The Best Of Sinners Are Those Who Repent

Jumu'ah Khutbah — The Blessed Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets and the Messengers, upon his family and his companions, the good and the pure, and upon those who follow them with goodness, and call upon them, and wait for their Sunnah, and follow their guidance until the Day of Judgment.

My dear respected brothers and sisters, respected elders, and dear students, Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Allah's Infinite Mercy and Love for Forgiveness

Allah, the Exalted, is so Rahim and so Kareem, so loving, so merciful, so forgiving, that He gives us so many different excuses to come back to Him. He calls us back to Him one way; if we do not respond, another way. Day and night, Allah is looking forward to our sincere tawbah and repentance.

Allah is stretching forth His hand in the night to see when will the sinner of the day come and repent. And He is stretching forth His hand in the day to see when will the sinner of the night come and seek repentance. So Allah loves to forgive to the extent that Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned — just as a hypothetical scenario, to impress upon us how much Allah loves to forgive — that if we did not sin and ask Allah to forgive us for our sins, and Allah hypothetically did not have the opportunity to forgive us, then He would change us:

He would replace us with other creation, with other human beings who would sin and seek forgiveness so He could forgive them.

We cannot emphasize how hypothetical the scenario is, and this is not something for us to misunderstand and misapply — thinking, "Wow, I need to continue sinning because Allah loves to forgive, and if I don't sin then how will He forgive me?" We do not have to worry about that. That should be the least of our concerns because, as we know truly in the depth of our hearts, we are all aware that every day and every night we are committing major sins, minor sins, disobeying Allah. And Nabi ﷺ also told us:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2499; Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 4251)

All the children of Adam — all men and women — we are all sinners, and the best of the sinners are those who repent to Allah.

Honoring What Allah Has Honored — Special Times and Places

So amongst the different ways that Allah is calling us back to Him is that He granted a special honor to certain days and certain nights, and Allah granted a special honor to certain places. زَمَانٌ وَمَكَانٌ — different times and different places Allah granted them special honor and significance over others.

Allah is the creator of whatever He wants, and He chooses and selects some and grants them sanctity and honor more than others.

And if we truly love Allah then we have to respect His choice and we should acknowledge His choice and His selection. This is one of the alamat and signs of love. There are so many days in the year — if Allah selected certain days and made them the best days. Just like there are so many nights in the year — if Allah selected certain nights and made them not only virtuous nights but the best nights of the year — then we have to honor that selection.

The scholars of tafseer say, under the tafseer of this ayah — which Allah swears by — that just as Allah selected the last ten nights of Ramadan as the greatest nights of the year, and alhamdulillah this receives a lot of attention in our Muslim culture and society, likewise Allah has made the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah the best days of the year. Even more virtuous than the days that are associated with the last ten nights of Ramadan.

If the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah are the most honored days — the most virtuous days of the year, meaning of the entire year including Ramadan — subhanAllah. And again, do not misunderstand me when I say the last ten nights of Ramadan is getting a lot of attention and so we have fulfilled the haq of that — no way, absolutely not. When Rasulullah ﷺ himself said:

"O Allah, we cannot worship You the way You deserve to be worshipped" — and what about us? We're not even in the equation.

What I meant was, relatively, there is at least talk about the fact — even though we don't do anything — we talk about it: "Wow, it's the last ten nights." But we have even forgotten to talk about, or mention, or discuss, or be aware of how virtuous the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah are.

Do our children, do our wives, do our kids — do they know? In Ramadan, yes, there is a whole scene of the suhoor and the iftar. "Okay, one of these nights is Laylatul Qadr, let's go and seek it." But what about the ten days of Dhul Hijjah? What are the changes to our schedule? Besides the tenth day — the tenth day of course, as we all know and should know, is the day of Eid ul-Adha. There may — inshallah, not may be, will be for sure — a change in our schedule on that day. But the nine days before that, maybe the ninth day of Arafah. But what about the eight days? Is there any significant change? Or even a small change to our schedule?

An Analogy: Honoring the Beloved's Selection

Sometimes if you give an example, it makes it easier to understand. Going back to a statement I made a few moments ago — if Allah has selected certain days and certain nights and given them honor, it is one of the alamat and indicators of love of Allah that we honor His selection. An example: from amongst so many days of Allah, He selected these days. Amongst all the nights, He selected these nights. So if we have our beloved — for the sisters who are listening, your husband has some beloved food item; or the brothers who are listening, your wife has a specific color that is her best color, her favorite color — if you know what your Mahboob loves, and you honor that selection of your Mahboob, of your beloved, whether it's your husband, whether it's your wife, whether it's your parents, whether it's your children — whoever you love amongst your fellow human beings — then you would honor their selection as well.

If the son knows that for snacks, this is the particular type of nuts my father likes, so he buys those. If the father knows that this is a particular type of car that my son likes, so he buys that car for him. If the husband knows this is the favorite color of my wife, so when he buys a dress, he'll buy that color. If the wife knows that this is the favorite meal of my husband, she may make that meal sometimes, to go out of her way, because we honor that selection.

And now if times get bad and the relationship is breaking down, then one of the indicators of that is there is absolutely no care, no regard, no accommodation of the selection of that individual who was supposed to have been your mahboob — but is not the mahboob now, unfortunately. Like, "I could care less what color, what food, what toy, or what item you like."

So we have to ask ourselves this question: when Allah has honored these days, how are we showing to Allah that we are respecting His selection?

The Hadith on the Virtue of These Ten Days

What did Rasulullah ﷺ say? Rasulullah ﷺ uses extremely powerful words in the syntax, in the structure of this sentence. It adds so much emphasis. Rasulullah ﷺ starts off with the nafi — when Rasulullah ﷺ negates, or anyone, when they speak in the Arabic language or even any language, if you negate and then make an exception from the negation, it gives the meaning of exclusivity.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 969)

So Rasulullah ﷺ negates and he says: there is no day in which the righteous actions are more beloved to Allah than these days. These are the days in which the actions are most beloved to Allah — more than any other day of the year.

So the question is: does it go in one ear and come out the other ear, or does this translate into action? Because these ahadith — our imams have been repeating them after Maghrib salah. So today, in this time of Jumu'ah, is an opportunity to reflect — not to necessarily learn something new that we have never heard before — but to reflect and ponder about what is the condition of our amal.

The Sahaba's Question About Jihad

Now the sahaba, رِضْوَانُ اللهِ عَلَيْهِمْ أَجْمَعِين, when they heard this they didn't just say "oh okay" — they had a follow-up question:

"O Messenger of Allah, not even jihad in the path of Allah?" Because outside of these days, if a person strives in the path of Allah and gives the ultimate sacrifice of his life — all the other things that we have, we end up giving them up if we need to give them up to protect and preserve our life. Our life is the most precious thing we have — more precious than money. If someone says, "You're poor, you're struggling financially, you have debts — okay, if you saw off your hand, or if you give me one eyeball — you have another one — I'll give you a million dollars," nobody will give up his body part. This body that we have is the most precious thing. And jihad fee sabeerillah — a person is putting his life on the line, potentially dying for the sake of Allah.

When you are fighting in the path of Allah, you may be victorious over your enemies, but you may also be killed. So they asked: "What about jihad fee sabeerillah?" So Rasulullah ﷺ said: the amal that are done during these days — the salah, the fasting, the sadaqa, the dhikr — are more rewarding than jihad fee sabeerillah outside these days.

And this is a real comparison. Then Nabi ﷺ said: yes, perhaps there is one individual —

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 969)

Except for that individual who took not only his life and body, but all of his wealth as well — he took his wealth and his person and he went out in the path of Allah, and he didn't just lose some wealth and he didn't just get injured with his body a little bit here and there. Rather, he spent all his wealth in the path of Allah and he gave his life as well. Nabi ﷺ didn't just say اسْتُشْهِدَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ — he passed away or he spent some wealth. For us to actually feel the extent of his sacrifice, look at the words: فَلَمْ يَرْجِعْ مِنْ ذَلِكَ بِشَيْءٍ — he did not return back. He did not return back. When he left with all his wealth and his life, he did not return back with anything of this dunya. Of course he got something super phenomenal in the akhira, but what comes back? His wealth is gone and a dead body comes back. That is the only person — that is the only person — who can exceed in reward the one who does ibadah of Allah during these ten days.

Is There Any Change in Our Schedule?

Is there any change in our schedule? What more motivation do we need? At the end of the day, if we introspect, the reason this perhaps is not motivating us is that when it comes to tawbah — tawbah requires that we have regret over our sin. So do we actually regret committing sins? And why would we have regret committing sins? Because we know there is a Day of Judgment coming, and there is a sense of accountability: I have to give hisab in front of Allah. So are we even remembering Allah? Are we even remembering that the Day of Judgment is coming and I have to present myself in the court of Allah?

Nothing will be hidden in front of Allah. So all of these things — are they even in the back of our minds? Are there things that we have forgotten? And inshallah I pray and hope that we are not in denial, because denial of the existence of Allah and rejection of Qiyamah — there is frankly no other word for that besides open kufr. That's kufr bawaah — that's like open kufr. If you deny these articles of iman:

You must believe — there is no option in that. So alhamdulillah we believe, but we are forgetting:

"O you who believe, do not become like those who forget about Allah." So if we are not remembering our sins, if we don't have the urgency to make tawbah, it's because we are taking our sins lightly. The reason we are taking our sins lightly is because the concept of the Day of Judgment and the accountability in front of Allah — that Allah exists and Qiyamah exists — has become dim. Nabi ﷺ would repeat these words in his tahajjud du'a:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1120; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 769)

"Oh Allah, You are true and Your promise is true, and the meeting with You is true, and Jannah is true, and the Fire is true, and the Hour is coming — there is no doubt in it — and You will resurrect all those who are in the graves."

And we may say, "Okay, is this Sunday school? Tell me something I don't know. Why are you repeating the articles of faith? We learned that when we were five years old." Because the question is not about ma'rifah — the question is about tasdiq. In Sahih al-Bukhari and other books of aqidah as well — Sahih al-Bukhari is a book of hadith, but in Kitab al-Iman, the teachers discuss the ta'rif and definition of iman, and the different firaq and their definitions. The Karamiyyah say ma'rifah — understanding the realities — and we reject that ta'rif and definition. Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l Jama'ah say it is not just ma'rifah al-haq, or understanding the truth, because the Jews also recognized Rasulullah ﷺ the way a father recognizes his children — and that does not make you a mu'min. It is a tasdiq — to have the conviction and the firm belief from the bottom of one's heart in the entirety of the message conveyed to us by Rasulullah ﷺ — such conviction that translates into action. Al-Iman is what penetrates the heart and then is testified to by the body parts. The testification of the tongue is so people know that we are a mu'min, we say it. And then the body parts have to comply. Tasdiq al-janan and amal bil arkan — these are the realities of iman.

What Should We Be Doing in These Ten Days?

So what are we supposed to do? If you talk about what needs to be done, there's no point unless we answer the question "why" first. If you have the motivation to do it, then it's a fruitful discussion of what we need to do. But if you don't want to do it, then what's the point of discussing what we need to do?

Rasulullah ﷺ said: excessively during these days say la ilaha illallah. Tahleel is to say لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. Takbeer is to say اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. Tahmeed is to say الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ. There are specific verbs in the Arabic language for reciting specific kalimat: like hawqala means to say لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ; and istaraja'a — just the verb istaraja'a means he said إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ — the whole sentence is encapsulated in one verb. Tahmeed means to say الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, and takbeer means to say اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ, and tahleel means to say لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ, tasmeer means to say بِسْمِ اللَّهِ, and ta'awwudh means to say أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ.

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 5446)

So Rasulullah ﷺ asked us to say these words. Now, this is not "okay tomorrow is the beginning of Dhul Hijjah and we wish to go back" — it is not. We are actually halfway through. Five days are gone, five days remain. So this is like the halfway point. Tomorrow — Saturday — is the 6th. Sunday is the 7th. Monday is the 8th. Tuesday is the 9th — Tuesday is the 9th of Dhul Hijjah, the day of Arafah. And then Wednesday is the 10th, the Eid. Then we have the Ayyamul Tashreeq. So five days are already gone. Whatever has passed — say أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ. Whatever remains — say inshallah, we will actually make amal, we will bring a change in our schedule.

So these kalimat — "oh yeah, that rings a bell, isn't that for Eid?" In Eid ul-Adha we recite loudly, in Eid ul-Fitr we recite softly. But no, it's not only for Eid — it's for the entire ten days. If we never heard about it, we missed the memo — then it's fine, but we can start now.

The Practice of the Salaf in the Marketplaces

The Salaf, رِضْوَانُ اللهِ عَلَيْهِمْ أَجْمَعِين — Abdullah ibn Umar رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا and Abu Hurairah رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ — were doing the takbeer and tahmeed. Where? There are some places which are beloved to Allah, and some places hated by Allah. One hadith combines both:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 671)

The most beloved pieces of earth in the eyes of Allah are the masajid, and the most hated places of earth in the eyes of Allah are the markets. Because in the houses of Allah, as Allah says:

In these houses that have been dedicated for the worship of Allah, Allah is praised day and night. And in the markets, the material of dunya is praised day and night in the form of advertisement. Historically, in the old days when you would have those street hawkers and the bazaars, you'd have the different stalls and everyone would be praising his wares: "Look, this is my material, I have the best stuff, come buy it." And today the advertisement takes different forms. But the dunya is praised in the markets and Allah is praised in the masajid.

So Allah loves the masajid, and we have Abdullah ibn Umar and Abu Hurairah رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا — in these days, as narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari — they would of course be praising Allah in the masajid, but they would actually go into the marketplaces. They would literally go into the marketplaces and loudly recite:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, reported in Mu'allaq form, Chapter of the Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah)

And others, when they would hear them, would begin to recite as well. Our elders say that baton se, baten wujud mein aati; amal se, amal zinda hota hai — if you just speak and have words, empty words without the backing of action, then it just increases more words. But if you actually do amal, this brings into existence amal.

Just like when a person is passing away — if someone says recite the kalima, like the marhum, we do not tell them "oh, recite the kalima." What do we do? The talqeen of the kalima is when you're sitting around, we all ourselves begin to recite. And when the muhtadar — the one who is near death — hears us reciting the kalima, inshallah this will motivate him to recite it as well.

If someone says, "Okay, that's a great idea, but what's wrong with telling him to recite as well? Isn't that amr bil ma'ruf?" Yes, but in this circumstance it's not recommended. Why? Because that person is in extreme pain, possibly, when he's passing away, most likely. And in pain there are different ahwal and conditions that come. It is possible that you will say "recite the kalima" and in extreme pain he may just say "no, I can't do that" or he may not respond, or he may say "no, just don't bother me." And if he says something like that, does it make him a kafir? It does not make him a kafir because he doesn't disbelieve in his heart — but outwardly, that is not a good condition that a person dies while seemingly rejecting the kalima. So instead of directly asking him, what do we do? We recite ourselves, and inshallah he or she will catch on.

Dhikr in the Markets and the Lesson of Jumu'ah

This scene of remembering Allah in the marketplaces is not limited to the days of Dhul Hijjah — but they would exclusively go out to the markets with this mission to remind people. Whereas, alhamdulillah, we are performing Jumu'ah. Even if this was not a day of Dhul Hijjah, if it was any Jumu'ah of the year, Allah reminds us that when the Adhan is called for Jumu'ah, come to the dhikr of Allah — the khutbah. And when the Jumu'ah is over, then go spread out in the earth, go and seek the bounty of your Lord, go back and earn.

And when you go out to the market to earn the fadl of Allah — then Allah adds the word كَثِيرًا here. He didn't add the word كَثِيرًا for the Jumu'ah — He added the word كَثِيرًا for the market:

Remember Allah abundantly, so that you may be successful. So it's not that in the masjid you do dhikr of Allah and in the market you make dhikr of the dunya — no, that's not the case. Rather, when you go back into the market to earn the fadl of Allah, remember Allah abundantly so that you may be successful.

Fasting — Especially the Day of Arafah

Along with the dhikr of Allah, the next thing is fasting. The first nine days — Rasulullah ﷺ said that fasting on the day of Arafah will be a means of forgiveness for one year before and one year after. The reason I want to remind everyone is because next Jumu'ah will be too late. When is the day of Arafah? Tuesday. So if we cannot fast every day because our nafs makes it too difficult, let us at least fast on Tuesday. Everyone make that promise, inshallah.

And if you say, "You know what, one year of sins — oh, that's great, I'll just pass that offer" — think about that. What kind of insolence and disrespect is that? When Allah is giving you an offer: "I will forgive a whole year of sins" — and you say "yeah, I'll just pass." We seek refuge in Allah.

So let us keep everything in proper balance. I'm not saying it's obligatory, but it is strongly emphasized. The Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ is such a great virtue, and there is no day on which Allah frees people from the fire of Jahannam as many as He does on the day of Arafah — the most virtuous day of the ten days. And we have further hadith about that — the best du'a you can make is on the day of Arafah, and so on. May Allah give us the reality of that.

Qurbani and the Spirit of Ibrahim, Ismail, and Hajar

And after that we have the Qurbani and the sacrifice. May Allah give us the reality of the Taqwa and allow us to follow the spirit of Ibrahim, Ismail, and Hajar. We will have the opportunity to speak more about that on the day of Eid ul-Adha.

But today, alhamdulillah, let us make intention: five days have pretty much gone, five days remain. Let us make them the best five days of the year. Why? Because they are the best days of the year — simply, they are the best days. Who said? Allah said so. You have a problem with that? You cannot judge Allah, no one has the right to question the selection of Allah. He said they are the best days through His Rasul ﷺ. So we need to honor them.

That is my humble appeal to everyone: let them not pass like the five days that have passed. Make them the best days, inshallah.

Announcements

Please stand up and come closer, fill in the gaps inshallah. Please pass the donation boxes and donate generously.

Eid ul-Adha Announcement: The first session — Fajr Iqama will be at 4:45 a.m., the first address will begin at 5:15 a.m., and the Eid Salah at 5:45 a.m. For those who have to travel far distances to make their own Qurbani, this is a great option. The second session will be inshallah at 8:30 a.m., the address at 9:00 a.m., and the Salah at 9:00 a.m. inshallah.

Registration is open for all the summer programs and the one-year intensive. We have two programs this week: Mufti Omar Abdul Aziz will be giving a talk on the virtues of Arafat on Monday inshallah, and there will be a special workshop by Mawlana Yusuf Ghose on how to make du'a — on Monday, the day before Arafah, inshallah. Also, the sisters' programs are a variety of classes — please see the details on the website.

Du'a Requests: Sister Afifah Rahman passed away while delivering her second child — make du'a for the deceased and the family. Du'a of maghfirah for brother Salim Durani. Du'a of maghfirah for brother Nasim Mahmood who passed away. And a request for du'a for the entire Muslim Ummah.

A note from our neighbors on Tanager Road and Lynn Road: Many of our Muslims from the mosque are using their streets as a public turnaround, and they are complaining. Tanager Road and Lynn Road are private roads belonging to the residents who live there — it's part of their condominium association, so it is not a public road for us to go and make a U-turn. This is always important — we should not be hurting our neighbors. Even more so with a public hearing coming up for the expansion project. If they are already upset and we say we want to expand, then it's not rocket science that they are going to complain about it — particularly when the purpose of the public hearing is to hear the opinions of the neighbors, and their opinions are being solicited. They are already telling us what they feel — that they are very upset about people going in there and making U-turns. So let us all try to observe the rules of the road, and inshallah we hope to go meet them and tell them that we spoke to the congregation and they won't do that anymore.

Khutbah al-Thaniyah — Second Khutbah

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَحْدَهُ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى مَنْ لَا نَبِيَّ بَعْدَهُ.

عِبَادَ اللَّهِ رَحِمَكُمُ اللَّهُ —

اُذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ وَادْعُوهُ يَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ.

Salah al-Jumu'ah — The Prayer

Please join the lines. Please fill in the gaps.

Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah. Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah.