Jummah Khutbah - Sheikh Hisham & Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا — فَنَسْأَلَ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلَنِي وَإِيَّاكُمْ مِنَ الْفَائِزِينَ فِي الدَّارَيْنِ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ. اللهم آمين. وبعد.

The Value of Time and the Test of Life

My dear respected brothers and sisters, beloved mothers and elders and sisters, and little friends — we thank Allah for yet another opportunity to praise Him. Because every moment is precious. And if you were to look at someone who is out of time — I left these up here on purpose — these are announcements for people that are sick, people that have passed away, people that are in the ICU.

And it's not irregular for any given Friday to receive a stack, at least a dozen deep. If you can hear my voice right now, if you are in this masjid right now, thank Allah for the opportunity that you have right now, because there are a lot of people that don't have what you have. And rather than using these precious moments to waste, let us use them to our advantage.

Instead of using these precious minutes and seconds that quickly fly by — we have so many sayings in English for the value of time: money can't buy time, where did the time go, time flies — all of these, in multiple languages as well. Because there's a reason Allah has created time, and He has given it a limited boundary. There's only so much time to go around.

But it feels like there's so much to do. So one of the underlying messages of the Qur'an is: don't waste your time. Use every opportunity that you have for good. Try every moment that you can to get better. In the very least, don't go backwards. And even if you do go backwards, look at the mercy of Allah — seek forgiveness, and you will move forward again.

This is Rabbun Rahīm. This is the Merciful Lord, Allah, who created you, who knows what you're capable of, who is aware of your limitations, and who is always, always, always forgiving. SubhanAllah. What a beautiful benefit. What a magnificent mercy. Say, Alhamdulillah.

The fact that Allah has given you these moments — the ability to even breathe and say the word Alhamdulillah — is worthy of Alhamdulillah, to thank Allah again. There are individuals in our community, individuals within our homes, individuals within our locality who do not have the same abilities that you may have. And while we oftentimes — and this is not an Islamic principle, this is something cultural that we've gotten from somewhere — while you and I oftentimes complain or look at the glass half empty, when we have something, usually we look for what we don't have. Thank Allah for what you've got. At least you've got half a cup of milk. That's a blessing from Allah.

We read about what's going on in the world right now. It's 2017 and there's still drought and famine and people starving to death in Somalia and East Africa. Lā ilāha illallāh. Within our own localities, within even this masjid here, people who are in need — sleeping in their cars, unable to find housing, don't know where the groceries are coming from tomorrow. Thank Allah for what you have if you have it. And if you don't have it, thank Allah for the ability to thank Allah. You will get something.

We're all in this together. It's all our responsibility to take care of each other. If Allah has given you something, it is a test. If Allah has not given you something, it is a test. I wish I had a more positive message for you, but everyone's got to take the test. Everyone. This whole world is an imtihān — it's an examination. And Allah already knows the results of the examination. You only take it so that you can be assured: did you pass or did you fail? Regardless of the outcome, you have to take the test.

The Three Questions in the Grave

So my advice to you, my brothers and sisters, is: try. The very least that you can do is write your name at the top of the paper. After that, you can take a few guesses. But the intelligent one, the one who prepares, the one who is most likely going to succeed on the exam — what does that individual do? That person studies. That person prepares. That person gets an idea of what is going to be asked.

And the exam questions have already been given to us. Allah's Messenger ﷺ has not hidden anything. But rather, when Allah has completed this deen for us and He has selected and perfected Islam for you, everything is there in the clear. You will be asked three questions. Here's the test. You can write it down. This isn't cheating. This comes straight from the Prophet ﷺ.

مَنْ رَبُّكَ؟ — Who is your Lord? Seems like a simple question. But at the moment that you have to actually provide the answer, it's going to be pretty hard to talk. Who is your Lord? The intelligent one will say: it is Allah. And why would he have that answer prepared? Because this individual lived this life knowing that Allah is his Rabb. Complete reliance on Allah and nothing else. Concern and care for the mercy of Allah. That's all this individual kept themselves busy with while they were alive. So that at the moment of death, when asked why were you alive — I was there for Allah. Who is your Lord? Allah is my Rabb.

The individual that just barely writes his name at the top, just kind of shows up for the exam — or the person that takes guesses, puts a C all the way down the scantron — that individual will be stuttering when asked: مَنْ رَبُّكَ؟ I don't know.

Allah is your Rabb. What is your way of life? What is your deen? Islam is my religion. I submitted to Allah while I was alive, so that now as I leave this world, I submit to Allah. A life of submission, a death of submission, and a resurrection of submission to Allah. That's the only path for salvation. That's the only path for protection. That is the only path of success — to submit oneself to Allah.

Knowledge and awareness and living in accordance with the fact that nothing happens except if Allah decrees. No good will come to you unless Allah has determined that good will come. No harm will befall you unless Allah in His infinite mercy and wisdom has decreed that that harm will come to you. Because with every harm comes ease. With every difficulty, Allah grants you ease. This is the promise of Allah.

What is your deen? It is Islam. The one who prepares for this exam, the one who writes down these questions now and studies it, will be able to provide the answer on the day that it is asked. What is your deen? What is your way of life? What were you doing all of these years that you were alive? All of those Fridays that came and went, all of those Eids that came and went, all of those daily prayers that were called out to you, that the announcements were sent to you, that the text messages were available to you, that IslamicFinder sent your phone buzzing — all of those moments that came to you, you knew the time for the adhān, you could see the sun moving. What were you doing during that time? You lived your life in Islam, you'll die upon Islam, you will be resurrected as a Muslim.

And who is the Prophet ﷺ? My Nabī, my example for how to live, my goal, my aspiration, for who I want to be with in the hereafter — Rasulullah ﷺ. You lived your life in accordance with that. Getting to know your Prophet ﷺ, learning about his statements, understanding the simplicity — the beautiful simplicity — of the life of Rasulullah ﷺ will not only grant you that salvation in the next life where it counts, but will make your life here so simple.

Simplifying Our Lives Through the Sunnah

We make things too complicated for ourselves. We get involved in things where we just don't belong, and then we complain about it later — that I'm overworked, I'm underappreciated, I'm pulled in too many different directions, I don't have time, this is going wrong, and that is going wrong. Just simplify your life. Before we start getting into philosophical and deep discussions about things that are metaphysical, do you know who Allah is? It's as simple as that. Your aqīdah. What is your belief system? Do you have firm belief? And do you live according to that belief? That it is Allah in the beginning, it is Allah in the end, and it is Allah in between. Simplify your life.

One of the beautiful characteristics of Rasulullah ﷺ was that he would leave that which did not concern him. If you find yourself regularly arguing — if you are, like they say, a keyboard knight of Islam — on every Facebook post you've got to mention something, on every Twitter feed you've got to put in your two cents, on every blog you've got to comment, on every news story you've got to say something — calm down. Your opinion is really not necessary every time. That's the truth.

Rasulullah ﷺ did not opine on everything. There are moments in the Sunnah where the Prophet ﷺ would actually turn his face — meaning: I'm not going to comment on this. That is from the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ. We know what direction to take when he did that. Words weren't even required.

There is a saying in Arabic, and I'll end with this:

If words were worth silver, then silence is golden.

I pray that Allah grant us tawfīq to simplify our lives. I pray that Allah grant us the ability to choose our words wisely. And I pray that Allah give meaning to our statements.

As is the advice of Allah — speak a straightforward word. The result of which will be that your affairs will be set straight, and your sins will be forgiven. Whoever follows Allah and follows Rasulullah ﷺ in this regard — فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا — he will receive the greatest possible reward.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ.

Second Khutbah — Humility Before Allah and the Power of Du'ā

Respected friends, brothers and elders, mothers and sisters and young students — peace be upon you. Our Lord, our Creator, our Nourisher and our Provider — Almighty Allah — He has kept by Him something very special. Allah has an attribute and a quality that He doesn't share with anyone, and that is Al-Kibriyā' and Al-'Azamah — Greatness and Grandeur and Might. This befits only Allah. Because Allah is the source of all greatness in the world. Allah is the source of all goodness, greatness, might and power. And anyone who claims greatness or grandeur or might for himself is, in reality, putting himself at odds with Allah — putting himself as an adversary to Allah — because this belongs only to Allah. And Allah does not like anyone disputing this attribute of His, which is greatness.

And that is why multiple times in every prayer — and of course tens of times throughout our day — do we say Allahu Akbar, making it very clear that this kibriyā' and greatness is not mine, is not yours. It's only from Allah.

The Story of the King and the Gift

Scholars have mentioned a story of a king who would receive gifts from all sorts of people — as is the norm, politicians and kings receive gifts from citizens or the populace. So a person was thinking: what should I go give to the king? People came with all sorts of things. One person went with a cup of water and presented that. Other people brought all sorts of things. But at the end of the day, the question was: what will I give to the king that he doesn't have?

And in reality, in this dunyā, when world leaders meet, they're always gifting each other things — but they're always able to find something that the other person doesn't have. Something special, something great, even though that person may have all sorts of things. The villager brought some water. He said: I value water, this is something my whole crops run by. But you can well imagine that the king didn't have much value for that, because that is something he had loads of — all sorts of purified water available at his disposal. Whether there's a drought or there's abundant rainfall, it doesn't affect his palace. So he made a mistake thinking that because I value this, maybe the king will value it as well. And unfortunately it was not valued.

The Gift of Humility Before Allah

When a person presents himself to Allah with gifts, the scholars extrapolate from this that a person should give something which is not befitting for Allah to have. Because Allah has the khazā'in of everything. What is not befitting for Allah to have? It is humbleness. It is lowliness. It is humility. This is something that doesn't befit Allah — He is the one who gives it to others, but He is completely free from all need and want. So when a person humbles himself and presents tawādu' — humbleness and lowliness — to Allah, it is something that is valued by Allah.

What Allah does not like, and hates, is kibr — arrogance and self-proclaimed greatness and grandeur. This is something that Allah does not like. And there are so many various narrations of the Prophet ﷺ regarding this — warnings regarding this.

So brothers and sisters, how do we present a humbleness to Allah? How do we present a humility to Allah? There are many forms of that. But one of the greatest forms of presenting humility and humbleness to Allah is through supplication — through begging. When a person begs, puts his hand up and does this — Alhamdulillah, we pray Allah always keeps us free from ever having to bow our head or extend our hands in front of anyone of His creation. Ameen.

But this is something which is very humiliating for a person — to have to extend his hand or to bow his head in submission, in need, in humbleness. But when a person does this to Allah, all it does is raise his rank.

(Reported in various collections including Sahih Ibn Hibban and Shu'ab al-Iman of al-Bayhaqi)

Whoever humbles himself for Allah, Allah will only raise his rank.

The Prophet ﷺ in Sujūd on the Day of Judgment

We know that on the Day of Judgment, the Prophet ﷺ will be praising Allah in the state of sujūd, prostrating in front of Allah. And Allah will inspire him with such words of praise that he has never been praised like this before. And due to that he has been given the label of Aḥmad in the Qur'an itself — the one who praises the most, who praises Allah the most. Allah made him into Muḥammad — the one who is praised the most. He praised Allah and will praise Allah the most, and hence Allah made him the most praised human being — and not only human being, but the most praised of His creation.

So when Allah will inspire the Prophet ﷺ with beautiful words of thanā' and praise, at the end of this long praise Allah will tell him: He humbled himself, he lowered himself, he put his head under the ground, and he begged and prayed and supplicated to Allah, praising Him. How does this ordeal end? It ends with:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4712; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 193)

Raise your head, O Muḥammad. Ask, and you shall be granted. Intercede, and your intercession will be accepted. That is the 'āqibah — the ending — of every genuine humbleness and humility. If you lower your head today, a time will come when you will be able to lift your head up. If you are able to shed a few tears today, a time will most definitely come — tomorrow maybe, very quickly, perhaps even by the end of the day — where you will have a large smile on your face. Very quickly, Allah will show the result of this humility and humbleness in front of Him. It will be rewarded handsomely by Allah.

And hence this is the crux of our deen: taḍarru' in front of Allah. Humility in front of Allah.

The Parable of the Storm at Sea

Allah throughout the Qur'an speaks about how human beings interact, how they act. Allah for example says:

A time comes — and this parable applies to us as well, to a certain extent, even if we are not on long sea voyages, because we do have problems in our lives — until you find yourself in a ship, sailing at great speeds, enjoying your business trip, enjoying your vacation. All of a sudden you're surprised by some violent winds. And these violent winds at sea bring about large waves, which bring about a storm at sea. And these sailors see themselves surrounded by crashing waves against their sailboat. And they are now certain — وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ أُحِيطَ بِهِمْ — that they have been surrounded, that death is imminent.

Meaning: you find yourself in a deep financial crisis. You find yourself caught between people. A person is caught up in the public's eye, caught between family ties. All sorts of things happen to us in our daily lives. A person feels that this is it, it's over. It can't get any worse than this. My reputation is on the line. My salary or my business is on the line. My children's future is on the line. My own future, my college education, my marriage — all is on the line. A person thinks it's over. وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ أُحِيطَ بِهِمْ. You're convinced that you've been surrounded. The time has come.

At this time — دَعَوُا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ — these people supplicate to Allah with utmost sincerity. They don't remember any of their false idols. There is no atheist on a sinking ship, as they say. Because now everyone remembers — what are you going to scream? You have to call out to something, to someone. And there's got to be one. You can't call out ten things. You have to call out to one thing again and again.

Allah says: you find yourself in this predicament, and then you find yourself running to the masjid. You find yourself actually putting down the سجادة — the prayer mat — and praying, because you know now you're stuck. دَعَوُا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ. They find themselves praying to Allah and only to Allah, not ascribing partners with anyone else.

Allah listens to them. He knows very well what they are going to do next month when they get back home. He knows very well what this individual will do when Allah solves his problem. Allah says: when We gave them a way out of the storm and allowed them to find land peacefully, all of a sudden they're back to their old ways of shirk, polytheism, and denial of Allah.

Allah is saying: that's how quickly things change. There was taḍarru' — there was humbleness and humility at sea, when they were in that situation. But no sooner does Allah remove that situation, the wretched ones go back to their old ways. And the lucky ones learn their lesson.

The wretched ones — when We seize them with a punishment, they do not humble themselves and they do not become submissive to Allah. They don't learn their lesson. And Allah keeps on bringing these trials and tribulations on us — at a personal level, at a national level, and an international level on the Muslim community. And the purpose of these small and large tribulations and trials is لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ — so that the Muslim Ummah can turn back to Allah, can wake up and realize that something is going wrong, that I am being called out by Allah — and let me take heed from this.

The Supreme Value of Du'ā

So we come back to the aspect of du'ā. Du'ā is something which is so valuable.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3370; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3829)

There is nothing more honorable in the sight of Allah, nothing that is more well-received by Allah, than du'ā. To this extent, we have been told it is the core, the crux of all worship. We have been told that du'ā, in its sense — in reality, in essence — is 'ibādah itself. Because a slave: what is befitting of a slave? An arrogant slave is no slave to the master. The master will most definitely punish and hate an arrogant slave. The master wants a slave that is submissive, that is soft in his approach, soft in his tone, that looks down in front of his master while in the presence of his master.

We are all slaves and servants of Allah. And the only thing that befits us is humility and humbleness. And that is encapsulated in du'ā. So a person who prays and fasts, donates, participates in all sorts of community-wide activities — but does not find himself or herself motivated to raise his or her hands in front of Allah and beg — is in reality missing out on the whole essence, the crux of their worship. All of the other things are great. But the key ingredient to the acceptance of all of those actions is humility and humbleness.

Allah wants to see that. Allah can see through my sajdah. Allah can see through your check. Allah can see through someone else's volunteering. He can see what is the condition of the heart. For what intention have these things been done? Allah knows it very well. Who is being forced to pray? Who is praying because of social norms? Who is praying because they are expected to pray? And who is praying because they really want to and feel the need to pray? Allah can see all through that. Allah is Laṭīf — the most subtle. Nothing is hidden from Him.

So what is that thing where you really have to be sincere and you can't fake it? It is when you are in your car, in your bedroom, in your classroom, in your cubicle — and you are turning to Allah and saying: Yā Allāh, Yā Rabb, Yā Rabb — and you are pouring your heart out in front of Allah. Who are you going to show off to? Where is the wrong intention here? Where are the ulterior motives here? This is straight up begging Allah. This is simply putting your ego out the door and saying: Yā Allāh, I have submitted myself willingly to You. I am Yours. Everything — all good lies in Your hands. You change the night into day, day into night, honor into disgrace, disgrace into honor, wealth into poverty, poverty into wealth, health into sickness, sickness into health. Everything is in Your hands. I am Yours. You have me. To the extent that You control the emotions of my heart as well. SubhanAllah — not only that. You control my whims and wishes and desires. I can't wish for something unless You are also wishing for that.

Say: Yā Allāh, I have no option but to submit myself. And a person pours his heart out to Allah. Allah will most definitely listen.

The Verse of Closeness — Sūrah Al-Baqarah

Allah said — and I've shared this with you before — whenever anyone asks you about Allah, we have non-Muslims always asking about God, asking about Allah. And we have so many open house events that take place. Remember this ayah of Sūrah Al-Baqarah:

Whenever My servants ask you about Me — He didn't say "Muslim servants," He didn't say "Jumu'ah-going servants," He didn't say "Fajr-praying Muslims." He said: My servants. Period. We are all Allah's 'ibād — humans, all humans. Whenever they ask you about Me, tell them: فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ — I am very near.

That's it. When your co-worker, your classmate, your colleague asks you about Allah, relate this verse to them and say: you're asking me about Allah? Allah says to tell you — فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ — I am very close. And what does closeness mean here? A father or a teacher or a coach can say "I'm watching, I'm real close" — in an angry sense, meaning I'm watching your every slip. But Allah explains in the next portion of this verse what closeness means: أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ — I accept the call of the supplicator when he chooses to turn to Me. When a person prays to Me, I accept it. That's what I mean by close. I hear you. I feel you. I understand what you're going through. And when you raise your hands and say Allāh, I need this — I am there for you.

Which Muslim or non-Muslim cannot take this gift? Who amongst us can say: I've got enough friends, I've got all my affairs taken care of? Everyone's in pain, everyone's suffering. They need to hear something like this.

And I've shared this with you before as well — that there are multiple places where Allah uses the word سَأَلَ and يَسْأَلُ — approximately fourteen places — but this is the only place where Allah does not say قُلْ. In all the other places, Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ: when they ask you about such-and-such things, say. For example:

They ask you about the soul — say. They ask you about the new moons — say. Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ: I want you to give this response. But when it comes to asking about Allah Himself — in this verse and only in this place — Allah does not tell the Prophet ﷺ to relay the answer to the people. Instead, He Himself answers it directly:

Straight into the answer. Jumps right into the answer. Friends, this is a hopeful verse for all of us. And rather not just hopeful — this is what we need. It's not a vitamin. It's an antibiotic. It's a painkiller. This is exactly what we need right now. That during our trying times, along with all the activism and community affairs that we are constantly part of and need to engage in, we have to ensure that we rack up and increase our du'ā — not only for our larger community-wide concerns, but for our individual affairs as well.

Even for a Broken Shoelace — Turn to Allah

The Prophet ﷺ mentioned that to the extent — when a shoelace is broken, and to the extent — when you run out of salt — turn to Allah in du'ā. SubhanAllah. That's the level we are supposed to be at. Think about our phones — how quickly we reach for our phones when we need something. Anything and everything that comes across our day, we grab for our phone. Smallest of things. We say: let me call someone, let me text someone, let me inform someone to get this solved.

Rasulullah ﷺ is saying that our relationship with Allah and our reliance upon Allah should be at that level — that it's not awkward at all, but rather completely expected — that when something as simple as breaking your shoelace happens, you turn to Allah in du'ā. This does not mean you don't go to the store. You do all of that. But you also turn to Allah and say: Allāh, help me. Based on this ayah where Allah says — whoever asks Me, I shall respond to him.

'Umar's Beautiful Statement on Du'ā

'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said something beautiful. He said: I don't care about the answer — I only care about the du'ā. He said: if I get inspired to make du'ā, I am not worried about whether my du'ā is going to get accepted or not. I don't carry around with me the worry of acceptance. Instead I carry with me the worry of: am I supplicating or not? How much time did I spend today — on this blessed Friday, majority of which has already passed — how many minutes of these twenty-four hours have I spent in du'ā?

He said: I carry around the worry of du'ā. And why is that? Because if I have been inspired by Allah to supplicate to Him, I know Allah has already taken responsibility for accepting it. Whoever has been inspired to raise his hands and supplicate to Allah — if you are not in a position to raise your hands in a board meeting, you don't have to raise your hands. If you can't move your lips, you don't have to move your lips. As long as the heart is connected to Allah and you're speaking to Allah — if you've been inspired by Allah to supplicate to Him, know very well that the gift is right around the corner. And what is that? That is the ijābah.

If you've ordered the burger, the drink is coming next. If you've made your du'ā, it will get accepted — most definitely. Whether you get accepted exactly what you asked for, or in lieu of that a punishment or a calamity is averted, or your rewards in the hereafter are multiplied and you'll get a beautiful upgrade in paradise — after seeing that, you will wish that none of your prayers in the world would have been accepted. So there is absolutely no opportunity to lose. It's only a win-win-win situation.

A Warning About Times of Trial

Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) — the keeper of the secrets of the Prophet ﷺ, the one who had all the narrations about the trials and the tribulations that will come before the end of times — said: a time will come upon this world of trials and tribulations — يَأْتِي عَلَى النَّاسِ زَمَانٌ لَا يَنْجُو فِيهِ إِلَّا مَنْ دَعَا — a time will come upon this world where the only one who will be saved from those trials is the one who will turn to Allah the way a drowning person begs for mercy. The way a drowning person on a plank in the midst of a sea — where there's no cell phone, where your credit card doesn't work, where your relatives and friends are all gone — a person is simply alone in the midst of a storm in the middle of the sea. What else can that person do besides beg and beg and beg with utmost humility to Allah?

He says: that time will come — that if you want to get saved from those trials, you really have to be on your knees, begging like the one who is at sea begging for salvation and safety.

Closing Advice

My dear friends, this is an advice for myself and all of us here: we are always complaining about our situations. We have to solve them as well. And while we take on all the other methods and means of solving our personal and individual as well as collective and community-wide affairs, we have to turn to Allah in utmost humility and submission and beg Him of His mercy. And we will find Him to be the best of those who listen. We will find Him to be the best of those who are called upon. We will find Him to be the best of those who show mercy — the best of those who have kindness and love for humanity.

We ask Almighty Allah that He makes all of us from amongst those who supplicate to Him daily, earnestly, every single day, morning and evening. And He makes our children, our spouses, our relatives, our parents from those who also feel that connection with Allah — that when they raise their hands they don't feel like they're speaking to thin air or to a wall, but they are actually speaking to Allah, the most powerful, who will most definitely change their affairs. Alhamdulillah wa kafā, wa ṣalātu wa salāmu 'alā Rasūlillāh.

The Prophet ﷺ said: the most merciful of my Ummah to my Ummah is Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him); the most strict in the affairs of Allah is 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him); the most truthful in modesty is 'Uthmān (may Allah be pleased with him); and the best in judgment is 'Alī (may Allah be pleased with him). And upon all the ṣaḥābah and ṣaḥābiyyāt, altogether.

اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ، وَادْعُوهُ يَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ. وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَعْلَى وَأَوْلَى وَأَعَزُّ وَأَجَلُّ وَأَهَمُّ وَأَتَمُّ. وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ.

Announcements

As you are aware, the Islamic Foundation takes your security as a very serious and significant matter. MāshāAllāh, the arrangements that have been made for the last two months — hiring full-time security guards to patrol the facility during school hours, off school hours, all the way from Fajr until 10:30 at night, every single day — this, Alhamdulillah, is a service that is provided to you as the community, that you may come and worship in peace, that you may come and identify and connect yourself with Islam in peace.

This peace of mind requires an effort on behalf of all of us. You are deeply requested to contribute to the security expenses. The numbers, MāshāAllāh, are not low. And the contributions are, MāshāAllāh, low. So we need to bridge the gap. Give what Allah has given you. Security expenses are being collected in the lobby immediately after Ṣalāh. Give for this peace of mind. Give that Allah may give you. And may Allah bless the entire community and keep us safe. Allāhumma Āmīn.

Next Friday, inshāAllāh, Ṣalātul Jumu'ah will be at 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock. If you come at 12 o'clock next week, MāshāAllāh, you're early — hang around, you'll get the reward of sitting and waiting for the prayer.

Tonight, Islamic Foundation Youth will be having its next Real Talk program — very appropriate, right? With the ayah — قُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا — a straightforward word. Real Talk is an Islamic Foundation Youth initiative for high school and college age boys and girls. An opportunity to come together, have a short lecture. InshāAllāh, this month we're going to be talking about friends — the value of friends, how to keep friends, and what happens when things go bad in our friendships. Short discussion, Q&A, Alhamdulillah, very interactive. As well as we'll be having some dinner together inshāAllāh. That's tonight — high school and college age boys and girls, here at the Islamic Foundation in the library. Please show up for that, Alhamdulillah. Or send your young ones out to come and plug in with the rest of the community.

MāshāAllāh, many events. Alhamdulillah. It's a very busy time in the spring here in Chicago. MāshāAllāh, lots of fundraisers, lots of programs, lots of efforts. Make yourself aware of what's going on and get involved. Give where you can give. Participate where you can participate. Make use of your time. Alhamdulillah. This is a very exciting time, especially here in the Midwest — we start thawing out of the snow and all these programs are happening. Alhamdulillah — benefit dinners and programs and lectures as well. MāshāAllāh.

If you haven't already, sign up for the Islamic Foundation newsletter. This will keep you up to date with all of the programs happening here at the Foundation.

And we ask Allah to grant maghfirah and peace and blessings to all of those who are sick or ill, or those who have passed away in our community. May Allah have mercy upon their souls. And may Allah grant the families patience. And may Allah accept all of our du'ā and protect us and keep us safe. Allāhumma Āmīn. Wassalāmu 'alaykum wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh.