Staying connected

Staying connected
Arshad Gamiet

13 January 2006

“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 respected Brothers and Sisters,

In the past few days, many of our family and friends have completed the rites of Hajj, and are now preparing to return home. We pray that Allah will grant them a safe journey back to their loved ones, and we ask Allah to accept their Hajj, to accept their prayers and pleas for forgiveness. For those of us who have not yet made this momentous journey, we make this special prayer: May Allah extend to each and every one of us here, an invitation to visit His house in the near future, insh-Allah,

Hajj is the last of the five pillars of faith: our Kalima Shahaadah. It’s also largest act of collective worship on the planet. It is the ultimate level of connecting our universal family, the Muslim Ummah. From our individual prayers at home, to our collective prayers in the mosque, which expands to Jumu’ah every Friday, and the two ‘Eids every year, we join ever growing circles until we go on Hajj, to join the great moving circle around the House of Allah. We also connect with the history of worship. We connect with the history of Allah’s prophets.

During the Hajj, we visit the most ancient sites, to follow in the footsteps of the prophets, and we re-enact the lessons they taught us. On the plain of Arafat, we plead for Allah’s forgiveness and mercy, where Prophet Adam pleaded for Allah’s mercy on the mountain of Mercy, Jabal Rahma. In the valley of Makka we visit the Holy Kaaba, built by Prophet [Abraham], Ebrahim alayhis salaam, and his son, Isma-il, Alayhis salaam. It is the first house of worship that was ever built. As we read in Sura Al-‘Imran Ch3:096:

“The first House [of worship] for men was that at Bakka: full of blessings and of guidance for all kinds of beings:”

Between the hills of al-Safa and al-Marwah we follow the footsteps of Hajar, where she ran frantically searching for water for her infant son Prophet Ismail, and where the well of Zamzam was uncovered. Even to this day, we regularly recite the prayers of the Prophets Ebrahim and Musa, Abraham and Moses, as well as the other prophets.

Hajj teaches us about our connections to Allah’s prophets, and it teaches us just how timeless and universal are the needs and aspirations, the yearnings of the human soul. Deep down within each and every one of us, we yearn to be connected to our beginnings, to our Maker. Allah made us that way, so that we can learn to know Him, so that we can yearn to be close to Him. He wants us to know our origin and our destiny. So long as we remain disconnected from Allah, we will never know real peace, contentment and tranquillity. Therefore to be connected, we must constantly make the effort to remember Allah, to remember what He wants from us, and to shape our lives according to His plan. Again The Holy Qur’an reminds us that only in Thikr, in the constant remembrance of Allah, will our hearts find satisfaction: In Sura Al-Ra’d, s13v28:

“Al-latheena aamanu, watat-ma-innu quloobuhum, be thikrullah. Alaa bithikrillaahi tat-ma-innul quloob.”

“Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the Remembrance of Allah; for without doubt, in the Remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction.”

The big lesson here is getting connected to Allah, and staying connected.

When we pray, five times a day, we may well occasionally pray alone. But if two or more people are present, we are encouraged to pray together. Praying in congregation is 27 times more valuable than praying alone. Islam further encourages us to pray in a mosque, if one is nearby. Then, we are required to join a larger group every Friday for the Jumu’ah prayer, as we are doing now. Twice a year we have even larger prayers for Eid, and at least once in our lifetime, we go on Hajj, if we have the means. So, if you think about it, you will find that Islam connects us all in ever widening circles. From 2 or 3 or 4 at home to 200 as we sometimes have at Jumuah in this hall, to over 2 million on Hajj. Hajj is therefore the ultimate physical connection between Muslims. Here we can actually see about 2% of the entire Muslim world gathered in one place.

We connect in ever increasing numbers, and the direction is always the same. In all mosques, except one, we pray in straight lines. In Haram al Shareef, we all stand in a circle facing the Kaaba. Qibla is the invisible line, the physical direction that connects every Muslim with every other Muslim on the planet. If you could look down on planet earth from space, and if you could see every Muslim at prayer, you would see a giant flower opening and closing its petals as we all go through the motions of Salaah. And if you could actually see this beautiful flower, you would see it moving gradually from East to West as the sun moves Fajr and Maghrib from opposite ends of the globe. I know we cannot actually see all this from space, but Allah gave us the gift to imagine. I can imagine this beautiful image of a world at prayer, a gigantic flower opening and closing across the whole planet, and moving slowly westwards with the motion of the Sun.

At the centre of this beautiful Earth-sized flower is Makka, al Mukarrama The Blessed City. Makka is the centre of our spiritual universe. Some years ago my whole family went on Umra, and we arrived in Makka after midnight. We were very tired after completing the Tawaaf walking seven times around the Kaaba, and my daughter Ayesha who was 7 years old, gazed at this wondrous sight, so I asked her what she was thinking. She replied: ‘Dad, it looks like the Kaaba is the sun, and the people are like planets going around the sun.’ I told her, ‘You’re absolutely right. The Kaaba is the centre of the universe. I was thinking of our spiritual universe. I realised that if you think about it, the Kaaba is the connecting point between human beings on earth, and their Creator. It is the connecting point between time/space and eternity, where time and space do not exist. My dear Brothers and Sisters, let us keep this in mind when we stand up to pray. Let us remember that we are part of a beautiful living, moving flower the size of planet earth, constantly opening and closing its petals of prayer, never resting for one moment until the end of time. Subhaanallaah, what an honour it is for us, to be a part of this gigantic living work of art!

Subhanallaahi, wal Hamdulillaahi walaa ilaaha il-lal-laahu Allahu Akbar.

Glory to Allah, Praise to Allah, There is no God but Allah. Allah is Great.

“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.”

All praise is due to Alláh, the Lord of all the Worlds; may the greetings and peace be upon the best messenger, Muhammad, the unlettered prophet; and upon his family and upon all of his companions. Amma ba’ad, And, after this,

Behold, Alláh and his angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O you who believe! Ask for blessings on him, and salute him with a worthy greeting.

O Alláh! Send your greetings upon Muhammad and his family, just as you sent your greetings on Abraham, and his family. O Alláh, send your blessings on Muhammad and his family, just as you blessed Abraham and his family. In both worlds, you are praiseworthy and exalted.”

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.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If you analysed the statistics of the Ummah, which numbers about one thousand million or one billion, you will find that the Arabic-speaking Muslim population is less than 20% of the total. This means that more than 80% of us do not speak Arabic at home. Some have learnt Arabic as a second language, but most Muslims understand no Arabic at all. This is a very important point. We pray in Arabic and we make our supplications, duah, in Arabic, but we don’t speak the language. So the meanings are difficult to follow unless we’ve actually memorised the meanings in our mother tongue.

Every Muslim should try to hard to learn some Arabic. At least, we must memorise the meanings of our duahs in salaah. We must say it with understanding and passionate feeling. You cannot be sincere and passionate about words you don’t understand. Meaning is crucial. Understanding transforms your life. This is how we re-establish a good connection with Allah, meaningful not meaningless connection. When we know what we’re saying, and Allah knows that we know, then it works. Allah is not impressed by our prayers if we don’t even understand what we’re saying, and we make no effort to understand. When we move closer to Allah, He comes even closer to us. A well known Hadith Qudsi: tells us that if we move one step towards Allah, He takes ten steps towards us. When we come to him walking, He comes to us running.

Allah makes Islam easy for us. We don’t even have to compose our own prayers. Our Holy Qur’an has many pre-packed prayers, just like fast food take-a-ways. No water, no microwave needed. Just read it, understand it and try to live by it. Your life will improve dramatically. Your stop-start connections with the Almighty will become like a high-speed broadband internet connection. It’s like giving up a slow and unreliable dialup modem. Suddenly you’re on Broadband. Get connected and stay connected with Allah.

The key is Salaah and Thikr: Let’s do our prayers on time, every day, and in between our prayers, let’s keep Allah in focus at all times. This is crucially important. We must maintain Allah-awareness at all times. When we’re doing business deals, or enjoying our social relations, or spending time with family, remember that Allah is the unseen presence who watches over our affairs. Those who forget Allah will cause Allah to forget them. If we become constantly mindful of Allah, He will be constantly mindful over us. ‘Wa thikrullaahi akbar’ says the Quran. ‘and Remembrance of Allah is the greatest thing in life.’

Let’s end our khutbah with some of the prayers that Allah has pre-packaged for us as free gifts in His Holy Book: We should all memorise prayers like these, and also memorise the meanings in our own language.

Rabbana aatina fid dunya hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan waqeena athaaban naar!

O My Lord, give us good in this world, and good in the life to come, and keep us safe from the torment of the fire.

Rabbana la tuzigh quloobanaa ba’da ith haday tanaa, wahablanaa milla dunka rahma. Innaka antal wah-haab.

O My Lord, do not let our hearts deviate from the Truth now that we have been guided, but grant us Mercy from Your very Presence; for You are the grantor of bounties without measure.

Rabbi ja’alnee muqeemus salaati wamn thur-riy-yatee Rabbana wata qab-bal du’ah.

O My Lord, make me one who offers prayers perfectly, and also my offspring. Our Lord and accept this prayer!

Rabbigh firlee wali waalidayya, walil mu’mineena yawma yaqoomul hisaab.

O My Lord, forgive me and my parents, and all believers on the day of Judgement.

Subhaanaka Rabbika Rabbil izzati ‘ammaa yasifoon, wasalaamun alal Mursalaleen, wal hamdu lillaahi Rabbil ‘aalameen!

Glory to your Lord, Lord of Majesty and Honour! He is free from what the ascribe to Him! And Peace on the Messengers! And Praise to Allah, the Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds!

Ameen. Aqeemus salaah!