Sebastian & the Day of Arafah | Jumuah Khutbah | Ustadh Mohamad Baajour

May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. Before I make the announcement, can I ask you to please stand up and move forward to close all the gaps? We have a lot of people outside. If you see a gap in front of you, just try to close it, except the first row. See if you find a spot. May Allah bless you and protect you. You can sit down, insha'Allah.

So we have a couple of brothers and sisters in the community that are not feeling well. Sister Rifat, our beloved brother Yahya, his niece is in the hospital, and Sister Mahmood Sanwar, they are all requesting du'a for shifa. We ask Allah, the Lord of the Great Throne, to heal them. O Allah, heal our sick and the sick of the Muslims. Have mercy on our dead and the dead of the Muslims. Ameen, O Lord of the worlds.

Also yesterday, we lost our brother, Muhammad Naziruddin. He lives with us right here in Malibu. Brother Kaleem's father-in-law. We buried him last night. May Allah have mercy on him. May Allah forgive him and have mercy on him. And also Sister Hawa, she passed away. We ask Allah to grant her the highest place in Jannah and forgive all her sins.

Just a reminder, ignore the people outside on the street. Do not get engaged with them. And also make sure that your children are not engaged with them. Jazakallah khair.

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared. And do not die except as Muslims.

O you people, fear your Lord who created you from one soul and created from it its wife and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah in Whom you ask for help and mercy. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who believe, fear Allah and say the right word. He will correct your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great success.

Sebastian's Plan and the Day of Arafah

My dear respected beloved brothers and sisters, I ask Allah who gathers us in this masjid to gather us next year on the mountain of Arafah. Ameen Rabb il Alameen.

In 2012, one of the biggest electronic chains in Germany was about to open their 150th location. So they made a competition on their social media as a marketing campaign. And the winner of the competition will win 150 seconds in any of the locations and grab whatever they want for free.

The date came and three winners were announced. The first winner, when he heard the word go, he ran. And he started grabbing left and right. Long story short, he grabbed 1,000 euro worth of merchandise. The second go, ran, grabbed left and right, and came out with around 1,500 euros.

Then came Sebastian. When Sebastian heard the word go, he went to the big screen TVs. He grabbed two of them and he made them into a cart, pushing them and stacking stuff on them. He ran immediately to the aisle where the iPhones and the iPads and all the expensive stuff, and he packed everything. You can see this whole thing on YouTube, by the way. He packed everything on it. Long story short, Sebastian came with 29,000 euro worth of stuff in 150 seconds. And when he finished, he screamed and said, "My plan worked. My plan worked."

As we all know, the media was all over covering this event. So the people came to him from the media and asked him, "What did you mean by my plan worked?" He said, "The moment that they announced the competition, I came every single day to this location. I studied where everything is. I memorized where are the expensive stuff. I timed the distance between one and the other. And my plan worked."

Sebastian's plan to win 29,000 dunya gain worked. What is your plan for the most day that Allah frees necks from the hellfire? What is your plan to free your neck from the hellfire on the day where Rasulullah ﷺ said, "The most day of the year that Allah frees people from the hellfire is the day of Arafah." What's the plan?

For dunya gain, we plan. And plan and plan. And it's good to plan. Absolutely. As a matter of fact, if you fail to plan, you're planning to fail. So my brothers and sisters today, I want to remind myself and you about some of the virtues of the day of Arafah, which is this coming Thursday. This coming Thursday.

The Virtues of the Day of Arafah

Rasulullah ﷺ told us many things about this day.

First Virtue: The Day Islam Was Completed

First, it was narrated that a Jewish man came to Umar radiyallahu anhu and told him, "There's an ayah in your book. If it was revealed to us, we will consider the day it was revealed as a Eid, as a holiday." So Umar radiyallahu anhu asked, "What ayah is that?" He said, the ayah where Allah said:

Where Allah said, "Today I have completed the deen. I have perfected your deen. And I have decreed that Islam is the only deen." So Umar radiyallahu anhu he said, "Wallahi, I know the day it was revealed and the place it was revealed. It was revealed on a Friday, on the day of Arafah to Rasulullah ﷺ."

So this is the day. The day of Arafah is the day our deen has been perfected and completed. That's the first virtue.

Second Virtue: Allah Swore By This Day

Second, the azeem, the greatest, only swear by the greatest. Allah swore by the day of Arafah. Where? In a surah that most of us know it by heart. When Allah said:

Abu Huraira and Ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhum they said, "These are three days mentioned here. اليوم الموعود is the day of judgment. وشاهد is the day of Jumu'ah. And اليوم المشهود is the day of Arafah." Allah swore by this day.

Third Virtue: Fasting Erases Two Years of Sins

Third, Rasulullah ﷺ, He told us that fasting on the day of Arafah, for other than the hajj, will expiate two years of sins. One previous year and one coming year of sins. Allahu Akbar! 18 hours of fasting will erase 24 months of sins. How can I let this deal go?

We are so grateful to Allah, that He kept us alive to witness these best days of the year. You are witnessing the best days of the year. This is one of the best Jumu'ahs of the year. And Allah kept me alive to witness it, to witness these days. So we have to take advantage of every single moment.

Fourth Virtue: The Day Allah Frees Most People from Hellfire

Fourth, the hadith that I narrated, Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim)

He negated all days. "No days, no days, that Allah sets free people from the hellfire as much as the day of Arafah." This is the most day of the year. This is the most day of the year, where a list will be made with the people who will be freed from the hellfire. I beg Allah, I beg Allah from this minbar, in this blessed day, for me, and you, and everybody who's watching us, to put our name on that list.

What Is Your Plan?

The best, the most day, our a'mal, if you ask, one of the main drives to do a lot of good deeds is to be saved, to enter Jannah, and be saved from the hellfire. So this is the most day. What is the plan? What is the plan, ya ikhwan? How can I let this day be just like any other day?

I'm telling you from now, please, please, if you can take off that day, please go ahead and apply now, after Jummah. Apply and ask for this day to be off. If you can't, make sure that from Asr at least, till Maghrib, you're off. Take off, it's worth it.

My brothers and sisters, in Ramadan, we get very, very excited about the last 10 nights, and we should, because in them, there's the best night of the year, the Laylatul Qadr. But we all know that that night is hidden. We all know it's in the last 10 nights, in the last odd nights of the last 10 nights, but we do not know for sure which night it is. So we have to strive and work hard for 10 nights. Now, in these 10 days, I know when is the best day. So it's only 24 hours. We know when is that day. We already know. That's a huge ni'mah from Allah Azza wa Jal that we know when is that day. And that day is this coming Thursday.

On that day, on the Laylatul Qadr, subhanAllah, Allah said:

On that day, the angels descend, and Jibreel, alayhis salam, descend. And the hadith said, the angels on that night, they are as much as the pebbles on earth. Too many angels. But on the day of Arafah, Allah Azza wa Jal descends. And He boasts to the angels about the people who are in Arafah. يُبَاهِي بِهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ Allah descends in a way that befits His Majesty.

On that day, let Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala see me and you, begging and crying and asking for whatever you wish for. This day, you have to stand it three things. Number one, reading the Qur'an. Number two, du'a. Number three, dhikr.

A Suggested Schedule for the Day of Arafah

Let me give you a suggested schedule for that day. You wake up one hour or so before Fajr. Fajr 4:55, 4:56. Get up, ya akhi, get up, my sister. One hour before, around 4 o'clock. Pray two, four rak'ahs of tahajjud. Make a lot of du'a. Keep in mind on that day, you're fasting. So, have your suhoor. Wake up your family. إِنَّ فِي السُّحُورِ بَرَكَةٌ You'll have barakah when you have suhoor.

And leave, leave 10 minutes before the adhan of Fajr, not the iqamah of Fajr. Leave 10 minutes before the adhan of Fajr for istighfar. Please, memorize the schedule. Wake up, make a beautiful, perfect wudu. Pray two rak'ah, four rak'ah. Have your suhoor, and leave 5-10 minutes before adhan of Fajr for istighfar.

Shaykh, what am I doing? I'm praying qiyam and making suhoor. What am I making istighfar for? What am I asking Allah to forgive me for? I'm doing the best thing I ever do the whole year. No. You are making istighfar because you want to be among the people whom Allah praised in the Quran. And He said:

Allah praised the people who make istighfar at the time of suhoor. Let me and you be among them in the best day of the year.

After that, my beloved brother will proceed to the masjid to pray fajr in jama'a. If the sister wants to come, ahlan wa sahlan, you're welcome. But Rasulullah ﷺ said that your prayer at home is better than praying at the masjid.

You come, you pray fajr in jama'a, you stay in the same masjid. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. We've been doing this from the beginning of dhul hijjah every single day. We pray fajr in jama'a, we stay in the masjid remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through reading the Quran or through making adhkar, or through attending the halaqa and learning about our deen. And then you wait for the sun to rise. Twelve minutes after that, you pray two rak'ah. And bi'idhnillah, you will get the promise of Rasulullah ﷺ.

When he said, "Whomsoever does that, he will get the ajr of hajj and umrah, complete, complete, complete." So while the brothers are paid so much money, and they have to go to Muzdalifah and Arafah and Mina and Jamarat and Tawaf and all that, you will get the same ajr. That does not mean that you don't have to go to hajj anymore. But you will get the same ajr by doing these five things in your local masjid. Allahu Akbar.

I'm gonna stay, and my sister, Allah blessed you, that if you cannot come to the masjid, you can get the same ajr by doing the same thing at home. SubhanAllah.