العلّامة الشهيد محمد سعيد رمضان البوطي
TRUE CELEBRATION LIES IN ADHERENCE TO THE PROPHET’S TEACHINGS
Mawlid Khutba
- True Celebration Lies in
- Adherence to the Prophet’s Teachings, may Allah bless him and grant him peace
- All praise is due to Allah, praise that complies with His blessings and compensates His abundance. Our Lord, for You is all praise as befits the majesty of Your countenance and the might of Your authority.
- O Allah, I cannot sufficiently enumerate praises upon You; You are as you have praised Yourself. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone and He has no partner, and I bear witness that our Master[2] Muhammad is His slave and Messenger and His sincere and intimate friend, the best Prophet that Allah sent to the entire world as a herald of glad tidings and admonition. O Allah, pray upon, give peace and give blessings upon our Master Muhammad and upon the family of our Master Muhammad, prayers and peace that last inseparably until the Day of Judgment. I advise you and my sinning self to have fearful awareness of Allah the Exalted.
- To proceed, o slaves of Allah!
Friday Sermon[1] by,
Dr M. Saeed Ramadan Al-Bouti
Translated by Nusaiba al-Daly
I passed this morning by al-Hamideia Market. I liked most the colourful decorations all around to commemorate the birth of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, his family and his companions. However, a sudden question popped into my mind: do all these nice decorations, here and in other markets, reflect the people’s submission to the Prophet’s advice in ways of behaviour? Do these adornments indicate the people’s true following of the Prophet’s teachings in their different social and economic dealings?
Perhaps you know, slaves of Allah, a reality that no one should be ignorant of: Allah has made the religion of Islam, its beliefs, acts of worship and legislations, to be at the service of humanity. It protects the human family from all evil associations and it protects a human being’s natural disposition, which calls for peace, love, and cooperation to ensure happiness for both the individual and the society. If there had been another cure for humanity that was better than this religion, Allah would have guided His servants towards that cure.
I wondered again: do these decorations truly reflect our compliance with what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, left us with when he?
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I am leaving you upon (path of) brightness, its outward is like its inward. No one will deviate from it but one who is wicked”. When we refer to the Prophet’s instructions, we conclude that the religion is exemplified in people’s ways of conduct between each other. Everything that has been legislated in Islam aims at virtuous behaviour. The Messenger of Allah said, “I was only sent to perfect good manners”. In fact, the prophetic commandments are too numerous to be displayed in this short, blessed time in which we have gathered for the sake of religious reminders.
Both Imam Ahmed and al-Hakim in his Mustadrak[3] have reported that Ali Ibn- Abī Ṭālib narrated that Al-Mustafa, may Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him, said, “Whoever hoards food for forty days will be isolated from Allah and Allah will isolate Himself from Him”. Imam Muslim has authentically narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ that Ali Ibn- Abī Ṭālib also said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, entered the market one day and found a man selling food in a pile and it pleased him, so he inserted his hand into that food and his fingers felt some moisture. He thus said to the man, "What is this, you who sells this food?” He replied, "O Messenger of Allah! That part has been b drenched by rainfall.” He remarked, "Why did you not place it on top so that people could see it? He who deceives is not from us".
In an authentic narration from al-Bukhārī and Muslim, Jarīr bin Abdullah said, “After I had pledged allegiance to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, I was about to leave when he grabbed me to sit down. He stipulated that I should advise every Muslim in dealings.”[4] Al-Hakim and al- Bayhaqī have reported with an authentic chain of transmission that Wāthilah ibn Al-Asqa’ narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) said, “It is impermissible for anyone to sell a good without showing its defects”. O slaves of Allah, you will find several ḥadīths about on this topic. This religion, in its beliefs, acts of worship and laws, enhances people’s ways of dealing with one another.
Let us ask the question once again: do the decorations abundantly found in the markets during this glorified month truly embody our adherence to the Prophet’s teachings? Are they an accurate representation of a truthful pledge of allegiance to Allah and to His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says, “And give full measure when you measure, and weigh with an even balance. That is the best [way] and best in result.
[Sūrat Al-'Isrāʾ', 17:35]
He, the Almighty, also says, “And the heaven He raised and imposed the balance. That you not transgress within the balance”.
[Sūrat Ar-Raḥmān, 55:7-8]
He, the Exalted says, “Woe to those who give less [than due], who, when they take a measure from people, take in full. But if they give by measure or by weight, they give less than is due. Do they not think that they will be resurrected on a tremendous Day...” [Sūrat Al- Mutaffifin, 83:4]
O slaves of Allah, let us tackle the issue more profoundly, as profoundly possible. What do we notice?
We find a dangerous abandonment of the Prophet’s teachings and of the Prophet’s orders, which were initially prescribed by Allah. Our factories are immersed in all kinds of fraud - and now is not the time for details. Our farms are immersed in counterfeit money, fraud and evils that bring the most vicious diseases to the human body. Go to any of these farms, or most of them; they exaggerate in using pesticides and chemical fertilizers. While they fill their pockets with money, catastrophic diseases fill the bodies of consumers. Am I exaggerating in what I’m telling you?
Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, says, “And do not cause corruption upon the earth after it has been put right”. [Sūrat Al- ‘Araf, 7:56] It means that Allah has put the earth right and made it a means of abundant provision and clean, pure food. Rains fall down from the sky, penetrates into the earth’s soil in a clean and pure stare in order to be stored in its depth. After all that, you drink the pure water. Therefore, why would you contaminate that soil to the extent that the water mixes with these dangerous evils causing various virulent illnesses? Go to any poultry farm and what do you find? Their owners feed hormones to the chickens to ensure plenty of money, but dangerous diseases attack people’s bodies. Everything I have mentioned is obvious to all of you, isn’t it?
Our governmental laws protect people’s rights in all of their various categories. Nevertheless, there are many people who try to impede the effectiveness of these laws through bribery, and how multifarious forms. When warned against breaking the law and reminded of the punishments incurred by violators, they speak such words that show complete derision of all laws. Likewise, when warned against a near certain day when they will stand before Allah’s, they say “Allah is the All- Forgiving, the All Merciful!” Their attitude is not a sort of hope in Allah’s forgiveness but rather it is a sort of unjustified dependence on false desire. Verily Allah, Glorified and Exalted, forgives His slaves’ for their shortcomings with regard to His rights, but who said that He forgives their violations of other people's rights? I say once again that the rights of Allah are based on forgiveness, yet the rights of people are based on disputation.
This noble month coincides with the celebration of that great remembrance. I have never said, and I cannot say, that it is illegitimate to announce the cheerfulness of this occasion. On the contrary, it is legitimate and an indication of our love towards the Prophet, may Allah grant His peace and blessings upon him. Either the one who rejoices in this remembrance is truthful in his feelings or he is a liar. If he is sincere, Allah grants him great rewards for these colourful decorations by which he expresses what is in his heart and his joy at the Messenger of Allah’s birth. Moreover, Allah rewards him, as his apparent expression corresponds with his conduct and his dealing with Allah’s slaves. On the other hand, if he is a liar, Allah punishes him severely.
O slaves of Allah, I told you once that when Al-Mustafa, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, meets his ummah at his Fount on the Day of Resurrection, some of them will be driven out as if they are straying camels, at which point he will say, “Will you not come? Will you not come?” It will be said to him, “You do not know what changes they made after you!” You recommended them to be truthful in their treatments, but they cast your pieces of advice aside. You told them, “Whosoever deceives us is not one of us”; yet they put your teachings behind their backs. They cheated and lied in their dealings. They committed everything that would ensure them more profits, regardless of the lethal diseases that resulted. Therefore, people like this will be punished by being expelled from the Prophet’s Fount, and subsequently from Allah’s paradise. They will receive a painful punishment. Those who die in that state, most probably, will lose their faith, and their last words will not be, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger”.
O worshippers of Allah, come back! Revive your pledge of allegiance to your Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Make this pledge as a crowning for these adornments by which you convey your happiness. Make this pledge as a crowning for your celebrations. Pledge once again to Al- Mustafa, and fulfil it so as not to be mere uttered words while your hearts are detached.
O Allah, rectify all our affairs! O Allah, help us to renew the pledge to You and to Your Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, in this blessed month.
I say this statement of mine and I seek the forgiveness of Allah, the Sublime.
24th of the blessed Rabi’ al-Awwal /20th of March, 2009
[1] It was given on 24th of the blessed Rabi’ al-Awwal /20th of March, 2009.
[2] Arabic: Sayed, which only applies to human beings.
[3] Al-Mustadrak 'ala al-Sahîhayn is a five volume hadith collection written by Hakim al-Nīsābūrī in which he collected Hadiths that matched the conditions of authenticity according to al- Bukhārī and Muslim. [ The translator]
[4] Ar. muʿāmalah