Set a Plan for the Summer Holidays - Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem

Khutbah Opening

Indeed, all praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds.

Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He leaves 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.

As for what follows, the best hadith is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad.

Set a Plan for the Summer Holidays

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, as we are going to begin the summer holidays — as some of the educational institutes have broken up for the summer holidays, and most of the schools are going to break up very soon — during this period of time we need to set a plan for ourselves and for our children, for our families.

The Importance of Time in Islam

Bear in mind that time is one of the most significant matters within the religion of Allah. It is due to the significance and importance of time that Allah has taken the oath of various times within the Quran. Allah says, by the time of Fajr — which is one of the most beloved and blessed times, the Fajr time.

Allah also said, by the time of forenoon, by the time of Asr.

So Allah has taken the oath of various aspects of time in order to highlight the significance and the importance of time. When we go through the summer holidays, it should not be the case that we waste our time. And some of us look forward to the summer holidays, and some of us may be planning that during the summer holidays I will have enough time for sleep — so out of 24 hours I will spend 8, 10, 12 hours in bed. But this is something that does not befit a Muslim.

The Muslim and the true believer is the one who takes advantage of every single moment. Although the education institutes are going to be closed for a number of weeks, it does not mean that you stop your life. Rather, we all need to make the best usage of our time during the summer holidays.

And there are a number of ideas that I would like to share with you, that we can implement and act upon during these weeks, inshAllah.

Ideas for the Summer Holidays

1. Strengthen Your 'Aqeedah and Tawhid

First and foremost, as we all know, within the religion of Allah, the most important aspect of the religion is the aqeedah and the tawhid of Allah. If you have never attended any aqeedah course, and you have never studied any book on tawhid, on iman, then this is probably one of the best times for you and for your family and your children to go through a book. Or if you can attend a course — alhamdulillah, at this masjid, during the summer holidays, we will be offering a number of courses. So you can enroll into any of these courses.

And particularly with regards to the matter of aqeedah, we should always give the utmost importance and significance to this particular matter — the matter of aqeedah and the tawhid of Allah Dhul Jalal. And it is also a matter that requires continuous learning. You can never say at any stage that I have understood the tawhid and the iman and the matters of aqeedah completely, 100%. You can never claim it.

Rather, you should continue. Even if you have learned most of the aspects and the matters and the rulings of aqeedah, you should still continue reading and studying more and more. The more you study about the tawhid of Allah Dhul Jalal, the stronger you will become in your iman, and you will have greater love for Allah Dhul Jalal within your heart. This is one of the reasons that we continuously, constantly need to continue reading and studying this particular topic.

2. Learn About the Prayer

Another way of spending your time during the summer holidays is learning about the prayer. Learn yourself, teach your children, your family. Within the family, all the members of the household can get together once a week or twice a week and go through the actions of salah — how to stand before Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram.

With regards to worldly matters, if you were to attend an interview, you watch video clips on YouTube so that you can get an idea of how to sit during an interview, what type of dress code you should have, how you should give your statement — and you prepare yourself. And when it comes to standing before Allah, unfortunately many of us have no preparation. We have no preparation.

So how to stand before Allah? How to bow down? How to make ruku according to the sunnah and the teachings of Rasulullah? What is permissible and what is not permissible within salah? How to make sujood? How to sit between two sajdas? How to sit in tashahhud? All of these matters, again and again and again — we need to refresh all these matters. Even if you have already studied and learned them, during this time you should find it an opportunity to go through these matters once again.

And this is something that we learn from the practices of the companions, ridwanullahi alayhim. We know in a very well-known hadith, reported by Abu Humaid As-Sa'idi, may Allah be pleased with him — in fact, this is the hadith that is commonly reported by the muhaddithin as well as the fuqaha in the books of fiqh:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 828)

Abu Humaid As-Sa'idi, who had spent a number of years with the Prophet, observing his salah and praying behind him, yet stands up within a gathering of the companions and says: "I am going to offer a salah, and I hope that my salah will resemble the salah of Rasulullah. But if I make any mistake, please do highlight." And then he prayed the salah in front of the companions in order to show them that this was the salah of Rasulullah.

As for us, when it comes to the matter of salah, we think that salah is only standing before Allah, facing the qibla, qiyam, ruku, sajda — that's it, it's enough. But when we study the hadith and the sunnah of Rasulullah, we come to know that the companions used to observe every single action, every single moment, every single movement of Rasulullah within the salah. To the extent that the companions have reported whether, when the Prophet was sitting down, he moved his index finger or did not move. To that extent. When the Prophet raised his hands, did he raise them up to the shoulders or up to the ears? To that extent they used to observe.

While Ibn Hujar, who accepted Islam in the 8th year of the Hijrah, spent a number of days in Madinah Munawwarah with the Prophet, and then went back to his tribe. The next year he came again and he himself says: "I came to Madinah specifically in order to observe the salah of Rasulullah." So we should give utmost importance and significance to the matter of salah.

And also, if your children are not regular and are not used to waking up for Salatul Fajr on time — due to the shortage of the nights — then during the summer holidays no one should have an excuse. Your children will have enough time to sleep during the day. Please encourage them to pray Maghrib, Isha, and Fajr, all these prayers on time.

Allah says in the Quran, the prayer has been prescribed upon the believers at specific times:

So every single prayer should be prayed within its specific time. This is an opportunity to give the tarbiyah to your children during this period of time.

3. Learn the Meaning of Salah to Attain Khushu'

Also, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, when it comes to the matter of prayer, many of us struggle to concentrate in our salah and to have khushu' in our salah. And this is something that most of us struggle with. And one of the reasons that we cannot have khushu' in our salah is that we do not understand the meaning. We stand before Allah, say اللَّهُ أَكْبَر, and start reading the du'a, then go through Suratul Fatiha, and an additional surah of the Quran, we say all the tasbihat and the dhikr of Allah, and the du'as — but unfortunately we do not understand the meaning.

What is the purpose? During this period of time, take it as an opportunity to learn the meaning and the translation of salah — from اللَّهُ أَكْبَر to السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُم — and you will see the difference. If you learn the meaning and then stand before Allah in salah, you will find the difference. You can concentrate more, and with more concentration you will gain khushu' within salah, which is one of the fundamental requirements of the salah, as Allah says in the Quran:

Just offering salah five times a day is not sufficient. Rather, we need to have khushu' in our salah. And when we have khushu' in our salah, then this is the salah about which Allah said in the Quran:

Verily, salah prevents the person who offers it from fahsha and munkar — from evil acts, from sins. If my salah and if your salah has not prevented us from evil acts, then there is a big question mark on our salah. We need to ask ourselves: what type of salah are we offering, that we have been praying for the past 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, but I still continue backbiting, I still continue lying, I still continue cheating, I still continue earning haram, getting involved in haram — what type of prayer, what type of salah am I offering?

And probably one of the reasons is that we do not even understand the meaning of salah. So this is an opportunity during the summer holidays to go through the translation of the complete salah, learn it, memorize it, and then when you stand before Allah, you at least know what you are uttering and what you are saying and what you are asking Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram for.

4. Learn and Connect with the Quran

Also, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, when it comes to the matter of the Quran, the holidays are also an opportunity to learn Quran. If you have been very busy throughout the year in your studies at college and university, now is the time. You have ample time, you will be free. Take this as an opportunity to learn the Quran — how to read Quran — and learn the translation and the meaning of the Quran.

The Quran is the message from Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram. The book that Allah revealed — not only for taking an oath, not only for seeking blessing when you are afflicted by a calamity or by a jinn and then you ask for ruqya. Yes, the Quran is shifa, but Allah said, Quran is shifa for the illnesses and the diseases of the hearts. And how can you cure the disease of your heart by reading the Quran? Only when you understand the meaning, when you understand the message. This is the message from Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram. Allah says in the Quran:

This is the book that We have revealed. It is a blessed book so that people can ponder, reflect, and contemplate on its verses.

So these are some of the ideas for us to implement and to act upon during this period of time. We ask Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram that He gives us tawfiq and ability to increase ourselves in our iman and also in knowledge. And we ask Allah that He gives us tawfiq to act upon the sunnah of Rasulullah.

5. Wholesome Family Activities and Outdoor Time

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, the religion of Islam is the religion of nature, a natural religion. And obviously when we go through all these things — the matter of aqeedah, learning about Quran and salah — you should not be thinking that the whole summer holiday period should be spent in education and learning only. Rather, Islam allows you to have other activities, and it is also very, very important.

Look around within your area. If there are any sporting activities for yourself or your children, get your children involved in them — within a halal environment, within an Islamic environment. It is also important. And also, as a parent, if you can afford it financially, it is also very good to take your family out of the city for a day out or for a number of days, where you can spend time together and in these types of environments you can learn more and better.

Allah has encouraged us in the Quran in a number of ayat to walk and go around in the land and look upon the creation of Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram — the beautiful scenery and scenes — and say سُبْحَانَ اللَّه. Allah says in the Quran, in Surah Ali Imran, in the verses that our Nabi used to recite whenever he would wake up for the night prayer:

The people of intellect are those who remember Allah while standing, while sitting down, while lying down, and they constantly ponder and reflect in the creation of Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram within the heavens and the earth. And when they look at the creations of Allah, they say: "O our Lord! We know and we are firm in our iman and our belief that You have not created anything baseless or useless." And then they ask Allah: "O Allah! Save us from the punishment of the fire."

So this is something that Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram has encouraged us in the Quran. Unfortunately, within our community there are people who do not pay attention to these types of activities. Or some of us, unfortunately, when it comes to these types of activities, feel very stingy — they do not want to spend any money on their family. As we mentioned previously in many khutbahs, the Prophet said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1426)

The best of sadaqah and charity is the one that you spend on your own family, on your own children. Spend on them.

So we ask Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram that He gives us tawfiq and ability to make the best usage of our time during this period of time.

The Blessed Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah

Finally, I would like to remind everyone of us that we are going to enter into the blessed days — the ten days of Dhul-Hijjah. And there is a possibility of moon sighting this evening or tomorrow. And if we sight the moon this evening, then tomorrow can be the first of Dhul-Hijjah, or Sunday will be the first of Dhul-Hijjah.

And these are the days about which the Prophet said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 969)

There are no days better than these days when it comes to performing good deeds. Within these days we have the day of Arafah, about which the Prophet said it is the best day throughout the whole year — the best day. And this is the day about which the Prophet has recommended us to fast, because the fasting of the day of Arafah expiates the sins of the previous year and the coming year as well.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1162)

Closing Du'a

So we ask Allah Dhul Jalal Ikram that He gives us tawfiq and ability to stay obedient to Him Dhul Jalal Ikram and to continue obeying His Prophet. May Allah give us tawfiq and ability to increase in our knowledge and to also act upon the sunnah and the teachings of Rasulullah. May Allah grant us a good life in this world and a good life in the hereafter. May Allah protect us from the torment of Hell.