The good ending
First sermon
Praise be to Allah, The Ever Lasting, who has decreed annihilation for His Creation. I exalt Him as is befitting to His Glorious presence and His Great sovereignty and virtues and I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that Muhammad is His dearest Servant, the Imam of all the Prophets and the Master of the Pious. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His Prophet Muhamamd, his family, his faithful companions and those who follow on their footsteps until the Last Day
As to what follows, I urge you and myself to be ever conscious of Allah and to build our lives in accordance to what He has ordered us, for Allah, The Almighty, says, “O mankind, fear your Lord and fear a Day when no father will avail his son, nor will a son avail his father at all. Indeed, the promise of Allah is truth, so let not the worldly life delude you and be not deceived about Allah by the Deceiver.” (Luqman:33).
Dear Believers,
Please bear in mind that a person is judged by his deeds. So whether he does good or bad acts, he will be recompensed accordingly. After all, the value of one’s deeds resides in their ultimate end as our Master Muhamamd (pbuh) said, “Indeed, the deeds are judged by their end, just like the milk pot. If its top tastes savoury so is its bottom. And if its top turns sour so is its bottom. “
Therefore, a person should stay consistent in doing good deeds all through his life, and thus be ready to meet his Creator. On this account, Allah, The Most Exalted, says, “So whoever would hope for the meeting with his Lord - let him do righteous work and not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone.” (Al Kahf:110). Because of the importance of this moment in a human being’ s life, the prophets (peace be upon them all) urged their people to strive for obtaining a good ending as Allah says: “And Abraham instructed his sons [to do the same] and [so did] Jacob, [saying], "O my sons, indeed Allah has chosen for you this religion, so do not die except while you are Muslims." (Al Baqara:132).
In the same regard, Allah, the Most High, quotes the Prophet Yusuf (pbuh), as saying, “Cause me to die a Muslim and join me with the righteous." (Yusuf:101). Truly, a good ending is the ultimate hope for the virtuous servants who used to say as mentioned in the Holy Quran: “Our Lord, so forgive us our sins and remove from us our misdeeds and cause us to die with the righteous.” (Al Imran:193).
For his part, our guide Muhamamd (pbuh) used to supplicate to Allah saying, “O Turner of the hearts, make my heart steadfast in adhering to Your religion and obedience.” He also used to seek refuge with Allah from the evil of the trials of life and death, the latter marking the instant at which a person is departing this life and heading towards the next one. This is when Satan attempts to deviate the dying servant from his faith, and this is also when Allah, the Most Gracious, intervenes to cause him stay firm by saying: there is no deity but Allah and Muhamamd is His Messenger. Our Prophet Muhamamd (pbuh) said, “he whose last words are ‘La Ilaha illallah’ (there is no deity except Allah) will enter Paradise.”
O Servants of Allah,
Please know that there are reasons for gaining a good ending, including honesty and obedience to Allah. A person should therefore be sincere inwardly and outwardly. This requires of him to be true with himself and act in public as he does in privacy. However if a person acted contrary to his intentions, his ending will be inauspicious. This is the case of someone who pretends before people to be observant of acts of worship, but when he is by himself he dares to violate prohibitions and turns oblivious to the fact that Allah, the All Knowing, is watching him.
This is further exemplified by the statement of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as reported by Thawban: “I will certainly recognise people from my Umma who will come on the Day of Resurrection bringing good deeds as great as the white mountain of Tihama, and Allah will make it like dust in the air.” Thawban said, “O Messenger of Allah, describe them to us and explain this so that we will not unwittingly be among them.” He said, “they are your brothers and they are like you. They pray at night as you do, but if they had the opportunity to transgress the limits set out by Allah, they would do so.” Since a man died the way he had lived, adhering to good work and dedicating oneself to obeying Allah is truly a key to obtaining a good ending, for Allah, The Most Exalted, says, “Allah keeps firm those who believe, with the firm word, in worldly life and in the Hereafter.” (Ibrahim:27).
Moreover, Allah, the Ever Merciful, has promised the pious among his servants, to receive the support of angels and cause them to stay steadfast at the moment of death. He the Almighty says in this regard, “Indeed, those who have said, "Our Lord is Allah "and then remained on a right course - the angels will descend upon them, [saying], "Do not fear and do not grieve but receive good tidings of Paradise, which you were promised. We [angels] were your allies in worldly life and [are so] in the Hereafter. And you will have therein whatever your souls desire, and you will have therein whatever you request [or wish].” (Fusilat:30-31).
Dear Muslims,
Trusting in Allah’s boundless mercy and favour to forgive sins will equally help a servant attain a good ending as our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “let no Muslim die except expecting and hoping the best from Allah.” It was reported that he once came to a dying young man, he asked him: “how are you?” The young man answered: “by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I hope for Allah’s forgiveness and I fear from my sins.” The Prophet (pbuh) said, “whoever combines these two in his heart in such a situation, Allah will give him what he hopes for and will secure him from what he fears.”
Additionally, hastening to seek repentance and being genuine in this pursuit will greatly avail a person a good ending. It actually saved a man who had killed one hundred people because he was sincere in his feeling towards Allah. In return, he was honoured for it by Allah’s granting him a good ending. So please always beware, Servants of Allah, that you do not forget to renew your repentance to Allah, The Most Compassionate as our Master Muhammad (pbuh) used to do every day. He also urged people to do so when he said, “O people,repentto Allah and seek His forgiveness, for I repent onehundred timesaday.”
Dear Servants of Allah,
You are urged to roll up your sleeves and be ready to engage in good work. O truly blessed are those who have readied themselves, as it should be, for the Last Day. May Allah accept our repentance, forgive our sins and make our day better than yesterday, and tomorrow better than today. O Allah, we ask Your favour to let the last of our deeds be the most blessed and gratifying and let the best of our days be the moment when we turn to you, Ameen.
O Allah, help us to obey You and those You have ordained upon us to obey, in compliance with Your Injunctions: "O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you." (Annisaa:59).
May Allah bless you and me with the ability to implement the Holy Quran and the Sunna of His Messenger Muhammad (pbuh). I say this and pray to Allah, the Almighty, to grant us forgiveness. Supplicate to Allah for forgiveness for He is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful.
Second sermon
Praise be to Allah. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, having no partners, and I bear witness that our Master Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad, his family, his companions and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
Dear Muslims,
A good ending shall reveal in signs, the most important of which is the success of the individual in fulfilling acts of worship and his commitment to good actions. Thus Allah, The Most Gracious, will increase his good deeds, remove his sins, and thus raise his status. The Prophet Muhamamd (pbuh) said, “If Allah decides to do good to a servant, he involves him in deeds.” He was asked, “How does he involve them in deeds, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “He makes it easy for him to do righteous (deeds) before death.”
This begins with Allah, The Most High, guiding his servants to obedience, which inspires them to further complying with His orders and duly worshiping Him. Thus, they grow more submissive to Allah’s injunctions, and remain so until they pass away. O blessed are those who seek piety by constantly observing Salat, fasting Ramadan, paying Zakat, performing Haj, honouring their parents, treating well their neighbours and dealing nicely with people, seeking to serve their nations and communities as well as spreading goodness until they get a good ending.
O Believers of Allah,
Allah has commanded you an order to which He and His angels are both committed, when He says, "Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect." (Al Ahzab:56). The Prophet (pbuh) said, "for everyone who invokes a blessing on me will receive ten blessings from Allah." May the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad (pbuh), his family and all his companions. May Allah be pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment
O Allah, grant us success to perform good actions and help us stay steadfast and firm on the right path all the time. O Allah, we seek Your favour to let our hearts be full of Your gratitude and keep our tongue moist with Your remembrance. May Allah bless us with good provision, accepted work, beneficial knowledge, well-being in mind and body and blessed living life and progeny.
O Allah, increase Your blessings upon us and do not withhold Your provision from us, honour us and do not disgrace us, give us and not deprive us, advocate us and do not disfavour us. O Allah, bestow upon us Your satisfaction and grant us self-content. O Allah, make piety our pursuit, solidify our faith and increase our wisdom.
O Allah, we seek Your mercy and forgiveness. We turn to You in repentance, put our hope andtrust in You to guide us to do the righteous actions and accept our supplications to You. We also beseech You to confer on us safety from every sin, and booty of all righteousness, and to win Paradise and deliverance from the Hellfire.
O Allah, we implore You at this instant not to let a sin unforgiven, a distress unrelieved, an illness unhealed or a handicapped without relief, a dead without mercy or a debt unsettled. Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the life to come and keep us safe from the torment of the Fire.
May Allah grant our leader HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his Deputy, HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, success and provide strength and support to his brothers, Their Highness The Rulers of the Emirates, and his trustworthy Crown Prince HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
O Allah, forgive all of the Muslims, men and women, living and dead, and make blessings follow us and them. May Allah have mercy on Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Maktoum and all their brothers, the late UAE Sheikhs. O Lord, forgive and show mercy, You are the Ever Merciful and there is no strength nor power save with Allah, the High, the Great.
O Allah, grant the favour of Your forgiveness to whoever have donated a Waqf to benefit Your servants and bless the wealth of whoever have given Zakat. We beseech You to bestow Your forgiveness and great reward upon who built this mosque, his parents and anyone who have contributed to it with good deeds. O Allah, forgive anyone who built a mosque in which Your Name is remembered.
O Allah, send upon us helpful, wholesome and healthy rain. O Allah, give us rain and do not make us amongst the despondent. O Allah, relieve us, O Allah, relieve us, O Allah, relieve us. Give us from the blessings of the sky and grow for us from the blessings of the earth, You are the Ever Providing.
We pray to Allah, the Most Gracious, to continue blessing the UAE and all Muslim countries with safety and security.
O Servants of Allah, Remember Allah and He will Remember you. Be grateful for His benevolence He will increase His blessings to you. Allah, the Most High, says, "And establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do." (Al Ankaboot:45).
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