A Fresh Start
By Mufti Menk | 2026-01-10T15:50:52.822399+00:00 | Topic: Iman
A Fresh Start
By Mufti Menk
Opening Khutbah
We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless our offspring those to come up to the end and to grant every one of us goodness to open the doors of goodness and to close all the doors of evil and harm, loss and danger.
Ameen.
Introduction
My brothers and sisters. I'm excited to have traveled by train to this beautiful city of Cardiff, and I'm sure if you've been following the last few days we've been engaged in a cross-country trip, wallahi alhamdulillah. May Allah accept it from us.
My brothers and sisters, I'm sure we've all done deeds that we're not too proud of. I'm sure we've all done things that we would like to undo and I'm sure that every one of us today feels like we're not the same person we were a few years back or some time back. Am I right? Subhanallah.
The older you get the more sometimes you tend to mature, the more you tend to refine not just the way you think but your attitude, your character and more importantly your relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And for this reason Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us opportunity upon opportunity to effect that positive change in our lives.
Those who have bad habits, Shaitan on one hand comes and says it's okay. Don't worry, sometimes shaitan even tells you Allah is merciful. Do you know that? Shaitan sometimes comes to say the truth, but what he wants from it is some deviation.
So he'll come and tell you Allah is merciful. I know Allah is merciful. You know Allah is merciful. We all know that he is the most merciful. But when shaitan tells it to us, he wants us to continue in our bad ways with a false hope that you know what, I can engage in sin because I'm dealing with someone who's the most merciful.
So it becomes like a password into the sinful behavior where we just think I'm gonna say "Oh Allah forgive me" and because of his mercy, he's going to wipe it out. Therefore, let me engage in the sin. No, don't let shaitan entrap you in that way. This is what he does. He entraps us using good words.
You know when you're in a haram relationship and you're doing everything haram and the one thing you say: "But she wakes me up for Fajr every morning," you know. Yes, it happens. "But you know, she's reminded me about the Quran and you know, he's made me a better Muslim." Those are the same excuses that people use that shaitan brings about in order to justify wrong or haram behavior.
Yes, if there was nothing haram and if the behavior is permissible, you can say mashallah I appreciate what you're doing for me and so on. But we're talking of that which is wrong and we're using a password, you know, mashallah tabarak Allah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us.
Allah's Mercy and Opportunities for Change
So Allah gives us opportunity to change and Allah gives us from his mercy moments that are different in value than the rest of the moments, days that are different in spirituality from the rest of the days.
Can you tell me which day of the week is the most blessed as Muslims?
Friday, why? What's the reason? Anyone knows? Don't tell me we have French fries on that day. No, that's not the Friday. We're talking about Al-Jumu'ah is the day of gathering, jumu'ah and jama'ah. We are gathering on that particular day. It is a blessed day.
The true reason is simply because Allah chose it. That's the reason. If someone says why is Friday blessed, say because Allah chose it. That's it. And if you go back to the hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam:
Hadith on Friday
Sahih Muslim 854
He says that is the best day that the Sun has risen upon because that was the day Allah chose and Allah's choice is unquestionable. Allah chose it to create Adam, he entered Jannah that day and so on. It's a beautiful day. The narration actually goes as far as saying "and the hour shall not happen except on the Friday," it's Allah who chose that, it's a blessed day.
So don't we admit that a Friday is not equivalent to the other days. It is more blessed in a specific way. The same applies. The times of the day are not all equal. There is a specific time that is more blessed than the other times of the day. Who can tell me that time?
Yes, what time of the day, not a Friday, any day, what time of the day or let me word it differently, what time of the day or night is the most blessed?
Someone says Fajr. Can someone else try? Yes. Someone says between Asr and Maghrib. Can someone else try? The last third of the night, subhanallah.
From a specific angle, it is the most blessed when you want to cry out to Allah. That is the moment. Do you know why? There is a guarantee when Allah is asking you: "Who is there who is seeking my help? I can help. Who is seeking forgiveness? I will forgive. Who is repenting? I will accept. Who wants anything? I will give."
What are we doing? What am I doing? Sleeping. May Allah forgive me and all of us. It's not haram because it's not, meaning it's not haram to be sleeping at that time because it's not compulsory to be up and engaged in worship at that time, but when you do and if you do, it is surely a sign of a few things.
Number one is your closeness to Allah and your relationship with him. You get to a level where you make it a habit. Maybe not every day, once a month. Is it difficult to get up for tahajjud once a month? No.
When football is on we're up, subhanallah, not just once a month, but the whole season. We'll spend money and time, effort and energy. We'll go. The funny thing is the day of football. I know of young people who've got up for tahajjud for what? To make dua for their team. (لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللهِ - la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah). Imagine it's happening. It's a reality.
It goes to show that you actually believe in Allah. Imagine even if you got up for tahajjud to make dua for your team, I might tell you the dua you were making was very petty. But one thing I know for sure, you believe in Allah. You get the point because you did something that might have been petty, but you called out to the right one, the deity. No wonder your team keeps winning, mashallah.
But the fact of it is, my brothers and sisters, we know that there is a time of that morning, the early hours of the morning or the last hours of the night, in the hadith it's called:
Hadith on The Last Third of the Night
Sahih al-Bukhari 1145
"The last third of the night, right when Allah is calling out to you and I and many times we're sleeping."
I was saying you're either close to Allah or it shows that you believe in Allah at least. You know if I were to call out to Allah, the fact that I'm making dua to him, supplicating unto him, already proves that I believe in him and his power and his ability. Isn't that a good thing?
That's why the hadith says:
Hadith on Dua
Sunan at-Tirmidhi 3370
"Supplicating, calling out to Allah is in actual fact worship of Allah. That is worship. That's the core of worship."
And another narration says:
Sunan at-Tirmidhi 3373
"Whoever doesn't ask Allah, Allah gets angry with that person" - angry meaning Allah is upset with that person, subhanallah, because you're not calling out to Allah at all.
That's why every one of us has needs, needs that we ourselves don't really trust our own ability and capacity in fulfilling. We ask Allah because Allah says the moment we create that need in you and you've asked us, it proves that you believe in us, you believe in the super power of Allah. When I say super power, I'm not talking of nations. I'm talking of the supreme deity, the one like whom is none. That is Allah. Call out to him.
So Allah gave us another opportunity every single day. But when you want something you don't have to wait for a Friday. When you want to return to Allah and turn to him you don't have to wait for a Friday. When you want to ask Allah you don't have to wait for the time of tahajjud. You can start calling out now and when you get to the time of tahajjud you can get up again and repeat the dua. Do you get my point?
Same applies if a person wants to repent to Allah. Okay, you know on Friday, I'm going to actually... Something just came to my mind. I'll share it with you. Very interesting.
A True Story About Not Delaying
Someone says on Friday, you know, I will call out to Allah. I'll repent to him on the Friday and it's Wednesday. Who knows you're gonna make it?
Can I give you an example, a true story happened in my community back at home? So there was a sister who accepted Islam and she was married. So she told her husband. She built the courage to tell her husband. "You know what? I've reverted to Islam. I went to the masjid here. I've been going for a while. I've been looking at them and I really believe that whatever is going on is actually not true. And so I checked them out and I started studying and I found them to be absolutely correct. And I decided that I'm gonna embrace this faith. And so on Friday, I went to the mosque and you know what? I changed my faith. I became a Muslim and that's what I'm letting you know that it's a faith."
So the husband, he was excited about it. Subhanallah, unlike, you know people sometimes get angry, you know, he was excited. He says "Oh tell me more. Tell me more. I want to know." He was he belonged to another faith, right? And when she told this man more about it, he said "Tell me about the beliefs. Tell me about this" and they spoke for hours on end and he says, "You know what? I'm already part of this faith. I love it. I love what you're telling me and I had a feeling too and I'm part of it."
So, "How do I actually go about it?" So she said "Well you believe in it. You can say the shahada, but on Friday, we're gonna go to the mosque" and because that was the day he had off, that was the day he was off work. So "On Friday, we'll go to the mosque and we will actually get the imam to officiate this whole thing" and so she made him say the shahada between the two of them. You and I know that he's already a Muslim.
And it so happened that on Thursday this man passed away. He passed away on that Thursday, he passed away before he went to the masjid. Now on that Thursday I was contacted to say "Are we allowed to bury a person who's not even a Muslim in a Muslim cemetery?" And I said, "Why would you ask the question?"
And so the people said "Well this man we've known him to belong to a different faith. His wife is claiming that he's a Muslim. His wife is claiming that he's a Muslim." So I said "Look we need to verify, we need to find out. Let's get a hold of the wife. Let's find out what the story is" and lo and behold the story was told by one person but exactly as I told it to you.
Now there is a difficulty because if you're a Muslim the expenses to be buried very little compared to if you're not where you need so many things and so much. So sometimes some of the community members unfortunately think perhaps this person is lying that they're Muslim in order to cut the costs of burial. You see what I'm saying?
But that's not it. I decided on that day that "Bury this brother. We will do the janazah. We will do whatever else and we bury him with the Muslims" because he's a Muslim and I remember a few people started arguing with me saying, "You know what? No, man. Come on, we don't have witnesses." We said "That's enough. I'd rather make a mistake to bury someone who wasn't supposed to be in the Muslim graveyard with the Muslims than to make the opposite mistake where you're chasing away a person who was a Muslim and letting him go elsewhere."
This was just the example, but the moral of this entire story was: look, don't wait for the Friday. You may not know whether you're gonna make it or not. Here is a true story and the brother didn't make it but the good thing is he already reverted to Islam prior to that. He had a valid excuse because he had work and so on but he did revert. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us success.
The Blessed Months and Times
Now, let's get to the point. So the months that Allah has created, they are not all equal. One is greater in its value as a month than the others, which is it? The month of Ramadan in its value as a month. I'm wording this quite carefully, right? It is the highest of all of the other months in terms of the month, the whole month.
There may be days. In fact when it comes to the nights, there is a night within that month that is the most blessed night without a doubt within the entire year and what night is that? Laylatul Qadr.
Okay, the same applies to places. Not every place is the same. The blessedness of Mecca and Medina is not equivalent to the blessedness of my home and yours or the masjid down the road. No, those are far
higher in value and so on.
So Allah gives us these opportunities and he lets us feel the difference. The moment you believe in Allah you have a softness, even some of the disbelievers are made to feel some of the value of the places and the times. You have people who walk into the house of Allah. They feel this beautiful spirituality and ambience. When you go to Medina and you enter the masjid of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), how do you feel? There is something that moves within you.
When you go to Mecca and you enter and you witness the Kaaba in front of you, isn't it that your skin happens to develop goosebumps, right? Because it's Mecca. If you went to Mecca and you still didn't turn to Allah, you're at a loss. If you went to Medina and you still didn't turn to Allah, you're at a loss just like if you witnessed the Ramadan and you still didn't turn to Allah, you're at a loss.
This is from the hadith. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) says:
Hadith on Ramadan
Sunan at-Tirmidhi 3545
(Sunan at-Tirmidhi 3545)
"Woe be upon the one who witnesses the month of Ramadan and still didn't achieve forgiveness."
That forgiveness was on sale during the month of Ramadan. You and I need it and how could you have let the month go by and not achieved or got something you desperately needed, subhanallah.
So this is why Allah gives us these opportunities and this is why I say we are not who we were before. We hope it is a better version of us. May Allah make us better as the days pass and not worse.
Today we are just a few days before the month of Ramadan. Does anyone know exactly how many days inshallah, approximately maybe a day or two this way that way, how many days?
16 days remaining for Ramadan, is that right? Some of you might say no 15, some might say no 17, a day this way that way, we're gonna be seeing the moon inshallah. We're gonna be seeing the moon inshallah, moon sighting. They call it unfortunately it becomes moon fighting in some places. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us, may he bless every one of us.
But the excitement is building. I promise you I am so impressed by your attendance here today. You have only and solely come because you'd like your heart to achieve a little bit of motivation to gain closeness to Allah. We are not here to attack people. We are not here to mention negatives about anyone. We are here to boost yourselves and ourselves for the pleasure of Allah by the permission of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So when I leave here, I want to feel a better person, rejuvenated. I want to achieve the forgiveness of Allah before I depart and I'd love the same for all of you. May Allah forgive us. May Allah forgive us.
Mashallah the way I didn't hear the... I mean the first time I thought I'm dealing with saints here man, as it is the name of the hall is St. David's, I think. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us ease.
My brothers, my sisters, this opportunity that we are getting is grand. You never ever know if you're going to witness the next Ramadan and I can say something else: you and I don't even know if we're going to witness this Ramadan. The way the world is going at the moment, the amount of hate that we need to combat and fight and we need to prove that we don't stand for hate but rather we stand for love, the amount of hate that is happening across the globe, one wonders if they would even make it across the road.
Make peace with your maker. You have no option. Make peace with your maker before you return to him. At least give him that little reason that he's looking for to give you paradise. Allah wants you to try, keep trying. Don't become worse.
The Importance of Progress
I've given an example in the past. I want to give it again here today. As you get your first job, and you're told you're going to be getting a thousand pounds a month, is that a good salary for a first job? Hmm, you guys want more money, okay? Fine, let's make it five thousand your first job. Is that okay?
Five by twelve, okay, that's about maybe sixty thousand a year. I think it's a decent salary subhanallah. You worked first year, and then they tell you "Sorry we're gonna be giving you four thousand from next year."
What are you gonna do? You're gonna say "No man. I want six. How can you go down? It's got to go up. Inflation and whatever else" and you can use the excuse of brexit and exit and whatever else it might be. These are just excuses and you want a higher salary, right?
So you want from five to go to six and from six to go to ten and ten you want twelve. But would anyone want to take a demotion, would anyone want to take a cut in salary? No, you wouldn't like it, but you know what? We do that when it comes to our closeness with Allah.
We've been fulfilling five salah a day. We've been appropriately mashallah dressed in a nice way. We've been trying, we've been, you know, reading the Quran and suddenly a day comes when we've gone backward and we've gone backward with so many things.
Don't let that happen. If you don't allow it in your dunya, please don't allow it in your deen. Did you hear what I just said? If you don't allow it in your dunya, how can you allow it in your deen? You don't allow it in your relationship with wealth, how can you allow it in your relationship with the owner of the wealth?
Amazing. I am breaking my relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because of what? The older I get, the closer I should get to my maker, even in my relationship, in my acts of worship and so on.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us people who will come and different things that will happen in our lives that will keep reminding us about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You might just turn on the radio and suddenly there is a message that came to you that was designed by Allah. It had to come to your ears.
I always say what got to you was never meant to miss you. That's from the hadith:
Hadith on Destiny
Sahih Muslim 2664
(https://sunnah.com/search?q=muslim+2664)
"What got to you was never meant to miss you and what missed you even by a fraction was never ever meant to get to you." Remember that.
So if you heard something, if you turned on your phone and suddenly a tweet popped up or some message popped up that was a good message or a reminder or whatever else it may have been, remember Allah designed it. He's going to question you about it.
He's going to say "Didn't we cause a message to pop up in front of you? We sent it to you. What did you do about it?" Subhanallah.
So we are here today discussing this, my brothers and sisters. I am NOT doomed and you are NOT doomed. We're still breathing. We have hope, we believe, we believe in Allah. We are searching for the light upon light. Mashallah, we're indeed searching for the goodness upon goodness. We want to build on the light we have and create a double light, a triple light, quadruple light so that we can actually beam the light.
That's why in Islam, it's not all about just learning things. It's about putting them into practice and it doesn't stop there. It's about conveying it to others in a beautiful way. You don't make people feel unwanted. You don't make people feel like they are doomed. You don't make people feel like there is no hope for them.
But rather the message needs to constantly remind them of the hope even when you are talking about the punishment of Allah.
The Importance of Softness in Dawah
I started off by speaking about Shaitan and how Shaitan sometimes uses positive correct words in order to entrap us. That's exactly what I said. I want to tell you sometimes the way we talk to others as we are developing ourselves as though we have a God-given permission to belittle the rest of the creatures of the same God. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Remember as you're growing in your closeness to Allah, soften up in your relationship with people. Soften, become soft. Thank Allah, He's guided you and don't become hard upon others.
Quranic Verse
Quran 3:159
"It is but by the mercy of Allah that you are lenient, O Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), towards those around you. It is by his mercy that you are lenient. If you were harsh and hard-hearted they would have dispersed from around you."
Who wants to listen to a person who's harsh and hard-hearted? "Jahannam, Jahannam, Jahannam, Jahannam." What's that all about? The way you talk to the people as though they are all going to hell? No, tell them "We're going to Jannah together. May Allah gather us in Jannah." Say Ameen.
If you sin differently from someone else it doesn't make you better than them just because you're sinning differently. But when you turn to Allah and you cry and you're concerned about your relationship with Allah and you're concerned about your relationship with the creatures of the same Allah, then you are heading in the right direction.
It will make you feel at least an equal if not worse than the rest of the people because your little sin, you don't know whether the Almighty will forgive it. Whereas another person's major sin perhaps the Almighty will wipe it out.
Seizing Ramadan
And so Allah gives you these opportunities. Seize this Ramadan that's about to come, seize it my brothers and sisters from now. Let's say to Allah. "Oh Allah I'm gonna try to become a better person. Yes, vice is dangling in front of me, but I'm going to quit it for your sake. I'm not going to follow the path that will earn your wrath, I'm not going to follow that path."
My brothers and sisters, your salah, your prayers five times a day, do something about it, try and improve on it, improve on it. Number one is the quantity in the sense that many of us are weak and we haven't yet even got to the five, okay, as Muslims that should not even be a point of discussion.
But unfortunately due to the adverse environment and what's happening across the globe and so on and you know materialism and the laziness and whatever else is happening, many of us are not yet where we are supposed to be even with the five daily prayers.
I encourage you very strongly to do something about it. Inch forward, move forward. You know why? You don't want to lose out. You'll be surprised when you get there on the Day of Judgment and you see some of your own brothers, and they're way ahead, and you wonder, wonder what's gotten this guy.
Well, you'll be surprised, as modern as they might have looked they didn't miss a salah. And as religious as you looked with that beard getting all the way to the ground, but you missed salah. Yes, it happens, and we looked at people that we just kept on being smug with our beards as though, you know what, subhanallah, this is gonna take me to heaven. May Allah forgive us.
Yes, it's an important part of your Islamic identity perhaps, but it doesn't mean you should develop a chip on your shoulder because like I said, sometimes people's struggles are different. You don't know how they may be struggling, my brothers and sisters.
Become a better person. Don't be harsh on anyone besides yourself. In fact, the term harsh on yourself is actually wrong. Be harder on yourself, which means you want to achieve like at school sometimes you see one person is very quiet. They hardly, you know, hardly perhaps talk much, and they always seem maybe well-mannered, but they're, you know, on their own and everyone is laughing and so on. When the results come out, "Wow, first!" A+, 1, 2, 3.
I remember watching a video, if you want you can go and have a peep at it. You can google it. It's actually on YouTube, a video of a niqabi sister who got 18 medals when she graduated. I think from university she had the first in 18 different disciplines and subjects, either it was the end of high school or it was a degree. And someone sent me this link, and I was saying subhanallah, everyone was shocked. She was totally covered head to toe and they called her name and they just kept on putting these little medals on her. Has someone seen the video? Someone's nodding their heads, yeah.
And I was like, I wonder how her life might have been when she was studying and how people may have persecuted, if not persecuted, at least made feel uneasy and whatever other hate may have come in her direction. Today is her day to shine.
My brothers and sisters, if you can see that in this world, trust me the day we will shine in the hereafter, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that's the day you can have that last laugh and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, you know what, that's the day you can actually be happy and proud of your achievement. May Allah grant us our book of records in the right hand.
Something unique about Allah is that on the Day of Judgment when the records are made known by your receiving of the book and the manner in which you will receive it, you're already going to know the good fortune. The moment you get it in the right hand, you know, "I've succeeded" even if you don't see anything after that. The moment it's coming towards the left, "Oh may Allah never do that to us."
So to wipe out your bad deeds and start afresh you have so many opportunities right now. We'd like to do it before we leave today. We want to all be the cleanest of people. We want to seek the forgiveness of Allah. Oh Allah forgive us. Oh Allah grant us a new and a fresh start. I mean.
We ask the Almighty really and honestly to soften our hearts. You're not going to achieve much by sinning and transgressing against Allah. You won't achieve anything at all. In fact, the pleasure is temporary. It comes with a lot of regret thereafter.
Develop your character, your conduct. Fulfill your salah, look forward to the month of Ramadan with all goodness and start afresh. Turn a new leaf. Allah wipes out everything. I end with this verse.
Closing Quranic Verse
Quran 39:53
"Say oh my worshippers who have transgressed against themselves: Never lose hope in the mercy of Allah. For indeed Allah is most forgiving, most merciful. Allah will forgive all your sins. He is most forgiving, most merciful. All you need to do is turn to Allah in repentance."
May Allah accept that repentance from us.
Closing Dua
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a fresh start and make us better Muslims. May Allah soften our hearts and guide us to the straight path. May Allah make this upcoming Ramadan a blessed month for all of us and may Allah accept our prayers, fasting, and good deeds.
May Allah protect us from the traps of Shaitan and help us to be sincere in our worship. May Allah make us among those who receive their book of records in their right hand on the Day of Judgment.
"Our Lord, grant us goodness in this world, goodness in the hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the fire."
Ameen Ya Rabb al-Alameen.
"And may Allah send His peace, blessings and salutations upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions."
End of Khutbah