Jumu'ah Khutbah | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَبَارِكْ وَسَلِّمْ.

The Danger of Minor Sins

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has mentioned in a hadith that stay away from those sins, which people regard as insignificant. Stay away from such mistakes and sins which people regard as insignificant. For indeed, Allah will hold people accountable for it. طالب, someone who demands, Allah will demand justice, Allah will demand retribution, Allah will demand that those people who committed these type of mistakes will be held accountable.

Very small short hadith, but subhanAllah, how powerful it is for us to remind ourselves that many times it is these small flares that end up completely destroying a person. When you see these huge forest fires, where do they start from? They start off from a match, start off from a cigarette butt, right? Small cigarette butt that wasn't taken care of ends up bringing down the entire forest and ends up burning thousands of acres.

The Progressive Nature of Sin

And as a person focuses on the major sins, which is important, what happens is we should never think of ourselves to be safe just because we're not involved in the more famous, more looked down upon, the more well known sins. It is not sufficient for us to feel content and happy and think that Jannah is ours if we are not committing these major sins.

Because what happens is when a person becomes habitual of committing minor sins, or mistakes which you regard as insignificant, these things eventually lead to a person becoming more relaxed and lose focus and ends up creating a sense of Allah forbid, جسارة, like a type of audacity to start committing larger sins. And when a person ends up in that situation, subhanAllah, by that time he's by time he realizes what he's landed up in, it's too late.

The Layers of Protection

That is why there's a saying that a person needs to be very careful about the etiquettes in order for him to be careful and be in good shape with regards to the preferable sunan in order for him to be careful about the emphasize sunan in order for him to be on the safe side when it comes to the فرائض. So you be careful at the outer layer so that the inner core which is the farad remains safe. And a person stays safe on the outer layer of things that he shouldn't be doing in order to make sure he never falls into what? into haram.

As it's mentioned that من تهاون بالآداب حرم من السنن, whoever is lax when it comes to the etiquettes will be deprived of the sunnah. And then whoever تهاون بالسنن, whoever takes sunnah light, then he will be punished with حرمان الفرائض, he will be punished with being deprived of the farad.

The Importance of Islamic Etiquettes

So previously, what was very, very focused in our elders was the etiquette coming to the masjid, etiquette of the Quran, etiquette of holding the mushaf, etiquette of dealing with Islamic books.

Stories of the Pious Predecessors

It is mentioned regarding one of the salaf, that he was if I remember Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, رحمة الله عليه, was not feeling well, sick. And someone mentioned a story of one of the companions or the tabi'een or some of the salaf, the righteous predecessors. So although he was sick, and he was lying down, when his when the name was mentioned, he sat upright. And he said, I cannot be sitting like this, while the stories of the pious and the names of the pious are being mentioned. It is against the etiquette for a person to be sitting down relaxed, even though he was sick, but he said, it's not befitting for me to sit like this when just the name of the pious are mentioned.

I remember there's a story written about Mufti Mahmud al-Hassan, رحمة الله عليه, the famous Mufti of the entire India, who passed away and was buried in South Africa. So that he was sitting with Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah in Madinatul Munawwara. And when it was a well known scholar from Syria, great alim. And as the time approached in for Maghrib Salah, they were visiting each other in Umrah, they met each other probably in Umrah or Hajj.

As the time approached for Maghrib. So one of the attendants who were one of the students of Mufti Sahib said, we can freshen up and do wudu, there's a little time for Maghrib. And we as we would usually say, so he said, How is it possible? Shaykh Abdul Fattah mentioned that how is it possible that a person will be sitting in a gathering with ulama, scholars, here's the Mufti of India, how is it possible for a person to imagine to think to sit with a scholar without being in the state of wudu? Naturally, if I'm sitting here, that means I am in the state of wudu, I do not need to freshen my wudu for Salah. Because that is the etiquette that you have with knowledge, and with the people of knowledge.

And that the respect starts off with internally being in the state of wudu. Internally making sure that our minds and hearts are clean before we go to such gatherings. We've given sadaqah to purify our own sins. Because we are going to a special place and we want to make sure we treat that gathering the way it ought to be.

Respect for the House of Allah

You have non-Muslims come to a masjid regularly, they will always ask, what is the dress code? What is, is this acceptable or not? Is this fine or not? Because they don't want to go against the etiquettes and the expectations of a place of worship. You'll see in Turkey and other places as well, many tourists coming in. But everyone's wearing the scarf and everyone is covering up properly, appropriately, because they say, well, we are entering the place of worship.

Short sleeves, for example, things of this sort, it will not invalidate your Salah, but it is the etiquette that I am going to a black tie dinner. How do you dress up for that? A person can't walk in flip flops and slippers and in a t-shirt, because this is a black tie event. This is a very special tuxedo event. Everyone is supposed to wear tuxedos or suits.

So the house of Allah, there's no better and more special event than Salatul Jumu'ah in the masjid. There's no special, more special venue than in the house of Allah. When a person comes to the house of Allah, as Allah mentions in the Quran, that ensure that you beautify yourselves before you go to pray, whether in the masjid, or you're praying at home, or somewhere else, that before we put our head in front of Allah, or before we show up in front of Allah's court, that we should be dressed appropriately, that we should be in the most respectable fashion in front of Allah.

Building Quality Prayer Through Etiquette

So that is an adab, that is an etiquette. When a person is careful about this etiquette, say entering the house of Allah, we are making sure that we are entering with the right foot. We're reading بسم الله, الصلاة والسلام على رسول الله, اللهم that we come and we perform, if it's time for Nafl, or if it's time for Sunnah, fine. If it's time for Nawafil also, Tahiyyatul Masjid. A person is welcoming the masjid, right? He's entering the masjid and this is how he pays respect to the masjid by performing Tahiyyatul Masjid.

These are things that were very common before. People understood that this is the etiquette of the house of Allah. When that person does all of that, then when he says Allahu Akbar, and he stands in front of Allah, he's doing Takbir, he's raising his hands, he's thinking that everything besides Allah's thoughts are being poured out of the hearts, are being cleansed out of the heart, and only the love of Allah is coming in. Only the love of Allah is pouring into my heart. I'm now standing in front of the Lord of the worlds, the King of all Kings. Imagine the quality of that prayer. What happened? A person built it up on the foundations of adab.

The Etiquettes of Wudu

When it comes to wudu, a person has the adab of making sure that water is not being, not only unnecessarily being used, and wasted, but even when doing wudu, we're doing it very delicately. We're not splashing water on our face. We're not wetting all of our clothes. We're not spreading water all over the place we're doing wudu. You're using not only small amounts of water, but doing it properly with full etiquette, thinking as you wash through each limbs, that the sins are being wiped off from each of those limbs.

Thinking as I'm washing, Ya Allah, I know I've sinned with my ears, I've sinned with my eyes, I've sinned with my hands, as I'm washing it, if I know the dua, I know the dua. If not, at least in my heart, Ya Allah, please forgive me for the sins that have been committed by this hand, and give me my book of deeds in my right hand. So every limb of the body, we are in the state of dhikr and dua as we're doing wudu. These are the etiquettes of wudu.

So now a person who's so particular about these simple small etiquettes, imagine the quality of the actual fardh salah that he'll perform, which started off from dressing, wudu, leaving the home properly, entering the masjid properly, sitting down properly, and focusing. Then alhamdulillah, hopefully this individual will not have a problem missing fardh salah.

The Danger of Doing Only the Basics

But the one who takes things lightly, you see nowadays many times adults and children both say, let me just do the basics. What we don't understand is when you're doing the basics, you have no margin of error. If you just do the basics, very high chance that you will definitely miss up one or two days. And what you're gonna be missing? Not the mustahab or the etiquette. You're gonna end up missing the actual fardh. And that's a no-no. It's gone.

When it comes to staying away from things too, a person says, let me just stay away from the haram. Doesn't work like that. I'm not pious, I'm not that righteous. We should try to stay away from doubtful things. Not that we're some super special pious people, we know who we are, but the idea is that by staying away from doubtful things, at least for sure I won't fall into something which is prohibited. And if I stay away from prohibited things, makrooh things, then for sure inshallah I will not fall into something which is one of the major haram things that have been ultimately classified as a no-go. That will never happen.

The Parable of the Pasture

The Prophet ﷺ, he gives the example of, that indeed, when you have a pasture, a place where animals graze, and the animals like to graze always on the corner. They always like to push the limits, go towards the fence, the corner. And so now if you have a neighbor that gets upset all the time when your animals go over naturally, then you want to make sure your animals are not grazing on the sides, that they're away from the fence. Many times people put different things to keep them away.

So what happens is that outside the fence for a Muslim is haram. But if you're always next to the fence, there's a very good chance that your hands and feet will end up going touching what's on the opposite side, which is normal. That's what will happen. If you keep on always walking on the side, you will very likely end up slipping and falling into the other side, which is a haram.

A Story from the Scholars

Mufti Rafi, the chief mufti of Pakistan who passed away recently, there was a story of him and his brother, Mufti Taqi, may Allah bless him. Mufti Taqi says that, I used to go once in a while with my elder brother for a walk in the morning. And he said, my elder brother had a friend and used to walk together in the morning. And there were times that, he said, I was a younger child walking with them and there used to be a lake or a pond, a big large pond in Karachi. And he said, it would be freezing cold and they would wear jackets and go for a walk.

The Importance of Staying Away from the Borderlines

And he said, one time as a child naturally does, likes to play around, walk around, not necessarily walk in line on the main road. He said, I was walking around the pond. As they were walking on the road, he said, I was walking a few feet away right next to the pond. And as I was walking, he said, my foot slipped and I fell into the pond, freezing, freezing cold, icy cold water. And he said, literally I thought I was going to drown and die. Had it not been for my brother and his friend jumped in and pulled me out and yanked me out of that pond and then wrapped me up in a big jacket of theirs. And I came home trembling and shivering because I obviously didn't have clothes to change with that freezing cold water. And he said, I almost drowned. I was seconds away from drowning.

He took that incident of childhood and he reflected on the same hadith and the same aspect. That if you have a habit of always playing with fire, always barely staying away from haram, more than likely you will one day fall into it. That's not a smart move. You need to stay away from the border. You need to stay away from the categorically haram things.

Excellence in Worship, Not Just the Minimum

And similarly, if a person just barely makes it into fard salah, then his deen will be very weak. Let's say for Jummah, if a person says, let me just come for the last three minutes, that's one style of Jummah. And there's a person who comes in 40 minutes, half an hour before, that's another style of Jummah. Both are Jummahs. But there is a huge difference between the quality and what those two individuals will walk away from that Jummah with. One's going to be walking away with a lot more than the other. One will say, yes, if you've done it, I've done it. I've prayed. Yes, he will tell his co-workers, I went and prayed.

But imagine if a person spends in the house of Allah four minutes, five minutes, right? Just barely is able to get the two rakah of Jummah. As opposed to someone who comes in early and performs nafil salah, dua, some muhasabah, listens to a talk. How much more benefit there will be?

So we have to create a habit of not just skimming at the top, making barely ends meet. Do we do that in the dunya? We don't. We always want to excel. We want to get the premium package. No one wants to get an entry level anything, if they can afford it. Everyone wants to get all the add-ons. Especially if you have an opportunity, if it's a cheaper price, why not? Let's go. Let's get the top-notch premium executive or whatever it's called. You know, the top tier.

So in the matters of deen, we should aim. How is Allah gonna give us tawfiq to get anywhere if we don't even aim top tier? If we don't even aim to be in the top level, what's gonna happen? We cannot teach ourselves and our children to just simply make it through. You know, just barely hanging on with a thread. Just like we don't expect them to do that in the dunya. We get angry if they get a B+. We want nothing less than an A. Well, same thing when it comes to the deen.

Focus on Etiquette and Adab

We have to make sure for ourselves and our children that we are particular not only on the fard and the sunnah, but we have to be particular about the etiquette, the sunnah as well. The adab and the etiquette, if our children are solid on that, and if we are solid on that, إن شاء الله our fard is not going anywhere. 100% we'll never miss our fard. And if we stay away from the doubtful things, then إن شاء الله we'll never have to face a day, Allah forbid, when you and I end up thinking that, how did I end up committing this haram?

I ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى that He gives you and I this ability to remain firm on the etiquettes of all aspects of our life. And may He allow us to stay away from even the most doubtful things.

Warning Against Minor Sins

And wrapping up with the hadith that we began today with:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

Or as our Prophet ﷺ said, that is stay away from those sins which people regard as insignificant. For indeed there will be a demand on the Day of Judgment from Allah سبحانه وتعالى for that to also be paid for.

And we can't ask, we cannot, we can never pay back. We can never give the recompense to Allah عز وجل. If Allah سبحانه وتعالى says, you've committed this sin, I want you to pay up. Who's gonna be able to pay that fine?

So I ask Allah عز وجل to allow us to stay away from even the most minute of sins. And through the barakah of that, keep us away from the major sins. آمين يا رب العالمين.

Announcements

إن شاء الله let's come forward and complete the saff and perform the sunnah. Please come forward, إن شاء الله complete the saff before beginning your sunnah.

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously as we know charity and sadaqa wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith related by Imam Abdul Razzaq that a charity given on the Day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day.

Weekend Programs

Additionally, إن شاء الله we have our programs taking place this weekend. Tomorrow morning will be our team fajr. This week's breakfast is hosted by the Uzbek community. So you can enjoy the dars along with some traditional Uzbek food. Tomorrow morning إن شاء الله 6:15 is Salat al-Fajr followed by a talk, dhikr and then breakfast.

إن شاء الله we invite you as well to attend the annual benefit banquet you've been hearing for the past month or so. It's gonna be taking place tomorrow at 5pm immediately after, we'll pray maghrib there and the program will begin immediately after Salat al-Maghrib with appetizers and the program. And إن شاء الله we'll all be wrapped up with dinner and everything إن شاء الله before 10pm. So إن شاء الله it'll be a good program with our guest speaker Imam Zaid Shakir gonna be arriving إن شاء الله tomorrow morning. So there's arrangements for families there as well. Hopefully everyone has already purchased their tickets and we'll see you at 5 o'clock إن شاء الله tomorrow.

Educational Programs

Our weekend tafheem program has been going on. If you have missed them you can catch up and get the recordings. This is great classes for adults, working adults, high school students, college students, men and women. This semester we're covering fiqh of halal and haram, fiqh of marriage and divorce, misunderstood verses of the Qur'an and other classes. This is a tafheem program, details are online.

And the girls youth halaqa, soulful chats, إن شاء الله they will be taking place Friday, January 27th today from 5:45pm to 7:45pm at the Darussalam Seminary Sisters Prayer Hall, ages 13 to 21. This is a great youth halaqa that happens led by our senior students of the Alimah program. So please share this message with the girls of the community and allow them to إن شاء الله benefit.

Besides that our weekly program on Monday nights is Darussalam Sahih al-Bukhari after Isha. And on Tuesday nights is Darussalam Tafsir also of Surah al-Mu'minun after Salatul Isha.

Du'a Requests

There are dua requests. Grandmother of Fazal passed away in India. اللهم اغفر لها وارحمها. Another sister, another elderly lady, 92 years old. She is also in very sick condition, not eating. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant her aafiyah and khair. Sharif Ziauddin, dua of shifa, who is suffering from advanced liver cancer. And also we have a community sister Hajara who is also suffering from cancer, young girl. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant her shifa as well. And all those that we are not aware of but who are going through any type of sickness, spiritual or physical, may Allah grant them cure. آمين.

Khutbah Conclusion and Prayer