The Prophet's Advice to Muadh (with British Sign Language) - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

Khutbah Opening

أَحِبَّتِي فِي اللَّهِ وَفِي الإِسْلَامِ، أُوصِيكُمْ وَنَفْسِي بِتَقْوَى اللَّهِ وَالإِحْسَانِ، فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ مُحْسِنُونَ.

My beloved brothers and sisters, I start by praising Allah Almighty and sending blessings and salutations upon our beloved Master Muhammad ﷺ.

Our beloved Prophet ﷺ would often teach and advise his companions, and for every single piece of advice that he gave to his companions, it is up to us to read them and extract benefit from them and try to act upon them. For advice to one companion is an advice to all of the ummah. The companions of the Prophet ﷺ had the opportunity to ask him, and there are so many ahadith where he is advising them with things that, if we were to apply them, a lot of our lives — and inshallah our afterlife — would change for the better.

The Hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal

One such hadith is the one of Mu'adh ibn Jabal, who was about to embark on a journey and said to the Prophet ﷺ: "O Prophet of Allah, advise me." And just as Mu'adh was attentively listening, I want you all to listen to the advice of our Prophet.

The First Advice: Worship Allah Alone and Avoid Shirk

He said: "O Mu'adh, worship Allah alone and never commit any shirk. Worship Allah alone and never commit any shirk."

You might be thinking: this is very generic. We already know not to worship other than Allah. We already know that it is an obligation upon us to single Him out in worship. But let me ask you this question — do you think Mu'adh did not know? Do you think Mu'adh ibn Jabal did not know that only Allah is worthy of worship? Why did the Prophet say this particular thing to him after he asked him to advise him?

Because, my brothers and sisters, sometimes we may know something theoretically. We may think we understand it, but it requires repetition because it is more than just a statement — it is a way of life. It is an obligation, the greatest obligation, to single out Allah in worship. And each one of us here in this masjid is here to worship Allah. But can we comfortably say that we worship Allah the right way — the way He deserves — and that we avoid all types of shirk?

I don't think any one of us can comfortably say that. Because shirk — associating partners with Allah — comes in many ways. It could be that you've done an act of worship but inside of you was a bit of ujub or riya' — that you were showing off, that you were impressed with yourself, that it wasn't fully sincere for Allah. It is a possibility.

It may be that you unknowingly have undermined the authority of the Almighty. For when Allah tells you to do something — every time Allah tells you to do something and you find out a command in the Quran and you ignore it or you don't act upon it — the supreme authority of Allah is being undermined by our desires. And yes, there are those that worship their desires. There are those that put their desires before Allah's commandments. There are those that put their desires before the prohibitions and will choose what they want to do over what Allah wants them to do. Have you then not given Allah an equal? When you put what you want to do at the same level as what Allah wants you to do.

And this may not be conventional shirk. This may not be the idolatry of Quraysh. But it is still a heinous act. And this goes for all of us. Do not think that you are free from shirk. Do not think that you are safe from shirk.

Wallahi, the Sahaba did not think that. If we were to have one companion that we were 100% sure of — that he does not have to worry about shirk — it would have been Abu Bakr. And the Prophet ﷺ says to Abu Bakr: "Within my ummah there is a type of shirk that is more hidden than the crawling ant." None of us observe them — they are all over, these crawling ants. We don't see them. And they can creep into your house. And just like that, shirk can come into your house and into your life as well. Be very fearful.

And the Prophet ﷺ taught him a du'a — to ask Allah:

"O Allah, I seek refuge from falling into shirk knowingly, and I seek Your forgiveness for what I fall into unknowingly." This is something that we should always be conscious of.

Small types of shirk — whether it is when we make an oath and we do not use Allah's name, or whether it is that we venerate the creation of Allah to the level of Allah. You've all probably seen people that are Muslims — they are saying لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ — but then they will worship people. When they are sick they will go and show veneration to a human being like them. You'll find someone that will come into a masjid as full as this one and show this person veneration that only Allah deserves, hoping that he can help them when they should be asking Allah alone.

Fellow Muslims, maybe some people that you know — travelling to graves, calling upon them. When they make Umrah, they go to the Prophet, who spent his life warning of shirk, and they make du'a to the Prophet — the opposite of the message that he came with. So yes, shirk is within the ummah, and we ask Allah to lift it from the ummah.

The Prophet ﷺ gave a prophecy and said that the Day of Resurrection will not happen until many clans, tribes, people, and groups will fall back into the shirk of the Arabs. May Allah protect all of us from it.

It is the one thing Allah does not forgive. It is the one thing — if you die upon it, you will be in the Fire forever. It is the one thing that we should be the most fearful of. It is not lying. It is not murder. It is not adultery. It is shirk. First and foremost. May we never, ever be among those that associate partners with Allah in any way, shape, or form.

The Second Advice: Follow Every Sin with a Good Deed

My brothers and sisters, Mu'adh said to the Prophet: زِدْنِي — "Give me more, advise me more." What was the first advice? اعْبُدِ اللَّهَ — "Worship Allah and do not commit any shirk." Then the Prophet ﷺ said to him:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22016; also referenced in related narrations — see: Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

"And when you commit a sin, when you make a mistake, when you fall into error, follow that up with a good deed. Do something righteous. Do something good."

My brothers and sisters, none of us are perfect. Wallahi, we all have shortcomings — whether those are shortcomings related to ibadah that we are not fulfilling our worship enough, or we are harming ourselves or others by the way we speak or how we act towards them. Whatever the case is, we are all sinful, and that's how Allah created us. We are not perfect. But what did the Prophet advise Mu'adh? إِذَا أَسَأْتَ فَأَحْسِنْ — follow it up with a righteous deed. Why? Because Allah says in the Quran:

"Indeed, righteous actions will wipe away the sins that you've previously done." The wudu that you make wipes away the sins that you've done. The prayer that you do wipes away the sins that came before. The Prophet ﷺ mentioned this many times. So there should be an encouragement for you and I to do as many good deeds as we can, because these are the ones that are going to wipe away many of the bad deeds that we fall into.

Brothers and sisters, take the advice of the Prophet ﷺ to heart and act upon it. We will make mistakes. We will fall into sin. We will have shortcomings. إِذَا أَسَأْتَ فَأَحْسِنْ — make sure you are following it up with righteous actions as often as possible.

And when the Prophet ﷺ said this to him, Mu'adh ibn Jabal said: زِدْنِي يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ — "Give me more, O Messenger of Allah. Advise me more." Look at the eagerness of the Sahaba, trying to learn from the Prophet ﷺ. They would absorb the advice of the Prophet like a sponge. They would listen to him and they would act upon it.

Do you know how many ahadith exist that are similar to this one — where a companion comes to the Prophet ﷺ and says "O Messenger of Allah, advise me" and the Prophet ﷺ says "I advise you three" or "I advise you six" or "do these four things" or "avoid these things"? You're meant to be studying these. You're meant to be reading these. You're meant to be learning these — because that's how you're going to be able to have istiqamah, a steadfastness. May Allah make us among those that are steadfast always.

I say this and I ask Allah to forgive me and you and all those who have sinned — indeed He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Second Part of the Khutbah

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ

Brothers and sisters, we were continuing the hadith where the Prophet ﷺ was advising Mu'adh. The first advice he gave him was: worship Allah alone and never fall into shirk and do not associate partners with Him. The second advice he gave him was: when you make a mistake, follow it up with a righteous action.

One great scholar — Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah — mentioned that if you are going to make an error, a mistake, or a sin, and then you want to follow up with a good deed, if it is of the same type, then that is the best. So for example, if you neglected salah, then the right thing to do would be to pray a lot of salah as the act of worship that you follow up with. If you were insulting someone, or backbiting, or using your speech to harm someone and to sin in this manner, then making du'a for that person and making a lot of dhikr and istighfar with your mouth and seeking Allah's forgiveness would be the way to go. So this is something to also keep in mind.

The Third Advice: Be Steadfast

The final advice the Prophet gave Mu'adh was: اسْتَقِمْ — "Stay steadfast." The same thing Allah said in the Quran:

"Stay steadfast like you've been commanded" — on the right path. What does it mean to be steadfast, my brothers and sisters? Wallahi, that's all we want. We want to stay on Sirat al-Mustaqim, on the right path, and never deviate. We want to be able to — if we do deviate — be able to come back.

So this means, my brothers and sisters: whatever Allah commands us to do, do it. Whatever Allah tells you to stay away from, stay away from it. And you will have shortcomings in this regard — so repent often and seek Allah's forgiveness. Seek Allah's forgiveness often. Understand that you're a flawed person. Do not allow yourself to live days, weeks, months without repenting and without asking Allah for forgiveness. May Allah forgive all of us. May Allah forgive our shortcomings and allow us to have steadfastness always.

The Fourth Advice: Rectify Your Character

Then finally he said:

"And rectify your behavior." Correct your akhlaq. Have the most lofty of character. Have the best of akhlaq. This was the advice of the Prophet ﷺ — you are meant to have the best behavior towards other people.

Wallahi, my brothers and sisters, if we just did this — if we remedied and rectified our behavior, if when we met people we were smiling, if when we were speaking we were using the best of words, if we were controlling our anger, if we were forgiving those that harm us, if we were gifting each other, visiting each other, being kind towards each other, if we were giving charity and helping the needy and the poor, if we had good character — if we remedied just this aspect of our religion, of our lives, so much khayr would come from it.

And there is a great glad tiding for those that have good character. Wallahi, we all know what good character is. And we all know which aspects of our character are flawed. Maybe you're someone that lies. Or maybe you're someone that breaks promises. Or maybe you're someone that angers quickly. Maybe you backbite. Or you don't trust people. Or you think the worst of people. We all have character flaws. Remedy those for Allah. Try and be more like the Prophet ﷺ. Ask yourself: in this situation, what would the Prophet do? Would he raise his voice? Most often he wouldn't. Would he forgive? Yes, he would. Remedy your character. Improve your character.

Why? Because the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2004)

"I have seen that which allows the people to go into Jannah the most — that which results in people going to Paradise — is taqwa Allahi wa husn al-khuluq: having piety and taqwa of Allah, and good character." May Allah provide us with good character. May Allah make us among those that follow the character and the akhlaq of the Prophet.

Summary: Three Essential Relationships

The advice that the Prophet ﷺ gave to Mu'adh summarizes all relationships.

What relationship should you have with Allah? The most important relationship — one of worship. One of worship and understanding that Allah comes first, and you never associate partners or give Him equals, and you understand that supreme authority and worship belongs to Allah alone. That is your relationship with Allah.

As it relates to yourself — you are a sinful person who has many shortcomings. Ensure that you are saving yourself by doing as many good deeds as possible.

As it relates to others — show them the best of akhlaq, show them the best of character. And these are the ways that we will stay steadfast and inshallah be among those who are forgiven, find salvation, and go to Jannah.

May Allah make us among those. May Allah make us thankful and make us do good deeds. May Allah make us love faith and make it beloved in our hearts, and make us hate disbelief and disobedience, and make us among the righteous. And our last prayer is to praise Allah, Lord of the worlds, and to establish prayer.