Performing Congregational Prayer -Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Performing Congregational Prayer

By Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Respected elders and brothers, mothers and sisters, students — السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

The Ummah as One Body

Allah out of His infinite mercy has granted this ummah so many opportunities to mix with each other, to get together collectively — on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a yearly basis — at a level of a community, at a level of a city, at a level of a country, and at a level of the world. Because this ummah is a collective ummah that is meant to look out for each other's best interest, and that is supposed to act with each other in such cohesion and such cooperation.

This has been beautifully explained by the Prophet ﷺ in a hadith in which he gave the example of the ummah — that they are like one body. A hadith that you and I have heard multiple times. The Prophet ﷺ said that this ummah is like one body — and how so? That they are completely in touch with each other.

It is not possible in normal circumstances that a person is walking around and afterwards someone tells him, "It seems like you have lost a toe," and he says, "I didn't realize that I had lost a toe in an accident." Allah forbid, unless there are some other underlying diseases — most probably he will, of course, feel that. If a person is suffering from a toothache or a headache, very quickly he will realize that this portion of my body is in pain and he will respond accordingly.

The pain may be in the leg, the pain may be in his fingernail, but you will see the face will change, his gestures will change, the color of his face will change, the tone of his speech will change — every aspect of him will change. Even though the pain, we know very well, is in the fingertip, but his face is showing that pain. Other parts of his body — now he can no longer — why don't you use your other hand to enjoy the burger? But you will see that he won't be able to do that at that time. He says, "No, I can't eat. I have lost my appetite." Even though it is not the tooth that is in pain — it is a toe or a fingernail that is in pain. But the immense cooperation, the way they are all working on one grid — when there is a loss of power, it affects the entire human body, it affects the entire building that is all connected to one grid.

You are supposed to feel that pain. The Prophet ﷺ mentioned and explained it: when one portion of this body is suffering, the rest of the body will call out, and it will do two things — it will stay awake at night, and it will go through a fever. Two things. It will stay awake at night even though it is one portion of the body, but the entire body will say that we have to be alert, we have to look after a portion of our body that is going through a crisis right now — a virus attack, a bacteria attack, whatever the case may be. And then the normal physical body reacts through a fever. It counteracts that with a fever. It is not just that that area gets inflamed only at times, but we see when there is an attack the entire body goes into a fever mode. Because of that SubhanAllah connection that physically exists within the human body.

Rasulullah ﷺ is saying that the spiritual connection that exists within the ummah — if not to a stronger degree, it is definitely of the same degree — that there is constant communication, constant connection, constant feedback between portions of the ummah.

The Purpose of Congregational Prayer

Hence we have the salah with jama'at that takes place five times a day in the masjid — where although we may be living right near the masjid, we have been ordered to perform salah in the house of Allah as men, as mature young men and adults. So that from the many benefits, one major benefit is that we are looking out for each other.

If the wife is sick, the daughter is sick, then the husband probably is not being able to show up, the father is not able to show up to the masjid. So when we see his absence and we look out for him and see what's wrong, we will come to realize that a member of his household is suffering, is going through a sickness. And thereby, by taking a roll call of the men, we are able to keep a good grasp of what is happening in all the homes in the entire neighborhood, in the local community — that on a daily basis, when someone is not present, immediately members of the community get worried, or should be worried, that why is fulan ibn fulan — such and such brother — who I would see regularly, not here anymore? What's wrong?

And when we call and consult and find out — of course, sometimes it may be something that they have moved, they've gone out, and sometimes it may simply have been that they have just not found the time.

Respected friends, we all love to be loved, and we love that when we're not there, people say, "Hey, we missed you." If someone was invited to a party and he didn't show up, how nice it feels when the host and everyone else says, "We missed you last night," or we get repeated calls — "Are you coming? Are you on your way?" — and you say, "Yes, I just got caught up, I'm coming." We feel that we're being appreciated. No one feels that this is a burden. No one feels, "Why are you coming after me like that?" Rather we feel loved. What else would motivate this person to take the time out to call me, to take the time out to text message me, to take the time out to see how come I didn't show up last night? It is not some type of force but rather genuine care and love for me — and that is something we all appreciate.

We want to have a sense of belonging. That same type of love and care is to be manifested on a daily basis in our houses — in the houses of Allah — that when one of us is not present, then the rest of us are supposed to show that care: where is it, what has happened to my dear brother who was so regular in the month of Ramadan, that we haven't seen him for two or three weeks?

Just recently a brother met him after one of the salats — he's new to the community, six to eight months he moved here — and SubhanAllah he was expressing the fact that the entire month of Ramadan went by and he never got a chance to come. And I tried to find an excuse; I said, "Well, this is probably you couldn't make it." He said, "No, no, no — I had no excuse. I'd come home early from work. I just didn't come to the masjid." But he said, "SubhanAllah, this brother today knocked at my home — who I don't know, from a different background, from a different ethnicity — and it was that love and the care he showed for me which has brought me here today for the salah. No one — I'm a new immigrant to this community, don't have any family here — and to see that MashaAllah someone from the masjid could come and care for me and ask about me, is something that I don't get outside. This is the house of Allah that is compelling me now to make this a regular place for me."

My friends, our masajid are supposed to function like that — where we are in tune with each other, with the entire community that surrounds the masjid, the neighbors and beyond. Muslim as well as — of course the next step — the non-Muslims as well. But charity starts at home: you first start with your family, you first start with your own, and then you move forward to see everyone else. That desire and love and compassion Rasulullah ﷺ created in the sahaba to such an extent that none of us can ever imagine or claim that we are more busy or have more responsibility than a man who is the khalifa of the entire Muslim ummah.

The Example of Umar ibn al-Khattab

At the time of Umar al-Khattab رضي الله عنه — imagine the responsibility of being a judge, a chief minister, a chief judge, an Ameer al-Mu'mineen, one of the greatest scholars that has ever lived. So not only is he doing administrative things, he is giving fatwas as well. He is consulting ulama and issuing verdicts on so many issues, and he has to prepare the battalions and the armies — all sorts of hats he is wearing. What hat does he not wear? He also wears the hat of a loving father, a caring brother, a caring son to every single person out there.

And the stories are many — too numerous to count and to share. But yet one day, when he performs his Fajr salah, he looks around — looking from right to left, top to bottom, front to back — and imagine how well he knew his community with all the responsibilities he had. He is able to immediately pinpoint that such and such individual is missing today for Fajr salah. With so many other appointments — I'm sure ambassadors to receive, delegations to send out, money to be distributed, so many things to take care of, besides his wife and his children — yet he takes the time out. Doesn't send someone else. He himself — he himself — takes the time to walk to that individual's home.

So now not only did he immediately know who is missing, but he also knew where he lived, and he took the time out to walk to that person's house. And he knocks at that person's house to see: what has happened today? Why is this young brother not present in our Fajr salah? What's going on? Maybe he is sick. Maybe he needs the khalifa's assistance.

And at that time his mother opens the door and sees the khalifa at her door. Very worried, anxious — "What has happened, O Ameer al-Mu'mineen?" He says, "No, I simply come to ask about your son. Where is he?" And she says, "Well, my son — SubhanAllah — it's not that he had a late project he was working on, or a new job that is keeping him super busy so that he is not able to wake up for Fajr. But SubhanAllah — what a beautiful excuse — if there was any excuse to be acceptable, this would be the excuse: that my son spent the entire night in nafl salah. He spent the entire night in ibadah. So now, at tahajjud time, he performed his Fajr at home — he was too tired to make it out to come for Fajr — so he prayed the Fajr at home."

And Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه, when he heard this very beautiful excuse — a young boy who spends the night at home performing nafl — how better could it be than that? How better can it get than this, to have a son at home praying the entire night nafl and optional prayers? But he tells her: "No, instead it is more beloved — not to me, but in Islam — that he comes for Fajr salah and sleeps the entire night, than for him to spend the entire night in optional prayers and not come for Fajr salah in the masjid." He passed that message on to him, and he left.

That is what you call care. That's not about being "big brother." That is what you call — who benefits from that? Umar رضي الله عنه has a million things to do that day in his agenda. What makes him take twenty minutes of his time — more or less — to go to this boy's house? It's nothing but genuine love and care for every person in the ummah, for every young man and woman, for every person — that we want the best for him.

The Graduates of the Prophet's School

Rasulullah ﷺ — these were the graduates of the Prophet's ﷺ university. The graduates of Madrasatus Suffa. They came out as humanitarians. They graduated as loving people. They did not graduate as simple politicians or simple CEOs who know how to bring back the most return for their stockholders. Rather they were people who did great business, who did great management and administration as well — did it to the best level — but most importantly, they were humans who cared about humanity, who cared about the best interest for their people, not only in this world but in the world that you and I believe in but don't see — the world of the Hereafter. They knew that we have to — if we don't encourage them, if we don't show them the path, they will make wrong decisions.

And SubhanAllah, it is that ummah that the Prophet ﷺ created that we are missing today. The children of that ummah — when a great scholar, what a beautiful book he wrote — and when he titled the book, just the title itself is sufficient for us to learn a lesson. Sheikh Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi رحمه الله, where he said SubhanAllah:

He said: "This is a crisis — a crisis of apostasy, a crisis of irtidad, a crisis of people leaving the fold of Islam." But unfortunately — is this the first time this is happening? Absolutely not. This has happened many times before. It happened right after the demise of the Prophet ﷺ. But how sad — there is no graduate from the madrasa of the Prophet ﷺ, from the university of the Prophet ﷺ, to handle this situation.

And who was that amazing valedictorian of that madrasa? It was none other than Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله تعالى عنه, who handled the irtidad situation so beautifully and turned things around 180 degrees in a matter of a few months. A crisis that had engulfed the ummah — and Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه steered the entire ummah in a direction away from apostasy to strength, so that Umar al-Khattab رضي الله تعالى عنه could take the reins after him — after a short two and a half years — and expand the horizon, expand the boundaries, and allow millions of other people to enter into Jannah.

There was a situation that came across, and there were people ready to handle it. Today the situations that we see are not new, my friends. Every single thing that is coming across, that is being presented in the news, is not new. Everything the ummah has gone through — as a scholar beautifully said — SubhanAllah, the garden of Islam is lush and green, but our Islam isn't lush and green because it has been irrigated by water and fertilized by all sorts of chemicals. Rather it has been irrigated by the blood of innocent Muslims throughout the times, and it is the sacrifices that have become the fertilizer for that beautiful garden, the fruits of which you and I enjoy and pluck today.

It is not simply sitting on our back that people gave this religion to us. Tons of sacrifice, rivers of blood, rivers of sweat, and millions of young men, women, children, and adults gave their lives throughout the times for Islam to reach us today — for this masjid to be built, for you and I to sit in comfort and enjoy today's Jumu'ah, benefit from today's Jumu'ah, and get the rewards of today's Jumu'ah. It didn't happen overnight, nor did it happen without any cost — without any monetary cost and without a human cost. A massive human cost was paid. And this was done with trust — trust in Allah — that Allah will reward me for this.

The First Sacrifices in Islam

They sacrificed everything they had for Allah. And where did this start from? This started from the very first day when Rasulullah ﷺ stood up and invited — Khadijah رضي الله عنها was the one from amongst the women who made that first sacrifice. Ali ibn Abi Talib was the first one to make that sacrifice amongst the young men. Zayd was the first amongst the freed slaves to make that sacrifice. And Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه — again, once again his name comes — was the first one to make that sacrifice from amongst the free men.

Hijrah and Sacrifice

From amongst the Muhajireen — leaving our countries and migrating, my friends, was part of our faith, part of our religion, part of the sacrifices that the Prophet ﷺ and Allah demanded and asked:

Allah also mentions:

Hijrah and leaving for the sake of Islam — leaving because you cannot practice your faith in a certain area — was part and parcel of our religion from day one. Whether it was Abyssinia part one, Abyssinia part two, or whether it was Madinah, it was something that Rasulullah ﷺ instructed his companions to do, and they had to go through untold sacrifices in going.

The Crisis of Refugees Today

Today we're looking at the crisis of migrants, we're looking at the crisis of refugees — not in one place. There isn't a spot that we can say is free from it. They're saying since World War II, there has never ever been this large an amount of an exodus of refugees — approximately 65 million. And millions and millions — maybe a very large portion, if not the largest portion — of that is from the Muslim community. Whether it's Burma, whether it is Indonesia, whether it is Syria, whether it's Iraq, whether it's Afghanistan or Pakistan, wherever you look, all the other countries in Central Africa — SubhanAllah Al-Azim.

Where do you start from? Where do you compare? What can you say needs the most? Nothing — you can't compare. Each one is as worse as it can get. Each humanitarian crisis is worse than the other. It's just one day this makes it to the front page, and the other day that makes it to the front page. And if there were a thousand front pages, everyone would be on the front page every single day.

But this is part of our faith, this is part of our tradition. We do not sit there and ask people to pity us and cry. But instead we say that we are stronger through these crises. We have gone through this. The ummah has gone — as long as we have people like Abu Bakr As-Siddiq and Umar al-Farooq who cared about people, who cared about humanity, then InshaAllah we'll be in good hands, and these sacrifices will only make you and I stronger, will make you and I more vigilant, will make us InshaAllah more deeply rooted.

My respected friends — but if we do not have people at the helm of the ummah, if we do not have people who know how to respond properly, who do not know how to channel the energy, the compassion, the sympathy, the sorrow, the tears as well as the anger and the frustration in a proper manner — then the crisis will only get worse. We will go from a ditch into a deeper ditch, from a frying pan into the fire. We will go from an era SubhanAllah of losing out in the dunya to losing out in the dunya and in the Akhirah. We may — Allah forbid — go away from a situation in which we can actually gain great points with Allah for our patience, to — Allah forbid — losing our faith completely in Allah.

If things are not translated properly, are not processed properly in our minds, massive great catastrophes can happen. And what greater catastrophe can there be than losing one's faith — losing one's faith in Allah — and beginning to question the existence of God Almighty, beginning to question the mercy of Almighty Allah? There can be no greater crisis than that. That a person suffers whatever he suffers, but then at the time of death it is not the ending of suffering, but it is only the beginning — not a long life of suffering, but rather, unfortunately — may Allah protect us all — a life of never-ending, infinite years of difficulty and horror. May Allah protect us all from that, when a person loses his faith.

This World Is a Place of Test

Respected friends, this ummah has been created to care. When one man is missing, one woman is missing, when one man or woman is in pain — as mentioned earlier — this ummah is supposed to feel that. You don't need to be told. The pinky doesn't need to say, "I'm in pain." Immediately the brain senses that. Immediately the other hands and feet and the parts of the body respond to that. We don't need to be reminded time and again through pictures. We don't need to be reminded time and again through something that makes it to the front page, or that makes it to the three o'clock and five o'clock news. We know the ummah is in pain — not one day, but rather every day, every night.

When you and I go to sleep peacefully, when you and I go up and about doing our jobs and work and dropping off our kids at school with lunch and lunch money and dinner and all sorts of things planned out for this weekend with our kids — we should know very well that there are thousands and millions of children, both from non-Muslim homes and Muslim homes — at the end of the day they're children, both from Arab worlds and non-Arab worlds, at the end of the day they're children — who do not have the luxury of planning out a long weekend. Who do not have the luxury of saying, "This is where we're going to go tomorrow, and this is where we're going to go Sunday, and so and so is coming over to our house, and such and such park we're going to, and these are the places we're going to go eat out."

No, my friends, they don't have the luxury of that. They do not even have the luxury of simply saying, "Son and daughter, be patient — in the next 24 hours you'll get something to eat." It's a bunch of lies that they have to share with their kids to simply lull them to sleep, or to give them hope, give them a reason to live till the next day.

We don't need to be told by any news media outlet that this is the crisis. It didn't start this week, didn't start last week — it's been going on for years. How many khutbas you and I have heard, how many SubhanAllah fundraisers you and I have possibly attended — but definitely heard about. The question is: what responsibility am I taking about that? How is my reaction meant to that?

My friends, let us remind ourselves that we may forget — we may actually, I'd say, we may try to forget — what is happening around the world. But remember: Allah will never forget. Allah لَا يَضِلُّ رَبِّي وَلَا يَنسَى. Allah not only doesn't forget those who are suffering — Allah hasn't forgotten them. Trust me, Allah hasn't forgotten those who are meeting their woeful ends, terrible ends — packed up in the back of pickup trucks, suffocating to death, or in capsized boats, or SubhanAllah at the hands of — at the guns of smugglers who simply knock them all out and burn the ship down once they reach and get their money — and those who are being bombed from the top, killed by snipers. Allah hasn't forgotten them. Remember that. You and I may have forgotten them, but Allah has a very watchful eye.

The question may arise: how could this happen then? How can this happen that this is under the watchful eye of Allah? Well, Allah has allowed it to happen in the very same manner that you and I believe that our Nabi Muhammad ﷺ — his blood is more virtuous and more sacred than the blood of the entire ummah. My blood, my father's blood, my grandfather's blood, and my grandchildren until the Day of Judgment, and all of your bloods together, cannot equal one drop of the blood of Rasulullah ﷺ.

When Rasulullah ﷺ shared, according to some narrations — I don't need to even give a proof for this, you know it — but one narration comes that when Rasulullah ﷺ shared some of his blood through cupping, he gave it to a sahabi. He said, "Bury this." When the sahabi came back, he said, "I've taken care of it." He said, "What did you do with it?" He said, "I drank it." The Prophet ﷺ said: "The fire of Jahannam has been made haram upon you — when my blood comes into your blood, when my blood is in your blood."

Then — what's going to happen? That blood of Rasulullah ﷺ was poured in Uhud, was poured in Ta'if. His blessed teeth — what is the value of the teeth of the Prophet ﷺ? What is the value of the cheeks of the Prophet ﷺ? What is the value of his mubarak, blessed head of the Prophet ﷺ? But all of that was sacrificed. That blood fell. If the world was supposed to come to an end, it should have come to an end when Rasulullah's ﷺ blood was spilled. But it didn't.

If the world was to come to an end — if the earth was supposed to stop rotating, if the sun were to stop rising or setting — it would have happened when the grandson of the Prophet ﷺ was brutally mutilated and killed, and when all his family members were killed in the battle of Karbala. That's when things could have completely stopped, stood still. But my friends, life carries on, moves on, because that's not how this world works. It is not the way you and I want it to work. It is a system of Allah — it's called taqween — how Allah has decided.

Like the story of Musa and Khadr — pick up the Qur'an and read through that surah, and read through the last portions of Surah al-Kahf, and learn from there. Read Ma'arif al-Qur'an and read what Mufti Shafi has written there, or any other scholar has written about that. The story of Musa and Khadr — these are taqweeni things, these are things that are beyond you and I. This is beyond our reach — how a child dies, we're responsible for — is number one the shari'ah aspect of it.

SubhanAllah, this world is a place of test. And that is why Allah allowed Rasulullah ﷺ to suffer however he suffered. He wanted this ummah to learn from the sacrifices of my Nabi ﷺ — not one instance, but his entire life is filled with stories and annals of sacrifice. And he said it — he said it perfectly. He said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2398; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4023)

"I have been terrorized and I have been bothered and I have been put to test for the sake of Allah like no other person." These are the words of the Prophet ﷺ. No other person in this world can ever claim that I have been put through more of a test than my Nabi ﷺ. If Allah allowed that to happen — then who am I and who are you?

The reason is, my friends: this world is a place of test. Not necessarily the innocent people are the ones who enjoy life and not necessarily the culprits and the corrupt people suffer in dungeons. Many times it's the direct opposite — that those who are missing Fajr seem to be making great bonuses at the end of the month, and those who are coming for Fajr seem to be having problems at home with their children or their spouse or what not. It happens many times that a person is barely making it for Jumu'ah and is getting a promotion. You say, "How's things?" "Alhamdulillah, can't complain."

My friends, you have no idea — you are in a severe crisis of test. When a person misses his Fajr, when a person misses his salah, when a person — a month goes by without recitation of Qur'an, weeks go by without raising hands saying "Ya Allah, forgive me," when a person is involved in the major sin of interest — yes, the end of the month the banker shows that you made lots of money and the investors are telling you you're doing great. But don't fall for this. It's all a test, it's all a test. Just because things are green and right doesn't mean things are going all well. It is our relationship with Allah — remember that.

If a person — him, his wife, his children, his siblings, his parents — are on deen, then even if they are like Aylan Kurdi and their ending comes on a beach, their ending comes ten feet in the Mediterranean Sea, and SubhanAllah it comes from being capsized from a boat, losing your mother, losing your brother — but if you die with Iman, Wallahi Al-Azim, you are successful. Wallahi Al-Azim, you are a shaheed if you die drowning. You die with Iman.

But if a person graduates from the most prestigious university and brings in tons and tons, just expanding and expanding with wealth, pomp and fame and name, the most beautiful wife, the most beautiful children — but doesn't have faith, or rather he has Islam and Iman but he is ashamed of his faith, he doesn't have time for Allah — and his ending comes with a bunch of roses placed on his grave, on his tombstone — my friends, you and I cannot say he is successful. Allah knows best. So before we pass judgments upon anyone, let's remind ourselves that those innocent children who are dying every day — they are dying InshaAllah as shuhada.

Our Responsibility — Five Takeaways

The question is: where am I and where are my kids? My kids who are not drowning, my kids who have enough food to eat, my kids who don't have to worry about a sniper's bullet, from a gas attack, who don't have to worry about eating from a garbage pile — Allah has blessed me, my children, you and your children, with immense blessings. How is my reaction to these blessings? How grateful am I to Allah for allowing me to live in this country with the protection and the security that you and I enjoy?

Miles away we sit in a car comfortably, come to the masjid — how easy it is for us to bring our kids to the masjid on an evening, on a Saturday evening, on a weeknight. Are we utilizing this or not? This is the question.

Allah asked: You saw how I was testing other people — did that wake you up to say, "Let me give and donate to those people who are working in those areas"? Let me spend a couple of minutes tonight, or after Jumu'ah, to at least try to shed a tear for those people. And did I take a message back home — "Son and daughter, let me start spending my time upon you. I don't have to worry like those moms and dads who are simply worried about how to bring food to the table. Alhamdulillah, that's been taken care of. Let me work on teaching you Qur'an."

How many fifteen-year-old children in our community do not know how to read Qur'an? How many thirty-year-old children do not know how to make wudu in our community? Yes, my friends — how are we going to face Allah for this?

Let us take this message to heart:

Number one: We thank Allah for what He has given us — and remember that thanking is not saying "Alhamdulillah" only, but to do that which Allah demands from us.

Number two: Let our hearts tear up and cry. Let our eyes tear up and cry. Let our hearts feel the pain for the suffering of the Muslim ummah, and spend a couple of minutes performing Salatul Hajah and making du'a.

Number three: Participate in those organizations that are working — Alhamdulillah — within the spectrum of the law, within the boundaries of the law, and are donating and doing great work. Let us participate with them to the best of our ability.

Number four: InshaAllah, let us never ever complain about our situation. Rather take it as a positive note.

Lastly: Do not become depressed to an extent that we start losing faith in Allah. Remember — remind yourself that this is a test of Allah. Allah is seeing who's strong.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2398)

The ones who get tested the most are the Prophets, then those who follow them in piety, and then those who follow them in piety. A man is tested based on the strength of his faith. If he is strong in his faith, Rasulullah ﷺ said, his tests are increased. And if he is weak in his faith, then his tests are decreased — until a time will come when he will be walking around on earth without having a single sin in his account. He'll become sinless because of his patience in front of hardship.

Closing Du'a

Allah may He grant us aafiyah and well-being. May He not test us. May He allow us all to be grateful and thankful for what He has given us. May He allow us to make a change today InshaAllah — on these blessed days before Hajj begins. May He allow us to renew our commitment to Allah and His Rasul and to humanity. May Allah create the likes of Abu Bakr and Umar رضي الله عنهما within us. May He create unity and love for each other within us. May He keep us stronger — grant us strength from strength to strength. And may He make us once again a united ummah.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Announcements

Please InshaAllah fill up the safs and perform the sunnah salah. Please kindly InshaAllah donate generously towards the expenses of the masjid as well as the completion of the parking lot InshaAllah, which will be done soon. Kindly pass the donation boxes — give whatever you can and just quickly pass it so that the other brothers can also do it before the khutbah begins, in all the safs.

Alhamdulillah, the kiosks were down but now Alhamdulillah they are back up — so on the way out, if you would have liked to donate by credit card and you tried in the previous weeks and they were not working, there was an issue with PayPal — Alhamdulillah that is back up now.

And lastly — next Friday evening, September 11th, InshaAllah we will be having our monthly seminar. This is going to be titled: "The Important Role of Women in Islam" — the important role that women have historically played and continue to play in Islam — by Mufti Minhajuddin. That is between Maghrib and Isha InshaAllah next Friday evening. جَزَاكُمُ اللهُ خَيْرًا