5 Golden Words of Advice - Qari Zakaullah Saleem

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

In the name of Allah, we praise Him, we ask His help, and we ask His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He leads astray, none can guide him.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O ye who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except as Muslims.

O ye people! Fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it its mate. And He spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah in Whom you ask for mercy. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.

O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and speak a just word. He will amend for you your deeds, and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he has certainly attained a great triumph.

Introduction — The Concise Words of the Prophet

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, one of the miracles of our beloved Nabi ﷺ was what he ﷺ said — that Allah has blessed me with the concise words — which means that the Prophet ﷺ used to utter short statements that contain large meaning. And one of those is what I would like to share with you in today's khutbah.

This is the hadith that Imam at-Tirmidhi and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal have reported on the authority of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, who says that the Prophet ﷺ was with his companions when he asked: "Who amongst you is willing to take some words of advice from me? But there is one condition — whoever is willing to learn these words of advice from me, he must act upon these words, or at least teach these words to someone who is willing to act upon them."

When the Prophet ﷺ asked this question to the companions, Abu Hurairah, as usual, was the first one who raised his hand and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I am willing to take these words of advice and I am willing to act upon them."

Then Abu Hurairah said: "The Prophet ﷺ took hold of my hand and he counted five advices — five statements, five words of advice."

The beauty of this hadith is that the Prophet ﷺ, with every single advice, also made mention of the benefit and the outcome of acting upon that advice.

The First Advice — Avoid All That Is Haram

The very first advice: he ﷺ said: "O Abu Hurairah, avoid and stay away and refrain from all types of haram." Haram earning, haram eating, haram drinking, haram seeing, haram listening, haram holding, haram uttering — anything that is prohibited in the religion of Allah, avoid it and refrain from it. Stay away from all types of haram.

And if you act upon this advice, you will become the most worshipful amongst the creation of Allah. This is the outcome. If you want to truly worship your Lord, then you have to refrain and avoid all types of haram.

Reading the Quran is an act of worship. Praying five times a day, and even extra nawafil, is an act of worship. Remembering Allah is an act of worship. Making du'a to Allah is an act of worship — in fact, this is one of the most important acts of worship. But by doing all these acts of worship, you cannot become the most worshipful amongst the creation of Allah until you avoid all types of haram.

We see around us people who are regular in their five daily prayers and yet they commit haram — they earn haram, they eat haram, they drink haram, they see haram, they listen to haram, they utter haram. Although the people around them see them as pious, they look righteous — but in the sight of Allah they are not true worshippers. Why? Because they do not avoid haram.

He ﷺ gave this great advice to Abu Hurairah: "Stay away from all types of haram, and if you do so, you will become the most worshipful amongst the creation of Allah."

The Second Advice — Be Content with the Decree of Allah

The second advice the Prophet ﷺ gave to Abu Hurairah: "O Abu Hurairah, be content and happy and satisfied with what Allah has decreed for you. Whatever Allah has written for you, be satisfied with it, be content with it, never ever complain against the decree of Allah."

This is part of our Iman. One of the pillars of our Iman is that when you believe in Allah, you believe in the angels, you believe in the books of Allah, you believe in the messengers, you believe in the last day — and you must believe in the decree of Allah. The Qadar, the decree and destiny of Allah — the Prophet ﷺ added two words: its good and its evil. The decree of Allah, whatever Allah has written, is always good. But for us, we do not see everything that Allah has written and decreed for us as good — we consider some of it good and some of it evil or bad.

It is part of our Iman to accept whatever Allah has decreed. Whatever Allah has given you from rizq and provision, you must accept it, be content and happy with it, and be thankful and grateful to Allah. And if you are grateful to Allah, He has promised in the Quran:

If you are thankful and grateful, then I will increase My favors upon you. But on the other hand, if you always forget the blessings of Allah, the favors of Allah, the bounties of Allah, and you single out and point out one calamity that you are afflicted with, and you start complaining against the decree of Allah — then this is what Allah has classified in the Quran as kufr, as ingratitude. And the word kufr does not always mean disbelief; kufr also means being ungrateful to Allah.

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2305; Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal)

Be satisfied and content with what Allah has decreed for you — then you will become the richest amongst the creation of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said:

To become a rich person, you cannot become rich by gathering the wealth of this dunya. Rather, you must be rich of heart. If your heart is not rich, then by having a lot of wealth of this dunya you will still consider yourself poor and faqir. And this is what makes people accumulate the wealth of this dunya without differentiating between halal and haram — because when you think and believe that you do not have enough, you try to forget and avoid the boundaries of Allah and you try to accumulate more and more, and you are never ever satisfied.

Whereas our Prophet ﷺ has said in a beautiful hadith reported by Imam at-Tirmidhi:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2346)

Whoever amongst you wakes up in the morning in a state of security and safety — he does not fear that the enemy can attack him — and he is in a state of good health within his body, and he also has the provision of one day, the food of only one day — then the Prophet ﷺ says it is as if Allah has gathered the whole world for him.

You never realize the bounties of Allah, the blessings of Allah, if you are afflicted by one calamity, one problem, one issue, and you start complaining against the decree of Allah. Be content and satisfied and happy with what Allah has written for you, and in result of this you will become the richest amongst the creation of Allah.

The Third Advice — Love for Others What You Love for Yourself

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2305; Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal)

The third advice that the Prophet ﷺ gave to Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah: "Love for others whatever you love for yourself." And this is part of Iman. He ﷺ said in another hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 13; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 45)

None of you can complete his or her Iman unless you love for others — for your brothers in Islam, for your sisters in Islam — whatever you love for yourself.

Love for others whatever you love for yourself. You love for yourself not to be cheated — never ever cheat others. You love for yourself that other people should not backbite you — then you should not backbite others. You love for yourself that people treat you with dignity and respect — you must respect others. You want to go ahead and flourish in your life — you must love this for your brothers and sisters in Islam as well.

Love for others whatever you love for yourself — and in result of this, you will become a true Muslim.

The Fourth Advice — Be Kind to Your Neighbors

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2305; Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal)

The fourth advice that the Prophet ﷺ gave to Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah: "O Abu Hurairah, always be kind and gentle towards your neighbors." And in result of this, you will become a true believer.

The Prophet ﷺ has said in a hadith: "Each time Jibreel used to come to me, he used to advise me and remind me of the rights of the neighbors,"

"…until I thought that Allah was going to set a portion for the neighbors in my wealth, in my inheritance."

He ﷺ said three times:

The companions said: "Who, O Messenger of Allah?" He ﷺ said:

"The one whose neighbors are not safe from his evils." If you cause problems, obstacles, and obstructions in your street or on your pathway for your neighbors, then according to the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ — when he said by Allah he is not a believer — remember this hadith all the time.

The people around you are your neighbors. The people who live on the same street are your neighbors. The people who come to the masjid and pray next to you are your neighbors. You must respect them. He ﷺ said:

And in another hadith he ﷺ said:

Whoever believes in Allah and in the Last Day must honor and respect his neighbors. He must not cause any evil or harm to his neighbors.

Be kind to your neighbors, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. Obviously, if they are Muslim, they have a greater right on you. And if they are your relatives, they have an even greater right on you. But even if they are non-Muslims and they are your neighbors, you must be kind and gentle towards them. This is the religion of Allah. This is the rahma, this is the mercy of your beloved Nabi ﷺ that he has taught you. Be kind and gentle towards your neighbors, and in result of this you will become a true believer.

Reflection — These Advices Are All About Akhlaq

If you reflect on all these advices, my dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam — Wallahi, they are all related to your akhlaq. Stay away from haram — this is a type of akhlaq. Be content with what Allah has decreed for you — this is your akhlaq with Allah. As you have to have the best akhlaq with the creation of Allah, you must also have the best akhlaq with your Lord.

Then the third and fourth advices — love for others whatever you love for yourself, and be kind towards your neighbors — both of them are to do with akhlaq with the creation of Allah.

And look at the results. The first: you will become the most worshipful amongst the creation of Allah. The second: you will become the richest amongst the creation of Allah. The third: you will become a true Muslim. The fourth: you will become a true believer.

The concise words of advice of Rasulullah ﷺ. May Allah give us tawfiq and ability to act upon all these advices of our beloved Nabi ﷺ. And we ask Allah to allow us to rectify our mistakes and our errors in our adab and our akhlaq.

Second Khutbah — The Fifth Advice: Do Not Laugh Excessively

Abu Hurairah, the narrator of this hadith, says: "The Prophet ﷺ held my hand and advised me with five statements — five words of advice." I mentioned four in the first khutbah, and the fifth one is:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2305; Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal)

"O Abu Hurairah, never laugh excessively. Do not laugh excessively, because excessive laughter kills the heart."

If you keep laughing every day and you never try to cry before Allah, then excessive laughter will kill your heart. And this is unfortunately one of the reasons that many of us — we try to cry before Allah during the month of Ramadan, when the Imam recites the verse of the Quran and the Imam starts weeping — and many of us, first of all, we do not understand the meaning of the Quran anyway. And even those who do understand the meaning of the Quran, they cannot find any khushu' in their salah. And one of the reasons is that they never try to cry before Allah.

Ask yourself, my brothers and sisters in Islam — how many times in every single day do you laugh, and how many times do you cry before Allah? And the result you will know yourself. When was the last time you cried before Allah? Ask yourself.

The Prophet ﷺ said one of those seven blessed people who will be shaded under the shade of Allah on the Day of Judgment will be:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 660; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1031)

A person who remembered Allah in his privacy and secrecy, and started shedding tears from his eyes — Allah will honor him on the Day of Judgment by saving him from the heat of that day.

He ﷺ said: "The eye that sheds tears out of the fear of Allah will never see the fire of Hell."

He ﷺ said: "By the One in Whose hand is my soul,"

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6485; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2359)

"If you knew what I know about the punishments of Allah, about the azab of Allah — if you knew what I know, you would laugh very little and you would cry a lot."

Laughing a lot is one of the signs of the hypocrite that Allah mentioned in the Quran. We try our best to find all the means of laughing and we never try to find the ways of crying before Allah. And this is a sign of the heart being dead. Excessive laughter kills the heart.

If you truly want to cry before Allah, you want to raise your hands before Allah, and you want your eyes to shed tears, then you must control your laughter before making du'a and after making du'a.

Closing Du'a

So these were the five advices that the Prophet ﷺ gave to Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah. We ask Allah to give us tawfiq and ability to act upon these golden advices of Rasulullah ﷺ. May Allah enable us to rectify our akhlaq with Him and with His creation. And we ask Allah to make our akhlaq the best akhlaq that our Prophet ﷺ has taught us.