Jumu'ah Khutbah - Qari Zakaullah Saleem

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

Amma ba'd.

The End of Ramadan — No Guarantees

My dear respected brothers and sisters, we are reaching the end of the blessed month, Ramadan — the month for which we waited for so many months, and many of us even started their preparation for this month six months or even more prior. And now this month is almost over, and no one amongst us has any guarantee that he is going to witness Ramadan next year. We have no guarantee whatsoever that we are going to live until next Friday.

We have no guarantee that we are going to live and witness the happiness of the Eid. We have no even guarantee that we are going to witness tonight — that can be one of the nights in which Laylatul Qadr falls. We, my dear brothers and sisters — amongst us we have no guarantee as to who will be able to leave this masjid after this khutbah.

And this is a reality. We all know that we have no guarantee for our life — then why is there a delay in returning to Allah? Why have we not repented to Allah? Why have we not sought the forgiveness of Allah, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram, throughout the month of Ramadan? Why is there a delay? The delay is always from our side. He is the Most Merciful. There is no delay from His side. He is always ready to forgive.

Allah's Promise of Forgiveness — Surah az-Zumar

He has said in the Qur'an — say, O Muhammad, peace be upon him — O my dear slaves, those who have transgressed, those who have oppressed themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram. Indeed, Allah forgives all the sins. Indeed He is Most Forgiving, He is Most Merciful.

The Hadith Qudsi — Allah's Boundless Forgiveness

He is always ready to accept our repentance. He says in a Hadith Qudsi reported by Imam at-Tirmidhi, on the authority of Sayyiduna Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, who says the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3540)

Allah says: O child of Adam, as long as you beg Me and you make du'a to Me and you have hope of My mercy, I will continue forgiving you. O child of Adam, if your sins have filled the gap between the earth and the sky — and your sins have reached the height of the sky — and then you come to Me seeking forgiveness, I will forgive you and I will not care. And then He says: O child of Adam, if you come to Me and if you bring your sins with the earth's load, I will match your sins with the earth's load of My forgiveness.

He is always ready to forgive — the delay is always from our side. He says in another Hadith Qudsi, a long hadith in which the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, Allah, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram, says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2577)

O My slaves, you commit sins day and night, and I forgive all the sins — so seek My forgiveness, I will forgive you. He has promised us that He will forgive our sins.

Allah Descends Every Night — His Hand is Outstretched

The Prophet, peace be upon him, has informed us that Allah, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram, descends to the lowest heaven every single night and says: Who amongst My slaves is ready to seek My forgiveness, so that I can grant him My forgiveness?

The Prophet, peace be upon him, also says that Allah stretches out His hand — as it befits His majesty — every morning, so that the one who has committed sins at night can repent to Him. And then He stretches out His hand again at night, so that the one who has committed sins in the day can repent to Him. And this is every single day — in Ramadan and outside Ramadan — until the sun rises from the west.

The Du'a of Jibril Against the Heedless

So my dear brothers and sisters, if this is the mercy of Allah, if this is the case with the mercy of Allah, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram — that He is calling us towards Him, to repent to Him, to seek His forgiveness — then why is there a delay from our side? The whispers of Shaytan and the amusement of this dunya make us forget the reality of this life, the reality of this dunya, and we fall into the traps of Shaytan and we delay, delay, delay — until the month of Ramadan comes and goes and we never seek forgiveness from Allah.

We should always remember the hadith of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in which he said that Jibril, peace be upon him, made du'a against the one who witnesses the month of Ramadan and does not get his sins forgiven by Allah during the month of Ramadan. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said ameen on the du'a of Jibril: may Allah cast away from His mercy the one who witnesses the month of Ramadan yet does not get his sins forgiven by Allah.

May Allah not allow us to become amongst those who are deprived of His mercy, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram. We are all in need of the mercy of Allah.

Allah Accepts Repentance — Surah ash-Shura

Allah says in the Qur'an — in Surah ash-Shura — He is the One who accepts the repentance from His slaves and He pardons, He forgives the sins, mistakes and errors, and He knows whatever you do. Nothing is hidden of your deeds from Him, yet He, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram, forgives all the time.

Sins Converted to Good Deeds — Surah al-Furqan

And SubhanAllah, this is the mercy of Allah — that He does not only forgive our sins. If His slaves turn to Him in repentance and they seek His forgiveness sincerely, with pure intention of not repeating those sins again, He has promised in the Qur'an, in the verses at the end of Surah al-Furqan. When He mentions some of the major sins — like killing, murdering, committing zina, even associating partners with Allah — after making mention of all these major sins, He says:

Whoever repents to Him and believes and then continues performing good deeds — out of His mercy, the Most Merciful converts all of your past sins into good deeds. Allah is the Most Forgiving, He is the Most Merciful.

ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim — His Chosen Names

This is His mercy — that He Himself has taught us to repeat His attributes of ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim so many times every single day, in every single rak'ah of our salah, whenever we stand in front of Him. We repeat these words, these attributes of Allah — although He has many other attributes. He is al-Jabbar, He is the Compeller. He is al-Qahhar. He is Shadid al-'Iqab — He can punish us anytime and no one can hold Him to account, He can never be questioned. But Allah has chosen for us to repeat these two names — ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim — every single day, many many times. That shows His mercy.

That is why He said لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ — do not despair of His mercy. He is al-Ghafoor, He is al-Ghaffar, He is at-Tawwab, He is ar-Rahman, He is ar-Rahim. He is the Most Forgiving, He is the One who accepts the repentance of His slaves, He is the Most Merciful. These are His attributes. He is ready to forgive us — but there is always delay from our side.

No More Delay — Repent Now

My dear brothers and sisters, now is the time to repent to Him before the month of Ramadan is completely over. We need to repent to Him now, today, without any delay. We have delayed so much in our life — but now it is the time to repent to Him, when He has opened wide the doors of His mercy, the doors of paradise are wide open, and He has closed the doors of His punishment and hellfire, and He has appointed an angel who says every single night:

O seeker of goodness, move forward — increase your worship, increase your obedience to Allah, increase your good deeds. O seeker of evil — the one who commits sins — before Ramadan the month has now started, so now you need to stop. Stop now. This is the month in which Allah frees, sets free, many of His slaves from hellfire.

So now is the time to repent to Him. Today is the best day of the week, in the best month of the year, and tonight can be Laylatul Qadr — so there should be no more delay. We need to repent to Him. We need to cry to Allah, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram, on our sins. We need to cry to Him now — before the time comes when the cry will not benefit us at all.

The Seven Shaded on the Day of Judgment

Those who cry to Him — He loves them. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said Allah is going to grant the shade on the Day of Judgment to seven types of people, and one of them is:

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

The person who remembered Allah, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram, in his seclusion, in his privacy, in his secrecy — when there are more chances for him to commit sins — he remembers Allah, he remembers His bounties and His favours, he is thankful to Him, he remembers His punishment and His mercy as well — and then his eyes shed tears. Allah loves this person to the extent that He will grant him the shade on the Day of Judgment. May Allah make us amongst those.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, also said two types of eyes that Allah has forbidden the fire of Hell to touch — and one of them is:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1639)

The eye that has shed tears out of the fear of Allah. Your beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, used to cry in his night prayers — he used to cry a lot in his night prayers — and he used to ask Allah for his forgiveness.

The Open Register of Deeds — Surah al-Kahf

We need to cry now before the time comes when the register of our deeds is wide open in front of our eyes. As Allah said — the book will be wide opened, it will be placed in front of them — and then you will see the criminals, those who committed sins, they will be fearful of what is in that book and then they will say:

Woe to us! What sort of book is this? This book, this register, has left no minor and no major sin but it has recorded — and they will see in front of their eyes whatever they have done in this dunya. And your Lord does not treat anyone with oppression.

A Trap of Shaytan — "I Have Committed No Major Sin"

We commit sins and Shaytan whispers in our mind: why do I need to repent and seek the forgiveness of Allah when I have committed no major sin? Since the month of Ramadan has started, I have committed no major sin — so why do I need to seek His forgiveness? My dear brothers and sisters, this is one of the traps of Shaytan, this is one of the tricks of Shaytan that he plays with us.

Allah says in Surah al-Mujadilah:

The day when Allah will resurrect everyone — all of His slaves — and He will inform them of what they have done in this dunya. He has counted and recorded every single thing, but they have forgotten. They forget, but He never forgets. Allah is witness upon every single thing.

So never fall into the traps of Shaytan — that you are not in need of seeking the forgiveness of Allah. And seeking forgiveness is not only for when you commit a major sin or when you realize that you have committed a sin. Rather, we need to seek His forgiveness for many other things, many other reasons.

The Prophet's Own Istighfar — His Example

My dear brothers and sisters, do you think that our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, used to commit sins? No. But he says in a hadith reported by Imam Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2702)

Sometimes I perceive a veil upon my heart — and this is the blessed heart of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, the best heart, the most clean heart that Allah has ever created — and he says: sometimes I perceive a veil on top of my heart, and when I have this feeling I seek Allah's forgiveness more than a hundred times a day.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, also said in another hadith reported by Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim:

By Allah, I seek Allah's forgiveness and I repent to Him in one single day more than seventy times.

If Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, felt the need of seeking the forgiveness of Allah more than a hundred times, more than seventy times in one single day — what about us? My dear brothers and sisters, we commit sins and then we forget. We commit sins, we forget. We don't even realize — and this is one of the tricks of Shaytan that he plays with us.

So we need to seek Allah's forgiveness now, within the month of Ramadan, today, on this blessed day of Friday, before the sun sets. We need to repent to Him.

May Allah allow us to repent to Him. May Allah accept our repentance. May Allah forgive our sins.

I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger.

Second Khutbah — The Ummah's Trials and Collective Repentance

Furthermore, my dear brothers and sisters, one of the reasons that the Muslim Ummah is facing so many trials and tribulations and problems throughout the globe is that we have abandoned seeking forgiveness of Allah. Who amongst us makes istighfar — seeks the forgiveness of Allah — more than a hundred times a day, even in the month of Ramadan?

Allah has ordered us in the Qur'an:

O the believers, you all — all together — have to repent to Him. If some of you repent to Him and some others continue committing sins without realizing that they are disobeying the One who has granted them so many favours and bounties, then Allah is not going to change the situation of the Ummah. O the believers, you all have to repent to Him so that you can attain success.

So my dear brothers and sisters, we are all — without any exception, without any exception — we are all in need of repenting to Him. We are all in need of seeking the forgiveness of Allah.

The Du'a for Laylatul Qadr — Taught to Sayyida Aisha

Our beloved mother, Sayyida Aisha Siddiqa, may Allah be pleased with her, asked the Prophet, peace be upon him: O Allah's Prophet, if I am able to witness Laylatul Qadr, what should I do? What should I say? The Prophet, peace be upon him, told her one du'a that we all need to memorize and repeat, again and again:

O Allah, You are the Most Forgiving, You are the One who pardons. O Allah, we know — we have yaqeen, we have certainty, we have belief in our hearts — that You love forgiveness. So O Allah, forgive me.

We ask Allah: O Allah, we have committed so many sins. O Allah, we commit sins day and night — but You are the Most Forgiving. O Allah, forgive us all. O Allah, set us free from the fire of Hell within this month of Ramadan. O Allah, we repent to You — we all repent to You. O Allah, forgive our sins.

The Du'a the Prophet Taught Abu Bakr as-Siddiq

My dear brothers and sisters, it is said in the hadith that Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and said: O Messenger of Allah, teach me a du'a that I can say. The Prophet, peace be upon him, taught him a du'a that we all need to memorize and repeat in our prayers. The Prophet, peace be upon him, taught this du'a to whom? To Abu Bakr as-Siddiq — the best of the creation of Allah after the Messengers and Prophets, the one who was given the certificate of paradise by the tongue of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him — about whom we have no doubt that he is amongst the people of paradise. But the Prophet, peace be upon him, taught him this du'a:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 834; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2705)

O Allah, I have oppressed myself — I have wronged myself — abundantly. And no one has the ability to forgive sins except You. So O Allah, forgive me and shower Your mercy upon me. Indeed You are the Most Forgiving and You are the Most Merciful.

This du'a was taught by Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq — who was given the certificate of paradise, about whom we have no doubt that he is amongst the people of paradise — but the Prophet, peace be upon him, taught him: O Allah, I have wronged myself abundantly.

Closing — Return to Allah Before It Is Too Late

So my dear brothers and sisters, we need to beg Him and we need to return to Him in repentance. We should not waste our time — especially during the last few days and hours of this blessed month of Ramadan. As I said at the beginning — by Allah, none of us has any guarantee that he will be able to witness another Ramadan. We have no guarantee whatsoever. Then why is the delay? We need to repent to Him now, today, in this day, within the month of Ramadan — when Allah is ready to forgive our sins and Allah is ready to set His slaves free from the fire of Hell.

May Allah accept our fasting. May Allah accept our night prayers. May Allah accept our charity. May Allah accept our du'a. May Allah reward us for what we have recited from His Book. May Allah give us tawfiq to repent to Him. May Allah forgive our sins — minor and major. May Allah keep us steadfast and firm on His right path. May Allah allow us to remain Muslim, steadfast and firm on His path, until the last moment of our life. Ameen.