DISCLAIMER: This reminder was originally delivered in Arabic on Friday, 01 December 2016. Any meanings lost in translation are not to be attributed to the speaker as reminders are translated by volunteers. The mosque has no official translator and volunteers often have no formal qualifications to translate on the day. Please forgive any errors as they are from our human weakness and any right guidance is from God.
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Knowledge in our world is a path to knowing Allah (swt) and obtaining his pleasure. Knowledge is from the light that Allah revealed with his Messenger Muhammed (saw) , and in his book the Quran. Knowledge is guidance for those who are in the darkness of ignorance, and it is the cure for people afflicted by doubts and uncertainties and it is the savior from many tribulations and disruptions.
O People of the Scripture, there has come to you Our Messenger making clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Scripture and overlooking much. There has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book. By which Allah guides those who pursue His pleasure to the ways of peace and brings them out from darknesses into the light, by His permission, and guides them to a straight path. Surah Maidah , (5:15-16)
So knoweldge for us as Muslim is our religeon, and our religeon is knowledge. Knowledge leads to guidance and leads to the path of peace. Peace on every level. Peace for an individual, and peace for the community and society, and peace in your heart, and in your soul and your mind and your bodyparts. Peace in your families and your homes. And peace for the world.
Dear Brother and Sisters
We mentioned last Friday how knowledge and learning are 2 important goals in Islam. Through them all the other goals and purposes of Islam are met. As a person is not able to pray , nor can they give zakaat or fast or perform hajj, nor eat or drink or sleep or awaken without having knowledge. So knowledge is the basis for all things. And for this reason
The messenger (saw) said ; Whoever Allah wills good for , he grants him an understanding in the religeon.
And the understanding of this hadith is that whoever has missed out and is lacking in knowledge and understanding with regards to his or her religeon, whoever does not find himself wanting to and trying to learn the Quran and understand it and ponder over it and implement it in his life and change his life through it, whoever does not find themselves trying to learn about the Messenger (saw) and his life and his sayings and teachings, whoever does not care about learning what Allah (swt) wants from his and what he has commanded him to do , with regard to the rulings and teachings about how to worship Allah properly and also with regards to things which concern our work and life in genereal life the ruilings surrounding buying and selling in Islam, if you are not learning your religeon from the people of knowledge , scholasr and teachers who are qulified to teach you, , if you are from any of these people mentioned then know that you are not a person who Allah has willed good for. We ask Allah for his forgiveness and guidance.
Knowledge and understanding in the religeon can be split into 2 categories ;
- Knowledge which is obligatory upon every single muslim to know.
- Knowledge which is obligatory upon a group from amonst the muslims to know. And as long as a group of people exist who have this knowledge then this is sufficient for everyone. If this group does not exist and nobody knows this knowledge then everyone is sinful.
As for the 1st type which is obligatory upon every muslim to know and learn it consists of the following things;
- Knowledge that ensures your Aqeedah , your creed and core beliefs , are sound.
- Knowledge that ensures you correctly perform your acts of worship, such as your prayer and fasting etc.
- Knowledge that ensures your dealing in your daily life are in accordance with what Allah (swt) has commanded, such as rulings regarding money and business and your particular firled of work or linked to your hobbies etc.
And this is what Allah (swt) ordered his messeger to do . Learn. He said:
Know that there is none worth of worship except Allah . Surah Muhammad (47:19)
As for 2nd type which is knowledge that is obligatory upon a group from the muslims to know this consists of things such as ;
- In depth knowledge and study and memorization of Islam and its Laws . And specilaisation in every field of knowledge comes under this type of knoweldge, as these differnet specialiates are required for the betterment and existance of a society. And this is something reccomended and prefeered for every muslim in accordance with what Allah saying in Surah Ta-Ha . ‘ My Lord increase me in knowledge. ‘ and with the hadith of the Messenger (saw) , ‘ Whoever Allah wills good for , he he grants him an understanding in the religeon. ‘
Allah (swt) says in Surah Tawbah v122, And it is not for the believers to go forth [to battle] all at once. For there should separate from every division of them a group [remaining] to obtain understanding in the religion and warn their people when they return to them that they might be cautious. Scholars said about this verse is an evidence to show the compusion of seeking knowledge in the Quran and Sunnah on this Ummah , and another verse that is used as an evidence for this is the verse in Surah Al-Anbiyaa , ‘ And We sent not before you, [O Muhammad], except men to whom We revealed [the message], so ask the people of the message if you do not know.’
2nd Khuthba
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Know that you are required to attend the Jumma ( Friday) prayer early so you may be successful and rewarded by Allah , as the names of the people who attend early are recorded by the angels . So as for you who attends late , and you have missed out on what you missed out on from reward and honour, and the Imam has climbed on the mimbar , then it is your duty to sit whereever you find space , and do not split people and distract and annnoy people by forcing space for yourself. And this is what the messeger (saw) taught us when he said speaking about the person who attains a reward for attending the Firday Prayer that , ‘ He goes to the masjid and does not split between 2 people…’ . The scholars said about this hadith that he does not separate between their necks. And it is mentioned in a hadith, ‘ That a man entered the masjid on Friday , and the Messenger of Allah was on the Pulpit delivering the sermon , and this man began to seperatae between people and push between people to make space for himself, and the messeger (saw) said to him , ‘ Sit down as you have annoyed people and come late.’ [ Sahih ibn Majah – Albani]
And this is because by coming late and pushing to find space in the front rows and pushing between people and taking from the right of those people who came early seeking Allahs rewards and deserve their place in the front rows, while you came late and try to push your way to the front.
So my dear brothers and sisters
Know that is is disliked to push and separate people during the Friday prayer. And Imam Shafi ( may Allah have mercy on him) said that , ‘ I dislike to separate between people before the Imam comes and after, except if I do not find a route to the place of prayer except by sperating between people.
And Imam Malik did not like seperated between people once the Imam had begun the Khutba , and he did not have an issue with doing it before the Khutba (sermon) begins if he sees a space in front on him.
And it is said that it is permissible to do it before the Imam stands on the mimbar and after he finished the khuthba up until before the prayer in order to make spaces and fill in the empty gaps and for people to move forward to make space as we request from you every week . As for while the Imam is making Khuthba then no.
So fear and obey Allah my brother and sister. And try your hardest to do that which is better. And race towards the pleasure of your Lord and Creator. And work hard to gain reward from Allah and to be successful in this life and the next. We ask Allah to give us all the ability to do that which is good and brings us closer to guidance and to that which pleases Allah and earns us his forgivenss. And we ask Allah to forgve us All.