Journey to the hereafter - By Bilal Assad @ HIYC

Journey to the Hereafter - Khutbah by Bilal Assad

Opening

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh)

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ - alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen)

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

Introduction

Brothers and sisters in Islam, today in this occasion where we are gathered to think about the destitute and the people around the world who are less fortunate than us is a noble gathering. So I ask Allah to accept our deeds and for what we have gathered here tonight.

I ask Allah to reward you with forgiveness and to unite you with the best of righteous people every morning and every evening. And may Allah make our end, the meeting with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), in the hereafter at the fountain which he has promised to meet us at Al-Hawd Al-Kawthar. Ameen Ya Rabb al-Alamin.

Brothers and sisters in Islam, the topic has been chosen for me and suggested and I agreed to go with it. They called it the journey to the hereafter. And we thought of having a series on this. In sha Allah, every now and then when we get together for this occasion, we'll continue part one, part two, part three—the journey to the hereafter.

I would like to make a note that I am addressing the Muslims that are here before me. Why do I say this? On a side note, often my lectures end up on YouTube to the public globally, and there are people who are non-Muslim and people of different backgrounds who listen to this. I'd like everybody to know that when a speaker speaks, he's looking at the people before him and he is speaking from his heart to their heart, and it is difficult to think about the world around us. So everybody has a different understanding.

I am speaking to you, my brothers and sisters who are Muslims and believers already. Because the belief in the hereafter is something that requires a long journey before someone is able to believe in something which is the unseen. The Muslim who submits to this and has gone through research of finding that the Quran is truly the word of Allah finally comes to the conclusion that whatever appears in it is therefore from our Creator, the one who originated us from the beginning.

We call Him Allah as He has named Himself, and Allah is the name which is used for any person of different religions whether they are Muslim or not. The name Allah is very unique and cannot be applied to anything else. Linguistically, it will not make sense for those who know Arabic.

So Allah is our Creator who originated us. He is beyond this world and beyond the laws of this world which He has created. My brothers and sisters in Islam, this Creator who created us, who is not like us in any shape or form, and we cannot describe Him except in the way that He has attributed Himself—the Rahman, the Rahim, the Most Merciful, the Giver of Mercy.

Allah's Purpose in Creating Us

He has informed us about a life beyond this one. A life beyond this one that is yet to come, and that Allah says in the Quran that He did not create us in this world foolishly for no reason, purposeless, just like that. No.

Allah says in the Quran:

"Did you assume or calculate or estimate in your logical mind, which is quite limited—in other words, calculations which is limited—you came to the conclusion that We created you, and the word 'We' here applies to Allah. It's the 'We' used for language of royalty. 'We the queen,' 'We the king.' Allah says 'We,' meaning Allah. Did you assume and calculate in your limited mind that We created you just out of foolish play and that you will not return to Us again? You will not return? That you are to live and that's it? And that you live only for this world? And then you die and turn into dust, in other words?"

Reference: Quran 23:115

This is not included in the ayah, but this is what it means. That you all, as people assume, you are created suddenly in this world, you will live for a short time and then you will turn into dust and that's it? And other people come along and that's how the world runs.

Allah says this is quite foolish and quite limited in the way people think. With the vastness of the universe, it is impossible for people to assume or to come to the conclusion or make it a fact that we are just created here for this short time with no originator and nowhere to go after here.

And then Allah, He brings the many ayat in the Quran, many verses in the Quran talking about the logical sense of understanding that we came from somewhere and that we have to go back to that somewhere. From where you came, you will return.

And then Allah says, for example in Surah Qaf, read Surah Qaf and verses like it where Allah speaks in the most eloquent of language about our origin and that how we will return by giving us examples of factual

scientific things that we see before our eyes. And when I say scientific, I meant in the sense that science believes that things that you can reach and see and touch and experiment with and that fit within the laws of nature.

The Logical Proof of Resurrection

So Allah gives us the laws of nature and saying to us: just like that, I will return you back, you will come back to Me. How?

Allah says in the Quran:

"Qaf. By this Quran, this revelation, this book of Allah, al-Majeed—the high, the noble, the honorable—it is but them who thought... who is He talking about? But them, those who debated with the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he came to them telling them that you are not to be in this world forever. There is a reason for you to be here, and after this life you are going to be resurrected and taken to a day of judgment, and then either with your actions it will decide your fate, where you will end up. So 'ajibu'—Allah says they found it extremely strange, confusing, that from among their own people there came to them a warner."

Reference: Quran 50:1-2

A warner about what? That they will be resurrected and be brought to life to be questioned about what they put forth before. What did they say? The disbelievers or the people who denied, they will say or they said, "This is something ajib, this is something uncanny, makes no sense, illogical, strange, far-reaching or far from our reach. We cannot understand this, it cannot be true."

Allah says, what did they say? They used to say, what? What? Are you saying that as soon as when we die and we have become soil or clay, we become earth, we turn back into whatever, we become decomposed, that we are going to be resurrected after that and we are going to join back in the way we are now after we have turned into something else? That which you are calling to, that you are going to return back, is something far-fetched, beyond reasoning.

Brothers and sisters in Islam, don't think that people who deny resurrection and hereafter in our 21st century is something new. This is old news, this is old school. People have always said this and said that it is nonsense, not even just only in the time of Muhammad (peace be upon him), even before the prophets and the people before, thousands and thousands of years before, people have always said this.

Then Allah says, so Allah responds to them by saying: Listen, this argument you are putting forth, that you will die and be turned into soil and dust, decomposed into a different material and different matter, Allah replies by

saying: Do you think that I don't know this? You are putting forth an argument that I am well aware of, in other words. We know exactly what the earth has taken from your matter, the earth has taken from your bodies.

We know every single atom that existed in your body, every single material in your body, every single element, every piece of small and big thing that was decomposed and turned into something else by the earth. Allah says, we or I am well aware of every single part of it, where it went and how it became. Since I know, Allah says, in other words, we have a record of it that is secure and everlasting and cannot be changed. Meaning Allah says, I am definite and it is secure and I will always know where everyone ended up and what they turned into.

So if you are thinking that I can't bring you back, then I already know exactly where every part of you went into. So in other words, if I know where you came from, what you are made of and every single part of you where it went, am I not able to bring all that back and bring it back to the way it was before, since I have full knowledge of it? You can't, because you don't know where everything goes. So this is the argument Allah put forth.

Living for the Hereafter

Brothers and sisters, why am I saying this? The journey to the hereafter is something unseen and we are always affected by what we see before us. Is that not right? We are affected by things before us. And the evidence to this is that when we work, when we strive, when we create a purpose in our life, we make that purpose to fit what we see and what we can feel before us.

The strongest of believers are the ones who live their life as if they are in the hereafter. And when the belief goes less, the actions and purpose in life is shown. That's evident.

What do you work for in this life? What is your purpose? What is your goal? What do you live for? And that automatically, equally translates your belief and your iman in the hereafter.

Let me give you an example. If I asked you or if I told you that you are going to die tomorrow, you are going to die tomorrow and you are certain of that. Let's say that this is true. You are one hundred percent sure tomorrow you are going to die. What will go through your mind? What will you be doing? What will you do? What will you think?

For example, will I be thinking about all the prayers that I've missed? Will I be thinking about the zakat which I still owe? Will I be thinking about the debts which I have taken in halal or haram? Will I be thinking about the people who I have wronged? I must make it up to them. The people I have backbitten. The people I have hurt. The people I have stolen from.

Will I be thinking about my parents and what I have brought in shortcoming towards them? My wife and my husband and my children. My family relationships. My neighbors.

I will think about every shortcoming. The food that I ate. How many people I have known, young people subhanallah, that I have known who died and their last death was on a nutrition that was from haram. A money which is from haram. A life filled with a purpose, and if you were to ask them what kind of purpose this is and they knew that they were going to die the next day, they will respond to you something like this: I cannot afford to die tomorrow. I cannot face Allah yet.

What kind of thinking would go through that person? Their whole life will change as if they are living in the hereafter. They are going to die tomorrow and meet Allah.

They are going to fix their deeds. And suddenly everything that used to mean or used to stress them out of this worldly life people who hurt them, for example, people who wronged them, people who upset them— suddenly they don't mean anything anymore. Who cares about it? Right now I've got before me my own deeds and my own self to answer for.

Who have I hurt? Who have I backbitten? Who have I upset? Who have I taken the right from? Who have I not given their right to? Where are the rights? I will be thinking about myself, wallahi al-azim. And that belief in the hereafter is what we need. Allah reminds us of it so that we can return.

Who knows what the meaning of tawba is? Repentance. And the literal meaning of repentance is what? The word repent means return. Tawba means to return.

Allah is always reminding us: return. Sometimes He reminds us by reminding us of jannah, things to look forward to, or hellfire, things not to look forward to, all for the purpose of returning. Where have you gone? Return.

The Example of the Dead Earth Coming to Life

Brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah then says in Surah Qaf, talking about the logical reasoning behind our resurrection, and then He says: And we brought down from the sky rain, and from it we created many gardens that you see before your eyes, plantations and trees and fruit that you eat from. How did that come about? Allah says in the Quran, a provision for you, for His worshippers, and we brought back to life a dead earth, in the same way. Just like that.

Just like you see a dead earth come back to life, like that, we will resurrect you and bring you back to life from the earth. Exactly like the way you saw the dead earth bring forth its plantation from beneath it. Allah says, exactly like that as you saw it, we will bring you back from beneath the earth like the seeds grew.

So you see it before your eyes, what are you waiting for?

The Two Angels Recording Our Deeds

The Coming of Death

And then Allah says in the Quran:

"And so finally, in truth comes death. The intoxications of death have truly come to you."

Why does Allah speak in that manner? Allah is saying to us, as if it's something that is inevitable, will happen to every single person and there is no need to prove it because in another verse Allah calls it yaqeen. Yaqeen

means that which is certain and no one in the world can deny the yaqeen, that which is certain. No atheist, no Muslim, no Christian, no Jew, no, nothing can deny it.

Death is death and it will happen to everybody. So Allah says, and so the intoxications of death have come in truth. Man already knows that death will come. So Allah just tells you, well it has, and so it came in truth. Now let me tell you as if you were there now. Allah doesn't bother telling you about your life before. He tells you now let's talk about the end, the reality. This is what really matters. You can go on vacations, you can go on holidays, you can fly in the air, you can go wherever you want.

In the end, every single one of us, you and I, will inevitably come to the final meeting's place. What is it? Death. No one can deny it. We will all end up there. Just like every river ends up, or comes from the same place and ends up in the same place.

"This is what you were running away from."

Taheed. What does it mean? It means two things. The deniers of the hereafter, they don't want to talk about death. They don't want to talk about the hereafter. They are always trying to avoid its mention. They want to busy themselves with everything that makes them happy in the world, and they don't want to think about what makes them miserable in the hereafter, or happy in the hereafter. They don't want to hear about it. They are not ready for that. So this is one meaning.

And another meaning is those who do believe in the hereafter, taheed, meaning that this is what you used to fear. Even a normal person fears death. And when you say to someone death, obviously they are afraid. It's natural for us that when death comes to us we try to protect ourselves. Is that not right?

Even our Rasul (peace be upon him), he used to use preventative measures from things that harm him, but he knew that death is inevitable. This is natural to us. As he said, "Whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet them."

A Sahabi said, "Ya Rasulullah, and is there anyone of us who does not fear death?" And Rasul (peace be upon him) said, "No, no, no, this is not what I meant. What I am saying is, this is natural. Everybody fears death naturally. Otherwise we don't protect ourselves and protect others. However," he says, "when a person's time of death comes, Allah for the believer fills them with a serenity and a feeling of peace. That they feel that they really want to meet Allah and Allah no longer makes them afraid of dying. So then they wish to meet Allah and Allah loves to meet them."

And this is the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) which says: If Allah loves a servant or a worshipper, may I say, if Allah loves a worshipper of His, He beautifies or makes sweeten or sweetens his death. Meaning at the time of death, you find that they are serene and peaceful. And what they used to fear, they no longer want to run away from it.

The Qareen: The Companion from Birth to Death

And He mentions something amazing. He mentions a particular friend or a company that stays with you from the time you were born. He is called Aqareen.

Aqareen-again you can see this pattern: قَعِيدٌ عَتِيدٌ رَقِيبٌ جَلِيسٌ on the weight of فَعِيلٌ which means that this person is with you, or this thing, this creature is with you, whispering to you, constantly with you, will not leave you, stubborn until your death. Allah creates this jinn or this shaitan with you from time of birth until the time of death. And he whispers into you, giving you bad thoughts.

So Allah mentions that this قَرِينٌ it means two things: the jinn that is with you and also the friends that you have chosen in your life that are always with you and you take them as companions. On the Day of Judgment, Allah, you will blame them. You will blame them.

You will say, "Ya Rabb, everything but me. I didn't do it." Do you know how sometimes we have this tendency here in this world, where we don't like to be blamed. Isn't that right? No one likes to be blamed. Isn't that an ugly feeling when someone blames you? I think every single one of us here has been through this hundreds of times, where you feel that the criticizers come and they criticize you. They point to something, they blame you, right? How do you feel? Nobody likes criticism or being blamed.

But the believer who believes in Allah and knows that there is a hereafter, if it is their fault, they will say, it is mine. But the majority of people naturally don't like to be blamed. So on the Day of Judgment, this will be multiplied upon multiplications.

When you see hellfire before you and you see that the sky has opened up and you see billions and trillions of angels-Allahu Akbar, more than what you can count the grains of sand—they will descend and you see that the hereafter is true and what was hidden from your eyes is true.

Allah says:

"You were surely before this, in an unknown situation, in a situation of not knowing the unknown, oblivious. And ghafla also means not paying attention, not caring about what is to come. And now today we release the veil from in front of your eyes, that which covered all this. And so today your eyesight is sharp, you see everything."

So the qareen comes and you don't want to be blamed. So you start saying, "Ya Rabb, it's my father, it's my mother, it's my brother, it's my sister, it's my friend, it's my teacher, it's my wife." She says it's her husband.

They say it's the children, they say it was the baby that was born that kept them away from their salah. They say it's everything but themselves.

And then finally Allah brings all these people and this is why the father and the mother run away from their children. And the children run away from their father and mother. And the friend runs away from his friend or her friend. And the husband runs away from his wife and the wife runs away from her husband.

"On that day every person will have a matter that they are concerned with."

Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said, when the Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke about the Day of Judgment:

يُحْشَرُ النَّاسُ حُفَاةً عُرَاةً

"On the Day of Judgment people will be gathered barefooted, naked as the same way their mothers gave birth to them, the same way they were born."

And Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) stood up like this, confused, said, "Ya Rasulullah, like what everyone would ask أَيَنْظُرُ بَعْضُنَا إِلَى بَعْضٍ عُرَاةً؟ naked everybody looking at each other?"

And Rasulullah (peace be upon him) said, "Ya Aisha الْأَمْرُ أَشَدُّ مِنْ أَن يَنْظُرَ بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ On that day Ya Aisha, the matter is more severe, more serious, more critical. They will not even be concerned about looking at other people's nudity."

I'll give you an example, in this worldly life, so you can get the picture even closer to your mind, why this is so severe. Imagine crossing the road, right? I know it's a bit funny, but somehow there is a serious element to it. You're crossing the road, and everybody is either half naked or naked. You're all safe. The first thing you'd be thinking about is looking at all this. But then suddenly someone calls out and says, "Be careful, a truck." You look before you and about 20 meters away, a semi-trailer is heading straight towards you. And in a matter of about five seconds, it's going to kill you.

Now, what will you be concerned about and thinking about? You will think about nothing and all of this around you. It's as if it doesn't exist because your life is at stake and you're only thinking about saving yourself. On the Day of Judgment, everybody will be thinking about saving themselves.

And for this reason, he said, "Ya Aisha, the matter is so severe that people will not even be concerned about this stuff." To the point where a person thinks that they are the only one being judged. So they want to take the blame off themselves until finally they say, "My Qarin, it's my jinn. He's the one that whispered to me. It's his whispering."

So then Allah brings the Qarin. And the Qarin will say, "Oh my Lord, he's not in a position to blame me. He's not in a position." In another verse, the Qarin goes to the extent of saying, "I fear Allah, the Lord of the humans or Lord of the worlds."

So then what does Allah say? I'll settle it for you. Both of you, all of you, everyone who decided to turn away and chose Jahannam as their home, put them in what they deserve. Kafar means a person who knows and denies, knows and deliberately denies. They are people who go like this on the Day of Judgment: "When I see God, I'm going to tell Him this. I'm going to tell Him that. And that's why I don't believe in Him."

These are the people who know and deny. Why would they say, "Oh, when I see God"? That means they believe in something. So my brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah knows every human being, every intention, and He's the just.

So we can't blame others but ourselves until finally the person reaches a point where they are driven, either to Jannah or to hellfire. And I will say, it's our fault. It's our fault.

Living as a Stranger in This World

Brothers and sisters in Islam, the journey to the hereafter requires us to think like this. Live as if you are in the hereafter. And the Rasul (peace be upon him) helped us by saying, he said it to Muath (may Allah be pleased with him):

كُنْ فِي الدُّنْيَا كَأَنَّكَ غَرِيبٌ أَوْ عَابِرُ سَبِيلٍ

"Be in this world as if you are a stranger or a wayfarer."

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6416

In another hadith he says:

فَطُوبَى لِلْغُرَبَاءِ

"So glad tidings and good news to those who live their lives as strangers."

Let me give you an example. This is so much eloquence in this. So much eloquence in this. When you pass by a strange land that doesn't belong to you, and you are just a traveler, you're holding a little bit of material, a little bit of equipment in your luggage, you've only got bare minimum amount of money, you've got a little bit of clothing, a little bit of food, you don't stay somewhere for long, you rent, you hire a place to stay for a little while, and then you move on. What is your mentality when you're a traveler? People don't really concern you much anymore.

How Long Do We Really Live?

The journey to the hereafter is very important for every one of us because we are all on that journey right now. How old are you? 10? 15? 20? 30? 40? 50? 60? 70? We're nearing now the end, aren't we? Every single day and every single year that has passed is a time out of our lives. We are getting younger. We are growing shorter. We are nearing our death.

Sometimes I get amazed when some people, they're working, and they look forward to the holidays. So they busy themselves getting miserable and stressed out during the holidays, waiting for the holidays to come as

though the only happiness exists in the holiday time. And I think to myself, la ilaha illallah. All that time that we were miserable and saddened in and stressed out in is time from our life. So therefore how long do we live?

And I'd like to end it with this inshallah. And inshallah next time I meet you we'll have part two. I want you to think about this ayah in the Quran.

Allah says in the Quran:

"And behold, a day to your Lord is like a thousand years equivalent to what you count."

If I were to count one thousand years of my life, and to Allah it equals a day, how long have I lived for? Or how long does an average person live for? Let's say 100 years. Really it's as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

"The lives of my ummah are approximately between the 60s and 70s."

But let's say 100. If one day to Allah is a thousand years, how long have you actually lived for? How much? 2.4 hours. Take away the sleeping time. One third. Let's say the sleeping time is almost, it's actually I would say about nearly half. More than a third. What's left? 1.2 hours. Take away the time that we entertain ourselves in and just sit around and do nothing, not really being productive. But if you just take away the sleep, we are left with 1.2 hours.

Allah (Jalla Jalaluhu) asked us or requested from us or commanded us to worship Him a little bit of that time. 5 daily Salat. Each Salat takes up 5, 10, 15 minutes. 15 minutes times 5 is 75. So that's 15 minutes each one. It'll be 1 hour and 15 minutes. If you were to count from that day. That's if you pray your prayer, 15 minutes each. You've lived for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Allah has asked you for much less than that of your Salat. It equals a few seconds. Maybe 1 or 2 seconds of that. Allah (Jalla Jalaluhu) asked us for 1.2 hours of our life, really, to worship Him. And in exchange, Allah (Jalla Jalaluhu) rewards us with an everlasting garden, a bliss, everything you wish, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

My brothers and sisters in Islam, if you were to think about the hereafter, the Day of Judgment, it is as long as 50,000 years. And Allah extends that day and says:

"In a day which is as long as 50,000 years."

If we were to count in another tafsir, that 50,000 years is one day to Allah. Do you know how long you've actually lived? 1.something seconds. If you were to take away the sleeping time. 1.something seconds of our lives. Allah asked of us. And we neglect it.

The Reality of the Day of Judgment

You know what happens to that? On the Day of Judgment when we are resurrected, Allah describes our mentality and what we will be first saying. You know what we first say? We say:

"Oh woe to us! Who is it that brought us back out of our slumber?"

And then there's a pause. And you don't take a breath in the Ahkam of the Quran. So with that pause, it's as though Allah is telling us that on the Day of Judgment people will be raised and they're saying, woe to us! Who brought us back out of our slumber? And you're in shock, right? So you don't take a breath. And then you realize something:

"This is what the Rahman, the Most Merciful, actually told us about a promised will come. And His messengers were truthful."

And then people say:

"How many years do you think we actually stayed on earth?"

And then some people start, you know, there's a commotion. And people say:

"Wallahi, you just lived, maybe a day or part of a day. That's what it feels like. And another ayah they say, let's ask the people who have got a better memory than us in calculating."

"They said: you only really stayed but a day."

Allahu Akbar! All these years, from the beginning, akhwan, brothers and sisters, they're not asking about the 60 or 70 years you lived. They are asking about the whole earth's life cycle. The lifetime of the earth, from the beginning of its creation to the end. From Adam, for the humans, from Adam (peace be upon him) to the end of time. We feel like it's going to be a day or it was only a day.

And that's when Rasul (peace be upon him) tells us the person, people will say, for a day, for a day, I neglected this life. For a day, I neglected my Lord. For a day, I stole. For a day, I went after a wrong purpose. For a day, I backbit. For a day, I did this. For a day, I fought. For a day, I did all this haram. For one day, I did all this just for a day? No, not a day, for a second. I ruined my life for a second.

Allahu Akbar. Brothers and sisters in Islam, I end up by saying this. Allah talks about people, when their death comes, they say the following words:

"He, the criminal, the person who has neglected their life, when the time of death comes, they actually know that they're dying. And when the soul is coming out and reaches the gargling point, I'll tell you about the thought process. You know what they're thinking? They're saying, Oh, our Lord, please return me. Maybe I will compensate, do some good work, instead of what I have left behind."

But Allah replies by saying:

Allah will not postpone the time of a person when their death comes. In another ayah, He says: It will not be postponed, nor brought forward a single moment.

Closing Advice

My brothers and sisters in Islam, live the life with the advice of the Prophet, which he said to Muadh, or was it Abu Dharr? Or was it the man who came to him and said, "Ya Rasulullah, when will the world end?"

You know, you expected today a talk about the signs of the last hour, and when a Dajjal will come out, and when the world will end. This is what the Sahabi said, "Ya Rasulullah, when will the world end? Tell me, tell me, entertain me, like a movie." But Rasulullah knew that this person was asking the wrong question. He was after the wrong purpose. So he responded with a question:

مَاذَا أَعْدَدْتَ لَهَا؟

"What have you prepared for it?"

He's saying, what have you prepared for your Sa'ah, for your time, when your world will end?

My brothers and sisters in Islam, prepare for your time, and prepare from now. And do not look at the insignificant issues in life. There is something out there that says, life is like, or Iman is like, going into an aeroplane. I think that's what it says out there. I like that metaphor. The higher the aeroplane goes, the smaller the world looks. And Iman is like that. The higher your Iman rises, the smaller this worldly stuff, you know, these things you get upset about, these things you get annoyed about, the smaller they look.

A brother said to me the other day, he says, "I went and did this and did that for this sick person. Wallahi, never again will I do." I said, "Why are you saying that?" He says, "It took out a lot from me. Never again."

I said, "Don't say never again, ya Akhi. Think about the rewards that you worked for and don't lose your rewards," as Allah says. And do not lose your Sadaqat, your acts of charity, by saying words of man, meaning, look what I did, look what I did. I need praise, I need comfort. And then saying words that hurt other people. I did this for you and I did that for you, expecting praise from others.

Don't do that. Work and anticipate only the Ajr from who? Who is the Ajr from? Allah.

Not from people, my brothers and sisters. Not from people.

Closing Dua

I thank you for listening and I ask Allah to relieve all the destitute among us and those who are here and those who are around the world from their misery and from their hardships.

I ask Allah to forgive our shortcomings and to make this gathering of ours one that unites our hearts with theirs.

And I ask Allah to relieve those who are in oppression from their oppression. O Allah, accept our dua.

And I ask Allah to accept our gathering in goodness.

This khutbah has been reviewed and corrected for accuracy. All Arabic text has been verified with proper harakat and references have been added. May Allah accept this effort and guide us all.