April 15, 2022 1:05PM Jumuah Khutbah Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

The Power of Divine Love

You see sometimes people doing tawaf around the Ka'bah. Whatever time of the day or night you go, you'll see certain individuals doing multiple tawafs. Not five or ten - twenty, twenty-five tawafs per day. Any time of the day you go into the haram, you'll see certain individuals, same people doing tawaf. And you'll see their face has been suffering a tan from the heat, intense heat. And they are in a pretty tired state, very tired state. And you'll see that they are just moving forward.

What is that energy that they have that seems to be endless? That keeps on pushing them whether it's dhuhr time, it's a hundred and eight degrees, or whether it's prior to maghrib, prior to fajr when it's packed with hundreds of thousands - alhamdulillah, right now, with people. Yet, nothing stops them. Nothing stops them. They keep on moving, moving, moving.

What is that? That's ishq. That's a love for Allah سبحانه وتعالى which makes a person do that.

The Prophet's Example of Devotion

What is it that a person sees that a person after spending the entire night in taraweeh for two hours, takes a short break and then this elderly person - usually elderly people who may have not even been able to keep their back straight - standing up for qiyam ul-layl and spending another two, three hours, two, three additional hours in qiyam ul-layl in front of Allah سبحانه وتعالى?

We have the best example, the Prophet. Not in Ramadan only, outside of Ramadan as well. So much qiyam, so much standing in front of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. His feet would become swollen, swollen because of standing excessively in front of Almighty Allah in the night. Not Ramadan only, throughout the year.

And his wife Aisha رضي الله عنها feels pity for him and says, "Oh my dear husband, hasn't Allah عز وجل already announced that he has forgiven all your sins?"

And what is the response that he gives her? He says, "Shall I not then be at least a grateful, thankful servant to my lord that he has given me this gift? But shouldn't I show my gratitude and my love and my admiration for my lord, Almighty Allah, who's been so kind to me by standing up at night for as long as I can?"

Allah's Command to the Prophet

What is Allah سبحانه وتعالى telling the Prophet, whose sole job is connecting people with Allah all day, all night - service, service, service? Allah عز وجل says when you've completed your daily tasks and you're tired...

Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم had a very, very tiring day. And we think about being young - I read a nice statement yesterday, when we talk about "I'm getting old." Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم is receiving prophethood at the age of forty. And Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم between the ages of forty and above is suffering the difficulties in Mecca. And now all of those incidents of Badr and Uhud, when are they happening? In his fifties, in his mid fifties. And when is Fatih Mecca taking place? In his sixties.

Not a young man as we say, "Oh brother, I'm not young anymore." Subhanallah! Nabi عليه السلام - all of this began at the age of forty, this assault, this type of zulm, oppression and terror that was put upon him happened after the age of forty, in that adulthood.

The Prophet's Daily Struggles

And Nabi عليه السلام, what is he saying? Is that I need to be a grateful servant to Almighty Allah سبحانه وتعالى that he has blessed me with this, that I'm going to continue to exert myself. So Allah says when you've completed your tasks in serving the people, in connecting them back to Allah...

Nabi عليه السلام spending the entire day telling people: "Say لا إله إلا الله and you'll be successful. Please, I beg you, I beg you, you know me. I've been with you, I'm born and raised here, you know I'm not insane, you know I'm not crazy. You are always trusting me in the past. For your own good I'm warning you of what is awaiting you if you don't believe me."

And what's the response he's getting in Makkah?

There are those who are swearing at him, cursing him, and there are those who are throwing dust and soil on his face, and there are those who are spitting on him. These are the three responses he's getting: spit of the disbelievers, and insults, and curses, and lastly mud being thrown at him. This is daily routine.

And Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم, in one narration he mentions: in the hot summer day, he's doing this the entire day all the way to Dhuhr. A girl comes, a girl comes with a bowl of water.

He washes his hands and washes his face and gets rid of all the filth off his face. And then he looks at this girl and he says:

"Oh my dear daughter, do not be afraid that your father will be disgraced, and do not be afraid that your father will be ambushed or assassinated."

And the narrator says:

She was Zainab, the daughter of Rasulallah, and indeed she was a beautiful girl. This is what the girl, the daughter has to see her dad going through, everyday, everyday, everyday.

The Divine Command for Night Prayer

And now after such a tiring day, Allah subhanallah says in Surah Duha:

When you've done your responsibilities and your job - job is not making money all day, the job is not just chilling and enjoying life, the job is what I just told you - فَانصَبْ - then tire yourself. Tire yourself! Well wasn't that tiring enough? No, that's different. That's in the community, that's out there. Serving the people is different. You have to have a separate quota with Allah when you tire yourself on the musallah.

When you've done with that work, then stand up in prayer and tire yourself.

And truly show your desire in front of your Lord. How much you love Him, how much you want Him.

The Urgency of This Ramadan

My beloved friends, that is the role model that we have in front of us of people who love Allah سبحانه وتعالى - a direct order of Allah, what He's expecting from us.

Alhamdulillah, we have our daily jobs, we have our daily responsibilities. But at least a portion of the night - yes, we are tired, yes, we've had a long day at work, yes, we have school and we have exams coming up in finals and so forth. But my beloved friends, this time is not going to come back again.

Thousands and thousands and thousands are not here with us this Ramadan. Thousands of our community members have passed away in the past two years. They haven't seen this type of environment post-COVID for years, and they're gone, they went into the grave.

That's what someone said:

If the people of the grave were to be asked: What would you want in the grave? If you had one wish in the grave, only one wish, what would you like?

And the answer the ulama have mentioned, he said they would have said:

They would have wished that Allah would have just given them one night from the nights of Ramadan. Just one night! Ya Allah, if you can just give me that in the grave, I'm done. All this I'm suffering will be sorted out in one night.

The Power of One Night

It really can be. One night is sufficient to clear your books. One night is sufficient to pay your debts. One night is sufficient to become the beloved of Allah. One night is sufficient to erase our name from the list of the undutiful, sinful ones and to have our name added to the list of Qanitin, Abidin, Saimin, Zakirin.

But of course:

They will wish and they will wish. Nothing is going to come to them. Once they've gone, they're gone. Whether good or bad, everyone:

Will be raised on their intentions, and they will be raised with the actions they have done.

The fact that we are alive today - we don't know how many days and nights are meant for you and I, and we don't know how many Ramadans are meant for you and I. Every day of Ramadan must be spent as though it's our last. Every night of Ramadan must be spent as though it's our last. And every month of Ramadan must be spent as though it's our last, making the most of it, my friends.

Finding Your Laylat al-Qadr

And so any day, any night, as they say لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ. As someone in Urdu said so nicely:

Whatever night you value, that's your لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ.

What's the point of having لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ if we are sleeping all along or enjoying coffee and tea and desserts and having a laugh with our friends? That's no لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ for us.

لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ is any night when you really put yourself... Ideally, the night we will value will be the last nights of Ramadan. But even tonight, every single day, any night and any day we say that I'm going to increase my relationship with Allah سبحانه وتعالى and I'm going to make up for what I have missed out.

A Story of Awakening

My beloved friends, that's it. You don't know what it takes. Yesterday, subhanallah, I had a good fortune - I'm meeting a brother, and after many years I met him. And he said, "Subhanallah, I attended a janazah." And he said, "Brother, you know, I've had a really rough past decade." And I said, "Mashallah, what happened now?" And he said, "This past 9-10 days of Ramadan have been the best." I said, "What happened?" He said, "I went to a janazah."

Well, all of you have been to a janazah, I've been to a janazah so many times. He said, "I went to the janazah and it just hit me what the imam said there about the questions of the grave. It hit me so hard. First two nights I couldn't sleep. First two nights I couldn't sleep in my house. And now I've decided to really bring a change in my life."

At this age, in the 50s, the brother said, "I don't know how to read Quran, I don't know how to read Arabic, but I want to learn, I'm here. I realized I had a lifestyle that was taking me away from my deen. The first thing I did is I took my certain type of car and I sent it back to the dealership and I said, sell it, this is becoming a barrier between me and my lord."

I said, "Subhanallah, brother, you are already a wali! You are a friend of Allah." We've all attended janazahs, the fact that Allah subhanallah, put this emotion into you, this desire that you're sitting here crying and saying you can't take your mind off of the day when you're going to be lowered into the grave and you're going to be asked those three questions, that's amazing! That's the ultimate awakening that we're all wishing for.

And if it's come your way, glad tidings for you, that subhanallah Allah has chosen this Ramadan for you to be the moment of the ultimate awakening. It doesn't make a difference if it came at the age of 55 or 65, as long as it comes at the age before we pass away.

Seeking Allah's Love

Now, we don't know when you and I are going to pass away and we don't know when that awakening is coming. We can't wait for that to happen. We have to ask from Allah, that ya Allah, I need you to make it happen now.

And I started off this khutbah with saying the greatest gift that you and I can get from Allah is his muhabba. And you're going to say, where do I start from that? Because if I have that muhabba and love and ishq for Allah, everything will fall into place.

Well that's why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم taught us that this is from amongst the things that you and I have to ask Allah for:

"Will I ask you for your love?"

The Love of the Righteous and the Day of Judgment

And the love of those awliya and those righteous people who love you. I want to love the pious.

Yesterday in hadith, we came across a hadith that on the day of judgment when the believers will be going towards jannah and they'll be passing over the siraat, over jahannam - the bridge over jahannam - they'll be so happy that they've been able to manage pass through immigration and get to jannah. Allah will stop them and say, "If there are any of your friends and people who you used to hang out with, your acquaintances, you don't see them with you, I'm giving you permission to look down into hellfire and pull them out."

And the hadith mentions that the believers will then look - they will look down into jahannam. And the hadith clearly says that they will look at those faces that they recognize and they'll say "Come, you come!" And Allah will allow them to pull these people out of hellfire, will send them to nahr al-hayat, a river of rejuvenation, purify them and send them onwards to paradise.

The Importance of Keeping Good Company

At that time a thought came to my mind. I said you know we're not pious, but at least we need to be in the circle of the pious people so that Allah forbid, Allah forbid a billion times, an infinite number of times, if you and I or anyone of us is stuck there, someone who we were befriends, who we had befriended in akhira, who's from the awliya, or one of those who's headed to jannah, may look at us and say "I recognize this face."

But my friends, if we don't even hang out with that circle or if we don't hang out with such people, have a desire for such people, then subhanAllah we're going to find ourselves in a very tough situation.

A Teacher's Request

I remember, I was remembering our teacher Mawlana Suleiman Choksi, damat barakatuhum. One day in Sahih Muslim class, towards the end of the period, towards the end of the year, he said something very emotional. Made us all cry. He said, "I've been teaching you for 7 years. Now it's time to be free. You'll go back to your countries. I don't want anything from you. I only want one thing from you: that if on the day of judgement you see Choksi stuck somewhere, then just hold my hand and take me out."

He says, "I've been teaching you for 7 years. Now you're ready to go back home, to your own countries. I'm not asking for mu'awwada, I'm not asking for gifts or anything. I just ask you on the day of judgement, if you see Choksi stuck somewhere, in the plains of Hashar, don't pass me up. Just remember the fact that I'm your teacher for 7 years. Grab my hand and take me with you."

We don't know who's going to take who, my friends. We don't know who's going to take who, subhanAllah. But love the pious. Love the righteous. This is what we have to ask Allah.

Du'a for Divine Love

Ya Allah, I ask you for your love and I ask you for the love of those who love you and I ask you for the love of such actions which will make me worthy of your love:

Oh Allah, I ask you to make your love more beloved to me than myself.

Oh Allah, I ask you to make your love more beloved to me than my family.

And oh Allah, I ask you to make your love more beloved to me من الماء البارد - from cold water, on a hot summer day when you're super thirsty.

What is the value of cold water? We've been taught by our Nabi to say "Ya Allah, I want to love you more than that amazingly cold sherbet and water that's being presented to you." To say no, I don't need that, I need my Allah.

When that love comes into us, then we will be able to do amazing things. This Ramadan will come and will go, but if you want to make it special, we have to have the love of Allah within our hearts. And obviously then the love of Rasulullah and then obviously the love of the family of Rasulullah, the love of the sahaba, the love of the Quran, the love of the ulema and so forth. But it starts off with the love of Allah.

The People of the Night

And I want to share with you a beautiful statement of Abu Sulaiman. He would say:

He said the people who are speaking to Allah in the night, they are enjoying the night much more than the people of entertainment who are spending the entire night's entertainment.

And then he would say:

He says I would not - if it wasn't for the nights I would have never want to live in this world.

And then he said:

The middle portion of the night are those for who love Allah. What do they do? To quietly speak to Allah in the midst of the night. And the morning portion right before suhoor - suhoor time, this is for the sinful ones to at least seek forgiveness for their sins.

Competing in Seeking Forgiveness

Then I'll end on this part. He says:

He says, whoever is not capable of competing with the lovers of Allah in their sacrifices, in their long salah, in their long rakaats, in their abundance of sadaqah, if you can't compete with the lovers in their sacrifices for Allah, then at least do not fall behind from competing with the sinful ones in their seeking forgiveness from Allah.

The Call to Istighfar

That's what I am taking home from this message, and I want you to take home today, is do abundance of istighfar. Just do a ton of istighfar, two thousand, three thousand, as much as you can do. Ya Allah, I'm sinful, I'm sinful, I love you.

Ya Allah, learn how to say to Allah, I love you. Ya Allah, I love you, but I'm sinful, and I'm not sinning because I have the audacity to sin against you, no, I'm sinning because my nafs and shaitan have become too strong. I ask you to get me rid of the evil effects of my nafs and shaitan, and take me in. Ya Allah, I seek forgiveness from you, my friends.

You will never go wrong from this, if we make abundance of istighfar, Allah will break these shackles upon us, that we find ourselves surrounded by, that we can't do what we want to do. Insha'Allah through abundance of istighfar this will break, and this Ramadan will be like no other. I ask Allah, I implore Allah that he makes this, my words come true, for me and for all of us, that he makes our tongues moist with istighfar, and he makes us amongst those who go from muznibin to muhibbin, from those who sin and do istighfar, to those who love Allah.

Quranic Recitation

The one who will burn in the greatest fire, then he will neither die therein nor live. He has succeeded who purifies himself and remembers the name of his Lord and prays. Nay, you prefer the life of this world, and the Hereafter is better and more lasting. Verily, this is in the earlier scriptures, in the scriptures of Abraham and Moses.

Allah is the Greatest. Allah has heard who praise Him. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

Community Announcements

For anyone that has double parked in the parking lot, please exit the hall immediately and remove your car so as not to be an inconvenience for anyone that might have parked in front of you. So please, if you have double parked - probably everybody in the basement I would imagine - please excuse yourself immediately so that you can remove your car and insha'Allah not be an inconvenience to anyone else.

Girls Qiyam Program

Tonight insha'Allah we'll be having a girls qiyam for girls aged 15 and above. Our sisters will be well attended alhamdulillah by our older sister volunteers. There is a registration process for that for suhoor and preparations purposes. So please if our young ladies are going to be attending, you can find that registration link on our social medias.

I'tikaf Information

I'tikaf will begin on Thursday April the 21st before salatul maghrib. Please sign up so that proper arrangements can be made for you whether you're staying for the full 10 day sunnah i'tikaf or you'll be staying for just a day or two, in order for us to have an accurate count of those that will be staying. The i'tikaf sign up link is available on our social media, on our website, in our weekly email as well as through the WhatsApp group. So please keep in mind for that.

Throughout the last 10 nights insha'Allah we'll have qiyam al-layl held by our local huffadh - Shaykh Nasir, Shaykh Mustafa alhamdulillah, Shaykh Salman, as well as some of our younger huffadh are going to be leading that. Slight change in the program this year - we're going to be starting it at 3am. So this is a little bit different than previously doing it right after taraweeh. Our qiyam al-layl this year will start at 3am and it'll extend insha'Allah. You can have some time for suhoor at home and then come back for fajr bi'ithnillah.

Zakatul Fitr and Community Programs

Please pay your zakatul fitr today - $10 per person in your household. If you're able to give more given the current financial climate, please go ahead and do so, that's from your heart. But at the minimum we're asking for $10 per person in your home. And give that sooner rather than later so it can be distributed to those that are deserving prior to the day of Eid. We ask Allah for your cooperation in that matter.

And if you'd like to sponsor iftar, please contact one of the imams. And insha'Allah on the 23rd, next Saturday, we'll be having a community program and iftar for our community members. There is a registration link and that'll be going out soon.

May Allah put it within your hearts to donate generously to our Islamic foundation. Please do be mindful of the individuals that are wanting to attend the second prayer.

I ask Allah to accept your du'a and your dhikr and your sunnahs. Jazakumullah khair, wassalamu alaykum.