Indeed, whoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and also whosoever Allah allows to fall astray, there is none who can guide him. I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, the one true God who has no partner. I also testify that Muhammad is Allah’s servant and messenger. O! Allah, send your abundant peace and blessing upon your servant and prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and whoever follows his guidance until the last day.
To proceed:
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
O! You who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam. [Surah Aal-Imran (The Family of Imran) 3:102]
O! Mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He Created his wife [Hawwa (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women; and fear Allah through Whom you demand (your mutual rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship)1. Surely, Allah is Ever an All- Watcher over you. [Surah An-Nisa’ (The Women) 4:1]
O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allah and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth. [Surah Al-Ahzab (The Confederates) 33:70]
He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the hell-fire and will be admitted into Paradise). [Surah Al-Ahzab (The Confederates) 33:71]
In this regard the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:
“The best speech is the Book of Allaah and the best guidance and example is that of Muhammad (SAW). And the worst of all things are the newly invented things (in religion) or Bid’ah and every Bid’ah is dalalah (going astray) and every dalalah is in the Fire.” (Tirmidhi)
Fellow Muslims, O servants of Allah! our today’s khutbah (sermon) is “advice on the six rights of a Muslim upon a Muslim”. However, they may be more than these.
In the light of this, the offering of ‘salaam’ which is an Islamic way of greeting is a duty on each and every Muslim. And it is a consensus that to start your greetings with ‘salaam’ is sunnah but to reply is obligatory upon the person greeted particularly amongst the Muslims.
They are:
1. Returning the ‘salaam’,
2.Attending the meal if a Muslim invites you;
3.When a Muslim seeks advice from another Muslim, he should be given guidance;
4.When a Muslim sneezes and says all praises be to Allah (Alhamdoulillah), bless him.
5.When a Muslim gets sick visit the person;
6.Following the funeral procession (bier) of a Muslim;
Let us now take them by turn. As I said when a Muslim greets another Muslim using ‘salaam’ it is a duty upon the one greeted to respond with best of Islamic greetings.
For instance if he says “Assalaamu Alaikum’ (peace be upon you), the responder could reply with ‘Waa alaikum’sallam.
Also be reminded that when one says “Assalaamu Alaikum’ he gets ten good deeds (rewards). When he says “Assalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatoullah’ (peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy) the person has twenty rewards. Additionally, if a Muslim says “Assalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatoullah wa Barakatuhu’ (peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessing) thirty rewards are written for him.
To authenticate this, Ibn Umar (radiallah anhu) reported that one day a man came to a gathering where the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was in attendance and greeted: “Assalaamu Alaikum’ (peace be upon you), the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) responded “ten”. A second person came and said: “Assalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatoullah’ (peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy), the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) responded “twenty”. Then a third person came and said: “Assalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatoullah wa Barakatuhu’ (peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessing) and the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) responded “thirty”. Imaan Ahmad (rahimullah) reported that “the closest to Allah Glorified is He, from amongst all the people is the one who commences ‘salaam’.” According to another hadith from Abou Umamah (radiallah anha) the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “Whoever commences Salaam is very close to Allah Glorified is He and His Messenger, Muhammad (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam)”.
Nonetheless, in this age and times you find Muslims disputing amongst themselves to the point where the greeting of ‘Salaam’ becomes discriminatory. Blatantly, a Salafi brother would refuse to greet another Muslim brother simply because the latter is a non-Salafi. This situation has further degenerated to young Muslims who are mere pupils not even students of knowledge rating and differentiating scholars as so and so is Salafi and so and so are not. Where do they learn such dangerous thinking and paths from? The People of Knowledge are well-known therefore let the ignorant people stop causing unnecessary disputations.
The Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) used to return greetings from the people of the book (Jews and Christians) now who are we today to shun greeting amongst ourselves moreover non-Muslims. It is clearly seen that the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) has obligated Muslims to greet each other with best greetings of peace.
Allaah – Glorified and Majestic – says: “So keep you, duty to Allah and fear Him as much as you can.” [Surah At-Taghabun (Mutual Loss and Gain) 64:16]
Brothers in Islam, let us desists from such dangerous conspiracies and encourage the basis of unity amongst the Muslims particularly with proper belief (aqeedah).
“And when it is said to them: ‘Make not mischief on the earth,’ they say: ‘We are only peace-makers.’ Verily! They are the ones who make mischief, but they perceive not.” [Surah Al Baqarah (The Cow) 2:11-12]
When a brother of the same faith invites you, please do accept his invitation. Such responses, often results into much love and usually ward off unnecessary suspicions and ulterior motives. Positive effects gained from such meal sharing cannot be over-emphasised.
And when a Muslim brother comes to you regarding a matter please do give him sincere advice. Giving good advice to a brother means that you mean him goodness and keeping him in heed to the heedless.
It is narrated by Jabir (radiallah anhu) that Holy Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, to his Companions: “You will be questioned about me in the next world. What are you going to say?” They replied: ‘We will testify that you have conveyed the message, fulfilled it and given sincere advice”.
When a Muslim sneezes and says all praises be to Allah (Alhamdoulillah), bless him, by saying “YARMUK ALLAAH” and let the sneezer reply with “YAHDEEKUM ALLAAHU YUSLIH BAALAKUM (May Allaah guide you and correct your thinking).
May Allah protect our Muslim ummah everywhere from the plotting of enemies who are lying in wait for it to stumble! May Allah keep it strong and steadfast, glorious, leading and prevalent in truth; my Lord is All-Hearing, All-Responding!
This is what we wish and hope for, and it is by our Lord we are inspired to say truthful words and carry out straightforward deeds.
Having said this, I ask Almighty Allah to forgive me, you and all Muslims for all our wrongdoings; so ask Him for forgiveness and repentance; indeed my Lord is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful!
Second khutbah
All praise be to Allah for His kindness, and thanks to Him for His ability and His gratitude. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone. He has no partner, Great in His Being. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. May Allah send salutations on him, and on his family and companions and may the very much peace be upon them.
O Muslims, if a brother of the Islamic faith falls sick it is the duty of the Muslims to visit him. Usually, this give him hope to recover plus the obligation is handsomely rewarded by Allaah, the Most High. Visiting the ill and afflicted person build strong bonds and relationships as well as strengthening brotherhoods. But it does not only stop at that; the Muslim visitor also receives rewards for every step taken towards such journey amidst prayers from the angels. Therefore, it is from the clearest advice that the Holy Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) has encouraged Muslim to do this as mentioned below:
The Holy Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said “A Muslim who embarks on visiting his sick brother remains to be in the harvest of Paradise until he returns home”.
Finally, when a Muslim dies his believing brother is bound to follow his funeral procession (bier); and this includes praying for his corpse at burial ceremony.
O Allah send salutations, peace and blessings on your servant and messenger Muhammad, and on his good, pure family, and his companions, the fortunate personalities.
O Allah be happy with the guided leaders and rightly-guided khulafa: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, and on all the rest of the companions of your prophet and whoever treads their path and follows their way, O Lord of the worlds.
O Allah grant honour to Islam and the Muslims…
We ask Allaah to grant us and you the ‘tawfeeq’ to know the truth and act in accordance with it.
“Verily, Allah enjoins justice and kindness, and giving (help) to kith and kin, and forbids all types of lewd acts, and all kinds of oppression. He admonishes you, that you may take heed.” [Surah an Nahl: 90]
Remember Allah and He will remember you. Thank Him for His favours and He will give you more. Verily, remembrance of Allah is greater than all, and Allah knows what you do.
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