A Friend in Need Is A Friend Indeed

A Friend in Need Is A Friend Indeed

(خُطْبَةُ الْحَاجَةِ) Opening Khutbah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings of Allah be upon the messenger of Allah, the mercy of the worlds, our prophet Muhammad. And upon his family, his companions, his followers, and those who follow them with good till the Day of Judgment.

We praise Allah, send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). We ask Allah to bless his household and all his companions. And we ask Allah to grant him and every single one of us peace and blessings.

May Allah bless our offspring, those who come up to the Day of Qiyamah.

Main Khutbah

Beloved brothers and sisters in Islam, there is an English saying that goes, A friend in need is a friend indeed. And I'm sure we have heard this many times.

When I was young, I did not really understand what it meant. But as time passed, we realized that in your life you have friends. Those friends will not remain with you sometimes when you are in great difficulty.

Because some of them are there because of your wealth. Some of them are there because of other reasons, because of your intellect, because of your business, because of how you work at school or university, or because of the company you work for, or because of the goods they might get through you. So they are your friends because of a reason.

And if that reason is not a valid reason, then the day you are in need and the day you are in difficulty, what happens to them? They disappear. They are not there to help. They are not there to assist.

And if that is the case, then they were never genuine. It is easy for us to talk about them and how they let us down. But talk about myself and how I have let others down.

So the friends I have, am I genuine with them? Would I stand up with them when they have a day of difficulty? Or am I from amongst those who would walk away when they need me most? So inshallah, we have the teachings of Islam that are far better than this and far higher and far more detailed. And we

would like to look at what happens as a Muslim, a person who believes in Allah, what am I supposed to be doing?

Islamic Teaching on Brotherhood

To begin with, a very important statement would be, we should be helping everyone. Everyone.

All those who share iman are brothers in faith. And those who are not of the same faith would be brothers in humanity. And they would all be potential brothers and sisters in faith as well.

Quranic Verse:

Speaking of the enemies, if they repent and they establish salah, they do good deeds, then they become your brethren in faith immediately and automatically. So this is why we need to understand when I say my brother, I am either meaning a brother in faith or a brother in humanity. And we should be helping one another, not only because we share the same faith, but even when we find human beings of a different faith, we will stand up inshaAllah for that on humanitarian grounds that we are meant to be standing up for.

Bearing in mind that even to assist an animal as a Muslim is rewarding. And we have come across many hadith and narrations of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) where he clearly makes mention of the reward of assisting a dog and the reward of being harmful to a cat. So if animals have such rights over us, what about other human beings? May Allah grant us a deep understanding and may He make us beneficial to the others.

But sometimes we may not be able to help everyone. In that case, Islam teaches us the bare minimum, do not harm them. If I cannot help you, but I have harmed you, then I am indeed not a true believer.

Why should I harm those who have done nothing to me? When you are in need, my duty is to help you. If I am unable, I can say a prayer. If I am unable, for example, for some reason I missed out or slipped or forgot, may Allah not make us oblivious, what would happen? It would be very important for me to make sure that that harm does not come from my direction.

Self-Reflection

Now I want to pause for a moment. Every one of us in our lives, we sit and think of people who have harmed us. But how many times do we sit and think of people whom we have harmed? That is a very important question.

How many times do we sit and think of people whom we have harmed? Subhanallah. So it is important for me not to be selfish. The world out there is teaching us to be worried about ourselves.

When you have a shortage of food and suddenly they are distributing food at one corner, each person is bothered about himself. And each one wants to think to himself, how can I get to the front of that queue? And how is it possible for me to be able to take food back for myself? Without thinking for a moment, in Islam, it is all about helping others. Look at yourself.

What did you do for the other people? Let's not become selfish because the world has become selfish. When you have a good deal, people want it for themselves. Not thinking, you know what, I may get it, but my brother might need it more than I do.

The Example of the Ansar

This is why Allah chose certain people to be the companions of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). And from amongst them, He chose certain people to be from amongst what would be known as the Ansar. The Ansar are the helpers. And Allah describes them in the Qur'an in a very beautiful way.

Quranic Verse:

And He says, They give preference over themselves even though they may be in dire need themselves. Imagine, you need something, but you give preference to someone because he needs it. This is called helping one another.

This is the true assistance. But not everyone of us is on that level. So like we say, the minimum, don't harm.

If you cannot help, do not harm. Because today, a lot of the harm that we are facing comes from our own brothers and sisters. If I were to ask you, my brother, who is making your life difficult? By default, a lot of us would say the Muslims' names.

And a lot of us would have names of people who immediately we would tell, this person is a brother in faith. Why do we harm one another? Why don't we help one another? So, what is it that we can assist in? Firstly, we need to understand, we help one another when a person is in need. Yes, that is sure.

Practical Ways of Helping

Sometimes they won't know the need that they have. I can help you by teaching you something good. I can help you by making you have a better day by the expressions on my face.

Amazing, subhanallah. Did you think of that? A person is sometimes gloomy, they are going through difficulty, they are going through issues. And I come across or you come across, As-salamu alaykum, how are you my brother? And you have a smile on your face, that automatically resolves a small portion of the problem they have.

May Allah grant us ease. And this type of dua, we just said, may Allah grant us ease. How many of us might be in difficulty? This is a jum'ah.

This is a pre-jum'ah talk. And we should know that there is an hour during this particular day that is so valuable, that if someone were to call out to Allah during that time, then subhanallah, we would be not returned without the response of that prayer being manifest and clear. It is time known as istijabah, where Allah is responding exactly as you want it.

May Allah grant us goodness. So it's important for us to realize, you help someone sometimes without really knowing that you've helped them. And without them knowing that they have been helped.

Just by following your faith, just by following your deen, by having the correct expressions, by saying the right things, it is extremely important. So that is point number one. Number two, people are in need.

Global Awareness and Responsibility

Today we look at Burma, for example. Today we look at Bangladesh, for example. We look at Sri Lanka, for example.

Do you know what is going on? Do you know what is happening in Mali? Do you know what is happening in Syria, in Yemen? Do you know what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq, in Pakistan? You name the countries, do you know what is going on in some countries of Europe? Do you know what is the condition of our brothers and sisters? So in order to be able to assist correctly, we would need to know what's going on. How many of us are even bothered, if I were to tell you, brother, what's happening in Burma? How many would know what exactly is going on? What's happening in Bangladesh? People would say, is there anything happening there? That's the question. It means we are no longer like that body that is mentioned in the hadith of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). The believers are like one body.

If a small organ on that particular body is suffocating in any way, the entire body will be restless and sleepless. And it will feel the pain. How many of us feel that pain? How many of us have assisted in the cause? How many of us are wealthy? We have food.

We have so much food that in this country, everywhere you go, you hear the word makan. I'm sure you know that. You've heard it.

And I used to wonder, why is it that there is so much in terms of food and so much preference given to food, but yesterday I saw something that made me think. You see, Kuala Lumpur, the abbreviation for it is K-U-L. K-U-L.

And in Arabic, K-U-L means to eat. It's an instruction. K-U-L, it means eat.

So we ask Allah to make us from those not only who can eat, but who can feed others. We have so much. There are people who are dying.

There are people who are dying of hunger. And on our plates, we leave back so much and throw it away sometimes. So remember to save your food, to save your water, to be more considerate of the way you use what you have at your disposal is automatic assistance to others.

Conservation as Assistance

When you turn on the tap, instead of turning it on so full, you have it turned on according to the way we are taught without wasting water. If that is the case, you have helped thousands or even hundreds of thousands or millions of people across the globe. Because if everyone of us had to save water, how much water do you think we would save? Not realizing there is a shortage of fresh water on the globe.

As big as the oceans are, as huge and as large as they are, we have a shortage of fresh water on the globe. So be conservative. When you are a person who likes to save things, not because you are packing it in your own cupboard, no.

Because you are considerate of others, then inshaAllah, you will be heading in the right direction. You would have assisted those in need without you realizing, without them realizing. When I say without you realizing, we might think for example, okay, I turned on the tap slightly less.

How did that help the people, for example, who don't have water somewhere in Africa? How it helped them is, when you started the trend and everyone followed the same example, and then you see the large quantities of water that is saved, you will then know that people have really been helped. So, this is what Islam teaches us. If you don't know what the people are going through, how are you going to be able to help them? If you don't know how they are suffering, you will not be able to assist them in the correct way.

We have a Jumu'ah. It is only correct for us to mention on the globe how many are suffering and ask Allah, Ya Allah, grant them ease. Ya Allah, open their doors.

Ya Allah, those who are suffering, whether they are in Burma or Bangladesh, or in Syria or Yemen, or anywhere in the Middle East, or in Europe, or in Africa, in Somalia, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Pakistan, in India, wherever they are on the globe. In this country, there may be people who might be homeless, there are people who are orphaned, there are people who are under the line of what we would call poverty. We ask Allah to create ease for all of them.

The Hadith of Assistance

And at the same time, we ask Allah to create ease for us. Remember, when you help someone, Allah helps you. We know the hadith of Abu Hurairah r.a. Powerful narration, where Allah speaks through the blessed

lips of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Why we say this is because Allah says:

Quranic Verse:

He does not utter from his desires and whims and fancies. No. It is indeed revelation. It is inspired. It is something that comes from Allah. So when he says:

Hadith:

Sahih Muslim

You need to know what it means and you need to understand, whoever assists a fellow believer in dire need, a kurba is that which is so severe and so serious that it requires special care and attention.

It requires assistance. If you help your brothers and sisters in that particular condition of dire need and you've gone out of your way to alleviate their suffering in any way, Allah says, if that happened in this world, you need to know that we will alleviate your suffering on the day of judgment. What an easy way of preparing for the day of judgment.

One of the ways is to find people who are suffering in a big way and alleviate their suffering. You've heard of an earthquake. You've heard of a tsunami.

You've heard of people who are homeless and you reached out to them and you went and even if you helped one person, you are included in this hadith. Subhanallah. Even if you have gone out, for example, somewhere across the globe, far or near, and you have helped those in dire need, alleviated their suffering in one way, even in a small way, put a smile on their faces, make them feel you are not alone, we are with you.

Subhanallah. You will find on the day of judgment, Allah will reach out to you and Allah will call you out by name and Allah will create ease for you and me on that day. May we be from amongst those who can help one another.

That hadith continues. Very beautiful, powerful quotation of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم), wherein he started off by making mention those in dire need. Then he says:

Hadith:

Sahih Muslim

Whoever creates any form of ease, now this is not making mention of that which is dire need, but any form of ease, whoever creates any form of ease for their brethren, Allah will create ease for them in this world as well as in the next.

So do you want ease in your problems? Well, create ease in the lives of others and you will have ease in your issues. And this is because every one of us has difficulties. We have issues that we go through.

I have issues, matters, difficulties in my own way, small or big. And so do you. We have ease in one way, we have difficulty in another.

Because this life is a test. Nobody, not one on the globe, can say there is absolutely nothing that I have to worry about. At the end of the day, it's your health.

At the end of the day, it's your age. At the end of the day, it's the loss of a loved one, or perhaps it is some form of loss in business. A multi-millionaire, when he loses one million, he has actually lost nothing.

But he may suffer a sleepless night. Why? Because one million gone. Allahu Akbar.

The others don't even have a single ringgit and they are still snoring. May Allah grant us goodness. May He make us realize and understand.

Helping Our Families and Children

So, if you would like ease in your marriage, you would like it in your home, with your children. Today we have the wealthy, the ultra-wealthy. One concern that they have is, will our children remain on the deen? And mashallah, there is a big awakening across the globe, regarding spirituality.

Many people, even those who might not have led their lives according to the proper teachings of the sharia and Islam, they are worried about their children. Because we have a very hostile environment that is promoting nudity. It is promoting sin and vice and considering it normal.

How would we assist? You want to help your children, spend time with them. Make it your duty. Understand that it is your duty to guide them, to send them to the right schools, to make the correct decisions for them.

And on top of that, in order to help them, you need to help others. You need to reach out to others and Allah will take care of your matters. It is something that is tried and tested.

If you go out and you have shown the concern for others and you have helped them, you have looked forward to assisting others in any way, remember, there will be a time when you will be in need and Allah will come to your need.

Gratitude and Reflection

Beloved brothers and sisters, it is indeed Allah whom all thanks and praise is owed to. No matter how much we thank Him, it will never be sufficient.

We try our best and we should be constantly bearing in mind that whatever we have, He is the one who has provided. Whatever we have has been given to us as a test from Him in order to see how we utilize it for our benefit and the benefit of others. And at the same time, it is important to realize that we return to Allah leaving behind absolutely nothing besides our deeds.

Your wealth will remain, your family will remain, the health you have shall be gone totally and everything you own in this world shall be left behind, your deeds will come with you. So let us do as many deeds and good deeds as we can so that we can really be from those who are successful not only in this world but even in the next. Remember whatever Allah has ordained and whatever He has prescribed upon us, it is for our benefit and our good.

Nothing is to our detriment. It is impossible for the Almighty to have instructed us to do that which is harmful for us. It is impossible for the one who loves us more than our own parents to have asked us to do something that is dangerous for us or detrimental.

So when we are asked to reach out to others, remember it is very important to dig deep in our pockets and to look into our homes and to see what we have no matter what amount. But if it is done for the correct reasons with sincerity to please the Almighty, to reach out to fulfill the Almighty's instruction, then indeed we will have fulfilled our duty and we will have earned closeness to the Almighty. For this reason when we say reaching out to others is extremely important, it is because Allah has instructed it and He has kept our own happiness through reaching out to others.

Practical Applications

Reach out to your children by spending time with them, by being a good role model for them, by showing them the way and the path, by making choices for them in their early lives such that when they grow older they will have the knack of making the correct choices. We should never make wrong choices for our children from a young age in a way that when they grow up they have no idea how to make choices. So we will be able to reach out and help our children if we do fulfill the role that Allah has placed on our shoulders as parents and as adults.

Reach out to our women by fulfilling their rights, by honoring them, by raising them to the platform that Allah has raised them upon, by not oppressing them, that is the way we reach out to our sisters and our women, by granting them what Allah has granted them, by involving them in whatever Allah has involved them in and at the same time respecting them like nobody else has respected them. If you look at those before us, they have disgraced a female and at the same time they have made her believe and think that through that disgrace she is achieving freedom. Whereas Allah says, no, we should honor the female and that is how we will reach out to her.

May Allah make us from amongst those who can reach out to the women folk. We should reach out to the orphans and to the widows as well, reaching out to those and assisting them even if it means through

a prayer, even if it means through a donation, whether it be in a box that might be by the door of one of the masjids, or it means a visit where we will offload that which we are not even using in our homes within the homes of those orphans. It is important.

We have so much in our houses that if we were to declutter and if we were to take out only that which we have not made use of within the last year, we will find tons of items that will be of benefit to others who perhaps do not have. So I call on you to go home and to search in your cupboards, to search in your home to take out that which you are not making use of, to take out that which is excess and to donate it to a good cause. The Almighty will open your doors.

Remember you are not going to take anything into your grave from that which you have amassed besides the good deeds and that which you have deposited in the bank of Allah. So may the Almighty make us from those who can reach out to the orphans, the homeless, the widows. When the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says, the one who is striving to fulfill or to alleviate the suffering or to fulfill the needs of the orphans and the widows is similar to he who stands all night in prayer and he who fasts every single day.

Imagine the reward of fasting every day and the reward of standing all night, every night in prayer is achieved by reaching out to the widows and the orphans. May Allah make us from those. At the same time, we ask Allah to help us reach out to those who are struggling across the globe.

Modern Opportunities for Helping

Today it has become so easy to reach out to those who are struggling whether they be in Burma, whether they be in Bangladesh, whether they be in Sri Lanka, whether they be in Afghanistan or Iraq or Syria or Yemen. You name the countries, the names are increasing on a daily basis. There are organizations that work serving on humanitarian grounds, my brothers and sisters and yours across the globe.

So it has become easy for myself to search for such organizations and to donate to that cause they will fulfill for me. Before it was much more difficult where people had to go out themselves. Today there are others who are doing that job, just ensure that they are genuine and legitimate and if that is the case, then inshallah we should be assisting in that cause.

How many of us are ready to assist even those in our own country? In this beautiful country, Allah has kept people on different levels of finance, different levels of need, different levels of independence in terms of need because it is a test for both sides. A test for those who don't have to bear patience and to pray and a test for those who have to reach out to those who don't have and to protect themselves from arrogance, to protect themselves from that pride because remember, the days can turn at any moment. We have seen people who have had a lot and at the same time overnight Allah decided to take it away.

They would suffer much more and in a greater way than those who have not had from the beginning. Because once you are used to a certain life, it would be difficult to downgrade. May the Almighty grant us a luxurious life in the akhirah, in the life after death.

And may He make us from those whose suffering is alleviated in this world and who help others to alleviate their suffering as well.

Call to Action

My brothers and sisters, no matter what we say, no matter what we say, every one of us can do much more and we can improve and do better when it comes to assisting others. And I call upon you to make life easy for those whom you live with to start with.

Those whom you live with within your home, within the parameters of the walls of your home, make life easy for them, whether they be a relative or a worker. May Allah use us to create beauty and goodness in the lives of those whom we live with. Thereafter, it is important for us to search.

Search every single day for ways of improving, ways of making the lives of others beautiful, touching them in a way that they will remember, touching them in a way that they will smile whenever they think of the goodness that has come to them from our direction. And if that is the case, and that is how a Muslim should be, then we should be the furthest away from harming people. We should be the furthest away from creating difficulty in the lives of people.

If the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has stated in the hadith of Abu Hurairah r.a, which appears in Sahih Muslim, he says, whoever alleviates the dire suffering of those who are suffering from amongst their brothers and sisters, Allah will alleviate their suffering on the day of judgment. We need to know that the one who creates difficulty, then what would happen? Allah may create difficulty for that person as well. So in the same way, whoever creates ease, Allah will create ease for them.

Whoever creates difficulty, we would not like it, that Allah create difficulty in their lives. May the Almighty protect us.

The Importance of Knowledge

That hadith continues to say, whoever assists anyone from their brothers and sisters in any way, Allah will assist them in this world and in the next.

And then the hadith continues to say, whoever treads a path seeking knowledge, whoever is treading a path of seeking knowledge, the Almighty will definitely create ease in their path to paradise. And why is this mentioned in the same hadith? In the same narration that makes mention of reaching out to people, the Almighty says, if you make an effort, and if you are treading a path in order to seek any form of

knowledge, the Almighty will create ease in your path to achieving paradise. One of the reasons is, you will only be able to fulfill the rights of others when you know what they are.

You need knowledge. You will only be able to fulfill your acts of worship if you know what they are. You will only be able to understand and realize the value of others if you have knowledge as to what their value is.

How would ignorance help me or you in any way? May Allah cure us of ignorance. May He make us from those who can make an effort to learn more about this religion. Remember, if you are attending a Friday sermon, it is your duty to come early.

It is your duty to sit and listen to the talk. It is your duty to take back some beneficial knowledge home. And it is your duty to share it with those who may not have been able to attend in terms of women and children.

And it is our duty to ensure that we make use of the various lessons around us in the masajid. There are lessons of tafsir. There are lessons of hadith. There are beneficial lectures. How many of us make the time to go out and learn and seek knowledge, put it into practice and convey it to others?

Well, that is the way you will be able to create ease on your path to paradise. May the Almighty grant it to us.

The Test of Life

We have seen many people suffering across the globe. If the Almighty had wanted, He would not have made them suffer. But as I said moments ago, the suffering is connected to the test for them and for us.

How many of us have reached into our pockets and put a small donation into boxes that have passed us or into boxes that we see by the doors of the masajid. Sometimes the change that we have, the change that we have after making purchases in a big department store, that change can actually make a change. Subhanallah.

So do not underestimate the value of the change that you get when you have made a small purchase at a convenient store. May we be able to be from amongst those who can make the right decisions as to how to help those who are suffering. It is important for us to know the organizations that we are giving towards and to make sure that they are genuine, legitimate and they are approved by authority.

May Allah grant us goodness. When we say a friend in need is a friend indeed, it is also important for us to realize, don't run away from those who are in need solely because they are in need today. Yet yesterday when they were your close friends, then they were not in that need.

It is a hypocrite who runs away from his friends when they are in need. And we would not like the same to happen to us. The day I am in need, I would like those who are my friends to stand up with me and to

be of assistance to me.

In that particular case, I should also be from amongst those who stands up for his friends when they are in need. May the Almighty help us to help one another.

Islam's Teaching vs. Worldly Teaching

My brothers and sisters, Islam is a religion of assisting one another. Whereas others on the globe today, they teach and promote selfishness and miserliness. Everyone is living for themselves. Everyone is interested in how they will benefit.

Everyone wants to reach out to what will be theirs and theirs alone. People are such that they don't even want to share things with their own family members. This is the world and this is where it has taken us.

Whereas Islam and this beautiful religion of ours teaches us the exact opposite. You would like to achieve the happiness of the Almighty, learn to share what you have. Teach your children to share what they have from a very early age.

Tell them about the benefits of sharing. And tell them how the more they share, the more they will get. Because the owner is Allah.

The one who gave it to you is the one who will multiply it. And this is why the Almighty has stated in the

Quran, Whatever you have put forth, whatever you have deposited, whatever you have given forward for yourselves, it will benefit you. You will find it with Allah.

It will be multiplied, it will be much benefit. Seek forgiveness of Allah, for indeed He is most forgiving, most merciful.

Consciousness of Allah and Death

Beloved brothers and sisters, be conscious of the Almighty and be conscious of the fact that He has created you.

And He is the one in absolute control of every aspect of your existence and mine. And in every aspect of the creation at large. And be conscious of the fact that you are becoming older as the days pass and not younger.

And be conscious of the fact that Allah can take you away right now. So therefore, be conscious of death. And be conscious of the preparation for that day when you will meet your Maker.

For indeed, every one of us is going to meet our Maker. And He will question us as to how and what we did during our short stint in this particular life. So remember, the object is not this life.

But the object is preparing for the everlasting life. Never lose focus upon that. Because it is definitely a loser.

And a person who is in the clutch of shaitan who will lose focus upon the fact that they are going to meet Allah. I will meet my Maker and so will you.

And we will see Him and we will definitely be questioned about everything.

Repentance and Forgiveness

Many of us may have done things we would like to delete from our slate. My brothers and sisters, I give you good news.

Whatever you have done is very deletable. It is that which we would be able to delete through what is known as repentance and tawbah. Brothers and sisters, we need to admit where we are wrong.

We need to admit what we have done when it is wrong. And we need to understand we must regret our wrongdoings. And we should ask the Almighty for forgiveness.

And we should promise not to do it again. With those conditions, we are able to delete whatever we have done. We can smile once again and prepare to the meeting with Allah for the day when we meet Allah.

So be conscious of where you are and where you are heading. And be conscious of the fact that at any moment the Almighty can have written my demise and yours. Death would only be a suffering for those who have led an evil life.

But as for the believer, the messenger peace be upon him says, death is actually a gift because now he gets to where he was supposed to get to. And this is why it is important for us whilst we prepare ourselves for that big day, we help others prepare for the day as well.

Responsibility Towards Those Under Our Care

Those who are under your authority, my brothers and sisters, it is your duty placed on your shoulders by the Almighty to create for them an environment whereby they will not lose focus and they will know why they are in this world.

This world we have not been placed in it in order to amass without an end, but in order to collect so that we can help ourselves and others. So how many of us have helped others and how many of us have given portions of our wealth to those in need. When we look at the lives of the companions of the Prophet, may peace be upon him and may Allah be pleased upon all of them.

They gave at times everything they owned in order to serve the cause of the deal. And they gave sometimes 50% which is half of what they owned. Sometimes we cannot even give 2.5% of our savings

without counting 20 times as to whether this figure is correct because it seems too large.

May Allah not make us from those. May we be from the generous. May we be from amongst those whom when we give that wealth will return to us in goodness in this world and the next.

May we be from amongst those whom when we give we do not expect clout in return. We give for the sake of Allah. We do not give because we want to have a say or control people.

And we do not give because we want to show people that we have. Rather we give in order to please the Almighty and to set an example for the others who can perhaps learn that we give and we give for the sake of the Almighty. And if you see us giving and it encourages you to give, we will earn a reward as well.

Sending Blessings Upon the Prophet

It is very important that we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. For indeed Allah has ordained that for us as Allah has instructed us all that Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. O you who have believed, send blessings upon him and send salutations upon him.

O Allah, send blessings and salutations and blessings upon Your servant and Messenger Muhammad, the best of creation, the most generous of messengers. And may Allah be pleased with his rightful caliphs, the Imams, the Mahdis, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. O Allah, be pleased with them and with the rest of the companions and the followers.

Closing Ayah and Dua

Quranic Verse:

Indeed Allah commands justice, goodness, and giving to relatives, and forbids immorality, evil, and transgression. He warns you that you may remember.

Remember Allah, He will remember you. Call upon Him, He will answer you. And be grateful to Him for His blessings, He will increase you.

And the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows what you do. And establish prayer.

May Allah have mercy on you.