion of Faith

Umar r.a. and the companions were once in the presence and company of the Prophet ﷺ:

The companions were in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ, and they noticed that the Prophet of Allah grabbed the hand of Umar r.a. Then Umar r.a. said:

Umar r.a. said: "You are the most beloved to me over every single thing in my life — everything — except myself. I love myself just a little bit more, but I love you over everything else."

The Prophet ﷺ then swore and said:

"I swear by the One in Whose hand my soul is — you have not truly loved me until I am more beloved to you than even yourself."

So Umar r.a. had a pause. He thought. He pondered. And then after that he replied:

"Now, by Allah, you are more beloved to me than even myself."

Then Nabi ﷺ said:

"Now, O Umar — now your faith is complete."
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6632)

So what is it that Umar r.a. contemplated over? That brief pause that he had. Because he began by saying that I love you, but I love myself just a little bit more. But after thinking, after pondering, after reflecting, he said: "Now, you are more beloved to me than even myself — my friends, my companions, my family, my children, my parents, everything. Anything I own, you are more beloved to me."

What is it that Umar r.a. thought about? It's the fact that who was he before the advent of Islam? Who was he before the Prophet ﷺ came to him? He was a staunch disbeliever. He would kill. And Umar r.a. was known as one of the foremost in doing all of these things. In fact, he was sent as an assassin against the Prophet ﷺ. This is who he was.

He had the inspiration in his mind that if it wasn't for the Prophet ﷺ, where would I be today? I would be on my way to the hellfire. I would have no knowledge of Jannah. I would have no knowledge of the mercy of Allah. Because of him, now I can work my way towards Jannah, and I can stay away from those actions which will bring me closer to Jahannam. But it was because of the Prophet — his guidance, his mercy, his forgiveness, and him helping me out throughout the whole way.

The Favor of Allah in Sending the Prophet ﷺ

Allah says in the Qur'an:

Allah has favored the believers — مَنَّ in the Arabic language means to give a gift. That's why Allah is مَنَّان — He gives often, and He gives favors to others. So Allah has favored the believers when He sent a messenger from amongst them, reciting the Qur'an to them, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the wisdom, i.e. the sunnah — and being a teacher until the end of time.

So this is an incumbent thing upon us — that we not only send salawat because it's a benefit for us, but also because we love and we are grateful to Allah for sending the Prophet ﷺ. He has done so much in our lives. So this is one thing that we can continuously do and increase on this beautiful day of Jumu'ah.

How to Increase Salawat This Rabi'ul Awwal

Let us try to increase our salawat upon our Nabi ﷺ. There are many different ways to do this. The act of sending salawat is as simple as saying صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ whenever we hear the name of the Prophet ﷺ. This is one way of sending salawat upon him. We could, of course, increase the length of that — or even use the one that we say in our salah every single day. This is another form of sending salawat.

But at the end of the day, sending salawat is not that difficult. It can moisten the tongue, it can increase our status, but it does not put any deficiency in our effort because it's so easy to say. But once we attach our heart, our love, and our gratitude for his sacrifice to the Prophet ﷺ, that very statement becomes so weighty — so weighty that Allah Himself will send blessings upon us, alleviate all of our concerns in this world, and elevate our ranks in Jannatul Firdaus, insha'Allah.

The reason why we spoke about salawat today is because this is the month of Rabi'ul Awwal — the month where the Prophet ﷺ was born. Oftentimes this month is used as a means of reflecting upon all the sacrifices and the favors we owe the Prophet ﷺ, and increasing our love for him. The way we can do this is not only by sending salawat, but also by attending lectures and halaqat, reading books on the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ, picking a book on the sacrifices of the Prophet ﷺ, trying to read salawat before falling asleep, when waking up, when doing any type of mundane activities, when driving — all of these things can help us in increasing our love for him.

In this way, we also have salawat cards that we made a little bit more systemized, calculated, and easier for all of us to track our salawat. The salawat card has a total of 5,000 salawat that we can read. Each box counts for about a hundred. So anytime you finish a hundred — you can use a counter, the tasbih has a hundred beads in it — you can cross it off. There are 50 boxes, which will total to 5,000.

We could do this daily. If you send salawat, it takes about a second. So if it takes about a second, 100 will take about 100 seconds — a little less than two minutes. Let's round it up to two minutes. It takes two minutes to send 100 salawat upon him. Do the math and see how easy it is — it won't take more than 30 minutes to do 5,000 salawat if we actually sit down and do it. Imagine if we spent one hour doing salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ.

We ask Allah to give us the ability to send salawat upon him continuously whenever we can. We ask Allah to give us conviction that this salawat is reaching the Prophet ﷺ on this day, and that he, the Prophet ﷺ, is also responding to us and sending it back to us. We ask Allah to elevate our status in Jannah by virtue of the salawat upon Nabi ﷺ, and give us the company of the Nabiyyeen, especially the Prophet ﷺ on that day, and allow our thirst to be quenched by his hands. Ameen.

Announcements

Just a few quick announcements. If we could please pass the donation boxes from the left to right and donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah. Nabi ﷺ has said that charity given during the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day.

Additionally, we request that the brothers do not park on the curbs behind the seminary building or the swift highway. We have additional parking spaces in the used car lot. Please do not park in the condo's parking lot.

InshaAllah, we'll be having the sisters' Sunday dars this Sunday, October 8th at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, followed by a lunch right after Dhuhr.

Please save the date for the Seerah Conference, October 13th and 14th, covering the different aspects of our beloved Nabi ﷺ's life. And we ask that you please join us for the exclusive sisters' Seerah Conference parallel with the brothers' Seerah Conference as well on next Friday and Saturday, October 13th and 14th.

Please join us for our weekly programs. Tomorrow after Fajr, we have our team Fajr. Saturday Fajr Iqamah is at 6:15. Additionally, we will have our Tuesday Tafsir after the Isha Salah at 8 p.m., where we will be resuming with the Tafsir of Surah al-Furqan.

Registrations are open for our Sunday school. More information about the programs can be found at masjidds.org.

There is a du'a request for a sister who has been in the hospital for the past three weeks and yesterday had an emergency surgery. We ask that Allah grant her a quick and speedy recovery. Ameen.