It is affirmed that if you worship Allah in Makkah, the reward is far, far more than what you get here in The Gambia. This is Allah’s gift to them and we cannot do anything about it. Allah is the One who gave it to the people of Makkah. Allah is also the one who gave preference to that House (al-Ka’aba, al-Musharrafah) in Makkah. All the scholars have agreed that if you pray in Makkah, the rewards are not the same as when you pray at another place. This is why the Prophet, salalahu alayhi wassalam, said a single prayer in Masjidul Haram, that’s where the Ka’aba is stationed is more than if you pray in The Gambia. For example, the prayer of a person who prays in Makkah at the Ka’aba is equal to 100,000 times of the prayer of someone in The Gambia. Now we are attending or observing the Friday prayers today for instance, if we want to be at par with the person who has prayed the Friday prayers in Makkah, then we have to do it 100,000 times more and this is their single Friday prayer. This is a land which is blessed, w’Allahi (I swear by Allah)! In their fortunes, consumption (food), and worship, Allah has put a lot of blessings into them. We can never be equal at all. The Prophet (alayhi salatu wasalam) said it can never be allowed for a person to pick up his or her baggage to travel to a mosque except there. Why? Because the amount of rewards that could be driven from the mosque can never be attained from any other mosque anywhere on this earth. For example look at us, their one prayer equals to our 100,000 prayers. May Allah grant Makkah with more blessings! Ameen! That is baraka that stays, and continues. This is why Makkah’s status in worship shall continue till the day the world is going to end. This is a great respect to the people of Makkah And for the peace in which they will always remain in until the last day of the world. The Prophet, Alayhi salatu wassalam, when he opened Makkah on the day of its great reconquest, established proper Islamic practices, and said: ‘Nobody will invade Makkah until the Day of Judgment’. This is a guarantee that Makkah will remain in peace and stability until the Day of Reckoning. No amount of schemes or plots by the enemies of Islam would be able to destabilise it. Don’t be afraid, just firmly believe that Makkah shall remain stable until the day when this earth will be rolled up; it is fully protected. However, if a day comes when no believer, and I mean no worshipper thought of visiting Makkah, then you should realise that, that will be the end of peace on this earth. Please, you have to realise the importance and respectful nature Makkah is shrouded in. And kindly know that the graduates from Makkah will never lead you astray. Know that Makkah is guidance for mankind and all that exists. This expected trial (fitnah) of ‘Dajjal’ (Anti-Christ), which is going to be the mother of all crises, when it breaks out, will spread everywhere except Makkah and Madina. The Anti-Christ will not enter them. He will attempt everything in his capacity to enter them but Allah shall send down angels with cutlasses to defend these cities and he (Anti-Christ) will not be able to enter them. This is the fortification of Makkah for you. The utterances of the ignoramuses that we went to Makkah to study and only returned to mislead people, holds no water. And if graduates from Makkah start to mislead people then beware that there will be no one on the face of this earth that will be able to guide them anymore. The Prophet said in the last days of the last generations, faith will be returning or heading out to Makkah and Madina due to lack of it being practiced in other parts of the world. And believe me this has already started, I swear, this has begun. Among countries that practise shari’ah, Makkah and Madina occupy the number one position globally. It is the only country in the world today that utilises the book of Allah to rule and judge between its people. To allow shari’ah which you know is what Allah has commandeered to be the law of the earth, today there is no country that obeys such commandment except Makkah. May Allah increase more of its blessings. May Allaah forgive me and all of you, for He is the Most Forgiving.
Second khutbah
All praises belong to Allah and peace and blessings be upon the Prophet of mankind, his family and companions and also all those who follow him until the Day of Judgment. This is Makkah for you, a direction where Muslims face to observe their prayers. If anyone deliberately fails to face the direction of Makkah, but instead faces another direction, his or her prayers will not be accepted. And you cannot be a Muslim until you face the qibla which is the direction of Kabbah in Makkah whenever you are offering prayers. Then Makkah cannot be a city which would mislead people. Are you insinuating that Allah knew the people of Makkah were to mislead us yet still He had said all these blessed things about them over all the others? Are you saying that Allah knew that the people of Makkah would change, change their religion and disbelieve after Muhammad, and that despite all these He still allowed His house which is the Kabbah, to be built in Makkah? No! O Muslims, a lot of things have been said against those of us who graduated from Makkah and Madina, however, You must not believe in these messages or else you will perish both in this world and the hereafter. May Allah protect us from perishing. Ameen! That is why some scholars have said that as far as the Kabbah still exists, then our faith also stands and is legitimate. That is why I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon, that if the time comes when pilgrims no longer make journeys to Makkah; they do not go for umrah (lesser pilgrimage; Muslims do not face the ka’aba in Makkah when offering prayers, then know that our peace has vanished altogether. Know that peace has disappeared and has left us. The Prophet (alayhi salatu wasalam) said: “People will always be in peace and tranquility as far as they respect this house in Makkah and realise its worth, but if a time comes when we all abandon this house, completely deserting it and we do not face it when praying, and no one is interested in picking up his luggage to go and visit it, then know that peace has totally disappeared on this earth. That is Makkah, which we should be proud of.
Therefore, if the people of Makkah are lost and misguided, then you people will not be guided. If the people of Makkah get to an extent where they desert this religion, and they teach people misguidance in its place, then beware that you shall never find an iota of guidance anywhere on earth. Allah has said, this city is the best for all the people and all that exist.
You Allah! The Revealer of the Book, the Sender of clouds, the Defeater of the Ahzaab (coalition of the nonbelievers), defeat their enemy, O You, the Lord of Majesty and Honour! Let their enemy pay sooner rather than later O You, the Living, the Everlasting! O You, the Lord of Majesty and Honour!
“… Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire!” [Al-Baqarah: 201]
With Ousman Bojang
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