My Muslim brother and sister,
Allah The Almighty Says (what means):
· {O you, who have believed, fear Allah and be with those who are true.}[Quran 9:119]
· {And do not be like she who untwisted her spun thread after it was strong [by] taking your oaths as [means of] deceit.} [Quran 16:92]
All perfect praise to Allah, Who has helped us all perform that important pillar of Islam, about which the Messenger of Allah, , said: “He, who performs Hajj in which he has neither sexual relations nor any disobedience, will return (as sinless) as a newborn on the very day his mother gave birth to him.”
We expect of our Lord that He has forgiven our sins, screened our defects, and removed our difficulty: He is worthy of fear and sufficient to [grant] forgiveness. Whoever has a good assumption (of Allah) shall do good deeds.
According to Al-Hasan Al-Basri “Verily, when the faithful believer had good assumptions of his Lord, he does good deeds; and when the wicked has a bad assumption of his Lord, he does bad deeds.”
For this reason, it is not fitting for a Muslim, after his record has become blank (of misdeeds) to fill it with sins once again, and after his soul has been purified with obedience to desecrate it with disobedience.
So, it is due on all of us to turn a new leaf with Allah The Almighty, in which we pledge to obey, rather than disobey Him, in order to attain His good pleasure and Paradise. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment.} [Quran 33:71]
The Messenger of Allah, , said: “All of my Ummah will enter Paradise except those who refuse." They said: “O Messenger of Allah! Who will refuse?" He said: “Whoever obeys me will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys me is the one who refuses (to enter it).” [Al-Bukhari]
O Allah, the Turner of hearts: Make our hearts firm on Your religion.
An invitation from the heart
It is an invitation for self-reckoning. The days are passing, the leaves of life turn one after the other, and the years follow each other in succession, and everyone of us should call himself to account before he is called to account, and learn lessons from his past years, and observe (the commandments of) Allah The Almighty. The days are running and we do not realize it except at the beginning of a new year, the coming of the blessed month of Ramadan, or the ‘Eed.
The more important question is: What have we prepared for the final journey? Which good have we forwarded for ourselves in order to find it with Allah The Almighty in the form of good reward and hope? What has been written down in our records? What have we prepared for the grave in which we will be placed (buried)?
Did we remember death and the grave today? Have we read anything from the Quran? Have we persisted in the Athkaar (remembrance) and devotional recitals after every prayer? Have we been submissive in prayer? Have we asked Allah The Almighty for Paradise and sought refuge with Him from Hell-fire? Have we prayed today for forgiveness of our sins?
Have we avoided all that displeases Allah The Almighty? Have we thought to keep away from evil companions? Have we cleaned our hearts from arrogance, envy and resentment, and our tongues from backbiting, tale-bearing and lying? Have we avoided looking at what is made unlawful by Allah The Almighty? Have we avoided listening to what has been made unlawful by Allah The Almighty? Have we enjoined good and forbidden evil? Have we sacrificed everything possible to support our religion and work to serve it?
A true invitation
It is due on everyone to call himself to account, and prepare his provision for the final departure.
In order that the acts of worship would not turn into no more than habits
Would that we could distribute such statements so that acts of worship do not turn into mere habits and no more!
Every year, millions of Muslims perform Hajj and ‘Umrah, but the question remains: Do they indeed benefit from such acts of worship? Do their acts of worship, as usual, turn into habits and no more, as mentioned by the great Islamic thinker, Shaykh Muhammad Qutb, that one of the greatest problems of the Islamic Ummah (nation) in the modern age is that acts of worship have turned into habits and no more?
From this perspective, it is greatly recommended to publish and distribute such statements, which remind people of their religious duties and requirements, as well as of the taboos. The Ummah is not short of people who perform Hajj and ‘Umrah; what it is really short of is true working Muslims.
This is an impressive statement, and I do not know its writer, may Allah reward him, that is fit to be distributed among pilgrims at the end of the Hajj season.
We hope to convey it to those who organize Hajj campaigns, and urge them to distribute it at the end of the season, along with a set of beneficial cassettes and booklets.