The Power of Prostration [sujood]
Arshad Gamiet
Dawson Creek BC, Canada 13th July 2007.
“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,
This is the smallest Jumu’ah congregation that I’ve ever had the pleasure of joining. But small isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Never mind the Size: it’s the quality that counts. When Rasool-Allah, sws travelled with Sayyidna Abu Bakr on that epoch making journey, the Hegira, they were forced to hide in a cave. The Quraish were hot on their heels. But they were not afraid. Prophet Muhammad sws re-assured his Companion. “When there are two of us, Allah is the third, when there are three of us, Allah is the fourth.” Fear and anxiety are natural emotions when we face danger. But Muslims must always remember that when we strive hard to please Allah, we are never alone.
“Alaa inna awliyaa Allah, la khawfun alayhim wala hum yahzanoon!”
“Behold, on the Friends of Allah, there is no fear and no grief.”
When we engage our body, heart and mind in service to Allah swt, then He is indeed near to us, nearer than our jugular veins. So let’s be truly grateful that Allah has enabled us to gather here today for Jumu’ah, to remind ourselves of our utter dependence on Him. Surely Allah says in His Hadith Qudsi: “When my servant remembers me in a gathering, I remember him in an even better gathering than that; when My servant takes one step towards Me, I take ten steps towards him, and when he comes walking to Me, I come running towards him…”
Brothers and Sisters, how can we go wrong when we remain conscious of Allah and we sincerely, constantly seek His guidance? Here we are, in one of the remotest parts of Canada, between the rugged Rocky Mountains and the vast open plains, but Allah has a purpose and a plan for all of us wherever might find ourselves on planet earth. For Muslims, the whole earth is a mosque, a place of worship. We should constantly seek Allah’s guidance, in order to understand where we fit into His master plan. Allah, as we know, is the best of planners, and it’s vital that we know exactly what our special role is in the great cosmic scheme of things.
My wife and I have gathered a wealth of experience in our 60 years, Alhamdu lil-laah. We’d like to share this with you. When we were younger, we, too, concentrated our energies on the immediate priorities: working hard, building a career, raising children, paying the mortgage, saving for retirement. Sometimes, the attractions of dunya can be quite compelling, and for some of us, almost overwhelming. We can easily be distracted from the balanced way, the straight path, Siraatal Mustaqeem.
In Sura Al Imran, verse 14, Allah remind us:
"Fair in the eyes of men is the love of things they covet: Women and sons; heaped-up hoards of gold and silver; horses branded (for blood and excellence); and (wealth of) cattle and well-tilled land. Such are the possessions of this world's life; but in nearness to Allah is the best of the goals (to return to)."
Our wealth and our material possessions are a test from Allah, and a by-product of worshipping Him. It’s really not the main agenda. Sometimes, we forget our main agenda, to worship Allah, and we worship the by-products.
Allah wants us to enjoy the fruits of our hard work, but not so much as to distract us from worshipping him. We should enjoy His earthly gifts at arm’s length, not close to the heart. Our hearts belong to Allah alone. Other religions teach that in order to grow spiritually, you must deny yourself the pleasures of this world. Islam is unique among all religions in that it teaches life fulfilment, not life denial, and that the worlds of the flesh and the spirit should live in harmony, not conflict. In our daily prayers, we say:
Rabbanaa aatina fid dunya hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan wa qinaa athaa ban naar.
“O my Lord, please grant me the best of this world, and the best of the hereafter, and save me from the torment of the fire.”
Sura Al-Rahman repeatedly asks the rhetorical question:
“Fa bi ay-yi aalaa-i-Rabbi huma tukath thibaan?”
“Then which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?”
Allah created us to be easily distracted and forgetful – it’s in our human nature. And herein lies the great challenge to remember Allah and to remember our obligations through a great welter of constant distractions. This Remembrance of Allah is based firstly on the pillars of Islam; Bearing witness to Divine Unity; prayer, fasting, Zakaat and Hajj, and it’s reinforced by our constant, voluntary acts of Zikr: loving remembrance of Allah, and longing to return to Him with a pure, unblemished heart. Unlike many faiths where worship is set aside for special times on special days, worship in Islam is a way of living, a way of being, 24/7, and the Holy Quran says that “Wa thikrulLaahi akbar…” “and Remembrance of Allah is the greatest thing [in life].”
Brothers and sisters, therefore let me remind myself and you, that true faith is not simply doing our prayers, fasting and other duties in a mechanical sort of way. We should try to be deeply mindful of what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it. We should ask Allah to lift the veils of ignorance from our eyes, so that we can truly plunge into the depths of His Divine Wisdom, and emerge, illuminated with some of that luminosity and Divine Grace within our own hearts.
Think, for example, next time we make sujood, that we are not simply facing Makka, prostrating and carelessly rattling off Arabic words whilst our hearts and minds are elsewhere, thinking about work, shopping or other thoughts. Remember that we are by nature forgetful and distractible. We must struggle to keep body, heart and mind synchronised, especially in prayer. We are in the High Court of the Lord of all Creation. This is not a time to be careless or forgetful. We have summoned all our energies to turn away from Shaitaan, the Cursed One. We are taming the lower nafs, that ugly beast within our breasts. We are making sujood, prostrating, submitting body, mind and soul to Allah’s service. As our foreheads touch the ground, we bring the highest, noblest part of our body down to earth, and Allah raises our status beyond the angels when we do so. When we make sajda, we can become like lightning rods connecting heaven and earth, time-space and eternity. When we overcome all the odds, all the distractions and temptations around us, to worship Allah as He deserves to be worshipped, then we truly become His khaleefah, His vice-regent on earth. Sujood is a serious matter, reminding us of our utter lowliness and helplessness in the Presence of Allah swt.
Brothers and sisters, if we concentrate on the significance of our prayers, on the great power, authority and honour that Allah bestows on His abd, His beloved servant, then our prayers will have a dramatic transformative effect on our hearts, and through our hearts, on our lives. Sadly, perhaps this is why we Muslims are in such a parlous state. Perhaps we are too mechanical and too distracted in our prayers. We must strive sincerely, with body, mind and spirit, to improve our prayers so that we can tap into that great reservoir of spiritual energy that Allah reserves for His devoted servants.
….. xxxxx …..
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."
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."
My respected brothers and sisters,
The key to a successful prayer is how we behave once the prayer is over, and when we step out into the marketplace, into the street, into the company of other people. How often haven’t we seen apparently sincere brothers and sisters getting up from their prayers and resuming their bad habits of lying, cheating and backbiting? If we want real benefit from our prayers, then we must allow our hearts to be moved, and our behaviour to be improved. Things cannot remain as they were before. True faith, true iman, illuminates and beautifies the heart. Others must be able to discern a tangible improvement in our ways if we have done our prayers sincerely and conscientiously. Even as we leave the mosque to enter the marketplace, our hearts must still be in a state of sujood, loving devotion, supplication and obedience to Allah. Our hearts must still be in that state of sujood until the next prayer. This is what we must all strive for. This is the key to bringing an improvement, a change in our conditions. This is the real meaning of the Quranic verse that says: “Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves”, i.e. until they change what is in their hearts.
So, my dear Brothers and Sisters, let us pray to Allah, to help us filter out all the vanities, all the temptations and distractions that stand between us and Him.
As Nabi Adam prayed, after wandering in disobedience to Allah’s command, let us also memorise this beautiful prayer:
“Rabbana zalamna anfusina wa il lam taghfir lana wa tarhamna lana kuna minal-khasireen”
“Our Lord! We have wronged our own souls: If You do not forgive us not and bestow Your mercy on us, we shall certainly be lost.” [7:23]
Let us end this khutbah with some supplications, duas, taught to us by the anbiyyaa, the Prophets of Allah:
“O my Lord, do not let our hearts deviate, now that we have been guided to the truth, but send us Mercy from Your very Presence, for You are the Grantor or Bounties without measure.”
Rabbana la tuzigh quloobanaa, ba’da ith hadaytanaa, wa hablanaa min ladunka Rahma. Innaka antal Wah-haab.
My Lord, help me to perfect my prayer, and of my descendants, Our Lord, accept this prayer....
Rabbi ja'alni muqeemus salaati, wamin dur-riy-yati, Rabbanaa wata qabbal du'aah...
My Lord, forgive me, and my parents, and all Believers until the Day of Reckoning..
Rabbigh firlee wali waali dayya, walil Mu'mineena yawma yaqoomul hisaab...
Glory to Allah, Lord of Majesty and Honour, and Peace on the Prophets, and Praise to Allah, Lord of all creation!
"Soob' haanaka Rabika Rabbil-‘’izzati 'Ammaa yasifoon, wasalaamun 'alal Mursaleen, wal Hamdu lil-Laahi Rabbil Aalameen."
Ameen. Aqeemus salaah!
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Ameen. Aqeemus salaah!
Your feedback will help us to improve our khutbahs. Please let us have your comments and suggestions., by writing to : mail@khutbahbank.org.uk Jazakallah Khairan!
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