by Khalil Moya
Alhumdulillah, Alhumdulillahi Rabbil Alamin.
Brothers and Sisters in Islam, the topic for today’s khutbhah will, Inshallah be about the importance of increasing our good deeds towards the end of our lives. And we all know that it is important to do good deeds, throughout our lives, but it is even more important for us to increase our good deeds and to increase our calling upon Allah for His Forgiveness and Mercy towards the end of our lives.
** Qaalallahu Ta A’la, fi Suratul Taqwir 81:26;
فَأيْنَ تَذْهَبُونَ إِنْ هُوَ إِلاَّ ذِكْرٌ لِّلْعَـلَمِينَ لِمَن شَآءَ مِنكُمْ أَن يَسْتَقِيمَ
Then where are you going) (27. Verily, this is no less than a Reminder for the creatures.) (28. To whomsoever among you who wills to walk straight.
** **Imam Muslim has recorded, An Jaabir (ra) Qaal: “Qaalan-Nabii (pbuh) ‘Yub’Athu kullu Abdin Alaa maa maata Alayhi.’
Jaabir (ra) said, ‘The Prophet (pbuh) said, ‘Everyone will be raised in the condition in which he dies.’
Brothers and sisters in Islam, none of us know how much longer we’re going to be on this earth, or how much time we have left to do good deeds, so we should try to make the most of the time that we do have left. Allah Suhana wa Ta A’la warns us about the people who will be in the hellfire and how they will be full of regret for not having done good while they were on this earth. And they will cry out to Allah for a chance to go back and do good deeds, but then Allah will answer them:
Qaalallahu Ta’ A’la, fi Suratul Faatir (35:37)
أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ مَّا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَن تَذَكَّرَ وَجَآءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ
(Allah will reply:) “Did We not give you lives long enough, so that whosoever would receive admonition could receive it? And the warner came to you!
“Abdullah Ibn Abbas (raa) and others from the mufasirrun have said that “long enough” in the verse means sixty years. And some of the mufasirrun have said that the by warner, it means Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and others have said that the warner means gray hairs, or white hairs.
Brothers and sisters, Allah is warning us that we only get one chance to make the most of our lives. We only get one chance in this dunya to prove ourselves to Allah, to do good deeds fisabilillah. None of us know how much longer we’re going to be here. But what we do know is that when we come to the end of our lives, we don’t want to look back on our lives with regret, realizing that we wasted our time, wasted our chance to do good.
** وَأَنْذِرْهُمْ يَوْمَ الْحَسْرَةِ إِذْ قُضِىَ الاٌّمْرُ وَهُمْ فِى غَفْلَةٍ وَهُمْ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ
And warn them of the Day of grief and regrets, when the case has been decided, while (now) they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not
At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah have both recorded An Abi Hurayra (ra) Qaal: Qaala Rasuulullah (pbuh):
«أَعْمَارُ أُمَّتِي مَا بَيْنَ السِّتِّينَ إِلَى السَّبْعِينَ، وَأَقَلُّهُمْ مَنْ يَجُوزُ ذَلِك»
Abu Hurayrah (ra) “The Messenger of Allah said: (The usual life span in my Ummah is between sixty and seventy years, and only a few pass this age.)”
Brothers and sisters in Islam, none of us know how much longer we’re going to live on this earth, but if you’ve reached the age of 30, then know that the chances are good that you may already be on the downward slope of your life, and if you’ve reached the age of 40, then the chances are even greater that you’ve passed the mid-way point of your life. And so with possibly half of our lives behind us, we should take a look at our lives, and examine where our priorities are, and if they’re not on Allah and on Yawmul Qiyamma, then we should re-focus our energies on preparing for the Akhira. And the sahaba (rau) knew this, and they acted upon this knowledge.
“Abdullah ibn Abbas (raa) and others said, that whenever the people of Medina turned forty years of age, they would devote themselves completely to worship.” And 40 was considered to be the age of maturity, the age of wisdom and strength. And if you compare their state to ours, we find that we do the exact opposite.
** The people today say, 40 is the new 20, 50 is the new 30!
When the Sahaba had reached the age of maturity and they were turning towards Allah with an increase in worship and dhikr, we find ourselves immersed in the dunya, focusing most of our energy in chasing the dunya, as if we’re guaranteed to have another 60 years left in our lives. When the sahaba were preparing themselves for the day when they would meet Allah, we find ourselves preparing ourselves for what we think will be material success. We find ourselves preparing for the dunya, as if we’re going to be here for many years to come. And this is the wrong approach.
Qaalallahu Ta A’la, fi Suratul Baqarah (2:148)
فَاسْتَبِقُواْ الْخَيْرَتِ
“So hasten towards all that is good.”
Brothers and sisters, Allah has advised us to hasten towards all that is good, and we should pay attention to what He has told us. Allah has told us to hasten, to hurry, to move quicklytowards all that is good. He didn’t tell us to take our time, or to put off doing good, until it’s convenient for us. Allah didn’t tell us to do good when we have time, or after we’ve accomplished our worldly goals. We should hasten towards doing good deeds, because none of us know when our time in this world is going to be done.
And in Suratul Hijr (15), ayat 99, Allah Subhana wa Ta A’la advises us by telling us
وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ
“(And worship your Lord until the certainty comes to you) (15: 99).”
Imam Bukhari said: “Salim bin Abdullah bin Umar (ru) said, `(This means) death.”
So Allah is advising us that we should busy ourselves with worshipping Him until death comes for us. A believer’s work, the things that they do fisabilillah, is never done. A believer shouldnever feel as though they’ve done enough, they should never feel as though they have enough good deeds, so now they can take it easy. Or as though they’ve done enough for the sake of Allah, so now someone else can take over, (it’s somebody else’s turn). A believer’s work is never done.
** Imam Bukhari has related in his sahih, An Abdullah ibni Abbas (raa) Qaal: Qaala Rasuulullah (pbuh), “Ni’mataani magbuunun fiihimaa kathiirun minan-nas: AS-Sih-hatu wal faraag.”
Abdullah ibn Abbas (raa) reported: Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “There are two blessings in which many people incur loss. They are health and free time (for doing good).”
“Al-Ghabn in Arabic means loss. What it really means is to sell something of one’s own for less than its due price, or to buy something on its double or triple price. In both cases, one is a loser. When a person comes to know about such a loss, he regrets it and feels sorry for it. This loss, coupled with regret is called Al-Ghabn. In a hadith, a man has been compared with a trader, and his health and the leisure time enjoyed by him has been compared to merchandise. The person who uses his merchandise with care, gains profit, while the one who wastes it (uses it carelessly) will be the loser on the Day of Resurrection.”
Brothers and sisters, how many of us want to be losers in this world? None of us, and that’s why many of us spend so much time and energy working to be successful in the dunya. But how much worse will it be for us to be loser’s on Yawmul Qiyamma? How much worse will it be for us meet Allah on Yawmul Qiyamma and realize that we sacrificed our success in the Akhira for our success in this Dunya, by wasting our time on things that won’t matter?
The commentators of hadith have said that “The majority of people do not take proper care of both these things.” Many people waste their time on useless activities, and spend their physical strength and energy in the disobedience of Allah.” And this is will only lead to regret.
Aqullukawlihatha, wa astaghfirullaha li wa lakum
Alhumdulillahi Rabbil Alamiin, was salaatu was salaamu ala Muhammad, wa ala alihi, was as-habihi, wa man tabiahum bi ihsan ila yawmidiin, amabad.
** At-Tirmidhi has related,
عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ بُسْرٍ، أَنَّ أَعْرَابِيًّا، قَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَنْ خَيْرُ النَّاسِ قَالَ
“ مَنْ طَالَ عُمُرُهُ وَحَسُنَ عَمَلُهُ ”
An ‘Abdullah bin Busr narrated that a Bedouin said:
“O Messenger of Allah! Who is the best of the people?” He said: “He whose life is long and his deeds are good.”There are narrations on this topic from Abu Hurairah and Jabir. (Hasan)
“Longevity of life is a blessing, provided it is accompanied by Faith and good deeds; otherwise, the longer life one has, the greater will be the number of sins. Such a long life is disastrous.” Commentary from Riyadh As-Saliheen.
Brothers and sisters in Islam, the reality is that no matter what our age is today, no matter how old we are today, we are all closer to death today, than we were yesterday. And with each passing day, our appointment with death gets closer and closer to us. And so we should realize that our time on this earth is short (shorter than it’s ever been before) and we should act on this knowledge with a sense of urgency. We should turn to Allah for forgiveness. We should try to increase our good deeds. We should ask ourselves what can I do to earn some hasanat, some good deeds. We should ask ourselves, what can I do to increase my worship, what can I do to increase my dhikr of Allah? We should ask ourselves, what can I do todayfisabilillah, that will be of benefit for me tomorrow?
Brothers and sisters in Islam, now is the time to make changes in our lives. Now is the time for us to make it our intention to focus our lives on our Akhira. Now is the time for us to prepare for our meeting with Allah by trying to increase our ibaadaat (worship), by trying to become the best muslims that we can be. By doing as much as we can for Islam, fisabilillah (for the pleasure of Allah).
** Imam Bukhari has recorded in his Sahih, An Abi Hurayrata (ra) Qaal: Anan-Nabi (pbuh) Qaal:
«أَعْذَرَ اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ إِلَى امْرِىءٍ أَخَّرَ عُمْرَهُ حَتْى بَلَغَ سِتِّينَ سَنَة»
(Allah has left no excuse for a man who reaches the age of sixty.)”
And what this means is that if Allah blesses a person to see the age of sixty, then they have no excuse for not observing their religious obligations. If Allah has blessed a person to see sixty years of age, then they should be trying their best to obey Allah in everything that He has commanded us to do, because He has given them plenty of time to get themselves together.
And for those of us who have not yet reached 60, then we need to prepare ourselves now. We have to focus our efforts on our akhira now, because we may not live to see 60. And who amongst us feels confident in the good deeds that they have done? Who amongst us feels like their good deeds will outweigh their bad deeds on Yawmul Qiyamma? Who amongst us feels like they’ve done enough good deeds?
So we should turn to Allah for forgiveness and strive to increase our good deeds and our worship. And the reality is that whatever good we do, is only for our ownselves, and whatever good we don’t do, or whatever bad things we do, will only hurt us.
Qalalahu Ta A’la, fi Suratul Jathiya (45:15)
مَنْ عَمِلَ صَـلِحاً فَلِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ أَسَآءَ فَعَلَيْهَا ثُمَّ إِلَى رَبِّكُمْ تُرْجَعُونَ
Whosoever does a good deed, it is for himself, and whosoever does evil, it is against (himself). Then to your Lord you will be made to return.)
Brothers and sisters, we’re all getting closer to the end of our lives, so now is the time to increase our good deeds, and now is the time to stop our bad deeds.
** Imam Bukhari has recorded in his sahih, An Ibni Mas’ud (ra) Qaal: Qaalan-Nabii (pbuh)
“ الْجَنَّةُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَى أَحَدِكُمْ مِنْ شِرَاكِ نَعْلِهِ، وَالنَّارُ مِثْلُ ذَلِكَ ”
Ibn Mas’ud (ra) reported: The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Jannah is nearer to anyone of you than your shoe-lace, and so is the (Hell) fire.”
** Imam Bukhari has related that Abdullah Ibn Umar, radiallahu-anhuma, used to say,
وَخُذْ مِنْ صِحَّتِكَ لِمَرَضِكَ، وَمِنْ حَيَاتِكَ لِمَوْتِكَ
Abdullah Ibn Umar (raa) used to say, “Take from your health for your sickness, and take from your life for your death.” V8, p.235, #6416.
What this means is that we should do good deeds when we are healthy and alive before we become sick and die. And we all know that death can come suddenly, with no warning.
I ask Allah to help us to focus our lives on our Akhira and to always remember that to Allah is our return.
I ask Allah to help us to become the best muslims that we can be.
And I ask Allah to bless us to die on Siratul Mustaqiim, and to resurrect us with all of our brothers and sisters in Islam and to grant us all entry into Paradise.
Allahuma’ Eghfir Lil’ Muslimeena wal Muslimat, Wal Moumineena wal Mouminaat, Al-Ahya’ee minhum wal amwat, Innaka samee’un mujibul dawat
Inna Llaha wal malaikatahu yassalluna ala nabi, Ya ayuhaladhina amanu, sallu alaihi wa sallimu taslima.
Allahumma salli ala Muhammad, wa ala alli Muhammad, kama sallaita ala Ibrahima, wa ala ali Ibrahima
Allhuma barak ala Muhammad, wa ala ali Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahima, wa ala ali Ibrahima, fil alamina innaka hamidun majid
Ibada Allah, Inna Allaha Ya’amuru Bil Aadli wal Ihsanee, wa Ita’ee Dhil Qurbaa. Wa Yanhaa Anil Fahshaa’ee wal munkaree wal bagh’yi. Ya’idhukum La’allakum tadhakkaroon” Wa Aqimu Salah (16:90) -khutbahbank.org
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