The Morning Adhkar - Shaykh Aqeel Mahmood

Khutbah: The Morning Adhkar

All praise be to Allah. We praise Him, ask for His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whom He misguides, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

As for what follows: the best speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of affairs are innovations, for every innovation is a newly invented matter, and every newly invented matter is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Ease of Earning Good Deeds

Allah has made it very easy for the believer to do good deeds. In a hadith narrated by one of the companions, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said that verily Allah has recorded good and evil deeds, and He has made them clear:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6491; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 233)

The one who intends to do a good deed but doesn't carry that good deed out, Allah rewards the person with one good deed. The one who intends to do a good deed and carries out that good deed, Allah rewards them ten times for that single good deed — up to 700 times, and maybe even more. The one who intends to do an evil deed but doesn't carry out that sin, Allah rewards him with one good deed, because he never went through with committing that sin. And the one who intends to do a sin and carries out that sin, Allah gives him and records it as one sin. Just one sin.

This hadith, our brothers and sisters, shows us the mercy of Allah. It shows us how easy Allah has made it for the slave to do good deeds. It's not something difficult. And on top of this, the types of good deeds the slave can do — the types of deeds and actions a person can perform that are rewardable and pleasing to Allah — are varied. It's not like there's one specific way of worshipping Allah. A person can choose from salah and fasting and giving charity, and so on. And there are other ways in which a person can earn the reward and the pleasure of Allah.

Good Manners on the Scale

We know the hadith of the Messenger of Allah when he said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4799; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2002)

Nothing will weigh heavier on the scale of good deeds on the Day of Judgment than good manners. An individual, maybe he was falling short with his salawat while he was alive. He was struggling to perform his five daily prayers. Maybe he never fasted regularly in the month of Ramadan. Maybe he was falling short in giving charity on a daily basis or even his zakah. But if this person — every time someone interacted with him, every time someone met him, they would leave and say, "This person, I've never met someone like him that has such excellent manners" — that kind of individual, with those exemplary manners that he portrays and reflects and shows towards others, those good manners he possesses could be the reason for him entering paradise. Even though he was falling short in other acts of worship.

Guiding Others to Good

We also know other ways that a person can earn the reward of Allah. The Messenger of Allah said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2670)

The one who directs someone to doing something good will be like the one who did it himself. If he directs someone and teaches someone something from the Sunnah — teaches someone the Qur'an or something else from the Islamic teachings — every time that person does that thing, he'll be rewarded, and you'll be rewarded, and the reward won't be diminished for any one of you.

Recitation of the Qur'an

We also know that there are certain things that we can say which earn us great reward. From the greatest things a person can say is the recitation of the Book of Allah. The Messenger of Allah said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2910)

Whoever recites a letter from the Book of Allah will be rewarded with a good deed, and that good deed will be multiplied up to ten times. I don't mean الم is one letter; rather, أَلِف is a letter, and لَام is a letter, and مِيم is a letter. A person sits and recites just those three letters with the intention of Allah's reward — he could potentially be earning 30 good deeds, brothers and sisters.

It is the day of Friday, and the recitation of the Qur'an — more specifically the recitation of Surah al-Kahf — is something we are familiar with. Maybe some of us sitting here were reciting this surah or other passages of the Qur'an for a few minutes. Imagine the number of pages you recited, the number of lines you recited. Now imagine the number of letters on each line of each page that you recited. Look at how easy Allah has made the deen. Look at how easy it is for a person to earn good deeds.

The Dhikr of Juwayriya bint al-Harith

We know that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would make adhkar on a regular basis — things which are easy for the tongue to do, light on the tongue but heavy on the scale. One of those adhkar, brothers and sisters, is what I want to focus on today. This dhikr is narrated by Juwayriya bint al-Harith, Umm al-Mu'mineen, the mother of the believers, may Allah be pleased with her.

She said that one day the Messenger of Allah left the house to perform the Fajr prayer. She performed the Fajr prayer in her home and stayed in her place, doing adhkar and remembering Allah after the Fajr prayer. She said that the Messenger of Allah came back to the house in the afternoon, and she was still in the place where she had been when she started and finished her salah — sitting in the same place.

And so the Messenger of Allah said to her, "Are you in the same place that you were in when I left you?" She said yes. And this was the nature of the companions — they would take advantage of the mornings not by worrying about their wealth or how they would sustain their means of income, but they would spend their mornings remembering Allah. They would start their mornings with the dhikr of Allah.

He said to her, "Are you still in the same place that you were in when I left you?" She said yes. He then said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 48, Hadith 90)

"Verily I recited four phrases three times. If you were to weigh them with everything that you have been saying, these would weigh heavier." And he said:

This simple phrase — the Messenger of Allah would recite it on a daily basis three times every single morning. And this simple phrase was something which has so much virtue, so much status, that it weighs more than other adhkar one may say in the morning. And of course, Juwayriya, may Allah be pleased with her, would be rewarded for the efforts she made and the adhkar she did. But this hadith shows us the virtue and the status of this dhikr — how valuable it is.

Understanding the Dhikr: Word by Word

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ — All Glory and Praise Belongs to Allah

But what does this dhikr mean? Why is it something which is so valuable? Why does it have so much virtue? Why was it something that would weigh more than everything else Juwayriya, may Allah be pleased with her, was reciting in the morning? This dhikr is one I want to go through, because sometimes we recite things without being fully aware of exactly what we are saying — whether it is from the Qur'an or adhkar — and when we are not familiar with what we are reciting, it doesn't have the same impact, the same meaning, and we don't give it as much value.

The Messenger of Allah begins this dhikr by saying سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ — all glory and praise is to Him. All of the praise and the thanks that we could possibly give, Allah is deserving of all of it. And this is why, when we recite Surah al-Fatihah numerous times every single day, we begin by saying:

All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. No one and nothing else is more deserving of praise than Allah. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ — all glory and praise belongs to Allah. There is nothing more deserving of praise, nothing more glorious than Allah Himself.

And if we were just to ponder over the blessings which Allah has given us, there are too many for us to be able to count:

If you were to count the blessings of Allah, you would not be able to do so. So many blessings — from the great blessings down to the smallest, tiniest blessings of you simply sitting here in the masjid, listening and seeing. These are blessings from the blessings of Allah that we don't think about on a regular basis, that we're not continuously thankful for, and that we take for granted — just like other blessings which Allah has given us. So no doubt, سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ — all glory and praise belongs to Allah.

عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ — As Much as the Number of His Creation

How much praise and glory does Allah deserve? As much as is the number of His creation. If we were to reflect, brothers and sisters, on how many human beings Allah has created from the beginning of time — from Adam, peace be upon him, up till today — and how many more will be created until the Day of Judgment — it's something you cannot quantify. You cannot put a number on it. And then you have the animals, from the beginning of time till the end. And then you think about the rest of Allah's creation: عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ — the number of all of His creation. The plants, the trees, the mountains, the lakes, the oceans. The sun and the moon and the stars and the planets. The universe. Everything that we are familiar with — and even that is something we can't put a number on. It's something that human beings up till today are still discovering: planets and galaxies.

On top of this, you have things which the human eye cannot even see. The angels — we know something of their immense number from the hadith that every single day 70,000 angels go up to visit the house of Allah in the heavens, Bayt al-Ma'mur, and they never return ever again. This gives us an idea of the number of angels which Allah has created — a creation that we don't even see. And then you have the jinn. And then you have the Hellfire and Paradise. These are creations of Allah that an individual cannot number. You cannot put a limit on the creation of Allah. There are things we are not even aware of:

And He has created things which you don't even know about. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ — all glory and praise to Allah, as much as is the number of His creation.

وَرِضَى نَفْسِهِ — In a Manner That He Is Pleased With

What benefit is there for a person to offer his salawat, to give charity, to fast, to read the Qur'an — if Allah isn't pleased with his efforts? When an individual does things for his parents, for his family, even for his boss at work, he wants to see the pleasure on their faces from the efforts he's made. There's a rewardable feeling. A person feels appreciated. There's a feel-good factor surrounding people being pleased with you when you do things for them. How much more then should a person want Allah Himself to recognize those deeds and be pleased with them?

وَرِضَى نَفْسِهِ — this praise and all of these adhkar that we make, all of these acts of worship that we do — we want Allah ultimately to be pleased with the efforts that we are making. To be happy with the efforts that we are making in this dunya, trying to worship Him, doing whatever we can. And it's something which is never going to be enough. But as long as Allah is pleased with our actions, as long as Allah is rewarding our efforts — that's what every single Muslim and believer hopes. That at the end of the day, on the Day of Judgment, Allah will reward us for the efforts that we made. وَرِضَى نَفْسِهِ — in a manner that He is pleased with. As long as Allah is pleased with it, this is our ultimate goal, our ultimate objective.

وَزِنَةَ عَرْشِهِ — Equal to the Weight of His Throne

What will make us think and realize what the throne of Allah is like? How great and glorious the throne of Allah is? There are narrations of the companions that talk about the heavens. They say that between each heaven is a distance of 500 years. Between the first heaven and the second heaven is a distance of 500 years. And likewise between the second and the third, and all the way up to the seventh heaven. Above the seventh heaven, there is water — and only Allah knows what kind of water this is and how it is suspended above the heavens.

500 years between each of the heavens, brothers and sisters — a 500-year journey. One can only begin to imagine the vastness and greatness of the heavens. Above the water is the Kursi — the footstool of Allah. And above the footstool is the throne of Allah. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, told us that the throne of Allah compared to the Kursi of Allah is like a ring being thrown into the desert — the Kursi is the ring, and the desert is the throne. There is no comparison between the two. The scholars say the Kursi is simply a step towards the throne of Allah.

Think about the distance between the heavens — 500 years. What about the throne of Allah? And the size of the Kursi compared to the throne? It's something which the human mind cannot comprehend. And it is mentioned in this dhikr — why? Because Allah is deserving of so much glory and praise that it is equal to the weight of His throne. The weight of that throne is something we cannot even imagine. The amount of glory and praise Allah is deserving of is something we cannot comprehend, something we cannot fully appreciate or do justice to — even if we were to worship Allah every single day, non-stop, continuously until the day we die.

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, told us in a hadith: "I have been given permission to describe to you one of the angels carrying the throne of Allah. The distance between the shoulder and the earlobe of this angel is a 700-year journey." 700 years journey — between the shoulder and the earlobe of one of the angels carrying the throne of Allah. This shows us the size of the angels. If that is the distance between the shoulder and the earlobe, what about the size of the angel itself? And if that is the size of the angels, how huge, how great is the throne of Allah itself?

وَزِنَةَ عَرْشِهِ — equal to the weight of His throne. Something which we cannot even encompass. All glory and praise that Allah is deserving of is something we can't even begin to imagine — let alone put a number on. That is how much glory and praise Allah is deserving of.

وَمِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ — Equal to the Ink of His Words

The Messenger of Allah ended this dhikr by saying وَمِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ — equal to the amount of ink that may be used to write His words. If we contemplate the weight of the words of Allah — these are the words of Allah — when the Messenger of Allah would receive revelation, when the speech of Allah would come down to him, he would start to perspire, even if the weather was cold. The feeling of wahy coming down was so intense that he would sweat in cold winter weather. The weight of the words was so great that when the Messenger of Allah was on a camel — and we know how much a camel can bear — if revelation came down while he was on the camel, the camel couldn't even move. In fact, the camel would have to sit down. As Allah said:

Verily We are going to send down to you heavy words. The speech of Allah is not something we can fully understand or comprehend in terms of its greatness and weight. And the intensity of the words of Allah coming down to the Messenger of Allah shows us the value of those words.

وَمِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ — as much ink as may be used to write the words of Allah. In Surah al-Kahf — the surah that we are supposed to recite on Fridays, the surah that those of us who are familiar with it know — Allah Himself talks about His words and talks about the seas becoming ink:

Say: if the seas were ink to write the words of my Lord, the seas would become exhausted before the words of my Lord would be exhausted — even if we were to bring the same amount of seas again. Meaning the words of Allah are so great that no amount of ink, even if it were the seas, would be sufficient or adequate to write them. وَمِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ — as much ink as may be used to write His words. And the seas twofold wouldn't be enough to write the words of Allah.

The Call to Learn and Teach This Dhikr

All of this, brothers and sisters — all of these descriptions, all of these comparisons in this dhikr — are simply for us to be able to understand Allah's praise and Allah's glory. How much He is deserving of praise and glory. How glorious and almighty Allah truly is.

We were talking about how Allah has made it easy for a person to do good deeds — something which, if a person were committed to, he could earn a great deal of good deeds through simple means that take little effort on his part. We mentioned the hadith of how a person who intends to do a good deed and carries it out is rewarded ten times over, up to 700 times and maybe even more. And we mentioned how easy it is for a person to earn Allah's reward simply by the things he says — how reciting the Qur'an earns ten good deeds for every single letter.

We mentioned this dhikr that the Messenger of Allah taught when he saw Juwayriya, may Allah be pleased with her, still in her place after Fajr when he returned in the afternoon. He said to her: "Verily I recited four phrases three times. If you were to weigh them with everything you have said, these would weigh heavier."

Brothers and sisters, this dhikr is of so much value and is something which is very easy to learn. In fact, the number of times I've mentioned this dhikr in this khutbah, maybe some of us who weren't familiar with it have already picked up a few words. How long and how much effort would it take to learn this piece of dhikr? A few minutes — five or ten minutes. Compare the amount of time it would take to learn this dhikr with the amount of reward you will receive every time you say it three times in the morning, from the day that you learn it until the day that you pass away. There is no comparison. It's a no-brainer.

This dhikr is something which I encourage every single one of us to learn and to recite on a daily basis in the morning — to remember Allah when one wakes up, and to earn this easy reward. To have one's scale of good deeds heavy with something so light on the tongue.

I advise myself and everybody else to not just learn this dhikr for ourselves, but to teach it to our own family members. As we mentioned:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2670)

The one who directs someone to good is as if he has done it himself. So imagine teaching your family members this same dhikr. Every time someone else says this dhikr as a result of you teaching them, you will be rewarded as if you said it yourself — as well as them being rewarded fully, without the reward being diminished for any one of you.

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to learn this dhikr, that we understand and comprehend its meaning, and that Allah gives us the strength and ability to say this dhikr three times every single morning.

Remember Allah, the Most Great and the Most Majestic, and He will remember you. Thank Him for His blessings and He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is the highest and the greatest of all things, and Allah knows what you do.