Dear friends, yesterday I was directed to khutbah which I would like to share it here. It is about Cyclones, earthquakes and Allah’s Mercy. As you know that in this month only there are few disasters are happening at various countries in this region. And I found out that this sermon or khutbah is relevant for you and me to ponder.
6 June 2008
“As-salámu ‘alaikum wa rahmatul láhi wa barakátuh!”
“A-úthu billáhi minash shaytánir rajeem. Bismilláhir rahmánir raheem.
Al hamdu lillahi nahmaduhu wanasta’eenahu, wanastagh-firuhu, wanatoobu ilayhi, wana’oothu Billaahi min shuroori an-fusinaa, wamin sayyi aati a’maalinaa. May- Yahdillahu fa huwal muhtad, wa may- yudlill falan tajidaa lahu waliyan murshida. Wa ash-hadu an Laa ilaaha ill-Alláh, wahdahoo laa shareeka lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhoo warasooluh”
All Praise is due to Alláh, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Alláh, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Alláh, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, sws, is His servant, and His messenger.
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem! Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, haqqa tuqaatihee wala tamu tun-na, il-la wa antum Muslimoon.”
O You who believe, – Fear Allah, as He should be feared, and die not except as Muslims.
Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, wa qooloo qawlan sadeedaa. Yuslih-lakum a’maalakum wa yaghfir lakum thunoobakum, wamay yu-til-laaha warasoolah, faqad faaza fawzan atheemaa.”
O You who believe, – Be aware of Allah, and speak a straightforward word. He will forgive your sins and repair your deeds. And whoever takes Allah and His prophet as a guide, has already achieved a mighty victory…
My Dear Brothers and Sisters
The Arabic word for mankind is ‘insaan.’ One of the meanings of ‘insaan’ is forgetfulness. Human beings are forgetful, and we need constant reminders as to who we are, why we are here, and to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. All our acts of worship, our Salaah, Zakaat, our fasting and Hajj, are actually reminders of this unique relationship between the Creator and the created, between the Rabb and His abd, the Lord and His servant. We Muslims, if we aspire to become true believers, we have to be constantly aware of our utter reliance on Allah: our utter and absolute helplessness in the face of the titanic forces of nature around us.
The Burmese cyclone and the Chinese earthquake are timely reminders, if we need reminding, that the image we have of earth, as a serene and peaceful planet, is actually wrong. This is not a peaceful planet, by any means. Those stunning and idyllic photographs and landscape paintings that we enjoy so much describe only one small facet, one small aspect of the face of mother earth. The wider picture of our planet is much more complex, much more fearsome. If we could look, literally, below the surface, if we could actually see what lies beneath our feet, we will see that there are oceans of boiling magma, liquid rock, thousands of miles thick, churning and oozing around the nickel-iron core. It’s like jahannam is right here, under our feet! The temperatures in that area range from 3500 to 5000 degrees Celsius! If we could fly a plane through that fiery mass at 600 miles an hour, it would take several hours to reach the centre of the earth, and more than a day’s flying to come out on the other side!
Our ‘solid earth’ is in fact only a wafer thin layer of continental land mass that rests like a cracked eggshell over a ball of boiling magma. This cracked eggshell is a shifting and grinding jigsaw puzzle of tectonic plates that produces earthquakes and tsunamis. Obviously, we’re shocked when natural disasters strike, but really, if we understood how finely tuned and delicately balanced are the awesome forces of nature, we wouldn’t be so surprised. We wouldn’t ask why they happen, but we’d wonder why don’t they happen more often and more intensely?
Scientists tell us that all life is possible only on the very narrowest of margins. What exactly do they mean? Time is short. But let’s look at one or two examples. If the sun were a ball 3 metres high like the height of this ceiling, then planet earth would be about 3 inches high, like a tennis ball. The distance between them, 93 million miles, would on that scale be would be about 60 miles, like from Oxford to Heathrow Airport [ or, from here to Brighton or Bournemouth]. During summer, our planet tilts 23½ degrees towards the sun, and we feel its power and heat. During winter it tilts 23½ degrees away from the sun and we’re freezing cold. The difference between scorching heat and freezing cold is that tiny tilt, which brings us just 4,000 miles closer to or further away from the sun. Take that 4,000 miles and divide it into 93 million miles and what do you get? The margin of comfort, being too hot or too cold, is not 1%, not 1/100th of 1%, but a mere 1/4000th of one percent! Just imagine! If we were slightly nearer to the sun, less that one thousandth of one percent, we’d perish from the heat, and if we were on thousandth of one percent further away, we’d freeze solid. Subhaanallah! Just think about it. And, we’re only talking of temperature. What about other factors? What about the relationship between the earth’s gravity and mass? Again, we are told that this balance is so critical, that it just about keeps life-giving oxygen in the atmosphere, and releases deadly ammonia harmlessly into space. If there was a fractional difference between earth’s gravity and mass, by a factor of one followed by ninety-nine zeros, – this is a number I cannot even imagine, – if there was such a tiny difference, then ammonia would be trapped in the atmosphere and all life would suffocate. We’ve only talked about gravity, mass and temperature. We haven’t even touched radiation, and the chances of meteor strikes or collisions with other planets. The scientists say that there are so many real and imminent threats to life on earth, in the midst of so many risks, that, statistically speaking, on the basis of mathematical probabilities, we shouldn’t actually be here at all! These are scientists and mathematicians, many of them are atheists. They say that life is possible only on the very narrowest of margins. Considering the awesome dangers all around us, it’s a miracle that life exists at all. Of course, as believing servants of Allah, we say that none of this happens by chance. None of this can be explained away by coincidence. Everything exists by His Mercy, by His Will, by His Decree. Allah reminds us in His Holy Book:
“See they not how little of the sky and the earth is open to them, and how much is hidden? If We wished We could cause the earth to swallow them up or cause a piece of the sky to fall upon them. Truly in this is a Sign for every servant that turns to Allah (in repentance)” (Saba’ 34:9)
“It is Allah Who sustains the heavens and the earth lest they cease (to function): and if they should fail there is none not one can sustain them thereafter: truly He is Most Forbearing Oft-Forgiving” Sura Fátir v41
Indeed! Allah grasps the heavens and the earth lest they should move away from their places, and if they were to move away from their places, there is not one that could grasp them after Him. Truly, He is Ever Most Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving. (Fatir 35:41)
Brothers and Sisters, next time we look up to the starry skies, let us think about those powerful forces that surround us. Forces that keep our very existence poised on a knife-edge, and let us thank Alláh subhánalláh wata-‘álá for his grace and mercy.
Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen. Was-salaatu was-salaamu alaa Khairil mursaleen. Muhammadin-nabeey-yil Ummiy-yee, wa-‘alaa aalihee, wasah-bihee, aj-ma’een.
Ammaa ba’ad:
Innalláha wa malaaikata yusallúna alan nabi. Yá ay yuhal latheena ámanu sallú alayhi wasalli mú tas leema. Allahumma salli alá Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim. Allahumma barik ala Muhammad, wa alaa áli Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Fil ála meen, innaka hameedun majeed.”
Part Two:
Sub’ hanallahi wal hamdu lillah, wala hawla wala quwwata illah billah yu althi yual theem.
“All glory is for Allah, and all praise is for Allah; There is no power and no strength except with Allah.”
Brothers and Sisters,
Cyclones, earthquakes and Tsunamis, along with volcanoes, tornadoes and all other forces of nature, bring widespread suffering in their wake. Science tells us how these things happen but precisely why anything happens only Allah knows for certain. One thing we do know is that this life was never meant to be a paradise without pain and suffering. The Holy Quran repeatedly tells us that we will be tested in order to see who is best in their behaviour.
“Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem! Tabaark al lathee biyadihil Mulk wa huwa alaa kulli shay in qadeer. Al lathee khalaqal mawta wal hayaata liyab’ luwakum ay-yu kum ahsanu ‘amalaa. Wahuwal ‘azeezul ghaffoor!”
“In the Name of Allah, most Merciful, most Compassionate! Blessed is He, in Whose Hand is Dominion, and He has power over all things. He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed; and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving.” Sura Mulk; Ch 67:v1
In Sura Al-Baqara v 114, we read:
“Do you think that you will enter heaven without being tested like those who passed away before you ? Poverty and afflictions befell them and they were violently shaken until the Messenger and those who believe along with him said, `When will the help of ALLAH come ?’ Yea, surely the help of ALLAH is ever near.” ….”Ala inna nasrallahi qareeb.”
Brothers and sisters, no one should be surprised to encounter hardship and suffering. This is part of our human condition. It does not mean that Allah is angry with us or that He has forsaken us. Think how His beloved Prophets lived. None of them had an easy life. Every Prophet and wali, Friend of Allah, had to endure unspeakable hardship in order so set a good example to us. They showed us patience, perseverance and dignity in accepting whatever Allah has decreed for us.
Let us study the lives and times of all the Prophets, and see how much we can learn from them, how we can increase our faith, our patience and endurance. Let us do what we can to help lighten the burdens of all those who have lost loved ones and material possessions through natural and man-made disasters.
[Last week our small community raised £500 to sponsor the brothers who climbed the 2 highest mountains in Britain. The money will go to the Islamic Relief Burma Cyclone appeal. May Allah bless all those who contributed, and may Allah bless the young men who braved the elements to raise money for so many distressed and needy victims of the Burmese cyclone]
Brothers and sisters, to conclude our khutbah:
InnaAllaha, Yamuru bil adel, wal ihsaan, wa eetaa-i zil qurba; wa yanha anil fuhshaa-i, wal munkari walbaghi; ya-idzukhum lallakum tathak-karoon. (Sura 16:90),
“Surely Allah commands justice, good deeds and generosity to others and to relatives; and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, so that you may be reminded.”
Fadth kuroonee adth kurkum, wash kuroolee walaa tak furoon [2:152].
“and remember Me: I will remember you. Be grateful to Me, and do not reject faith.”
wala thikrul-Laahi akbar, Wal-Laahu ya’lamu maa tasna’oon.” [29:45].
“and without doubt, Remembrance of Allah is the Greatest Thing in life, and Allah knows the deeds that you do.”
Ameen. Aqeemus salaah!
nice blog, reminds me I must get around to adding more content on my own blog, kinda neglected them.