Abdul Rahman Chao - 7-9-21

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Our praise is due to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we seek his help and we seek his forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the evil that is within ourselves. As well as the evil that results from our sins.

Whomsoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guides, none shall misguide them. And whomsoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows to be led astray, then no one will be able to guide them back to the straight path. I bear witness that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the only deity worthy of worship and that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is his final messenger and Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The Devotion of the Companions

During the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we see that the companions demonstrated enormous feats when it came to showing their devotion once they had submitted to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this came in the form of donating. It came in the form of defending the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

It came in the form of sacrificing themselves in the battlefield. It came in the form of putting their faith above their tribal expectations. But one of the greatest sacrifices witnessed by other nations was how much the sahaba, how much the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam loved the Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

You find in the ahadith, you find in the narrations, the prophetic narrations, a plethora of examples where we find the companions saying things such as, فِدَاكَ أَبِي وَأُمِّي يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ May my parents be ransomed for you, Messenger of Allah. What does that mean? That's not something that we say in English to other people. In other words, the companions were trying to say that they would even give up their own parents for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Such a heavy statement. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells us in a beautiful hadith, he says on the authority of Anas bin Malik, and we have to think about who this narrator is. Anas bin Malik was this young man who was the servant to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

And he had a very special relationship with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the sense that he helped the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was his mentor. And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15)

None of you will have completed your faith. It doesn't mean that the person is out of the fold of Islam. It means the person will not have complete faith until you love the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam more than your children, more than your parents, more than all the people on earth. And we have heard of this hadith before. We know of the meaning and the importance of it.

Umar's Journey to Complete Faith

Umar radiallahu ta'ala was walking with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he said, Messenger of Allah, I love you. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam looked at him and he said, Ya Umar. And you have to remember who this is.

This is Umar bin Khattab. One of the most direct individuals among the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So direct, he never minces his words.

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam looked at him and said, More than your children? Umar bin Khattab said, Yes, more than my children. And then he said, Ya Umar, more than your parents? He said, Yes. He said, Umar, Ya Umar, more than yourself? And Umar radiallahu ta'ala paused.

And he said, Messenger of Allah, no, not more than myself. Because if you think about it, it is part of the human instinct to save yourself. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, Not yet, Umar.

Not yet. Umar radiallahu ta'ala went away, thought about it. Did some serious reflection about his faith. About the meaning of loving the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And then he came back into the masjid and he stood in the middle of the masjid. And he says, By Allah, Ya Rasulullah, I love you more than I love myself.

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, Now, Umar. It is now. That Umar's faith is now complete.

The Necessity of Loving the Prophet

Brothers and sisters, loving the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is an important aspect of our religion. Without the love for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, there is no Islam. There is no Iman. And there is no Ihsan. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was Sayyid waladi Adam. He was the best of the children of Adam.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would say, I am the best of all the children of Adam. And there is no boasting when I say that. These are the words of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

We know from the Quran. Allah tells us, For indeed you are of the most exalted in character. And we know from the Quran that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was forgiven for the past, the present, and in the future. And he will bestow and complete the favor of Allah upon him. And he will guide you to the straight path.

Brothers and sisters, If it wasn't because of Allah's mercy and Allah's guidance, and then the sending of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to this world, none of us here would be sitting in this masjid.

None of you would be Muslims. Only Allah knows what religion I would be. Only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows what religion you would be. So far as we know, the Middle East would probably have, most of them were Christians by that time. They would probably have stayed on Christianity. My folks would probably be a communist.

Atheist. People from the subcontinent would be following whatever religions were in the subcontinent. Think about this moment right now. The fact that Allah guided you to come to Salatul Jum'ah.

Who taught us this? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was stoned. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his life was endangered. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was under the threat of assassination multiple times. During the battle of Badr. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Oh Allah, if this group of Muslims are to be killed today, you will never be worshipped on this face of the world. I mean on this planet.

So isn't it at least a little bit that we should give our thanks to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for what he has done for us. Every way to paradise, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam showed us. Every way that leads to hellfire, may Allah protect us. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam warned us of it.

And that is why, brothers and sisters, one of the things that many parents must teach their children, as important as making wudu, as important as making salah, as important as knowing the five pillars of Islam, is to teach your children to send salah and salam upon the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

This is an important aspect that many parents do not think about. They will teach it when they have to teach the salah, when they have to sit down, they have to read the tashahhud, they teach them that part, but they never actually teach them the importance that you should make it your habit, especially on Jum'ah, to say, اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ. And inshallah, in the second khutbah, we'll talk about some of the meanings of this, and explore the importance of this.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ

The Divine Command to Send Blessings

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى أَشْرَفِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ وَبَعْدُ

Allah tells us in the Quran and surah al-Ahzab

Verily, Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. There is actually two interpretations of this. The first interpretation is Allah sends salah, which we'll explain, salah and salam upon the Prophet, and the angels do the same.

The other interpretation of this verse, according to the scholars of tafsir, is Allah sends salah and salam upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the angels ask Allah to do the same. That the angels are asking Allah to send salah and salam upon the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so Allah tells us, because Allah does it and the angels do it, Allah says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا Send salah and salam upon the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The Meaning of Sending Salah and Salam

Now some people might say, we don't know what it means. What does it mean to say, send salah upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? How do you send salah onto the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? You have to look at it from the Arabic perspective. The word salah in Arabic means dua.

So when you say, اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ You are asking Allah to send dua and barakah upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. That's what it means. And another interpretation, you are asking Allah to praise Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in front of the angels.

And sending the salam upon the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is very straightforward, to send the peace upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So this is a direct connection that we have everyday in salah. When we pray five times a day, we sit down and we say this.

Why? Because everything that we are practicing in Islam is part of the teachings of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So much so, that we say the salah and the salam upon the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in our janaza, in the khutbas. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam warned us about this.

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3546)

And he said, The stingy one, and in our culture, we are all about hospitality. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says the stingy one, the selfish one, is the one who hears my name being mentioned and does not send salam upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Make it your habit brothers and sisters.

The Miracle and Rewards of Sending Blessings

Another aspect of this is that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells us that one of the miracles of his Prophethood is that whenever you say it, actually the angels convey it to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he responds it in the way that Allah knows how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam responds حَيَاةٌ بَرْزَخِيَّةٌ

We also know in another narration of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that the one who sends salam ten times in the morning, this is in Tabarani, this hadith, ten times in the morning and ten times in the evening. It's as simple as saying, اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ Ten times in the morning, ten times in the evening, you will get the ability to seek the intercession of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam on the Day of Judgement.

So easy, when you're driving your car to go to work in the morning, say it ten times, اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ As simple as that brothers and sisters.

And finally brothers and sisters, the etiquette of how one should say it is obviously to link it with your entire identity as a Muslim. To understand, like we mentioned, that everything that you do, everything that you have learned so far is by the grace of Allah and by the guidance brought by Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam So today, especially on Friday, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam encouraged us to do this. So on your way back to work and on your way home inshallah, send peace and blessings upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam