ICICE AL-NOOR MASJID KHUTBAH FOR FRIDAY 22/1/2021

VIRTUES OF INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAIHI RAAJI’UN

[Verily] all praise is for Allah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls [and from our bad deeds]. Whomsoever Allah guides will not be led astray, and whomsoever Allah leaves astray, no one can guide them. I bear witness that no deity deserves worship except Allah, [alone and without any partner] and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

I bear witness that he is His beloved, the one entrusted with His revelation. May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, his household, and companions.

O servants of Allah! Be conscious of Allah (The Exalted). Indeed, whosoever is conscious of Allah, will be protected and guided to the best of all affairs in his worldly life and the hereafter.

Servants of Allah, there is a blessed phrase that has great advantages and enormous benefits in this world and the hereafter. Allah made it a refuge for people afflicted with calamity, a delicious taste (of faith) for people in hardship and a shelter for those afflicted with misfortune among His believing servants. The phrase is nothing but (INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAIHI RAJ’UN). Verily, if Allah wishes to honour and bless a believer afflicted with misfortune, He will make him say this phrase quickly while pondering over its meaning and affirming its purpose. As such, his heart will be in tranquillity and his mind at rest. Also, Allah will give him something better in exchange.

Servants of Allah, the tradition of Allah on His slaves is that; he will surely test them in this worldly life with various kinds of trials. It may include unfulfilled dreams, affliction with misfortune, demise of loved ones. Indeed, everyone pass through a test or another. However, a believer in all his affairs moves from one good to another. And this treatment is peculiar to His believing servants. Our beloved Prophet said regarding this: (Strange are the ways of a believer for there is a good in every affair of his and this is not the case with anyone else except in the case of a believer. For if he feels delighted, he thanks Allah, thus there is good for him in it. And if he gets into trouble and shows resignation (and endures it patiently), there is good for him in it). (Muslim 2999)

Servants of Allah, Allah told us in the Quran that: verily, he tests His servants with various trials, and He (Glory be to Him) enjoined them to be patient and return to Allah by saying (INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAIHI RAJ’UN). Allah (The Exalted) says: (And we will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give tidings to the patient. (155)

Who, when disaster strikes them, say, ” Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to him we will return” (156)

Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the (rightly) guided. (157))

Blessings, mercy and guidance! What good is better of! How great are these blessings and benefits! Umar Bn Khattab (R.A) said: (How good is the equivalent and the bonus!).

O servants of Allah! verily, a Muslim believes that whatever struck him would not have missed him and that what missed him would not have hit him. He also knows that all affairs are in the hands of Allah and all creatures are His. He also believes that everything will return to Him. So, his faith stimulates his heart to be patient and his tongue to be saying this blessed phase, while having faith in it and submitting totally to Allah. (INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAIHI RAJ’UN). Therefore, he gets the great glad tidings and promise of success (And give glad tidings to the patient) in this world and the hereafter.

His glad tiding in the world is affirmed in the hadith narrated by Muslim in his Sahih, reported by Ummi Salamah (R.A); she said: (I heard the messenger of Allah (PBUH) saying: if a servant (of Allah) who suffers a calamity says: ” We belong to Allah and to Him shall we return; O Allah reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in exchange for it.” Allah will reward him for his affliction and would give him something better than it in exchange. She (Ummu Salamah) said: When Abu Salamah died, I uttered (the very words) as I was commanded (to do) by the messenger of Allah (PBUH). So, Allah gave me better in exchange than him. (I.e., I got married to) the Messenger of Allah (PBUH).

The second (glad tiding) is affirmed in the hadith narrated by Tirmiziy, reported by Abu Sinan, Saheed Bn Sinan (May Allah be pleased with him). He said: (when my two kids were buried, Abu Talhah Al-khaulani was sitting close to their graves. I was about to hold onto his hand then he said: shall I give you a glad tidings O Abu Sinan? I said yes. He then said: Ad-dahha bn Abdurrahman bn Urzab narrated from Abu Musa Al-Ashariyyu (R.A). verily the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:  if the child of a servant of Allah dies, Allah will say to the Angels: you took the life of my servant’s son? They will reply: yes. Then Allah will say: you took away his joy? the Angels will reply: yes. Allah will ask them what did my servant say? they will reply to him saying: your servant praised you and said: (INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAIHI RAJ’UN). Allah will then say: Build a house for my servant in Paradise and call it “the house of Praise”.

O believers, whenever you say these words, ponder over their meanings and recall the aim of saying these words. Do not say it heedless of its meaning and not affirming its purpose. These words entail two fundamentals, whosoever ponders over its fundamentals when struck with a calamity, it will console his heart and bring him tranquillity.

The first fundamental is to call to mind that he is Allah’s servant under his control. He is Allah’s possession and that Allah decrees whatever he wishes for His servant. No one can stop the judgment of Allah. This is the meaning of (INNA LILLAHI).

The second fundamental is to recall that he will return to His Lord and shall stand before Him to give an account of his deeds in the life of this world. And this is the meaning of (WA INNA ILAIHI RAJ’UN).

Al-Fudhail bin Ayyad – may Allah have mercy on him – met a man and said to him: How old are you? He said: Sixty years. He said: Or did you not know that you are on the way to Allah – the Highest – and that you are about to reach its end, so the man said: (INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAIHI RAJ’UN) We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return, so Al-Fadil said: Oh do you know what you just said? He said: Yes. I said: (INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAIHI RAJ’UN) We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. Al-Fadil said: Do you know its interpretation? The man said: What is its interpretation?

This indicates to us that some people may recite the legitimate supplications, but they are not aware of their meaning and they do not know their significance, so the words are weak in making any effect on thim. The man said: What is his interpretation? if you say: (INNA LILLAHI), you are affirming that you are Allah’s servant. if you say: (WA INNA ILAIHI RAJ’UN), it means you will return and stand before Allah to give an account of your deeds. If you know that Allah will ask about your actions, then prepare answers to Allah’s Questions. The man said: what is the way forward? Fudhail said: perfect what is left, you will be forgiven the past. But if you do wrong deeds in what is left, you will be held responsible for the past and the present

conclusion

1. O believers, the blessed words a Muslim say when struck with calamity can also be said when you remember a trial. Al-Husain b. ‘Ali reported the Prophet as saying, “If any Muslim man or woman suffers a calamity and keeps it in his memory, even if it happened a long time ago, saying each time it is remembered, ‘We belong to Allah and to Him do we return,’ Allah who is blessed and exalted will give a fresh reward each time it is said, equivalent to the reward if it were said when it happened.”
2. Muslims are prohibited from the following when struck by misfortune: ‘Abdallah b. Mas’ud reported Allah messenger as saying, “He who beats the cheeks, tears the front of the garments, and cries out as people did in pre-Islamic times, does not belong to us. Abu Malik al-Ash’ari reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Among my people there are four characteristics belonging to pre-Islamic period which they do not abandon: boasting of high rank, reviling other peoples’ genealogies, seeking rain by stars, and wailing. And he (further) said: If the wailing woman does not repent before she dies, she will be made to stand on the Day of Resurrection wearing a garment of pitch and a chemise of mange.

May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon our beloved Prophet, his household and those follow their path till doomsday