 بكم ورحمة الله وبركاته اسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين we praise Allah سبحانه وتعالى we thank Allah upon all conditions we seek protection solely from the condition of those who shall be cast into hellfire we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم his household his companions we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to bless them all and to bless every one of us and to grant us the most beneficial rain that we are greatly in need of in this beautiful city of Cape Town and in the western Cape in fact In South Africa at large may Allah سبحانه وتعالى bless us and may Allah bless all those Who are struggling across the globe in whatever way they may be struggling in their difficulties may Allah create ease for them and may Allah سبحانه وتعالى Grant them all from his mercy I mean my brothers and sisters we thank Allah سبحانه وتعالى for granting us the opportunity to gather in his house and Like I said and I repeat the fact that we have gathered in the house of Allah سبحانه وتعالى Shows the closeness to Allah سبحانه وتعالى It shows the love of Allah سبحانه وتعالى For him to have you in his house is really not something minor It is a very very big deal الحمد لله. So thank Allah سبحانه وتعالى and make the visit more frequent for indeed It will be within the pleasure of Allah سبحانه وتعالى Yesterday I had spoken about the qualities of the worshipers of the most merciful And I said why they were called the worshippers of the most merciful and they were not referred to as the worshippers of Allah سبحانه وتعالى Mentioning very quickly recapping before I continue They are the worshippers of the most merciful because if they were To fulfill the qualities that were Mentioned or that are mentioned in the verses then indeed They would be earning the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. So Allah calls them the worshippers of the most merciful Also to show us that that quality of mercy is indeed a great quality of Allah سبحانه وتعالى That he will definitely definitely Be known by and he will be Definitely Encompassing us with that beautiful mercy of his in the dunya and the akhirah. So we made mention of many qualities I'm not going to go and mention each one of them But I will start off at the point where Allah says The true believers when they have committed sin whether it be murder whether it be adultery Whether it be association of partnership with Allah سبحانه وتعالى They repent they turn back to Allah سبحانه وتعالى Obviously the issue of murder is a whole separate topic and I like I said yesterday It is unacceptable and it is the duty of a Muslim to ensure that he protects other lives Rather than causing injury harm and loss of life But when it comes to the issue of adultery when it comes to the issue of Immorality when it comes to the issue of association of partnership with Allah سبحانه وتعالى Remember the procedure of seeking the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى is not very difficult It requires one to admit the sin to regret it to seek the forgiveness and to promise not to do it again For simple conditions and if these four conditions are met The sin is forgiven Whoever seeks Allah's forgiveness Allah forgives him Never ever did Allah say whoever seeks my forgiveness I will think about it or I will not forgive them No way Not once did he say that whoever seeks forgiveness I won't forgive them Every time he says whoever asks Allah's forgiveness Allah is most forgiving most merciful Whoever seeks forgiveness he will be forgiven and so on So when you seek forgiveness you are forgiven But there is another level that is higher than just seeking forgiveness and being forgiven And that is To be able to get the bad deeds that were committed Converted into good deeds such that when we arrive on the day of judgment We find them as good deeds that we have not even done سبحان الله So when a man arrives on the day of judgment or a woman And he sees lots of Salah he sees lots of Zakah He sees so many other deeds and he asks I don't think I did all these deeds where did this come from He will be told when you did bad then you repented Then you believed and did good deeds only thereafter We loved the fact that you did not go back to your evil ways so much That we converted all that evil into good And we are presenting it to you as acts of worship today That's the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى You know it is impossible to think of a person who is owed Say for example a million rands You owe someone a million rands Say $100,000 for example Not only by you saying please forgive me You know what it's wrong what I did I know I owe you the money I'm not going to be able to pay you back Imagine if that person were to say Don't worry forget about it In fact here's another $100,000 Take it it's yours Wow سبحان الله I wish we could have people like that سبحان الله سبحانه وتعالى Grant us ease We find it difficult to forgive our own brothers and sisters Sometimes our family members our parents our children We find it difficult to forgive them May Allah سبحانه وتعالى help us The relationship we have even with our spouse Is unique It is so unique that sometimes We find it difficult to forgive each other When we need each other the most Remember when a mistake happens We want the forgiveness of Allah When we perpetrate or commit a sin or a crime Against Allah سبحانه وتعالى We want his forgiveness If we would like the forgiveness of Allah سبحانه وتعالى We must learn to forgive others Especially those whom you are closest to So for example if your spouse has made a mistake Imagine they were dedicated for 10 years After 10 years they faulted for one year In that one year the marriage was broken and it's over But you forgot about the 10 years whereby you lived in bliss Had you been patient for that year Then definitely you may have seen The mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى To the point that beyond that turbulence Which may have lasted a year or two You became happier than you were ever before And you became closer than you were ever before It's possible I'm not condoning oppression to the degree That a person's mind begins to Meaning a person loses their mind They become unwell No Don't go back home and say Do you know what I troubled you now for one year Go back and listen I've been good with you for 10 years It's okay That's not good enough No We should not use these words In order to justify the evil we are in These words are just an encouragement for us When we are on the other side To say look consider forgiving That's what these words are So we should never use these words To justify the position of wrong That we may be in But rather when we are oppressed We should see We should look within ourselves If we can actually forgive Our spouses and others as well And the reason I make mention of this Is when you want the forgiveness of Allah There is definitely a greater chance Of earning it If you are a person who forgives others Did you see If you are a person who forgives others There is a greater chance That you will be forgiven By Allah SWT It's not a condition I don't have to forgive those Who have wronged me But if I do There is a greater chance That Allah will forgive me And this we got from Surat Noor I spoke about it When we read the verse a few days ago But my brothers and sisters Allah SWT is amazing He says He will convert the bad into good Imagine That's only Allah SWT And that is for the one Who quits the bad ways and habits And does good after that This is why in the Quran Allah doesn't say Those who believe will be granted jannah Those who believe will be granted jannah Will be granted paradise He doesn't say that He joins it He connects it to something else He says Those who believe And do good deeds They will be the ones Who enter jannah Who enter paradise So it's always أعملوا الصالحات It's connected right Allah says Those who believe and do good deeds They will enter جنة الفردوس May Allah SWT Grant us jannah Through His mercy Amen Now After making mention of forgiveness And repentance Allah SWT Goes on To make mention of The qualities that we need to save ourselves from If we want to be known as the worshippers of the most merciful One of the qualities is In fact these are two qualities Those who protect themselves from bearing false witness You take an oath And you have lied Sometimes in the courts We lie We make a false claim against someone We lay a false accusation against someone And it's by oath I remember the once There was a brother from the masjid Who actually lied He lied about something And he went to the courts And he presented a swan Affi David That this had happened And it did not happen So when I asked him How could you have done this in the courts He told me You know what I put my hand on the Bible Not on the Quran Say it is okay You are not supposed to be telling a lie No matter what Whether you put your hand anywhere You're not supposed to be telling a lie You don't have to justify By uttering such nonsense أستغفر الله No matter what That was an oath By the will of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Your word is supposed to be truthful Even if you just had your hands down May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala forgive us Look at how Shaytan comes to mankind To try and make him justify The wrong he's doing By hook or crook Subhanallah And in Cape Town A Snooke My brothers and sisters We should never be telling a lie Bearing false witness is dangerous It is something that will come back To haunt us At some stage And you know sometimes We do something We feel that Okay this was okay I got away with it You have not yet got away with it You need to repent Seek Allah's forgiveness And seek forgiveness From those whom you have wronged Because if you don't I promise you The circle will close It's going to come back to you And it will haunt you You know they say كما تدينوا تدانوا How you shall do to others so It shall be done unto you The type of debt You have Is the type of debt You shall actually get the credit You give is what you shall get May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala help us In the English language The term is What you sow you reap What you have sown Same applies Remember it's going to come back to you So how does it come back to us It comes back to us through health problems Family problems Financial problems Stress So many other things We're suffering Lack of contentment No sleep We don't know What to do We don't know What's the problem Have you ever Born false witness Against someone If the answer is yes Perhaps that's come to haunt you May Allah forgive us I'm not saying every time you're sick You need to think Hey this is what happened But a true mu'min is such that Whenever something goes wrong in his life Within himself or herself He quickly ticks off the checklist You know what that means Have I paid my zakat Yes I have Have I wronged someone No I haven't Have I fulfilled my obligation Unto Allah Yes I have Did I do this yes Have I done this No okay Maybe that's where I went wrong So it's a checklist You've got to do that It does not necessarily mean That Allah is punishing You know But it could mean that You see It could mean So just like when you have a sickness I have a sore throat for example I was wondering if I was going to be able to stand up And speak in front of you today But Alhamdulillah It happened By the grace of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala I have to ask myself Have I been Having some cold drinks After Taraweeh Have I been having ice cream Have I been eating chocolates Whatever else Subhanallah By the way I haven't been But I'm just saying So if I find something wrong I need to deal with it I cannot keep on having medication And keep on doing that Which is going to cause A bigger problem And not resolve it Same applies in our lives Spiritually We want to get close to Allah We keep on doing some sin That we have not quit How do we want goodness in our lives When we haven't stopped that You are having an antibiotic Known as Tawba You perhaps are having medication Known as your Salah And the Quran And so on And the good deeds But You keep on committing That particular sin That is keeping you Bogged down And sick spiritually May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Guide us I hope we've understood that So therefore We need to quit These type of things Because they come back To haunt us So much so That Allah says Not only bearing false witness You know bearing false witness Is so serious When the Prophet ﷺ Counted the major sins He was lying on his bed And he was counting Then he got up He was laying down He sat up He says He says Behold To utter that which is false And to bear false witness Is a major sin It's not a minor sin It's major You see There are minor sins That people may commit Sometimes you haven't controlled your gaze Sometimes you know There may be a slip of the tongue here And there are minor sins That people may commit Sometimes you haven't controlled your gaze Sometimes you know There may be a slip of the tongue here And there are minor sins But major sins Those which Allah ﷻ Has mentioned a severe punishment Regarding the major sins Bearing false witness Is one of them My brothers and sisters May Allah ﷻ forgive us Especially if the right Of a fellow Muslim Is connected to that witness That is false Then there is trouble The Prophet ﷺ says It is a piece of the fire Either you take it Or you leave it May Allah ﷻ grant us The ability to be truthful To be steadfast Did you know That when we are buying And selling commodities One of the major sins Actually is to lie About your cost price Did you ever know that To swear with an oath Using the name of Allah That you got it at a price And you did not get it at the price The Hadith says Three types of people Allah ﷻ will not even Look at them on the day of judgment And Allah ﷻ will not even Purify them And سبحان الله They have a severe punishment That's what the Hadith says لا يكلموهم الله ولا ينظروا إليهم يوم القيامة ولا يزكيهم ولا هم عذابٌ أليم Three types of people Who are they? One of them is The one who sells a commodity المنفق سلعته بالحلي في الكادب The one who sells his commodity With the false oath سبحان الله The false oath He lied So if you want to buy something And someone says How much is this You say look it's a hundred dollars No please give me a discount Say look I can't give it to you Because I bought it at ninety I can't give it to you For less than a hundred Why lie that you bought it at ninety Tell him look that's the best price I can manage That's it Tell him look you know what It's going to be difficult for me To go beyond that Or below that Be honest But to lie to say No I got it at this amount That is so good That is so good At this amount That is something serious Now you might wonder Why is it so serious Because Allah decided it serious That's why I can't say anything else For us sometimes Things become light So what the guy You know I just said to tell him Had to get him off my back Well I don't know how you get The sin of your back thereafter May Allah SWT guide us So it is important for us To know this You might want to know Who the other two are right So that was one I can see some of the eyes Like you're asking a question منان منان meaning منان منان in this hadith Means a person who brags About what he's done He gave you something And he keeps on mentioning You know I gave you this You know I gave you this You know he gave me 10 dollars When I was a kid You know when you were a kid I gave you 10 bucks Do you remember Rather I'll give you 100 Come come come here I'll give you 100 back And stop talking about it That's what we feel like Doing sometimes When you do someone a favor Don't brag Don't embarrass him thereafter Don't keep on reminding Otherwise Allah says we're not interested In looking at you On the day of judgment Subhanallah May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us So a person who wants to earn The pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Should do things For the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala That is something Very very interesting Let's move on My beloved brothers Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about This false witness Not only bearing false witness My brothers and sisters But telling a lie Any sort of a lie Is something that will earn The wrath of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We definitely need to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's forgiveness And we need to become more conscious Of the statements that we are uttering Because we will never be able To save ourselves If we are not conscious Of what we say So the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam Has spoken about this On so many occasions In this verse Allah says When they are passing by Those who are wasting their time That which is futile When they are passing by That which is futile You know people are wasting their time Sitting and doing something unnecessary Just a waste of time The true believers They use their time so wisely That they just pass by When they see these guys are wasting time They don't waste time with them They pass by So you value your time Valueing your time is a sign of closeness To Allah Because Allah created time And guess what It is ticking So don't waste a moment And this is why The hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam He says نعمتان مغبون فيهما كثير من الناس الصحة والفراخ Two gifts Many people are deceived regarding Number one is good health People take it for granted They are deceived regarding good health They waste it Number two Free time Your time You just waste it You let it go by You had the whole holidays You didn't do anything in the holidays Nothing constructive You didn't even mow the lawn May Allah SWT help us May Allah guide us So do something constructive With your time No matter what it is I've given you a simple worldly example But that example can become spiritual And it can become religious Read the Quran Take some lessons Do something You need to know Every moment you've been given here Is a chance for you to reap The fruit in the hereafter So use the time to sow wisely So this is why The Quran says in these verses That a true believer Of the most merciful When he passes by that which is futile He actually passes by without stopping there Without wasting his time وَإِذَا مَرْرُ بِلَّغْوِ مَرْرُ كِرَامًا Then there is a quality that is very very important And that quality is Those who love Allah Those who are close to Allah Those who want to save themselves from harm Whenever they are reminded about the verses of Allah سبحانه وتعالى They take heed They do not turn a deaf ear Or a blind eye In the English language we say turning a blind eye In the Arabic language they add to it the deaf ear Because two of these faculties One is the eye And the second is the ear So those who turn a blind eye Or who give a deaf ear Or who do not want to listen in other words Those whom when they are reminded of the verses of Allah They do not turn away from it Neither with their ears nor with their eyes May Allah سبحانه وتعالى guide us So why is this verse being made mention of here How will you know that you are doing wrong When no one is there to tell you that you are doing wrong You know when we lead Salat التراويح One of the biggest gifts That the Imam can have And my colleagues can correct me One of the biggest gifts That the Imam leading the Salat التراويح Can have Is a solid half is behind him to correct him Because the embarrassment of not knowing where you are going now And you are stuck And you don't know what to say, where to go That is so bad The feeling is really something I cannot describe The best thing would be for someone behind you To just tell you where you are going سبحان الله And so you can correct yourself Now if you feel bad about it And you turn back and say Hey guys, stop embarrassing me Then you will never learn You will never learn سبحان الله In order to progress You must be happy when someone corrects you Yes We also call on those who are correcting others For anything in life To use the best method of correction The prophetic method of correction You have a child making a mistake You have adults who make mistakes You have a community that needs guidance sometimes You choose a blessed way You choose the prophetic way of speaking to them You don't just come up And speak to them in such a harsh way Because الله سبحانه وتعالى Tells محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم That if you were harsh and hard hearted Nobody would listen to you وَالَوْكُنْ تَفَظَّنْ غَلِظَ الْقَلْبِ لَنْ فَضْضُّ مِنْ حَوْلِكِ If you were hard hearted And if you were harsh They would have dispersed from around you They wouldn't have listened to you But it's the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى That made you lenient So leniency is from Allah سبحانه وتعالى Let's be lenient on those we correct Because that is definitely a prophetic quality And so As much as we are saying when we correct people We should do it in the proper way I cannot control all those who are going to correct me Some of them might be younger than me Some of them might be hard Some of them might be harsh I need to listen to what they are saying If they are right I should take it no matter who they are سبحان الله So this is the quality of a true believer in the most merciful The one who's a worshipper of Allah سبحانه وتعالى He loves it when he's corrected When you're corrected you don't get angry and upset You are happy I hope the children are listening to this But more importantly even the adults Because sometimes we get so upset When we are corrected When we've known something for years on end And a little daughter or a son comes up and says Dad, you know what? That's totally wrong And you roll up your sleeves May Allah never, never let that be us أميب So my beloved brothers and sisters That is Allah سبحانه وتعالى Saying that we should never feel bad When we are corrected The last quality that is made mention of Here in these verses That are the end of Surat الفرقان Allah سبحانه وتعالى says Those who are concerned about their offspring To the degree that they make a dua to Allah Regularly Those who constantly say Call out to Allah سبحانه وتعالى They say قررت أعيون Oh our Lord Grant us From our spouses Our family members Those who will be the coolness of our eyes In other words Oh Allah Make our families the coolness of our eyes Make us such that When we see our family members Our eyes are cooled We feel calm We feel content You look at your children You are so happy and excited You look at your spouse You are so so filled with joy That is a dua that you have to make Remember this thing comes about With an effort and a dua Sincerity Is required Some people think Okay, I'm going to try hard And you try very hard But you remove from the equation Dua or supplication You cannot do it on your own My brothers and sisters You cannot manage on your own You need Allah's help So therefore Ask Allah to help you Oh Allah Grant me A family That when I look at them And when they look at me There is the mutual coolness of our eyes I mean Subhan Allah What a beautiful dua Now Why is this the end of all these qualities Many reasons I give you one Simple one We heard about how we should be walking How we should be talking The Ibadah How we should be abstaining from sin How we should not bear false witness And so many other things How we should spend and so on Now we are making dua That we can pass on the baton And the candle can now be passed on to the next generation So oh Allah Myself being a worshiper of the most merciful Bestow me with all these qualities And ensure that my offspring Those to come after me are blessed Subhan Allah Blessed in what way In the same way We also want them to worship Allah We also want them to have good character Good conduct And from this we learn That those who lead by example Are the most successful You need to remember this When you are a father And you are a role model in the home Then your children will follow that example By the will of Allah You are trying You made a dua to Allah You may have sometimes a little bit of turbulence Because of the outside environment But trust me If the relationship is powerful and good Then the chances of success are far greater By the help of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Don't forget to read your salah on time Remember لا تجعلوا بيوتكم قبوراً That's the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ Do not make your houses into graves Now one might think Well I didn't bury anyone in my house So why does he say Do not make your house into a grave Well He explains that those who do not fulfill salah in the home That home is a grave It's a grave Those who do not engage in ibadah in the home It's a grave Many of us there's no Quran in the house There's no salah in the house There's no adhan in the house There's nothing Islamic in the home And that home is a grave So when the children come and go It's more like a restaurant bed and breakfast They come in They eat They sleep They get up They go out They come back And that's it And they watch TV by the way And they sit on their phones Because there's free wifi May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala bless us May Allah grant us ease If that's the home We've lost the plot Where is the ibadah? Where is the salah? Do you read salah together? Do you fulfill your prayer together? If that is the case You have livened the home So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says This is the dua that you make You need to ensure that your house is livened And at the end Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala caps the verses By saying We have prepared a special place in Jannah For these worshippers of the most merciful Those are the ones Whom Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says They will be granted as a reward A special place in Jannah Known as Al-Ghurfa A special chamber in Paradise Special rank in Jannah Tul Firdaus Because of all these beautiful qualities When they sinned They repented And they did not go back to their bad ways Allah says We acknowledge all of that We are going to give them a special about in Jannah We are going to give them a special about in Jannah Because of their sabr Because of their patience And from this we learn That it is with patience and endurance That we will earn the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala What is stopping a person from sinning And doing whatever they wish It's only the consciousness of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Because we believe in Allah We believe there is a day to come When we will answer for all our questions And all our actions And that is the reason why We have stopped doing that which is bad There was nothing else stopping us Allah says If that is the case Then you definitely deserve That place in Jannah Tul Firdaus Because of your endurance May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala grant that to us أقول قولي هذا وصلى الله عليه وسلم و باركة على نبينا محمد سبحان الله وبحمد