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Strive to attain that which benefits you
Part One
Praise be to Allah Who guides he who asks Him for guidance, Who provides for he who takes Him as his Lord. Praise be to Him Who leads us to His gratification. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, Who has no partner equal to Him, and I bear witness that our master and Prophet, Muhammad, is Allah's servant and Messenger. He selected him and made him the trustee for His Revelation. O Allah! Pray and bestow Your peace unto Your servant and Messenger Muhammad, unto his family, Companions and all those who followed him in guidance.
Fear Allah _servants of Allah_ And be afraid of the Day when you shall be brought back to Allâh. Then every person shall be paid what he earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly.1 [Al-Baqarah: 281]
O Muslims! There are two fundamental rules which include all reasons for success and every good. They are mentioned within a great prophetic commandment which came in a hadith published by Muslim in his "Saheeh" and by Ahmed in his "Musnad": Abu Hurayrah –may Allah be pleased with him– related that Allah’s Messenger ()2 (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "the strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than a weak believer, although there is good in both. Strive to attain that which benefits you and seek help from Allah and do not lose heart. And if anything befalls you, do not say: ‘If only I had done this and that, such and such would have happened.’ Instead say, ‘It is the decree of Allah and He does whatever He wills.’ For (the word) ‘if’ surely opens the door for Satan’s work."
O servants of Allah's! Striving to attain that which benefits you and seeking help from Allah by trusting Him, relying on Him, and taking refuge with Him are two paths. He who walks them will succeed in reaching his goals, in being safe from that which he fears. Thus, he will enjoy every good in this world and in the hereafter.
The best and most honourable of all this are two things: being favoured with Allah's satisfaction and with the sight of His holy face in the Paradise of bliss. Such is the extra which Allah promised those who did good and were sincere in their intentions: For those who have done good is the best (reward, i.e. Paradise) and
1 The translation of the Holy Qur'ān adopted here is that of King Fahd Complex.
2 This is an Arabic expression that a Muslims says whenever Prophet Muhammad is mentioned. It means (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Makkah Friday Sermon, By Dr. Osamah Khayat 13/10/1433, 31-Aug-2012
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even more (i.e. having the honour of glancing at the Countenance of Allâh جل
جلاله( ). Neither darkness nor dust nor any humiliating disgrace shall cover their faces. They are the dwellers of Paradise, they will abide therein forever. [Yûnus: 26].
The Prophet () joined together these two great rules in the best way possible when he commended Muslims to seek the driving motives and the help of the origin of such motives, i.e. Allah praise be to Him. He forbade helplessness either through failure to seek or neglect the driving motives or through negligence and failure to seek the help of Allah.
The whole of religion, as is stated by Ibn Al-Qayyim (may Allah rest his soul in peace) is "under these prophetic words."
Striving to attain that which benefits you is the origin of success and happiness in this world and in the Hereafter. Also seeking the help of Allah ()3, trusting Him and relying on Him are the basis of Allah's acceptance; they are the origin of Allah's reward and guidance to His straight path. If man strives to attain that which benefits him _and nothing is more beneficial for him than worshipping his Lord, as worship is the purpose of his creation. Allah, the Almighty says: And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone). [Ađ-Đâriyât: 56].
Worship is doing all that Allah loves and leaving all that He forbids, with the intention to please Him and follow His Messenger (). It can also be prayer, fasting, performing hajj, and paying zakat as well as gratitude, patience, satisfaction, and eagerness to meet Him. Again, it can be supplication, humility, imploring, returning to Him in repentance, and total submission to Him alone.
Worship can also be eating what is halal (lawful), avoiding what is haram (unlawful), enjoining good, forbidding evil, obedience to the parents, nobility of character, respect of the elderly, mercy with the children and the poor, sincerity, and trustworthiness. It is keeping one's promise, avoiding usury, lowering one's gaze, guarding one's chastity, and wasting one's life in befriending bad people, gossiping, eating and sleeping.
Worship is the woman's veil, chastity and virtue. It is calling to the way of Allah and making jihad (i.e. striving) for His sake. The Almighty says: Say (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم ): "Verily, my Salât (prayer), my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allâh, the Lord of the ‘Âlamîn (mankind, jinn and all that
3 This is an Arabic expression that Muslims say when Allah is mentioned. It means (Glory be to Him).
Makkah Friday Sermon, By Dr. Osamah Khayat 13/10/1433, 31-Aug-2012
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exists)[162]. He has no partner. And of this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims. [Al-An'am: 162-163].
If man seeks the help of Allah and avoids worshipping other than Him, especially the worship of the devil who is the head of all false idols. While warning us against the worship of the devil, Allah says: Did I not command you, O Children of Adam, that you should not worship Shaitân (Satan). Verily, he is a plain enemy to you. [YâSîn: 60]. Worshipping the devil is obeying him in disbelieving in Allah and becoming a polytheist.
If man follows all the driving motives of success, the afore-mentioned Prophet's commandment and takes him as a model in life, he will lead a good life in this world and win an ample reward in the hereafter, what Allah has prepared for the righteous people.
Fear Allah, O servants of Allah, and comply with this prophetic guidance which is included in his aforementioned great commandment. So strive to attain that which benefits you in this world. Seek the help of Allah in all your affairs; avoid the neglect of that which you should not neglect: good with which you can please your Lord, rise your rank and reach what you are longing for in this world and in the hereafter.
May Allah grant me and you the benefit of His Book and of His Prophet's sunnah. Having said this, I seek forgiveness for me, for you and for all Muslims from Almighty Allah. He is indeed Forgiving and Merciful.
Part Two
Praise be to Allah; we thank Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness; we seek refuge with Allah of our evils and our bad deeds; whomever is guided by Allah nothing and no one will be able to misguide, and whomever is misguided by Allah nothing and no one will be able to guide. I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah alone who has no partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O Allah! Send your Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) on your servant and Messenger Muhammad and on his family and followers.
O you servants of Allah! Man should not stop seeking what might be beneficial for him and just depend on fate; rather, he should do what Allah and His Messenger ordered him to do. The Prophet () ordered Muslims to seek what is beneficial for them, and what is beneficial for them, as Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah rest his soul in peace) said: "requires one to fight the devils both human and Jinn and to repel what was preordained of evil with what Allah has preordained of good."
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Still, man should ask help from Allah since there is no might or power except by Him; man should make the intentions that his deeds are purely and exclusively done for the sake of Allah, because Allah only accepts deeds that are purely done for His sake. This is the meaning of the Qur'ānic verse You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything). [Al-Fātihah: 5].
Man must worship Allah by doing what He enjoined him to do and abstain from what He forbade, while seeking the help of Allah to do so. Through worshiping Allah and obeying Him in what He enjoined, lies the erasure of what was preordained of evil with what was preordained of good, and the repelling of what Satan desires and seeks of evil before it materializes with what Allah repels it of good. Allah Almighty said: And if Allâh did not check one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief. But Allâh is full of bounty to the ‘Âlamîn (mankind, jinn and all that exists). [Al-Baqarah: 251]
Fear Allah – O servants of Allah- and seek what is useful for you by way of asking help from Allah since this will lead you to gain His pleasure and be considered by Him among the successful.
Send your Salat and peace (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) on the Seal of the prophets (Muhammad) and the Messenger of the Lord of Alamin (mankind, jinn and all that exists). You have been ordered to do so in the Holy Qur'ān: Allâh sends His Salât (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy) on the Prophet (Muhammad صلى الله
عليه وسلم ), and also His angels (ask Allâh to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salât on (ask Allâh to bless) him (Muhammad صلى الله عليه
وسلم ), and (you should) greet (salute) him with the Islâmic way of greeting (salutation i.e. As-Salâmu ‘Alaikum). [Al-Ahzāb: 56]
O Allah! Send your Salat and peace (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) on your servant and Messenger Muhammad, and be pleased with his four successive caliphs: Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, Ali, and all his household, Companions, tābi`în (the contemporaries of the Prophet's Companions) and those who followed them righteously till the Day of Judgment, and us through your forgiveness, generosity, and benevolence, O You the Most Generous.
O Allah! Glorify (empower) Islam and Muslims, O Allah! Glorify Islam and Muslims, O Allah! Glorify Islam and Muslims, and protect your religion, destroy its enemies and all tyrants and corrupters; O Allah! Bring into harmony the hearts of Muslims, unite their forces, make righteous their leaders, and unite their word on the truth, O Lord of Alamin.
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O Allah! Grant victory to your religion (Islam), your Book (The Qur'ān), and the Sunnah of your Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); and give victory to your servant believers and the truthful Mujahideen (those who fight in the path of Allah).
O Allah! Make us safe and secure in our countries, make righteous our imams and leaders, support with the truth our imam and leader, and make available for him a righteous retinue, guide him to do what you love and accept, O you who hear our supplication; O Allah! Guide him and his crown prince and his brothers to do what is good for Islam and Muslims and to what will lead to the benefit of the people and the country, O You to whom is our return in the Day of Judgment.
O Allah! Protect us against your enemies and our enemies with whatever you will, O Lord of Alamin. O Allah! Protect us against your enemies and our enemies with whatever you will, O Lord of Alamin. O Allah! We pray You to turn their cunning against them and seek refuge with You from their evils, O Allah! We pray You to turn their cunning against them and seek refuge with You from their evils, O Allah! We pray You to turn their cunning against them and seek refuge with You from their evils.4
O Allah! Make better our religion which is our protection, and make better our Dunya (life in this world) which is the source of our living, and make better or Hereafter to which we are returning, and make life an increase of everything good, and death a rest for us of everything evil.
O Allah! Grant our souls righteousness, and purify and chasten them; You are the best to do this.
O Allah! We seek refuge with you against the disappearance of Your blessing, and the change in the good health you grant us, and the suddenness of Your vengeance, and all kinds of Your wrath.
O Allah! Cure our diseased ones, have mercy on our dead, help us achieve our goals that please You, and make our last deeds good ones.
O Allah! Protect our Muslim brothers in Syria, Burma, Palestine, and everywhere O Lord of Alamin, O Allah! Be on their side; mend their defeat, have mercy on their weakness, feed their hungry people, clothe those without clothes amongst them, and be on their side with Your generosity, O Lord of Alamin; provide them with your support, O Allah! Provide them with your support, O Allah! Provide them with your support, and grant them your victory, O Lord of Alamin.
4 It sometimes happens that an Imam repeats a du'a (supplication) more than once.
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Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers. [Al-A'rāf: 23]
Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire! [Al-Baqarah: 201]
And may Allah have His peace and blessings on His servant and Messenger, our Prophet Muhammad and on his household and all his Companions, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of Alamin.
