Benefits of the Winter - Sheikh Abu Abdillah Yunus Mahmud

Khutbah: Benefits of the Winter

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْهِ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ. أَمَّا بَعْدُ

Allah, Jalla wa A'la, says:

Paradise: Its Atmosphere and Eternal Life

My dear brothers and sisters, we find that when the people enter into Jannah, and in fact the last individual who enters into Jannah is found in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah and also Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with them both.

He's asked to wish, so then he makes his wish, and then he is told once again to wish, and he makes his wish again, and this happens multiple times — حَتَّى تَنْقَطِعَ بِهِ الْأَمَانِي — until the Prophet ﷺ says: until he runs out of what to wish for anymore. He runs out of what to wish for.

And then when they enter into Jannah, at the age of 30 or 33 years old, the same height as Adam ﷺ — 60 cubits in length — and some of the scholars authenticate that a person will be as handsome as Yusuf ﷺ, although there is a dispute regarding its authenticity.

And during that time, my dear brothers and sisters, once the people enter into paradise, the Prophet ﷺ says in the authentic narration in Sahih al-Bukhari: the people of Jannah will know their place of residence better than they know their place of residence in this world — meaning they know their house, they know their place that they are going to reside now, better than they know their houses in this world. So a person may ask: how is that possible, that you haven't even seen it, you haven't seen where you're going to stay? As for this one, meaning your house here, you go and leave daily from your house.

And some of the scholars — Ibn Battal, in his explanation of Sahih al-Bukhari — says that when a person enters into their grave, their dwellings in paradise, if they are from the people of paradise, will be presented before them every morning and evening. Every morning and evening. So they already have an idea, they already know where they're going to go, with Allah's permission.

And that is why Al-'Ayni, in his explanation of Sahih al-Bukhari, says that when the people leave Jumu'ah — like you're going to leave Jumu'ah today, say it was a holiday, a public holiday, so everyone returns back to their house — everyone knows exactly where to go. I take the right, you take the left, you go straight, someone goes this side. He said the people of Jannah will know it better — meaning where they're going to dwell, their residence — better than the people if they were to leave Jumu'ah and return back to their houses. These people actually know it; they know it better.

Whatever the case, Allah Jalla wa A'la tells us about Jannah and the Prophet ﷺ also mentions: after the people of hellfire enter into the hellfire and the people of paradise enter into paradise, then both of them will be called and there will be a white and black speckled ram, and they will say: do you recognise this? — in the narration in Bukhari and Muslim. And they say: yes, this is death. Then it will be slaughtered. And then it will be said: O people of paradise, now eternal life — you're going to live and you're never going to die again. And the same will be said to the people of hellfire.

Allah Jalla wa A'la, as He has told us a great deal about paradise and so did the Prophet ﷺ, and we've just shared a little bit in respect to paradise. He also tells us — as in the verse above — about the atmosphere in paradise: how it is a very ideal, perfect type of atmosphere. A person doesn't have to worry about — like during summertime — the heat of the sun, some people having a heatstroke or suffering in other ways. They don't have to worry about that in paradise.

Nor will there be زَمْهَرِير, which is an intense type of cold — a person really freezing, really, really cold.

The Hellfire and Its Punishments

Going on from here, in another narration in the Sahih — in Bukhari and elsewhere — the Prophet ﷺ also tells us about the hellfire and how it complained to Allah. From that narration, we also learn the word زَمْهَرِير. And a number of the scholars — from them Ibn Hajar, rahimahullah ta'ala, and others — they say that in the hellfire, just like a person will be punished with heat — it will be really, really hot — there will also be a part of the hellfire which will be very cold. So just like the people of hellfire will be punished by heat, they will also be punished by a very powerful type of freezing cold.

Three Benefits of the Winter Months

So why have we mentioned this, my dear brothers and sisters? Because now we are in the winter months. And we have narrations — like the authentic narration in al-Tirmidhi — where the Prophet ﷺ mentions:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 797)

1. Fasting in Winter

That the غَنِيمَة — which can be earned very easily — this amazing booty, this amazing opportunity that a person is given, is fasting during the winter months. Why is that? Because before you know it, Fajr is very late, and before you know it, it's already time for Iftar. So there is hardly any effort required, specifically if you compare it to the summer months.

In the winter months, a person has a golden opportunity. If they are a brother or sister who does not fast regularly — they don't fast Mondays and Thursdays, or they don't fast three days a month — now is the time to start. Specifically for sisters who had their time of the month during Ramadan, they should make sure they jump onto this opportunity. Or for example, they were pregnant during Ramadan, or had given birth just before that — now there is an opportunity where a person makes them up one by one in a very short space of time, and it is very easy. It is like effortless — effortless. A person finishes the day, and alhamdulillah, they have something powerful to look forward to in the next life, and we hope Allah accepted it from them.

So this is one of the things that a person needs to pay attention to, my dear sisters.

2. Performing Wudu' at Times of Difficulty

Another thing that a person needs to pay attention to during the winter months is that, no doubt, many of us have central heating in our houses, but sometimes something may go wrong. So now it's your fourth prayer time and you only have cold water available.

And the Prophet ﷺ tells us in the narration in Muslim: "Should I not direct you to an action which will expiate your sins and elevate you in ranks?" And he mentioned a number of actions, from them:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 251)

Doing wudu' at times of difficulty — when it's not easy. When there is heating during the winter months, it is very easy. But then when the heating stops working, or you run out of hot water — which happens in many houses — what does a person do then? Do they say, forget it, let me just do tayammum, or do they freestyle? The person still does it, they have patience, and this is a way that Allah will elevate them in ranks and expiate their sins.

And not only that, but subhanAllah — like in the other narration in Sahih Muslim — when the Prophet ﷺ said: "I wish we could see our brothers." So the Sahaba said: "Are we not your brothers?" He said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 249)

"Rather, you people are my companions. As for my brothers, they are the people who believe — they are yet to come. They haven't seen me, but yet they believe in the message." Then the Prophet ﷺ mentioned: "I will precede them to the hawd." In the next life, a person who drinks from it on the day where a person will be very thirsty — they will never be thirsty again from the hawd of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Sahaba then asked the Prophet ﷺ: "How can you recognise them? If you haven't seen them, how can you recognise them?" He said: "What do you think of a man who has a horse with a white blaze and white feet among horses that are all black — would the man not recognise his horse?" They said: "Yes, you would." He said: "Likewise, these brothers of mine — they will come on the Day of Resurrection, and I will recognise them through the traces of wudu'. Their faces, their limbs — they are going to glow, they will shine, bi idhnillahi ta'ala."

So this is also something — if this happens, my dear sisters, and it probably will happen, it may have already happened — during the winter months, this does happen.

3. The Night Prayer in Winter's Long Nights

The third thing: a number of the people of the past would actually welcome the winter. They would say marhaba — welcome — to the winter. Why? Because the fasts are short, and the nights are long. So a person, even if they sleep a lot, if they try their best to go to sleep after Isha — or even an hour or two after Isha — they'll have more than enough sleep and they'll still have even half an hour of the night prayer.

And when you look at the people of the past, you'll be amazed in terms of how they would perform the night prayer. There is a report on Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, where there was a war going on and he was the general of it. A person came to him during the night and found him in the night prayer. One of his companions — Ibn Rajab, rahimahullah — quoted this incident. The man saw him in the night prayer and said to him:

He said: "O Commander of the Faithful, you are fasting during the day, up in the night prayer during the night, and busy with the logistics of warfare in between." After he completed his prayer, Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

"The journey of the next life is very extensive. So shortening it down — how can one do so? By travelling at night" — meaning in the night prayer.

But one of the things that stops us — many of us have a very strong urge to perform the night prayer. I'm sure if you were to speak to most of the brothers and sisters in the congregation, they'll say: "You know what? I would love to perform the night prayer, but I can't." One of the main reasons, my dear sisters, is that a person probably goes to sleep late, which doesn't help the situation. And the Prophet ﷺ — as in the narration in Bukhari and Muslim:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 568; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 647)

He used to dislike sleeping before Isha and speaking after Isha. Sometimes, obviously, if there was a need he would speak — but generally speaking, this was the practice of the Prophet ﷺ.

Sins as Barriers to Good Deeds

Whatever the case, my dear sisters, one of the main reasons is there may be a sin between you and the good deed. A sin or sins between you and a good deed. A lot of the time it happens. You'll be surprised — a lot of the time, due to a person committing a sin, they find themselves cut off from worship.

Like one brother — I remember he told me himself — he said: "I was performing the night prayer for a very long time. And then one day I was very rude to my mother." He said: "From that same night, I was struggling with the night prayer. I'm trying to work it out — I go to sleep early, I make sure I perform wudu' before I go to sleep" — he does all of these things and yet he is still struggling with the night prayer. And he said this happened for a very long time. It took a very long time before he returned back to his habit.

And there are reports like that as well — on Sufyan al-Thawri, rahimahullah ta'ala, and other people of the past — where it was a sin which caught up to them. Maybe a person commits a sin and they are prevented from good, righteous acts of worship for months at a time. Like on Sufyan al-Thawri, rahimahullah ta'ala, there is a report. He mentioned: "I went past a person and I said: this guy is showing off. So I was prevented from the night prayer for five months."

And Sufyan al-Thawri, rahimahullah ta'ala, is known as a person who would put a lot of energy into the night prayer. Like one person — as Imam al-Dhahabi quotes in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' — he said: "I started to perform tawaf around the Ka'bah. I performed the tawaf seven times" — meaning how many rounds? 49 rounds. "And then when I finished, I saw him — and he was still in sajdah." The point we are making, my dear brothers and sisters, is that sometimes a person performs a sin and it prevents them from the night prayer. This is a man who performed the night prayer on an unbelievable level. He says: as soon as he wakes up, he wakes up — it's not like he puts his alarm clock on snooze — he wakes up and then he performs the night prayer until Fajr.

And one time when he visited his companion Abd al-Razzaq in Yemen, and Abd al-Razzaq presented some food to him — simple food: meat with some vinegar on top and raisins from Ta'if. After he ate this, he said: "Ya Abd al-Razzaq, feed the donkey some food and now use it." He was talking about his body. He was talking about his body. Meaning: feed the body some food, now use it — use it to please Allah.

So what we are saying, my dear brothers and sisters, is try your best to really benefit from these few months. And even if you're a person who may be saying: "SubhanAllah, you're talking about the night prayer — I struggle with the Fajr prayer." Allah says:

He says: We have made the night and the day signs — signs for those who actually reflect. And you know, subhanAllah, even if a person were to contemplate over the winter months to the summer months: look at Maghrib time, see how it grows — a minute, two minutes, a minute, two minutes. It grows very slowly, very slowly. Same applies when you get to summer and the days grow very long. After that, when the day starts to become smaller, what happens? A minute drops, two minutes drop — sometimes it stays the same — a minute drops. Why is that, my dear brothers and sisters?

Because many of us, when we talk about the night prayer — and how am I connecting this? — many of us like to sprint before we can even crawl. Allah Jalla wa A'la has made things like that for us to contemplate and say: when you start doing good deeds, in order for you to really be stable, the growth has to be organic, slowly and gradually. Like the human being — the child, when the child is young, you don't see an ear just growing really big all of a sudden while the other remains small. Everything grows slowly, for us to contemplate.

The same applies even when a person is practicing. They try and they make sure that they get their Fajr intact. They make sure all of their obligatory prayers are intact. And then they move on slowly, slowly. They take care of their heart as well — how is my heart? Do I have corruption in my heart? — and they take care of it slowly, slowly. And that way, before they know it, they'll be able to benefit from all of the optional acts of worship, just as they benefit from the obligatory acts of worship.

I say this, and I ask Allah to forgive me and you, and I ask Allah to forgive all the Muslims of all their sins. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Second Khutbah: Treating Others the Way You Wish to Be Treated

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his companions. As for what comes next — the Prophet ﷺ says, as comes in Sahih Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1844)

This is a very interesting narration, my dear sisters. It says: a person who wants to actually be saved from the hellfire and enter into paradise — let him make sure that death does not come to him except when he is believing in Allah and the Last Day. And this is the part why I've quoted this narration: let him treat others the way he wishes to be treated.

At a time like this, where many Muslims are extremely reactionary in terms of how they deal with fellow Muslims — or even non-Muslims — I just want to quickly remind my dear brothers and sisters: that when Allah Jalla wa A'la sent Musa and Harun, alayhima al-salam, to Fir'awn — not an ordinary enemy of the Almighty, but Fir'awn himself — what did He say to them?

"Say something very soft — be soft in speech towards him — give him a chance, perhaps he will remember, perhaps he will actually pay attention and take heed." This is one thing — meaning, when you're dealing with others, my dear brothers and sisters, make sure that you at least start off with some soft speech.

Like the Prophet ﷺ, when he sent Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and Mu'adh ibn Jabal, he said to them — in the Sahih:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3038; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1733)

"Give glad tidings, don't push people away from the religion. Make things easy, don't complicate, don't make things difficult."

And in fact, subhanAllah, even when it came to good deeds like the prayer — there is a narration in the Sahih where a man stopped coming to the prayer. He came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "I stopped praying in congregation because so-and-so who leads me in prayer lengthens the prayer." The narrator said: "I have never seen the Prophet ﷺ be this angry before." And then he said: "From you are those who push people away — push people away from doing good deeds, even from coming to the prayer." He said: "When you lead people in prayer, make sure that you don't lengthen it too much. Because behind you are people with needs — old people, people who have difficulties, etc. But when you pray by yourself, let him lengthen it as long as he wants."

When you have others behind you, a person really pays attention to their fellow Muslims. And if this applies in the prayer, my dear sisters, it also applies on things which are nowhere near as significant as the prayer.

Advising with Wisdom: Knowing Whether Someone Is Ignorant

From treating others the way you wish to be treated — when you are giving da'wah to others, when you are forbidding evil or enjoining good, pay attention to the person who is committing the evil. Do they know what they're doing, or are they ignorant?

Like the narration in the hadith of Anas in Bukhari and Muslim:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 221; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 284)

A Bedouin man came to the masjid and urinated in one of its corners. The Sahaba were upset and started telling him off. But the Prophet ﷺ stopped them — don't do anything, stop them. After he completed it, then he asked for a big bucket of water to be thrown on that place, and then he told the Bedouin: "You can't do this — this is a masjid. It is a sacred place, you don't do things like this."

In another narration in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ saw spittle on the wall in the direction of the Qibla in the masjid. And the Sahaba who narrated it say: "We saw dislike on his face." He was harsh about it — he was not happy about it. And then he advised the Sahaba not to do these types of actions.

But the point I want to make here is: what is worse — urinating in the masjid, or spittle? The difference is: one person knows, the other doesn't know. So you don't treat everyone the same. A person who doesn't know — you don't act as if they do know.

And saying that, my dear brothers and sisters — one thing I would highly encourage: just because a brother's appearance is mashallah, the way he dresses, or the same with a sister by the way she is dressed, it doesn't necessarily mean they do know. Maybe they're new to Islam. How long does it take to sort out one's appearance? A month, two months, six months? But as for everything else, they may still be very ignorant with respect to their religion — very ignorant with respect to their religion. So be very careful when you advise people.

Not Becoming a Fitna for Others

The reason why I am saying this — to finish off, my dear brothers and sisters — Allah has told us:

"O our Lord, don't make us a fitna — a tribulation — for those who have disbelieved." The same applies even for those who have believed. We shouldn't be a fitna for them too. For many a time you find that because some of us have good intentions — no one is questioning intentions here — but maybe we are a bit too harsh and too zealous when we are advising others, that maybe a brother or sister may never return back to the masjid. Or now they've got a very distorted image of practicing people, saying: "Practicing people — I feel scared of them."

That is problematic. That is not something praiseworthy. When people are scared and they look at a practicing person and say: "You know what? I don't really want anything to do with this" — that means we have a lot of work to do, my dear brothers and sisters.

We'll finish off with this narration — in Sunan Abi Dawud with an authentic chain. The Bedouins were very ignorant — sometimes grabbing the Prophet ﷺ's cloak and leaving marks on his neck and back, saying: "Ya Muhammad!" — not Ya Rasulullah, not Ya Nabiyullah. They were very abrupt in their speech. But the Prophet ﷺ realised: this is how they are. So he was patient with them, very nice to them.

So what happened? What was the natijah — the result? At the end of the Prophet ﷺ's life, in the Hajj of the Prophet ﷺ, the Bedouins would come walking around. When they saw the Prophet ﷺ, they would say: "This is a blessed face." Meaning: nothing but good comes from this individual. Only good comes from this individual.

And it takes time. It takes time — because when you treat people nicely, that spreads. The first person tells the second person, the second person tells the third, the third tells the fourth, and it goes on and on, and then eventually it becomes widely circulated that these people are actually very noble people. These are special people. And that is how we are supposed to be, my dear brothers and sisters.

We ask Allah to not make us a fitna — a tribulation — for those who believe and for those who do not believe. And for us to be the best in this religion, inshallah ta'ala, and for us to be beacons of light. BarakAllahu feekum.

وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ — السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ