Birth Anniversary of Prophet Muhammad
PDF version: Birth anniv of Prophet Muhammad
The Birth Anniversary of Prophet Muhammad sws
First Sermon
All praise is due to Allah. He completed our religion and bestowed His abundant bounties on us. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. Allah sent him to the world with guidance, enlightenment and healing of what is in the breasts of the believers. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his pure family, companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
As to what follows,
O Servants of Allah, I urge you and myself to be aware that you are asked to obey Him, the Almighty, in line with His orders: “O you who have believed, fear Allah and believe in His Messenger; He will [then] give you a double portion of His mercy and make for you a light by which you will walk and forgive you; and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Al Hadid: 28).
Dear Muslims,
We are celebrating these days a precious occasion that is dear to every Muslim’s heart. It is the birth anniversary of our guide and the beacon of light for mankind, our Master and Prophet Muhammad pbuh. Allah the Almighty says, “there has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book.” (Al Ma’ida: 15). Indeed, the Exalted is He, the Most High, sent His Messenger Muhammad pbuh to replace darkness of the earth with light and guide the people after they have gone astray. His birth and message were a mercy for humanity. The Exalted Allah says, “and We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.”(Al Anbiyaa: 107). That is: the Almighty Allah sent His Messenger Muhammad with a mission of mercy for all mankind; believers and disbelievers alike. Those who believed, they were guided by Allah through His Messenger, and those who did not were invited by the Messenger to follow the righteous path. When the latter didn’t respond, the Messenger never supplicated to Allah to punish them, nor did he curse them despite all the bad treatment and harm he received from them. Instead, he used to say, “O Lord! Forgive my people as they do not know.”
Thus, by sending the Messenger pbuh Allah had conferred a great favour and abundant bounties upon mankind, for the Most Sublime says, “certainly did Allah confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error.”(Al Imran: 164). This means that the disbelievers were ignorant and didn’t know that which is true, nor did they possess the ability to correct that which is erroneous.
Therefore, Allah the Exalted sent His Messenger Muhammad pbuh to guide them to the righteous way with wisdom and good admonition in line with His orders: “invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best.” (An-Nahl: 125). Following Allah’s orders, the Messenger pbuh adopted tenderness and wisdom in calling people for good conduct. He enjoined upon them what is good, prohibited for them all that is evil, relieved them from their burdens and made things easier for them. In this regard, the Most High Allah says, “and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So they who have believed in him, honoured him, supported him and followed the light which was sent down with him – it is those who will be the successful.” (Al A’raaf: 157). That is: the Prophet pbuh came with a message of leniency and ease through which the Almighty opened broad gates for Muslims and made their matters easier.
O Servants of Allah,
Please know that mercy was the essence of the message of our Prophet Muhammad and peoples’ happiness formed its foundation. For this reason his birth was a beacon of goodness for mankind. He promoted social cohesion in order to bring happiness to people. To achieve such a mission, he enjoined upon them several conducts; such as honouring parents and establishing a sympathetic and harmonious relationship between spouses. He also advocated us to raise our children well and prepare them to stand on their own feet and lead a successful life. Keeping good ties with one’s neighbours and speaking with others in good way were also amongst the manners the Prophet pubh advocated. By following all such good conducts, one will, certainly, achieve happiness and live in welfare.
Reporting on this matter, it was narrated that when Jaafar bin Abu Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, explained to Al Najashi the teachings of Islam that the Prophet pbuh decreed, he said, “(the Prophet) ordered us to speak the truth, fulfill the trust, maintain the bond of kinship, keep good neigbhourly relationship, leave off the things prohibited by Allah and ward off blood shedding. He prohibited us from doing the evil actions, eating up the property of an orphan and wrongly accusing the chaste women. He also commanded us to worship Allah and associate not any partner with Him, establish prayer, pay Zakat and fast (Ramadan).”
Not only did the Prophet decree such gracious principles, but he also set for us a good example for adhering to them. His praiseworthy merits were mentioned in the Holy Quran in a sign of appreciation to his attributes and as an evidence of his great character. The Most Exalted says, “and indeed, you are of a great moral character.” (Al Qalam: 4). As such, the Messenger of Allah was the best of people in terms of ethics, and the most noble of them in terms of actions. For example, it was narrated that whereupon the Prophet pbuh was asked to invoke curse upon the disbelievers, he said, “I have not been sent as the invoker of curse, but I have been sent as mercy.” The lesson that we can draw from this Hadith is that we need to treat others in tenderness, address them with the best of words and help them with their affairs.
O Worshippers,
Please also know that Allah’s Apostle pbuh has cemented the culture of peaceful co-existence amongst people so that they could live in serenity, build their civilisation and accomplish their achievements. As such, he used to say, “by Allah, this religion (i.e. Islam) will prevail till a traveler from Sana (in Yemen) to Hadrarmaut will fear none but Allah.”
The Prophet pbuh was keenly interested to conclude the Treaty of Hudaibiyah, in spite of its unfair conditions and terms, with a sole aim to settle peace. The people of Mecca violated the terms of the peace treaty so that they terrified and attacked the peaceful people and killed men and children. The Prophet pbuh rushed to support the oppressed and relieve the distressed no matter how big the sacrifices could be in the way of achieving that. Allah, the Most Sublime, rewarded him with a manifest victory and granted him success in conquering Mecca. Thereupon, He revealed the following Aya, “indeed, We have given you a manifest victory.” (Al Fat’h:1).
O Lord, please guide us all to obey You and obey Your Messenger Muhammad pbuh and obey those You have commanded us to obey in line with Your orders: “O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you.” (An-Nisaa: 59).
May Allah direct us all to the blessings of the Glorious Quran and the Sunna of His Messenger pbuh.
I say this and ask Allah for forgiveness for me, you, so invoke Him for forgiveness, for He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
Second Sermon
All praise is due to Allah who bestowed countless bounties on us. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no partners. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is Allah’s servant and His chosen Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad, his pure family, honest and loyal companions and all those who follow them in righteousness and submit in full submission.
Dear Muslims,
Please be aware that fearing Allah, the Almighty, is the path leading to all that is good, and following the Sunna of His Messenger pbuh is way towards happiness and righteousness. Allah, the Most Gracious says, “and if you obey him, you will be [rightly] guided.” Indeed, obeying the Prophet pbuh reflects a sincere love to Allah and His Messenger pbuh for the Exalted is He says, “say, [O Muhammad], ‘if you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Al Imran: 31). That is: if you follow the guidance of the Prophet pbuh you will win Allah’s forgiveness and enjoy all that is good.
One of the teachings of the Sunna of the Prophet pbuh is to invoke a lot of peace and blessings on him, particularly on Friday as he said, “the best of your days is Friday. So send a great deal of peace and blessings upon me on that day, for your peace and blessings will be presented to me.” And he also said, “for everyone who invokes a blessing on me will receive ten blessings from Allah and He will erase ten sins from him, and will raise him ten degrees in status.”
That is said, we beseech Allah, the Most Gracious, to confer His blessings and grant peace upon our Prophet Muhammad pbuh, his family and all his companions. May Allah fill our hearts with the love of His noble Messenger and guide us to follow his Sunna.
O Lord of the Worlds, please forgive us all our sins for no one forgives sins but You. Please guide us to the best of manners for none can guide to the best of them but You. O Allah, please protect us from bad manners for none can protect against them but You, O Lord of the Worlds.
May Allah be pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, and all of the Companions.
O Lord, may we ask You to help us with what gets us closer to Paradise and furthers us from Hell. O Allah, we seek Your grace to admit us, our parents, whoever has done a favour to us and all Muslims to Your Paradise. O Lord, forgive and show mercy on our parents, relatives and whoever has done a favour to us.
O Allah, we pray to You to grant Your forgiveness and reward to who built this mosque and to his or her parents as well as to anyone who gave to this mosque. O Allah, we also supplicate to You to forgive whoever built a mosque where Your name is remembered.
O Allah, make this gathering one of compassion, and our dispersion after it one that is infallible. O Allah, do not let anyone amongst us be deprived or desperate.
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.
O Servants of Allah “indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.” (An-Nahl: 90).
Remember Allah and He will remember you. Be grateful of His benevolence and He will increase His blessings to you. Allah says, “and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do.” (Al Ankaboot: 45).