Indeed all praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, seek His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our selves and actions. Whoever Allah guides, none can mislead, but he whom He leaves astray you will never find for him a protecting guide. I bear witness that none is worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah’s peace and blessings be on Muhammad, his companions, and those who follow him in goodness until the day of Judgment.
As to what follows:
Fear Allah O believers! Fear Allah the Exalted with true fear, because fear of Allah will bring your blessings and protect you from evil, and you will attain the happiness of the world and success of the Hereafter by it. Allah said, “Indeed, for the pious there will be success” [An-Naba 78: 31]. He also said, “And Allah will deliver the pious to their places of success (Paradise). No evil shall touch them, nor shall they grieve” [Az-Zumar 39: 61].
O Allah make us to be among your pious servants, your successful party, and your righteous allies.
O believers! Truly the basis of the fear of Allah the Exalted is the righteousness and piety of the heart. Allah has made the heart the place which He looks at. A hadith says, “Allah does not look at your forms nor your bodies but He looks at your hearts” [Muslim (2564)].
Another narration states, “And your actions.” This heart is entrusted with success and happiness. Allah commanded you to control this heart, purify it, care for it, and reform it. Whoever reforms his heart, he will be righteous, and whoever neglects his hearts, he will be unrighteous. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “ Verily, there is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart” [al-Bukhari (52)].
Our Lord the exalted says, “Leave (O mankind, all kinds of) sin, open and secret” [al-An’am 6: 120]. Allah has commanded you to leave open and secret sins. Indeed open sins are all sins which people can see and know of, and secret sins are those which are not seen by people, and no one sees them except the One who knows the hidden things and secrets. Secret sins are what occurs in the hearts in the form of different types of diseases and impurities which impede its progress. Rather, they may kill the heart and prevent it from attaining its success and happiness.
People are concerned about the wellness, strength of their bodies, and their outward appearance. However, they forget about the wellness, strength, safety, righteousness of their hearts, whether they are pure, clean and please the Lord of the worlds.
Indeed the secret sin is very dangerous. A poet said:
“If you escape from it you will have escaped from a great thing/ However I do not think that you will escape.”
O believers! The greatest diseases is that which start in the heart and they may subsequently appear on the parts of the body. This great and dangerous sin which has spread in the lives of many people, and whose effects have spread into their actions is jealousy. We seek refuge in Allah from it. It is an affliction and disease which corrupts the heart and takes away its health, and turns it away from righteousness to sickness and deviation. This disease is one of the greatest diseases, and being afflicted with it is one of the greatest afflictions. This disease makes the person afflicted with it to commit sins. Jealousy takes a servant far away from piety and faith. What a great affliction jealousy is! If it enters any heart it will corrupt and disturb it. Jealousy is an old disease. It has been said it is the first sin which people disobeyed Allah with, and that is not far-fetched, because sins start in the heart through deviation and being far from the Lord of the worlds.
O believers! Through jealousy a person becomes involved in different types of evil and sins like disbelief, injustice, defaming people, violating rights, refraining from performing compulsory duties, other types of evils and afflictions.
O believers! Indeed the Prophet (peace be upon him) warned his ummah against jealousy and he talked of its seriousness in many hadiths including the hadith that was narrated by Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false tales; and do not look for the others' faults and do not spy, and do not be jealous of one another, and do not desert (cut your relation with) one another, and do not hate one another; and O Allah's worshipers! Be brothers (as Allah has ordered you!)” [al-Bukhari (6064)].
The Prophet (peace be upon him) explained the severity of jealousy’s destruction of a servant’s religion in a hadith which was transmitted by at-Tirmithi (2510) from the hadiths of az-Zubair ibn al-‘Awwaam (may Allah be pleased with him). He said, “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The disease of the nations before you is creeping towards you,” and this indicates that it is an old disease in nations and in people, “jealousy and hatred,” look at how the Prophet (peace be upon him) linked jealousy to hatred. This is because jealousy results in many evils including hatred that occurs between people.
In explaining the effect of jealousy on the servants action, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “it a shaver, a shaver of religion and not hair”. This is because jealousy spoils the servant’s religion. If jealousy enters a person heart it blinds it, and involves it in different types of destructive things and evils.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) told us that jealousy destroys good deeds and acts of worship. Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Beware of jealousy, for jealousy devours good deeds just as fire devours firewood.” Think of the small pieces of wood timber which are set on fire, and how the fire quickly rages, destroys them and turns them into useless ash. Similarly, that is what jealousy does to your good deeds; it consumes them like fire consumes wood.
O believers! Truly jealousy was censured in the Sunnah, and people were warned against it and dissuaded from it. Jealousy is disliking Allah’s favors on others. If you find yourself disliking Allah’s favors on others , then this is jealousy. Additionally, if you wish that this favor is taken away from the person whom Allah has favored, then know that you have added injustice and great evil to jealousy.
The fact that jealousy causes a person to hate Allah’s favors on others is sufficient evil. Additionally when the jealousy person wishes, hopes, rather, supplicates and strives to remove Allah’s favors from others, he would have added injustice and unfairness to jealous which is an action of the heart.
O believers! Indeed loving being equal to others in goodness or even excellence and advancement in goodness is not jealousy. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “There is no envy except in two cases; a man whom Allah has given wisdom,” that is, religious knowledge, “and he gives his decisions accordingly and teaches it to the others, a person whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it in the right way" [al-Bukhari (1409)]. If you see a person whom Allah has blessed with Islamic knowledge, and Has put benefit in his statements and advice, and you like to share this goodness with him or to be similar to him, then this is part of the goodness that you will be rewarded for. However, if you hate that (i.e., the person’s bounties), wish for disappearance , destruction, and so on, then that is jealousy, which is the shaver which consumes good deeds like the fire consumes wood.
O believers! Truly jealousy is opposing Allah’s decree. Allah in wise in what He grants, what he withholds, none can withhold what He has given, and none can give what He has withheld. Allah says, “Do they distribute the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have apportioned among them their livelihood” [az-Zukhruf 43: 32].
This distribution which your heart is dissatisfied with is the distribution of the All-Wise, rather it is the distribution of the Wisest of the wisest, the Lord of the worlds. The jealousy person opposes Allah. He strives to obstructs Allah’s decree and predestination. Allah says, “Do they distribute the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of this world and have raised some of them above others in degrees [of rank] that they may make use of one another for service” [az-Zukhruf 43: 32].
If your heart desires goodness, then ask Allah in whose Hands is the control (of all things), turn to Allah, and your heart should not be attached to Allah’s creation, and the bounties that they have been given. Rather, ask Allah for His bounties, as Allah the Exalted stated when he mentioned the superiority of men over women: “And wish not for the things in which Allah has made some of you to excel others. For men there is reward for what they have earned, (and likewise) for women there is reward for what they have earned” [an-Nisa 4: 32]. Then with regards to attaining bounties, Allah said, “and ask Allah of His Bounty” [an-Nisa 4: 32].
O Allah! I ask you by your bounty that you should cleanse our hearts of jealousy and all of spiritual diseases. O Allah! fill our hearts with your love, attachment to You, and reverence, O Lord of the heavens and earth.
I say these words and I ask Allah the Great to forgive me and you. Indeed he is the Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful
The second khutbah
All praise is due to Allah who created the heavens and earth and made darkness and light. I praise the Exalted who is in heaven, and I commend him with all the goodness. I bear witness that none is worthy of worship except Allah Who has no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah blessings be upon Muhammad, his family, his companions and those who will follow his way in goodness until the day of Judgment.
As to what follows:
Fear Allah, O believers! Fear Him and know that the harm of every sin affects the perpetrator. The evil effect of disobedience affects the person who is involved in it. In explaining the evil effect of sins, Our Lord the Exalted said, “Whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] his soul. And whoever errs only errs against it” [Al-Isra 17: 15]. Thus a believer must know that if he is engaged in any sin, then he is the first person to suffer the pain of those sins in his heart. This may be followed by an immediate or delayed punishment from the Lord of the worlds. Therefore, a Muslim should fear Allah, and hasten in repentance to the Exalted Lord, so that Allah may excuse him, forgive his sin and absolve him.
O believers! Jealousy is very strange. The first victim of jealousy is the perpetrator who has filled his heart with hatred for people’s blessings. He is tormented, worried, sad and disturbed. It has been said that the only instance that we will see an oppressor who is similar to the oppressed person is in the case of a jealousy person. Someone described a jealousy person and said, “He is always sorrowful, constantly depressed, restless. He is saddened by blessings, and does not enjoy them. He considers Allah’s blessings on His creation to be punishment and deficiency for him. He is continually anxious, discontented, and his life is spoiled. This is his immediate punishment; distress and unhappiness with no worldly gain, and loss of religious rank. There is no power and no strength save in Allah, and we seek Allah’s refuge from being forsaken by Him.
O believers! Jealousy occurs by many actions, and leads to great evil. A believer must hasten to cleanse his heart and purify it from all stains of jealousy and desire to compete with people in issues not related to the truth and guidance.
O believers! Indeed Allah the Exalted commanded you to seek refuge from the evil of the jealousy people, and He said, “ Say: "I seek refuge with (Allah) the Lord of the daybreak. From the evil of what He has created. And from the evil of darkness when it settles. And from the evil of those who practice witchcraft when they blow in the knots. And from the evil of an envier when he envies." [al-Falaq 113: 1-5]. (The Surah contains examples of) various evils and harms. This Surah is one of the greatest medication for jealousy. This why the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to recite in the morning and evening, after the daily compulsory prayers and at bedtime. This is because the Surah has great benefit and immense protection against evil and its causes. Therefore, you should constantly recite this Surah and the other general athkaar because they are means for protection against the evil of a jealousy person.
O believers! A Muslim must fear the evil of a jealousy person as much as he can. One of the means of avoiding and repelling the evil of the jealousy person is that a Muslim should fear His Exalted Lord. Fear of Allah is a cause of blessings and protection against evil and bad things. Allah said, “Truly, Allah defends those who believe” [al-Hajj 22: 38]. Allah’s defense of a servant covers many forms including protecting him from the evil of the jealous person, and those who closely watch his life.
Another way of repelling the evil of the jealous person is that a servant should repent to Allah the Exalted. This may seem strange to some people and they will say, “How can I be I envied and then be required to repent? How can I suffer injustice and then be commanded to repent?” Listen to what ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said, and what he said is of great benefit and tells a person that what afflicts him is a result of his actions, “There is nothing more beneficial for a servant than sincere repentance to Allah the Exalted repentance when an injustice has been perpetrated on him.” That is why when an oppressor or any person mistreats you, violates your rights, you should turn to Allah in repentance, because you have been afflicted because of your sins. Allah the Exalted says, “Whatever misfortune befalls you [people], it is because of what your own hands have done, and Allah forgives much” [ash-Shoura 42: 30]. Allah is Great! This is the scale of justice; knowing that Allah will not be afflict you except by your sins, because Allah the Exalted is Most Generous and the Most Great. He said, “Why should Allah punish you if you have thanked (Him) and have believed in Him” [An-Nisa 4:147]. Therefore Allah is not in need of punishing us nor is He is in need of the injustice that is perpetrated on us by others, but He gives a free hand to those harm us so that He may test us, and we will take note of that and return to Him. Thus we must turn to Allah and flee to Him.
The predecessors of the ummah behaved in line with this. When a calamity befell one of them, or he faced a difficulty, he would turn to Allah, to such an extent that when one of them went out of his house, and his animal stumbled he would say, “This was caused by such and such a sin”. Similarly when their wives became bad-mannered towards them they would remember their sins. This is taking oneself to account.
It was narrated that Asma bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with her) used to have a headache and she would shout, “O my head!” because of the pain. After that she would say, “And what Allah forgives is more”. Then she would remind herself that her headache was because of her sins, and the sins that Allah overlooked and forgave were greater and more.
Many times when calamities and afflictions befall us, misfortune affects us, our projects fail, and our blessings diminish we blame others, and hold different people to be responsible, and forget that what has afflicted us is because of our sins. Allah said, “Whatever misfortune befalls you [people], it is because of what your own hands have done, and Allah forgives much” [ash-Shoura 42: 30].
O Allah! Forgive us, absolve us and overlook our faults. Our Lord we have wronged ourselves and if you do not forgive us we will indeed be from the losers.
O Allah! Save us from the evil of every creature which is under your control. Do not give a free hand to others over us because of our sins. Forgive us, have mercy on us. O Allah! Overlook our faults, O Owner of Majesty and Honor!
O Allah! Guide us to the truth and save us from the evil of our selves. Grant us the ability to what You like and what pleases You. Guide us to righteousness and piety. O Allah! Grant us safety in our countries. Guide our leaders and those who have authority over us. Our Allah! Forgive us and our brethren who preceded us in faith, and do not put in our hearts any hatred against those who have believed. Our Lord! You are indeed full of kindness, Most Merciful.
O Allah! Send blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad as You sent blessings upon the family of Ibrahim among the nations. You are indeed Worthy of praise, full of glory.
خطبة الحسد