The Silent Protectors & Invisible Companions | Jumuah Khutbah | Imam Nadim Bashir | EPIC Masjid
By Imam Nadim Bashir | 2026-06-04T22:35:45.484681+00:00 | Topic: Khutbah
The Silent Protectors & Invisible Companions
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. I ask Allah that just as He has gathered us here today on this day of Jum'ah, may Allah gather us along with our families in Jannatul Firdaus Al-A'la, in the companionship of Rasulullah ﷺ and his Sahaba. Ameen, Ya Rabbal Alameen.
Brothers and sisters, imagine it is raining outside, and you are driving on the highway. You cannot see anything in front of you very clearly. And all of a sudden, the car in front of you slams its brakes. And you look at the car, you look at the brake lights, and you hit your brakes and you slam your brakes at the very last second. And you come so close to being involved in the accident. And Allah has saved you. Alhamdulillah.
Or imagine you are still on that same highway, and it's raining, and your car begins to swerve around. You lose control of your car. You might hit someone else, but again you hit the brakes, and Allah saves you. In both scenarios, or in any other scenario, where Allah saves us from a calamity, that we were just probably one second, two seconds away from that calamity, we take a step back and we say, Alhamdulillah. This is without a doubt through the Qadr of Allah. But with the Qadr of Allah, there was another force involved. There was the aid and support of another creation of Allah.
Allah's Angels: Our Silent Protectors
And Allah highlights this protection in Surah Ar-Ra'd. Allah says:
Allah says that for every single human being, there are angels, successive amount of angels, who are there in front of them, مِن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ. And what is the role of these angels, brothers and sisters? يَحْفَظُونَهُ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ - Their job is to protect them, to protect that human being by the decree of Allah.
Angels in the Battle of Badr
SubhanAllah, brothers and sisters, go back to the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ. It's the battle of Badr. The Quraish, they have 1000 in number, and the Muslims only have 313 in number. When it comes to armor, they have outweighed the Muslims. Then in terms of numbers, they have outweighed the Muslims. In terms of resources, they have outweighed the Muslims. In terms of weapons, they have outweighed the Muslims.
Allah says in Surah Al-Anfal:
Remember the time of Muhammad ﷺ. And brothers, when I say salallahu alayhi wa sallam, say salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Remember the time of Muhammad ﷺ. When you called out to Allah, you pleaded to Allah, اِذْ تَسْتَغِيثُونَ رَبَّكُمْ. And what did Allah do in return? فَاسْتَجَابَ لَكُمْ - He responded to the call of the Prophet ﷺ.
And then he says, that how did we provide our aid to the Prophet ﷺ? What kind of aid did we provide? And how much aid did we provide? He says, أَنِّي مُمِدُّكُمْ بِأَلْفٍ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ مُرْضِفِينَ - We are not gonna send you only one angel, one thousand angels. And subhanAllah, as the Muslims are fighting in the battle of Badr, Allah has sent these malaika to support and aid the Muslims and the Prophet ﷺ.
Our Personal Angels and the Battle Within
Brothers and sisters, why am I mentioning all this? Because we, you and I, every single one of us, we have four malaika with us, and we have one shaitan with us. We have the kiraman katibin, the two angels who are writing everything that you and I, we say and we do. But besides that, Allah has appointed two angels to be there to protect us. And there is also one shaitan.
And Ibn Qayyim رحمة الله عليه, he says something amazing. He says that the less a human being commits sin, the more they are closer to Allah, the more shaitan retreats. And he reacts to this. And the closer the angels, the good angels of course, they are close to him. And then Ibn Qayyim says, that until there comes a point when a person stays away from committing sins, that the angels take full control over this human being. And he says that in that situation, the believer's truest and most sincere companion becomes this angel. And not only that, but he is the one who is close to him in all his matters.
The Prophet ﷺ, he says in a hadith, brothers and sisters, that indeed shaitan has influence on us, and so does the malaika, they have influence on us. As for the shayateen and their influence, it includes threatening us over and over again. How many times we feel threatened, if I don't do this, even if I want to do something that is right, shaitan will come and he will put waswasas in our heart that stay away from these kind of things. And not only that, but shaitan will keep on influencing us to do what is wrong, to do that which is haram, to do that which is considered as a distraction.
Shaitan does not just take us away from the Qur'an, he will distract us from the Qur'an. How many hours a day do you and I, we sit on social media, perhaps three hours, four hours a day, how many hours do we actually give to the Qur'an, to the dhikr of Allah, to our salawat, to our nawafil, to our sunnahs. All together, it is not even come half to the time we give to social media. This is what shaitan does.
On the other hand, Rasulullah ﷺ he says, as for the angel that Allah has appointed with the human being, what they do is that they promise good and they always affirm the truth. Meaning that anytime it comes to your heart that this is the truth, let me stick with the truth. Brothers and sisters, this voice, this idea is coming from where? It is coming from that angel that is with us.
Becoming Companions of Angels
So going back to what Ibn Qayyim says, and he says this very beautifully, he explains that when a believer's soul begins to have the same nature as an angel, which is what? Purity in their heart, sincerity in their actions, devotion in their ibadat. When a human being starts doing these kind of things, the angel assigned to them becomes a close companion and a spiritual guide.
And then what does the angel do? He says, it reminds that person when they begin to forget. The angel seeks forgiveness for them when they do slip up and they do commit sins. The angel strengthens them in the moments of fear. And not only that, but the angel will encourage them to go to salat. In fact, Ibn Qayyim says that even in the middle of the night, it is the angel that sometimes they will wake you up so that you can engage in qiyam ul-layl.
So brothers and sisters, it is clear from these ahadith, and this beautiful quote of Ibn Qayyim, that what you and I should strive for is that we are always in the company of the malaika. Either we are doing something that the malaika are always in our company, or we are in their company, or they are making dua for us. So the question is, how can we achieve that? And that is where I'm gonna share with you few things that we can do. In fact, several things that we can do in order to ensure that we are always in their company, and they are making dua for us.
Four Ways to Gain the Company of Angels
1. Remain in the State of Dhikr
Number one, is that always try to remain in the state of dhikr, or always try to go and join a halaqah, a circle of gathering, or a circle of knowledge, or any gathering that is remembering Allah. A simple khutbah, like tonight, is reminding you of Allah. Hence that becomes dhikr. When you are reciting the Qur'an, that is a dhikr. When you say, SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, la ilaha illallah, Allahu akbar, that is also considered as a dhikr.
Rasulullah ﷺ, he says:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6408)
To Allah belongs many angels. يَطُوفُونَ فِي الطُّرُقِ - That they are circling around the faces of earth. And what are they trying to find? يَلْتَمِسُونَ أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ - They are trying to find the people of dhikr, those engaged in dhikr. فَإِذَا وَجَدُوا قَوْمًا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى تَنَادَوْا - When they find anyone remembering Allah, or they find a gathering remembering Allah, what do they say? هَلُمَّ هَلُمَّ - come, come. Whatever we were looking for, it is here. And the angels, they surround that kind of a person in that gathering.
So that is why brothers and sisters, I've talked about this before, that we always try to remain in the state of dhikr. Whenever we send our peace and blessings upon Rasulullah ﷺ, who is that creation of Allah that delivers our salam to the Prophet ﷺ? It is the malaika. And when the Prophet ﷺ responds to us, it is the malaika who comes back with that same salam. So that is why brothers and sisters, always either join a group, join a halaqah where they are reading the Qur'an, or they are remembering the dhikr of Allah, or even on your own, do remember Allah and the angels are gonna be close to you.
2. Give to Others
Number two is, that the angels, they make dua for those who give. The Prophet ﷺ, he says:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1442)
That there is no morning where a person, a slave of Allah, فِيهِ إِلَّا مَلَكَانِ يَنْزِلَانِ - That there are two angels with them. فَيَقُولُ أَحَدُهُمَا - One of them says to the other, اللَّهُمَّ أَعْطِ مُنْفِقًا خَلَفًا - That, oh Allah, grant this person who has done something for someone else. وَيَقُولُ الْآخَرُ - And the second one says, اللَّهُمَّ أَعْطِ مُمْسِكًا تَلَفًا - Oh Allah, withhold. Do not give to that person. Do not give to that person who deprives others, and who withholds from others.
So brothers and sisters, even when we go and we help someone else out, or we give something to benefit someone else. Remember, you're not just giving them, and you're not just benefiting them. First of all, Hasan al-Basri رحمة الله عليه says, that when you give sadaqa to someone else, you and I, we think, that when I give sadaqa, I'm helping that person. Hasan al-Basri رحمة الله عليه says, that instead of you helping that person, you are helping your cause more than anything else. Why? Because this reward will be given to you in the akhirah. But more importantly, when you do something for someone, and the angels are there, they make du'a for you. They're making du'a that, Ya Allah, he's in a difficult situation, but he's taking time out to help someone else out. Oh Allah, take care of his affairs.
How many times this happens? When people come to us, I need something. And we tell that brother, I'm sorry, I cannot give anything. Why? Because sometimes we ourselves are in need. But when you give, not only are you giving, and you're gonna be rewarded for that, but the angels and the malaika will also make du'a for you. And they are the sinless creation of Allah. So why not do something so that we have the malaika making du'a for us.
3. Make Du'a for Others
Number three is, that when we make du'a for someone else, when we make du'a for someone else, then the angels, they make the du'a that, Ya Allah, give him the same thing. Ameen to his du'a. But not only that, but give him the same thing. How many of us when we make du'a, we want our du'as to be accepted? We all want our du'as to be accepted. The Prophet ﷺ is telling us, if you want your du'as to be accepted, make du'a for other people. Make du'a for other people. Because when you make du'a for other people, the angels are coming and saying, Ameen to you, for you're making du'a for someone else, but may Allah grant you the same exact thing.
So that is why brothers and sisters, even when it comes to others, do not become stingy, do not become greedy. That if I make du'a for them, because you know what happens a lot of times, we're thinking to ourselves, if I make du'a for this person, and what if Allah actually grants them, when I'm making du'a for them. But I want the same thing also, and what if Allah does not give it to me? Remember when you're making du'a for someone else, the angels are also making du'a for you too.
4. Do Not Miss Fajr and Asr
Number four is that brothers and sisters, we don't miss our Fajr, and we don't miss our Asr.
The Shifts of Angels at Fajr and Asr
And we notice that when it comes to Fajr, when it comes to Asr, what do we do often after Fajr and Asr? We make the dhikr of Allah عز و جل. And it is mentioned in a hadith of the Prophet that:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 555; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 632)
That the mala'ika they gather, and not only that, but their shifts change at the time of Fajr, at the time of Asr. And Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ asks, though He is Allamul Ghuyub, He is asking these angels, that when you went, imagine if the mala'ika went at the time of Fajr, and we are praying Fajr, and after Fajr we are sitting in the masjid, engage in the dhikr of Allah عز و جل. And then the mala'ika are going to Allah, and Allah is asking them, that how did you leave My slave? And they say, Ya Allah, we left them in the state of dhikr, in the state of salat.
And not only that, at the time of Asr, when these mala'ika are there from Fajr to Asr, and at Asr, they are going back to Allah. The next shift of angels come in, and they are being asked, that how did you leave My slave? How did you find My slave? Imagine if the angels are always telling Allah عز و جل, Ya Allah, we left Your slave, while he was engaged in dhikr, while he was engaged in salat. And Ya Allah, when we went to Your slave, we found him in salat, and we found him in the dhikr of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ. SubhanAllah.
What an amazing report. You know today when we have these performance reviews, when we have all this feedback that takes place, imagine the feedback being given by the amazing creation of Allah, which are known as the mala'ika. And to who are they giving this report? To Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ. That is why brothers and sisters, especially at the time of Fajr, do not miss your Fajr, do not miss your salatul Asr. And even if you pray your Fajr, and even if you pray your Asr, do engage in the dhikr of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ.
The Du'a When Leaving the House
Number five, is that when you leave your house, the Prophet he says:
(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 5095; Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3426)
When a man leaves their home and this person says:
The angels, they began to say, you have been guided. هُدِيتَ وَكُفِيتَ وَوُقِيتَ You have been guided. You have been protected. And there is someone sufficient for you. Meaning that you don't have to worry about your affairs. Someone is taking care of your affairs.
But and at that same time when a person reads this du'a, what does the Shaytan say? Because once again, as I said earlier, there's a Shaytan also with us. At that same time, the Shaytan withdraws. He retracts. And not only that, but one Shaytan, he says to the other that, كَيْفَ لَكَ بِرَجُلٍ How is this man? That now there's nothing that we can do to harm this person. Why? Because he has been guided. And because he has been protected. And there's someone who is sufficient for them.
That is why brothers and sisters, when you leave your house, say, بِسْمِ اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ عَلَىٰ اللَّهِ وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ And any person who recites this, the angels will be there to protect them and guide them inshallah.
When Faced with Ignorance
Number six, the Prophet, he explains that when you come across an ignorant person, when you come across an ignorant person, then do not engage. Of course the Qur'an tells us that you should never engage. But there's also a story of the Prophet when he was sitting with Abu Bakr. And an arrogant man came, and he began to use vile language, foul language, and he was just simply disrespectful to the Prophet. The Prophet was quiet during this entire time.
Abu Bakr, as being someone so close to the Prophet, not being able to just digest the fact that how can someone be so disrespectful to the Prophet, he began to say something back to that person. The Prophet, he got up. Now usually, think about this, if you were in that same position, where you saw a friend of yours being humiliated, and you said, you know what, he's my best buddy, he's my friend, I'm gonna stand up for him, I'm gonna defend him, and you start saying something. And imagine that friend, usually what they would do is that, he would say, yeah man, tell him more, tell him more, you know, stand by my side, you're such a great friend.
What did the Prophet do? He did not sit there and encourage Abu Bakr. He got up and he left. Later on Abu Bakr was thinking to himself, did I do something that is wrong? He went to the Prophet and he says, Ya Rasulallah, did I do something that is wrong? All I was trying to do is just stand by your side, I was just trying to defend you.
The Prophet says, that as long as I was quiet, and you were quiet, there was an angel who was responding to that person. There's no need to respond to that ignorant person, there is an angel who's responding to that person. But the minute you open your mouth, the angel left, and hence when the angel left, I decided to leave also.
You know how many times we say something even good on social media? And I've talked about this before. Social media is an open platform for the most smartest person on the face of this earth, and the person who has the lowest IQ on the face of this earth. And when you post something even that is right, you'll find people slaughtering you at times on social media. And you're thinking to yourself that why is this happening? And you feel like, you know what, let me respond, let me say something that is back.
No brothers, there is wallahi first of all no reason to respond to people who are absolutely foolish people. There's no need to. Allah says:
Just save your intellect. There's no need to use your capacity to respond to an ignorant person. But then at the same time it is the mala'ika who's responding to them. Now would you rather respond to them or would you let the mala'ika? That response from the mala'ika is much more lethal, is much more dangerous. So leave it in the hands of the mala'ika and let them respond to this ignorant person.
Sleeping with Wudu and Reciting Ayatul Kursi
Number seven, as we have learned that the angels they stay with the person who sleeps with wudu. As the Prophet he says:
(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22568; Sunan at-Tabarani)
The Prophet says that when a person they engage in purification, they make wudu. How long does it take to make wudu? Probably a minute. But in doing so, the Prophet says that there is an angel that is right next to their bed. And they are protecting them and they are not only that but they are making dua for them. They are making dua for them till the morning.
And then the next one also is that the Prophet also says that before you go to sleep, recite ayatul kursi. Why? Because he says:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2311)
The Prophet says, whoever recites ayatul kursi at night, Allah will appoint a guardian over them, meaning an angel. And no shaitan can come near them till the morning.
How many times you and I we go to sleep and we see nightmares after nightmares. How many times you and I we experience things at night and we know that shaitan is close to us. How many times you and I at night before we go to sleep the last thing that we are doing is that we are scrolling on Instagram or TikTok or some other social media platform. And that is how we go to sleep.
The Prophet is telling us that if we want the malaika to make dua for us throughout the entire night. If we want the malaika to protect us then make wudu and recite ayatul kursi before we go to sleep.
Visiting Others and the Du'a of 70,000 Angels
And lastly, the Prophet as we have seen is that the Prophet says that when a person goes to see another person, it doesn't have to be a sick person. It can just be even a person who let's just say who's not been able to come to the masjid. How many people are there in our community who are not even sick, but they have become occupied with life. There's perhaps some kind of circumstances that have appeared in their life and they have become completely absent from the masjid. And they will come after a long time perhaps to the masjid.
But during that time if you see a person who's not coming to the masjid for example, or they may be even sick, and you go and you visit them. The Prophet, he is telling us in a hadith that 70,000 angels, not one, not two, not one thousand, 70,000 angels will make dua for this person. Will seek forgiveness for this person.
And this is why subhanAllah, this number 70,000, it appears somewhere else by the way in our prophetic tradition. If you remember al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, this house that is in the seventh heaven, known as al-Bayt al-Ma'mur. The Prophet says that in this house 70,000 angels enter into this one home every single day. And they pray over there. And they do tawaf of this place. And then they exit this house. And any angel who has exit this house, they will never ever re-enter into this house.
First of all, think about that for a moment. If there are 70,000 angels entering every single day, and no angel can re-enter into this house, how many angels are there first of all of Allah? Our calculation, our calculators cannot even comprehend the number of mala'ika that have been created by Allah. But what do they do? They worship Allah.
Likewise, when you have 70,000 angels making dua for you, we go to the shaykh, we go to the scholar, we go to this person, that person, make dua for me. And though they come to anyone else, we all, including myself, we all have fallacies. We're not perfect. Why not go to someone, help someone else out? When you visit someone, 70,000 angels, subhanAllah, are gonna be making dua for you.
Remaining After Prayer
And lastly, brothers and sisters, after salat, the Prophet he says:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 659; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 649)
Anytime we finish salat, so many times people leave right away. They leave right away. No, stay in your places. Parents, parents, please, teach your children that after salat, don't get up right away and leave. As long as they're sitting over there, even if they're saying something such as subhanAllah, or alhamdulillah, or Allahu Akbar, any dhikr, or as long as we're sitting over there, the mala'ika are making dua for us.
SubhanAllah, as long as we're sitting over there, the mala'ika are making dua for us. How often we see that, even sometimes in some cases parents, but mostly speaking, the children, they get up and they leave right away. They run out of this masjid, as if this masjid is on fire or something. They just run out right away as soon as possible.
So the thing is, teach your kids, as soon as salat is finished, don't stand up. Don't get on your knees and look around and so forth. Just stay calm in your place and make the dhikr of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ. We want the angels to make dua for us, but also we want the mala'ika to make dua for our children.
Conclusion
I ask Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ to keep us in the company of the mala'ika. May Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ grant us the tawfiq to do what is right, so that we always are the recipients of the dua of the mala'ika and in their company. Ameen.
Once again, I want to go back to this quote of Ibn Qayyim to remind us once again what this khutbah was all about. That when we do things that are right, then we are close to the mala'ika. When we do wrong things, then shaytan becomes our qareen. So that is why the angel is the most sincere companion that we all have. They are our advisors.
The Silent Protectors & Invisible Companions
They are the ones who protect us when it comes to the qadr of Allah. They are with us when we sleep at night, when we die. There is a verse of the Qur'an that talks about ملائكة coming to the person who is about to depart from this دنيا, giving them the glad tidings. They are with us in our grave.
He reminds us that when we forget. The angel reminds us when we forget, strengthens us when we are in the state of fear, wakes us up for صلاة, comforts us in the times of isolation, whispers hope in the times of sorrow, and they become our partner in our worship.
So that is why we ask Allah that He allows us to live amongst these angels and let our homes, we ask Allah that may Allah fill our homes with the company of the ملائكة through the ذكر of Allah and through the Qur'an.
May Allah forgive us for our shortcomings. May Allah connect our hearts more to the صلاة, to the Qur'an of Allah and the ذكر of Allah. And may Allah keep our records clean through the كرام الكاتبين. And may Allah at the time of our death, grant us the company of the ملائكة who will give us the glad tidings of جنة. آمين.