seeking intercession

Seeking Intercession

Opening

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَكَفَىٰ وَسَلَامٌ عَلَىٰ عِبَادِهِ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَىٰ أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَأَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

"And there will be no helpers for the wrongdoers."

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَبَارِكْ وَسَلَّمْ

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَبَارِكْ وَسَلَّمْ

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَبَارِكْ وَسَلَّمْ

The Ayah: No Helper for the Oppressors

Last week I spoke briefly about this ayah which I just recited just a couple moments ago:

"And there will be no helpers for the wrongdoers."

And for those people who are oppressive there is no helper, or there will be no helper. This ayah refers to the Day of Judgment and it highlights that at that time when an individual will need the greatest amount of assistance, Allah will not provide a helper for that person if they were among those who are oppressive.

The Human Need for Assistance

Now last week I mentioned, number one, the need of every human being for assistance, the fact that we all require assistance. And the example I gave were two:

First Example: The Airport

Number one, whenever you go to a place that you're not familiar with, for example you go to the Florida airport, you have no idea where your gate is, you have no idea where the baggage claim is, you're not familiar with the setup of the airport. So what do you do? You'll find a help desk, you go to the help desk and you ask them for guidance and directions and they'll tell you where you need to go. So human beings, every place that they go that's foreign, they generally require assistance. We're by nature made that way.

Second Example: The Muhajireen and the Ansar

One of the greatest examples of this was also provided last week and that's the example of the Sahaba, the Muhajireen, when they made their Hijrah from Mecca to Medina. When they went from Mecca to Medina, the Prophet ﷺ established a group of people to greet them who were called the Ansar. So when they arrived in the foreign place called Medina, there were a group of Sahaba that were established in Medina and the Prophet ﷺ asked them to assist the Muhajireen.

And all the way until this day and age, if you say the word al-Ansar, the helpers, everybody knows who you're referring to. There's no further explanation that we need to give, right? We say that these are the Ansar and this is what they did, and their reward was the fact that the Prophet ﷺ took them as his own.

Orientation in This Life vs. The Day of Judgment

So these were the examples that I gave and then we basically briefly mentioned that if an individual needs help in this life when a little bit of a difficulty arises, when they go to college they need orientation, when they start a job they need orientation, when they move to another community they need orientation, what's going to happen on the Day of Judgment?

This life is nothing. When you go to start college, what's the problem? You just feel a little bit uncomfortable inside yourself, but there's nothing discomforting there. There's no hellfire waiting for anybody in college, there's no punishment waiting for anybody when they go to college. It's the little bit of discomfort that we internally feel because we're not used to the environment that all this long and elaborate orientation has to take place.

But what's going to happen on the Day of Judgment? Not only will we be disoriented, but then on top of that there will be people coming to us. They will be taking our deeds from us. People will be fighting with one another, mother will be fighting with child, brother will be fighting with brother, friend will be arguing with friend. People will be just trying to worry about, worrying about their own selves.

And on top of that, Jahannam will be sitting right there. The hellfire will be vivid for everyone who wants to see it. And Jannah will be sitting right there. Then the extremities will be present and there will be before us and it'll be very clear what this life was about and where the permanence lies.

That day is the day we're going to need help. And Allah has made it very clear that for those people who are oppressive, people who oppress themselves or oppress others, they will have no helper.

Seeking Assistance on the Day of Judgment

Now on that day when we are standing before our Lord and when the reality has opened up before us, there will be some level of assistance available but only for those people who availed themselves of that opportunity. So what do we mean by that?

One example of assistance will be the presence of the Prophet ﷺ. One example of assistance will be the presence of the Prophet ﷺ.

Now on that day when there will be no one else to assist us and when people will be running back and forth trying to just solve their own issues, the Prophet ﷺ will be a source of guidance and a source of assistance for those people who turn towards him and avail themselves of that opportunity in this life.

The Dua After the Adhan

For example, one very important aspect of the Deen that all of us should basically make part of our daily routine: the Prophet ﷺ said that the individual who makes dua for the Prophet ﷺ after the Adhan, that on the Day of Judgment his intercession will become wajib upon them.

What does that mean? It means that after every time we hear the Adhan there's this famous dua which we're supposed to recite, which we're supposed to memorize, right:

اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ هَذِهِ الدَّعْوَةِ التَّامَّةِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْقَائِمَةِ آتِ مُحَمَّدًا الْوَسِيلَةَ وَالْفَضِيلَةَ وَابْعَثْهُ مَقَامًا مَحْمُودًا الَّذِي وَعَدْتَهُ إِنَّكَ لَا تُخْلِفُ

الْمِيعَادَ

O Allah, Lord of this perfect call and established prayer, grant Muhammad the means (al-Wasilah) and superiority (al-Fadilah), and raise him to the praiseworthy station (Maqam Mahmood) which You have promised him. Indeed, You do not break Your promise.

Understanding the Dua

So this is one example of a dua that you're supposed to make after the Adhan. Now you think about this dua. In this dua basically you're saying that give the Prophet ﷺ the ability to intercede and give him the Maqam that you have promised to give him, Maqam al-Mahmood, the Maqam of the praiseworthy.

Now what does that mean? So two things are being requested in this dua, two things:

First Request: The Ability to Intercede

Number one, that you grant the Prophet ﷺ the ability to intercede: āti Muhammad al-Wasilah. Okay, now what does that mean? It means that on the Day of Judgment when there is no one that can intercede for us except whom Allah has granted permission, then the people who made this dua, the Prophet ﷺ, it will be wajib upon him to intercede for that person.

So you see the importance of this dua, right? Now on that day we're trying to establish help for ourselves. So what greater help than the Prophet ﷺ who in this world guided us out of the darkness into the light and inshallah in that world will also guide us from darkness into light.

So this dua is mandatory for us. Now obviously it's not mandatory to recite it in the legal sense, but spiritually for every single person this dua is something we have to sit down, we have to memorize and we have to think about why we're reciting it, not just reciting it rote like a parrot that we don't know what we're even reciting.

You have to recognize that when that event is called, that you're thinking to yourself: this is my opportunity to answer the Adhan and by answering the Adhan I am availing myself of the opportunity for the intercession of the Prophet on that difficult day.

Practical Steps

So what comes from that?

Come Early for Adhan

Number one, we should try to come to the masjid early to catch the Adhan. Most people come to the masjid to catch the fourth rakah, right, or they catch the second rakah or the third rakah depending on the salah. We should try to come to the masjid to catch the Adhan because actually it's from the Adhan, from the time of the Adhan that the opportunity to actually earn reward and benefit arises. So that's the first thing that we should recognize.

Call Adhan at Home

The second thing is that if we're at home and we're not able to make it to the masjid, we should still call the Adhan. Why should we, when we pray at home, not call the Adhan and then we don't have the opportunity to respond to the Adhan, to make the dua after the Adhan? So we shoot ourselves in the foot, then we don't have that chance.

So even at home, the Adhan should be made. When you're not coming to the masjid, let's say you get home from work late, you're not able to come to the masjid, some other issue arises, should make the Adhan, you should make the Iqamah and actually this dua should be recited both after the Adhan as well as after the Iqamah.

The Second Request: Maqam Mahmood

Now in general when we make this dua we're asking Allah to give the Prophet ﷺ the level or the ability to intercede on our behalf, but then it goes one step further: and grant him the praise station that you have promised.

Now what does that praise station refer to? The Prophet ﷺ mentioned to us that on the Day of Judgment the beginning of the judgment will actually be delayed severely. So if you think that this life was long, we live 50, 60, 70 years, it comes in some narrations that the beginning of the Day of Judgment will actually take thousands of years.

People will be running back and forth in mad chaos for thousands of years. Just think about it. If we think that five minutes of life is difficult, right, today I didn't get to eat what I wanted to eat or I didn't get to do what I wanted to do, think about the thousands of years that people will be waiting.

The State of Waiting

Now in what state will they be waiting? They'll be waiting in the state of recognizing that they missed a portion of their life, that they spent their life and they spent their time in this life and they didn't recognize the reality of what was before them. And in that chaos they'll be waiting and they will be freaked out completely, absolutely. They will just be not able to function.

Now that will continue, that will continue, that will continue until the point arises when people will be seeing Jahannam in front of them, they will be seeing the extremity of punishment in Jahannam and they will say to themselves: you know what, it doesn't even matter if I go to Jahannam, I just can't take waiting anymore. This judgment, waiting for this Day of Judgment is just too much. Even if I'm going to go to Jahannam, let it be, but just get the judgment started and put me there if that's where I have to go. That's how bad it will become.

Approaching the Prophets

Now at that moment then the people will start going to their messengers because they'll remember that their messengers were a source of guidance in this life, so perhaps they should return back to their messengers and seek guidance in that life.

So one by one they'll approach their messengers. They'll approach Adam عليه السلام and he'll make an excuse as to why he's not able to make dua to Allah to start the Day of Judgment. Then they'll approach prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet and each one will send them to the next prophet until finally they'll be sent to the Prophet ﷺ.

And when they come to the Prophet ﷺ he will look at them and recognize the difficulty in which they're facing, the difficulty that they're facing, and then he will go to Maqam al-Mahmood. This is Maqam al-Mahmood that's in the dua. He will go to Maqam al-Mahmood.

The Prophet's Special Praise

And in Maqam al-Mahmood, the Prophet ﷺ will make a special dua and praise Allah in a way that nobody has ever praised Allah before. And based on that dua and that praise at that Maqam, Allah's mercy will overflow and He'll just start the Day of Judgment. That's just starting the Day of Judgment, not judging, just starting the Day of Judgment.

The Benefits of This Dua

So when we make this dua we're actually benefiting ourselves in two ways:

First Benefit

Number one, we're creating the circumstance for the Prophet ﷺ to actually be able to start the Day of Judgment or to make the dua to start the Day of Judgment. Now this has been granted by Allah, it's just our excuse to be part of it.

Second Benefit

And the second is that we are then after the Day of Judgment starts, creating the circumstance for the Prophet ﷺ to intercede for us. And that will be a big intercession because the Prophet ﷺ, it comes in hadith, will not enter Jannah until the last member of his community enters Jannah.

Just think about it. On that day when your name is called, inshallah, to enter Jannah, you're not going to look back. Nobody in this room is going to look back and worry about their friend, their mother, their child, their brother. They won't. If your name gets called for Jannah you will be running, you will be running to get yourself into Jannah.

The Prophet's Care for His Ummah

So on that day when everybody is rushing to put themselves into Jannah, the Prophet ﷺ will be sitting in the back of the line making sure that every one of his handicapped servants, right, every one of these last community that's 1400, 1500 years away and barely was able to hang on to this Deen, every one of those lost sheep from that flock, he'll be dragging them back in, dragging them back in, just as he herded us through this life and brought us to this path. In the same way he will continue to herd us and like a shepherd herd us into Jannah one by one.

So this is the status of the Prophet ﷺ.

A Small Price for Great Reward

So for us this intercession is essential, essential. So in order to earn that intercession, don't you think that just to recite the short dua, to take a few minutes to memorize it and then take a few minutes to recite it after every event, don't you think that it's such a small exchange?

It's like pennies for a mansion, you know. Somebody says today that this house is on sale and it's on sale for pennies, everybody will be running to buy it, right? Well, on that day, this giving these few pennies of dua which actually benefit us in the end, it will provide us with a tremendous return in the hereafter.

And this isn't the only way, this isn't the only way by which we gain the help of the Prophet ﷺ, but it's one way that I just wanted to highlight in this gathering. And the point that you have to recognize is that the Prophet ﷺ is one of the key assistants on that day.

Another Hadith: Companionship with the Prophet

In another hadith, a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and was serving him and he served the Prophet ﷺ in such a way that the Prophet became very pleased with that person, very happy.

So the Prophet turned to the man and said: what do you want? You created the circumstance through your love and service of the window of dua to open. So now the chance is here, you ask for anything and inshallah, obviously if the Prophet is saying what do you want, whatever the man asked for he'll get.

So he's thinking, thinking, okay, Ya Rasulullah, what do I want? I want to be with you in Jannah. Nothing better. Jannah is the goal anyway and the Prophet is going to have the best place in Jannah. So very, very smart response.

Help Me by Increasing Your Sujood

So what does the Prophet say? Fine, but help me, help me by increasing your sujood. Increase your sujood, increase your sujood, meaning be regular in your salah and continue to exceed in your, excel in your salah and then inshallah I'll be able to help you on that day to be in my company.

So again you can see the power of the ability to intercede on that day. Now the Prophet made a dua and then gives a guarantee. So on the Day of Judgment inshallah Allah will also keep that guarantee because the word of the messenger is actually coming from Wahi, right? The Prophet did not speak from his own desire when he spoke. He spoke of what Allah placed in his heart.

Closing

So anyway, this is just some small point to keep in mind because although it may be small but it actually is going to result in a big effect on the Day of Judgment.

So this short dua, right:

اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ هَذِهِ الدَّعْوَةِ التَّامَّةِ

Just what, five, six lines, maybe take you a day or two to remember and then after that it will provide you with a sweet smelling rose that you'll be able to take advantage of for the rest of your life and inshallah will harvest itself on the Day of Judgment.

Closing Dua

So may Allah give us the tawfiq to be able to seek out assistance on that difficult day and to be able to create the circumstance in which we'll be able to be assisted by the Prophet ﷺ.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ